Encouraged by Mr. Fullarton, Percy got out his pistols on the first day when the practice began, and never missed an opportunity afterwards. "Never mind the rifle," his friend said; "you are not likely to do tiger-hunting at present, and you will have plenty of time and opportunities for that later on. Stick to your pistol practice; you are going among a wild set of people, where the knife is readily drawn in a quarrel, and where men do not hesitate to rid themselves of a foe or a rival by assassination. Practise with your pistols steadily on every occasion here, and keep it up afterwards; it may be of more use to you than everything you have learnt at school from the day when you first went there. You know I approve of your sticking to your Punjaubi, but you can well spare an hour three or four times a week; and although it may do you more good in your future career to be a good linguist than to be a good pistol-shot, the last may be the means of saving your life, and unless you can do that, your study of languages will be so much time thrown away."
And so by the end of the voyage Percy became a very fair shot with the pistol, and indeed there were few of the passengers who could break a swinging bottle more frequently than he. He was surprised, when the anchor dropped, at the eagerness evinced by the majority of the passengers to get on shore. He himself looked on quietly, for the captain had said to him early that morning, "There is no use in your hurrying ashore, Groves; you know no one there, and an hour earlier or later will make no difference to you. I shall be going off this afternoon and will take you with me, and after I have been to the shipping office I will go with you to the people you have letters for. I know them personally, and an introduction from me will probably interest them more in you than will the formal letter those lawyer fellows are likely to have written."
The captain’s introduction was of great benefit to Percy. The agent took an interest in him, and put him up at his house for a fortnight. At the end of that time he arranged for him to take a passage up country in a native craft that two or three officers had chartered to convey them to Delhi, beyond which town there would be no difficulty in hiring a boat to the point at which he would disembark, and thence travel up by road. He enjoyed his journey much, although it occupied a considerable time. He could have gone very much faster by road; but time was no particular object, and the agent thought that he would be cheated right and left in his bargains for vehicles, and might not improbably have some of his baggage stolen. Percy greatly preferred the passage by river, and when finally he had to take to a close vehicle, he congratulated himself that he had accomplished the greater part of the journey free from the dust, heat, and inconveniences of land travel. He learned that he would have done much better had he taken his passage from England to the other side of India and ascended the Indus, but he supposed that his uncle had directed him to come _via_ Calcutta because his own agent was there and could make the arrangements for him, and he perhaps considered that the passage thence by water would be much safer than one through the recently-conquered province of Scinde.