Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/194

160 moved slowly towards the river. The sick and wounded were carried in palanquins supplied by Nana Sahib, and the baggage was piled upon elephants. No order was observed in boarding the boats, which lay a few feet from the shore; each boat was to push off when loaded, but when the cargoes were on board it was found that every boat was fast in the sand. At a signal from the shore the crews of the boats jumped overboard and made for the shore, and then the rebels opened upon the doomed band with small-arms and artillery. Before leaving the boats the crew had managed to secrete burning coals in the thatch roofs, and very soon they were found to be on fire. Two boats got away at last, but a murderous fire was maintained upon them. Of the whole party of two hundred and more, only four escaped; those who were not killed by the enemy's shot or drowned in the river were taken back to Cawnpore, where they were held as prisoners until the massacre, which preceded the arrival of the relieving column of General Havelock on the 16th July. In that massacre some two hundred English and half-castes, mostly women and children, were slaughtered and thrown into a well by orders of Nana Sahib. General Havelock marched up the Grand Trunk road in the direction of Cawnpore with 1,400 European soldiers and 8 guns. As soon as news of his advance was received at Cawnpore, Bala Ras went out with every available man in the endeavor to stop him. Nana Sahib's brother was defeated at Aong, in Futtypore. The bridge over the Pandu was carried after a sharp fight, and on the 15th of July the English triumphantly entered the District of Cawnpore. Bala Ras retreated to Cawnpore, carrying the news of his own repulse and suffering severely from a wound received in the fight. On the 16th July, Havelock halted his men at noon at Ahirwan, a station on the Grand Trunk road, about three