1 150 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
2 The entrench- pleted, they set to work in constructing the
3 se oiticn ably entrenchment of Sobraon, under the direction, it is
4 pena said, of a Spanish engineer named Hobron. From
5 ee the 14th of January till the beginning of February
6 1845, they had been industriously employed in
7 building their defences, covered by their guns on
8 the opposite side of the river. The works, as might
9 have been supposed, were of great strength; indeed,
10 they far outran expectation. The Governor-general
11 Governor- eached camp on the 9th February, when the plan
12 general arrives i? 2
13 in camp. of attack on this formidable entrenchment was
14 settled; and it was speedily known, that a battle
15 The battle would take place the following morning. However
16 decided on +
17 this known at Strange it may appear, people at a long distance
18 a distance, an
19 the manner 3 from Akhberwala knew, or asserted, that the 10th
20 Tacs. February was the day appointed. It is impossible
21 ‘to prevent such intelligence from reaching the
22 Natives, many of whose relatives are writers in
23 every public office, with open eyes and ready ears
24 for every coming event, which they at once com-
25 municate to their friends all over India.
26 Sir John Grey, with a considerable force, had
27 Plan fot occupied Attaree, near the Nuggur Ghat, while a
28 Sutlej. bridge of boats had been thrown across the river
29 some miles below, at the Koonda Ghat. It was
30 not at first deemed advisable to contemplate cross-
31 ing the Sutle] by the Sikh bridge, even if it re-
32 mained entire after the battle; the passage of the
33 river, it was thought, could be readily accomplished,
34 while the attack was making on Sobraon, and thus
35 the great difficulty be overcome of the British