lior Sepoys — fine stalwart men in red jackets and white turbans, with white trousers drawn up to the thigh — looked like demons as they advanced, uttering imprecations against the English.
The European troops were hampered by defective ammunition; while their great exertions, and the great heat of the sun, caused numerous sunstrokes. Sir Hugh Rose here received his fifth. Before this happened, however, he had seen at a glance that their defective ammunition rendered the men useless as skirmishers, and that it was no longer profitable to employ them as such. Closing his men, therefore, in double time on their centre, he ordered them to charge the enemy, who, unable to withstand the shock, fell back in confusion to their ravines, suffering heavy losses as they fled.
In the meantime Sir Hugh Rose heard that his left had completely succeeded in driving back into Kálpi the force under the Rání of Jhánsí and Ráo Sáhib. The battle was won, and he might attack Kálpi itself the next morning before daybreak.
But the enemy, whose morale was shattered by their defeat, had already begun to evacuate the place. In fact Kálpi had been won[1] by the general action on the banks of the Jumna, and was next day occupied without further fighting. Vast quantities of stores, ammunition, guns, &c., were found in the fort, which
- ↑ In justice to a gallant officer it must here be said that to the efficient co-operation of Brigadier Maxwell, Sir Hugh Rose owed much of his success in the difficult operations before Kálpi.
