Numbers
were murdered in the river, but at last the firing ceased. A few escaped
down the river, but only four men survived to tell the story of the
massacre. A mass of fugitives were dragged ashore; the women and
children, to the number of a hundred twenty-five, were carried off and
lodged in a house near the headquarters of Nana. The men were ordered to
immediate execution. One of them had preserved a prayer-book, and was
permitted to read a few sentences of the liturgy to his doomed
companions. Then the fatal order was given; the sepoys poured in a
volley of musketry, and all was over.
On July 1st Nana Sahib went off to his palace at Bithoor and was
proclaimed peshwa. He took his seat upon the throne, and was installed
with all the ceremonies of sovereignty, while the cannon roared out a
salute in his honor. At night the whole place was illuminated, and the
hours of darkness were wiled away with feasting and fireworks. But his
triumph was short-lived. The Mahometans were plotting against him at
Cawnpore.
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