Page:The Sikhs (Gordon).djvu/174

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THE SIKHS.

3rd Light Dragoons with a troop of horse artillery charged over the intrenchments, cutting down the gunners of some batteries which still kept up their deadly showers, dashed among the infantry and swept through the Sikh camp; yet the brave dogged enemy remained in possession of a considerable portion of the position, whilst our troops, mingled with theirs, kept possession of the remainder and bivouacked upon it, wellnigh exhausted by their gallant struggles, greatly reduced in numbers, and suffering severely from thirst and intense cold, but still animated with an indomitable spirit. In this state of things the long night (the longest in the yet wore away."

The Governor-General, General Sir Henry Hardinge, a Peninsula veteran, who chivalrously served with the army as second in command, in a letter to Sir Robert Peel, the Prime Minister of the day, graphically described the situation: "The night of the 21st was the most extraordinary of my life. I bivouacked with the men without food or