The Seven Cities of Delhi
the arrival of the rebels; whole families were massacred. Such as were taken prisoners were not allowed to live, being put to death after five days, in the court of the Nakkar Khana, near a small cistern under a tree.
The officer in charge of the arsenal, Lieutenant George Willoughby, had only a few conductors and non-commissioned officers of the Ordnance Department with him, if we except a guard of native infantry, who were rebels at heart. He soon saw that, without help from Meerut (which all confidently expected), his charge, with stores of ammunition and a whole park of artillery, must fall into the hands of the rebels. He therefore arranged some light guns in positions from which they might be served with the greatest effect against an attack, and, as a last resort, saw that trains of gunpowder were laid to the magazines, so as to blow them up if it were necessary.Arms were issued to the native artificers and lascars, but they were not the men to use them,and escaped at the first opportunity, so that the whole defence devolved on nine resolute Europeans. All these preparations took some little time, but a respite was afforded by the fact that the palace people were looking towards Meerut before committing themselves too far; it was only on the return of a camel sowar,266
