CHAPTER XXXIION LEAVE FOR TWO YEARS
Riding accident at Cawnpore—Foot seriously injured—Get two years’ leave of absence—Voyage to Cape Town—On to Australia—A strange cabin
ABOUT three months after our return to Cawnpore I was able to move about a little on crutches, but not to go to parades for some months more, nor to sleep nor rest on my left side. At last I managed to resume the command of the regiment and to carry on the orderly room duties, and finally to attend parades mounted; but I could not carry my sword, although my wound was by this time quite healed up, for the parts were so tender and sensitive that I could not bear the weight and friction of my sword against my side. My orderly, therefore, always carried it for me. On the very first ride I attempted to take into the country, my horse shied while passing a bullock-dray on a small, low bridge (not more than three or four feet high), slipping his hind legs over the bridge and falling backwards right over with me. We both came down together, and my right foot stuck in the stirrup, until the weight of my body carried it clear away. My ankle was much sprained in consequence, but I got up at once and managed, with the assistance of two officers who were with me, to mount again and to ride home. I sent at once for our surgeon, who ordered me to keep quiet and to bathe my ankle constantly in cold water under a pump. For days and weeks I thought very little of my accident, but my ankle and leg swelled very much and got worse and worse, with much pain, for many months afterwards. Various lotions were applied, but I got no better, and as my general health now began to fail, I was frequently confined to bed for weeks, and almost to the house for twelve months.
I now seriously began to think of getting leave of absence, and in December of this year (1844) I consulted our surgeon, Dr. Davidson, accordingly, and he said there would be no difficulty in granting my request. So he at once wrote an official letter recommending me for leave of absence to proceed to Calcutta for the purpose of appearing before a medical board, and that letter I myself (as commanding officer) forwarded to the Adjutant-General of H.M. Forces in India for the consideration of the Commander-in-Chief, and in the next General Orders my name appeared for leave to Calcutta for the purpose above stated.
In January, 1845, I took public leave of the officers of my regiment in the messroom, and with Captain Waddy (who also got leave of absence), Mrs. Waddy, and their children, left Cawnpore for Calcutta. We travelled together as far as Benares. There I took passage in one of the well-found and comfortable public river steamers, but Captain Waddy and family hired a budgerow and soon followed with the current, but did not reach Calcutta till a fortnight after us. I had previously written to my friend and agent, John Allan (one of the wealthy merchants of the “City of Palaces”), telling him that he might expect me, and requesting him to make every inquiry for passages for us to Sydney or to any part of Australia. He received me most kindly, and insisted on my taking up my quarters under his hospitable roof. He told me there was no chance of a direct passage to Australia, but that he had written to Mauritius and to Singapore to inquire if we could get passages in a vessel from either of these places for our destination.
Meantime I reported my arrival to the military authorities, and was told a medical board would assemble on a given day, and that I had better call on Dr. Murray, Inspector of Hospitals and chief of the Medical Department. I did so, and after a conversation, in which I expressed my wish to be sent to Sydney, where my family then was, he said he was afraid he could not recommend me to be sent there, as his instructions were to send officers who received long sick-leave direct to England. I explained that that would not suit me at all, as to see my wife and family was of more importance to me than even my health. He then said he would consider it and would give me an answer the next day. I called the following morning, and he told me that in the event of my medical board recommending me for leave of absence, he would request I might be sent to Sydney. A few days afterwards I appeared before the board, and after they had asked me a few questions my leave was granted for two years, to proceed to New South Wales for the recovery of my health.
By this time Mr. Allan had received answers to his letters to Singapore and to Mauritius informing him there was not the slightest chance of finding passages from either of those places to Australia; he therefore advised me to go at once to the Cape of Good Hope, where we would be sure to find vessels for Sydney, as many of the English traders for that port called at the Cape for supplies. A fine ship was ready to sail in a few days for England, touching at Mauritius and at the Cape, so the Waddys and I secured our passages at once, with the understanding that we might leave either at Port Louis or at Table Bay, but when we arrived at the former there was no prospect of a passage for any port of Australia, so we proceeded in a few days to Cape Town. There we landed and took up our quarters at a most excellent lodging-house; with us were two officers of the Madras army, one of whom was a medical man, well acquainted with my late brother, and he was most kind and useful to me. We were there for a week or ten days, and there being still no hope of a passage, we all made up our minds to leave our lodgings and to go together and occupy a very nice and partly furnished house in the country, five miles from Cape Town.
There we lived comfortably for another ten days, when Captain Waddy returned in a great hurry from the town one day to tell us that the shipPenyard Parkhad just arrived, bound for Sydney; she had put in for supplies, but was so full that he was afraid we should have some difficulty in getting passages. We at once determined to take our chances, no matter how limited the accommodation. Captain Waddy started, intending to go on board and to secure, at any price, the best cabins he could get for us. In a few hours he was back, and told us he had had much difficulty in securing for us two cabins at exorbitant prices—one cabin for himself and family on the lower deck, with scarcely any light or air, and for me, the second mate’s cabin, of only five feet long and four feet wide, leading from the quarter-deck into the poop, and where it was impossible for me in any way to stretch myself or lie down at full length. For this I was asked to pay seventy pounds, while Captain Waddy was to pay eighty for his. But we could not help it, and Captain and Mrs. Waddy made up their minds to go at any price, and to put up with any inconvenience, rather than lose the chance and remain behind, uncertain as to when another opportunity might offer, and for the same reasons I decided to accompany them. The captain, Sam Weller, came on shore to receive our money, and not one farthing less would he take.
The passengers were a poor and humble set. The food was indifferent, but the captain was a most attentive and first-rate seaman, and was never absent from his deck when his services were required. We sailed from the Cape about the end of April. My first night on board thePenyard Parkwas very miserable. I am six feet two inches, and could not stretch my legs, and was obliged to lie all doubled up in a most intensely uncomfortable position. I could not help complaining next morning. The captain said he was very sorry, but could not help me. At last a good-natured doctor said, “Well, Colonel Anderson, I’ll see if I can help you.” He then consulted his wife, and soon returned to say that, as his cabin was next to mine, he would order the carpenter to cut a hole through the partition above the level of his bed and raise my bed to that height, then to place over him a box long enough to receive my legs, and thus lengthen my bed as much as necessary. This novel mode of accommodation was soon completed by the carpenter, and from that day I was comparatively comfortable in my little cabin, and more than glad to hear that, although my box and my extra length were over the good doctor’s legs every night during the voyage, he felt no inconvenience from the intrusion.