“I wept,” wrote one of the officers of the 78th, “when I looked into the room where the massacre had taken place, and saw the blood on the floor and walls, portions of clothing, and shreds of hair which had been torn from the innocent heads of our women and children. And I was not the only one to weep, for I saw old and hardened soldiers, who had endured the carnage of many a battlefield without a tremor, with tears running down their tanned cheeks.” No mercy was shown to the rebels who were caught. First of all they were compelled to clean up a portion of the blood-stained floor, and as to touch blood is abhorrent to the high-caste natives (they thinking that by doing so they are doomed to perdition), this was a terrible punishment. They were then hanged, and Brigadier Neill, who had now command at Cawnpore, was successful in sending many to their just doom. Large numbers of the enemy still hung about in the vicinity of Cawnpore, and the troops made several successful sorties. The Nana had wisely quitted the field, and had taken refuge in his palace at Bithoor, where he was strongly supported. The skirmishing bands of mutineers which molested the Cawnpore garrison were gradually driven back, and must have suffered severely. An incident, gruesome it may be, is related of a stalwart Highlander, who had taken part in one of the skirmishes. He was discovered standing musing and gazing intently upon two headless corpses which lay upon the ground. “What’s troubling you, my man?” said an officer who chanced to be near. “Lo’d, sir, I sliced aff baith their heads, and noo I dinna ken the ane fae the ither, so I doot I’ll need tae lat them lie as they are”; and, as if playing football, he kicked the heads aside. There were others who put notches on their guns--a notch for every rebel they killed. Knowing what their fate would be if they were taken prisoner, the mutineers gradually fell back to join the Nana’s main force. It was Havelock’s intention to march immediately to the relief of Lucknow, but his force was sadly in need of rest. At last, all was in readiness, and on the 25th of July he set out at the head of his small band of 1500 men to give battle to countless thousands. Henceforward the stirring scenes of the mutiny were transferred to other fields than Cawnpore. But Cawnpore was destined to undergo another siege, as the Gwalior contingent of rebels, an inactive plundering and blood-thirsty band, had determined to strike a blow at the city which had been the scene of such terrible massacres. Havelock had relieved Lucknow at this time, and Sir Colin Campbell had gone to the rescue of the force that had to remain shut up there. Fortunately they delayed their projected attack until Campbell had forced an entrance to Lucknow, but when they appeared in large numbers before Cawnpore, on the 26th of November, the position of the weakened garrison in the city was a perilous one.