Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/98

94 having perfectly succeeded but obliged by the burning of the camp and the darkness of the night to suspend its operations, we remained quiet, the enemy on both flanks of the camp firing shot and grape in the dark, while their camp opposite to us was continually exploding live shells and loose powder. In this state we passed the night, hearing the march of large Sikh bodies close to us. Whenever they were too impudent, I ordered up Colonel Wood with the 80th and 1st Europeans. The vigour of this attack and the British cheers in carrying the battery at midnight, with the spiking of their guns, caused them, I believe, to recede and confine their firing to the batteries on their extreme flanks.

'The despondency of several brave officers was great during the night. My resolution was recorded three or four times, when they came to me with timid counsels of retreat upon Firozpur, that our line of duty was clear, namely, to wait patiently for daylight and then, without a moment's hesitation, to attack the enemy and carry everything before us that remained to be carried. Sir Hugh came to me, candidly avowed the critical state of our affairs, but most cordially concurred in all my sentiments. I sent away every officer I did not absolutely want, such as Prince Waldemar, my doctor, and Wood, who although wounded, refused to go until I ordered him off.

'When morning came, we carried battery after battery without a check, and completed the victory which the conflagration and darkness had suspended.