But our stay at Agra was not a period of idleness. Reviews and sham battles kept the troops occupied from hour to hour. I had command of a brigade, and often left my tent before the dawn, when night still darkened all around, and the stars alone lit up the sky. It was during the month of November, and the fall of meteors was constantly to be seen; their appearance as they fell in dazzling brightness being most startling and sublime. From all parts of the compass they came. First a long stream of light, which reminded me of the ‘bouquets’ the Russians sent us during the siege of Sebastopol, and then a ball of fire, which burst like a rocket, leaving all in darkness again. And so it continued till the sun rose in its splendour, and the air became full of noisy life. As a variety to our military morning work, there were various large dinners, given by the governor-general and the commander-in-chief. There were dances also. The Rajah of Jeypore entertained us all at a splendid ball, and Scindia illuminated the Taj. We should have enjoyed our halt at Agra very much had not that dreadful curse, cholera, invaded the camp, and caused the loss of several valuable lives. One night my wife alarmed me by assuring me that she felt very ill. The medicine-chest was in our other large tent, where my wife’s maid slept, at some distance from the one we were occupying. I got hold of my bearer, and, writing a note, dispatched him with it to M’Kay, the maid. After some delay, she appeared, very lightly clad, with my note in her hand, saying, ‘A man had come a long way with this, and wanted the colonel to get it at once.’ Her knowledge of Hindostani was limited, and she had not recognised the bearer. CHAPTER VI. DELHI. BY TRAIN TO DELHI--THE RAILWAY STATION IN 1866--BRIDGE OF BOATS--PALACE OF DELHI--THE JUMNA--MUSJID--REMINISCENCES OF DELHI--VALUABLE COPY OF THE KORAN--AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SULTAN BABER--MAUSOLEUM OF SUFTER JUNG--MARCH IN COLD WEATHER--LUXURIOUS TENTS--SOLDIERS’ WIVES IN INDIA--KURNAL--GOVERNMENT STUD--CHRISTMAS IN INDIA--UMBALLAH--TREMENDOUS STORM--UMRITSUR--MARCH INTO RAWUL PINDEE. CHAPTER VI. Owing to the fell presence of the grim visitor, cholera, the durbar broke up sooner than was intended, and my regiment received orders to proceed by train to Delhi, _en route_ to Rawul Pindee. My wife not being very well, I decided to go on at night by passenger train. The left wing of the regiment was to follow by special train, but the station-master was not certain when he could despatch them, leaving a wide margin, between 6 p.m. or 1 a.m. 3 a.m. saw us, tired and miserable, at our journey’s end, standing on the railway platform, without a coolie to help us with our luggage, or any more light than the glimmer our own lantern afforded. Such was the Delhi railway-station in 1866.