388 ON THE IRRAWADDY

peace would most likely follow, and they might be exchanged
for any Burmese who fell into the hands of the English.
When they reached a village on the banks of the river, the
population on seeing them came round and would have mal-
treated them, had not the officer interfered and said he had
Bandoola’s orders to carry them safely to the court, and that
anyone interfering with them would be severely punished. The
head man of the village bent low on hearing the general’s name.

«T ask your pardon, my lord ; the prisoners shall not be
touched. But have you heard the news?”’

<¢T have heard no news,”’ the officer said.

‘Tt arrived here yesterday, my lord. The barbarians
have had the audacity to sail up with a great fleet of ships
to Rangoon. They had vessels of war with them, and
though our forts fired upon them, they had so many cannon
that we could not resist them, and they have captured the
town. This happened a fortnight since.”’

The officer stood thunderstruck at what appeared to him to
be an act of audacious insolence. However, after a moment’s
pause, he said wrathfully :

“Tt is of little matter. The town was weak and in no
position for defence, but a force will soon go down to sweep
these barbarians away. Now, get ready your war galley as
soon as possible.”’

Each village on the river was compelled by law to furnish
a war galley for the king’s service, whenever it might be re-
quired. These carried from fifty to a hundred men, and
some three hundred of these boats were always available for
service, and constituted one of the strongest divisions of the
fighting force of the Burman empire.

The village was a large one, and in half an hour the crew
of the galley were on board, and, rowing forty oars, started
up the river.