Meanwhile, Sir Colin, having stormed Banks's house on the 10th, occupied without opposition the Sikandarábágh on the 11th, and, owing to the happy audacity of three engineer officers. Medley, Lang, and Carnegy, took possession, also without fighting, of the Kadam Rasúl, and of that Sháh Najaf which had almost foiled him during his advance in November. But the Begum Kothí promised to offer a fierce resistance. It belched forth fire and flame, and it was so strong as to seem capable of repelling a direct attack. Lugard, however, who commanded the force in front of it, resolved to attempt one. The troops he employed were those companions in glory, the 93d Highlanders and the 4th Panjáb Rifles, led by that model of a soldier the chivalrous Adrian Hope. The assault, made at four o'clock in the afternoon, though opposed with a fury and discipline almost equal to that of the assailants, was successful. But, to use the language of Sir Colin, 'it was the sternest struggle which occurred during the siege.' Six hundred corpses testified to the unerring force of the British and Sikh bayonet.
The capture of the Begum Kothí gave to the Chief Engineer, Brigadier Napier, the opportunity of pushing his approaches, by means of sappers and of heavy guns, through the enclosures, to the mess-house, the little Imámbárah and to the Kaisarbágh. The 12th, then, was chiefly an engineers' day. Some changes, however, were made in the disposition of the troops; Franks's division relieved that of Lugard as the leading division, and the Nipálese troops were brought into line. They were placed on the extreme left, so as to hold the line of the canal beyond Banks's house. The 13th was, likewise, an engineers' day. On that day the Nipálese were moved across the canal against the suburb to the left of Banks's house, so as to attract the attention of the rebels to that quarter. By the evening
