hed into the fort in the greatest splendour and
magnificence, with colours flying, drums beating, war-trumpets
screeching, &c. His forces were permitted to enter indiscriminately, and
no treachery was even dreamed of. When the usual greetings and
congratulations were over, shoulder to shoulder, and breast to breast,
at a preconcerted signal, the unsuspecting and unarmed garrison were
pounced upon, and driven out of the fort, and deprived of their wives
and daughters. Jean Baptiste then gave, or sold, the said fort to
Scindia, who placed in charge of it one Harratoone, an Armenian.

The garrison, under this man's command, sold the fort for their arrears
of pay, and the purchaser was the grandson of him whom Jean Baptiste had
so treacherously deceived; and, if every one had his right, it was
legally his own without paying for it.

This grandson of the original owner of the fort paid up the arrears of
the garrison--eighty thousand rupees--the old garrison walked out, and
he walked in. Scindia, however, still considered this fort to be his;
but, as he could not take it, he called upon us, his allies, to take it
for him. Had it been the old garrison, we should have been better
pleased; but it was our duty to obey orders; so to work we went, the
garrison having positively refused to give it up without a struggle.

This fort stands on the river Scend; and two sides of it are protected
and guarded by that river, which is deep. The other two faces are
protected by a strong stone wall thrown round the fort, on the banks of
a branch of the same river. It was, therefore, necessary that we should
make ourselves masters of this outwork, before we commenced breaching
the fort. For this purpose a corner bastion was selected, where the
water of the river was not more than three feet deep. In a few hours the
breach was ready, and the moon's rising was the time appointed for the
storming of this bastion. The ascent was high and difficult. The general
was in the battery when the storming party moved out, and I was rather
surprised to see him proceed with them down to the river. I, of course,
stuck close to his elbow. The enemy soon observed us, and commenced a
heavy fire, but too high. Our brave sepoys mounted the breach like
heroes; but at the top the fight seemed desperate on both sides, and at
one time we thought our men were giving way. Impressed with this notion,
our brave little general dashed through the water, and was on the top o