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 CHAPTER VI

months during which these events were occurring in Upper India threw a heavy weight of anxiety upon the Governor-General and his coadjutors at Calcutta. The first shock of surprise had speedily been followed by tidings which left no doubt as to the nature of the impending conflict. Each day brought a heavier tale of outbreaks, massacres, desperate conflicts, or scarcely less desperate escapes. It became apparent that at numerous points the English were in supreme peril. It was apparent, too, that the means at the disposal of the Government were utterly inadequate for their protection. Reinforcements had been sought in various quarters—Madras, Bombay, Ceylon, Lord Elgin's China force. Before May was over they were beginning to arrive, but they came in driblets, as compared with the multitudinous array of insurgents; and still smaller were the driblets in which it was possible, with existing facilities, or such as could be extemporised, to send them to the front. Meanwhile the whole country was like a volcanic soil seamed with igneous material, which, at any moment, at any spot, may burst into flames.