eeting--The Residency

The operation which I have tried to describe in the last chapter
was not completed until well on in the afternoon, when the movement
towards the Residency was at once proceeded with. To the left as we
advanced the ground was fairly open (with the exception of quite a
small village) for about 1,100 yards in the direction of the British
Infantry mess-house. To the right also, for about 300 yards, there was
a clear space, then a belt of jungle intersected by huts and small
gardens extending for about 400 yards farther, as far as the Shah
Najaf,[1] a handsome white-domed tomb, surrounded by a court-yard, and
enclosed by high masonry loopholed walls; and beyond the Shah Najaf
rose the Kadam Rasul,[2] another tomb standing on a slight eminence.

But little opposition was experienced from the village, which was
carried by the Infantry, while the Artillery were brought up to open
fire on the Shah Najaf and Kadam Rasul. The latter was soon occupied
by the 2nd Punjab Infantry, belonging to Greathed's brigade, which had
by this time joined the main body; but the Shah Najaf proved a harder
nut to crack. This building was almost concealed by dense jungle, and
its great strength therefore remained unsuspected until we got quite
close up to it.

Barnston's battalion of Detachments advanced in skirmishing order,
under cover of our guns. One of the shells most unfortunately burst
prematurely, wounding Major Barnston so severely that he died soon
afterwards. Whether it was that the men were depressed by the loss of
their leader, or that they were not prepared for the very damaging
fire which suddenly poured upon them, I know not, but certain it is
that they wavered, and for a few minutes there was a slight panic. The
Commander-in-Chief, with Hope Grant, Mansfield, Adrian Hope, and their
respective staffs, were sitting on their horses anxiously awaiting the
result of the attack, when all at once it became apparent that there
was a retrograde movement on the part of some of the men, who were
emerging from the belt of jungle and hastening towards us. Norman
was the first to grasp the situation. Putting spurs to his horse,
he galloped into their midst, and called on them to pull themselves
together; the men rallied at once, and advanced into the cover from
which they had for the moment retreated. I had many opportunities for
noting Norman's coolness and presence of mind under fire. On this
particular occasion thes