§13. The Residency at Lucknow was still a place of refuge, although it might possibly be soon overwhelmed by numbers. No effort was spared by the disaffected to stir up the city population against the British authorities. Proclamations were posted from day to day on Hindu temples, and Mohammedan mosques and palaces, calling upon the people to wage a holy war against the Feringhi. Horrible effigies, dressed as British officers and children, but without heads, were carried through the streets by the rabble. Plots were discovered and individuals were arrested, but British prestige was dying out with alarming rapidity, and by the end of June British authority had little influence outside the limits of the Residency at Lucknow. [Sidenote: Disaster at Chinhut.] On the 29th of June reports came in that an army of 6,000 rebels was marching towards the British Residency, and that an advanced guard of 1,000 might be expected to arrive on the following morning. Sir Henry Lawrence marched out to attack the advance guard, with 300 Europeans, eleven guns, and about 300 Asiatics, including sepoy cavalry, and native artillery drivers. There was treachery from the outset. Instead of an advanced guard of 1,000, the whole body of insurgents was hidden in the jungle behind the village of Chinhut, about six miles from the Residency. As Sir Henry Lawrence approached he was met by a heavy fire from a battery of guns posted in the village. The Europeans advanced; the British guns returned the enemy's fire with great effect, and victory was assured. At that moment the Asiatic artillery drivers turned traitors, cut the traces, tumbled the guns into a ditch, and deserted to the enemy. The 300 Europeans were thus left exposed to a terrible fire and forced to beat a retreat. They were compelled to abandon their killed and wounded, and only one hundred reached the Residency. Sir Henry Lawrence was severely wounded, and worn out with fatigue and despair, but was brought away on a gun-carriage. [Sidenote: Defence of the Residency.] The rebel army followed the Europeans. They reached the bridge which led to the Residency, but were driven back by the fire of the British batteries. They forded the river at another spot, and began to plunder the wealthy quarter of Lucknow. This gave the British garrison breathing time. They abandoned the cantonment on the opposite bank, and many of the buildings near the Residency. Henceforth they contracted the area of defence to the British Residency and a few houses within the Residency enclosure. [Sidenote: Residency besieged, 30th June.]