quartermaster-general to the force, had, on arriving at the halting-place,
taken twenty of Warrener's Horse, and had gone forward to reconnoiter. The
water was growing hot, and the tired soldiers as they lay on the ground,
pipes in mouths, were thinking that breakfast would soon be ready, when
there was an exclamation:

"Here come the Horse! Something's up!"

The reconnoitering party were seen galloping back at full speed, and a
minute or two later a large body of the enemy's cavalry in rapid pursuit
emerged from a tope on the edge of the plain. The bugles sounded to arms,
and the men grasped their fire-arms and fell in, but not without many a
muttered exclamation of disgust.

"Confound them! they might have given us time for breakfast!"

"They need not be in such a hurry; the day's long enough."

"I thought I hated them fellows as bad as a chap could do; but I owe them
another now."

A laugh was raised by a young officer saying cheerily to his men,
"Nevermind, lads, we'll return good for evil. They won't let us have
enough to eat, and we are going to give them more than they can digest."

In a very short time a considerable force of the enemy's infantry
appeared, following the cavalry, and with them were some guns, which at
once opened on the British force.

Hitherto General Havelock had made no move. He knew that his men urgently