IV .sx Eventually Bijli Rao handed in his resignation of the chief command .sx He resigned at what was destined to be the last council of war held under the barrack in the Fort .sx The four-days-old Emperor presided , looking haggard and , for him , almost thin , and the few remaining leaders who had summoned up the courage to attend were even more woe-begone .sx Rash Bihari Das , Seraj-ud-dowlah , and Chittoo Bhunj Rao were present .sx Rash Bihari looked as if he had been turned into stone .sx Serajud-dowlah , from the way in which he kept fingering the collar of his tunic , as though it were too tight , seemed to feel the rope already round his neck .sx Bijli Rao had had his forehead sewn up , and wore a bandage over one eye .sx He and Chittoo , his henchman , seemed the least concerned of all those present .sx They had already decided upon their course , and had determined to seek refuge in Bokharistan .sx Mahomed Tughlak Shah opened the proceedings with his customary pompous brevity .sx They could not , he said , sustain the British bombardment any longer , and the only question was whether they should endeavour to fight their way out , or surrender on the best terms they could get .sx Bijli Rao at once pointed out , in his most cynical manner , that the only terms they could expect were a choice between shooting and hanging .sx " Personally , " he said , " I am in favour of a sortie in force .sx Most of us , it is true , will perish , but those who survive will have a better chance of being treated decently than if we tamely give in .sx We really have no choice .sx I am prepared to lead the sortie .sx " " His Highness is right , " pointed out Rash Bihari , with the calmness of despair .sx " The atrocities which we have permitted have shut the door of amnesty in our faces .sx If my advice had been taken we might have surrendered on terms .sx Now we surrender with ropes round our necks .sx It is better to die with arms in our hands .sx " The talk of death was obviously very distasteful to Mahomed Tughlak Shah .sx " I would point out , " he said , " that we are able to make a very important condition .sx We are not rebels .sx We have a crowned head , and therefore occupy a status of equality with the enemy .sx As Emperor I am certainly in a position to negotiate .sx " " In that case , " said Bijli Rao maliciously , " Your Majesty will doubtless do us the favour to head the deputation for the discussion of terms ?sx " .sx " Impossible !sx " exclaimed the outraged Mogul .sx " No Emperor could possibly descend to that .sx I suggest that you , as our ablest and most influential leader , should take charge of the negotiations .sx " " That , sire , is equally impossible , " retorted Bijli Rao .sx " I have stated my opinion as to what .sx we ought to do .sx Nothing will induce me to agree to negotiations or surrender .sx " Bijli Rao , Rash Bihari , and Chittoo Bhunj Rao were , however , the only ones to raise their voices in favour of the more daring plan .sx The rest voted for the opening of negotiations , and for an unconditional surrender if no better terms could be obtained .sx The Mahratta looked round upon his cowed and beaten associates with a grim smile .sx He knew exactly what was passing in their minds .sx Each of them hoped to escape the vengeance of the British by denouncing the others , especially himself , as the author of the outrages .sx His smile had a double edge .sx It registered his amusement at their cowardice and treachery , and also triumph at their approaching discomfiture .sx He rose in his place and saluted His Imperial Majesty .sx " As the Council has decided to open futile negotiations with the enemy , " he said , " I beg to resign my command , and I wash my hands of the consequences of the mad and hopeless policy of surrender .sx I refuse to be associated with it , or , gentlemen , with you and the Emperor you have chosen .sx I now resume full liberty of action .sx " He turned and left the room without another word , accompanied by Chittoo Bhunj Rao , who did not trouble himself to tender any formal resignation .sx When the door had closed behind them the Council eyed each other at first in consternation and perplexity ; and then all , except Rash Bihari Das , breathed a sigh of relief .sx V. .sx The two Mahrattas made their way swiftly to Bijli Rao's sumptuous 16-cylinder Mereweather , which was waiting under the Delhi Gate , and weredriven in the space of little more than five minutes to the Maharaja's palace in New Delhi .sx This was by no means intact .sx As has been mentioned , it was one of the few houses left standing when the rebels treated New Delhi generally to repeated doses of high explosive during the first two days of the mutiny .sx It had , therefore , offered a mark to the British airmen when these had begun to devote their attention to the rebel position , and they had knocked it about considerably .sx But safe in a bomb-proof subterranean chamber entered by a sloping runway , with a view to some such emergency , lay the Maharaja's Fox superplane a thing as sumptuous as his car , with a suite of luxurious apartments in miniature .sx It had a range of 3500 miles , and was well stocked with petrol .sx Bijli Rao's pilot and two mechanics were all Mahrattas , armed to the teeth , and devoted to their chief .sx It was between seven and eight in the evening .sx The broad road on which the palace stood was perfectly dark and deserted .sx A fitful long range bombardment was going on , and British planes were hovering on the horizon .sx Risks , however , had to be taken .sx The Fox had a small safe , and into this the Maharaja stuffed money and jewels to the value of several lakhs of rupees .sx He could have made it several crores , but as he was about to trust himself to the tender mercies of the Bokharistanis , he felt that it would be better to be comparatively poor and to remain alive than to go to them burdened with riches and be murdered , to a certainty , out of hand .sx Ten lakhs meant practical beggary to him , but it was hardly sufficient to induce his amiable hosts-to-be to cut his throat .sx So , hoping for the best , the five Mahrattas boarded the Fox , which taxied on to the road , and after a short run took the air .sx The pilot wanted to go .sx due north at 5000 feet , but Bijli Rao made him climb to 10,000 and to take him , as nearly as could be gauged in the dark , over the Fort .sx On gaining the desired position he produced a Thring bomb the latest type of infernal machine , combining the most deadly explosive qualities with the most perfect portability and dropped it over the side .sx " A farewell salute for our dear friends , the Emperor and his court , " he shouted , as he gave the northward signal to the pilot .sx The little party gazed downwards to see what results , if any , would follow upon the Maharaja's action .sx After watching for what seemed to be a long time they were rewarded by an explosion out of all proportion to the means which had brought it about .sx The earth appeared to open beneath them a yawning crater all on fire , from which the flames leaped up and reached out on every side .sx The roaring of their engines deadened the detonation , but in the dreadful glow what looked like rocks or pieces of masonry could be seen hurtling through the air .sx They rushed northward with all possible speed ; even so , the vibrations set up caused the plane to rock .sx For several minutes they held on their course in a silence broken only by the clamour of the engines , their eyes fixed on the weird spectacle below and behind them .sx A large part of Delhi appeared to be in flames .sx " What has happened ?sx " shrieked Bijli Rao in the ear of Chittoo when the burning and even the glow had been left behind them .sx " Maharaja Sahib , " was the hoarse reply , " you hit the dump by the Jumma Musjid , and it and the Fort have both been blown sky-high .sx " This was the truth so far as the Jumma Musjid was concerned , as the whole world was soon to know .sx The vengeful Mahratta had struck his enemies a blow even more terrible than he had intended .sx As Rash Bihari had foreseen , the attacking British planes had carefully avoided exploding the great dump before the Jumma Musjid .sx They had been forbidden to do so for reasons political , aesthetic , and sentimental .sx The Jumma Musjid stood alone among the many glorious mosques in the East .sx Its noble simplicity , its magnificent proportions , the harmonies brought out by means of its three building materials red sandstone and black and white marble combined to make it , next to the Taj Mahal at Agra , the most splendid architectural legacy of the Emperor Shah Jehan .sx The Mahratta's bomb had detonated the dump , and in a few minutes the masterpiece which had delighted the world for three centuries had been riven asunder and destroyed .sx One of its cupolas was carried several hundred yards and crashed into the bazaar , killing and maiming hundreds of people .sx Its minarets toppled in ruin upon the great tesselated square .sx Its walls shot out and collapsed .sx Where the Jumma Musjid had been was a gigantic rubble heap , beneath which lay the dead bodies of those who had been in the immediate vicinity when the bomb fell .sx The force of the explosion wrecked every building within a quarter of a mile , and tore down part of the wall of the Fort .sx It shook the barrack to its foundations , and caused the rebel conclave to break up in dismay .sx The tremendous repercussions were felt throughout the British lines , and the cause of them at once occurred to everyone who had seen the giant dump from the air .sx Divining what had happened , Rash Bihari rushed out of the Fort ; and when he saw the burning .sx buildings , the smoke and dust of the explosion , the hideous ruin which had once been the centre of the city ; when he heard the groans of agony and the shrieks of terror which went up from the injured and from the demented populace , he felt that he could endure no more .sx He placed the muzzle of his automatic to his right temple and put an end to his life .sx Meanwhile Bijli Rao and his confederates flew northwards , chuckling at the felon blow which they had struck at their late associates and at the same time congratulating themselves on having saddled the British ( as they hoped ) with the odium of having destroyed the great Musjid .sx In this hope they were disappointed .sx Bijli Rao was known to have a Fox super-plane ; and his disappearance with Chittoo by air immediately after his retirement from the Council was also known .sx Putting two and two together , the Mohammedan faction in Delhi had no hesitation in fastening the blame for the disaster upon the treacherous Mahratta , whom they hated much more than the British .sx Nemesis literally leaped upon Bijli Rao and his confederate .sx Bokharistan was a State in which Mohammedanism was the universal , not to say fanatical , belief .sx The news of their exploit followed them next day to Allakand , the capital to which they had fled for safety , and a raging mob broke into the house which they had hired and tore them in pieces .sx The Bokharistan Government then quietly appropriated the ten lakhs which Bijli Rao had hoped to be allowed to keep by reason of the insignificance of the sum !sx The Mahratta chieftain was always too clever by half ; but of all the blunders into which his vindictive temper had betrayed him , the most obvious and the most fatal was to blow up the most famous mosque inthe world as a preliminary to forcing himself as a guest upon the most fanatically Mohammedan people in the world .sx The immediate effect of his Parthian shot , however , was to knock the last ounce of courage out of the rebel council in Delhi .sx They scrapped the representation they had drawn up with a view to negotiating for terms , and resolved upon unconditional surrender .sx