Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/196

188 upon which the Sepoy, changing his aim, shot lieutenant Trenwith through the body. Lieutenant Revel, the only artillery officer, with 16 other men, was likewise disabled. This sally would be condemned by the rules of war established in Europe, for they forbid the besieged to run such a risque, unless they are assured of greatly outnumbering the party they attack but it is not reasonable to strain the rules calculated for one system, to the service of another differing so widely from it, as the modes of war in Indostan differ from those in Europe.

The next day Raja-saheb was joined by 2000 men from Veloor, commanded by Mortiz-ally in person; and took possession of all the avenues leading to the fort, which seemed little capable of sustaining the impending siege. Its extent was more than a mile in circumference. The walls were in many places ruinous: the rampart too narrow to admit the firing of artillery; the parapet low and slightly built; several of the towers were decayed, and none of them capable of receiving more than one piece of cannon; the ditch was in most places fordable, in others dry, and in some choaked up: there was between the foot of the walls and the ditch a space about 10 feet broad, intended for a faussebray, but this had no parapet at the scarp of the ditch. The fort had two gates one to the north-west, the other to the east; both of which were large piles of masonry projecting 40 feet beyond the walls, and the passage from these gates was, instead of a draw-bridge, a large causeway crossing the ditch. The garrison had from their arrival employed themselves indefatigably to remove and repair as many of these inconveniences and defects as the smallness of their numbers could attend to. They had endeavoured to burn down several of the nearest houses, but without success; for these having no wood-work in their construction, excepting the beams which supported the ceiling, resisted the blaze: of these houses the enemy's infantry took possession, and began to fire upon the ramparts, and wounded several of the garrison before night, when they retired. At midnight, ensign Glass was sent with 10 men, and some barrels of gun-powder, to blow up two of the houses which most annoyed the fort. This party were let down by ropes over the walls, and entering the houses without being discovered, made the explosion, but with so little skill that it did not produce the intended effect: at their return the rope,