Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/255

Rh The news which reached him, on the night of the 31st, at his first halting ground of the defeat of Dunbar's party had no effect upon Eyre and his men. They pushed on all the next day without seeing any enemy, and bivouacked for the night at the village of Gujrájganj, some six miles from Árah. After marching a mile the next morning the rebels appeared in great numbers, occupying a wood which Eyre and his men must traverse. He reconnoitred their position, and then attacked them. The rebels had the advantage of numbers, and of position, and they were inspired by their defeat of Dunbar. But Eyre's first attack was so well directed and so sustained that he forced his foe to abandon his position, only however, he discovered to his vexation, to take a far stronger one about a mile in the rear. As this position was strong enough to repel a front attack, Eyre, under cover of the fire of his three guns, made a flank movement to gain the nearest point of the new railway embankment which had been constructed from Árah. The rebels, however, discovered the movement and its object, and commanding as they did the inner chord of the circle, rushed forward to gain it first, at the same time detaching Kunwar Singh's levies to harass the rear of the British. The rebels gained the decisive point first, and stationing themselves behind the trees of a wood which flanked the embankment, opened a severe musketry fire on the British as they approached. Eyre's position was now extremely critical. He must carry that wood, or be lost. Everything depended upon his coolness and self-possession; and, under difficult circumstances, no man ever gave greater evidence of the possession of both these qualities. Calmly surveying the position, he formed his men in skirmishing order, whilst his guns played upon the wood. The damage these effected was not great, as the rebels were well sheltered