Page:Volunteering in India.djvu/102

88 , which enabled us to see almost as clearly as by daylight. The land, in fact, was brimful of blood and fire; and had a stranger suddenly dropped down upon us from the skies, his first idea on the prevailing state of affairs would certainly have been that he had descended into the infernal regions.

Thus passed the turbulent interval between April 24th and 30th, with fire and thunder indicating signs of the coming storm. Clouds of horsemen, too, had been seen hovering about in the distance; while an incessant roar of heavy guns set in with the shadows of eventide, and continued with little intermission throughout that restless night, passed in harassing watchfulness.

It was obviously certain that the morrow, when it came in, would be accompanied with the warm work brewing; and now that the usual forerunner of the rebel tactics was once more astir, with nerves well strung we awaited another struggle.

And shortly after dawn, while the troops were hastily swallowing their breakfasts, the bugles, instead of the reveille, sounded the “assembly,” and on our turning out instantly, we beheld the enemy coming down in three strong columns, with swarms of skirmishers moving in his front; and with such precipitation was his onset hurled at our position, that the Brigade was fighting at first actually to save its camp, into which round-shot ricochetted in rapid succession.

So formidable an attempt by a numerous and exultant enemy to overwhelm the Brigade, as it were, at