The Seven Cities of Delhi
the command, lost no time, after the arrival of the siege-train on the 6th, and of the Meerut force on the 7th, in advancing on Delhi. At 2 a.m. on the 8th of June the small army — seven hundred cavalry, two thousand five hundred infantry, and twenty-two guns — left camp, and at dawn came under the enemy's fire from their position at Badli-ki-Sarai. The action was a short one, the guns were taken at the point of the bayonet by a dashing charge, and the cavalry, coming on the enemy's rear, completed the rout. Advancing still, in spite of wavering counsels, the general had the satisfaction of seeing the
enemy brushed away and the Ridge retaken.
And now, so some contend, a still further advance might have seen the city taken, and the trials of a siege avoided. Certainly the maxim of Laudace, toujours l'audace is one which both English and French have found most successful in engagements with Indian troops. But the men had already marched ten miles and had fought two actions; this, in the burning sun of the 8th of June, was enough for one day. Nor were the enemy disheartened or even content to allow them to rest. A heavy fire was opened from the walls, and an accurate one, for all the ranges had been previously tried, while
in the afternoon the first of many attacks was
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