The latter columns were each headed by bodies of French troops.
In vain the guns of the fort, aided by those of the battery on the hill, swept them.

The columns advanced without a check until they entered the breaches.

Then a line of fire swept along the crest of the barricade from end to end, and the cannon of the besieged roared out.
Pressed by the mass from behind, the columns advanced, torn and rent by the fire, and at last gained the foot of the barricade.
Here, those in front strove desperately to climb up the great mound of rubbish, while those behind covered them with a storm of bullets aimed at its summit.

More than once the troops of the rajah, rushing down the embankment, drove back the struggling masses, but so heavily did they suffer from the fire, when they thus exposed themselves, that Charlie forbade them to repeat the attempt.

He knew that there was safety behind, and was unwilling that his brave fellows should throw away their lives.
In the centre of the position the native troops, although they several times climbed some distance up the barricade, were yet unable to make way.