It was now half-past eleven.

The _Sutlej_ was to sail at twelve.

Was there any chance of his being there in time?
The guard had said half an hour! If he had not, the General might have walked with those other impatient passengers.
But if the General was a religious man--nay, rather because he was a religious man--he looked for signs and portents from God for the direction of his everyday life.

He believed that God, amid all His whirling world of stars and all His ages, had leisure to attend to every unit of a life upon earth.

He believed in special Providences.
Everything that was dear to him or near to his heart he commended to God in his prayers.