side, where there was much open ground, sprinkled with palaces and mosques
and other large buildings. These could be attacked and taken one by one,
by a series of separate sieges, and thus the Residency could be approached
with far less loss than must have taken place in an attempt to force a way
through the crowded city.

On the 15th the troops marched to the Alumbagh, defeating a small rebel
force which attempted to stop their way.

At the Alumbagh Dick Warrener--for Ned was with his regiment, which, to
his great disgust, had remained at Cawnpore--had the joy of meeting his
father again, as Warrener's Horse had not shared in Havelock's advance to
the Residency, but had remained as part of the garrison of the Alumbagh.
It is needless to tell of the delight of that meeting after all that the
lads had gone through since they parted from their father, nearly four
months before, at Cawnpore. Colonel Warrener had heard of the safe arrival
of his sons at Delhi before he marched up from Cawnpore, but since then no
word had reached him. Captains Dunlop and Manners were also delighted to
meet him again; and the whole of the troop vied with each other in the
heartiness of the welcome accorded to him. Disease and death had sadly
lessened the ranks; and of the one hundred men who had volunteered at
Meerut to form a body of horse, not more than fifty now remained in the
ranks. It was very late at night--or rather, early in the morning--before
the party assembled in Colonel Warrener's tent separated, to seek a few
hours' sleep before the _reveille_ sounded for the troops to rise and
prepare for the advance.

Soon after daybreak the column were under arms. The Seventy-fifth
Regiment, to its intense disappointment, was ordered to stay and guard the
Alumbagh, with its immense accumulation of stores and munitions; and the