Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/148

140 of the best positions it afforded, resisted successfully all attempts to dislodge them.

The little force took up the most favourable line they could find among the buildings they had fortunately seized; but they had been marching all night without food or refreshment, and to add to their embarrassments there was no water to be procured. Cooped up in this miserable position, exhausted by fatigue and want, they engaged in the desperate struggle that now awaited them. The enemy luckily was very weak in artillery, and his cavalry was unable to join in the action, but there was sufficient infantry at hand, and these surged forward in dense masses, wave following wave against the devoted band that resisted their fury. The British officers headed repeated sallies, and gallantly maintained their ground until night-fall, when a gun was captured, and the situation became terribly alarming. The Arabs now thinking they had carried the whole position, began to murder the wounded, and became demoralised; a last counter-attack was then made with such vigour upon the disorganised rabble, that the gun was retaken and the enemy driven back with much slaughter. The crisis past, the Maráthás as usual got discouraged, and after nine hours' fighting they retired out of the village, which Staunton immediately occupied.

The night was passed in the greatest anxiety, and a renewal of the attack was expected; but the Peshwá showed no signs of doing so, and he was seen to move towards the south. Staunton, cut off from