forward, with his staff, in mingled fear and hope as to the state of the bridge of boats. To his joy he saw, by the pale evening light, that it was intact. Vast sheets of flames, arising from burning buildings, showed to him as clearly that the rebels must have beaten Windham and occupied Kánhpur. How it had all happened I must tell whilst I leave my readers watching Sir Colin and his staff crossing the bridge, on the late evening of the 28th, to find out the reason, and to remedy the catastrophe.
Windham had been left with about 500 Europeans and a few Sikhs, a number that would be largely augmented, to occupy and improve the intrenchment erected by Havelock on the river, and to watch the movements of the Gwáliár rebels then threatening from Kalpí, forty- five miles distant. Between the 9th and the 15th Windham received reinforcements in the shape of Carthew's brigade of Madras sipáhís, largely reduced in numbers; and, between that date and the 26th, of drafts from several European regiments, and half a native regiment of Carthew's brigade. Anxious regarding the movements of the Gwáliár rebels, commanded, he believed, by Tantiá Topí, he took up, on the 17th, with his augmented force, a position, at the junction of the Kalpí and Dehlí roads, covering Kánhpur, and whence he could closely watch the movements of the rebels. He occupied that position up to the 20th. He had heard then of the successful capture of the Sikandarábágh and the Sháh Najaf. But, on the 22d, having in the interval received no further news, he was disquieted by the rumour that the police guard left at the Banní bridge had been surprised and defeated. Sensible of the all-importance that Sir Colin's communications with Kánhpur should be maintained intact, he despatched, on the 23d, a wing of a sipáhí regiment, with two guns, to re-occupy the bridge at Banní. Had he con-
