The people were leaving the city to escape the coming storm,
and were taking refuge in the villages. English reenforcements were at
last coming up from Allahabad, while the greedy sepoys were clamoring
for money and gold bangles. Accordingly Nana hastened back to Cawnpore
and scattered wealth with a lavish hand; and sought to hide his fears by
boastful proclamations, and to drown his anxieties in drink and
debauchery.
Within a few days more the number of helpless prisoners was increased to
two hundred. There had been a mutiny at Fathigarh, higher up the river,
and the fugitives had fled in boats to Cawnpore, a distance of eighty
miles. They knew nothing of what had happened, and were all taken
prisoners by the rebels, and brought on shore. The men were all
butchered in the presence of Nana; the women and children, eighty in
number, were sent to join the wretched sufferers in the house near
Nana's headquarters.
Meanwhile Colonel Neill, commanding the Madras Fusiliers, was pushing up
from Calcutta.
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