e, of which Lucknow is the capital.

* * * * *

Not for a moment did Havelock make light of the difficulties that lay
before him. They would have been great enough with a large force, and
his was now reduced to twelve hundred British soldiers, three hundred
Sikhs, and ten guns, while cholera had begun to make its appearance.
However, the passage had to be made somehow, and there must be no delay
in making it.

First, boats were collected, and as the boatmen secretly sided with the
sepoys, the hundreds of little craft generally to be seen on the river
had vanished. At length about twenty were found concealed, and as the
Ganges was dangerous to cross in its present state, the old boatmen were
bribed, by promises of safe-conduct and regular pay, to pilot the troops
to the Oude bank. Even under their skilled guidance the river was so
broad that a boat could not perform the passage under eight hours, and a
week passed before the whole force was over and encamped on a strong
position in Oude.

Well, they were at last on the same side as Lucknow--that was something;
but they still had forty-five miles to march, wide rivers to cross, and
Nana to fight, and Havelock knew that the sepoy general had an instinct
for war as keen as his own. But Lucknow must be relieved, and the sooner
the work was begun the better.

* * * * *

Two days after the landing of the British a battle was fought at Onao
against the steady, well-disciplined soldiers of Oude, whose gunners
were said to be the best in India. The fighting was fiercer than any
Havelock had yet experienced, but in the end the enemy was beaten back
and fifteen guns taken. The next day there was another battle and
another victory, but the general had lost a sixth of his men and a third
of his ammunition--and he had only gone one-third of the way. Nana Sahib
was hovering about with a large body of troops, ready to fall on him;
how under the circumstances was it possible for him to reach Lucknow?

Therefore, with soreness of heart, he gave the order to fall back till
the reinforcements which he had been promised came up, and to send the
sick and wounded, of which there were now many, across to Cawnpore.

* * * * *

Deep was the gloom and disappointment of the 'Ironsides' as they marched
back along the road they had come; but far deeper and more awful was the
disappointment of the ga