168 MAHRATTA WAR. 



which Monson recognised a portion of that lost during his 

 late unfortunate retreat. 



Meantime the gallant Lake was in hot pursuit of the 

 Mahratta chief, following him at the rate of twenty-three 

 miles a day. At length, by marching fifty-three miles in 

 twenty-four hours, he came up, on the 17th November, 

 with the enemy under the walls of Furruckabad. The 

 Indian horse never could stand a charge in the field; 

 they were routed, 3000 cut to pieces, and the rest saved 

 only by the rapidity of their flight. Holkar then marched 

 towards Deeg to join the remains of his infantry. The 

 British general arrived at that fortress on the 1st December, 

 and determined immediately to undertake the siege. Ten 

 days, however, elapsed before the battering train could be 

 brought from Agra, and thirteen days more before a breach 

 could be effected in a detached work which commanded the 

 approach. It was then carried by storm in the ni^it of the 

 23d, and the enemy were so struck by the daring intre- 

 pidity of the British, that in the course of the two following 

 days they evacuated both the town and fort, and retreated 

 towards Bhurtpore. Holkar was now about to sustain a 

 complete reverse of fortune. While the strength of his army 

 was broken by recent defeats, his dominions, whence he 

 might have drawn recruits and resources, had fallen into tne 

 enemy's possession. Colonel Wallace from the Deccan 

 had reduced Chandore and the other strongholds in that 

 quarter, while Colonel Murray from Guzerat, having over- 

 run nearly the whole of Malwa, and entered Indore the 

 capital, was already preparing to intercept his retreat. 

 The only point of resistance was Bhurtpore, the rajah 

 of which still adhered to his alliance. The reduction of that 

 city was therefore considered necessary to complete the 

 triumph over this turbulent chieftain. This place, at first 

 sight, did not present a very formidable aspect to an army 

 before which many of the mightiest bulwarks of India had 

 fallen. It was encircled by none of those rugged steeps 

 which guarded the approach to Gwalior and Asseerghur. 

 The only defence consisted in a lofty mud wall and a broad 

 ditch not easily fordable ; and the very extent of its walls, 

 which embraced a circumference of six or eight miles, 

 increased the difficulty of defending them. But the rajah 

 applied himself to its defence with the utmost skill and 



