Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/93

Rh They waited, then, impatiently, how impatiently only those can know who are waiting for a given signal to launch themselves on an enterprise which shall ensure glory or death, until the church bells should give intimation that the coast was comparatively clear. Then, when they heard the tolling, their impatience could not be restrained. Armed with sabre and pistol, the men of the 3d Cavalry galloped to the gaol to rescue their imprisoned comrades, whilst the sipáhís of the 11th and 20th hurried from their lines in tumultuous disorder. The troopers, on reaching the gaol, loosened the gratings of the cells in which their comrades were confined, the native guard fraternising with and assisting them. It took but a short time to drag out the manacled prisoners. A smith was handy. In a few minutes the fetters were removed, and the eighty-five rode back, mounted behind their deliverers, to the regimental lines.

When they arrived there they found that matters had progressed to a point from which there was no receding. Some of the European officers of the 20th N. I. had been shot, and Colonel Finnis of the 11th had been riddled to death by the sipáhís of the 20th whilst endeavouring to persuade the men of his own regiment to remain true to their salt. Not for the moment only, but throughout that long night, first the mutinous soldiery, then the scum of the population and the prisoners whom they had released, were absolute masters of the situation. The English authorities, civil and military, taken by surprise, had apparently lost their heads. Those in the highest places, the General, the Brigadier, the officers of the staff, were paralysed by the suddenness and tremendous character of the shock. Colonel Custance, commanding the Carabineers, on the first sound of the tumult, had ordered out his men, and had sent to ask for instructions. After a