Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: tents had been blown away. It was not possible to do anything while the storm lasted, so all hurriedly sought refuge in the still standing tent and waited till the fury of the tempest should be spent. Before very long a steady gale replaced the violence of the hurricane, and a heavy rain fell, accompanied by thunder and lightning; then this too passed, and the air became delightfully cool; the sun showed again in glory setting in the west, leaving behind him a surpassingly grand pageant of piled-up beds of orange and golden clouds with fiery edges too bright to look upon, and scattered wreathes of rosy red with streaks of amber and pale green sky between, fading into a tender pale primrose, as the stars came out, like silver spangles in the dark blue overhead. The thoughts of all now joyfully turned towards dinner. Damages were soon repaired, fires lighted, pots put on to boil, peacocks began to cry in the jungles, and partridges to call to each other in the fields, every bird and insect fell to making a joyful noise, for the storm that was over and gone. I sat down at my tent-door to enjoy a pipe, with the feeling of comfort which follows the relief from violence, when Jemadar Ram- deen Tewary stepped up to me with a very grave face, and saluting, said, " Sahib, the cholera is in our camp! " A sad night followed, wrestling against a worse foe than the tempest. First one poor fellow and then another was stricken by the dire disease, and before morning two lay dead. We did all that could be done for them, applying mustard poultices and hot fomentations, and giving doses of opium and ginger. Having no doctor with us, I felt keenly the responsibility, as all came to. me for advice and assistance. But no human aid was of any avail against the terrible disease. " Early the next m...