which the British had driven them--from Delhi, from Rohilcund, and the
Doab, from Cawnpore, Furruckabad, Futtyghur, Etawah, Allyghur, Goruckpore,
and other places--they retreated to Lucknow, and there were now collected
sixty thousand revolted Sepoys and fifty thousand irregular troops,
besides the armed rabble of the city of three hundred thousand souls.
Knowing the storm that was preparing to burst upon their heads, they had
neglected no means for strengthening their position. Great lines of
fortifications had been thrown up; enormous quantities of guns placed in
position; every house barricaded and loopholed, and the Kaiserbagh
transformed into a veritable citadel. In hopes of destroying the force
under General Sir James Outram, at the Alumbagh--which had been a thorn in
their side for so long--a series of desperate attacks had been made upon
them; but these had been uniformly defeated with heavy loss by the gallant
British force. On the 3d of March the advanced division occupied the Dil
Koosha, meeting with but slight resistance; and the commander-in-chief at
once took up his headquarters here. The next three days were spent in
making the necessary disposition for a simultaneous attack upon all sides
of the town--General Outram on one side, Sir Hope Grant upon another, Jung
Bahadoor, with his Nepaulese, on the third, and the main attack, under Sir
Colin Campbell himself, on the fourth.

Great was the excitement in the camp on the eve of this tremendous
struggle. Colonel Warrener and his sons met on the night before the
fighting was to begin.

"Well, boys," he said, after a long talk upon the prospects of the
fighting, "did you do as you talked about, and draw your pay and get it
changed into gold?"

"Most of it," Ned said; "we could not get it all; and had to pay a