Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/126

122 The recoil on the carriage is less, and their guns do not heat so rapidly as ours in firing.'

At 1 p.m. the battle of Sobráon was over. At 1.30 Colonel Wood, hardly recovered from his wound, was riding off to Sir J. Grey's Division at Haruku to order him to prepare for crossing the river immediately; he then rode on to Firozpur, twenty-five miles from head-quarters, to deliver the same order, and at 5 p.m. returned half-way to meet the Governor-General. On the 13th February, the whole army had crossed, with the exception of three brigades. On the 12th, the Governor-General himself with his staff crossed the bridge of boats. Abbott and Napier both superintended the operation. We witnessed regiment after regiment crossing the bridge. The men stepped out as if conscious of the victory in which they had participated. Three general actions had told their tale; some corps were lamentably weak, but flushed with victory they were ready for anything.