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

THE CONFLAGRATION
ground beneath his feet would burst and swallow him.
Acccording to Brigadier Innes's calculation, the Revolu-
tionaries dynamited the Residency thirty-seven times !
The Revolutionary guns were, also, constantly active. The
Sepoys would send splendidly aimed shots against the
English and the English would reply to them. There were
death-dealing fights between bands of scouts which set
out at night to get secret information from the opposite
camps. Often, the secret whisperings of a group of men
either within or without the walls were heard by the other
party and nullified their plans. The Revolutionaries
amused themselves often by aiming a ball exactly at the
English flag and destroying it. And the English, also,
unfailingly hauled up a new one at the Residency as soon
as night fell. At such ghastly jokes, the battlefield of
Lucknow would open her terrible jaws and smile a deathly
smile ! Every night the messengers of the Revolutionaries
would go hiding near a part of the fort occupied by the
Sikhs or other Indians and ask them, " Why do you play
the traitor (Nimak haram) with the nation and thrust
the sword of the Feringhis into the bodies of your own
brethren ? " If any night these questions became persis-
tent, the " loyal " Sikhs, to have some fun, would ask
them to come near in order to converse better and, as soon
as they came, would make an Englishman who had hither-
to kept himself concealed stand up before them ! Seeing
such treachery, the Revolutionaries would return cursing
their baseness. Of all the splendid and untiring shots
among the Revolutionaries, an African eunuch who had
been in the service of the late Nabob spread terror in the
English Residency. He was nicknamed " Othello " by
the English.
About this time, Major Banks who had taken charge of
the office of chief commissioner of Oudh, after the death
of Sir Henry Lawrence, also fell dead by the bullet of a
Revolutionary. This was the second English chief com-
missioner killed during the siege ! But on account of the
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