306 A Sportswoman in India 



called him forth. He came ; and all blazed round him 

 when he had once struck upon it, into fire like his own. 



Carlyle says there is " a certainty of heroes being 

 sent us," and that it is our faculty, our necessity, to 

 worship heroes when sent. A man born to lead, a 

 man with an extraordinary personality such as John 

 Nicholson's there was no question of his adequate 

 recognition. Delhi must be taken, and taken at 

 once, before fruitless skirmishes, heart-sickness born 

 of hope deferred, fever and ague, had rotted and 

 sapped the strength of the forces. 



The Kashmir Gateway and the long face of northern 

 wall fronted us as we stood upon the Ridge. 

 Nicholson had his heavy batteries planted before 

 them, and after five days' ceaseless cannonading, a 

 practicable breach was reported. On the morning 

 of September i4th the assault was delivered, the 

 points of attack being the Kashmir bastion, the water 

 bastion, the Kashmir Gate, and the Lahore Gate. The 

 assault was thoroughly successful, and after six days' 

 desperate fighting in the streets, Delhi was retaken, 

 but at the cost of 66 English officers, 1,104 men > 

 and John Nicholson. 



The Mutiny Memorial at one end of the Ridge 

 deserved a better architect, but it would be a hard 

 thing to design well, and, at any rate, it serves to 

 commemorate one of the fiercest struggles England 

 has ever known. A great contrast is the plain grave 

 between the Ridge and the city, with its simple head- 

 stone and sole inscription, " John Nicholson." 



