"This revelation, so momentous to the Hindoo, found its way first to Barrackpore by reason of its nearness to Calcutta. "At once an indescribable panic ensued, and in a marvelously short time every native regiment in Bengal was confronted with the possibility of lost caste, and terrified at the consequent belief that the British Government was making an attempt to Anglicize them with beef as they had already attempted to do with beer. "The account of the greased cartridges, embellished as it speeded, traveled, with the rapidity which usually expedites evil rumor, along the Ganges and Jumna to Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi and Meerut, and the British authorities were confronted with a revolt which was to cost thousands of men and countless treasure. "As the prince reflected upon the fever of events, and calculated their possible consequence to himself, the ambition--often napping, seldom in slumber--which he secretly cherished, awoke to disturbing vividness. "His allowance was ample; his retinue, all things considered, impressive; and the Kutub, although in a state of disrepair in certain portions, was still unmistakably a royal residence. But he was thoroughly weary of the massive pile, and increasingly exasperated at the interdict of Delhi. "Certain salacious possibilities within its walls still made their insidious appeals to him, and he had not forgotten the ceremonious deference accorded him in the household of the Moghul. "At the Kutub he had to contrive his own dissipations and excesses. "There was no need to be clandestine. "The very frankness of his privileges discouraged his imagination. There was no spice of jeopardy in them; no preludes of intrigue. "To relieve this surfeit, which is the worst of monotonies, eagerly would the prince have joined the revolting troops, detachments of which he could perceive from the walls of the Kutub hastening along the sun-scorched highway to Delhi. "But his semi-majesty was cautious. "It was characteristic of him that his mature reflections should frequently place his impulse under obligations; a condition that had resulted in many a salutary compromise with some proposed moral abandon. "Should he show the slightest countenance to the native troops in the present emergency, the record of such an attitude would constitute anything but a passport to the continued consideration of the British Government, upon whose sufferance he not only enjoyed his present magnificent residence, but the acknowledgment of his right of succession as well. "The prince was not yet inclined to believe that the Sepoys could make headway against his detested patrons.