Consequently the Europeans
in the barracks knew nothing of what was going on in the native quarter.
Meanwhile there were commotions in the sepoy lines and neighboring
bazaars. The sepoys were taunted by the loose women of the place with
permitting their comrades to be imprisoned and fettered. At the same
time they were smitten with a mad fear that the European soldiers were
to be let loose upon them. The Europeans at Meerut saw and heard
nothing.
Nothing was noted on that Sunday morning except the absence of native
servants from many of the houses, and that was supposed to be
accidental. Morning service was followed by the midday heats, and at
five o'clock in the afternoon the Europeans were again preparing for
church. Suddenly there was an alarm of fire, followed by a volley of
musketry, discordant yells, the clattering of cavalry, and the bugle
sounding an alarm. The sepoys had worked themselves up to a frenzy of
excitement; the prisoners were released with a host of jailbirds; the
native infantry joined the native cavalry, and the colonel of one of the
regiments was shot by the sepoys of the other.
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