English are brave fighters," the rajah said. "They have taken
places in a few hours that seemed impregnable, but they cannot
perform impossibilities. Our walls are defended by forty thousand
men and--although in the open field I do not say that you might not
defeat us, seeing how your troops are disciplined, while with us
each man fights for himself--when it is a question of holding a
wall or defending a breach, I can trust my soldiers. We are twice
as numerous. We have heavier guns, and more of them, than you have
and, as I told you, the English will never get into Bhurtpoor."

At seven o'clock in the evening, a deep and almost continuous roar
of guns broke out.

"The assault has begun!" Harry exclaimed. "We shall not see much,
but we may get some idea as to how things are going from the
lookout."

It was too dark for the movements of troops to be seen, but the
quick flashes of the guns on either side, and a play of flickering
fire along the top of the wall showed that the storming party was
approaching. The attack was made in three parties: one advanced
against a battery which the defenders had established outside the
walls, at a spot where its fire would take in flank any force
advancing against the point towards which the fire of the English
guns had been directed; another was to attempt a gateway near the
breach; while the central column, consisting of five hundred
Europeans and a battalion of Sepoys, was to attack the breach
itself.

For a time the roar of firing was incessant. The alarm had been
given as soon as the British columns advanced from the wood.
Notwithstanding this, the right column advanced straight against
the battery, captured it, and spiked the guns. The left column, as
it approached the gate, came upon a deep cut filled with water and,
having no means of crossing this, they moved to the support of the
force attacking the breach. This had been greatly delayed. The
ground to be crossed was swampy, with many pools and, in the
darkness, numbers lost their way, and the force arrived at the
point of attack in great confusion.

A small party of twenty-three men only--of the 22nd Regiment, under
Lieutenant Manser--who formed the forlorn hope, crossed the ditch,
breast high in water, and mounted the breach. In the confusion that
reigned among the troops, some of the officers had lost their way,
and there was no one to assume the command or to give orders; and
Lieutenant Manser, finding that he was