up by Captain Hardy, now came into action,
and under cover of their fire the 8th Foot and 1st battalion of
Detachments attacked and drove the enemy out of the Martiniere, while
the Cavalry pursued them as far as the canal.

On this occasion my friend Watson greatly distinguished himself.
Entirely alone he attacked the enemy's Cavalry, and was at once
engaged with its leader and six of the front men; he fought gallantly,
but the unequal contest could not have lasted much longer had not
Probyn, who, with his own and Watson's squadrons, was only about 300
yards off, become aware of his comrade's critical position, and dashed
to his assistance. For this 'and gallantry on many other occasions,'
Hope Grant recommended Watson for the Victoria Cross, which he duly
received.[4]

By noon on the 14th we had occupied the Dilkusha and Martiniere, and
placed our outposts along the right bank of the canal from the river
to the point immediately opposite Banks's house. The left bank was
held in force by the rebels. Early in the afternoon I went with Hope
Grant, accompanied by a small force of Cavalry, to ascertain whether
it would be possible to ford the canal somewhere close to the river,
and we succeeded in finding a place by which the whole force crossed
two days later. Our movements were fortunately not noticed by the
enemy, whose attention was concentrated on the roads leading direct to
the city from the Dilkusha and Martiniere, by which they expected our
advance to be made.

Sir Colin, meanwhile, had fixed his Head-Quarters in the Martiniere,
on the topmost pinnacle of which he caused a semaphore to be erected
for communication with Outram. From this post of vantage Kavanagh was
able to point out to the Commander-in-Chief the different objects of
most interest to him--the positions taken up by the enemy; the group
of buildings, of which the Chatta Manzil[5] was the most conspicuous,
then occupied by the gallant troops led by Outram and Havelock, who,
by overwhelming numbers alone, had been prevented from carrying their
glorious enterprise to a successful issue; the Residency, where,
thanks to Sir Henry Lawrence's foresight and admirable arrangements,
a handful of heroic Britons had been able to defy the hordes of
disciplined soldiers and armed men who, for nearly three months,
day and night, had never ceased to attack the position; and the
Kaisarbagh, that pretentious, garish palace of the Kings of Oudh, the
centre of every k