the coming storm,
and were taking refuge in the villages. English reenforcements were at
last coming up from Allahabad, while the greedy sepoys were clamoring
for money and gold bangles. Accordingly Nana hastened back to Cawnpore
and scattered wealth with a lavish hand; and sought to hide his fears by
boastful proclamations, and to drown his anxieties in drink and
debauchery.

Within a few days more the number of helpless prisoners was increased to
two hundred. There had been a mutiny at Fathigarh, higher up the river,
and the fugitives had fled in boats to Cawnpore, a distance of eighty
miles. They knew nothing of what had happened, and were all taken
prisoners by the rebels, and brought on shore. The men were all
butchered in the presence of Nana; the women and children, eighty in
number, were sent to join the wretched sufferers in the house near
Nana's headquarters.

Meanwhile Colonel Neill, commanding the Madras Fusiliers, was pushing up
from Calcutta. He was bent on the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow, but
was delayed on the way by the mutinies at Benares and Allahabad. In July
he was joined at Allahabad by a column under General Havelock, who was
destined within a few weeks to win a lasting name in history.

General Havelock was a Queen's officer of forty years' standing; but he
had seen more service in India than perhaps any other officer in Her
Majesty's Army. He had fought in the first Burma War, the Kabul War, the
Gwalior campaign of 1843, and the Punjab campaign of 1845-1846. He was a
pale, thin, thoughtful man; small in stature, but burning with the
aspirations of a Puritan hero. Religion was the ruling principle of his
life, and military glory was his master passion. He had just returned to
India after commanding a division in the Persian War. Abstemious to a
fault, he was able, in spite of his advancing years, to bear up against
the heat and rain of Hindustan during the deadliest season of the year.

On July 7th General Havelock left Allahabad for Cawnpore. The force at
his disposal did not exceed two thousand men, Europeans and Sikhs. He
had heard of the massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th, and burned to avenge
it. On July 12th he defeated a large force of mutineers and Mahrattas at
Fathipur. On the 15th he inflicted two more defeats on the enemy.
Havelock was now within twenty-two miles of Cawnpore, and he halted his
men to rest for the night. But news arrived that the women and children
were still aliv