CHAPTER XVII.
THE LEAGUER OF AGRA.
In the eighth chapter I have given a brief account of the risings at Fírúzpur, at Áligarh, at Bulandshahr, at Itáwah, at Mainpurí, and of the consequent movements at Agra. I have shown how, in consequence of the rising at Mathurá, on the 30th of May, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-west, Mr Colvin, had caused the sipáhís of the 44th and 67th N. I. to be disarmed (May 31); how he had directed the raising of volunteers; how, on the 14th of June, the sipáhís of the Gwáliár contingent had mutinied at Gwáliár; and how the English men and women who had survived the massacre consequent upon that mutiny had found refuge at Agra; and, finally, how it was not until the end of June that Mr Colvin had deemed it wise that the Europeans and Eurasians should abandon their houses in the station and take up their abode in the fort of red sandstone built by Akbar in 1565-73. He did not move thither himself till the 4th of July following. I propose now to take up the story, briefly, from that date.
Mr Colvin's order to concentrate the resources in men and supplies of the English at Agra, within the fort, had not been issued a day too soon. Indeed it is to be regretted that it was not issued earlier, and that, when issued, it was accompanied with restrictions. Mr Raikes, a member of the Civil Service occupying a high position at Agra, records that the order directing the move to the fort forbade the
