GRANT'S MOVEMENTS. 819 Here and there trees had been felled across the track, and at last a regular barricade wasfound in front, from which a heavy fire was opened. Grant kept the enemy's attention by firing at him in front, and sent a flanking party to work round the barrier. Moving through the bush, the flankers rushed the barricade, capturing three smallguns and a quantity of ammunition. At 6 a.m. he reached the village of Palel. It was held by 200 of the enemy, but he boldly rushed it, drove the enemy out, pursued them for three miles, and took several prisoners.

resourceful heroism. Grant had spent the afternoon and evening of the 31st in collecting supplies of rice and fortifying the village,clearing the groundinfront andmarking the ranges. At dawn on April ist the enemy was seen advancing in force. He pushed out thirty of his men to a long wall some hundreds of yards in front and opened fire on the Manipuris. This bold attitudechecked their advance, and beyond some harmless firing at long ranges they did nothing till 3 in the afternoon. He held the outlying wall again, and repulsed an attempt He restedduring the day at Palel. The country in front was now less hilly, falling away gradually to a swampy plain. He started againat 11p.m., and at dawn next day came on some houses, surrounded bywallsand hedgerows and held by parties of the enemy.

These he droveout,and theyfled across a bridge thatcrossed alittleriver about a thousandyards beyond the houses. On the other bank could be seen the houses and enclosures of the small village of Thobal,fifteen miles from Manipur. Leaving half his force inreserve,Grantformed the rest as a firing of the enemy to rush it. They then brought a couple of guns into action at i,oco yards. But the Goorkhas with their Martinis opened such an effectual fire that the Manipuri gunners withdrew their guns another 500 yards. Even here the Goorkha marksmenwere able to annoy them with longranging bullets. This made the artillery fire unsteady and harmless. Towards evening another rush was made at the wall,and it was again repulsed, the enemy not getting beyond the 600 yards' limit. As darknesscame on,Grant withdrewhis men into the village.

MR. JAMES W ouiNTON. (Photo: Window tb* Grove, 63a, LakerStreet, /''.)

Till 2 a.m. the enemy kept up a fusillade, but as cartridges were precious, Grant allowed no shots to be fired in reply. Next day the enemy sent out a flag of truce and offered to negotiate. While prolonging the discussions in order to gain valuable time, Grant refused to agree to anything unless all the prisoners in the hands of the Manipuris were safely handed over to him. He carefully concealed from theenemy the small numbers of hisgarrison. " As a ruse deguerre" writes Major Younghusband, " he put on a colonel's badge and passed himself off as the colonel of his regiment, with a full regiment at his back. So successfully, indeed, did he keep up the role that even a European prisoner in the enemy's hands was deceived." At last the negotiations came to an end, and on April 6th line and support, each twenty strong, and went boldly for the bridge, though it was defended by some hundreds of Manipuris in shelter trenches on the further side. They did not wait for him to close, but abandoned their trenches as the attack forded the river and rushed the bridge. Grant himself wasslightly woundedleading the advance.

Notwithstanding his victories, the lieutenant now felt that to approach nearer to Manipur would be to meet overwhelming numbers, and he determined to entrench himself in the village ofThobal, feelingcertain that his presence therewould soon be known in Manipur, and any of the survivors who were at liberty would try to make their way to him.

The defence of Thobal lastedfrom March 31st to April 9th, and reads like a fairy tale of