ght to bear upon
any enemy advancing from the Kaisarbagh.

The most difficult part of Sir Colin's task had yet to be
accomplished--the bringing away of the women and children, and the
sick and wounded, from the Residency--and the question of how this
could best be done was one which caused the Commander-in-Chief much
anxious thought. Many, amongst whom were Outram and Hope Grant,
pressed him to attack the Kaisarbagh and capture the city in the first
instance; but 45 officers and 496 men out of our small force had been
killed or wounded; Sir Colin, therefore, decided that it would be to
the last degree imprudent to attempt such an undertaking with his
reduced numbers, and became more than ever determined to confine his
operations to the relief of the garrison.

That the Chief was right there can be no room for doubt. This force
was barely strong enough for the service it had to perform. Every man
was on duty day and night; there was no reserve to fall back upon; and
had he listened to these proposals, and allowed himself to be drawn
into complications in the city, it is more than probable that those
he had come to succour would have been sacrificed. The wisdom of his
decision was fully proved by subsequent events, and unreservedly
acknowledged by Hope Grant and others who at the time differed from
him in their ideas of the course which should be adopted.

From the Dilkusha to the Residency was not less than five miles; every
yard of the way had to be guarded, and the garrison at the former
place was so attenuated that it had to be reinforced by the withdrawal
of part of the 75th Foot from the Alambagh. Fortunately this could be
done without dangerously weakening that post, as it had been lately
strengthened by the arrival of a small body of troops from Cawnpore.

It had now to be settled whether the evacuation should be effected
by the route we had ourselves followed, which was circuitous and in
places difficult for the wheeled vehicles necessary for the conveyance
of the sick and wounded, and the women and children; or by the way
past the barracks and Banks's house, which was shorter and had the
advantage of a metalled road throughout. But unless Russell, whose
brigade was in position at the barracks, could make the latter line
secure, it would be too hazardous to adopt, and up to the present the
reports from Russell had not been very promising. He had been
hardly pressed on the 17th, and had sent word that he could