“What a sight our camp would be,” wrote another officer, “even to those who visited Sebastopol! The long lines of tents, the thatched hovels of the native servants, the rows of horses, the parks of artillery, the British soldier in his grey linen coat and trousers, the dark Sikhs with their red and blue turbans, the Afghans with the same, their wild air and coloured saddle-cloths, and the little Goorkhas, dressed up like demons of ugliness in their black worsted Kilmarnock bonnets and woollen coats. In the rear are the booths of the native bazaars, and further out, on the plain, thousands of camels, bullocks, and horses that carry our baggage. The soldiers are loitering through the lines or in the bazaars. Suddenly an alarm is sounded, and everyone rushes to his tent. The infantry soldier seizes his musket and slings on his pouch; the artilleryman gets his gun horsed; the Afghan rides out to explore; and in a few minutes everyone is in his place.” [Illustration: Siege of DELHI.] Such was the state of the camp in repose. And now for a picture, from another hand, of the same camp when roused into action. “I was out this night,” wrote an officer, “in one of our principal batteries with a party of my Guides, placed there to protect the guns; and I shall never forget the scene at two o’clock in the morning. The sight was a most magnificent one--all our batteries and all the city ones were playing as hard as they could, the shells bursting, round shot tearing with a _whooshing_ sound through our embrasures, the carcasses (or large balls of fire) flying over our heads, the musketry rolling and flashing, made the place as light as day. The noise was terrific, though the roar of the cannon was frequently drowned in the roar of human voices, for, when the whole city turned out, there could not have been less than 20,000 voices all screaming at once. The mutineers’ yell of ‘Allah! Allah! Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!’ was answered by our jolly English hurrahs, and the din was most frightful. I never remember seeing such a beautiful sight or hearing such a noise. The mutineers, though they tried very hard to take our batteries, could not succeed, though some of them got up near enough to throw hand-grenades into them. The grand attack lasted about two hours, when the enemy gave in a little, though they didn’t retire. The fighting went on all the rest of the night, and up to two o’clock next day, when both sides retired. We were all glad of a little rest, as most of us had been fighting for upwards of thirty hours.”