The men received 3 shillings daily, in place of half a biscuit, when biscuits ran short; and this ready cash was willingly bartered for anything eatable.
Three heart-breaking weeks passed thus.

Two-thirds of the troops had been buried outside the fort, the remainder were almost too weak to stand.

When the food was all gone, it was arranged that they should go out to forage in the darkness, each man for himself.
The three white men, each with a dose of poison, always stuck together and, come what might, agreed not to fall alive into the hands of the enemy.
However, on 14th July reports were brought in that firing had been heard.

The news seemed too good to be true, but an old native officer declared that he had heard distant volleys.

It was not until four o'clock on the next day, however, that a continuous and tremendous roar of guns convinced them that a relief column was at hand.