Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/149

Rh not been, and could not within the available time be, repaired. Besides Captain Jeff, there was another volunteer in camp. Sir Charles Metcalfe, with characteristic energy, threw himself into the study of military operations, and probably before the assault was delivered knew vastly more about the art of besieging fortified places than some of the accomplished soldiers on the staff. Yet even his stout spirit sank within him when he contemplated the nature of the task. Lord Combermere, however, by a happy mixture of boldness and sagacity, refuted the forebodings. A Jhil or lake, from which the water for the ditches round the fortress was to be drawn, was captured before the garrison had time to cut the sluices. The exterior of the defences was about five miles in circumference. A regular investment was therefore out of the question; but a number of important positions round the fortress were successfully occupied. To add to the difficulty of approach there was outside the walls a huge glacis, round the greater part of which again was a fringe of forest, which the Rájás of Bhartpur had retained, after the manner of native princes, as a hunting-ground. Within the walls was the town and the citadel which dominated all, and was itself defended by a separate system of works. For a little while the besiegers were sufficiently occupied in repelling sorties and preventing the entry of reinforcements. But on December 23, 1825, two definite positions were taken up for the attack. The batteries from these opened fire on the