Ahmed departed with his coolie. When they reached the Chandni Chauk it
was instantly apparent that something had happened which stirred public
excitement. Crowds were pouring towards the palace, Hindus and
Mohammedans together, their faces lit with joy. One man jostled the
coolie, and his burden was thrown to the ground.

"Pig of a Purbiya!" cried Ahmed, seizing the man--a Pathan could not
overlook such an insult--"what meanest thou to damage thus the goods of
thy betters?"

"How shall I answer?" replied the man. "Knowest thou not that Bakht Khan
with his troops is now on the river-bank yonder, and but waits for the
repairing of the bridge to cross? And the king has ordered four hundred
men to do that work, and I am even now hastening to do his bidding.
Overlook my fault for this time, I pray thee."

Ahmed gave him a kick and released him. Clearly there was little chance
of doing business on such a great day. He took his wares back to the
serai, and then set off to the Calcutta gate to see what might be seen.
As he went he heard the concussion of artillery fire, and men soon came
running in the direction of the palace with news that the English were
bombarding the battery north of the Kashmir gate, commanded by Kuli
Khan. Cries arose that a general assault was being prepared against the
city, and by and by thousands of red-coated sepoys, with lumbering
gun-carriages, marched through the streets towards the Kabul gate, to
take up their position at Idgah and Dam-damma, facing the southern end
of the Ridge. Meanwhile the bridge of boats, which had broken down in a
heavy wind-storm on the previous day, was being hastily repaired by a
host of coolies with two companies of sappers and miners, and across the
river, two or three miles away, lay the long-expected force of Mohammed
Bakht Khan, from whose arrival the rebels hoped so much. All day the
city was in a ferment. Heavy guns were mounted on the batteries; some
attempt was made to reply to the English fire; and great was the
jubilation when it was reported that shells from the city had fallen in
the midst of the English camp, killing hundreds of the accursed
Feringhis.

Amid the excitements of the day Ahmed had no leisure to prosecute his
direct inquiries. He was satisfied with having made a friend of Minghal
Khan's doorkeeper, whom he intended to cultivate. What the darwan had
said of Kaluja Dass, and the words he had himself heard fall from the
khansaman's lips, co