and both armies,
according to custom, had in the evening fired a _feu de joie_ on the
occasion, prolonged by General Courtlandt's gunners in honour of their
approaching friends. This heavy cannonade put the British camp on the
_qui vive_, and the General ordered all the tents to be struck, and the
troops to get under arms, in case it should be necessary to march to
Mooltan, and assist in the supposed engagement with the enemy. Scarcely
had this been done than the rebel detachment reached the British camp;
and instead of finding all plunged in sleep, except the usual sentries,
they were received with such a rattling fire, that, after fruitlessly
assailing the pickets, they fled in confusion, as many as possible
mounting the artillery horses, which they had brought for so different a
purpose. In the affair the British had only six men and two horses
wounded, and none killed; while the enemy lost forty killed, many more
wounded, and some taken prisoners. It is one of the numberless examples
to be brought forward of the importance of being on the alert in the
neighbourhood of an enemy. How disastrous might have been the
consequences had General Whish's army not been aroused and prepared for
an enemy on that occasion!

Moolraj made every attempt to destroy his enemies; and contriving to
send three traitors into the camp of the irregulars, who got employed as
cooks, Lieutenant Edwardes, Lake, Lumsden, Courtlandt, Hugo James, and
Cole, who were dining together, were very nearly all poisoned. The
wretches were shaved, flogged, and turned out of the camp, when they
fled to Mooltan as fast as their legs could carry them.

SIEGE OF MOOLTAN.

And now the avenging army arrived before Mooltan. General Whish's
headquarters were with the right column; the left was under Brigadier
Salter, and arrived on the 19th August 1848; while the heavy siege-guns,
under Major Napier, with the sappers and miners, commanded by Captain H.
Siddons, did not reach headquarters till the 4th of September. The
European regiment attached to each column came as far as practicable by
water. The irregular force under Edwardes and Lake being encamped a
distance of six miles from that of General Whish, it was necessary to
move it closer up to the latter, to prevent the enemy's cavalry from
passing between them. The very position taken up, it was found, was
within gunshot of Mooltan; but as it was an important one to hold,
Lieutenant Edwardes resolve