the noon of manhood ; tall and stately. His
mien was erect and dignified until the men
of the Royal Artillery laid hands on him.
Then he seemed to feel that his hour had
come : a shudder shook his frame, his jaw
fell, and his ivory-white teeth were disclosed.
While the two men were being bound not a
syllable was uttered by the assembled crowd,
but a rattling of steel along the line gave
notice that the Enfield rifle was being prepared
for action. At the word "prime"—
and when the ominous click of the lock fell
upon the ear, the Tenth Native Infantry
visibly shook. It was evident that they did
not know but that next moment the rifles
might be brought to shoulder, and levelled
against their front.

Simultaneously with the loading of the
Infantry, the guns to the right and left of
the criminals were turned straight upon the
native regiments. They were loaded to the
muzzle with canister and grape, and the
gunners stood by the touch-holes with their
matches lighted. On the ramparts of the
fort four sixty-eight pounders were also laid
and ready.

By this time the prisoners were secured to
the two guns. There was a moment's pause,
which was broken by Captain Bolton, of the
Boyal Artillery, calling out, with a loud voice,
"Let all retire from the two guns except the
two men with the port-fires: at the word
'Fire,' apply the match." There was
probably a pause of two seconds' duration; then
the word "Ready!" was given by Captain
Bolton. The gunners took but a moment to
blow up their matches, but it seemed a long,
long time. The two prisoners and the two
artillerymen stood out in bold relief, immoveable
as statues. The awful stillness was at
length broken. The word " Fire!" rang out
clear as a clarion-note from the lips of Capt.
Bolton. Next moment, the earth shook as if
a volcano had opened at our feet. The guns
were enveloped in thick clouds of smoke,
through the white wreaths of which little
particles of a crimson colour were falling,
thick as snow-flakes. The particles were the
prisoners blown into atoms.

When the smoke cleared, a score or two of
half-naked men, each with a broom and a
small basket, were scattered over the plain.
They were the sweepers, picking up the
fragments for interment, and robbing the crows
of their morning repast. As the sun dipped
in a sea of gold the artillery limbered up,
the military marched to their lines, and the
crowd dispersed.

Those who witnessed the impressive scene
will never forget it. The Europeans were
scarcely one to a thousand—in fact, they
could hardly be seen amongst the myriads of
Asiatics; but all appeared as cool and confident
as if they had been at a review in Hyde
Park. And yet there was scarcely a man
present who had not been sleeping with a
loaded revolver in his bedchamber for
months, or who would have expressed the
least surprise if his slumber had been broken
any night by the rattle of musketry, and the
roar of artillery. So long had we all been
sojourning in the valley of the shadow of
death !

As distance lends enchantment to the view,
it is possible that the spectacle I have endeavoured
to describe may be denounced by
a class of Englishmen, as cruel and inhuman;
but they ought, before condemning, to pause
and reflect on the enormity of the crime,
which the men who were executed had projected.
They had planned the destruction of
every European—man, woman, and child—on
the island of Bombay.

As soon, however, as the present crisis has
passed, when the mutiny shall be over, and
order quite restored, I, for one, would recommend
the abolition of this punishment. India
has become so familiarised to the spectacle,
that it excites little or no dread. The gallows,
or Demarara has far greater terrors for the
miscreants of Cawnpore and Delhi, than
whole parks of artillery. They sneak like
dogs to the gallows to be hanged; but they
march like soldiers to the cannon's mouth to
be blown away!

A PACKET-SHIP'S COMPANY.

WE had been a fortnight on board the
mail packet on our way home from the West
Coast of Africa, and had exhausted nearly
every possible amusement it provided under
those circumstances and within those limits.
We had on board the usual complement of
strange-looking captains and traders from
the river Bonny, and, after passing Accra,
had watched the canoes come off through the
surf at Cape Coast Castle, and landed and
walked up to the governor's house at Sierra
Leone. We had played at whist and the
game of the race at all unoccupied times, and
had displayed our various vocal powers and
musical acquirements, which, I must confess,
were not of a nature to have enlivened any
circle,—and as we were homeward bound we
had no newspapers and very few books.

The passengers consisted mainly of officers
going home on sick leave; one of whom—
whose father held a civil appointment of
importance on the Gold Coast—was
accompanied by his sister. Then there were five
or six bronzed captains, and copper-coloured
merchants of gold dust and ivory, so that
altogether our number mounted to fourteen.
We were by no means a lively company, and
as I have said before, at the expiration of a
fortnight we seemed to have exhausted all
our amusements and consequently to have
annihilated every possible subject of mutual
interest.

Under these circumstances we had for two
or three evenings running, sat on the quarter-
deck beneath an awning, looking listlessly
from one to the other, watching young Wilson