70 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



men and women below. They tried to push off from 

 the sand-bar, but the crews had unshipped the oars 

 and plunged with them to safety just before the 

 signal was given. Three only of the boats managed 

 to swing out into the river, two of which grounded 

 and their occupants were quickly killed by grape 

 and bullets. The third drifted out of sight down- 

 stream. The male passengers of the other boats 

 were slaughtered to a man, the soldiers rushing into 

 the water and dispatching those who tried to swim 

 away. 



The one hundred and twenty women and children 

 who remained alive, many of them, be it remem- 

 bered, being the wives of British officers, who had 

 never known a day's hardship in their lives, were 

 taken by the Nana back to the cantonment over the 

 same scorching road which an hour before they had 

 thought was leading them to liberty, and placed in 

 a small bungalow with two rooms twenty by ten 

 feet, a couple of servants' rooms at the back, and a 

 verandah running along the front. Here they were 

 confined for ten days, with others who had been 

 captured' about Cawnpore, two hundred and 

 eleven of them, of whom but five were men, 

 locked up in a house scarcely large enough to ac- 

 commodate a single family. There was no bedding 

 and they were fed on unleavened bread and lentil 



