"
The very evening that Lord Lansdowne arrived for his projected
tour, the news of a serious outbreak in Manipur was telegraphed.
The Viceroy at once decided to abandon his tour and to proceed
straight to Simla, to which the Government offices had already
moved, and where his presence would be urgently required. Lord
William Beresford, the Military Secretary, a prince of organisers,
at once took possession of the telegraph wires, and in two hours
his arrangements were complete--or as an Anglo-Indian would put
it, "he had made his bundobust." The Viceroy and my sister were to
leave next morning at 6 a.m., and Lord William undertook to get
them to Simla by special trains before midnight. He actually
landed them there by 11 p.m.--quite a record journey, for Naini
Tal is 407 miles from Simla, of which 75 miles have to be ridden
or driven by road and 66 are by narrow-gauge railway, on which
high speeds are impossible. There were 6500 feet to descend from
Naini, and 6000 feet to ascend to Simla, but in India a good
organiser can accomplish miracles.
The Viceroy's tour being abandoned, Colonel Erskine, the
Commissioner for the Kumaon district, invited me to accompany him
on his own official tour.
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