The welcome was cordial on all sides; all hands vied in their eagerness to carry the baggage from the boat to the barracks, and there was no mistaking the expression of honest satisfaction which lighted up their faces. The men celebrated the event after their own fashion, and the scanty means at their disposal; the officers in theirs by a dinner which, if not aldermanic, was at least creditable to caterer and cook in such an out-of-the-way place.
I was honoured with an invitation, and went with the captain of the steamer, in whose company I had to return to Prome the following morning. There is no rest, they say, for some people. Having delivered over my charge, I had no longer any immediate responsibility, and should be a free man for about a day. The pleasure of the evening was further enhanced by my unexpectedly meeting an old schoolfellow, one of the officers of the regiment. Although we had not met for upwards of a dozen years, recognition was mutual, indeed his face was not easily to be forgotten. A mournful kind of beauty ran through his family in a very marked degree; and on one occasion during the Mutiny, when riding into a station, I recognized standing by a gun, a brother of his, with whom I was also at school. The former I still encounter occasionally where men most do congregate to watch our game of games; his brother is at rest.
One of the saddest features of a “retrospect” consists in the thinning of the ranks of old comrades. Year by year they fall away, leaving one feeling very old and isolated, and new friends are but poor compensation for those of one’s youth, around whom cling so many pleasant memories. I well remember the day that my old friend went into action by my side: the bullets came in showers; men were falling fast, so indeed were the leaves, which gathered thick about us like those in Vallambrosa. We were five hundred against ten thousand, but, as our men refused to advance, a hasty retreat back into the entrenchment was our only alternative....
The party was certainly kept in full swing until a late hour; and we had much to relate of past and present, for there was no knowing when we might meet again. The regiment would in time return to India, a larger country than those at home are generally given to suppose; and there again we did encounter one another, and, curiously enough, both were once more on the war-path.
At last, we broke up; and, bidding our entertainers adieu, the captain and myself made our way back to the steamer, where I slept the sleep of the weary.
Had I been my own master, I should have elected to remain for a few days at Theyetmyo, in order to look around; but I was under orders, and literally, as well as metaphorically, the captain was in the same boat as myself, more work having been cut out for both of us by those who pulled the wires.
Landing late one afternoon and re-embarking soon after daybreak, enabled one to form but a hazy idea of the place. I remember a very brief walk, a mess-room and—the reader will forgive me any details of what occurred after dinner! It was an important station, as it guarded the line which separated our acquired territory from that of the King of Ava, the legitimate owner of the whole.
I noticed, however, that the position was judiciously chosen; and was doubtless impregnable while protected by the 1st Bengal Fusiliers who, if attacked, would have given a good account of themselves. The men were also more healthy on the whole than those of other stations, where disease usually gave the doctor more work than either sword or bullet.
Our operations had so far been confined to the banks of the rivers; of the interior, its mighty jungles and mineral resources, we knew little or nothing. We merely annexed the lower half of the country, rich indeed, but from all accounts inferior to the upper part.
Most men, weatherwise in political meteorology, prophesied that the course of events would compel us to steal the whole loaf; but the time arrived considerably later than they had anticipated.