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228 by the trees. Twice, indeed, they sallied forth to charge the guns, but each time they were repulsed. But they had all the advantage in musketry fire from behind shelter, and at the end of an hour Captain Hastings of the volunteers brought word to Eyre, who, having no subaltern, was obliged to stay with the guns, that the position of the Fusiliers was becoming critical. For such a state of affairs there was but one remedy — recourse to that splendid weapon which, wielded by British hands, has never failed. The order was given to close up and charge. Promptly was it executed. Led on one flank by L'Estrange, on the other by Hastings, the men of the 5th closed up, and rushing forward with a cheer, cleared the brook which separated them from the wood, and dashed at the enemy. The rebels did not stand to meet the encounter; they gave way in tumultuous disorder. Eyre pushed rapidly on after them, hoping to reach Árah that night, but he was stopped on the way by an impassable torrent. He spent the whole night in improvising a causeway. Over this, in the early morning, he passed his troops and his guns, and an hour later had the gratification of rescuing from their danger the gallant garrison which, for eight days, had successfully defied an enemy fifty times more numerous than themselves.

The rebels, meanwhile, had fled to Jagdíspur, the stronghold of Kunwar Singh. Thither Eyre, who was not the man to consider a task completed so long as anything remained to be accomplished, followed them on the 11th of August, and stormed and captured it the following day.

Such was the man, and such was the deed which changed the despair of the British residents of Western Bihár into triumph. Eyre, descending apparently from the clouds, had turned defeat into victory, despair into