ream. Half-starved and weak as they were, they could scarcely
make head against the swift current, and three sank and disappeared. The
other four were stronger swimmers, and contrived to hold out till they
arrived at the territory of an Oude rajah who was friendly to the
English.

It was while they were resting here that they heard of the awful fate of
their countrymen. After a time Nana had desired that the women and
children should be spared, and the remnant were brought back to
Cawnpore. They were lodged, all of them, in two rooms, and here these
stayed, hardly able to breathe, and almost thankful when the expected
doom fell on them. After their sufferings death was welcome, even though
it came by the hand of Nana Sahib.

All this time Havelock (now brigadier-general), ignorant of the horrors
that were taking place, was advancing towards Cawnpore, which he knew
must be in the hands of the English before it was possible to relieve
Lucknow, lying further away across the plain to the north-west of
Allahabad. Neill had sent forward a detachment of four hundred British
soldiers and three hundred Sikhs under major Renaud, and Havelock, who
had arrived in the town just as they were starting, promised to follow
in a day or two, as soon as he could get ready a larger force. Eager
soldier though he was, he had long ago laid to heart the truth of the
old saying, 'for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe
the horse was lost; for want of a horse the man was lost; for want of a
man the kingdom was lost,' and he always took care that his nails were
in their places. Therefore he waited a few days longer than he expected
to do, and spent the time in enlisting a body of volunteer cavalry,
formed partly of officers of the native regiments who had mutinied, of
ruined shopkeepers, of fugitive planters, and of anybody else that could
be taught to hold a gun.

The general was still asleep in the hot darkness of July 1 when a tired
horseman rode into camp and demanded to see him without delay. He was
shown at once into the general's tent, and in a few short words
explained that he had been sent by Renaud with the tidings of the
massacre of Cawnpore.

[Illustration: A tired horseman rode into camp.]

Six days later 'Havelock's Ironsides,' numbering under two thousand men,
of whom a fourth were natives, began the march to Cawnpore, and five
days after the start they had won about half-way to the city the battle
of Futtehp