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276 had been pronounced; then learning that they were crossing at Trimmu-ghát, he threw himself upon them, and after a contest so severe that it became necessary to try conclusions with the bayonet, drove them back upon the river, with a loss of between three and four hundred men. Unable, from the intense heat and the exertions to which his men had been exposed, to follow them further, he left a party to guard the ghát, and returned with the bulk of the brigade to Gúrdáspur. The river, meanwhile, had risen, and the rebels, unable to reach the further bank, had taken a position on an island in its centre, whence, by the aid of an old gun they had brought from Síálkót, they hoped to defy all enemies. Nicholson, however, was resolved to give them a lesson. Devoting the three following days to the procuring of boats, watching the rebels carefully during that period, he embarked his infantry, on the morning of the 16th, and landed them at one extremity of the island, whilst he placed his guns so as to cover their advance against the enemy at the further end. These tactics completely succeeded. The rebels were defeated with very heavy loss, many were drowned in attempting to escape, and the few who reached the shore were given up by the villagers.

Nicholson then returned to Láhor, met there Sir John Lawrence, and learned that on his way to and beyond the Satlaj his column would be reinforced by 2500 men, of whom 400 belonged to the 61st Foot, 200 to the 8th Foot, 100 to the artillery, and the remainder were Sikhs or Balúchís. On the 24th he received his orders to march for Dehlí, crossed the Bíás on the 25th, and pushing forward with all speed, taking up his reinforcements as he marched, reached Bárá, in Sirhind, on the 3d of August. There he received a despatch from General Wilson, commanding the force besieging Dehlí, telling him that the rebels had