Annesley of Surat and his times, the true story of the mythical Wesley fortune

Front matter

Wright

Annesley of Surat ana his times .

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Chapter I.— Samuel Annesley Proceeds To India

India a great attraction for adventurous young Eng¬ lishmen in the period following the Restoration — The East India Company’s policy at the time officially described as “ Trade, not Grandeur ” — The Company nevertheless eager to possess attributes of sovereignty — Establishment of a mint at Bombay — Annesley and two other youths appointed to work the mint machin¬ ery — Annesley’ a ancestry — Embarkation for India — A curiously assorted company as fellow- passengers — Soldiers — Women emigrants — Speculations as to Annesley’s marriage ......

Chapter Ii.— Aungier’s Bombay

Annesley’s landing in Bombay — A promising settle¬ ment created largely by the genius of Gerald Aungier — Aungier’s tactful Government — He incurs the dis¬ pleasure of the Court of Directors— Aungier’s defence of his administration — His death and character — A great terror spreading over India owing to the rise of Mahratta power under Sivaji — Henry Oxenden’s views of the Mahratta peril — A crisis precipitated by the seizure by the Mahrattas of the island of Kenery at the entrance of Bombay Harbour — Lieut. Thorpe’s disastrous expedition to Kenery — Capt. Richard Keigwin’s subsequent victory over the Mahrattas near Kenery — The Court of Directors’ hesitating instruc¬ tions in regard to the Mahratta occupation of Kenery — The Bombay Council makes peace with Sivaji —

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Death of Sivaji — Aurungzebe’s policy — Mogul occu pation of Kenery — Annesley’s transfer to Surat — The Bombay Militia — Cruel military discipline . . 50

CHAPTER III.— KEIGWIN’S REBELLION IN BOM¬ BAY Bombay officials — Henry Gary, the Chief Justice

John Francis, the Minister — -Sir John Child, the Gov¬ ernor — Child’s unpopularity — His excessive economy causes military disaffection — Captain Richard Keigwin heads a revolt — He seizes the fort and proclaims an independent Government — The “little false Scot,” Thorborne, the moving spirit in the rising — Keigwin maintains his position for nine months, holding Bom¬ bay “ for the King ” — Royal expedition despatched under the command of Sir Thomas Grantham to re¬ cover the island — Keigwin surrenders to Grantham —

The chief conspirators escape punishment — Keigwin’s action reviewed — Gary’s mission to Sambhaji, Sivaji’s son — Terms of the treaty concluded by Gary — Cap¬ ture of Sambhaji by Mogul troops — His execution . 75

CHAPTER IV.— THE EAST INDIA COMPANY MAKES WAR ON THE MOGUL A critical period for the Company — Sir Josiah Child, the President of the Board of Directors, declares for a strong policy in India — Bombay “ the Key of India ”

— Sir John Child ordered to abandon Surat for Bom¬ bay — He is appointed to the supreme control of the Company’s affairs in India — Mogul jealousy of Bom¬ bay — Declaration of war against the Mogul — Sir John Child proceeds to Surat to seoure redress of grievances . 91

CHAPTER V.— SURAT AND THE ENGLISH FACTORY Description of Surat — Commercial importance of the City — The English Factory — The President an auto¬ crat — Great official state maintained at the factory —

Swally Marine — The Mogul Governor — The Vaccaneuvis and the Harcoora — The Harcoora an official repor¬ ter — Quaint specimen of a Harcoora’s letters — The

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Harcoora’s blackmailing propensities — The population of Surat — The Memon Borahs — Abdul Gutfore or Jafar, the head of the community — The Banians —

Their curious tenets — The Parrakh family the head of the Banian community — Described as “ Errant Knaves ” — Their knavery curiously interwoven with the life history of Annesley — Progress of Annesley in official life — A dubious transaction — Petit and Bowcherthe “ Naughty interlopers ’’—English President invokes the Governor’s aid to suppress them — Pre¬ sent to the Governor — Annesley appointed second Member of Council — His domestic life— English trade in India in the seventeenth century ... 99

CHAPTER VI.— THE SIDHI’S INVASION OF BOM¬ BAY

Sir John Child’s expedition to Surat — Abortive nego¬ tiations with the Governor — Child quits Surat and makes war on the native shipping — Ominous attitude of the Sidhi or Mogul Admiral — Child issues an ulti¬ matum to him — Misgivings of the English Governor as to the Company’s policy — The Sidhi invades Bom¬ bay — Desperate resistance of the garrison — Perilous state of affairs — Child despatches a mission to the Em¬ peror Aurungzebe to sue for peace — He is ready to “ Kiss the floor of all servile offices ” — His despon¬ dent views of the English position in Western India —

The Surat Factors in confinement — Aurungzebe agrees to peace — Death of Child — His character . 124

CHAPTER VII.— PEACE WITH THE MOGUL

Position of officials after Child’s death — Career of Vaux the Deputy- Governor of Bombay — Vaux pro¬ ceeds to Surat to receive the Emperor’s farmcm — Ela¬ borate arrangements for the ceremony — The factors’ procession through the city — Farman handed over —

The farman translated— A great disappointment — The factors “ basely deceived ” by a “ perfidious Court.”

— The East India Company’s supremacy threatened by formidable rivals— Gloomy state of affairs in Western India — Terrible mortality in Bombay — Bartholomew

Harris becomes President of Surat and Annesley senior Member of Council — Court of Directors’ distrust of the management of their affairs at Surat — Annesley’s in¬ fluence — Harris is prevented from leaving Surat for Bombay by the local officials — The Company ap¬ points Sir John Goldsborough to the supreme charge of its affairs in India and despatches Sir John Gayer to Bombay as Governor — Gayer’s instructions — An¬ nesley incurs the censure of the directors — Precari¬ ous position of the Company’s affairs — The French capture four of the Company’s vessels — Indomitable spirit of the directors ......

CHAPTER VIII.— ANNESLEY IN CHAINS

Piracy in Indian seas — European freebooters — The English in Surat accused of being in league with the pirates — Depredations of Captain Evory or Avory — Seizure of Abdul Guffore’s ship worth Rs. 3,25,000 — Popular indignation — A guard placed over the English factory — The mob demand the execution of Annes¬ ley and his colleagues — The Governor refers the mat¬ ter to Court — Evory captures the Gunjsaivaee, an Im¬ perial pilgrim ship — An act of sacrilege — Renewed agitation against the English — The Governor causes all the English in Surat to be driven into the factory and orders irons to be placed on Annesley and the other leading men — The Governor’s action saves the prisoners from a worse fate — Fury of the mob — The Governor denounced as an unbeliever — Annesley’s defence of the English against the charges of abetting piracy — The Governor’s reply — Sir John Gayer’s indignation at the treatment of the English — He offers to provide a convoy for the Mogul ships .

CHAPTER IX.— THE EMPEROR AURUNGZEBE AND THE PIRATES

Aurungzebe’s anger at the piracies — Asad Khan, the Prime Minister, turns his wrath from the English — The Sidhi gives the English a certificate of character — TheEmperor decides to make theDutchand the French

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jointly responsible ;with the English for the pirates — Annesley’s warning to the directors as to the conse¬ quences of piracy — The Imperial decree arrives in Surat — Positionof the captives in the English factory Plot against Annesley’s life by some of his fellow-prisoners — Vaux implicated — Disaffection amongst the sailor captives — Captain Alexander Hamilton interrogated by Annesley — His contemptuous con¬ duct — Removal of the guards from the factory —

Vaux’s violent denunciation of Annesley and of the Company ........ 173

CHAPTER X.— KIDD THE PIRATE

Further acts of piracy — “ That grand villain Sivers, commonly called Chivers ” — Remarkable immunity of the pirates — Royal Proclamation against Evory and his associates — An expedition to extirpate the ' pirates decided upon — Captain William Kidd ap¬ pointed to command it — His aristocratic backers —

Kidd sails in the Adventure — Refits at New York and proceeds to the East — He turns pirate — Captures the Queda Merchant, a valuable Surat-owned ship — The crews of the Company’s ships Mocho and Josiah mutiny and join Kidd — Further depredations —

The DorrilFs successful fight with a pirate — Kidd’s

later career — Trial and execution . . . . 190

CHAPTER XI.— ANNESLEY’S FALL FROM POWER Critical condition of Annesley and his colleagues —

Death of the Governor — His friendship for the Eng¬ lish — The new Governor a different type of official —

The Queda Merchant outrage — Mocullees Khan, a great noble, interested in the vessel — Annesley bribes the Harcoora to secure a good report — Inaction of the authorities — The Evory Proclamation Bowdlerised — Sir John Child’s estate — Knavery of the Parrakhs Annesley and Vaux at open enmity — A lively corre¬ spondence— Death of Vaux by drowning— Vaux’s diary — The Court of Directors’ distrust of Annesley — Sir John Gayer’s adverse reports on Annesley—

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The Court of Directors dismiss Annesley from their service and appoint Stephen Colt in his place— An¬ nesley’s defence — Captain Alexander Hamilton’s aspersions on Annesley’s character . . . 208

CHAPTER XII.— THE OLD COMPANY DEPOSED- DARK DAYS IN SURAT A new crisis at Surat — Disquieting reports of the sup¬ pression of the Company and the formation of a new body — The intelligent anticipation of events — Aurung - zebe’s fresh outburst of anger — The English factory invested by Mogul troops — A brief respite — Yenwallidas, the Company’s broker, threatened with death — He pleads with Annesley to secure his release by agree¬ ing to the Governor’s demands — Annesley calls a conference of all the English in the factory — A deci¬ sion is unanimously reached to give the required guarantees against pirates — Sir John Gayer arrives at Swally — His instructions to Annesley to refuse to give the indemnity demanded — Under threats of an immediate attack Annesley yields to the Governor —

Arrival of the ship Russell with the formal intimation of Annesley’s dismissal— Annesley’s reception of the news — Colt assumes office — The Governor suspects a trick — Gayer discusses Annesley’s dismissal — Capture of Chivers and several of his men — Gayer’s curious attitude in regard to the captive pirates . . . 229

CHAPTER XIII.— THE NEW COMPANY— SIR

WILLIAM NORRIS’S MISSION The New Company establishes itself at Surat — Sir Nicholas Waite, the New Company’s President — Disagreements between the Old and the New Com¬ pany’s officials — Waite denounces the Old Company’s officials as “ thieves and confederates of pyrates ” —

Sir William Norris’s mission to the Great Mogul — - Opposition of the Old Company’s officials — Norris’s reception by the Governor of Surat — Annesley offers his services to Norris — Waite intrigues against Gayer — Arrival of Gayer at Surat — He is seized by the Governor's orders and imprisoned — Waite denounced by Gayer for treachery — Gayer’s unjustifiable opposition to Norris’s Embassy — Norris quits Surat for the Mogul Court — His affront to Asad Khan, the Prime Minis¬ ter — Aurungzebe’s reception of the Mission — Tortu¬ ous negotiations — Norris leaves the Mogul Camp in disgust — Aurungzebe orders him to return — Norris declines to obey and is made a virtual prisoner — He is ultimately permitted to depart — His arrival at Surat — Acrimonious controversy between Norris and Waite — Departure of Norris for England — His death at sea .

CHAPTER XIV.— THE TREACHERY OF SIR

NICHOLAS WAITE

Waite’s intrigues — Fresh act of piracy — The Old Company’s factory attacked — Gayer resolutely de¬ clines to surrender — Gayer’s bitter comments on Waite’s duplicity — Miserable condition of the Old Company’s servants — Appointment of a new Governor of Surat — Waite influences him against Gayer and the Old Company — Gayer more rigorously treated — — Waite proceeds to Bombay and assumes the office of Governor — His unsavoury reputation in Surat — The New Company’s disorderly factory — Gayer’s prolonged imprisonment — Emperor’s order for the seizure and confiscation of Annesley’s property — Annesley placed on the Register — Gayer willing to inter¬ vene on his behalf on terms — Waite’s career in Bom¬ bay — He is arrested by his Council and deported to England — Death of Aurungzebe— Gayer’s curious announcement of the Emperor’s demise — Contest for the succession between the Emperor’s sons — Gayer in disgrace — His death and character

CHAPTER XV.— ANNESLEY AND THE REV.

SAMUEL WESLEY

Annesley as a Free Merchant — His trading trans¬ actions — Deals in diamonds — Efforts to secure rein¬ statement — Letter to Sir Stephen Evans, a director, offering to superintend adjustment of the accounts

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with the Parrakhs — Curious autobiographical reflec¬ tions — Annesley appoints the Rev. Samuel Wesley his agent in England — Instructions to Wesley —

Violent dispute between Annesley and Wesley—

Susanna Wesley’s defence of her husband — Annes-

ley’s obstinate silence . . 299

CHAPTER XVI.— ANNESLEY’S LAST DAYS AND DEATH

The mystery of Annesley’s last days no mystery — He gives evidence before the Commission appointed to investigate the Parrakh’s accounts — The Commis¬ sioners’ unsatisfactory opinion of his evidence — The settlement— Annesley’s last years — The Free Traders of Surat — Annesley’s influence — The Overland Route — Annesley’s diminished wealth — He secures payment of a part of his claims on the Company — Mrs. Annes¬ ley petitions the Bombay Council informa pauperis —Death of Annesley — His will — Its extraordinary provisions prove that the idea that he left a fortune which the Wesley family might enjoy if they could discover it is a myth — Mrs. Annesley’s death — Her will — The undiscovered Wesley fortune delusion dis¬ cussed — Annesley’s character — The period covered by his career the dark age of the English in India —

Changed conditions immediately after his death — Establishment of British power at Surat by Henry Lowther — Conclusion ...... 321

( From Dr. Adam Clarke's “ Memoirs of the Wesley

Family.")

SAMUEL (ANNESLEY) went abroad in the service of the East India Company. He there accumulated a considerable fortune and made frequent remittances to his family at home. He had borne strong testimony against the mismanage¬ ment and speculations of certain persons in the Company’s service, which probably created him mortal enemies. Intending to return home, he wrote to his brother-in-law, Mr. Samuel Wesley, to purchase for him an estate of £200 or £300 per annum somewhere between London and Oxford. But it seems he suddenly disappeared and no account was ever received of his person or property ! The very time of his coming home, and the ship by which he was to come, were announced ; and his sister, Mrs. Susanna Wesley,- came to London ex¬ pecting to meet him, but no brother appeared when the ship arrived ! And all the information that was ever received was to this effect : — that he had gone up into the country and was never heard of more ! (When the noises 1 were heard in the Parsonage at Ep worth Mrs. Wesley supposed they betokened the death of her brother in India ; but it is certain that he was alive several years after those noises ceased at Ep worth.) There is most certainly a mystery in this transaction, which it is possible a future day may explain- Mr. John Wesley used to say to his nephews : ‘ You are heirs to a large property in India if you can find it out, for my uncle is said to have been very prosperous.’ ” — p. 244.

“ In the hands of a good investigator this letter (from Susanna Wesley to Samuel Annesley, quoted at page 31 7) might lead to some discovery relative to the end of Mr. Annesley, and where his property has been left and who has possessed it. That there were nefarious transactions in the manage¬ ment of the Company’s concerns at that time the above letter sufficiently states ; and that Mr. Annesley’s honesty might have led to his ruin is a possible one. That he should disappear and never more be heard of, and that his property should all have been lost, are mysteries which probably at this distance of time cannot entirely be cleared up ; but some discovery may yet be made.” — Id. p. 246.

“ In the year 1724 it was reported that Mr. An¬ nesley was coming home in one of the Company’s

1 The mysterious noises were heard at the Epworth Rec¬ tory in the years 1715—16. — Author.

ships. Mrs. Wesley, hearing the news, came up from Epworth to' 'London to meet him, but the report was incorrect. This is the last mention I find of Mr. Samuel Annesley in any of the family papers which have come under my notice. Nor is there any certainty when he died. We know he was alive in 1712 and possibly in 1720 or 1721. Mrs. Wesley’s letter to him is dated January 20, 1722 — his, to which it is an answer, was most probably written in 1720. It is likely that his wife died before him and that there were no children ; hence the Wesley family always supposed they were his heirs.” — Id., p. 251.

(From “ The Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, M.A. ,” by L. Tyerman.)

“ Samuel (Annesley) went abroad in the service of the East India Company, accumulated a con¬ siderable fortune and intended to return to Eng¬ land ; but all at once he suddenly disappeared and no account was ever received either of his person or of his property. The probability is that he was robbed and murdered.”

(From “ Susanna Wesley ,” by J. H. Ingham ;

Eminent Women Series.)

“ In going out to India Mr. Annesley hoped to amass a fortune, and is supposed to have done so, though at the time he was expected to return to England he was lost sight of, and no intelligence of his fate, nor any of the money he had obtained, ever reached his relatives.” — p. 128.

(From“ Hetty Wesley ,” by Sir A. T. Quitter -Couch.)

“ At Surat, by a window of his private office in the East India Company’s factory, a middle-aged man stared out upon the broad river and the wharves below. Business in the factory had ceased for the day : clerks and porters had gone about their own affairs, and had left the great building strangely cool and empty and silent. The wharves, too, were deserted — all but one, where a Hindu sat in the shade of a pile of lug¬ gage, and the top of a boat’s mast wavered like the index of a balance above the edge of the land¬ ing stairs.

“ The luggage belonged to the middle-aged man at the window : the boat was to carry him down the river to the Albemarle East Indiaman anchored in the roads with her Surat cargo aboard. She would sail that night for Bombay and thence away for England.

He was ready ; dressed for his journey in a loose white suit, which, though designed for the East, was almost aggressively British. ... He wore no wig (though the date was 1723), but his own grey hair, brushed smoothly back from a sufficiently handsome forehead and tied behind with a fresh black ribbon. . . .

“ The ceremonies of leave-taking were done with ; so far as he could, he had avoided them. He had ever bee'n a hard man, and knew well enough that the clerks disliked him. He hated humbug. He had come to India almost forty years ago, not to make friends but to make a for¬ tune. And now the fortune was made, and the room behind him stood ready, spick and span, for the Scotsman who would take his chair to¬ morrow. . . .

“ On board the Albemarle Mr. Annesley found the best cabin prepared for him, as became his importance. He went below at once, and was only seen at meal times during the short voyage to Bombay. . . . Here Captain Bowes was to take in the bulk of his passengers and cargo, and brought his vessel close alongside the Bund. Dur¬ ing the three days occupied in loading and stow¬ ing little order was maintained, and the decks lay open to a promiscuous crowd of coolies and porters, -waterside loafers, beggars and thieves. . . .

“ The first two days Mr. Annesley spent upon the poop, watching the mob with a certain scorn¬ ful interest. On the third day he did not appear, but was served with tiffin in his cabin. At about six o’clock the second mate— a Mr. Orchardsought the captain to report that all was ready and waiting the word to cast off. His way led past Mr. Annesley’s cabin, and there he came upon an old mendicant stooping over the door handle and mak¬ ing as if to enter and beg ; whom he clouted over the shoulders and cuffed up the companion ladder. Mr. Orchard afterwards remembered to have seen this same beggar, or the image of him, off and on, during the two previous days asquat against a post on the Bund, and watching the Albemarle, with his crutch and bowl beside him.

“ When the rush came, this old man, bent and blear eyed, was swept along the gangway like a chip on the tide. In pure lightness of heart a sailor, posted at the head of the plank, expedited him with a kick. ‘ That’ll do for good-bye to India,’ said he, grinning.

“ The old man showed no resentment, but was borne along bewildered, gripping his bowl to his breast. On the quay’s edge he seemed to find his feet, and shuffled off towards the town, without once looking back at the ship.”

*****

(After the Albemarle’s arrival in England.)

“ That same evening, in Mr. Matthew Wesley’s parlour, Johnson’s Court, Captain Bowes told the whole story— or so much of it as he knew. The disappearance from on board his ship of a person so important as Mr. Samuel Annesley touched his prospects in the Company’s service, and he did not conceal it. He had already re¬ ported the affair at the East India House, and was looking forward to a highly uncomfortable inter¬ view with the Board of Governors.

tk The Captain nodded back, set down his glass and resumed. Quite so. The next thing is that Mr. Orchard, returning to deck two minutes later and having to pass the door of Mr. Annesley’s cabin on his way, ran against an old Hindu beggar crouching there, fingering the door handle and about to enter — or so Orchard supposed, and kicked him up the companion. He told me about it himself the next day when we found the cabin empty, and I began making inquiries. “ Now here,” says you, “here’s a clue,” and I’m not denying but it may be one. Only, when you look into it, what does it amount to ? Mr Annesley — saving your presence — was known for a stern man : you may take it for certain he’d made enemies over there, and these Hindus are the devil (saving your presence again, ma’am) for nursing a grudge. “ Keep a stone in your pocket seven years ; turn it, keep it for another seven ; ’twill be ready at hand for your. enemy” — that’s their way. But, to begin with, an old jogi is nothing strange to meet on a ship before she clears : these beggars in the East will creep in anywhere. And, next, you’ll hardly maintain that an old beggarman (“seventy years old, if a day” said Orchard) was going to take an active man like Mr. Annesley and cram him bodily through a cabin window ! ’Tis out of nature. And yet when we broke into the cabin, twenty-four hours later, there was not a trace of him : only his boxes neatly packed, his watch hanging to the beam and just running down, a handful of gold and silver tossed on to the bunk — just as he might have emptied it from his pockets — nothing else, and the whole cabin as neat as a pin.’ ”

* * * * *

“ Mrs. Wesley sat tapping the mahogany gently with her finger-tips. ‘ To my thinking the key of this mystery, if there be one, lies at Surat. My brother had powerful enemies : his letters make that clear. We must inquire into them — their numbers and the particular grudge they bore him — and also into the state of his mind. He was not the sort of person to be kidnapped in open day.’

“ - ‘ By a Thames waterman, for instance,

madam ? ’ said Captain Bowes jocularly, but instantly changed his tone. ‘ You suggest he may have disappeared on his own account ? To avoid his enemies, you mean ? ’

“ ‘ As to his motives, sir, I say nothing ; but it certainly looks to me as if he had planned to give you the slip.’

‘ And left his money behind ? Not likely ! ’ ”

* * * * *

(Some years later.)

“ The man sat, naked to the waist, at the en¬ trance of a low cave or opening in the hillside.

He seemed to be of great age, with a calm and almost unwrinlded face and grey locks falling to his shoulders, around which hung a rosary of black beads, very highly polished and flashing against the sun. From the waist down he was wrapped in a bright shawl, and beside him lay a crutch and a wooden bowl heaped with rice and conserves.

“ Before the two Britons could master their dismay, Bhagwan Dass had run towards the cave and was imploring the holy man to give them shelter and hiding. For a while he listened merely, and his first response was to lift the bowl and invite them with a gesture to stay their hunger. Fam¬ ished though they were they hesitated, and reading the reason in their eyes, he spoke for the first time.

“ ‘ It will not harm you,’ said he in Hindu¬ stani : ‘ and the villagers below bring ;me more than I can eat.’

‘‘ From the moment of setting eyes on him . . . a blessed sense of protection fell upon the party ; a feeling that in the hour of extreme need God had suddenly put out a shield, under the shadow of which they might rest in perfect confidence. And, indeed, though they knew the mountain to be swarming with their enemies, they entered the cave and slept all that day like children.”

“ He turned and walked swiftly from them, mounting the slope with swift loose strides. But while they stared, Bhagwan Dass broke from them and ran in pursuit.

Not without thy blessing ! 0 Annesley

sahib, go not before thou hast blessed me ! ’

“ Two days later, at sunset, a child watching a little below the hermit’s spring saw him limp back to it and drink and seat himself again at the entrance of the cave ; and pelted down to the village with the news. And the people, who had supposed him gone for ever, swarmed up and about the cave to assure themselves.

Alas ! ’ said the holy man, gazing out upon the twilight when at length all had departed leaving him in peace. ‘ Cannot a man be anywhere alone with Cod ? And yet,’ he added, £ I was something wistful for their love.’ ”

(A century after Annesley ’s disappearance.)

4 See here, Ellerton, the rock is caverned and the gun must have broken through the roof. It doesn’t look to me like a natural cavern, either. Hi ! half a dozen of you, clear away this rubbish and let me have a nearer look.’

The men turned to and heaved away the fallen stones under which the water oozed muddily.

Just as I thought ! Nature never made a hole like this.’

“ An exclamation interrupted him. It came from one of the relief party who had clambered

PROLOGUE 29

into the cavern and was spading there in the loose soil.

“ c What is it ? ’

44 4 A skeleton, sir ! — Stretched here as natural as life.’

“ The General dismounted and clambered to the entrance, followed by his staff officer. As they reached it, the man stooped again and rose with something in his hand.

“ 4 Eh ? a begging bowl ? ’

“ 4 Not a doubt of it,’ said the staff officer, as his chief passed it to him. He examined it, turning it slowly over in his hands. ‘ It’s clear enough, though curious. We have struck the den of some old hermit of the hills, some holy man - ’

“ ‘ Who pitched his camp here for the sake of the water spring, no doubt.’

“ ‘ Queer taste,’ said the staff officer sagely. ‘ I wonder how the deuce he picked up his food ? ’

“ 4 Oh, the hill men hereabouts will travel leagues to visit and feed such a man.’

“ ‘ That doesn’t explain why his bones lie un¬ buried.’