Page:Clyde and Strathnairn.djvu/135

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THE SOUTHERN OPERATIONS
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with permission to have it carried before him as a reward for his fidelity.

Toward sunset, the signalling party telegraphed from the observatory that the enemy were again approaching from the east ; and the troops, well-nigh spent, one would have thought, after their thirteen hours' fighting under a fierce sun, were nevertheless ready to begin again with as much spirit as if they were fresh from the parade ground. The alarm happily proved, however, to be a false one; troops arriving from Tehri having been mistaken for the enemy.

The next day, April 4th, the remainder of the city was captured and occupied. In the evening, the Rání, accompanied by 300 Valaitis and 25 troopers, left the fort and fled towards Kálpi. It was afterwards discovered that her horse had been brought into the fort ditch, with the connivance of a native contingent serving with Sir Hugh Rose, and that after being let down from a window in the turret she was placed in the saddle, with her stepson in her lap, and thus escaped. Next morning, April 5th, Sir Hugh Rose occupied the fortress without meeting further resistance.

Thus ended the siege of Jhánsí. The Central India Field Force had been contending against an enemy more than double their number, and posted behind formidable fortifications; an enemy who at the assault and afterwards defended themselves most stubbornly. For seventeen days and nights the men had never