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

TEMPORARY PACIFICATION
upon as the opportune moment for rising and the Sepoys
began to hold secret meetings. Forrest tried his utmost
to send detectives into these meetings but did not succeed
on account of the extraordinary caution displayed by the
Sepoys. Therefore, he himself began to go about in
various disguises, now as a Brahmin, now as some one
else, and thus mixed with the people even in their exclu-
sive dinner parties. At last he found out that the secret
meetings were held in the house of a man called Ganga
Prasad. Then he entered the house of Ganga Prasad
after threatening to arrest him if he opposed, and saw what
happened at one of those secret meetings through an
aperture in the wall, unknown to the Revolutionaries who
met there. Not only this, but he also brought with him
later on some English officers of the regiment and let
them see the secret meetings for themselves. When the
latter saw there coming in to the meeting, one after an-
other, Sepoys who were reckoned as the most loyal, they
whispered in amazement, “ My God, my own men ! Is
it possible ? ” The general plan of the Sepoys was to
make a rising in Bombay at first, then to march towards
Poona, capture that city, raise the banner of Mahratta
Kingdom, and proclaim Nana Sahib as Peshwa.² But
before the plans could be put into operation, Forrest
broke up the conspiracy, hanged two of the ringleaders
as rebels, and banished six of the prominent and leading
military men ; and thus the rising in Bombay was nipped
in the bud.
At about the same time, the Revolutionary spark was
about to strike Nagpur and Jubbulpore. The Sepoys
near Nagpur had decided to rise on the 13th of June,
1857, and this plan was assented to by most of the pro-
minent citizens. It was agreed that on the night of the
13th the townspeople should send up in the air three
burning balloons, and at this signal the military were to
2. Forrest's Real Danger in India.
502