on January 23, 1881, his men
succeeded in placing 2600 pounds of gunpowder under the south-eastern
corner of the rampart. Early on the following day the Russians began the
assault; and while cannon and rockets wrought death and dismay among the
ill-armed defenders, the mighty shock of the explosion tore away fifty
yards of their rampart.

At once the Russian lines moved forward to end the work begun by
gunpowder. With the blare of martial music and with ringing cheers, they
charged at the still formidable walls. A young officer, Colonel
Kuropatkin, who has since won notoriety in other lands, was ready with
twelve companies to rush into the breach. Their leading files swarmed up
it before the Tekkes fully recovered from the blow dealt by the hand of
western science; but then the brave nomads closed in on foes with whom
they could fight, and brought the storming party to a standstill.
Skobeleff was ready for the emergency. True to his Plevna tactics of
ever feeding an attack at the crisis with new troops, he hurled forward
two battalions of the line and companies of dismounted Cossacks. These
pushed on the onset, hewed their way through all obstacles, and soon met
the smaller storming parties which had penetrated at other points. By 1
p.m. the Russian standard waved in triumph from the central hill of the
fortress, and thenceforth bands of Tekkes began to stream forth into the
desert on the further side.

Now Skobeleff gave to his foes a sharp lesson, which, he claimed, was
the most merciful in the end. He ordered his men, horse and foot alike,
to pursue the fugitives and spare no one. Ruthlessly the order was
obeyed. First, the flight of grape shot from the light guns, then the
bayonet, and lastly the Cossack lance, strewed the plain with corpses
of men, women, and children; darkness alone put an end to the butchery,
and then the desert for eleven miles eastwards of Denghil Tepe bore
witness to the thoroughness of Muscovite methods of warfare. All the men
within the fortress were put to the sword. Skobeleff himself estimated
the number of the slain at 20,000[335]. Booty to the value of L600,000
fell to the lot of the victors. Since that awful day the once predatory
tribes of Tekkes have given little trouble. Skobeleff sent his righthand
man, Kuropatkin, to occupy Askabad, and reconnoitre towards Merv. But
these moves were checked by order of the Czar.

[Footnote 335: _Siege and Assault of Denghil Tepe_. By General Sko