[Illustration: Cover] LACHMI BAI Rani of Jhansi MICHAEL WHITE LACHMI BAI [Illustration: "Lachmi Bai! Lachmi Bai! Rani of Jhansi!" they cried.--Page 31.] [Illustration: Decorated title page] Lachmi Bai Rani of Jhansi The Jeanne D'Arc of India By Michael White New York J. F. Taylor & Company 1901 COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY J. F. TAYLOR AND COMPANY, NEW YORK _Press of Riggs Printing Company Albany, N. Y._ _To my wife_ _The_ RANI _of_ JHANSI "Being young, vigorous, and not afraid to show herself to the multitude, she gained a great influence over the hearts of the people. It was this influence, this force of character, added to a splendid and inspiring courage, that enabled her to offer a desperate resistance to the British.... Whatever her faults in British eyes may have been, her countrymen will ever believe that she was driven by ill-treatment into rebellion; that her cause was a righteous cause. To them she will always be a heroine." KAYE AND MALLESON, "_History of the Indian Mutiny_." [Illustration: Female face] LACHMI BAI Within no peerless Taj Mahal her body lies, No gilded dome, nor fairy minarets against the azure skies, Proclaim the place, where she, called by her foes, the "bravest and the best," Was laid by reverential hands to her victorious rest: But in the eternal sanctuary of her race, The holy river, holy Mother Ganges, that coveted embrace, Doth hold her ashes, and for a monument to her name, Sufficeth it, that in the people's hearts, her fame, Doth shine immortal. For she was deeply loved, this Queen, The beauteous, valiant Rani, India's great heroine. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. BEFORE THE STORM 1 II. THE HOUR AT HAND 18 III. BY THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 23 IV. A STAR IN THE ASCENDENT 36 V. AHMAD RETURNS TO COURT 48 VI. THE OATH 61 VII. HOW AHMAD KEPT HIS OATH 72 VIII. THE DARBAR 85 IX. AT THE HOUSE OF AHMAD KHAN 101 X. THE WHITE TURRET 107 XI. A SHREWD DIAGNOSIS 117 XII. AHMAD AGAIN NONPLUSSED 126 XIII. WHAT BIPIN OVERHEARD 139 XIV. AT THE TOMB OF FIROZ KHAN 155 XV. IN THE COURSE OF EVENTS 172 XVI. JHANSI BESIEGED 184 XVII. WITH SWORD AND TORCH 193 XVIII. A PRINCE IN SCARLET 207 XIX. A CALL TO THE HEART 218 XX. BIPIN TAKES A PRISONER 229 XXI. THE GREAT COUP DE MAIN 237 _LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_