Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/331

Book IV. guard, was likewise arrived upon the rampart, from whence the greatest part of them passed to the terrasses. The musketry of the assailants and defenders were now employed with great vivacity against each other, but with some uncertainty, having no other light to direct their aim except the frequent flashes of fire: notwithstanding the hurry and confusion, lieutenant Harrison had the presence of mind to station a platoon upon the rampart, directly above the gate, ordering them to keep a constant fire upon the passage immediately below, whether they saw any thing or not: nothing could be more sensible or fortunate than his precaution; for the platoon killed, without seeing them, the man who was to apply the first petard, as well as the deserter who conducted him, and both of them fell within ten yards of the gate. Those appointed to escalade, fixed their ladders on the south side of the terrasses, and a drummer, followed by an officer, had already mounted to the top, when a party of Sepoys came to this station, who killed the drummer, wounded and seized the officer, and then overturning the scaling ladders overset the men who were upon them: the ladders broke with the fall, and the assailants called for more; but were disappointed; for the rest which had been brought were shattered and rendered useless by the grape-shot fired from the two pieces of cannon planted upon the cavalier: it was soon after found that the man who was to manage the second petard was killed. Thus defeated in all their expectations they determined to retreat, and went up to the battery again, where the whole now resolved to make their escape; but this for the want of their ladders was no longer practicable, except by eaping down eighteen feet perpendicular, either upon the rock or into the water. Desperate as this attempt appeared near one hundred made the experiment; but what they suffered deterred the rest from following their example, who, in despair, turned, and recommenced their fire from the battery upon the defenders. Lieutenant Harrison, with the greatest part of his Europeans, were assembled upon the terrass nearest the battery, and the two bodies, separated only by an interval of twenty feet, kept up a smart fire upon each other as fast as they could load: but the defenders had the advantage of firing under the cover of parapets from a situation twelve feet higher than the enemy upon the battery, who were totally exposed from head to foot,