Grant put
on a colonel's badge and uniform and, in his communications with
the enemy, spoke and behaved as if he had the whole regiment under
his command in the village. The enemy were undoubtedly misled, and
wasted three days in negotiations.

"Then fighting recommenced and, at daybreak, the enemy made a
determined attack upon the advance, with artillery. By eight
o'clock they had pushed the attack home, and passed the line of
walls and hedges a hundred yards from our position. The situation
was growing serious when, leaving me in command, Grant went out
with ten Ghoorkhas, crept along unobserved to the end of one of the
walls and, turning this, made a sudden attack upon the enemy from
behind. Taken wholly by surprise they fled, leaving six or seven
dead behind them.

"At eleven o'clock they were again pressing hotly and, encouraged
by the success of his first sortie, Grant determined to make
another. This time he took me with him. With six Ghoorkhas he had
driven the enemy from one hedge, when he discovered a party of
about sixty men behind a wall, twenty yards distant.

"'Now, my lads,' he said, 'we have got to run the gauntlet, but you
need not be afraid of their fire. Seeing us so close to them, it is
sure to be wild.'

"Then, with a cheer, we dashed across the open. The enemy blazed at
us, but their fire was wild and confused; and we were among them
before they could reload, killing a dozen, and sending the rest to
the right about, many of them wounded.

"On returning to the camp, we found that there were only fifty
rounds left for the Snider rifles, and thirty rounds each for the
Martinis. Strict orders were therefore given that no one was to
fire till the enemy were within close range. However, there was no
doubt that the fight was all taken out of them, by the spirit with
which those two little sorties had been made. They kept up a steady
fire till nightfall, but took good care not to show themselves; and
they retired, as soon as they could do so, in the darkness.

"That was really the end of the fighting. Three days passed, and
then a letter arrived from the officer in command of the
expedition, ordering him to fall back to Tamu, whence a detachment
had been despatched to meet him. This order had fallen into the
hands of the enemy. They no doubt informed themselves of its
contents, and were so utterly glad to get rid of us, without
further loss, that they gladly sent it in to us. That night there
wa