me
disappointed that he was not to go side by side with Sherdil into the
fight. Sherdil himself was envious.

"In very truth thou art favoured above all men," he said. "I myself
would fain serve the great Nikalsain."

"But thou dost not know Delhi, Sherdil-ji," replied Ahmed.

"True, but by often asking one can find the way. Wah! I will
nevertheless fight as befits one of my name, and I promise thee that
when the day is done the Purbiyas shall lie around me like grass from
the scythe."

Dawn was just breaking on that sultry September 14, when the bugle
sounded the advance. The Rifles led the way in skirmishing order; the
first column, with Nicholson ahead, marched on steadily until they
reached the edge of the jungle. Then the Engineers and the storming
party, with their ladders, rose from cover, and sprang forward to the
breach near the Kashmir bastion. A storm of musket-shots assailed them
as they gained the crest of the glacis; scores of men fell; but the
survivors let down their ladders, the British officers ran down them
into the ditch, the men close behind, and with a great cheer they rushed
up the scarp and into the breach. The sight of their gleaming bayonets
was too much for the sepoys. They fled, and Nicholson led his men into
Delhi.

Meanwhile, at the Mori bastion, Colonel Jones had been met by a
tremendous fusillade that mowed down three-fourths of his ladder-men,
and a great number of his storming party. But while his men were still
struggling with the ladder, twenty-five of the 8th Foot slid into the
ditch, and scrambled up into the breach at a point where attack had not
been expected. The rebels were taken aback; Jones seized the moment of
hesitation, and in a few minutes the rest of his column were upon the
ramparts. They swept on towards the Kabul gate, driving the enemy before
them, and a wild whoop rose from the panting men as they saw their flag
planted on the summit of the gate.

The progress of the third column had been marked by an act of heroism.
The Kashmir gate must be blown open before they could enter. Home, a
subaltern of the Engineers, with two British sergeants and a dozen
natives, ran forward to the gate under a heavy fire, carrying
twenty-five pound powder-bags. A step or two behind came Lieutenant
Salkeld with a firing party and a bugler. They ran across the ditch by
the planks of the drawbridge, and came unscathed to the foot of the
great double gates, the rebels seeming to be