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306 The 15th was employed by the troops within the city in securing the positions gained, in preparing the means to shell the city, in the restoration of order, and in putting a stop to indiscriminate drinking and plundering. The rebels, strange to say, interfered but slightly with this programme. The result showed how thoroughly Baird-Smith and Chamberlain had mastered the nature of Asiatics. The stationary position of the British cowed them. A retreat would have roused them to energetic action.

The 16th gave further evidence of the marked effect on their spirits of the British lodgment. In the early morning of that day they evacuated Kishanganj, whence, on the 14th, they had repulsed the fourth column. The British then stormed the great magazine, the scene of the heroic action of Willoughby and his comrades on the nth of May. It was found to be full of guns, howitzers, and ammunition. Vainly did the rebels, during the afternoon, make a desperate attempt to recover it. They were repulsed with loss.

If the progress made was, in the desponding language of General Wilson, 'dreadfully slow work,' it was sure. Bit by bit the important positions in the city were wrested from the rebels. On the 17th and 18th the bank, Major Abbott's house, and the house of Khán Muhammad Khán, were occupied, and the besiegers' posts were brought close to the Chandni Chauk and the palace. On the evening of the 18th the position occupied by the besiegers was as follows. Their front was marked by the line of the canal, on the banks of which light guns were posted at the main junction of the streets, and sandbag batteries erected. The right and left, indicated respectively by the Kábul gate and the magazine, communicated by a line of posts. The rear was secure against attack. It had been attempted,