portico over the gate, through which the enemy
were pitching earth, beams of wood, stones, &c.; one of these beams
knocked over my European servant, who was next to me, and dislocated his
arm, and, taking me in the flank, made me bite the dust also; however, I
had no further hurt than a slight bruise, and was up again immediately,
as I heard one of the soldiers say, "Oh! there is poor Mr. Holdsworth:
he's down!"

On getting within the gate a few volleys cleared the opening of the
street. Robinson, (our captain,) Col. Sale, with Kershaw and Wood of
the 13th, Sale's staff, (the latter the man who knew Arthur at
Canterbury,) were the first in. Poor Col. Sale got a cut in the mouth,
and fell upon Kershaw, who went down with him; on rising, an Afghan was
lifting his sword to cut down Sale when Kershaw seized the hilt of his
sword, and ran his own into him. Robinson also got a terrible cut on the
side of his head, which would have done his business for him if he had
not had on a cap padded with cotton, which deadened the weight of the
blow. All the companies of the storming party, however, got in well,
except the last, the light company of the Bengal European regiment, and
they had a desperate fight, the enemy having returned to the gate in
great numbers, and twenty-seven men of the company were laid low in no
time. After this every company that came in had a shindy at the gate;
the fact was, that the enemy took every company for the last, and
therefore made a desperate attempt to escape through it. Our company,
with the advance, pushed through the town, clearing the tops of the
houses. We only lost one man of our company; we thought he was done for
at first, but he is still alive, and, I am glad to say, likely lo do
well; he was shot right through the breastplate, and the ball went round
his body and was taken out of his back; he is to wear the same
breastplate in future. On coming to the end of the town we halted, and
were agreeably surprised, shortly after, to see the British flag waving
on the top of the citadel: the fact of the matter was, that the enemy
never thought of retiring to the citadel at all, but endeavoured to make
their escape directly they found we were inside the gates; the 17th and
13th, therefore, quietly marched up and took possession of it.

We now returned by the ramparts, taking a great number of prisoners, and
on reaching the large street where the horses were, the scene was
perfectly ridiculous; th