Nicholson's was the guiding spirit, but
it needed only his generalship to fire all the others with that grim
enthusiasm that has pulled Great Britain out of so many other scrapes.
Instead of wasting time in marching and countermarching to relieve
the scattered posts, a swift, sudden swoop was made on Delhi, where
the eggs of the rebellion had hatched.
As many of the outposts as could be reached were told to fight their
own way in, and those that could not be reached were left to defend
themselves until the big blow had been struck at the heart of things.
If Delhi could be taken, the rebels would be paralyzed and the rescue
of beleaguered details would be easier; so, although odds of one
hundred or more to one are usually considered overlarge in wartime--
when the hundred hold the fort and the one must storm the gate--there
was no time lost in hesitation. Delhi was the goal; and from north
and south and east and west the men who could march marched, and those
who could not entrenched themselves, and made ready to die in the
last ditch.
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