1 406 CAPTURE OF ALI MASJID.
2 stockade. Many casualties ensued, one or two
3 men having been killed at the former officer’s
4 side and several others wounded ; but rein-
5 forcements having been pushed forward, Far-
6 mer was enabled to maintain his .ground,
7 notwithstanding the advantages possessed by
8 his opponents. Mackeson and Maule, on the
9 right, had been doing considerable execution,
10 and one of the latter’s shells was pitched with
11 so true an aim, that it fell in the midst of a
12 knot of Khaibaris, five of whom were either
13 killed or wounded by the explosion. :
14 “ Being excessively tired and worn out with
15 much exertion, I was soon in a deep sleep; but
16 towards morning was roused by Colonel Wade,
17 to tell me that Ali Masjid was in our posses-
18 sion, a party from Captain Farmer's position
19 having silently pushed forward, and, to their
20 surprise, found it vacated, the first individual
21 to enter it being the adjutant to Ferris’s irre-
22 gulars, a mere lad, though a very gallant little
23 fellow. Unfortunately for. me, the very day
24 on which we had entered the Khaibar, febrile
25 symptoms manifested themselves; but unwill-