Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/80

74 where they remained for some time with so little suspicion of their impending fate, that they laughed among themselves at the seeming oddity of this disposition, and amused themselves with conjecturing what they should next be ordered to do. About eight o'clock, those who had been sent to examine the rooms reported that they had found none fit for the purpose. On which the principal officer commanded the prisoners to go into one of the rooms which stood behind them along the varanda. It was the common dungeon of the garrison, who used to call it The Black Hole. Many of the prisoners knowing the place, began to expostulate; upon which the officer ordered his men to cut down those who hesitated; on which the prisoners obeyed. But before all were within, the room was so thronged, that the last entered with difficulty. The guard immediately closed and locked the door; confining 146 persons in a room not 20 feet square, with only two small windows, and these obstructed by the varanda.

It was the hottest season of the year; and the night uncommonly sultry even at this season. The excessive pressure of their bodies against one another, and the intolerable heat which prevailed as soon as the door was shut, convinced the prisoners that it was impossible to live through the night in this horrible confinement; and violent attempts were immediately made to force the door; but without effect, for it opened inward, on which many began to give a loose to rage. Mr. Holwell, who had placed himself at one of the windows, exhorted them to remain composed both in body and mind, as the only means of surviving the night, and his remonstrances produced a short interval of quiet; during which he applied to an old Jemautdar, who bore some marks of humanity in his countenance, promising to give him a thousand rupees in the morning, if he would separate the prisoners into two chambers. The old man went to try, but returning in a few minutes, said it was impossible; when Mr. Holwell offered him a larger sum; on which he retired once more, and returned with the fatal sentence, that no relief could be expected, because the Nabob was asleep, and no one dared to wake him.