On May 21st there was an alarm. European women and
families, with all European non-combatants, were removed into the
barracks, and General Wheeler actually accepted from Nana the help of
two hundred Mahrattas and two guns to guard the treasury. The alarm,
however, soon blew over, and Nana took up his abode at the civil station
of Cawnpore, as a proof of the sincerity of his professions.
At last, on the night of June 4th, the sepoy regiments at Cawnpore broke
out in mutiny. They were driven to action by the same mad terror which
had been manifested elsewhere. They cared nothing for the Mogul, nothing
for the pageant King at Delhi; but they had been panic-stricken by
extravagant stories of coming destruction. It was whispered among them
that the parade-ground was undermined with powder, and that Hindus and
Mahometans were to be assembled on a given day and blown into the air.
Intoxicated with fear and _bhang_, they rushed out in the darkness,
yelling, shooting, and burning according to their wont; and when their
excitement was somewhat spent, they marched off toward Delhi.
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