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dart from his post.

There was no time to

recall him, even if there had been the inclination-but the adjutant suspected the truth, and the next moment the appearance of the man rushing from the gate, and bounding forward into the plain, confirmed that suspicion.

The adjutant's whole soul now became interested in the matter. He saw plainly enough that the individual was Appiah, who for his good conduct was already marked for promotion, on the very first vacancy after the supernumeraries should be absorbed. The man flew along with a speed that almost dazzled the eye; and he reached the objects of his anxiety just in time to catch his child from the arms of the fainting mother. With one hand he clasped it to his bosom, and with the other arm encircling his wife's waist, he retreated with all the speed such a burden would permit.

The Pindarries neared the fort. In vain the commandant ordered the adjutant to give the signal, and declared that the lives of two must be sacrificed to preserve the lives of

many. The adjutant, if hard of nerve, was not hard of heart; and if he did not refuse obedience, he delayed it. Meanwhile Appiah toiled on and onwards, and he heard the heavier trampling of the horses' hoofs, and he thought he felt their breath upon his neck. Gathering up his strength for the last desperate effort, for already the gate seemed turning on its hinges ready to shut out him and all he loved from hope and life,—panting,— breathless, his starting veins swelling almost to bursting, every object dancing before his eyes, he bounded once-twice as a courser just commencing a race,—and the third time he had passed the gate!

An instant more and it had rolled heavily on its creaking hinges, and the unwieldy machinery of its fastenings was adjusted-and the baffled spoilers who had been drawn nearer to the fort than prudence warranted, in their eager hope of outstripping the so hardly rescued, fell thickly beneath the shots from the ramparts. They were too exposed to the

heavy fire to venture on the commission of those devastations which formed the principal feature of their predatory warfare; and very soon they were seen scattered in all directions, and flying across the plain, until finally they disappeared.

Meanwhile Appiah had relinquished his precious burden to the care of the many hands stretched out to aid him The child, all unconscious of its danger or escape, moaned in the midst of the strange faces and stranger noises around it. Ummiah, the young mother, looked on the boy,-then on Appiah, who had fallen prostrate in a state of utter exhaustion. They brought water, and she, flinging herself by his side, put it to his lips, but, parted as they were, they received it not. She bathed his brow, and she looked into his open eyes, but they were fixed, and gave no sign of recognition. She felt his heart-its pulse had ceased; — his limbs fell powerless from her touch. Motionless he lay there, and some said it was a deep swoon. And they brought the

aid of the skilful, and Ummiah looked in his face as he attempted to draw her husband's blood, and she saw that it was hopeless!

The widow's wail,-the frantic cry of her agony,

proclaimed to the bystanders, that Appiah had purchased the safety of his wife and his son with his life.

LE PETIT NEZ RETROUSSÉ.

"WELL, what news have you this morning ?" said I to my dubash, as he was preparing my dejeuner with a countenance evidently expectant of this query.

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Ship come from England, Sar," said he.

"A ship!" said I, brightening at the thought of letters from home. "When did

she anchor ?"

"Three o'clock morning time, Sar, I hear. My brother dubashee too, Sar, same way like me. My brother go to that ship, speak to gentlemen, Sar, to take him sarvice, Sar; got very good character, my brother, Sar,―very good man."

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