"Meantime, while they were occupied in carrying out their plan, the ambassadors of the Sultan of Roum" (Turkey) "in London sent word to his sovereign that thirty-five thousand Europeans had been despatched to Hindostan to make all the natives Christians. The Sultan (may Allah perpetuate his kingdom!) issued a firman to the Pacha of Egypt, the contents of which are as follows: 'You are conspiring with Queen Victoria. If you are guilty of neglect in this matter, what kind of face will you be able to show to God?'"
"When this firman of the Sultan of Roum reached the Pacha of Egypt, the Lord of Egypt assembled his army in the city of Alexandra, which is on the road to India, before the Europeans arrived. As soon as the European troops arrived the troops of the Pacha of Egypt began to fire into them with guns on all sides, and sunk all their ships, so that not even a single European escaped. The English in Calcutta, after issuing orders for biting the cartridges, and when these disturbances had reached their height, were looking for the assistance of the army from London. But the Almighty by the exercise of his power made an end of them at the very outset. When intelligence of the destruction of the army from London arrived, the Governor-General was much grieved and distressed, and beat his head.
"At eventide he intended murder and plunder. At noon neither had his body a head, nor his head a cover. In one revolution of the blue heavens Neither Nadir remained, nor a follower of Nadir."
"Done by order of his Grace the Peishwa. 1273 of the Heigra."
But the onward march of the English was not to be checked by quotations from Oordoo poets. It behoved that some weapons besides the eloquence of Azimoolah and the sign-manual of Dhoondoo Punth should be found, and found quickly. The rebel chiefs were enjoined to muster their retainers, and Teeka Singh to beat up the bazaars for sepoys. Reluctant and dispirited the truants turned out to fight for a sovereign whom they were scheming to dethrone, and for plunder which had already by some magical process melted away to half the original value. Baba Bhut undertook to provide carriage for the stores and ammunition: and accordingly impounded the conveyances of the town, particularly all vehicles formerly the property of European gentry: a measure which caused no small vexation to the mutineers who had been cutting a dash in the buggies that had belonged to our subalterns. The merchants received extensive indents for tents and water-proof great-coats: a most essential article of equipment during the first weeks of the rainy season. The Ordnance Office reported itself to be short of percussion caps; and the whole staff of the department was at once set to work at converting detonating muskets into matchlocks. These preparations were completed by the ninth of July, on which day Brigadier Jwala Pershad left the station in the direction of Allahabad at the head of detachments from three regiments of cavalry and seven of infantry, together with a strong body of feudal militia: in all some thirty-five hundred sabres, bayonets, and lances. The column was accompanied by twelve guns of various pattern and calibre, which the result of the earliest action enabled General Havelock to describe with minute accuracy.