clearly that, here and there, the Indian soldiers ceased firing as if
in obedience to a word of command, and could distinguish how English
officers in their excitement struck the men with the flat of the sword
and threatened them with the revolver. Obviously, the leaders had lost
all influence over the foreign elements under their command. Close to
the Commander-in-Chief an English captain was bayoneted by an Indian
soldier, and there could be no doubt that similar cases of open mutiny
took place amongst the other Indian troops.

The men, who had only followed the orders of the foreign tyrants with
the utmost reluctance, evidently believed the moment had come for
shaking off the hated yoke, and at the same time the old enmity between
the Mohammedans and Hindus, the rivalry between the two religions, which
often in times of peace occasioned bloody feuds, burst into open flames.
In the midst of the British army duels to the death were fought out
between the irreconcilable adversaries. Thus it was unavoidable that the
entire discipline became shaken and destroyed.

The battlefield was an awful spectacle. Before the front innumerable
wounded, crying out for help, where no help was possible, were writhing
in agony, for the retreat of the English artillery had had to be
executed without thought of those left behind; wounded horses, wildly
kicking to free themselves from their harness, increased the horror of
the terrible scene, whilst stray divisions of English cavalry riding
amongst them were fired upon by their own infantry out of fear of
the advance of the Russian riflemen. Although in war all battlefields
present a spectacle of the utmost horror, so that only the excitement
of the moment enables human beings to endure it, yet the picture this
battle of the advanced lines presented surpassed all imagination. The
want of discipline amongst the English lines increased more and more,
and the English officers had to fix their whole attention upon their own
troops, instead of upon the movements of the enemy. The necessity for
this was soon evident.

Prince Tasatat was the first to leave Colonel Baird with his entire
force, and openly to march over to the enemy. His example was decisive
for the Indians who were still hesitating, and the number of those going
over to the enemy increased from minute to minute.

A uniform control of the line of battle had long since become
impossible. Colonel Baird gave orders for his guns to