Part 17 (1/2)

On Septeh, the beautiful park and garden belonging to the king of Oude Opposite 12,000 sepoys were drawn up, the right flank being protected by a swamp In front of them was a ditch filled ater from the recent heavy rains, and the road itself was deep in uns was a difficult ot through the ditch so our cavalry, which were already on the other side On they flew, cavalry and gunners, wheeling so as to get behind the right of the sepoys, while Eyre's artillery, stationed in the road, raked with fire the centre and the left The eneunJohnson, who led the Irregular Horse, dashed along the road for half a unners and threw the gun into the ditch When he returned to his post the enee across the canal, with our ar to take the bridge that day; the troops were exhausted and wet through, and the position strongly fortified The order was given to enca so which was fortunately obtained, the reat-coats, the rain pouring heavily on thereat shout of joy rent the air when Outram announced that he had just received news that Delhi had been recaptured by the English

The next day the sun was shi+ning, and as the baggage waggons ca clothes, and slept and rested while the generals anxiously discussed the best plan for getting into Lucknow There were three ways to choose froer and difficulty, but in the end it was decided to force the passage of the Charbagh bridge over the canal

This the enemy had evidently expected, for they had erected across it a barrier seven feet in height, with six guns, one a 24-pounder Beyond the bridge, along the canal, were tall houses, and from everyand loophole a deadly fire would pour And even supposing that the bridge was carried, the troops would have to pass through narrow streets and gardens and palaces, under showers of bullets at every step

Yet this seemed the only way to Lucknow

As for the sick and wounded, they were left with the stores and a guard of three hundred ht on the iven to advance The first oppositioncolumn, headed by Outra the road to the bridge Here Maude, one of the best officers in the aruns whose fire was so deadly, and silenced them, and the troops went on till they were close to the canal Then Outraht in order to clear the gardens of the sepoys hidden in them, and to draw off the attention of the enemy; lieutenant Arnold, with a company of the Madras Fusiliers, took his station on the left of the bridge with orders to fire at the houses across the canal, and right out in the open facing the bridge was Maude, with two light guns straight in front of the battery In a bend of the road on one side some of the Madras Fusiliers supported him, and on the other side, a little way off, stood Neill and his detach for the diversion to be made by Outram's movement

To Neill's surprise, not a trace of Outraunners falling before the continuous fire froain the Fusiliers from behind filled their places, only to be swept down like the rest, and now Maude and a subaltern were doing the work

'YouHavelock; 'I cannot fight the guns h the fire that was raking the road to Neill, urging hie But Neill refused He was not in command, he replied, and could not take such a responsibility The young aide-de-ca, but hurried on to Fraser-Tytler, only to receive the saalloped hard down the road, in the direction of the spot where his father was stationed In a fewup his horse at Neill's side, while he saluted with his sword, he said breathlessly:

'You are to charge the bridge, sir'

It did not occur to Neill that there had not been ti Havelock to have reached his father's position and come back so soon, and therefore that no such order could have been given by the general, and was simply the invention of the aide-de-calers sound the advance, and Arnold, with twenty-five of his e and were instantly shot down For fully two minutes Harry Havelock on his horse kept his position in front of the guns with only a private beside hi in heaps on all sides

'Co his sword, while the fire froh his hat

And they 'cauns were silenced and the barrier carried

The aide-de-ca'

[Illustration: The young Aide-de-cahlanders held the bridge for three hours till the whole force was over, and desperate fighting was going on all the tith a detachment advanced to a little temple further up the road, which was held by the sepoys, and succeeded in turning thehlanders could only defend it with their swords, for the cartridges were so swelled by exposure to the rain that they would not go into the guns After an hour, young Havelock, whose duty lay at the bridge, sent up soes, and then Webster, who fro the action of three s down the Cawnpore road, exclaiuns!' they all shouted, and the temple door was opened and Webster leaped out, Macpherson, the adjutant, and the uns when captured were thrown into the canal, where those of the Charbagh bridge were already lying

Perhaps the n was the advance towards the residency through the narrow streets, where the very wo down stones, and from the roofs and s a ceaseless fire poured upon ourthe cross-roads in order to make the horses stumble, and the smoke was so thick that men and beasts were nearly blinded It was here that Neill fell, shot in the head, and Webster found a grave instead of the Victoria Cross, which would certainly have been given hiates

For the first few , so great was the excite party were utterly exhausted, and needed rest, and what food ood nor plentiful

Most of all theytheir clothes, stiff with mud and wet, for Havelock tells us that he himself entered the city with one suit which had hardly been off his back for six weeks