68 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



in command of the British, had thrown up five- 

 foot intrenchments about the cantonment and had 

 lodged therein some eight hundred persons, of 

 which number the wives and children of soldiers 

 and civilians formed a large percentage. These 

 were gathered in two bungalows in the centre of the 

 intrenchments, which, during the three weeks of 

 the siege, were pounded day and night by the grape- 

 shot and cannon-balls of the rebels. Their rations 

 consisted of a handful of flour and split peas daily, 

 increased only when some horse or dog strayed into 

 the cantonment, and they suffered fearfully from 

 thirst, their only water being drawn from the well 

 outside by brave men who took turns in sacrificing 

 their lives to alleviate the pain of the women and 

 children within. 



Finally, on June 25, the Nana offered to those 

 who would surrender a safe journey down the river. 

 They marched to the Ganges, this ragged, half- 

 starved band, and there, from the steps of a washing 

 ghat, prepared to enter the thatch-covered boats 

 which lay in readiness for their passage to freedom. 

 The oars were in the locks and the native crews sat 

 ready to man them. After their weeks of anxiety 

 and suffering the thought that their troubles were 

 past and that now, after all, they were to see home 

 and friends once more, must have given them a 



