_17th._--We are all terribly anxious about the hill stations, reports having reached us that the Goorkhas have mutinied and attacked Simla. 100 men, with ammunition, have gone off this morning to Kussowlee. Dugshai is easily defended. Simla is most to be feared.... All this has put out of my head for the time the good news for us. Yesterday I was sent for by the Commander-in-Chief, and appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General on his personal staff, to be under the immediate orders of his Excellency, and with command to raise 100 horse and 50 foot, for service in the Intelligence Department, and as personal escort. All this was done, moreover, in a most complimentary way, and it is quite in my line. I am prepared to set to work vigorously; but I confess my anxiety on account of the reports we hear respecting the hill stations makes me cruelly anxious.... General Anson, it seems, wrote about me to Talbot, but could get no answer before the outbreak occurred, which makes this act of his, on his own responsibility, the more complimentary. It is very uncertain now when we move on. All is quiet in the Punjaub, I am thankful to say, and the rebels have had a lesson read them at Ferozepoor which will do good. The 45th Native Infantry were nearly cut to pieces by the 10th Light Cavalry,[18] who pursued them for twelve miles, and cut them to pieces. This last is a great fact. One regiment at least has stood by us, and the moral effect will be great; nothing known yet from below. Poor Macdonald, of the 20th Native Infantry, his wife, and their three babes, murdered, with adjuncts not to be mentioned. John Lawrence is acting with great vigor, and they have organized a movable force at Jhelum, composed of her Majesty's 24th and 27th, the Guides, Kumàon Battalion, and other Irregulars, to move in any required direction. Montgomery writes in great spirits and confidence from Lahore. I am just sent for by the chief.
KURNÂL, _May 18th_.--According to orders, I left Umbâla at 8.30 P.M., and reached here at 4.30 A.M., having prepared everything at Peeplee _en route_. I had only "Bux"[19] with me, and did not apprehend any danger until within a few miles of Kurnâl, but nothing whatever happened; the road was deserted, and not a soul to be seen. I am sheltered in a house occupied by the refugees from Delhi and the civil officers of Kurnâl, about fifteen in all, with Mrs. Wagentrieber, her husband, and sundry sergeants, &c. The European troops will be here to-night. What would I not give for a couple of hundred of my old Guides! I flatter myself I could do something then. As it is, I must bide my time until I can get a few good men together on whom I can depend. I have been so busy all day, writing letters on my knee, sending off electric messages, _cum multis aliis_. I can but rejoice that I am employed again; certain, too, as I am, that the star of Old England will shine the brighter in the end, and we shall hold a prouder position than ever. But the crisis is an awful one!