A RIOT AT CAWNPORE.
While the guns of Delhi were saluting the raising of the British flag
over the royal palace, General Havelock and his force were fighting
their way up to Lucknow. On the 19th of September he crossed the
Ganges, brushed aside the enemy's opposition, and, after three days'
march in a tremendous rain, found them in force at the Alumbagh. After
a short, sharp fight they were defeated, and the Alumbagh fell into our
hands. All the stores and baggage were left here, with a force strong
enough to hold it against all attacks; and after a day to rest his
troops, General Havelock advanced on the 22d, defeated the enemy
outside Lucknow, and then, as the direct route was known to be
impassable, he followed the canal as far as the Kaiserbagh, and there
turning off, fought his way through the streets to the Residency, where
he arrived only just in time, for the enemy had driven two mines right
under the defenses, and these would, had the reinforcements arrived but
one day later, have been exploded, and the fate of the garrison of
Cawnpore might have befallen the defenders of Lucknow.
The desperate street fighting had, however, terribly weakened the
little force which had performed the feat. Out of fifteen hundred men
who had entered the city, a third were killed or wounded, among the
former being the gallant Brigadier-General Neil.
With so weak a force it was evident that it would be hopeless to
endeavor to carry off the sick, the wounded, the women, and children
through the army of rebels that surrounded them, and it was therefore
determined to continue to hold the Residency until further aid arrived.
The siege therefore recommenced, but under different conditions, for
the increased force enabled the British to hold a larger area; and
although the discomforts and privations were as great as before--for
the reinforcements had brought no food in with them--the danger of the
place being carried by assault was now entirely at an end.
One noble action connected with the relief of Lucknow will never be
forgotten. Before General Havelock started up from Cawnpore, General
Sir James Outram, his senior officer, arrived, with authority to take
the command. Upon his arrival, however, he issued a general order, to
say that to General Havelock, who had done such great deeds to relieve
Lucknow, should be the honor of the crowning success; and that he
therefore waived his seniority, and would fight under General Havelock
as a volunteer until Lucknow was relieved. A more generous act of
self-negation than this was never accomplished. To the man who relieved
Lucknow would fall honor, fame, the gratitude of the English people,
and all this General Outram of his own accord resigned. He was worthy
indeed of the name men gave him--the "Bayard of India."
The news that Lucknow was relieved caused almost as much delight to the
troops at Delhi as their own successes had given them, for the anxiety
as to the safety of the garrison was intense. To the Warreners the news
gave an intense pleasure, for the thought of the friends they had left
behind in that terrible strait had been ever present to their mind. The
faces of the suffering women, the tender girls, the delicate children,
had haunted them night and day; and their joy at the thought that these
were rescued from the awful fate impending over them knew no bounds.
It was not at Delhi, however, that the Warreners heard the news; for on
the 23d, only three days after the occupation of the city, they left
with the flying column of Colonel Greathead, which was ordered to march
down to Agra, clearing away the bands of mutineers which infested the
intervening country, and then to march to Cawnpore, to be in readiness
to advance on Lucknow. The boys had no difficulty in obtaining leave to
accompany this column, as Ned would naturally on the first opportunity
rejoin his regiment, which was at Cawnpore, while Dick was longing to
form one of the naval brigade, which, under Captain Peel, was advancing
up the country.
The rebels were found in force at Allyghur, and were defeated without
difficulty; and after several minor skirmishes the force marched
hastily down to Agra, which was threatened by a large body of the
enemy. Without a halt they marched thirty miles to Agra, and encamped
in the open space outside the fort.
Just as they were cooking their meals a battery of artillery opened
upon them, an infantry fire broke out from the surrounding houses, and
a large body of cavalry dashed in among them.
For a moment all was confusion; but the troops were all inured to war;
with wonderful rapidity they rallied and attacked the enemy, who were
over five thousand strong, and finally defeated them with great
slaughter, and captured fourteen guns. Agra saved, the column started
two days later for Cawnpore; upon the way it defeated bodies of rebels,
and punished some zemindars who had taken part against us, and arrived
at Cawnpore on the 26th of October.
At Majupoorie, halfway up from Agra, the force had been joined by a
brigade under Colonel Hope Grant, who, as senior officer, took the
command of the column. They marched into Cawnpore three thousand five
hundred strong, all troops who had gone through the siege of Delhi; and
Ned at once joined his regiment, where he was warmly received.
On the following day the Ninety-third Highlanders and a part of the
naval brigade, two hundred strong, arrived; and Dick's delight as the
column marched in was unbounded. He reported himself for duty at once,
and, as among the officers were some of his own shipmates, he was at
once at home.
There was little sleep in the tents of the junior officers of the
brigade that night. Dick's name had been twice mentioned in dispatches,
and all sorts of rumors as to his doings had reached his comrades. The
moment, therefore, that dinner was over, Dick was taken to a tent,
placed on a very high box on a table, supplied with grog, and ordered
to spin his yarn, which, although modestly told, elicited warm applause
from his hearers.
On the 30th Colonel Grant's column moved forward, and arrived after
three days' march within six miles of the Alumbagh. They had with them
a great convoy of siege material and provisions, and these were next
day escorted safely into the Alumbagh, where the little garrison had
held their own, though frequently attacked, for six weeks. The
Sixty-fourth Regiment had already done so much fighting that it was not
to form part of the advance. The naval brigade was increased on the 1st
of November by the arrival of Captain Peel himself, with two hundred
more sailors and four hundred troops. They had had a heavy fight on the
way up, and had protected the convoy and siege guns of which they were
in charge, and had defeated the enemy, four thousand strong, and
captured all his guns, but with a loss to themselves of nearly one
hundred men. Soon after the commencement of the engagement, Colonel
Powell, who was in command of the column, was killed; and Captain Peel
then took command of the force, and won the victory.
The astonishment of the people of Cawnpore at the appearance of the
brawny tars was unbounded. The sailors went about the streets in knots
of two or three, staring at the contents of the shops, and as full of
fun and good humor as so many schoolboys. Greatly delighted were they
when the natives gave them the least chance of falling foul of
them--for they knew that the people of the town had joined the
mutineers--and were only too glad of an excuse to pitch into them. They
all carried cutlasses, but these they disdained to use, trusting, and
with reason, to their fists, which are to the natives of India a more
terrible, because a more mysterious weapon than the sword. A sword they
understand; but a quick hit, flush from the shoulder, which knocks them
off their feet as if struck by lightning, is to them utterly
incomprehensible, and therefore very terrible.
One day the Warreners were strolling together through the town, and
turned off from the more frequented streets, with a view of seeing what
the lower-class quarters were like. They had gone some distance, when
Ned said:
"I think we had better turn, Dick. These scowling scoundrels would be
only too glad to put a knife into us, and we might be buried away under
ground in one of these dens, and no one be ever any the wiser for it. I
have no doubt when we have finished with the fellows, and get a little
time to look round, there will be a clear sweep made of all these
slums."
The lads turned to go back, when Dick said, "Listen!"
They paused, and could hear a confused sound of shouting, and a noise
as of a tumult. They listened attentively.
"Ned," Dick exclaimed, "I am sure some of those shouts are English.
Some of our fellows have got into a row; come on!"
So saying, he dashed off up the narrow street, accompanied by his
brother. Down two more lanes, and then, in an open space where five or
six lanes met, they saw a crowd. In the midst of it they could see
sabers flashing in the air, while British shouts mingled with the yells
of the natives.
"This is a serious business," Ned said, as they ran; "we are in the
worst part of Cawnpore."
Three or four natives, as they approached the end of the lane, stepped
forward to prevent their passage; but the lads threw them aside with
the impetus of their rush, and then, shoulder to shoulder, charged the
crowd.
Expecting no such assault, the natives fell aside from the shock, and
in a few seconds the boys stood by their countrymen. There were six in
all--sailors, as the boys had expected. The fight had evidently been a
sharp one. Four or five natives lay upon the ground, and two of the
sailors were bleeding from sword-cuts. The tars gave a cheer at the
sight of this reinforcement, especially as one of the newcomers was a
naval officer--for Dick had bought the uniform of a naval officer
killed in the fight of the 1st.
The infuriated crowd drew back for a moment; but seeing that the
reinforcement consisted only of two lads, again attacked fiercely. The
boys had drawn their swords, and for a minute the little party fought
back to back. It was evident, however, that this could not last, for
every moment added to the number of their foes, the budmashes flocking
down from every quarter.
"Now, lads," Ned shouted, "get yourselves ready, and when I say the
word make a dash all together for that house at the left corner. The
door is open. Once in there, we can hold it till help comes. Press them
a bit first, so as to scatter them a little, and then for a rush. Are
you all ready? Now!"
With a cheer the sailors hurled themselves upon the crowd in a body.
The surprise, added to the weight and force of the charge, was
irresistible; the natives were sent flying like ninepins, and before
the enemy quite understood what had happened, the whole party were safe
in the house, and the door slammed-to and bolted.
"See if there are any windows they can get in at."
The men ran into the two rooms of which, on the ground floor, the house
consisted; but the windows in these, as is often the case in Indian
towns, were strongly barred. There was a furious beating at the door.
"It will give in a minute," Dick said. "Upstairs, lads; we can hold
them against any number."
"It's lucky they did not use their pistols," Ned said, as they gathered
in the upper room; "we should have been polished off in no time had
they done so."
"I expect they made sure of doing for us with their swords and knives,"
Dick replied, "and did not like to risk calling attention by the sound
of pistol-shots. Now, lads, how did you get into this row?"
"Well, your honor," said one of the tars, "we were just cruising about
as it might be, when we got down these here lanes, and lost our
bearings altogether. Well, we saw we had fallen among land pirates, for
the chaps kept closing in upon us as if they wanted to board, and
fingering those long knives of theirs. Then one of them he gives a push
to Bill Jones, and Bill gives him a broadside between the eyes, and
floors him. Then they all begins to yell, like a pack o' they jackals
we heard coming up country. Then they drew their knives, and Bill got a
slash on his cheek. So we, seeing as how it were a regular case of an
engagement all along the line, drew our cutlasses and joins action.
There were too many of them, though, and we were nigh carried by the
pirates, when you bore up alongside."
At this moment a crash was heard below; the door had yielded, and the
crowd rushed into the lower part of the house. When it was found to be
empty there was a little delay. No one cared to be the first to mount
the stairs, and encounter the determined band above. Dick stepped
forward to glance at the state of things below, when half a dozen
pistol-shots were fired. One inflicted a nasty cut on his cheek, and
another struck him on the hand.
"Are you hurt, Dick?" Ned said, as his brother leaped back.
"No, nothing to speak of; but it was a close shave. Perkins, pick up my
sword, will you? I didn't think of their firing."
"Being indoors, they are not afraid of the pistols being heard any
distance," Ned said. "Keep a sharp lookout, lads, in case they make a
rush upstairs, while I tie up my brother's hand and face."
"They are coming, sir," the sailors cried, as the house shook with the
rush of a body of men up the stairs.
"Stand well back, lads, and cut them down as they enter the door."
Pushed from behind, five or six of the enemy burst simultaneously into
the room; but ere they could fire a pistol, or even put themselves into
an attitude of defense, they were cut down or run through the body.
Then a tremendous crash and a wild cry was heard.
"Hurrah!" Dick shouted, "the staircase has given way."
Many groans and shrieks were heard below; then there was a sound of
persons being carried out, and for awhile, quiet below, while outside
the hubbub became greater.
"What is going on outside?" Ned said, and Dick and he peered through
the closed jalousies into the street.
A number of budmashes were bringing bundles of bamboos from a
basket-maker's shop opposite; some of the crowd were opposing them.
"They are going to fire the house," Dick exclaimed. "The people
opposing are the neighbors, no doubt. They'll do it, though," he added,
as the fiercer spirits drove the others back. "What's best to be done,
Ned?"
Ned looked round, and then up.
"Let us cut through the bamboo ceiling, Dick; there must be a space
between that and the roof. The wall won't be thick between that and the
next house, and we can work our way from house to house; and if the
flames gain--for they are sure to spread--we can but push off the tiles
and take to the roofs, and run the gantlet of their pistols and
muskets. Their blood's up now, and they will shoot, to a certainty. Do
you think that the best plan?"
"That's it. Now, lads, two of you stand close together; now, Perkins,
you jump on their shoulders and cut a hole through the bamboos with
your cutlass. Quick, lads, there's no time to lose;" for they could
hear the tramping of feet below, and the sound as the bundles of bamboo
were thrown down.
"Now, lads," Dick went on--for as a naval officer he was naturally in
command of the men--"take two or three of those rugs on that couch
there, and knot them together. Shut the door, to keep the smoke out.
There, they've lit it!"--as a shout of pleasure rose from below.
The bamboos were tough, and Perkins could not use his strength to
advantage. Smoke curled up through the crevices of the floor, and all
watched anxiously the progress made.
"That's big enough," Dick cried at last; "we have not a moment to lose,
the flames are making through the floor. Now, Perkins, climb through
the hole; now, lads, follow in turn."
Four of the sailors were rapidly through the hole.
"Now, lads, one of you two; don't waste time. Now, Ned, catch hold of
this man's legs and give him a hoist; that's right. Now drop that rope,
lad. Now, Ned, I'm in command; go on. Now, lads, catch this bundle of
rugs; that's right. Give me one end. There we are. Now spread one of
those rugs over the hole, to keep the smoke out. Now, lads, how is the
wall?"
"Quite soft, your honor; we'll be through in a minute."
In accordance with orders, those first up had begun at once with their
cutlasses to pick a hole through the mud wall which formed the
partition between the houses. Although thicker below, the divisions
between what may be called the lofts of the houses were made but of a
single brick of unbaked clay or mud, and as Dick clambered up through
the hole, the sailors had already made an opening quite large enough to
get through. All crept through it, and again Dick hung a rug over the
hole to keep out the smoke.
"Now, lads, attack the next wall again; but don't make more noise about
it than you can help. The people below will be removing what things
they can, and making a row; still, they might hear us; and it is as
well they should think us burned in the house where we were. But you
must look sharp, lads, for the fire spreads through these dried-up
houses as if they were built of straw."
The sailors labored hard, and they worked their way from house to
house; but the flames followed as fast; and at last, almost choked by
smoke and dust, Dick said:
"Quick, my men, knock off some tiles, and get on the roof, or we shall
be burned like rats in a trap. This side, the furthest from the street."
The tiles gave way readily; and each man thrust his head out through
the hole he had made, for a breath of fresh air. In a minute all were
on the roof.
"Crouch down, lads; keep on this side of the roof; people are not
likely to be looking out for us this side, they will be too busy moving
their furniture. Move on, boys; the fire is spreading now pretty nearly
as fast as we can scramble along."
It was already a great fire; down both the lanes at whose junction the
house first fired stood, the flames had spread rapidly, and leaping
across the narrow streets had seized the opposite houses. Already fifty
or sixty houses were in a blaze, although it was not five minutes from
the beginning of the fire.
"There is a cross lane about ten houses ahead, Dick," Ned said.
"We will stick on the last house as long as we can, Ned, and then slide
down by the rope on to that outhouse. They are too busy now with their
own affairs to think about us; besides, they suppose we are dead long
ago, and the fellows who are at the head of it will have made off to
look after their own houses, for the wind is blowing fresh, and there
is no saying how far the fire may spread. Besides, we shall have our
fellows up in a few minutes. Directly the fire is seen, they are sure
to be sent down to preserve order."
They were soon gathered on the roof of the last house in the lane, and
three minutes later were driven from it by the flames. One by one they
scrambled down by the aid of the rope on to the outhouse, and thence to
the ground. Then they passed through the house into the lane beyond.
Looking up the lane, it was an arch of fire; the flames were rushing
from every window and towering up above every roof, almost meeting over
the lane. Upon the other hand, all was wild confusion and terror; men
were throwing out of upper windows bedding and articles of furniture;
women laden with household goods, and with children in their arms and
others hanging to their clothes, were making their way through the
crowd; bedridden people were being brought out; and the screams,
shrieks, and shouts mingled with the roaring of flames and the crashes
of falling roofs. As in great floods in India, the tiger and the
leopard, the cobra and the deer, may all be seen huddled together on
patches of rising ground, their mutual enmity forgotten in the common
danger, so no one paid the slightest attention to the body of
Englishmen who so suddenly joined the crowd.
"Sheathe your cutlasses, my lads," Dick said. "There's no more fighting
to be done. Lend a hand to help these poor wretches. There, two of you
take up that poor old creature; they have carried her out, and then
left her; take her on till you find some open space to set her down in.
Now, Ned, you take a couple of men and work one side of the lane, I
will take the opposite side with the others. Let us go into every room
and see that no sick people or children are left behind. There, the
flames have passed the cross lane already; the corner house is on fire."
For quarter of an hour the tars labored assiduously; and many a
bedridden old woman, or a forgotten baby, did they bring out.
Fortunately at the end of the lane was an open space of some extent,
and here piles of household goods and helpless people were gathered.
At the end of a quarter of an hour they heard a deep tramp, and the
naval brigade, led by Captain Peel, filed up through the lane. The
sailors burst into a cheer as they saw their friends arrive, and these
responded upon seeing some of their comrades at work carrying the sick
and aged. Dick at once made his way to Captain Peel, and reported
briefly that the fire was in the first place lighted with the purpose
of burning him and his party; but that they had escaped, and had since
been at work helping the inhabitants.
"Very well," Captain Peel said. "You can give details afterward; at
present we have got to try and stop the flames. It seems a large block
of fire."
"It is, sir. It extends across several lanes; there must be a couple of
hundred houses in flames, and I fear, from what we have seen in the
lane we have been working in, a considerable loss of life."
"Mr. Percival," Captain Peel said to one of his officers, "take your
company and knock down or blow up all the houses on this side of that
lane there. Mr. Wilkinson, you take number two company, and do the same
with the lane to the right. The rest follow me. March!"
In five minutes all the tars and the Highlanders--who arrived on the
ground immediately after the sailors--were at work pulling down houses,
so as to arrest the progress of the flames by isolating the burning
block. Upon three sides they succeeded, but upon the other the fire,
driven by the wind, defied all their efforts, and swept forward for
half a mile, until it burned itself out when it had reached the open
country. In its course it had swept away a great part of the worst and
most crowded quarters of Cawnpore.
All through the evening and night the troops and sailors toiled; and
morning had broken before all danger of any further extension was over;
the men were then ordered home, a fresh body of troops coming up to
preserve order, and prevent the robbery, by the lawless part of the
population, of the goods which had been rescued from the flames. Then,
after a ration of grog had been first served out to each man, and
breakfast hastily cooked and eaten, all sought their tents, exhausted
after their labors.
It was not until evening that signs of life were visible in the camp.
Then men began to move about; and an orderly presently came across to
request the Warreners to go to Captain Peel's quarters to report the
circumstances through which the fire arose.
The lads related the history of the affair from the time when they had
come upon the scene, and Captain Peel expressed himself in terms of
warm laudation of their gallantry, quickness, and presence of mind.
Then the sailors were called up, and their story, although longer and
more diffuse than that told by the Warreners, was yet substantially the
same, and Captain Peel told the men that they ought not to have
wandered in that way into the slums of Cawnpore, but that beyond that
indiscretion they had acted, as reported by Mr. Warrener, with great
courage, coolness, and good discipline. Then the Warreners went back to
their tent, and had to go through their yarn again with great
minuteness and detail.
"I do think," said Rivers, a midshipman of some two years older
standing than Dick, "that you are the luckiest youngster in the
service. It is not one fellow in a hundred thousand who has such
chances."
"That is so, Rivers," one of the lieutenants answered; "but it is not
one in a hundred thousand who, having gone through such adventures,
would have been alive to tell them at the end. The getting into these
scrapes may be luck, but the getting out of them demands courage,
coolness, and quickness of invention, such as not one lad in a thousand
possesses. Now, Rivers, tell me honestly whether you think that, had
you been cut off as he was in that sortie at Lucknow, you would ever
have thought of robbing that old fakir of his wig?"
"No," Rivers said; "I am quite sure it would never have occurred to me.
Yes, as you say, sir, Dick Warrener has no end of luck, but he
certainly deserves and makes the best of it."