Had not the luck of the British army led them to the village, it can
hardly be doubted, and certainly was not doubted by any who were there,
that the guns would have been captured and the general killed. Fortune,
especially in war, uses tiny fulcra for her powerful lever.
The general now ordered the battery and sappers to go into the village,
but it was so full of burning bhoosa, that this was found to be
impossible, and they set to work to entrench themselves outside. The
village was soon full of the enemy. From the walls and houses, which on
two sides commanded the space occupied by the battery, they began to
fire at about thirty yards' range. The troops were as much exposed as if
they had been in a racket court, of which the enemy held the walls. They
could not move, because they would have had to desert either the guns or
the wounded. Fortunately, not many of the tribesmen at this point were
armed with rifles. The others threw stones and burning bhoosa into the
midst of the little garrison.
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