Here it was met by the second column under Brigadier Jones,
who had escaladed the breach at the Water bastion.
The advancing columns were met by a ceaseless fire from terraced houses,
mosques, and other buildings; and John Nicholson, the hero of the day,
while attempting to storm a narrow street near the Kabul gate, was
struck down by a shot and mortally wounded. Then followed six days of
desperate warfare. No quarter was given to men with arms in their hands;
but women and children were spared, and only a few of the peaceable
inhabitants were sacrificed during the storm.
On September 20th the gates of the old fortified palace of the Moguls
were broken open, but the royal inmates had fled. No one was left but a
few wounded sepoys and fugitive fanatics. The old King, Bahadur Shah,
had gone off to the great mausoleum without the city, known as the tomb
of Humayun. It was a vast quadrangle raised on terraces and enclosed
with walls. It contained towers, buildings, and monumental marbles in
memory of different members of the once distinguished family, as well as
extensive gardens, surrounded with cloistered cells for the
accommodation of pilgrims.
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