cavalry, who, with Lieutenant Swinton,
had volunteered to serve on foot, were to advance upon another face of
the ridge, from the little village of Chulbarah, where they had been
posted; this party, ascending a spur of the hill on its left, was to
co-operate opportunely with the advance of the other detachments. Major
Fisher, at the head of a body of regular native infantry and irregular
cavalry, with guns mounted upon elephants, were in support, and
to ascend (the cavalry, of course, dismounting) when the various
detachments had come well into action. There was yet another point upon
which an ascent was to be attempted--that which was in front of the camp
of the British. Major Davidson, with a few hundred Sikh auxiliaries,
regular and irregular, supported by two companies of the 1st Sikh light
infantry, under Lieutenant Peel, was ordered to make this attempt.

At the moment for action, the signal gun was fired, but no one appeared
to take any notice of it--no men were seen to make their way along the
ridge. There was a long pause on the side of the British, the guns of
the enemy at the same time firing. None of the detachments appearing
on the ridge, Major Butler was ordered to attempt to storm it, in
conjunction with the other party already appointed to ascend in front:
this was happily accomplished, after a very sharp conflict. Major
Davidson was shot through the hand, Lieutenant Peel was mortally
wounded, and Lieutenant Christie killed. The detached parties, trusting
to native guides, were purposely misled, and thus could not come into
action. Ram Singh had by this means the way kept open for his retreat
when resistance was no longer possible, and all the skilful arrangements
that had been made to catch the eagle in his eyrie were thwarted by the
treachery of the natives, who had been, unfortunately, too implicitly
trusted in an important service.

_Retreat of Shebe Singh from Chillianwallah._--On the 12th of February
Shere Singh struck his tents, and retired from the strong positions
which he had so skilfully occupied. Lord Gough threw forward his
cavalry, but the Sikh general interposed the whole of his mounted
force, covering effectually his retreat. On the 15th the English general
learned that the Sikhs were at Wuzeerabad, and his spies informed him
that the sirdar was marching upon Lahore. It is probable that these
reports were correct, but the approach of a portion of General Whish's
army defeated the projec