Form up round him, men, and keep your eyes
skinned till morning!"
VIII.
Of course, discussing matters in the light of history, with full
and intimate knowledge of everything that had a bearing on the Mutiny,
there are plenty of club-armchair critics who maintain that England
could not do otherwise than win in '57. They always do say that
afterward of the side that won the day.
But then, with history yet to make, things looked very different,
and nobody pretended that there was any certainty of anything except
a victory for the mutineers. All that either side recognized as
likely to reverse conditions was the notorious ability that a beaten
and cornered British army has for upsetting certainties. So the
rebels had more than a little argument as to what steps should be
taken next, once the initial butchery and loot had taken place.
For instance, in Jailpore
More than a hundred fakirs and wandering priests and mendicants had
sent in word that the province from end to end was ready, and that
the British slept. But there were those in Jailpore who distrusted
fakirs and religious votaries of every kind.
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