ed our progress) by a bridge, we
entered into a wide lane to the left, the high bank of the canal being
on one side and the walls of a large caravanserai on the other.

The insurgents were posted at the far end of the lane, where it opened
out at the gate of the serai, and received us, as we advanced at the
double, with a rattling fire of musketry. Some climbed to the top of the
bank, while others fired down at us from the walls. It was a perfect
_feu d'enfer_, and the loss on our side became so heavy that a temporary
check was the result, and it was only with great trouble that the men
could be urged on.

Seeing a disposition to waver, Colonel W. Jones, the Brigadier under
Chamberlain, with great bravery placed himself in front on foot, and
called on the soldiers, now a confused mass of Sikhs, Goorkhas, and
Europeans, to charge and dislodge the enemy from the end of the lane.
He was answered with a ringing cheer, the men broke into a run, and,
without firing a shot, charged the sepoys, who waited till we were
within fifty yards, and then, as usual, turned and fled.

Some entered the caravanserai by the large gate, which they attempted
to shut; but we were too quick for them, and following close on their
heels, a hard fight began in the enclosure.

Others of the enemy ran onwards in the direction of the city, chased by
portions of our force, who pursued them a long distance, and after a
desperate resistance killed many who in their flight had taken refuge in
the serais and buildings.

The party I was with in the great caravanserai ranged the place like
demons, the English soldiers putting to death every sepoy they could
find. Their aspect was certainly inhuman--eyes flashing with passion and
revenge, faces wet and blackened from powder through biting cartridges;
it would have been useless to attempt to check them in their work of
slaughter.

Twenty or more of the insurgents, flying for life from their pitiless
foe, made for a small building standing in the centre of the serai. They
were followed by our men, who entered after them at the door. The house
had four windows, one on each side, about three feet from the ground,
and I ran to one and looked in.

The wretched fugitives had thrown down their arms and, crouching on the
floor with their backs to the wall, begged with out-stretched hands for
mercy, calling out in their language, "_Dohai! dohai!_" words I
well knew the meaning of, and which I had often heard u