Tayler had been able to preserve order at Patná and throughout his division. He had put down an uprising in the city itself, had baffled the machinations of the Wahábí leaders, had instilled fear and discouragement in the ranks of the seditious, and by his splendid example had given confidence to his subordinates. Amongst those who had been acting with him in the districts was a very gallant officer. Major John Holmes, commanding the 12th Irregular Cavalry stationed at Sigauli, in the Champáran district. Holmes, like most officers serving with the native troops, believed implicitly in the loyalty of his own men, and certainly for some weeks they justified his confidence by their obedience and energy. It is just possible that, if the sipáhís at Dánápur had been quietly disarmed, those troopers would have remained loyal. The result showed that they could not be proof against the successful rising of their brethren at the chief station.
It would serve no good purpose to dwell at length upon the incompetent action which threw the middle piece between Calcutta and Kánhpur into a condition of unparalleled disorder, and delayed the advance of the troops for which the heart of the gallant Havelock was preying upon itself. Under the weight of the responsibility thrust upon him the mind of General Lloyd vacillated like the pendulum of a clock. When, on the 22d, the main body of the 5th Fusiliers arrived off Dánápur, the pendulum was at the left corner, and he would not order them to disembark. Two days later, when two companies of the 37th reached the station, the pendulum had veered to the right, and he ordered them to land. The day following, the 25th, he resolved not to disarm the sipáhís, but to deprive them of the percussion caps which had been served out to them, and of those in the magazine. By a display of force he succeeded in securing the caps in
