Here was an undertaking of no ordinary danger. The guide would have to pass through the hostile ranks of the mutineers in disguise; if detected, he would have to submit to a death of torture. No wonder, then, that the bravest heart quailed before such an adventure. But the moment was urgent; the provisions were nearly exhausted; if the relieving army met with a check the whole garrison might perish. In this emergency Kavanagh came forward and offered his services. Not from mere recklessness. He knew the extent of the danger. He had counted the cost, and was prepared for success or failure. In Sir James Outram, the Chief Commissioner, he found a kindred spirit who could appreciate such an act of self-devotion: Outram entered readily into all his plans, and undertook to afford him every assistance. At first the native spy refused to encounter the risk of passing through the ranks of the enemy in company with a European in disguise, but his scruples were overcome. Kavanagh borrowed from the natives the different articles of clothing he required to complete his disguise, and when, arrayed in Oriental costume, he entered Outram’s quarters, his appearance was so altered that his most familiar friends failed to recognise him. The painter of the pictures composing the Victoria Cross Gallery, Mr. Desanges, has chosen this meeting as a subject for his canvas. The dignified Oriental is Kavanagh; the short, thick-set figure, who, cigar in mouth, is holding a plan of Lucknow in one hand, and giving the last touch to Kavanagh’s beard with the other, is the late Sir James Outram, and he is surrounded by officers of the garrison; in the background are Kunoujee Lal, the native spy, and some servants. At half-past eight o’clock on the evening of the 9th of November Kavanagh started on his arduous mission, followed by the prayers and best wishes of all who were intrusted with the secret. His most anxious thoughts were of his wife and children, who believed that he was to spend the night in the mines. The darkness of the hour was favourable to the enterprise. On reaching the river Goompty they had to strip and wade across. After crossing the river they crept up a trench for about three hundred yards, till they came to a grove of trees, where they stopped to dress. A man came down to the river to wash, but, fortunately, he did not observe them; they regained their confidence, and advanced towards the huts of the enemy in front. Kavanagh exchanged greetings with a matchlockman, taking care to be the first to speak. On proceeding about seven hundred yards farther they reached the iron bridge across the Goompty, and were challenged by a native officer. Kavanagh remained a little in the shade: the officer, satisfied with the answers of the guide, allowed them to pass. They continued to advance along the left bank of the river, where they were met by numbers of sepoys, till they reached the stone bridge, where they glided past the