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224 they evidently had not expected. They changed their tactics then, and brought up guns to assist them. They used these on the 28th, and during the day of the 29th. But that night there was a lull, and the garrison was cheered by hearing a musketry fire in the direction from which they expected assistance — the direction of Dánápur.

The musketry fire was indeed the consequence of the proximity of Dunbar's force, but, alas! it was produced mainly by the muskets of the revolted sipáhís. Dunbar, in fact, marching carelessly, and without the precautions essential to a night march in a country occupied by an enemy, had fallen into an ambuscade. He and other officers were killed; the men, surprised, became discouraged, and attempting to retrace their steps to the Són, they were pursued by almost the full force of the rebels. It was a rout as complete as it was disgraceful. Many men were killed and wounded during the retreat. When the survivors reached the Són, they experienced the greatest difficulty in forcing their way to its eastern bank. They at last succeeded; the steamer which had brought them to a certain point was still waiting for them there. On that steamer, in lieu of the 415 men and fifteen officers whom she had carried, full of hope, the previous morning, there were now only fifty men and three officers who had been untouched by the enemy's fire.

The repulse of the force which, at the instance of Mr Tayler, General Lloyd had despatched to relieve Árah added greatly to the despondency of that officer. It would be difficult to exaggerate the gloom, not to say the terror, which fell upon Dánápur. Upon Mr Tayler the effect was very different. It seemed, indeed, impossible to doubt that Árah must fall. If Árah should fall, then the several stations, isolated, each depending on its own re-