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WILLOUGHBY'S DEFENSE.
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were done against such fearful odds, and in the face of almost certain death. One of the most notable of these was Lieutenant Willoughby's defense of the Delhi magazine on that dreadful day. I know the place, and enjoy the honor of a personal acquaintance with some of the brave men whom he commanded then. I have also had the privilege, in company with one of the survivors, to wander over the ruins into which he blew the whole structure when he found he could not save it for his country.

There were no European troops in Delhi to oppose the entrance of the red-handed Sepoys that day; none, except the nine men in charge of the magazine, and which it was of the first moment to Sepoy success that they should seize. In the Lieutenant's judgment it was of equal importance to his nation that they should never have it, and his resolution was promptly taken, that, if it cost his life and the lives of those under his orders, it never should be surrendered. The names of the eight heroes whom he commanded were Lieutenants Forrest and Raynor; Conductors Buckley, Shaw, Scully, and Crow; Sergeants Edwards and Stewart. He first put his guns and howitzers in position for the defense of the place, and then, so as to be prepared for the worst, laid his trains to connect all parts of the magazine. A handful of native assistants happened then to be with them in the magazine, whom they could not open the gates to turn out, for they soon discovered that they were playing them false; so they had to watch them also. The firing and yells resounded all over the city, coming nearer and nearer to them. But there these men stood, with one hope in their hearts, that the European troops whom they knew to be at Meerut would follow up the mutineers, and that they might be able to hold out till they arrived, and so save the magazine and Delhi too. Vain hope—they came not. Soon the Palace Guards were thundering at the gates, and, in the name of the Emperor, demanded the surrender of the magazine. No reply was given. The mutineers then brought scaling ladders from the Palace, and the Sepoys swarmed up upon the high walls all around them.

One of the bastions commanded a view of the country toward