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186 Khángarh and Muzaffargarh were taken; the city was invested and captured early in February, and the bombardment of the fort commenced. The Nawáb had a garrison of only 2000 men, and the citadel was not provisioned for a siege, but he made a defence the like of which the Sikhs had never before seen.

Till the 2nd June the bombardment went on. Two large breaches had been made in the walls for the great Bhangi gun, the Zamzama of Ahmad Sháh, had been brought from Lahore, and had been four times fired with effect. More than one assault was given by the Sikhs, but they were repulsed, on one occasion with the loss of 1800 men. The gates were blown in, but the garrison raised behind them mounds of earth on which they fought hand to hand with the Sikhs. The defenders of the fort were at length reduced to two or three hundred fighting men, most of them of the tribe or family of Muzaffar Khán. The rest had either been killed or had gone over to the enemy, for they had been heavily bribed to desert their master.

At length, on the 2nd June, an Akáli, by name Sádhu Singh, determined to surpass what Phúla Singh had done in 1816, rushed with a few desperate followers into an outwork of the fort, and, taking the Afgháns by surprise, captured it. The Sikh forces, seeing this success, advanced to the assault and mounted the breach at the Khizri Gate. Here the old Nawáb, with his eight sons and all that remained of his garrison, stood, sword in hand, resolved to fight to the death. So many fell beneath the keen Afghán swords