THE SECOND SIKH WAR. 81 



niglit, accompanied by a single camel-rider, I reached 

 Lahore, a distance of seventy miles, by nine the 

 following morning." 



On the 8th he was " off again at daybreak on a 

 longer journey still, having to cross the country to 

 Brigadier Wheeler's camp in the Jalandhar Doab, to 

 convey orders to him relative to the reduction of two 

 rebellious forts in the Doab between the Ravi and 

 Biyas. A ' grind ' of some twenty-six hours on 

 camel-hack, with the necessary stoppages, took me 

 to the camp, whence (because I had not had enough) 

 I recrossed the Biyas the same night, after examin- 

 ing and reporting on the state of the ferries by 

 which the troops were to follow me. This time I 

 was escorted by a troop of Irregular Horse, being 

 thereby, according to my estimation of Sikh prowess, 

 rendered tolerably independent." 



Next mornino; he marched to the fort of Rano-ar 

 Nagal, some fourteen miles from the right bank of 

 the Biyas. His approach was greeted by a fire of 

 matchlocks and wall -pieces, which enabled him to 

 mark the exact range of the enemy's guns. He 

 "lost no time in getting the horsemen into a secure 

 position (which means, one equally good for fighting 

 or running away), and advanced under shelter of the 

 trees and sugar-canes to within easy distance of the 

 fort. Hence I despatched a message to the rebels, 

 to say that if they did not come to reason within an 

 hour they should have no choice but that between 

 cold steel or the gallows. The hour elapsed without 

 result, so mentally consigning the garrison to anni- 

 hilation, I set to work to reconnoitre the ground 

 round the fort. This accomplished, with no further 

 interruption than a shower of unpleasant bullets 



F 



