tlets being by the gateway and the breach, through which our troops
continued to pour. There could therefore be no thought of escape, and
they fought with the desperation of men without hope of mercy, and
determined to sell their lives as dearly as they could. Inch by inch
they were forced back to the pavilion, and into the space between it
and the north wall, where they were all shot or bayoneted. There they
lay in a heap as high as my head, a heaving, surging mass of dead and
dying inextricably entangled. It was a sickening sight, one of those
which even in the excitement of battle and the flush of victory make
one feel strongly what a horrible side there is to war. The wretched
wounded men could not get clear of their dead comrades, however great
their struggles, and those near the top of this ghastly pile of
writhing humanity vented their rage and disappointment on every
British officer who approached by showering upon him abuse of the
grossest description.

The firing and fighting did not cease altogether for some time after
the main body of the rebels were destroyed. A few got up into the
guard-room above the gateway, and tried to barricade themselves in;
others sought shelter in the bastions, but none escaped the vengeance
of the soldiers. There were some deadly combats between the mutinous
sepoys and the Sikhs. Eventually all the rebels were killed, save
three or four who dropped over the wall on the city side. It is to
be hoped they lived to tell the tale of the dauntless courage which
carried everything before it.

Considering the tremendous odds which those who first entered through
the breach were exposed to, and the desperate nature of the fighting,
our losses were astonishingly small. The 93rd had 2 officers and 23
men (including the Sergeant-Major) killed, and 7 officers and 61 men
wounded.

The 4th Punjab Infantry went into action with four British officers,
of whom two were killed and one was severely wounded. Sixty-nine of
the Native officers and men were also killed or wounded.[22]

[Footnote 1: Besides the troops from Delhi, the force consisted of
Peel's Naval Brigade, with eight heavy guns and howitzers; Middleton's
Field Battery of Royal Artillery (the first that had ever served in
India), and two companies of garrison Royal Artillery, under Travers
and Longden, equipped with heavy guns and mortars; a company of Royal
Engineers under Lieutenant Lennox, V.C.;[*] a few Bengal, and two
newly-ra