1 142 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
2 guns, and the safe transit of the siege train effec-
3 tually secured. Confidence was likewise restored
4 to the inhabitants on the frontier, as well in the
5 plains as on the hills, where the dread of the Sikhs
6 Hill ai had caused such consternation. The hill tribes
7 favour ofthe declared early in favour of the British, and the
8 Bea: Honourable J. C. Erskine, the British resident at
9 Simla, had already organized them, and taken up a
10 position in some fort at Saeechuttee, commanding
11 Expel the the ascent from the Ghumbur. Across the Sutlej
12 hills, the states of Nundee, Sookhet, and Koolloo were
13 not slow in expelling the Sikhs, to whom they owned
14 an unwilling allegiance, and were ready to break it
15 on the first opportunity. The Lahore Government
16 was not in a condition to punish them, and they,
17 no doubt, looked for British supremacy, and a re- /
18 lease from the hateful and oppressive yoke of the
19 ’ Sikhs. vt
20 The news, at length, reached Lahore of Run-
21 joor’s defeat, but it was hardly anticipated from the
22 first that he would have any chance of success
23 Runjoor ap- against the British; and to his demands for money
24 ee ee chk. and more guns, he received for answer, that he
25 must find those he had lost, and that more would
26 Advantageous NOt be entrusted to him. The resistance on the
27 circumstances Hart of Runjoor’s force would no doubt have been
28 under which
29 the bate of more effectual had it not left the camp, and given
30 Alleewal was oie ‘ i f
31 fought. battle to the British. The Sirdar had in his recol-
32 lection the fate of Moodkee; and though, as there,
33 the Sikhs were beaten at Alleewal, yet the despe-
34 rate struggle at Feerozshuhur warrants the conclu-