THE SECOND SIKH WAR. 93 



the same month the strong fortress of Attock 

 opened its gates to the Amir of Afghanistan, and 

 its brave defender, Lieutenant Herbert, subse- 

 quently became, like George Lawrence, a prisoner 

 in the hands of Chatar Singh. 



The good news from Multjin induced Lord 

 Dalhousie, then staying at Ferozepore, to loosen 

 somewhat the curb he had placed upon his im- 

 petuous commander-in-chief. What use the brave 

 old soldier made of his chief's concession may be 

 seen from the following passage in Hodson's letter 

 of January 18 : " We have just received intelligence 

 of another great fight between the army under Lord 

 Gough and the Sikhs, in which the latter, though 

 beaten, seem to have had every advantage given 

 away to them. Our loss has been severe, and the 

 mismanagement very disgraceful, yet it will be 

 called a victory and lauded accordingly. Oh, for 

 one month of Sir Charles Napier ! " 



The bloody battle of Chilianwala, which resulted 

 in a doubtful victory purchased at a terrible cost, 

 was fought on January 13. About a fortnight 

 earlier Lumsden and Hodson had marched off with 

 a strong party of the Guides, horse and foot, in 

 pursuit of an insurgent force moving along the foot 

 of the hills that border the districts of Nurpur and 

 Pathankot. So swift and secret were the move- 

 ments of the Guides that parties of Sikhs were 

 caught in the act of cooking their dinners under a 

 clump of trees. At sight of Hodson's advancing 

 infantry they turned and fled. But Lumsden's 

 horsemen were close upon their heels. In spite of 

 the broken and marshy ground, the runaways were 

 cut up almost to a man. " So bad," says Hodson 



