Hikrimtoolah had him at his disposal, and, taking off his hands, feet, and head, he held them up before the mob as trophies. All this was known; for evidence of native Christians, and others who fled, was taken on oath, and was already on file in Havelock's hands. Instead of keeping out of the way, Hikrimtoolah, with consummate hypocrisy, supposing his deed unknown to the General, came out to congratulate Havelock on his victory. He was at once arrested, the evidence of his guilt was found to be conclusive, and he was executed on the spot.
At Aong and Pandoo Nuddee Havelock was again victorious. This latter action brought him within a few miles of Cawnpore. Intelligence of the defeat of his Sepoy forces reached the Nana Sahib on the night of the 15th of July, and was immediately followed by the massacre of the ladies, already described.
The weary soldiers were aroused by the bugle-blast long before daylight on the morning of the 16th. They had that day to meet the sternest resistance they had ever yet encountered, for the whole force of the Nana Sahib, who commanded in person, lay between them and Cawnpore, where they hoped to find alive, and still holding out, the noble men they were marching and fighting so hard to save. The foe was met strongly intrenched at Ahirwa, and they fought like furies for two hours and twenty minutes, with every advantage in their favor. The British charge that day is described by those who witnessed it as one of the most sublime illustrations of the power of discipline that was ever witnessed. That little force of thirteen hundred men moved up, steady and silent as a wall, to conquer or to die, amid those crashing shells and volleys of musketry; and the heart of the foe died within him, and his fire became hasty and ill-directed, as the sheen of the British bayonets became ominously distinct, till, within one hundred yards, they delivered their fire, and with a cheer dashed through their own smoke at the enemy. Then each rebel thought only of himself. These humbled Brahmins dropped their weapons, stripped off their packs, and spurred and ran for dear life back to the city of their hideous crime, leaving all their guns in Havelock's hands. He lost one
