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

KUMAR SINGH AND AMAR SINGH
well done ! It was the cage that was hit, and the lion
had already escaped all unscathed !
For, though six divisions had advanced and fallen on the
town as ordered, yet the seventh one was late by five
hours and the shrewd Amar Singh, with all his forces,
vanished by his very side, taking full advantage of the
delay of that division of the foe.
Therefore, abandoning the plan which had proved so in-
effectual as regards the crushing of the Behar Revolu-
tionaries, the English government sent a division of
mounted infantry to pursue them. This ever-increasing
and ever-pursuing force of the enemy left not one moment
of rest to Amar Singh. The new rifles that were introduc-
ed into the enemy's camp at this time had made the
matchlocks of the Revolutionary forces almost useless, and
the infantry found it impossible to outrun the horsemen's
pursuit. Still, Amar Singh talked not of surrender ! On
the 19th of October the English forces shut up the Revo-
lutionaries, first in the village of Nonadi and, out of four
hundred of them, they cut off three hundred ! The re-
maining one hundred dashed out desperately into the field
outside, like infuriated tigers, and fought a bloody battle
with the new division of British forces that had just
arrived. It was found in the end that out of these only
three escaped—and one out of the three was the Rana Amar
Singh who had been fightting all the while incognito.
Many were the bloody encounters and many the pools of
blood through which the Panday army had to swim
across. But, still, the flag of liberty was unbent ! So
narrow were their escapes that, once, the very elephant of
the Rana was captured ; but the Rana jumped off from it
and vanished. In this way, the Revolutionaries contested
every inch of their ground, while being pressed on-
wards and onwards out of their province ; and now
they had reached the hills of Kaimur, for " the
whole population of the district constantly and
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