--Early looting--A
white elephant--Evidence of looting--The practice excused--A lucky
haul--Scruples cast aside--Personal experiences--A tempting display--No
proper account rendered--Method of search--A mine of wealth--A neglected
opportunity--A happy thought--A wrinkle--A favourite hiding-place--An
exceptional house--A mishap--Art treasures--"'Tis an ill wind,"
etc.--Pleasant memories

INDEX

LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

PLAN OF DELHI, 1857

PLAN OF THE MILITARY STATION AT FEROZEPORE

DELHI, FROM THE MOSQUE PICKET

THE SMALL PICKET, SABZI MANDI, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST

FROM THE SMALL PICKET, SABZI MANDI, LOOKING TOWARDS KISHENGANJ

SKETCH TO ILLUSTRATE THE ENGAGEMENT AT NAJAFGARH IN AUGUST, 1857

KING OF DELHI AS A PRISONER IN 1857

"HOMEWARD," NEAR JERRICK, ON THE INDUS

[Illustration: PLAN OF DELHI 1857

N _Here Nicholson fell on Sept 14th_]

REMINISCENCES OF THE SIEGE OF DELHI, 1857

CHAPTER I

FEROZEPORE

The actual Mutiny of the Bengal army broke out at Meerut on May 10,
1857. Events had happened in the Lower Provinces which foreshadowed the
coming storm, and one regiment of native infantry had been disbanded;
but no one, not even those in high authority, had the faintest suspicion
that our rule in India was imperilled. So strong, indeed, was the
sense of security from present danger that the Government, with almost
culpable neglect, still confided to the care of the native army the
large arsenals of Delhi, Ferozepore, and Phillour, in all of which
immense quantities of ammunition and munitions of war were stored.

There was not a single white regiment stationed at Delhi, not even a
European guard, the charge of the arsenal, the largest in Upper India,
being entrusted to a few officers and sergeants of artillery. The same
may be said of Phillour, in the Punjab--a small station, where only
native troops were quartered. The fort of Ferozepore, near the left bank
of the Sutlej River, was guarded by 100 men detailed from the sepoy
regiments at that cantonment, and, with Phillour, constituted the
only places from which ammunition could be drawn for the large force,
European and native, guarding the newly-acquired province of the Punjab.

Her Majesty's 61st Regiment of Foot was stationed at Ferozepore in May,
1857. In that corps I held a commission as Lieutenant, and, during the
absence of my Captain on leave in Kashmir, was in temporary command of
the Grenadier Company.

The r