geants Edwards and Stewart. It would seem that at about eight o'clock the magistrate of Dehlí, Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, came down to the magazine with the information that mutineers were crossing the river, and asking for two guns to defend the bridge. But it was soon realised that the bridge was already in possession of the mutineers. Metcalfe then proceeded with Willoughby to ascertain whether the city gate had been closed to the rebels. When it became known that not only had it not been closed, but that the mutineers had been admitted to the palace, Willoughby at once realised the situation Confident that his turn would soon come, he set to work with his subordinates to render the magazine as defensible as possible. The gates were closed and barricaded, guns were placed at salient points, double charged with grape, and a central position was established, from which the guns could bear upon any point which might be forced. Then came the crucial point. All the subordinate workers in the magazine were natives. Willoughby and his comrades hoped for a short time that these men, associated with their officers for so many years, would be faithful, and directed that arms should be served out to them. The manner in which these were received revealed to the few Europeans the fact that they would have to depend solely on their own energies. The natives, wrote Lieutenant Forrest,[1] accepted the arms most reluctantly, 'and appeared to be not only in a state of excitement, but also of insubordination, as they refused to obey any orders issued by the Europeans.' Knowing it to be quite impossible to resist for long a serious attack, and resolved that so much valuable munitions of war should not, if they could help it, fall into the hands of the Queen's enemies, these gallant Englishmen then caused a train to
- ↑ Lieutenant Forrest's Report, dated May 27, 1857.
