Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/157

Rh attack, by chaining them to the spot, might ultimately involve their own destruction. I shall have to relate that, so far as the sipáhís were concerned, this reasoning was justified to the letter. No one dreamt at that time that the smiling and obsequious prince, who was wont to drive in from Bithor to aid the civil authorities with his advice, would possess the influence and the inclination to turn the fury of the revolted sipáhís against the wives and children of the officers they had followed in many a hard-fought field.

Sir Hugh Wheeler made the selection I have spoken of the very day that the sad story of the revolt at Mírath reached him. From that date there reigned in his mind the conviction that a rising at Kánhpur might take place at any moment. He pushed on, therefore, the fortifying and victualling of the two barracks with as much speed as possible. The fortifications were to consist of earthworks. But the rains had not fallen; the soil of the plain was baked almost to the consistency of iron, and the progress was consequently slow. Whilst pushing on these works, Sir Hugh communicated freely with the civil authorities at the station, with Sir Henry Lawrence at Lakhnao, and with the Government at Calcutta.

The Collector of Revenue at Kánhpur was Mr Hillersdon. Between this gentleman and Náná Sáhib there had been considerable official intercourse, and the Englishman had been pleased by the friendly and courteous manner and conversation of the Asiatic. When the news of the Mírath outbreak reached Kánhpur, the Asiatic showed his further friendliness by advising Hillersdon to send his wife and family to Bithor, where, he assured him, they would be safe against any possible outburst on the part of the sipáhís. Hillersdon declined for the moment, but when, a little later, the Náná offered to organise 1500 men to