lls broken down.

The story of the siege of Lucknow has been told by poets and prose
writers for over a half century, but the theme is still full of
interest. Tennyson dealt with it in a ballad that is full of fire, each
verse ending with the spirited refrain:

And ever upon the topmost roof the banner of England blew.

All that it is necessary to do here is to refresh the reader's memory
with the salient events. The besieged were admirably handled by
competent officers and they beat off repeated attacks by the mutineers
(who outnumbered them more than one hundred to one). Lawrence was
fatally wounded on July the second and died two days later. In September
General Havelock, after desperate fighting, made his way into Lucknow,
but his force was so small that only fifteen hundred men were added to
the garrison. It was not until November the seventeenth that the
garrison was finally relieved by the union of forces under Havelock and
Outram and Sir Colin Campbell. Never in the history of warfare has a
garrison had to endure greater hardships than that of Lucknow. Incessant
attacks by night and day kept the small force worn out by constant guard
duty and, to add to their miseries, intense heat was made more merciless
by swarms of flies. When one bears in mind that the Indian summer brings
heat of from one hundred and ten to one hundred and forty degrees it may
be seen how great was the courage of the garrison that could fight
bravely and cheerfully under such heavy odds. The memorial tablets at
Lucknow, Delhi, Cawnpore and other places bear witness to this heroism
of the British soldier during the mutiny, but you do not fully
appreciate this splendid courage until you see the country and feel the
power of its sun.

Cawnpore, which is only three hours' ride from Lucknow, is another city
of India that recalls the saddest tragedy of the mutiny. Here it was
that bad judgment of the general in charge led to great suffering and
the final butchery of all except a few of the residents. Sir Hugh
Wheeler, a veteran officer, wisely doubted the fidelity of the Sepoys
and decided to establish a place where he could store supplies and
assure a safe asylum for the women and children; but, instead of
selecting the magazine, which was on the river and had strong walls, he
actually went down two miles in a level plain and threw up earth
entrenchments. This he did because he said he feared to excite the
suspicion of the Sepoys and thu