sher singh had at once acceded to the proposal of major edwardes that percy groves should establish himself in his camp. "let him come," he said; "he will see that all i say to you is true, and that i am a faithful servant of the maharajah. there is nothing i wish to hide from him or from you. i have sworn to you over and over again, that i am faithful; and did he live in my tent, he would see how true i am to my oath."

the rajah, indeed, was sore that his fidelity should be suspected, and in his conversations with percy, after the latter had established himself in a tent close to him, he frequently complained that after having so long withstood the entreaties of his father and the wishes of his troops, he should be suspected. percy did his best to assure him that personally major edwardes had no doubt of his loyalty, and that he feared only that he might not be able to control the troops.

"but i have so far controlled them," sher singh said; "have i not brought them here instead of allowing them to march into mooltan? why, then, should i be doubted now? if i had wished to go, would it not have been better that i should have done so before these white troops arrived? you had hard work in beating moolraj alone; if i had joined him before, edwardes and the bhawulpoor troops would have been destroyed."

"had you joined moolraj, rajah, we should never have crossed the indus, nor would the troops of the nawab have been here. major edwardes knows well that you have done your best, and believes that did your troops revolt you would ride into our camp. it is not your good-will that he doubts, but your power over your soldiers. we know that they are in hourly communication with the enemy, that they go freely in and out of the town, that messengers pass between them and their countrymen who have gone over; and it is easy to understand that, placed as we are here, and carrying on a siege with but scant forces for such an operation, he cannot but be most anxious regarding a force like yours lying so close to him. but he has still strong hopes that you will be able to keep them firm. were it otherwise, he would not have sent me here. it is anxiety, and not suspicion, that causes him so earnestly to beg you to stand firm."

bhop lal and akram chunder were both charged to learn as much as they could from the soldiers as to their intentions. their reports were favourable to the rajah.

"the soldiers are all for moolraj," bhop lal said. "they speak of the rajah by the nickname of 'the mahomedan.' it is he alone who keeps them here, for though uttur singh and shumsher both support him, they are almost alone among his officers. sher singh is a powerful rajah, and his family one of the first among the sirdars of the punjaub. that is the reason why he has been able to keep them from going over, for they fear that if they did so in the face of his opposition, they would afterwards suffer at the hands of himself and his family, even if their cause were victorious. all seem agreed that there is no chance of the rajah's throwing in his lot with his father, and they curse him as one who is false to his family, his country, and his religion."

it was then a complete surprise to percy when, after retiring to bed on the night of the 13th of september, he was suddenly aroused by the entrance of a body of armed men into his tent. they belonged, as he saw at once, to the rajah's own bodyguard, and were commanded by one of his most trusted officers.

"no harm is intended," the latter said; "the rajah's orders are that you are to be honourably treated, but i must beg you to rise and dress at once, as we are going to move our camp."

seeing that resistance would be altogether useless, percy at once rose. after putting on his clothes he saw that his arms had been taken possession of by the soldiers, and that he was in fact a prisoner. without making a remark, he passed out of the tent, and saw his two men standing there with very crestfallen faces, holding his horse, and surrounded by a body of sikhs. he mounted, and the sikh cavalry at once closed in round them. the tents had been struck already, the baggage packed, and the troops formed up. uttur and shumsher singh had, as he afterwards learned, done their utmost to carry off the men under their command to the british lines, but they had been surrounded by officers entreating, abusing, and threatening them and stirring up their soldiers till they were forced to abstain from opposing the popular demand.

uttur singh had then mounted his horse, and with great difficulty made his way through the crowd, riding off to carry the intelligence to major edwardes, followed by two other officers. shumsher singh had been carried off as a prisoner, and was confined in his tent; but the next night he managed to crawl out under the bottom of the tent, and made his way in common clothes and bare-footed several miles to the british camp, killing on the road one of sher singh's vedettes, who tried to arrest him. two, therefore, out of the three sikh leaders justified major edwardes' belief in their fidelity.

on arriving at the new place of encampment under the walls of the fort, percy remained for an hour in the centre of his guard, and was then conducted to his tent, which had again been pitched. half an hour later his two servants came in; both were deeply humiliated that they should have given their master no warning of what was coming, and poured out their apologies and expressions of regret.

"it is not your fault in any way," percy said; "it was but yesterday afternoon that the rajah was even warmer than usual in his protestations of loyalty, and yet at that time he must have fully made up his mind as to his course. had the troops known it yesterday you would certainly have noticed a difference in their bearing. he cannot have issued any orders until late in the evening, and you see he took measures for my protection by sending his own bodyguard to protect me; and has probably carried me off partly as a hostage and partly perhaps with the thought that i may be useful should circumstances make it necessary for him again to enter into negotiations with our people. how is it we have not entered the fort?"

"the sikhs intended to go in, sahib, but moolraj kept the gates closed, and sent orders that they were to encamp here under the guns of the fort. i suppose that he is afraid of treachery. the sikhs are very angry."

"i suppose they have taken your arms?" percy said.

"yes, sahib; we were sleeping at the door of your tent, they pounced upon us suddenly, twisting scarfs round our mouths to prevent our calling out. they carried us a short distance away, and then released us. they ordered us to saddle our horses and yours, and warned us that if we made the least outcry it would be the signal for your death as well as our own."

in the morning sher singh came into the tent. "i am sorry that i have been compelled to make you prisoner, sahib groves, but i had no choice. had i not done so, the stir among the troops would have awoke you, and you might have carried the news to your camp in time for horsemen and guns to interfere with our movements. i did it, too, as much for your protection as my own, for some of the troops might have rushed in and killed you had you not been in the hands of my own guard."

"i thank you for that, rajah," percy said quietly; "but my life is of little consequence in comparison to other matters. until now it has only been a question of the overthrow of a dewan who refused to render obedience to his government, and whom you and your army were despatched to conquer. instead of this, your army has gone over and joined his. you know, even better than i do, what that means: that all the punjaub will be up, and that tens of thousands of lives will be lost. i can only hope that you, like myself, are here against your will."

"no," the rajah said passionately. "i was faithful, and i was doubted. i withstood the entreaties of my father, the adjurations of the chief men of my religion, and the wishes of my army; but when i found that in spite of all this, i was suspected, it was useless for me to strive longer. i am no longer a general of the durbar of lahore, but a sikh prince."

"i am truly sorry to hear it," percy said gravely, "for your own sake, and for that of the punjaub. there can be but one end to it. if, when the whole khalsa army was intact, the sikhs could not withstand the advance of a weak british force to lahore, what chance have they against such an army as will be collected now? the last time england astonished the sikhs by her clemency, and by taking so little when all was in her power. she thought that her strength and her clemency would alike have made such an impression that the sikhs would henceforth be content and remain in peace. this time she will assuredly make no such mistake, and i consider that your highness' defection will lead to the destruction of the independence of the punjaub."

"that we shall see," the rajah said, "last time but a small portion of our sirdars took up arms. you had but to fight against troops who had long lost their discipline; now you will have the whole of the sikh nation against you."

"were the sikh nation ten times as numerous as they are," percy said quietly, "the end would be the same. however, as your highness has now taken your course, it is useless for me to endeavour to dissuade you. i have to thank you for having taken means to secure my safety, but i should have thanked you still more had you ordered your bodyguard to conduct me to our camp instead of bringing me here."

"that i could not do," sher singh replied; "it would have caused my own men to suspect me; but, be assured that you be well and honourably treated. i told you i regarded you as a guest in my camp, and as a guest you will always be treated; save in the matter of your liberty, every wish you may express will be granted; and if at any time you have any complaint to make, send me a message and i will come and see you and set matters right."

in the morning, when sher singh's men were about to march against the british camp, bhop lal said to percy: "there will be no fighting, sahib. the sikhs are very angry at the refusal of moolraj to admit them into the town, and they say they have not revolted in order to fight for moolraj, but for their country. they may advance, because the guns of mooltan look down into their camp, and they dare not therefore refuse; but they will soon be back here again. they are eager to march away, and will do so ere long. mooltan is nothing to them, and they know well enough that moolraj is fighting for himself alone, and that were the british expelled, there would be another war to decide whether moolraj or the sikhs were to be masters of the punjaub."

until the sikhs marched away on the 9th of october percy did not again see sher singh. the rajah, indeed, sent him a message that contained the most bitter complaints against major edwardes for having, by the letter that was intercepted, increased the doubts of moolraj as to his loyalty. percy replied that he, of course, knew nothing of the letter; but that a general like sher singh must know well that in war it was always a matter of policy on the part of a leader to cause disunion, if possible, between allies opposed to him, and that doubtless he himself would, under similar circumstances, have acted in precisely the same manner.

there was no actual prohibition against percy leaving his tent, but the officer in command of the guard, who kept a vigilant watch round it, strongly advised him not to do so.

"the rajah has given you into my charge," he said, "and holds me responsible for your safety. but how can i guarantee that, if you go about in the camp? i might surround you with a guard, and yet a musket or pistol ball fired by a fanatic might hit you. it is far better that you should remain in your tent, where you are out of sight of all, and out of their thoughts. if they once see you about, the fanatics might stir up the men to demand your life, and to insist that sher singh should give us some stronger proof of his hostility to the english, as moolraj did when he permitted the murder of the two english officers; and although the rajah wishes you well, he may be unable to resist the demands of the troops, who are rather his masters than he theirs."

percy felt the justice of the argument, and remained quietly in his tent, where he learned from his two followers all that was passing, as these in their native costume were able to move about freely among the sikhs, of whom indeed but few were aware that the servants of the british officer, who had been carried off with them, had also been taken. both the men, being mahomedans, burned with indignation at the atrocities committed by the sikhs upon the mussulman villages on the line of march, where they burned the houses, robbed the people, defiled the mosques, and murdered the priests.

"is that the way to fight for the independence of their country, sahib? are there not great numbers of mahomedans in the punjaub, and is it not enough to have to fight the english without making every mahomedan hostile to them? it was not so before. mahomedans and sikhs were of one mind as to the independence of the punjaub. now the mahomedans will be as one man in their hopes that the british will win. they know that under the british masters every man can worship in his own way without interference; and they must see now that if the sikhs conquer, they will root out the mahomedans from among them. akram and i followed you, sahib, and stood the fire of the sikh guns because our lord had bidden us guard you, but except for that our hearts were rather with the sikhs than with your countrymen, for have we not taken sikh pay and fought under sikh standards? henceforth it is different. the sikhs have showed themselves our bitter enemies, and all our hopes must now be with the english."

"you see no chance of my escape?"

"none at all at present; four guards watch day and night near your tent. we are forced to picket our horses in the lines of the sikh troopers, and your horse is placed among those of the rajah, whence we have to fetch it every morning for the march. a party of sowars always ride with us to fetch it, and accompany us back. of course we both have knives, which we have stolen at night from sleeping men; and we could get other arms, but we do not see that at present we could do anything with them."

"no, there is no possibility of escaping in the daytime," percy agreed. "the men who ride beside me always have chains between their horses' bits and mine, so there is no possibility of my making a sudden dash for it, as i otherwise would have done. if i once got beyond the range of their pistols i should have little fear of being overtaken, for there can be few horses in the camp that are a match for sheik."

day after day passed; the officer in charge of percy in no way relaxed his vigilance; the orders of sher singh being most emphatic as to the care to be exercised in guarding his prisoner. he learned from his followers the rumours current in the camp that the sikh troops at bunnoo and rhotas had also mutinied, and were upon the point of effecting a junction with sher singh's force. they were considered the flower of the sikh army, being composed entirely of old soldiers with trained cavalry and artillery. sher singh was marching to lahore, and although the people there were for the time powerless in face of the force that had been hurried up to hold the city as soon as the defection of sher singh was known, they were reported as ready to rise at the first appearance of the army before their walls.

some of the sikh cavalry had been pushed on ahead of the army, with orders to destroy the bridge of boats across the ravee, a mile and a half from lahore. they succeeded in burning some of the boats, but were then driven off by the 14th light dragoons under colonel havelock. so far no large force of the british had arrived. a brigade with one english regiment had been pushed forward, and one of cavalry had assembled at ferozepore, and native reports stated that large reinforcements were going forward to general whish and others advancing towards ferozepore. sher singh's army moved but slowly, and it was still the opinion of many british officers that, although constrained to desert us at mooltan, he would be glad to make his peace as soon as a strong british army approached him.

at the end of the first week in november the first british division under general thackwell crossed the sutlej and advanced towards lahore, and two days later the commander-in-chief, with general gilbert's division, followed it. the heavy guns had not yet come up, but were only a short distance behind, and the general was anxious to interpose his force between lahore and the sikh army, which might any day advance to its attack. he remained for two days at lahore, thackwell's division having already advanced.

"they will be here in two or three days, sahib," akram chunder said one morning to percy. "we have a strong position here on the right bank of the chenab, and how the english are going to cross i don't know; still they will do it somehow, that is quite certain. now, sahib, is the time. you must look to yourself; so long as the sikhs are confident of victory no doubt you will be as well treated as you are at present; but if they are defeated, as we very well know they will be, who could answer for your life? sher singh will have enough to do to look after his own safety, and even if the soldiers did not rush in and kill you, these men of your guard will not want to be encumbered with a prisoner, and they would know that, after a defeat, no one is likely to inquire much about you. so you must try to escape. the worst of it is, that with your friends so close, they will be more watchful than ever, for this is the time that you would be naturally trying to get away to join them. the officer looks so sharp after the guard, that i fear there is no chance of giving them liquor and making them drunk or of drugging them. they are forbidden even to speak to us as we go in and out. we are allowed to attend on you by the rajah's orders, but i have no doubt the officer is afraid we might try to bribe his men. bhop lal and i have talked it over in every way, but we can see no means of getting you out."

"i can see no way myself, akram; the sentries are very vigilant, they keep constantly on the move, and they challenge anyone who approaches within twenty yards. if they were to march during the night i would take my chance of slipping off my horse, for it is impossible, chained as it is to the others, to dash through with it. that is the only possibility of escape that i can see at present."

"i can see no other, sahib, but unfortunately they never have marched at night; still they may do so, and the first time they do we might try it. the worst of it is, that we shall not be near you, sahib. you see, on the march we always have to keep with the cavalry, among whom our horses are picketed."

"well, at any rate, akram, let it be a distinct understanding that if we are suddenly ordered to make a night-march, and i have no opportunity of speaking to you before we move, i mean to make my escape; and if by any possibility you can do the same you are to do so."

"as we have told you often, sahib, there is no difficulty about us. they have got pretty well accustomed to us now, and believe that we are all in favour of their cause, though we remain with you, because, in the first place, we are attached to you, and in the second, because we have wives and families who are in the hands of your uncle the colonel, and we dare not therefore leave you. so they have come to believe that we have no wish to escape at all, and pay no attention to us on the line of march. of course we ride at the rear of the regiment, and the last four men were always told off to ride behind us; but they have given that up long ago, and we could easily drop behind without being observed, on a night-march. the difficulty would be to find you after your escape."

"that can't be helped, akram. if i do escape, i will make my way back to the last place at which we halted; and if you get away, do the same. if we find each other there, all the better; if not, we must make our way separately as best we can to the british lines, wherever they may be. i will, if i can, come to the spot where this tent was pitched; we shall all know the position pretty well, and ought to be able to get somewhere near it, even on a dark night. now, remember that these are final orders, if i have no opportunity to give you others. the first night there is a march—whether before a battle has been fought or afterwards—i shall try to escape. if i do not appear at our last halting-place during the night, you are to go straight on to our lines; and if i do not turn up there in the course of a couple of days, you will know that i have either failed to make my escape, or been killed in attempting it."

"i understand, sahib; and you may be sure bhop lal and i will act according to your orders."

two days later there was a great hubbub heard in the camp bhop lal, looking out from the door of the tent, said:

"the army has come, sahib. the sikhs on the other bank are retiring."

percy went to the entrance of the tent, which faced the river, and stood there looking out. numbers of horse and foot could be seen crossing. a cloud of dust rose a mile and a half away, while in camp there was the deep rumble of guns as these were brought up to the river to command the passage.

"they are cavalry, sahib," bhop lal said, as amid the cloud of dust there was a sparkle of steel, and a body of horse came clashing forward. almost at the same instant the crack of guns was heard and shells burst over and among the sikhs on the other side of the river, greatly hastening their movements. the bed of the river was of great width, but was now for the most part dry. on the other side the bank was high, and from its foot a very wide bed of sand extended to what, in the wet season, was a green island in the middle of the river. the stream itself ran on the sikh side of the island.

before the british cavalry and guns came up the last of the sikh force on the other side were well on their way across the river, but the guns were at once unlimbered and sent shot after shot into them, until they were almost across and out of range, for the width from bank to bank was nearly two miles.

not content with this, two british batteries moved down from the bank, and charged across the sand, from time to time firing at the sikhs retreating across the ford; but when they came near the edge of the river the sikh batteries on the high bank opened upon them.

"they will have to fall back," percy said; "the guns here are much heavier than theirs, and they can never remain there in the open exposed to this fire."

it was not long before the officers commanding the british batteries discovered this, and gave the order for the guns to limber up. some confusion was visible among them. the horses were taken from two of the guns and attached to another.

"that gun has got into a quicksand or something of that sort," percy said, "and they can't move it."

the sikhs were not long in seeing this. the fire of their guns was redoubled, and the infantry at once paused in their passage of the ford and returned in great numbers to the left bank and opened a heavy musketry fire.

"they will have to leave the guns behind them," percy said, as the artillery mounted and rode off. the guns, indeed, dragged so heavily through the deep sand that a squadron of the 3d light dragoons galloped forward to cover their retreat. dashing over the sand they swept round the island where some hundreds of the enemy were drawn up, cut their way through them, sabring numbers, and then, in spite of the fire of six guns on the opposite bank, cantered back again. they had only one man wounded and two horses killed. other charges were made by the 3d dragoons and 8th light cavalry, but the sikhs took refuge in nullahs, and kept up such a galling musketry fire that the cavalry drew off. the sikhs now exultantly advanced to the abandoned gun, and as from the river bed the british force could no longer be seen, numbers of them made their way across the sand, ascended the high bank, and opened fire at the troops halted within rifle-shot.

"they won't be there long," percy said to his men. "you will see them coming back quicker than they went in a minute or two: look at that body of cavalry sweeping down upon them."

the sikhs, too, saw the danger, and came rushing in a confused mass down the bank. the cavalry, as he learned afterwards, consisted of the 14th dragoons under colonel havelock, supported by the 5th light cavalry. the impetuosity of the gallant leader of the 14th carried him away, and followed by his men he dashed down the bank in pursuit, with the intention of driving the sikhs back again over the river. but great numbers had now crossed the ford; some guns had been placed near the islands, and these and the batteries on the other bank opened a heavy fire upon the cavalry.

encouraged by the fire of their guns and by their numerical strength, the fugitives now made a stand. the horses of the dragoons were already blown, and with difficulty made their way through the deep sand; but havelock charged into the middle of the enemy well in advance of his men, and disappeared from their sight. they tried to urge their horses after him, but could not break through the infantry, while the sikh guns still continued their heavy fire. colonel cureton, who commanded the cavalry, rode forward to recall them from their dangerous position. he himself fell, shot through the heart. for a time the unequal contest was continued, many desperate single combats taking place between englishman and sikh; but at last the 14th were called off, having had upwards of fifty men killed and wounded.

"it seems to me," percy said, as the last of the cavalry rode up the opposite bank, "that was a very foolish charge. suppose they had driven the sikhs across the river, they could not have stayed to guard the ford with all these guns playing upon them, and the sikhs could have recrossed directly they had retired. it seems a pure waste of life."

so thought many others. the charge was as rash and ill-considered as that of balaclava. colonel havelock paid for his mistake by his life, just as did nolan, who gave the order that led to the charge of the light cavalry at balaclava.

the sikhs were in high spirits at the advantage they had gained, and complete confidence in themselves took the place of the doubt, that a good many of them had felt, of their power of resisting the british. this increased, as day after day passed, and no forward movement was made from the opposite bank. it could be seen, however, that the force there had been largely augmented, and that batteries were in course of erection at several points. the sikh guns fired at times at the working parties, but the distance was too great for the fire to be effective. bodies of sikh cavalry crossed the river at other points, and often rode round the rear of the british lines, occasionally cutting off men who had straggled too far out of camp, and then riding off before the english cavalry could mount and pursue them. a few soldiers who were taken alive were carried to the camp, where they were well treated by sher singh, and were sent back to the british lines bearing a communication from the rajah expressive of a desire for peace.

but the time had passed for negotiations. it was necessary for the peace of india that the sikh strength should be broken once and for all, and the answer sent to the rajah was that the commander-in-chief could not treat with men in arms against him. a week passed after the cavalry fight, and then it became known in the sikh camp that the heavy guns for which the british had been waiting had arrived.

"i do not see the use of those batteries they are erecting on the opposite bank," akram chunder remarked, as, standing at the door of the tent, they watched what was going on. the sikhs too had been working hard; strong works had been erected commanding the ford, and a number of guns placed there in position.

"i do not see any good in it either, akram; the guns are too far off to be of any use whatever in covering the advance of a column trying to cross. i do not think it is possible to ford the river in the face of such a fire as will be concentrated upon them if they attempt it."

"then what will they do, sahib?"

"i should say they would send a force either up or down the river to cross at some other point ten or twenty miles away. when they have got across they will either intrench themselves there and defend the ford until the whole army can cross, or they will march this way and attack the camp while the army opposite tries to cross the river."

"there would be great risk in that, sahib, for the sikhs could throw their whole force on those that have crossed and destroy it before they could get any aid from their friends on the other side."

"yes, it would be very dangerous, too dangerous to try, i should say, against another european force; but you see, akram, we have been so accustomed to win battles in india that we feel quite confident of victory even when the odds are three or four to one against us."

early in the morning of the 1st of december percy heard an unusual stir in the sikh camp.

"what is the matter?" he asked the officer of the guard when the latter as usual came in for a talk with him.

"a peasant came across before daylight with the news that a large force of your people have marched somewhere down the river. we had thought that they might try to cross at the ford of ghuree-kee puttum, and were ready to receive them, but they have not gone there. it is supposed they have gone to wuzeerabad."

"how far is that away?"

"twenty-four miles."

"have you any force there?"

"no, it is a very bad ford, and unless they get some boats they can hardly cross there; but we would not stop them if we could. how the british, who know so much of the art of war, can throw themselves like this into our hands is more than we can tell. we shall let them march up some miles, so that they can no longer retreat to the ford, then we shall fall upon them and exterminate them. we know their force, for the peasant, who was awakened by the noise made by the camp-followers and the growling of the camels and the rumbling of guns, crept up and counted them as they passed. there were five batteries, two of them native; five regiments of cavalry, four of them native; two white regiments of foot, and five regiments and a half of sepoys. if you put them at five hundred men to each regiment, there are less than four thousand foot. what is that against the force we can bring against them? they will get to wuzeerabad to-day, but it is a long march. the white troops will not be ready for much at the end of it, and few will get across to-night. it will be mid-day to-morrow before they are all over, even if they have boats, so that at most they will not arrive nearer than twelve miles by to-morrow night. the next day we shall finish with them."

percy thought it was as well to keep to himself his conviction that the sikhs would not find it so easy a business as they anticipated; yet he saw that unless our main army moved across to the attack, and so occupied a large portion of the sikh force, or else considerably reinforced that advancing up the river bank, the position of the latter was indeed a perilous one. but he still felt confident in their power to resist an attack made upon them.

"i should be glad," he said to his two followers, as he talked the matter over during the day, "if they would move this tent of ours somewhere farther back from the bank. that battery below us is sure to come in for its share of the fire from the guns on the other side, and any ball that goes too high is as likely as not to pass through this tent."

"you may be sure that our guard won't wait here when that happens, sahib; they may leave the tent standing, but they will certainly march themselves and you off out of range."

late in the afternoon a heavy fire was opened by the batteries on the opposite bank, and as the shells exploded, some over the sikh batteries, some farther back over the bank, a great hubbub arose. the artillerymen ran down to their guns and replied to the fire. drums and bugles called the troops under arms, orders were shouted in all directions, and the noises of the horses and baggage animals added to the uproar. the guard at once ran up and surrounded the tent.

"come out, sahib," the officer said, "we are going to pull it down at once."

"all the better," percy replied; "i have no desire to be shot by my friends."

the tent was speedily lowered, and it and its contents carried by the men half a mile from the bank and there re-erected. all the other tents along the bank were similarly removed.

as percy had foreseen, the fire from the distant guns inflicted but little damage upon the sikh batteries, so these, after replying for a short time, ceased to waste their ammunition, and the men retired behind the shelter of the bank, where they remained until the british fire ceased.

upon the following morning percy learned from the officer of his guard that a sikh horseman, who had been sent down the river, had reported that only a battery of artillery, two regiments of cavalry, and a brigade of infantry had crossed on the previous night, some wading the ford and others being brought over in boats, by which the guns had been conveyed across.

at night he heard that it was two o'clock before all had crossed and the march began, and they would probably halt at doorewal, which was twelve miles on the way, somewhere about nightfall. the sikhs reported that the cavalry were scouting in their front and on their left flank, and that the troops were marching in several columns, so that they could at once open out into order of battle if attacked. the guards were in high spirits that night, and sat round a fire laughing and talking until morning. the vigilance of the sentries, however, was in no way relaxed, and the officer several times peeped into the tent to see that all was right.

before daybreak there was a hum of movement in the camp, and percy knew that the sikhs were mustering for the attack.