the ladies and children to a state of great discomfort, for they could wash properly neither their clothes nor themselves. The decaying bodies filled the air with a horrible stench, and also attracted clouds of black flies, which swarmed on everything eatable, and tormented every person with their ceaseless stinging. An occasional fall of heavy rain purified the city for a while; but as fifteen or twenty inmates of the Residency were shot and buried daily, the enclosure soon became like a grave-yard. 3. The besiegers meanwhile kept up a constant fire, mingled with continual shouting and the blowing of bugles. Brigadier Inglis, who had succeeded. Lawrence in directing the defence, fortunately had a skilful officer of engineers, Captain Fulton, to assist him in destroying the mines with which the soil all round the Residency was bored like a piece of honeycomb. Now and then an 'explosion would stun the ears of the anxious garrison; but the genius of Fulton prevented the mining of the rebels from producing any very serious breach in the works. 4. As a specimen of the skill with which the rebels directed their fire, the following instance will serve. Upon a clock-tower which commanded the Residency, an African sharp-shooter established himself with his rifle and a telescope. There he sat perched on high, watching most patiently until he saw a man in an exposed position, when a little jet of smoke would issue from the loop-hole of the tower, and the object of his aim would stagger and fall, dead or 'desperately wounded. 5. This happened so often, that the artillery were desired to throw shells at the tower, for the special purpose of killing this marksman. A shell was thrown, and a little ring of smoke showed that it had burst just over the place where the negro was in the habit of standing; and yet, immediately after, a rifle-ball came whistling as usual from the loop-hole. Another shell was thrown, and another, and another-all with the same result. It seemed as if the man were shell-proof, for the firing was very exact, and it appeared to the besieged that he could not possibly escape the splinters. 6. The secret came out after the Residency was relieved. Whenever he saw, through his telescope, that a shell was about to be thrown, he went down a ladder into a 'cavern, which he had hollowed out as a place of refuge, and waited there until the shell had burst; then, climbing to his post again, he fired his rifle and brought down his man. He was killed at last, and was found lying dead, with his rifle and his telescope beside him. 7. In September, Captain Fulton, the engineer, was killed by a cannon-ball which took off his head. But before that month had closed, a letter reached the besieged, telling them the welcome news that a force under Sir James Outram was marching to relieve them; and next day a faint sound of cannon in the direction of Cawnpore seemed to announce the approach of their deliverers. 8. Great agitation and hurry among the enemy in the city confirmed this hope; and in the night that followed, the flashing of guns, seven miles off, was distinctly seen. Next day, officers in shooting coats and men in blue trousers were seen in the streets of Lucknow, fighting their way towards the Residency under a fire from every window and every roof. And then, at sight of their friends, cheers rose from every trench and battery within the shattered works of the Residency. ag-i-ta-tion, excitement. 1 The Residency. The official house of the English Governor of Oudh, with the adjoining buildings, had been fortified by the English. e-stab-lished, posted. 2 Succeeded Lawrence.-Sir Henry Lawrence, the Governor of Oudh, had been killed while heading a sortie from the Residency. 65. THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. 1. The deliverers had started from Cawnpore, under General Havelock; but they had been obliged to retreat. Sir James Outram then came to 'reinforce him. As his superior officer, he might have superseded Havelock in the command; but Outram was too noble for this. Saying that it would be unfair to deprive Havelock of a glory for which he had toiled so hard, he placed himself under that general's orders, and together they set out with 2,500 men. 2. Mile after mile the gallant force advanced under torrents of tropical rain, exposed almost 'continually to a deadly fire. A brick palace, standing in a garden, called the Alumbagh, formed the first great stronghold of the enemy; but it was taken. Then, approaching the city, they had to fight their way from wall to wall and from garden to garden. 3. Before one of the strongest batteries, a cunning trap, consisting of a ditch covered with thin bamboos, was laid for our troops, who, the natives thought, would try to storm the place with a rush. But they made a 'circuit, which saved them Sept. 23. from this snare. In spite of a terrific fire, Havelock forced his way into the Residency amid the almost frantic joy of the besieged. 4. There were then some days of plunder, during which our men loaded themselves with silks and jewels, curious weapons, china cups, ivory telescopes, and a thousand other rare and costly things. But it soon became 'manifest that the siege was not over -in fact, that the deliverers of the Residency were 'blockaded along with those whom they had come to relieve. 5. The incidents of the second period of the siege differed in no respect from those of the first, except that there were many more mouths to feed without any additional food for the purpose. There were 800 wounded and 410 women and children now within the trenches. September ended-October passed by-and November had begun, before a gleam of hope shone upon the disappointed and heart-sick defenders of the fortress. At last, one day the Union Jack was seen flying from the Alumbagh; and the news, that Sir Colin Campbell had got so far on his way to rescue them, diffused new hope through their sinking hearts. 6. It was then that a clerk named Kavanagh *volunteered to carry plans of the city and its approaches to Sir Colin. This brave man, having smeared his face and hands with lamp-black, and dressed himself in white muslin and yellow chintz, like an irregular soldier of the city, set out in company with a native spy. Wading the river, and threading the narrow streets of Lucknow, they got into the green fields, where Kavanagh grew so hungry that he ate a raw carrot with intense relish. 7. His shoes galled his feet, as the two made their way for eighteen miles by the light of the moon, and the paint was washed from his hands and partly from his face in wading through a reedy swamp; but he urged his timid companion on, and, after being questioned by several rebel sentinels, he delivered the letter, which he had carried in the folds of his turban, safely to Sir Colin. There was great joy in Lucknow when a signal-flag on the Alumbagh told of his safe arrival; and no one felt deeper joy than his wife, from whom he had concealed the dangerous enterprise. 8. Sir Colin then advanced by a round-about route, which took him to the eastward of the city; and by storming a fortified building, he opened a clear way to the Residency, now in reality relieved. The sight of the familiar red coats appeared in buildings where nothing but the dreadful 'spectacle of rebels had long been visible; and anxious eyes, dim with tears of thankfulness and joy, watched their approach, as they drove the lurking foes out of every house and place of shelter. Nov. 17, 1857 A.D. This final relief took place on the 17th |