Snakes. Delhi 305 



it we had a view of the whole position. There, 

 from their encampment upon the Ridge, the survivors 

 of the massacre, the little band of besieged, rather 

 than besiegers, lay overlooking the city, so close to 

 it that the clamour and everlasting hum of its huge 

 native population, now swelled by sixty thousand rebel 

 Sepoys within its walls, must have been heard day and 

 night. The little overworked handful of Europeans, 

 Sikhs, and Gurkhas, fought pitched battles and 

 skirmishes time after time with the mutineers, and as 

 often repulsed them with heavy loss. 



Their general died of cholera in July, and hope had 

 sunk low indeed by the time reinforcements and siege- 

 artillery began to arrive. Even then it was long before 

 it was decided to make the assault. Three months 

 looking at the city had had the effect of making it 

 appear more impregnable than ever. The British force 

 upon the Ridge never exceeded eight thousand men, 

 while the rebels numbered six or seven times that 

 amount. But a god was at hand, and his mere 

 presence proved more valuable than the reinforcements 

 which he brought with him in August to the hard- 

 pressed, weary watchers on the Ridge. 



John Nicholson saved the situation. Upon the 

 frontier this man had been literally worshipped by the 

 natives ; a rugged, great soul, he had " more resolution 

 in the heart of him, more light in the head of him, 

 than other men," and he "grappled like a giant face 

 to face, heart to heart, with the naked truth of things." 

 The times dead, dry fuel, waiting for the lightning 



20 



