402
 

The Conflagration
 

[ Pt. Ill
 

and rush and burn and die away, so, out of this Revolutionary
rocket flowed angry blood and came battles and arms, flying
out, forced out! And, what a big rocket? Its length is from
Meerut to the Vindhyas ; its width from Peshawar to Dumdum ;—
and it was fired! Fire and flames raged in all directions.
And what a strange creation in the bowels of that flre ?—blood
coming down like rain, like hail—sieges of Delhi, revenges of
Plassey, massacres of Cawnpore, and the Sikandar Bagh of
Lucknow! Thousands of heroes are fighting—and dying; cities
are burning. Kumar Singh comes, struggles, falls; the Moulvie
comes, struggles, and falls; the throne of Cawnpore, the throne
of Lucknow, the throne of Delhi, the throne of Bareily, the
throne of Jagadishpur, the throne of Jhansi, the throne of
Banda, the throne of Farrukabad, five thousand, ten thousand,
fifty thousand, a lakh of swords, flags, banners, generals, horses,
elephants—all are coming out one after another, move about in
the turmoil of the raging fire! Some are ascending one flame,
some another; they poise themselves a while, reel, fight, fall
down unseen! Everywhere battle and thunder-storms! A veritable
volcanic conflagration this!

And the pyre, flaming near the cottage of Gangadas Bawa,
is the last flame of this raging volcanic conflagration of the
War of Independence of 1857!
 

I
 

End of the Third Part.