on wrong. In the meantime, they nationalisation; The threat of violence was precisely the impetus which Mr George needed, and speaking, as he knew, to an audience of individualists, he had no difficulty in demolishing the internationalisers and their menaces. He argued well and he argued gravely. He exposed the evils of bureaucracy as one who knew and understood. He extolled the incentive of speculation and private ownership. With the greatest eloquence he condemned the evil which the miners, with their threats of violence, are doing to the oause of liberty. Mr Lunn, he says, "is not challenging he is not All Mr challenging committees; he is Printed by William Blackwood and Sons. I HAD arrived, new to the treme cold of the Punjab was country, at the end of Janu- already beginning to be opary; Amritsar was my first pressive, and I preferred the "station," and at the begin- coolness of the bungalow to ning of April I was living with the heat and glare outside, so Mr and Mrs J. in one of a that fortunately for myself I group of houses called Canal changed my mind. I had just Bungalows. After breakfast lain down under the punkah on the morning of Thursday, I about one o'clock when a serthought for a moment of visit- vant announced that a lady ing the bazaar in the city; but wished to see me. I rose I had only returned from reluctantly, annoyed with my Lahore the night before, and bearer for having admitted a what I had seen there of the visitor after my order that I crowds at the Hartal (day of was not to be disturbed; but mourning) on the 6th had before I could leave the room made me nervous. Moreover, a second knook announced the the attitude of the shopkeepers arrival of more visitors, and in our own Hall Bazaar for my bearer poured forth a long some time past had been dis- story, of which the only words tinetly unfriendly, and the last I could catch were "Badmash" time I went there my bearer (scoundrels) and “Bazaar.” had warned me not to get out His voice of the tonga. The extreme by the shrill heat which succeeds the ex- in the next VOL, CCVII.-NO. MCCLIV. drowned cries of babies room, and it 2 H Government buildings were on fire, and that the murdered men included three of the bank officials. The old Sikh cashier of the National Bank had seen his master beaten down and had fled to procure help, but before he could return kerosene oil was poured on the still living body, and only one boot was left for identification of the remains. A few of the Europeans employed in the banks had suooeeded in escaping to the "Kotwali or city police station, and were still hemmed in there. flashed upon my memory that was known that the banks the house had been chosen and as a rallying-post for European women and children in the event of trouble. My suspicions were quickly confirmed when I came into a drawingroom full of people I had never seen before, who paid no attention whatever to my entry. Fresh arrivals poured in every minute, and from one or two acquaintances among them I elicited the little that they knew of what had happened. A few minutes earlier a wild crowd had burst over the Hall bridge (which connects the city with the Civil Lines), driving back and stoning the small picket which was posted there. No shots had then been fired, but the howl of the mob could with bands were. The afternoon passed slowly, rumours and alarms whieh increased the suspense of the many women who did be heard a quarter of a mile not know where their husaway, and the residents in Those of us who the main thoroughfare were had anything to do were too rapidly warned to leave their busy to think, and three of bungalows for the rallying- the women and three of the posts. The crowd was close babies were ill; but human at hand, and a moment's delay nature is always the same, might prove fatal; but at this and I was amused to see somnolent hour it was no small on returning to my room task to persuade the women to that my dressing-table had move, and one of them per- been depleted of everything that sistently refused to quit her could be used as a cosmetic, house because her baby was as if a horde of locusts had asleep. As people left their settled on it, and we had to bungalows a few shots were make peace between one or heard from the direction of two who "could not sit under the bridge, but nothing was a punkah" and the majority known then of the course of who were prepared to faint if it was turned off. events. From men passing on horseback we gradually learned a few details, and before long we saw smoke and flames rising from the city and heard that Europeans were being murdered. After a time it About half an hour before sunset, news came that the Fort was ready to receive us. Every possible conveyance had been secured, and we packed ourselves in, making a picture like Epsom road on the Derby Day. Very few had brought thing that could be used as anything with them, so we bedding during the coming stripped the house of every- night. II. THE FORT. The Fort of Gobindgarh, which we were now to know so well, was built over a hundred years ago by the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh, to proteot the treasure which he kept with the bankers of Amritsar, prosperous then as now. It is said that he employed an Italian engineer, and trases of its exetio origin linger in the names of the different blocks and passages. To reach the Fort, we had to oross the railway line, which our handful of troops had held all day against the hordes from the city, by the Rego bridge. We set forth with some trepidation; but the arrival of some Gurkha troops about this time enabled the road to be picketed, and the way was safe. Men from the Central Followers' Depôt, armed with staves, accompanied us, and it was not long before we were driving through the winding entrances to the Fort. Dusk was now falling, and we had to make haste to prepare for the night. We found places where we could, and most of us packed into the upper storey of the "Cavalier Blook," which rises in the centre of the great quadrangle. The heat, however, was stifling. There were not half a dozen fans in the whole Fort, including those in the hospital and the canteen hall, and many people found it the lesser of two evils to spend that night on the ground outside. One or two had managed to get their bedding brought in by their servants, but the rest were illequipped for the conditions they had to face. We distributed the heavy clothing, blankets, and rugs which we had brought from the bungalow, but there would not have been enough to go round if the garrison had not given up some of their blankets. Our next thought was to find a meal for the many women and children who had eaten nothing since early morning. We had only the scraps which we had brought away from the bungalow, but once again the soldiers came to our rescue and gave up half their bread ration. All these things were being done at once, amid indescribable turmoil. A roll-call revealed 130 women and children, besides babies; the civilian men whe were not too old or sick had already been posted to defence duties round the Fort and made up another fifty. A number of servants also had come down before the gates of the Fort closed at sundown, and presented another problem, as they required native food. While they were being given their handfuls of grain to last them till the morning, a greybearded old Sikh orderly, Sher Singh, proudly refused to take his share, saying he had often gone without food for two or three days on the field of battle. This man set a splendid example throughout, and indeed all the servants behaved well under very trying circumstances. It had long been dark, and we were still working hard to get things straight and settle people down for the night, when I was suddenly drawn away by an officer, who whispered a request for 8 lantern in order to bring in what was left of Mr Thomson's body from one of the banks. Desperately afraid lest this news should spread, I secured the only lantern in the Fort for him, and he went away. We afterwards heard that this was the body of Sergeant Rawlings, which had just been found, beaten to death, beneath the walls of the Fort, and not Mr Thomson's, which had not then been recovered. When nothing more was left to be done, some of us went on to the ramparts for a few minutes' quiet, and from the top of the western wall we saw the native city ablaze with electric light-a contrast to the darkness behind us. At midnight we turned in, but daylight seemed to come before we had closed our eyes. The outlook was not pleasant for women who had the miseries of dirt, heat, and no beds, no proper bedding, no mosquito nets, no fans, and hardly any lighting. No one had any small personal possessions or any change of clothing. The place was infested with sandflies, and the stagnant water of the most bred a virulent kind of mosquito. We did not know when we should get supplies of fresh food or milk, and as there were only twelve cups and about twenty plates, distribution of what food we had was difficult. One could summon up courage to face these conditions eneself, but the presence of so many babies and children made the situation really serious. One baby had developed typhoid fever that morning, and they all had requirements which could not be met. Our numbers were swelling, for not everybody had managed to get to the rallying-posts. During the first night three survivors who had escaped into the police station were brought out of the eity in Indian known a day's real hardship clothes. They told us of the before: they found themselves infuriated orowds that had suddenly stripped of all the swept through the city on that decencies and comforts they terrible afternoon, drunk with had come to look upon as their victory over unarmed necessities, and surrounded by men, and calling for "white never |