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 desire to follow up the beaten foe. Haidarabad surrendered, and six amirs gave up their swords.

Shir Muhammad, the Lion of Mirpur, confident in the defeat of the British, and unwilling to swell the triumph of his rivals, was a few miles off, with ten thousand men. He now retreated on Mirpur, where he soon found himself at the head of twenty-five thousand men. The position was one that called forth all Napier's powers. His force was greatly reduced, the thermometer was 110° in the shade, he had no transport, and Haidarabad, in which he was obliged to place a garrison of five hundred men, was too far from the Indus to serve as a base or depôt. Knowing that Shir Muhammad was a good soldier, but deficient in wealth, he resolved to give him time, hoping that a large army and no money would compel him to attack. Napier sent to Sakhar for all available troops to join him by river. These reinforcements, consisting of a regiment of Bengal cavalry, a regiment of native infantry, and a troop of horse artillery, duly arrived; while Major Stack's brigade of fifteen hundred men and five guns joined him from the north on 22 March. Napier had entrenched a camp close to the Indus, with a strong work on the other side of the river to protect his steamers. In the camp he placed his stores and hospital, with every appearance of the greatest caution, in February, and sat down to wait. During this time of suspense he, in the words of his hero, the Duke of Wellington, ‘manifested all the discretion and ability of an officer familiar with the most difficult operations of war.’ On 23 March reinforcements reached him from Bombay and from Sakhar. The Lion was slowly approaching, and sent envoys to summon Napier to surrender. On the morning of the 24th Napier marched to attack the enemy. He crossed diagonally the front of Haidarabad towards Dubba, eight miles to the north-west of the city. He found the Lion posted at Dubba with fifteen guns and twenty-six thousand men. Two lines of infantry were entrenched. The right rested on a curve of the river Falaili and could not be turned by reason of soft mud in the bed of the river, while the bank was covered with dense wood; in front of the position was a scarped nullah, behind which the first line of infantry extended for two miles to another wood, and then bent back behind a second nullah. The cavalry were massed in advance of the left, under cover of the wood. Behind the right, where it rested in the Falaili, was the village of Dubba, filled with men.

Napier's force numbered five thousand men, of which eleven hundred were cavalry, with nineteen guns, of which five were horse artillery. The battle began about 9 A.M. Napier brought his horse artillery to his left flank and advanced by echelon of battalions from the left, the horse artillery leading, with two cavalry regiments in support resting on the Falaili. The 22nd Queen's regiment formed the left of the infantry, then came four native regiments, and on the right were the 3rd cavalry and Sind horse. The horse artillery opened a raking fire, and the infantry pushed on for the village. The Baluchis closed at a run to their right. It was soon discovered that neither the village nor the nullah in front had been neglected. The 22nd, who led the way, were met by a destructive fire, and the existence of the enemy's second line became known. Napier had undervalued the skill of the Lion, and there was nothing for it but to make up for the mistake by persistent courage. He himself led the charge, and, by dint of hard fighting and indomitable resolution, Dubba was at length carried. The Baluchis lounged off, as at Miani, slowly, and with apparent indifference to the volleys of musketry which, at only a few yards' range, continually rolled them in the dust. Five thousand of the enemy were killed, while Napier's loss amounted to 270, of whom 147 were of the 22nd regiment. Napier's escape was marvellous, considering that he led the regiment in person. His orderly's horse was struck and his own sword-hilt. Towards the end of the battle a field magazine of the enemy, close to Napier, blew up and killed all around him; but, although his sword was broken in his hand, he was not hurt. Sending his wounded to Haidarabad, Napier pursued Shir Muhammad with forced marches in spite of the heat. He reached Mirpur on 27 March, to find that the Lion had abandoned his capital and fled, with his family and treasure, to Omerkot. Napier remained at Mirpur, and sent the Sind horse and a camel battery to follow up the Lion. On 4 April the troops entered Omerkot, a hundred miles from Dubba, and in the heart of the desert. The Lion had fled northwards with a few followers. On 8 April Napier was back at Haidarabad. So long as the Lion was at large in the country Napier felt that the settlement of Sind could not be effected, and all through the hot weather his troops were on his track. Napier surrounded him gradually by forces under Colonel Roberts and Major John Jacob [q. v.] Many men were lost, and Napier was himself knocked over with sunstroke, when Jacob, on 14 June at Shah-dal-pur, finally defeated Shir Muhammad, who escaped to his family across the Indus into the Kachi hills.