With muskets loaded and bayonets fixed
they rushed first through a narrow covered passage; then up a steep
flight of steps, and then into the throne-room, firing upon the
affrighted crowd as they advanced, and following them up with the
bayonet as they rushed out over the two flights of steps on the north
side, and through the courtyard which separates the baraduree from
the palace. Other parties of sipahees ascended at the same time over
ladders collected at the suggestion of Doctor Stevenson, and placed
on the southern front of the baraduree; and the halls were soon
cleared of the insurgents, who left from forty to fifty men killed
and wounded on the floors of the four halls.* In this assault Mostufa
Khan, Kundaharee, was killed. Moonna Jan was found concealed in a
small recess under the throne, and the Begum in a small adjoining
room, to which she had been carried as soon as the guns opened. They
were taken into custody, and sent to the Residency, with Imam Buksh,
a bihishtee, or water-carrier, a notorious villain, who had been her
chief instigator in all this affair, and appointed Commander-in-Chief
to the young King. Many who had been wounded got out of the halls,
and some even reached their homes, but the killed and wounded are
supposed to have amounted altogether to about one hundred and twenty.
The Begum and the boy were accommodated in the Residency, and their
_Commander-in-Chief_ was made over to the King's Courts for trial.
Pages:
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689