caused by this fearful warning could be shaken off, the British cavalry dashed into the camp at full gallop, and, charging in all directions, the place which had so lately been the seat of repose and silence resounded with the clash of swords, the shouts of an excited soldiery, and the groans of the dying.
Holkar was slow to believe that the disturbance in his camp could be occasioned by General Lake, whom he supposed to be at a considerable distance. When convinced of it, instead of taking any measures for the safety of his army, he mounted his horse, and, with the troops immediately about him, rode off at full speed. The fate of an army thus abandoned need scarcely be related. Dispersing in every direction – some mounted, others on foot, their horses being too much jaded to carry them – they were followed and cut down in vast numbers so long as the British were able to continue the pursuit, which extended for about ten miles.
Holkar fled across the Jumna and proceeded towards Deeg, to join the remains of his infantry; and General Lake, who followed him, arriving at that fortress on the 1st of December, determined immediately to undertake the siege. Ten days, however, elapsed before the battering-train could be brought from Agra, and thirteen days more before a breach could be effected in a detached work which commanded the approach. It was then carried by storm on the night of the 23rd; and the enemy were so struck by the daring intrepidity of the assailants that in the course of the two following days they evacuated both the town and fort, and retreated towards Bhurtpore, leaving one hundred guns in the hands of the captors, with a considerable quantity of ammunition and military stores. The year 1804 thus closed in Hindostan with a signal triumph to the British cause.
While the strength of Holkar's army was thus broken in the upper provinces, his dominions in Central India, whence he might have drawn recruits and resources, had
