es might have been followed up by the capture of
the city itself, had the victorious army been allowed at once to attack
it; but the higher authorities decided otherwise, and Lieutenant
Edwardes' force was directed to wait for the arrival of a regular army
to commence the siege.

Moolraj, consequently, was allowed time to complete the defences of
Mooltan, which he rendered very formidable.

No sooner had Sir Frederick Currie, the resident at Lahore, received
information that Moolraj had shut himself up in Mooltan, than he
despatched General Whish, with a train of heavy siege-guns, to invest
it. Meantime the fort was surrounded and closely invested by the troops
under Lieutenant Edwardes and the Nawab of Bhawulpoor, and had thus at
their command the revenues and resources of the whole district.
Lieutenant Edwardes was now joined by Lieutenant Lumsden and a young
lad, Hugo James, who had come out to seek for a cadetship--a gallant
boy. As he had come out to learn the art of fighting, his chief
afforded him every opportunity of doing so, and "used to give him a few
hundred men to take into any ugly place that wanted stopping up."

Steamers had found their way up the mighty Indus into the Chenab, and
two of their officers, Captain Christopher and Mr McLawrin, frequently
joined their mess. The steamers were employed in capturing the boats,
and otherwise harassing the enemy. The English leader had a great cause
of anxiety from the approach of a large Sikh force, under Rajah Sher
Singh, whose fidelity he had every reason to doubt. The Sikhs advanced,
however, and encamped before the city, and Moolraj lost no time in
endeavouring to corrupt both their leaders and common soldiers. With
the latter he succeeded but too well, as the sequel will show.
Meantime, Moolraj was actively recruiting, and numbers from the Sikh
country flocked to his standard. Thus matters went on till the arrival
of General Whish, under whom the right column of the British army
encamped at Seetul-Ke-Maree, on the 18th of August 1848. Moolraj,
hearing of his approach, resolved to attempt surprising him before he
reached the city. Accordingly, on the night of the 16th, he sent out a
strong force, accompanied by artillery horses ready harnessed, to bring
away the guns they expected to capture. Now it happened that on that
very day Lieutenant Edwardes, not wishing to have the Sikh force between
him and General Whish, had exchanged positions with it,