1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 151
2 entering the Punjab. The Sikhs overlooked this
3 circumstance, and apparently conceived, that as
4 the British did not follow them across the Sutlej
5 after Feerozshuhur, there was a chance of their
6 not doing so, even if they themselves were forced to
7 retreat over the Sutlej, in which case they could The Sikhs
8 entertain a
9 destroy their bridge, and be ready to oppose the austaben,
10 passage at Nuggur. These may have been their the mater.
11 calculations, but they were doomed to be wofully
12 disappointed. That they did contemplate delay on
13 our part was evident from the government of
14 Lahore suggesting, when the news of the disaster
15 at Sobraon reached the capital, that an emissary
16 should be sent to offer terms, so as to prevent the
17 invasion of the Punjab. But it was then too late.
18 Whatever their ulterior plans might have been,
19 the Khalsa troops were determined to defend their
20 entrenchment to the last, and felt assured that it Confidence of
21 could not be taken by the best troops in Europe, sheireutetouhs
22 much less by an Anglo-Indian army. They had"
23 completed it, and quietly awaited the attack, full
24 of confidence in their ability to repel it, although
25 Runjoor Singh’s defeat, at Alleewal, had deprived
26 them of numerous guns. Within the entrench-
27 ment at Sobraon, the Sikhs collected a large force,
28 and what was of more consequence, the soldiers
29 were chiefly those who had been trained by the Occupied by
30 French officers, and on whom they could conse- troops,
31 quently rely, as adepts in the use of the sword and
32 musket.
33 Since the large guns and mortars had arrived,