For several weeks Lucknow had been in a state of unrest, and then at 9 o'clock on the night of May 30th, 1857, the smouldering fire broke into flame. Sir Henry Lawrence, that stalwart, cool northern Irishman, as just and firm as he was unselfish, had but 700 Europeans in a city of 700,000, of whom 7,000 were sepoys. He did not lose heart, but quickly and steadily made preparations for the defence of the place; he knew he could rely upon the Sikhs and a small number of the sepoys--700 actually remained true to their salt during the siege; he made no error in his calculations, and took few chances. He turned the Residency into a fortress, and generally prepared for the worst, while his sense of humour and his smiling face gave no sign of the stern practical heart within him. He was, as he said, "virtually besieging four regiments--in a quiet way--with 300 Europeans," while he resided "in cantonments guarded by the gentlemen" he was besieging! On June 30th he decided to "blood" the native troops, and he accordingly sent half a dozen guns with sepoy artillerymen in the little force of just over 800, of whom only 336 were Europeans, to meet the mutinous regiments which were marching upon the city from Eastern Oude. The estimated force was 5,000; it turned out to be 15,000, and when they were encountered at Chinhut the Sikh horsemen bolted, and the artillerymen disabled and deserted their guns. The fates generally went against the bold step that Lawrence had taken. The remnants of the little band had to retire in face of the great moving mass of mutineers; "regiment after regiment of sepoys steadily pursued towards us," and the 32nd who had gone into battle--300 foodless and badly armed men--were reduced to a skeleton, 5 of their officers and 112 men being killed. Lawrence returned with his straggling men to Lucknow; it was one of the few mistakes which the hero of Lucknow made, but he saved the survivors of the desperate fight by a masterly stroke in placing empty guns upon the iron bridge (the ammunition was exhausted), and with gunners standing beside them with lighted port-fires stayed the advance of the victorious sepoys. The time for desperate action had arrived. On July 1st he blew up the Mutchee Bhawan with its 1,000,000 cartridges and 250 barrels of gunpowder, and concentrated upon the Residency, and there for eighty-eight days, with a force of 927 Europeans and 700 sepoys, made one of the most famous defences in history. And there, despite the supreme efforts of the mutineers to shoot it down, the British flag was only temporarily out of position when the staff was shot away, and so "Ever aloft on the palace roof the old banner of England blew."