१८५७ का स्वातन्त्र्य समर (वीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर - अंग्रेजों द्वारा छपने से पूर्व प्रतिबन्धित महाग्रन्थ)

OUDH
the experience to know that those fires were the premoni-
tory symptoms of the rising. They, therefore, did not
give any special attention to it. Nay, more, even the
Sepoys made great efforts to put down the flames! This
fire served two purposes. One was that the members of
the secret society got notice that the time had come. The
other was to test the credulity and confidence of the Eng-
lish. On the 2nd of June, an extraordinary incident
occurred. The Sepoys complained that the flour bags
given to them contained powder of bones and refused to
take them. They also insisted that they should be instant-
ly thrown into the Ganges. The English quietly threw
the bags into the river! In the afternoon of the same
day, the Sepoys suddenly rushed into the gardens of the
English and everyone helped himself to whatever fruit he
liked and as much as he liked. The English officers pro-
tested vehemently, but the Sepoys did not stop in their
repast to listen to the remonstrance! After the terrible
feast, they began an equally terrible exercise in order to
digest the food! On the 3rd of June, a batch of Sepoys
went up to the treasury and captured it, and the rest went
and attacked the house of the Chief Commissioner. On
the way, they met Colonel Birch and Lieutenant Graves
and killed them. The 9th irregulars, also, killed their
officers. All the Sepoys would shout, "The Feringhi rule
is at an end!" and fall upon any Englishman they met.
The commissioner and his wife were running towards the
river. He, his wife, and a boy were killed while crossing
the river. Thornhill and his wife, also, fell a prey to
bullets. The Sepoys in their rage killed about twenty-four
English. Many others among the English, however, ran
to the Zemindars of Ramkote, Mitavali, etc., enjoyed their
hospitality for eight or ten months, and then were taken
safely to Lucknow. All the Sepoys of Sitapur then went
to Farrukabad. The fort there, in which the Englishmen
had taken refuge, was taken after severe fighting and the
Englishmen were massacred. Nabob Tafuzar Hossein
Khan was re-established on the Gâdi which had been
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