Conductor Glassop, of the Bengal
Foot Artillery, a man of upwards of twenty stone, was standing amidst
the shells when they blew up, and, strange to say, escaped uninjured.
Circumstances like these are the inscrutable doings of Providence, and
far beyond man's poor and narrow comprehension. At this time the general
had himself arrived, and having ascertained the cause of the sad
catastrophe, could only add his moiety of commiseration for the poor
sufferers. Blame could not be attached to anyone. The affair was one of
the unavoidable accidents of war, which no human foresight could have
guarded against or prevented.

The enemy, availing themselves of the calamity, rushed to that side of
the fort in great numbers, and brought every moveable gun and matchlock
to bear on the scene of woe. Having removed the dead and wounded to
camp, we reloaded the whole of the mortars and howitzers in the two
batteries, and levelled them at the multitude of people that had
collected on the fort. They were fired in quick succession, when a
general flight took place, and many of them ran their last race. Nearly
sixty shells, with some few shots, were fired in a few minutes, and not
a soul could for some time afterwards be seen at the same side of the
fort, save some few bearing away the dead and the wounded. We then gave
them three cheers, but they returned not the greeting.

At this moment our breaching-battery opened with a salvo, accompanied
with three hearty cheers, which that side of the garrison returned.
After this we went on coolly and systematically, and we returned home
again, visiting the several posts and batteries. In the evening, the
European soldiers were committed to the grave, followed by their
comrades, who dropped a tear to their memory.

The following morning I went to breakfast with Captain Daggalier, of the
old 13th regiment Bengal Native Infantry, in the large house occupied by
our men, about five hundred yards from the fort. We were busily engaged
upstairs securing a hearty meal, when a large three-pound shot found its
way through the window of the room in which we sat, and passed under the
table between my legs and those of Captain Daggalier. This convinced me
that there is some advantage in having long legs. Mine were so
excessively lanky, that I could only just screw them under the edge of
the little camp-table; from which fact only I can still boast of having
two legs. I need not say that the tea-things, breakf