When the advanced guard reached the outskirts of the robber's position about midnight, they were first challenged and then fired upon by the sentries.

The subadar in command of this advance guard fell dead, and a non-commissioned officer and a sipahee severely wounded.
The whole party now fired in upon the gang and rushed on.

One of the robbers was shot, and the rest all escaped out on the opposite side of the jungle.

The sipahees believing, since the surprise had been complete, that the robbers must have left all their wealth behind them, dispersed, as soon as the firing ceased and the robbers disappeared, to get every man as much as he could.

While thus engaged they were surrounded by the Gohar, (or body of auxiliaries which these landholders send to each other's aid on the concerted signal,) and fired in upon from the front, and both right and left flanks.
Taken by surprise, they collected together in disorder, while the assailants from the front and sides continued to pour in their fire upon them; and they were obliged to retire in haste and confusion, closely followed by the auxiliaries, who gained confidence, and pressed closer as their number increased by the quotas they received from the villages the detachment had to pass in their retreat.
All efforts on the part of Captain Hollings to preserve order in the ranks were vain.