Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/149

Rh of this fire the rifles advanced, and soon came in contact with the enemy in the bed of the rivulet. The sipáhís fought well, and the contest was fiercely contested, when the carabineers, making their way across the stream, turned the enemy's left. This was the decisive moment. Pressed in front by the 60th, and mauled in their left flank by the carabineers, the rebels gave way, and fell back on a walled village. The 60th, however, followed them close, and expelling them from this position, forced them to flight along the Dehlí road. The sipáhís lost many men, and left in the hands of the victors five of their guns. The British loss, though small in itself, was large in proportion to the numbers engaged. The intense heat prevented the following up of the victory.

Never was more clearly illustrated the truth of the axiom that a victory not followed up is but half a victory. Undaunted by their defeat, and possibly stimulated by the taunts of their comrades, the sipáhís returned the next day to the battle ground. Taking up about midday a position on a ridge to the right of the Hindan, they opened fire from their guns on Wilson's force. The English guns replied, and for two hours ensued a fierce artillery combat. At the end of that period, Wilson, noticing that the fire of the rebels was slackening, ordered a general advance. The sipáhís did not await it. Discharging into the advancing columns of the English a shower of grape-shot, they limbered up and fell back in orderly array. The intense heat, and the parching thirst suffered by the English, prevented any pursuit. The English were much exhausted, and there were some cases of sunstroke. But great satisfaction prevailed in the camp from the fact that the Mírath brigade, which had been the first to suffer from the treachery of the sipáhís, had been the first to retaliate.

The next day (June 1) the camp was cheered by