Begumbagh; A Tale of the Indian Mutiny, and three other short stories,
by George Manville Fenn.
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This book of short stories is an excellent read in the usual Fenn style
of suspense. "How does he get out of this one?" is always in the
reader's mind.
Most of the book is taken up with a story about the plight of the
British members of a small garrison, during the Indian Mutiny.
The second story is about half as long, and is a well-written and
extremely plausible story about a house owned by an old gentleman of
ancient lineage, where there is a collection of gold plate which was
said to be an "incubus", that is, the subject of a curse. As indeed
there turns out to be.
The third story is about a couple of smugglers who get trapped in a
"gowt", which is the exit to the sea of one of the great land-drains of
Eastern England, constructed by that great Dutch engineer, Vandermuyden,
in the seventeenth century.
And the last story is about a new and well-found ship, that nearly
doesn't weather a severe storm in the Atlantic. The captain has taken
to the bottle, and command is taken by a junior officer: the ship
survives.
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BEGUMBAGH, A TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY, AND THREE OTHER SHORT STORIES
BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.