Page:The tourist's guide to Lucknow.djvu/54

Rh and attended to all their wants with as much solicitude as if they had been their own relatives."

58. The pursuing enemy was stopped at the Iron Bridge by the guns of the Redan Battery, and, at the Stone Bridge, by the fire from the Machhi Bhawan Fort. They opened fire upon both posts, however, from guns which they put in position across the river; and with the 8-inch howitzer, which was captured at Chinhut, they threw several shells into the Residency. The enemy entered the city by fording the river lower down. They got into the houses adjoining the intrenchment which were rapidly loop-holed, and, before night, a fire of musketry was opened upon us. From 11 a. m., on 30th June, 1857, the siege of Luck- now may be said to have begun. The defeat, the pur- suit, and the investment of our position had been so rapid and unexpected that it caused great confusion in the Residency. As soon as the alarm of the coming foe was spread, the servants took to flight, and the work-people, who were engaged on the defences, took the opportunity of escaping. Long, however, before all the proposed batteries were thrown up, the rebels, assembling in vast numbers, began the blockade of the place, and everything which was at the moment outside the line of works was lost. By the abandonment of the unfinished works the west and south faces of our position had been left almost defenceless, and particularly the Martiniere post, which was protected only by a rough palisade ex-tending along the outer front.

59. The King's Prison, nearly opposite the Baillie Guard Gate, soon attracted our attention. The prisoners were seen making their escape, holding on by ropes let down from the high walls and windows. From the terrace of the house, in the Martiniere post occupied by us, a steady fire was kept up on the liberated "Jail birds" whilst taking their flight, but it soon became too hot for us to remain there, owing to the bullets which began flying about in all directions. The enemy's guns were not yet quite in position, consequently we did not feel the full effect of them on the first day. They, however, soon established