the second Killadar, and gained possession of the top of the mountain, where the head Killadar was made prisoner. So close and critical was the pursuit that the sergeant of the 71st, when at some distance, shot the man who was in the act of closing the first gate.
More than a hundred of the enemy were killed on the western hill, and several fell down the precipices in attempting to escape from the assailants. The prisoners were few; and, according to their report, the garrison had consisted of fifteen hundred men, but many had deserted during the siege. Thus, in spite of Tippoo's prediction that one-half of the Europeans employed were destined to die of sickness, and the other half to be killed in the attack, the stupendous fortress of Savindroog was taken by storm in less than an hour, in open day, without the loss of a single man killed, and only one private soldier wounded, by a cannon-ball from one of our own batteries rebounding from the rock as he mounted to the assault!
The fall of Savindroog was the prelude to the capture of several other hill forts in the neighbourhood; and amongst these was Ootradroog, about eleven miles from Savindroog and thirty from Bangalore. On the march of the Anglo-Indian Army from Seringapatam in June, this fortress had been summoned to surrender; but the Killadar replied, "I have eaten Tippoo's salt for twenty years, and will not give up my post till you have taken Seringapatam." It was supposed that the fall of Savindroog might have made him less scrupulous, and a flag of truce was despatched, offering liberal terms. The staff officer who accompanied it was beckoned from the fort to advance: he complied with the invitation and when within sixty yards of the gate a fire of of musketry was opened upon him and the non-commissioned officer who bore the flag, but from which, happily, both escaped unhurt.
On the following day the fort was attacked in a manner for which the governor was not prepared. A number of field-pieces were run up to appointed stations, and under cover of their fire an escalade commenced. The side of
