In an instant they were hidden in the cloud of dust
and smoke, and then they galloped toward the right rear, and struck into
the reserve in rear of the Lieutenant-General and his staff. All was
confusion for a moment; the ammunition mules were stampeded, and with the
riderless horses of the lancers killed or wounded in the _melee_, dashed
into the headquarter staff. The ghazees had continued their onward rush,
and were engaged in hand-to-hand fighting with our infantry. Some of them
penetrated to within twenty yards of the knoll on which the staff were
watching the action, and so critical was the moment that Sir Donald
Stewart and every man of his staff drew their swords and prepared for
self-defence.' The hurried retirement of the lancers had left the left
flank bare. It was turned by the fierce rush of the fanatics, who were
actually in rear of the leftward infantry regiment and in the heart of
the British position. The Goorkhas had been thrown into momentary
confusion, but their colonel promptly formed them into rallying squares,
whose fire mowed down the ghazees and arrested the headlong vehemence of
their turning movement. But it was not the British left only which was
temporarily compromised by the furious onslaught of the fanatics. Their
enveloping charge broke down the defence of the weakly-manned interval
between the left of the artillery and the right of the infantry.
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