Ahmed gave him a kick and released him. Clearly there was little chance of doing business on such a great day. He took his wares back to the serai, and then set off to the Calcutta gate to see what might be seen. As he went he heard the concussion of artillery fire, and men soon came running in the direction of the palace with news that the English were bombarding the battery north of the Kashmir gate, commanded by Kuli Khan. Cries arose that a general assault was being prepared against the city, and by and by thousands of red-coated sepoys, with lumbering gun-carriages, marched through the streets towards the Kabul gate, to take up their position at Idgah and Dam-damma, facing the southern end of the Ridge. Meanwhile the bridge of boats, which had broken down in a heavy wind-storm on the previous day, was being hastily repaired by a host of coolies with two companies of sappers and miners, and across the river, two or three miles away, lay the long-expected force of Mohammed Bakht Khan, from whose arrival the rebels hoped so much. All day the city was in a ferment. Heavy guns were mounted on the batteries; some attempt was made to reply to the English fire; and great was the jubilation when it was reported that shells from the city had fallen in the midst of the English camp, killing hundreds of the accursed Feringhis. Amid the excitements of the day Ahmed had no leisure to prosecute his direct inquiries. He was satisfied with having made a friend of Minghal Khan's doorkeeper, whom he intended to cultivate. What the darwan had said of Kaluja Dass, and the words he had himself heard fall from the khansaman's lips, confirmed the report of Fazl Hak's emissary, and Ahmed now felt sure that Craddock Sahib, wherever he was, owed nothing to his former servant. He could not conceive what his next move should be, and if great fighting was to ensue upon Bakht Khan's arrival, it would seem that nothing but mere accident could put him on the traces of the sahib. Meanwhile he went to Fazl Hak with the news of the treachery at Cawnpore; the particulars he had learnt from the darwan were new to the maulavi.