§16. Then arose ringing cheers which must have astonished the Hindu gods on Mount Meru. The pent-up hearts of the half-starved garrison could find no other way of giving vent to their emotions. From every pit, trench, and battery, from behind sand-bags piled on shattered houses, from the sick and wounded in the hospital, nothing was to be heard but shouts and cries of welcome. The British soldiers who poured into the Residency were equally moved. They had saved women and children from the destroyer. Rough and bearded warriors shook hands with the ladies all round. They took the children in their arms, kissed them and passed them from one to the other; and with tears running down their cheeks, they thanked God that all were rescued. But in the hour of gladness there was a dash of sorrow. The gallant Neill had met with a glorious death in the streets of Lucknow. [Sidenote: Havelock's dilemma.] Havelock and Outram had cut their way into the Residency, but the question was how to get out again. It was comparatively easy to lead enthusiastic battalions into a beleaguered fortress, but it was a very different thing to convoy 400 women and children, 600 sick and wounded, and a quarter of a million sterling in silver, through the narrow streets of Lucknow exposed to the fire of swarms of rebels thirsting for blood and rupees. [Sidenote: Unexpected provisions.] There was, however, no alternative. Provisions were exhausted. Suddenly the commissariat discovered a vast stock of grain which had been overlooked after the death of Sir Henry Lawrence. The problem was solved. The oxen which dragged the guns, ammunition, and baggage of Havelock's column would furnish the garrison with butcher's meat for months. Accordingly it was determined to remain behind the defences of the Residency enclosure until another European army advanced to the conquest of Oudh. [Sidenote: Sir James Outram in command.] Sir James Outram was now chief commissioner of Oudh, and general in command of the garrison. Many positions were wrested from the rebels, and the area of defence was enlarged. The garrison was no longer in daily peril, and it was felt that an avenging army of Europeans and Sikhs would soon deliver them. [Sidenote: Advance of Sir Colin Campbell, November.]