At last, however, when I was about eighteen, I gave them
no more trouble, for I got into a mess over a girl, and could
only get out of it again by taking the queen's shilling and
joining the 3d Buffs, which was just starting for India.
"I wasn't destined to do much soldiering, however. I had just
got past the goose-step, and learned to handle my musket, when I
was fool enough to go swimming in the Ganges. Luckily for me, my
company sergeant, John Holder, was in the water at the same time,
and he was one of the finest swimmers in the service. A
crocodile took me, just as I was half-way across, and nipped off
my right leg as clean as a surgeon could have done it, just above
the knee. What with the shock and the loss of blood, I fainted,
and should have drowned if Holder had not caught hold of me and
paddled for the bank. I was five months in hospital over it, and
when at last I was able to limp out of it with this timber toe
strapped to my stump I found myself invalided out of the army and
unfitted for any active occupation.
"I was, as you can imagine, pretty down on my luck at this time,
for I was a useless cripple though not yet in my twentieth year.
However, my misfortune soon proved to be a blessing in disguise.
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