Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/299

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE FEARFUL STATE OF THINGS BEFORE DELHI.
289

Europeans. The feuds between the Hindoos and Mohammedans were revived, and conflicts between them increased in bitterness and cruelty, until the country became one scene of anarchy. Trade, agriculture, and industry in general were all but suspended; any one that had a rupee to lose lost it; riot and bloodshed became the order of the day, while rapine and murder were openly carried on by the Goojurs, a Gipsy-like class of vagabonds, whom the miserable Mohammedan Government was unable to put down.

Short as our time was in Bareilly, I have the satisfaction of knowing that our labors were not altogether fruitless. Several of the Europeans who attended our little English service had spoken in grateful terms of the benefits received under the preaching. Among these was the excellent Dr. Bowhill, Surgeon of the Sixty-eighth Native Infantry. This gentleman had a very narrow escape for his life on the day of the massacre. His horse carried him only about twenty miles, and then fell dead lame. The remainder of the seventy-four miles he had to walk (with a very occasional lift on the horses of others of the party) under a broiling sun. I went to meet and congratulate him on his escape. We kneeled down together, and never shall I forget his emotions while I offered up to the service of the Holy Trinity the life that had been so mercifully preserved! It was a privilege to have made the friendship of such a man; and not only so, but also to have had that friendship cemented by the holiest ties. His sense of duty led him, as soon as the Commissioner arranged the letter post along the Himalayas, to venture to cross to Mussoorie and thence to Kurnal, and then join any passing column, so as to reach the little English army before Delhi, where his professional services were so much required. The brave man made his perilous way in safety, and we heard occasionally from him. In reply to a letter which I had written, expressing my gratitude for great professional kindness, especially at Nynee Tal, and adding a word or two to “strengthen his hands in God,” he says: “I do not feel that I am in any way entitled to the thanks you give for my attendance on your family. Inasmuch as the soul is more worthy than the body, so much the more are