vicinity, there were two six-pounders so placed as to command it and a
small bastion close by. Within sixty yards of the gate, and commanding two
cross roads, were three six-pounders, and one twenty-four pound howitzer,
which could be so managed as to act upon any part of the magazine in that
neighborhood. After all these guns and howitzers had been placed in the
several positions above named, they were loaded with a double charge of
grape. After these arrangements had been completed a train was laid ready
to be fired at a preconcerted signal. On the enemy approaching the walls
of the magazine, which was provided with scaling ladders, the native
establishment at once deserted us by climbing up the sloped sheds on the
inside of the magazine and descending the ladders on the outside."

When the attack began the mutineers climbed the walls in great numbers,
and opened fire upon the little garrison; these replied by an incessant
fire of grape-shot, which told severely upon the enemy. There were but two
men to each gun, but they stood nobly to their pieces until all were more
or less wounded by the enemy's fire. Finding that no more could be done,
Lieutenant Willoughby gave the order, Conductor Scully fired the several
trains, and in another instant a tremendous explosion took place which
shook all Delhi, and covered the city with a cloud of black smoke. It was
calculated that from fifteen hundred to two thousand of the mutineers and
rabble of the town were killed by the falling walls, or crushed under the
masses of masonry. Lieutenants Willoughby, Forrest, Rayner, and Conductor
Buckley survived the explosion, and effected their retreat in the
confusion through a small sallyport on the river face. The mutineers were
so enraged by their misfortune that they rushed to the palace and demanded
of the king a number of European officers and ladies who had sought refuge
under his protection. They were handed over to the mutineers, and at once
slaughtered.