[Illustration: Chitral Bridge and Fort. ]

WITH KELLY TO CHITRAL

By

LIEUTENANT W. G. L. BEYNON, D. S. O. 1st BATTALLION 3rd GOORKA RIFLES

STAFF OFFICER TO COLONEL KELLY'S RELIEF FORCE

1896

GILGIT, _21st October 1895_

MY DEAR MOTHER, Before you read this short history of a few brief weeks, I must warn youthat it is no record of exciting adventure or heroic deeds, but simplyan account of the daily life of British officers and Indian troops on afrontier expedition. 

How we lived and marched, what we ate and drank, our small jokes andtrials, our marches through snow or rain, hot valleys or pleasantfields, in short, all that contributed to fill the twenty-four hours ofthe day is what I have to tell. 

I write it for you, and that it may please you is all I ask. --Your son, W. B. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER II - THE MARCH BEGINS

CHAPTER III - THE SHANDUR PASS

CHAPTER IV - FROM LASPUR TO GASHT

CHAPTER V - CHOKALWAT

CHAPTER VI - THE RECONNAISSANCE FROM MASTUJ

CHAPTER VII - THE FIGHT AT NISA GOL

CHAPTER VIII - THE MARCH RESUMED THROUGH KILLA DRASAN

CHAPTER IX - NEARING CHITRAL

CHAPTER X - WE REACH THE GOAL

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

_Those marked with a * are from Sketches by the Author_. 

*CHITRAL BRIDGE AND FORT

NIZAM-UL-MULK, MEHTER OF CHITRAL

*A "PARI" ON THE ROAD TO GUPIS

*THE SHANDUR PASS

*RECONNAISSANCE SKETCH OF THE POSITION AT CHOKALWAT

*MASTUJ FORT

LOOKING UP THE NISA GOL NULLAH

*RECONNAISSANCE SKETCH OF THE POSITION AT NISA GOL

MAP SHOWING ROUTE OF COLONEL KELLY'S FORCES

 * * * * *

*** Thanks are due to the Publishers of Mr. Thomson's _The ChitralCampaign_ for the loan of two blocks illustrating "Chokalwat" and "NisaGol" from Lieut. Beynon's sketches. 

[Illustration: MAP OF NORTH WEST FRONTIER OF INDIA*]

WITH KELLY TO CHITRAL

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

"Would you like to go up to Gilgit?"

"Rather. "

I was down in the military offices at Simla, hunting for a book and somemaps, when I was asked the above question. No idea of Gilgit had beforeentered my head, but with the question came the answer, and I have sincewondered why I never before thought of applying for the billet. 

This was at the end of June 1894, and on the 24th August I was crossingthe Burzil pass into the Gilgit district. As day broke on the 31stAugust, I dropped down several thousand feet from Doyen to Ramghat inthe Indus valley, and it suddenly struck me I must have come down toolow, and got into Dante's Inferno. As I passed under the crossbeam ofthe suspension bridge, I looked to find the motto, "All hope relinquish, ye who enter here. " It wasn't there, but instead there was a sentry onthe bridge, who, on being questioned, assured me that though there wasnot much to choose in the matter of temperature between the two places, I was still on the surface of the earth. He seemed an authority on thesubject, so I felt happier, and accepted the cup of tea offered me bythe commander of the guard. 

Two hours later I was in Bunji, where I found I was to stay, and twodays after that, an officer on his way down to Kashmir passed through, and almost the first question he asked me was, why on earth I had comeup to Gilgit. "Gilgit's played out, " said he. Well, I had been askedthat question several times on my march up, so I may as well explainthat there are officially two chief causes which send men up toGilgit--one is debts, and the other, the Intelligence Branch. These, Isay, are the official reasons, but the real reason is the chance of a"frontier row. " In Simla they call them military expeditions. Thisaccounts for the last part of that young officer's speech. There seemedno chance of a row to him, so he was going to other fields, and wonderedat my coming up. At first, the result seemed to bear him out, as withintwo months he was on the war-path in Waziristan, while I was stillkicking my heels at Bunji; but luck changed later, and I laughed last. 

Well, to continue, my official reason for coming to Gilgit being theIntelligence Branch, I was ordered up to Chitral early in November forsome survey work, and thus obtained the knowledge of the route andcountry that was to stand me in such good stead later on. I finished mywork in Chitral in ten days, starting back for Gilgit on the 1stDecember, arriving there on the 19th. I spent Christmas in Gilgit, andstarted on the 2nd January 1895 for Hunza, where I expected to remainfor the rest of the winter. 

News of the murder of Nizam-ul-mulk, Mehter of Chitral, reached Gilgiton the 7th January, and Dr. Robertson, Political Agent at Gilgit, atonce made preparations for a visit to Chitral. 

Captain Townshend, who was at Gupis with Gough of the 2nd Gurkhas, received orders to march with two hundred and fifty rifles of the 4thKashmir Infantry. The first detachment started under Gough, the secondfollowing under Townshend The British Agent, Captain Campbell, andSurgeon Captain Whitchurch, joined the second party at Ghizr, and theyall crossed the pass together. At Mastuj they picked up the remainder ofthe 14th Sikhs, under Harley, who had not gone down to Gurdon atChitral, and then started for Chitral, arriving there on the 31stJanuary. Lieutenant Moberly went from Gilgit with a detachment of the4th Kashmir Infantry and took command of Mastuj. Gough returning toGhizr, Baird took over command of Gupis, which was garrisoned by the 6thKashmir Infantry, and I was brought down from Hunza to take over Baird'sbillet as staff officer. Shortly after, Fowler, R. E. , was ordered toChitral with his Bengal Sappers, and Edwardes, 2nd Bombay Infantry, tothe same place, to take command of the Hunza Nagar Levies, which werenow called out. Baird was next ordered up to Chitral and relieved byStewart, R. A. On 21st February, Ross and Jones and the detachment of14th Sikhs left Gilgit _en route_ for Mastuj. The Hunza and Nagar Leviescame in to Gilgit on the 7th March. I issued Snider carbines and twentyrounds ammunition to each man, and they left the next day. These Levieswere splendid men, hardy, thick-set mountaineers, incapable of fatigue;and, as a distinguishing badge, each man was provided with a strip ofred cloth which they wore in their caps, but which, we afterwards foundby practical experience at Nisa Gol, was inadequate. 

[Illustration: Nizam-ul-Mulk, Mehter of Chitral. ]

As news from Chitral had ceased for some days, Captain Stewart, Assistant British Agent in Gilgit, determined to call up the 32ndPioneers, who were working on the Chilas road, so as to be ready for anadvance in case any forward movement was necessary. In consequence ofthis order, Colonel Kelly marched into Gilgit on the 20th March with twohundred men, Borradaile following on the 22nd with a like party. 

On the 21st we heard from Mastuj that Ross's party of 14th Sikhs hadbeen cut up, Ross himself and some forty-six Sepoys being killed, Jonesand fourteen men alone managing to cut their way back; he and nine ofthe survivors being wounded. There was no news of Edwardes and Fowler. This news upset the apple-cart, and telegrams began to fly around, withthe result that Colonel Kelly was put in command of the troops in theGilgit district, with full civil powers on his line of operations. Thistelegram arrived on the evening of the 22nd. The day before, ColonelKelly had offered me the position of staff officer to the force, and Inaturally jumped at the chance. Dew of the Guides, who was on thesick-list, was sufficiently well to take over my work, so there was nodifficulty on that score; and as I had long had my kit ready for anyemergency, I merely bundled my remaining possessions into boxes, which Ilocked up and left to look after themselves till my return. 

Here I may as well describe what the force consisted of. First, therewere four hundred men of the 32nd Pioneers, commanded by Borradaile, Colonel Kelly having taken command of the column. Bar these two, we wereall subalterns. Peterson was the senior, and commanded the seconddetachment, as we were marching to Ghizr in two parties. Then there wasBethune the adjutant, and Cobbe, and Browning-Smith the doctor--thesewere all 32nd Pioneers. Captain de Vismes, 10th Bombay Infantry, camealong with us as far as Gupis, where he relieved Stewart, R. A. , who, ofcourse, was in command of the two guns of No. 1 Kashmir MountainBattery. Stewart is an Irishman and the most bloodthirsty individual Ihave come across. He used to complain bitterly because the Chitraliswouldn't give us a fight every day. Then there was Luard, the AgencySurgeon; we used to chaff him considerably during the march to Gupis, ashe turned up in a Norfolk jacket and a celluloid collar. I think he hadsent his kit on to Gupis; at any rate, after that place he dressed inKhaki uniform like the rest of us. These were all who started fromGilgit, so I'll introduce the others as we pick them up. 

CHAPTER II

THE MARCH BEGINS

Colonel Kelly assumed command on the 22nd March, and the next morningthe first detachment of two hundred Pioneers, under Borradaile, marchedoff. The local Bible, commonly known as the Gazetteer, states that itnever rains in Gilgit; this being so, it naturally started to rain onthe morning of the 23rd, and kept it up for two days. We were marchingwithout tents, so the first night the men had to run up their waterproofsheets into shelters. 

Colonel Kelly, Luard, and myself started about 2 P. M. To catch up thetroops, who had started about 9 A. M. Luard had a beast of a pullingpony, and as his double bridle hadn't got a curb chain, it was about asmuch use as a headache, so I suggested he should let the pony rip, andpromised to bury his remains if he came a cropper. He took my advice andripped; you couldn't see his pony's heels for dust as he disappearedacross the plain. We found him all right in camp when we got there. 

The men were already in camp, and pretty comfortable, in spite of therain. Colonel Kelly had a small tent, and the rest of us turned intoconvenient cow-sheds. We were not troubled with much baggage, bedding, greatcoats, and a change of clothing; the men had poshteens (sheepskincoats), and everybody pleased themselves in the matter of boots, most ofus preferring chuplies--a native kind of sandal with a leather sock, avery good article in snow, as you can put on any number of socks withoutstopping the circulation of blood in your feet. Officers and men wereall provided with goggles, and very necessary they were. 

We had a very jolly mess. The force being so small, the 32nd Pioneerskindly asked the remaining officers to mess with them, every man ofcourse providing his own plate, knife, fork, and spoon, the cooking potsbeing collected for the general good. We had breakfast before starting, the hour for marching being 7 A. M. As a rule. The Pioneers had somemost excellent bacon; good eggs and bacon will carry a man through along day most successfully. I remember that when that bacon gave out, there was more mourning than over all the first-born of Egypt. Mutton wenever ran out of; like the poor, it was always with us. 

We got into camp as a rule some time in the afternoon, and then indulgedin tea and chupatties; whisky was precious, and kept for dinner, whichtook place at dusk. Sometimes, when we got into camp late, dinner andtea were merged into one; however, it made no odds, we were always readyto eat when anything eatable came along. The mess provided some camptables, and most of us managed to bring a camp stool, so we were in theheight of luxury. After dinner a pipe or two, and then we turned in; wegenerally managed to get some grass to put under our blankets, but if wedidn't, I don't think it made much difference; we were all young, andused to sleeping out on the hillside after game, frequently above thesnow line, so it was no new experience. If it rained or was cold, wegenerally managed to get into a hut; these are remarkably stronglybuilt, good stone walls, and thick, flat, wooden roofs with a mudcovering, a hole in the middle of the floor for the fire, and a hole inthe roof for the smoke--at least that was what we supposed was the idea, but the smoke generally preferred to remain inside. 

There were also other discomforts of a minor nature. For instance, thecows and goats used to take it as a personal matter if you objected totheir sharing the room with you; they were big enough, however, to catchand turn out, but there were other occupants of a more agile nature, armies of them, whom it was hopeless to try and eject; we suffered somuch from their pleasing attentions that we generally preferred to sleepoutside, weather permitting. 

Our second march was to a village called Suigal in the Punyal district, governed by Raja Akbar Khan, a jolly old chap who came out to meet us onthe road; he lives in a castle on the left bank of the river, which ishere crossed by one of the highest and longest rope bridges in thecountry. In spite of his size, he is a very good polo player, as are allhis family, some of whom were shut up in the Chitral Fort with Dr. Robertson. He now offered his services and those of his people toGovernment, which Colonel Kelly accepted, and the old man retired verypleased, to rejoin us later on. At Suigal we managed to get all thetroops under shelter, as it was still raining, and it was now the secondday that they had been wet through. 

The next day the rain had luckily stopped, and towards noon the sun cameout, and everybody's dampened spirits cheered up. We marched that day toHoopar Pari, making a double march instead of halting at Gurkuch. Parimeans a cliff--and the camping ground is a horrid little place shut inby high cliffs close to the bed of the river. There is no village near. It is a desolate place at the best of times, and when there is any windblowing, it is like camping in a draught-pipe. 

From Hoopar Pari we marched to Gupis. Gupis is a fort built by theKashmir troops last year, on the most scientific principle, the onlydrawback being that it is commanded on all sides, and would be perfectlyuntenable if attacked by three men and a boy armed with accuratelong-range rifles. Here we picked up Stewart, who was turning catherinewheels at the thought of taking his beloved guns into action. Heexpressed a desire to try a few shells on the neighbouring villages, topractise his men in ranging; but as there were objections to this plan, the idea was allowed to drop. At Gupis we made a raid on the stores inthe officers' quarters and pretty well cleared them out. De Vismes, whotook command, had to get a fresh supply up from Gilgit. 

[Illustration: A "Pari" on the road to Gupis. ]

We had a merry dinner that night, provided, I think, by Stewart, whoused to get up at intervals and dance a jig at the idea of seeing hisguns the next morning--they were coming on with the second detachmentunder Peterson. From Gupis I sent my pony back to Gilgit, as it wasuseless taking it any farther, as we doubted being able to take animalsover the pass, which eventually proved to be impossible. From Gupisonwards we had to be content with the usual hill track of thesecountries, good enough for a country pony, but still nothing to be proudof; here we discarded our Government mules, and took coolie transportinstead. The march from Gupis to Dahimal is a long, trying one, up anddown all the way. Cobbe, who was on rearguard, didn't get in till longafter dark. 

The village of Dahimal lies on the opposite bank of the river, so we didnot cross, but bivouacked on the right bank, where there was some scrubjungle that provided us with wood. The Pioneers had brought four ducks;they were carried in a basket along with the mess-stores. Browning-Smith, who ran the messing, got quite pally with these ducks, and as soon as they were let out of their basket, he used to call them, and off they would waddle after him in search of a convenient puddle. Iforget when those ducks were eaten, but I don't remember them at Ghizr, and am sure they didn't cross the pass. 

Our next march was a short one to Pingal, only about nine miles. Here wewere met by Mihrbhan Shah, the Hakim or governor of the upper part ofthe valley. Mihrbhan Shah is a bit of an authority in the murder line, having been employed by the late lamented Nizam-ul-mulk as chiefmurderer. Mihrbhan Shah is particularly proud of one of his little jobs, which he flatters himself he accomplished in a very neat and artisticmanner. I forget the details, but it resulted in the death of five men. I asked him in to afternoon tea, Shah Mirza acting as interpreter. Wehad a long chat, from which I gained some very useful details about thestate of the parties in Chitral, who was likely to help, and who wasn't, also a description of the road to Killa Drasan, which I did not know. This latter information seemed so important that I reported it thatnight to Colonel Kelly, and it was then and there decided to march _viâ_Killa Drasan instead of by the usual road through Buni. 

I don't, think I have mentioned Shah Mirza before, so I will introducehim now, as he was one of our most useful allies, and is now one of mygreatest friends. He belongs to the Punyal family, and is Wazir orgovernor of Sai and Gor. He lives at Damot, a village in the Sai valley, opposite Bunji, and it was during my stay there that I first got to knowhim. He has an interesting history, and, among other adventures, hastravelled through the Pamirs and Chitral in disguise. He was our chiefinterpreter, and he, or one of his followers, of whom he had five, always kept near us. His followers were enlisted Levies, and one of themhad formerly been my shikaree; in fact, he only left me as he wascalled out as a levy. 

It is the custom of the country for the headmen of districts to come andpay their respects to any Sahib who may travel through their country, and the proper etiquette is to supply your visitors with tea andsweetmeats--biscuits will do just as well, and they like plenty ofsugar. They then pay you the most barefaced compliments, and make thestartling assertion that you are their father and mother; upon which youreply that all you have is at their disposal. If they have anypetition, --and they generally have, --they insinuate it gently in thegeneral conversation, so you have to be looking out for traps of thissort. When you have suffered sufficient evil for the day, you mildlysuggest that they are probably fatigued, and would like to rest. Theytake the hint, and the remainder of the biscuits, and depart. We used tohave lots of these visits, which went by the name of "political teas. "

Mihrbhan Shah proved very useful to us, I fancy he knew he would getsmall mercy if he fell into the hands of the opposition, and thereforedid all he could to place our force between them and himself. Both atPingal and our next halting place, Cheshi, he managed to billet all oursmall force in the villages, and no doubt our men were very thankful aswe were getting pretty high up, and the nights were decidedly cold. Although it was a friendly district, we had regular pickets andsentries, and a British officer on duty to see everything was correct. 

CHAPTER III

THE SHANDUR PASS

Shortly after leaving Pingal, the character of the country changedconsiderably, and instead of a continual alternation of cliff and riverbed, the valley became more open and level; we were, in fact, nearingthe upper end of the valley. Beyond Cheshi the road leads up a bluff anddown the other side on to the bed of the Pandur Lake. This lake had, atthe beginning of 1894, been a sheet of water some four and a half mileslong, but, the dam at its end having given way in July, it had drainedoff rapidly; and when I had crossed it in November of the same year, themud of its bed was only just becoming firm and was cracked and fissuredin every direction. It was now covered with a sheet of snow, throughwhich the river twined dark and muddy. 

We had now reached the snow line, and our green goggles were taken intouse. The march of our column churned the snow and mud into a greasyslime, and the going was very tiring. However, we came in sight of theGhizr post by 2 P. M. , and Gough, of the 2nd Gurkhas, who was in command, came out to meet us. From him we learned that none of his messengersthat had been sent to Mastuj with letters had returned, and it was nowsome ten days since the last communication had reached him; so it becameevident that the enemy were between Laspur and Mastuj. We knew that theyhad not crossed the pass, or we should have seen them before this, so wewere pretty hopeful of a fight soon after crossing the pass, and we werenot disappointed. At Ghizr we also found Oldham, a Sapper subaltern, whohad preceded us by a few days. He had with him a party of KashmirSappers and Miners, who were now armed with Snider carbines. The post, which consisted of a block of isolated houses, had been fortified andsurrounded with a thorn zareba, and was only sufficiently large for thegarrison of Kashmir troops then holding it, so our men were billeted inthe neighbouring houses, one of which we turned into a mess and quartersfor ourselves. 

We halted on the 30th March, in order to allow the second detachment ofthe Pioneers and the guns to come up, as from here Colonel Kellyintended to march in one column. Here also we picked up the Hunza andNagar Levies, numbering a hundred men, under their own leaders. Theywere posted in the village of Teru, some four miles up the valley, andfrom there could give timely warning if any hostile force crossed thepass. Wazir Humayun led the Hunza crowd, and Wazir Taifu the Nagar. Igot to know Humayun very well indeed, and a right good sort he is. Hehad formerly lived for some five years in Chitral, when Raja Safdar AliKhan of Hunza had made things too hot for him, but when Safdar Ali fledwhen we took the country in 1891-92, he was reinstated. Wazir Taifu Idid not get to know so well, as the Nagar Levies were left behind atMastuj, when we went on from there to Chitral. The second detachmentunder Peterson, and the guns with Stewart, got into camp some timeafter midday on the 31st March. 

In the meantime, every available coolie and pony had been collected, andwe calculated on being able to start the next morning, with ten days'rations for the whole force. By 6 A. M. On the 1st April the troops hadfallen in and were ready to start, and a nice handy little lot we had. Four hundred Pioneers, two mountain guns, forty Kashmir Sappers and ahundred Levies. Then the coolies were told to load up, and the troublebegan. It now appeared that some hundred coolies and ponies from Yasinhad bolted during the night. We had put too much faith in MihrbhanShah's influence, and all those villagers who were not directly underhis government had gone. Those hundred coolies meant the transport ofour supplies, and without them we should only have the food actuallycarried in the men's haversacks. We had cut down our baggage to thevanishing point, and the men were carrying all they could, and we didnot dare leave our reserve ammunition behind. 

The column had just moved off when this state of things became known andwas reported to me. Colonel Kelly was at the head of the column, so Isnatched the nearest pony, tumbled its load on to the ground, and wentscrambling through the snow after the troops. Of course there wasnothing to be done except halt the column until the coolies could becollared and brought back, so Stewart, who had a battery pony with him, was sent off down the road after the absconding coolies. They must havestarted the evening before, as he only caught a few of them up fifteenmiles back, and had great difficulty in bringing them along with him. Wemet him as we were returning to Ghizr at seven o'clock that evening. Stewart had scarcely gone ten minutes before some fifty coolies werefound hiding in a village; they were soon driven out and made to lifttheir loads. This gave us some six days' rations, and with it we movedoff, our great object being to get across the pass and opencommunications with Mastuj. After that we could see about getting on toChitral. Our transport consisted of country ponies and coolies, and Iremained behind to see the last off and rearguard moving before Istarted myself. 

About two miles from Ghizr post there was a steep ascent where the roadtwisted and curled among a mass of débris fallen from the cliffs above, and in one place the ponies had to be helped through a narrow passagebetween two fallen boulders. About midday I caught up the tail of thetroops, who were already past the village of Teru, the highest inhabitedspot in the valley; there are only a few houses, and these are scatteredabout in clumps a few hundred yards apart. Passing on, I caught up thebattery, and reached the leading infantry, when suddenly the word tohalt was passed down the long line. 

We were now on a narrow plain, and the snow on either hand of the trackwhich the troops were following in single file was over my waist, as Isoon found whenever I left the path in order to reach more quickly thehead of the column. On arriving there, I found the track had suddenlyended, and before us was the level expanse of snow-covered valley. Attempts were being made to get the gun mules of the battery throughthis, but at every step they sank up to their girths, even then notfinding firm foothold. Trials were then made of the ground at the sidesof the valley, but the snow was found equally deep and soft there; andafter spending an hour or so in futile attempts to get forward, itbecame evident to all that no animal could possibly pass over thesnowfield in its present condition. We had only gone some eight milesout of the thirteen to Langar, and it was already three o'clock. Therewas nothing, therefore, for it but to return, and the word to retire wasreluctantly passed along the line, and each man, turning where he stood, moved slowly back towards Ghizr. 

But though laden or unladen animals could not cross the pass, we saw noreason to suppose that men could not, and therefore, at Teru, which wereached by four o'clock, a halt was made, and two hundred Pioneers, withBorradaile and Cobbe, and the Sappers under Oldham, were detailed toremain there with the Hunza Levies, and to try and force their wayacross the pass the next day. Borradaile was to receive all the coolietransport, which he was to send back as soon as he got across the pass, in order that we might follow with the remainder of the troops. Hisorders were to entrench himself at Laspur, which was the first villageacross the pass, and if possible open communications with Mastuj. 

The guns were immediately sent back to Ghizr, and we set to work tosort out the kits of Borradaile's party from the remainder. Theunavoidable confusion at first was something dreadful. First of all, thekits had to be unloaded, then those of Borradaile's party separated andput on one side; the remaining kits were then loaded on the ponies andsent off, as fast as the ponies could be loaded up, back to Ghizr. Theammunition had to be divided, and as much as possible given over in theway of supplies. All this time we had to have a ring of sentries roundto stop the coolies from bolting, but as soon as we had got the poniesoff, the coolies were collected, and sat down in the snow under a guard. Borradaile's party were then told off into the different houses, and thecoolies likewise, still under guard, the ammunition and suppliesstacked, and the job was done. 

By this time it was about seven o'clock, getting dark, and alsobeginning to snow. All of us, officers and men, were covered with slushand mud from head to foot, and dripping wet. Smith, who was going withBorradaile's party, had, however, managed to get a fire going in one ofthe houses, and had got some tea ready, bless him! We had a cup allround, and wished Borradaile and his party good luck. The remainder ofus plunged out into the darkness and snow and splashed back to Ghizr. The men, who had started some time before us, were comfortably in theirformer quarters when we reached Ghizr. 

On the way we met Stewart, who had just returned from his coolie hunt, and was seated on a rock, like Rachel mourning for her children, only inhis case he was murmuring, not because the guns were not, but becausethey were back in Ghizr. "His guns were going over that pass even if hehad to carry them himself, you may bet your boots on that! and begad, I'll set the gunners to cut a road; and d'ye think now the snow wouldbear the mules at night when it was frozen at all?"

We got back to the huts we had left in the morning by 8. 30 P. M. , andthere was a general demand for something hot. Our servants, luckily, hadbeen sent back straight, so it was not long before we had something toeat; that was our first meal since 5. 30 A. M. , and it was now about 9P. M. We had marched some sixteen miles through snow, and been on footfor some fifteen hours, and here we were back in the same place we hadstarted from. Since midday we had been pretty well wet through, and thewind and cold had peeled the skin off our faces till it hung in flakes;still we were lucky in having a roof over our heads, as it had nowstarted to snow in earnest. After dinner we weren't long before turningin. 

We were up early the next morning, but Stewart and Gough were up stillearlier, and were making sledges and trying experiments with loads. Theycame in flushed with success, swearing that they had dragged the wholeammunition of the guns by themselves across half a mile of snow, andthat they would have the guns over the pass in no time. Unluckily, thesnow was still falling, and as Borradaile had all the available coolietransport, we were forced to wait till he could send it back. By noon hesent in a letter by one of the levies, saying he had been unable tostart, as heavy snow was still falling, but would try the next day. 

Shah Mirza now came up to me and said that there was a mullah in thevillage who had an infallible charm for stopping the snow, and a presentof a few rupees would no doubt set it in motion. I promptly inquiredhow it was the mullah was not carrying a load, but was told he was tooold to help in that way, but would be only too delighted to overcome theelements; so I gave the Mirza to understand that if the mullah wouldstop the snow-storm the Sirkar would make him, the mullah, a great man;in the meantime, I would give him a couple of rupees on account. ShahMirza went off joyfully, evidently having implicit faith in the mullah. 

Shortly after this, Gough came up, saying that the Kashmir troops in thepost had volunteered to make a road through the snow, and if he couldtake fifty of them with four days' rations to Teru, a sufficient trackmight be made to Langar, our next camping ground, just this side of thepass, to enable the guns to be carried there without much difficulty. Colonel Kelly's permission having been obtained, we set about collectingall the shovels and spades we could find in the village. Among others Igot hold of the mullah's, who became very indignant; but I pointed outto him that as his prayers seemed to have no effect on the snow, perhapshis shovel would make up for their deficiencies. We managed, byinstituting a house-to-house visitation, to collect some twenty spadesof sorts, and with those supplied by the troops, we got altogether someforty, which were handed over to Gough. He and Stewart and fifty KashmirSepoys started off that day to Teru, taking with them half a dozensledges that had been made out of ghi boxes. 

Later in the day we had to send out foraging parties for wood and bhoosa(chopped straw) as the commissariat reported their supply as runningout; in fact, these parties had to go out every day during our stay inGhizr. 

Early the next morning I got a note from Stewart, asking that thebattery might be sent up to Teru, as there was enough fodder there forthe mules, and experiments could be made for getting the guns along. Igot the battery off sharp, but it was nearly noon before they got toTeru. The snow had ceased falling, and, the clouds clearing off, the sunmade a blinding glare off the freshly fallen snow. 

After breakfast I started off for Teru myself, to see how Borradaile wasgetting along, and, finding he had started, I left my borrowed pony atthe village, and, pushing on, caught up the rearguard a short waybeyond where we had been forced to turn back on the 1st April. Here Ifound Stewart, Gough, and Oldham with the fifty Kashmir troops, twoSappers and Miners, and rearguard of the Pioneers, staggering alongunder the guns and ammunition in a track that had been beaten out by thetroops marching in front. For some reason or other the sledges did notseem to act, partly, I think, because the track, being made by menmarching in single file, was too narrow and uneven; at anyrate, when Iarrived, the guns, wheels, carriages, and ammunition had been told offto different squads, about four men carrying the load at a time, andbeing relieved by a fresh lot every fifty yards or so. Even thus therate of progression was fearfully slow, about one mile an hour, and themen were continually sinking up to their waists in snow. Added to this, there was a bitter wind, and a blinding glare, while the men werestreaming with perspiration. 

I know my own face felt as if it had been dipped in boiling water, andduring the next few days the whole skin came off in flakes. 

I may as well here describe the tribulations of the advanced party, prefacing my remarks by saying that they are founded on reports andhearsay, and therefore I beg any slight inaccuracy may be forgiven me. When I turned back to return to Ghizr, the party carrying the guns werejust arriving at a stream called the Shamalkhand, which flows from ahigh pass of the same name, which is often used as a summer route toMastuj, but at that time of year is impassable. From this stream toLangar, the camping ground on the eastern side of the Shandur Pass, issome four miles, the valley being open and fairly level, but coveredwith thick dwarf willow on the banks of the stream flowing down thecentre which confines the road to the western side of the valley. Themain body of the party I could see about one and a half miles ahead;they had already crossed the stream. That was about 4 P. M. , and therearguard did not get into camp till 11 P. M. , and even then the guns hadto be left about a mile from camp. 

At Langar there is only one little wretched hut about six feet square, which was used as a shelter by the officers and one or two sick men, theremainder huddling round fires in the snow. Luckily, as I have alreadysaid, there was a plentiful supply of wood to be had for the cutting. Many of the men, I hear, were too tired to cook their food, but simplylay down exhausted near the fires, the officers getting something to eatabout midnight. Very little sleep was there for either officers or menthat night, most of them passed it huddled up round the fires, orstamping up and down to keep warm. 

Early the next morning the Pioneers and Levies started to cross thepass, while the remainder brought the guns into camp, which work, Ibelieve, took the best part of the day. 

On leaving the camping ground, the track leads sharply to the right, following the course of the Shandur stream, which is now merely arushing brook. The ascent is fairly precipitous for about a mile, and isfollowed by a very gradual ascent, --so gradual, in fact, that it isdifficult to say when the top of the pass is actually reached. Thisslope constitutes the pass, and is some five miles long, and twelvethousand three hundred and twenty feet above the sea; absolutely bare oftrees, and with two fair-sized lakes upon its surface, it is easy toimagine the deadly cold winds that sweep across it. The lakes werenow frozen over, and the valley was one even sheet of spotless snowlying dazzling under the sun. It is this combination of sun and snowwhich causes so much discomfort and snow blindness; I had before crossedthis same pass in December on a cloudy day, and although the whole of itwas covered with freshly fallen snow, I did not even find it necessaryto wear the goggles I had in my pocket ready for use. 

[Illustration: The Shandur Pass. ]

The distance from Langar on the east to the village of Laspur on thewest of the pass is not more than ten miles, yet Borradaile's party, leaving Langar at daybreak, did not reach Laspur till seven o'clock atnight. 

Strange as it may seem, the men suffered greatly from thirst, and fromsome mistaken idea of becoming violently ill if they did so, theyrefused to eat the snow through which they were floundering. Towardsevening, as they reached the western end of the pass, three men, evidently an outpost of the enemy, were seen to bolt from behind somerocks and make good their escape, in spite of an attempt by the Leviesto catch them. 

The descent from the pass to the village of Laspur is some two mileslong, and down a steep and rather narrow ravine. The Hunza Leviescovered the spurs on each side, while the Pioneers descended down thecentre. So sudden and unexpected was their arrival that the inhabitantswere caught in the village, and naturally expressed their extremedelight at this unexpected visit--so polite of them, wasn't it? Theyalso said that they would be glad to help us in any way we desired. Theywere taken at their word, and sent back next day to bring on the guns, while that night they were politely requested to clear out of some oftheir houses, which were quickly put into a state of defence andoccupied by our troops. Supplies were also required of the village. 

The next day was spent by the detachment in completing the defences, andcollecting supplies and coolies. Towards evening a report was brought inthat the enemy had collected to the number of about a hundred some threemiles away. So Borradaile took out some of the men to reconnoitre. Somemen were seen in the distance, but these the Levies declared to be onlyvillagers, and as it was getting dusk, the party returned to camp, onlythen learning that a levy had been taken prisoner. The man had gone somedistance ahead of his fellows, and had been captured by two men whojumped out on him from behind a rock. That evening the guns were broughtin by the Kashmir troops and the coolies, amid cheers from the Pioneers. 

Nothing, I think, can be said too highly in praise of this splendidachievement. Here were some two hundred and fifty men, Hindus andMussulmans, who, working shoulder to shoulder, had brought two mountainguns, with their carriages and supply of ammunition, across some twentymiles of deep, soft snow, across a pass some twelve thousand threehundred and twenty feet high, at the beginning of April, the worst timeof the year. It must also be remembered that these men were carryingalso their own rifles, greatcoats, and eighty rounds of ammunition, andwearing heavy sheepskin coats; they had slept for two nights in thesnow, and struggled from dawn till dark, sinking at every step up totheir waists, and suffering acutely from a blinding glare and a bitterwind. So much for the rank and file; but in their officers they had hadsplendid examples to follow, especially Stewart and Gough, if one mayselect when all did so nobly. Both these officers took their turns withthe men, Stewart with his gunners, and Gough with his Gurkhas, incarrying the guns, and both, with utter unselfishness and with completedisregard for their own personal comfort, gave their snow glasses tosepoys who, not having any, were suffering from the glare experienced onthe first day. It is by these small acts that officers can endearthemselves to their men, who, knowing that their officers have theirwelfare at heart, will follow wherever they may lead. 

Thus was the Shandur Pass first crossed, and a position established fromwhence the force could work down to Mastuj and thence to Chitral. 

I may here mention that so little did the Chitralis imagine that wecould cross the pass, that letters were found in Laspur stating that theBritish force was lying in Ghizr, the men unable to move from frostbite, and the officers from snow blindness; also that since then fresh snowhad fallen, and no forces would now be able to cross for several weeks. In fact, the Chitralis looked upon the game as entirely in their ownhands; the surprise of our arrival was therefore all the more complete. 

Having brought the guns and Borradaile's party safely across the pass, Ireturn and relate Colonel Kelly's and my own experiences. 

After leaving the guns being dragged through the snow to Langar on the3rd April, I walked back to Teru. On the way I saw the mullah's shovelsticking up in the snow, with one half of the blade snapped off. Alas, poor mullah! At Teru I found the battery mules and drivers; these wereordered back to Ghizr, as they could be more easily fed there, and wouldbe protected by the garrison of the post. I eventually got back to Ghizrbefore dark and reported events, and, just my luck, got a bad go offever the next day. Great Scott! I did feel a worm! I was shivering withague and my face was like a furnace. I hadn't a bit of skin on iteither, and it was painful to eat or laugh from the cracked state of mylips. I managed to struggle through some necessary official letters, butas a staff officer that day I was not much use. 

Colonel Kelly determined to start himself the next morning, with theNagar Levies and Shah Mirza, as we had managed to collect half a dozencoolies to carry our kits. I went with Colonel Kelly, the remainder ofthe Pioneers coming on as soon as the coolies from Borradaile's partyarrived; we were expecting them the next day, the 5th April. 

I turned in early that night, after having covered my raw face with someVinolia powder that Colonel Kelly happened to have. I had not beforeknown that these powders were supposed to be of any use. I had a vaguesort of idea that they were used for sprinkling babies, but was unawareof the reason of this strange rite; however, I will now give the VinoliaCompany what I believe is called an unsolicited testimonial. I stuck tothat powder till I got to Mastuj, by which time my face had become humanagain. Colonel Kelly had a beard, so he didn't suffer so much. The nextmorning I felt much better, had no fever, and, thanks to the Vinolia, myface was much less painful. 

We got the Levies and our kits off early, and about noon Colonel Kellyand I started on some borrowed ponies, which we rode as far as we couldand then sent back. Having caught up the Levies, we tramped forwardalong the track made by the first column, occasionally finding desertedsledges and bits of broken spades. The snow was now somewhat firmer thanwhen the first party had crossed, owing to the top of the snow thawingslightly in the sun every day and being frozen hard again every night;all the same, the slightest divergence from the track plunged us up toour waists in snow. 

The only one of our party who could walk on the snow without difficultywas my bull-terrier "Bill, " a spotted dog of doubtful ancestry. He hadbeen given to me as a bull-terrier when he was only a little white ratof a thing, and I had raised him at Bunji on tinned milk. He was a mostuncanny dog (the joke is unintentional), and it was commonly believed inthe force that his father was a tom cat. Poor Bill! Before he got toLaspur he was so snow blind that until we got to Mastuj I had to openhis eyes for him every morning and bathe them with hot water before hecould see, and he was hardly well again a month later. 

We got into camp that night before dusk, pretty well fagged and wet, andas soon as the coolies came in with our kits, we scraped a hole in thesnow and pitched the colonel's small tent. In camp we found a few menwho had been placed in charge of some ammunition that had been leftbehind for want of transport. This guard were mostly suffering a bitfrom snow blindness, but were otherwise all right, as they had run upshelters and had plenty of wood and their bedding. When I got at my kit, I took out a bottle of quinine and dosed our servants and orderlies allround, so that they should not have any excuse for getting fever, andthen took some myself for the same reason. We then laid out our beddingin the tent, while the servants went into the hut, and turned inimmediately after dinner, and had a very comfortable night. 

We were up before dawn the next morning, and, as we had slept in ourclothes, it was not long before we had had breakfast and struck camp. By6 A. M. We were climbing the ascent to the pass. There was a windwhistling straight in our faces, and I had no idea anything could be socold; it simply went clean through you, and I quite expected to hear myribs sing like an Aeolian harp. When we got on to the pass, the sun roseand the wind dropped quite suddenly, and presently we had taken off ourgreatcoats on account of the heat. After going about an hour, I began tosuffer from mountain sickness, a curious and distinctly unpleasantsensation, very much like having a rope tied tightly round one's chestand back, and the shortness of breath necessitating a halt every hundredyards or so. Colonel Kelly did not suffer from it at all, but trudgedalong without a halt the whole way. That is the only time I have eversuffered from mountain sickness, and I have crossed the Shandur bothbefore and since, as also other passes, without feeling anyinconvenience. 

By noon we had almost reached the highest point of the pass, and wereskirting the larger lake, when we met the coolies of Borradaile's partyreturning with an escort of some of the Kashmir troops. They all seemedpretty lively in spite of the poor time they had been having; but asthey are used to crossing the Shandur at all times of the year, Idaresay our sympathy was a good deal wasted. 

We were soon descending into the Laspur valley, and we had hardlydropped three hundred feet before all sense of sickness left me, and Ifelt as fit as possible. A short way out of the village we were met by apatrol which Borradaile had sent out to meet us, and by two o'clock wewere in camp, where we found Oldham in command, Borradaile having goneon a reconnaissance down the valley. The previous day news had beenbrought in that the enemy were assembled in the valley, and a smallparty had gone out, as I have already related. On the morning of the 6thApril, Borradaile accordingly determined on another reconnaissance, thistime taking the guns with him, they being carried by Laspuri villagers, who no doubt thought the game very poor fun. Gough went with the party, Oldham remaining in command of the post, which was garrisoned with themaimed, the halt, and the blind--in other words, with men suffering fromfrostbite and snow blindness, of whom there were some twenty-six of theformer and thirty of the latter; those men of the Kashmir troops whowere fit to march being sent back across the pass as escort to thecoolies. 

When the reconnoitring party had gone some three miles down the valley, they came across the old camp fires of the enemy. At Rahman, two milesfarther on, they left the snow behind, much to everybody's delight, andby one o'clock entered the village of Gasht, some eleven miles fromLaspur, and about half-way to Mastuj, the Levies crowning a small knollin the middle of the valley at the lower end of the village. From herethey reported they could see the enemy some three miles farther down thevalley, who were evidently engaged in building sangars and entrenchingthemselves. A short council of war was held as to the advisability ofattacking them, but, considering that the force consisted of only alittle over a hundred men and some fifty Levies, besides the two guns, and also the time of day, it was decided to return to camp, which wasreached by dark. The day's work was highly creditable to all concerned;the march to Gasht and back had been some twenty-two miles, andinformation had been obtained of the position in which we might expectopposition from the enemy. On getting into camp, Borradaile's partyfound Colonel Kelly and myself waiting their arrival, eager to heartheir news. 

CHAPTER IV

FROM LASPUR TO GASHT

That night we had beef for dinner. This may appear a trivial fact, butit meant a great and blessed change from the eternal mutton we had beenliving on, none of us having tasted beef for quite six months, except inits condensed or tinned state, which does not count. Gilgit is adependency of Kashmir, whose ruling family, being Hindus, stronglyobject to cow-killing, and therefore the law runs that no cows are to beslaughtered; hence none of us since crossing the bridge at Kohalla hadtasted fresh beef. But now we were in Chitral territory, and a Mussulmancountry, so we were free to kill cows, but did so unostentatiously, asnearly all our force were Hindus. The dark deed was accomplished thus:on the houses being searched on the arrival of the first party atLaspur, an innocent little calf was found in one of the houses, andquick as thought then and there despatched. I will not reveal themurderer's name, because I do not know it. All traces were removed, andfor the next few days we enjoyed hot roast beef. 

We were a merry party, but what a set of ruffians we looked! Stewart andGough were both suffering from snow blindness, owing to their generousaction in giving their goggles to sepoys, and passed most of their sparetime with their heads over a basin of hot water, dabbing their achingeyes; none of us had much skin on our faces, and what little remainedwas of a patchwork description; none of us had shaved for days--wecouldn't have stood the torture; and our clothes, too, were showingsigns of wear and tear. We all now slept in our clothes, partly for thesake of warmth, and also to be in readiness in case of emergency. Therewe were, sitting or lying on our bedding, which was spread on the floorround the room, the latter divided, like all Chitrali houses, into loosestalls by low partitions, a small fire burning in the centre of theroom, from which a thick pillar of smoke rose and hung like a cloud fromthe roof, through a hole in which part of it escaped. Our swords andrevolvers were hanging on the walls or from pegs in the beams, the wholescene dimly lit by one or two candles. It might look very picturesque, but I always consider the best hotel is good enough for me. 

As there was not space enough in the stalls for all of us, Colonel Kellyand I, as the last comers, slept in a little room off the main one; herewas evidently the winter store of fodder for the cattle as it was halffull of bhoosa (chopped straw). This we spread evenly over the floor tothe depth of some two feet, and then laid our blankets on top. There wasjust room enough for us to lie out straight, the Colonel taking one sideand I the other, and a softer or more luxurious bed could hardly beimagined. We had to be careful, though, not to drop matches about, andto put out our pipes before going to sleep. A halt had been ordered forthe following day, to give the men suffering from snow blindness andfrostbite a chance to recover, so we turned in with the blissfulconsciousness of not having to turn out at dawn, and slept like thedead. 

The next day, April 7, was spent in hurrying forward all arrangementsfor an advance on the morrow. We also sent round messengers to all thevillagers to come in and make their submission, on pain of having theirvillages burned; and seeing that we now had the upper hand, at any ratein their valley, the inhabitants came in without much hesitation, andalso brought in a certain amount of supplies; consequently by night wehad sufficient local coolies to carry all our baggage, supplies, ammunition, and, most important of all, the two guns. About noon on thisday, Raja Akbar Khan of Punyal, whom I have before mentioned as meetingus on the march from Shoroh to Suigal, came into camp with fifty Levies, bringing in a convoy of ninety Balti coolies with supplies. We weregetting along famously now, so Colonel Kelly decided to advance the nextday without waiting for Peterson's detachment, as our first object wasto open communication with Mastuj. 

We had a political tea that afternoon: all the leaders of the Levies, old Raja Akbar Khan, Humayun, Taifu, the Nagar Wazir, Shah Mirza, andone or two princelings who had come up to see some fighting, allsquatted round our little room on the straw, swigging sweet tea andmunching biscuits, quite a friendly gathering; in fact, so much tea wasconsumed that the mess president swore he would send in a bill. 

We always got our earliest and most reliable information from theLevies, as most of them had blood relations among the Chitralis. Theyalso knew just where to look for hidden grain and supplies of all sorts. As a rule there was generally a cache under or near the fireplace in themain room, but I have also seen the Levies find them in the mostunlikely places, and very queer odds and ends they sometimes pulled outof these under-ground storerooms. 

On the morning of April 8th the column was formed up and ready to startby 9 A. M. Poor Gough was being left behind at Laspur in command of thegarrison, which consisted of some twenty-five Kashmir troops, and theNagar and Punyal Levies, in all about a hundred. The Levies were to comeon as soon as the second party arrived. Our force, therefore, consistedof two hundred Pioneers, two guns, forty Kashmir Sappers, and fiftyHunza Levies. Our order of march was as follows: first of all went theLevies; then, with an interval of some five hundred yards, came theadvance guard of a half company of Pioneers; the main body consisted ofKashmir Sappers, guns, one company of Pioneers, ammunition, hospitalbaggage, and rearguard of half company Pioneers. Both advance andrear-guards were commanded by British officers. It was a lovely, finemorning, and we were all in the best of spirits, and looking forward toleaving behind the detestable snow, and therewith our chief source ofdiscomfort. 

Poor old Gough looked awfully dismal at being left behind, but it wasthe fortune of war. At Gurkuch, at Gupis, at Ghizr, there was only onecry from officers and men--British and Native--"For Heaven's sake takeus on with you!" The natives always added that they would never be ableto face their womenfolk again if there had been fighting and they not init. The Britisher expressed his disgust at what he called "his ballyluck" in more forcible terms, but it meant the same thing, and we areall the same colour under the skin. 

Off we went, through the village and across the stream by a ricketybridge, then down the left bank for about a mile, when we came to asmall hamlet, --I forget its name, --and here I fell out and paid a visitto the house of Mahomed Rafi, the Hakim of the Laspur district. Thishoary-headed old rascal had been playing fast and loose for a long time, but had at last cast in his lot openly with the enemy; he had a longlist of offences to answer for, and is believed to be one of the actualmurderers of Hayward about 1872. 

Hayward was globe-trotting up Yasin way when these ruffians rushed hiscamp, seized him, and carried him into a wood with the intention ofkilling him. He asked them to defer the performance until daylight, ashe should like to look on the world once more. This they agreed to, andsoon after dawn made him kneel down and hacked off his head. Such is thestory. Poor Hayward's body was brought into Gilgit, and he lies in anorchard close to the British Agency. I can quite imagine Hayward, or anyman who has any appreciation of the grandeur of Nature in her wildermoods, wishing to see the sun rise once again over these tumbled massesof snow peaks and bare cliffs. The startling sensation of the immensityof these hills in comparison with man's minuteness strikes home withalmost the stunning effect of a sudden blow. 

It is said that the calm pluck of Hayward touched even his murderers, callous as they are to bloodshed It makes a sensational picture: asolitary figure in the foreground standing alone on the edge of a pinewood high up in the lonely grandeur of the everlasting hills, the firstflush of dawn reddening the snow on peak after peak, changing the purewhite to pink, the cold blue to purple, the tumbled sea of mountainsummits gradually growing in distinctness, the soft mist rising from thevalleys, and the group of wild figures standing within the shade of thepines. Hayward takes one long look on all this loveliness, and turnstowards his executioners--men say that even they hesitated. 

Mahomed Rafi, who was supposed to have actually killed Hayward, was nowHakim of Laspur, and, as I have said, had joined the enemy. 

When I had travelled through Laspur in November last, the old ruffianhad come to pay his respects, and accompanied me part of the way toMastuj, and while doing so, had stopped at a house to give some orders, and had informed me that this was one of his houses. On passing it now, I thought a visit might be useful, so, getting Shah Mirza and hisLevies, I got permission to search the house. It had evidently onlyrecently been occupied for on bursting in the door we found the cookingpots in the fireplace and fresh meat hanging in one of the rooms. Aftera short search we found the grain store, with several mounds of grain, which was afterwards taken into Laspur. There was nothing much more thatwe could find in our hasty search, but I picked up an emptyspectacle-case, astonished at finding it in such a place, as MahomedRafi never wore spectacles in his life. I showed it to Colonel Kelly, who promptly annexed it, as he was in want of one, having mislaid hisown. Shah Mirza also collared a fowl, which no doubt formed his nextmeal. 

I caught up the column before they had gone much more than a mile, justas they were crossing a stream. After that we had some level marchinginto the village of Rahman, and by this time the snow was only lying inpatches. Here we made a short halt. From Rahman there is a path acrossthe hills to Chitral, by means of a nullah called the Goland Gol, ofwhich mention will be made hereafter but at this time of year it wasimpossible to use this path, owing to the snow. 

During the halt, the headman of the village came up to make his salaams, and also told me that a man of Ghizr had passed through that morning, escaping from the enemy. He was reported to be one of Gough'smessengers, captured when taking letters to Moberly at Mastuj. I toldthe headman that he had better show his goodwill by bringing in the man, which he promised to do, and sent him in that night to our camp atGasht. We learned little from him, except that the enemy were going tofight us between Gasht and Mastuj, and that the latter place was allright. This man had no idea of numbers, and when asked the strength ofthe enemy, replied invariably that there were very many men, but seemedequally uncertain if there were five hundred or five thousand collectedin the sangar before us, and yet he had been a prisoner in their campfor some fifteen days. 

I found the best way of getting information out of the prisoners was toset Shah Mirza or Humayun on the job. They used to squat down over thefire with the prisoners and engage them in conversation graduallygetting what they knew out of them by simple-looking questions. Ofcourse I couldn't do this as I didn't know their language, and thepresence of a British officer put them on their guard at once. 

Between Rahman and Mastuj the country is pretty much the same, a narrowvalley running between high, stony hills, their tops covered with snowand their feet with boulders; then the bed of the valley more or lessrocky, and the river winding from side to side, and below the main levelof the valley, at depths varying from fifty to two hundred feet, thesides nearly always sheer cliff; at intervals were nullahs, down whichran streams of snow water from the hills to the river, or fans ofalluvial deposit brought down by floods in previous years. On the flankof one such fan we found the village of Gasht, which we reached by 3. 30P. M. The Levies had already occupied the knoll at the lower end of thevillage from whence the enemy had before been seen; so, after fixing ona camping ground and giving the necessary orders, the officers all wentforward to have a look. 

From the top of the knoll there was an extended view of the valley, andI was able to point out the position of Mastuj, which was hidden by somerising ground, and also the general direction of the road. About threemiles ahead we could distinctly see a sangar filled with men on the leftbank of the river. That sangar was, as far as we could judge, on theright flank of the enemy's line. A few men could also be seen climbing asteep stone shoot on the right bank of the river, so evidently the enemywere going to try the effect of a stone avalanche as we went underneath. A good deal of discussion went on as to whether the enemy's main defencewas on the left bank, in which case we should have to attack across theriver, or on the right bank, in which case the present visible sangarwas a flanking bastion. 

At last someone suggested tea, so the meeting broke up. Colonel Kellyand I stayed behind. I asked Colonel Kelly for permission to take someof the Levies and have a cast forward. I took the Hunza men and myshikaree, Faquir, as he could translate my orders to the Levies. Off wetrotted, and by the time the other officers were having tea, I was wellup the hillside. It was impossible to be rushed, as the ground waspretty bad, so I extended my men, --when it comes to sniping, one man isa smaller target than two, --and we skirmished up and forward, so as tobring us well above the enemy's line. In half an hour we were highenough to see all the valley below, and the enemy's position was spreadout like a map. I sent the Levies on about a hundred yards, and thenmade them line a ridge, while I sat myself comfortably down and sketchedthe whole show. 

With my glasses I could count the men in each sangar. They wereevidently cooking their evening meal, as thin columns of smoke rose fromeach sangar in the still evening air. I could also make out the pathsleading up the cliffs from the river, and saw men going down to fetchwater. I sat and watched long after I had got all the information Iwanted, as I might perhaps get some useful tips that I had overlooked. It was very peaceful sitting there, but presently the sun dropped behindthe hills, and it got too chilly for comfort. A whistle to the Leviesand a wave of the hand brought them back, and we scrambled down the hillagain, and were back in camp before dark. Here I heard that the PunyalLevies had been sent for from Laspur to come along at once. 

As soon as I had explained the enemy's position to Colonel Kelly, orderswere issued for the attack next day. They were short and simple. On thearrival of the Punyal Levies, they were to start, with a guide we hadprocured, to turn out the men above the stone shoot on the right bank ofthe river. I, with the Hunza Levies, was to start at 6 A. M. And workthrough the hills to the right rear of the enemy's position. The mainbody would start at 9 A. M. And attack in front. The baggage to remain incamp under a guard commanded by Sergt. Reeves, Commissariat. Then we haddinner and went to bed. 

CHAPTER V

CHOKALWAT

At 5 A. M. The next morning, my orderly, Gammer Sing Gurung, woke me. Itwas still dark, and I dressed as quickly as possible, so as not todisturb the others, who were snoring peacefully around me. Dressingconsisted of putting on my coat, putties, and some canvas shoes withrope soles. I knew the ground I should be going over would be prettybad, and with rope soles you can skip about rocks like a young lamb, whereas shooting boots would send you flying over the cliffs. By thetime I had had some poached eggs and a cup of tea, the Hunza Levies werewaiting outside, so I got into my sword and trappings and went. As Ipassed out, Colonel Kelly wished me good luck, and I said, "_Au revoir_till twelve o'clock. " The others snored peacefully. 

Gammer Sing and the fifty Hunza Levies were ready, and I had put somechupatties into my haversack overnight, so off we went. By the time wewere clear of the village, it was getting light, so, keeping close tothe edge of the hills, we struck up a side nullah, took a slant acrossit, and then began the climb. By this time it was broad daylight. Wekept climbing and gradually working round the face of the hill to theright, until we struck the snow line, and I calculated we were prettywell as high as any sangar the enemy might have on the hill. My idea wasto get above them, and I didn't want my party swept into space by astone avalanche. Still, to make matters secure, I detached ten men to gohigher up still, and I had five minutes' halt to give them a start. 

It was now about 7. 30 A. M. , and I wanted to push on, so as to be well onthe right rear of the enemy by nine o'clock. Once there, we could timeour attack at our leisure. Events, however, worked out somewhatdifferently. The ground now got very bad, and presently we came to astone shoot which extended high up above us, while ending in a cliff alittle below. This we crossed carefully, one man going at a time. Eachstep set the whole slide in motion and brought stones bounding down fromabove. The best way was to take it at a rush. We got safely across that, and the ground got worse and worse, and finally we were brought to ahalt. I sent men to find a path above and below, the remainder sat downunder cover, while I examined the ground in front with my glasses. Itwas eight o'clock now, and I was congratulating myself in having got sofar, as another half-mile would bring us on to a spur which ran down onthe right flank of the enemy's line. 

As I was looking at this spur, I noticed that there was a nice grassyslope just about level with us, and below that the cliffs went almostsheer down into the river. Once on that slope, we could pretty well playskittles with the sangars below, as we could even now see clearly intothem. Unfortunately, the ground between looked frightful, a series ofridges like the teeth of a saw, the northern faces being covered withsnow, which made the going particularly treacherous. I had hardlynoticed this when there was a puff of smoke and a report, and I saw tomy disgust that on the edge of my nice grassy slope were a few clustersof innocent-looking rocks, which I now saw to be sangars, evidentlyoccupied. Just at this moment a man ran across the slope and beganwaving his coat to someone below, and more men showed themselves amongthe rocks. 

The Levies were still looking for a path, and Humayun wanted to returnthe enemy's fire; but as the Levies were armed only with carbines, and Ihadn't heard the whistle of the enemy's shot, I judged it would be awaste of ammunition. To get the distance, I told Gammer Sing, who hadhis Martini, to try a shot at the man waving his choga, with his sightsat eight hundred yards. I saw the bullet kick the dust to the right ofthe man, who jumped for a rock, so I knew carbines were no good at thatdistance. 

A path was now found a little lower down, so I ordered an advance and onwe went. Our appearance was the signal for the enemy to open fire, butas only one or two bullets sang over us, I knew they couldn't have manyrifles. We worked on steadily forward to about five hundred yards, whenshots began to drop among us, so under cover of a ridge I divided themen into two groups, and sent the first group forward under cover of thefire of the second, until the first group reached the next ridge, whenthey covered the advance of the second group. 

The ground was shocking bad, and what made it more annoying was that, aswe were attacking towards the north, and the snow lay on the northernslopes, we had to test our way every step, and keep in single file justwhen our advance was most exposed. I had to have a man in places to helpme along. I don't mind bad ground when after mahkor, as you can takeyour own time, but I strongly object to taking the place of the mahkor. Our advance never stopped, but by ten o'clock we had only gone some twohundred yards, and I could see our force crossing the river on to theplain below. 

The enemy in our front now began to get excited, and we saw several ofthem run back and make signals to those below. There was now only oneridge between us and the enemy, and we made for it. As we rose, theenemy's fire became pretty warm, but we were soon under cover again, andas our advanced men gained the ridge, they began firing and yelling ashard as they could go. I thought something was up, so made a rush, aslip, and a scramble, and I could see over the ridge as the rear partycame scrambling along. I soon saw the cause of the yelling. About ahundred yards in front of us was the grassy ridge, and across this thelast of the enemy was bolting, and in a few minutes had disappeared amidthe most appalling yells from the Levies. That was the last our partysaw of them, for we now found our path again blocked up by a precipiceand again I had to send men above and below to find a practicable way. Ithen called for a return of casualties, and found we had escaped scotfree (I expect the enemy had too). So thus ended our bloodless battle. 

While a path was being looked for, Humayun and I sat down in a quietcorner and shared chupatties, and watched the fight below, which wasjust beginning. First we saw the advance guard get on to the plain andextend, and presently they were joined by the main body, and the wholeformed up for attack; then the firing line extended and the advancecommenced. Presently we saw the sangars open fire, answered by volleysfrom our men. Then came a larger puff of smoke and a murmur from the menround me, as a shell pitched across the river and burst over a sangar. It was as pretty a sight as one could wish for, and I felt as if Ishould have been in a stall at Drury Lane. I could have stopped andwatched the show with pleasure. It was quite a treat to see how steadilythe 32nd Pioneers worked across the plain; but just then the men belowshouted that they had found a path, while I could see those aboveworking their way on to the grassy slope. These latter now shouted thatthere were no enemy left on the hill, so we chose the lower road, andgradually worked our way down, joining the grassy spur lower down--onlyit wasn't grassy here at all, but chiefly precipice. We got downsomehow, chiefly on all fours, but by the time we had reached thesangars, the enemy had bolted, and they were occupied by our men. It hadtaken us nearly an hour to get down. Here I came across Colonel Kelly, and after shaking hands, I looked at my watch and found it was justtwelve, so I had made a good shot at the time of our meeting when weparted in the morning. 

Now I will give you an account of the attack carried out by the mainbody. It is the official account, so I can back its correctness. 

The action at Chokalwat on the 9th April is thus described: "On themorning of the ninth April I advanced to the attack of the enemy. In theearly morning Lieutenant Beynon, with the Hunza Levies, ascended thehigh hills on the left bank of the river to turn the right of theposition and attack in rear. The Punyal Levies were sent up the hills onthe right bank to turn out the men above the stone shoots. 

"I advanced in the following manner:--

Half Coy. 32nd Pioneers, advanced guard. Kashmir Sappers and Miners --Half Company 32nd Pioneers |Two guns 1st Kashmir Mountain |= Main BodyBattery, carried by coolies |One Company 32nd Pioneers --

"The baggage, under escort of the rearguard, remained in Gasht tillordered forward after the action. 

"An advance was made to the river, where the bridge had been broken, butsufficiently repaired by the Sappers and Miners for the passage of theinfantry. The guns forded the river, and the force ascended to the fanfacing the right sangars of the enemy's position. 

"The configuration of the ground was as follows: The road from the riverafter leaving Gasht brought us on to an alluvial fan, the ascent towhich was short and steep; it was covered with boulders and intersectedwith nullahs; the road led across this fan and then along the foot ofsteep shale slopes and shoots, within five hundred yards of the line ofsangars crowning the opposite side of the river bank, and totally devoidof any sort or description of cover for some two miles; it could also beswept by avalanches of stones set in motion by a few men placed on theheights above for that purpose. 

"The enemy's position consisted of a line of sangars blocking the roadsfrom the river up to the alluvial fan on which they were placed. Theright of the position was protected by a snow glacier, whichdescended into the river bed, and furthermore by sangars, which extendedinto the snow line up the spur of the hills. 

"The course of the action was as follows: The advanced guard formed upat about eight hundred yards from the position and the main body inrear. The 32nd Pioneers then advanced to the attack. One section, 'C'Company, extended (left of line). One section, 'C' Company, extended insupport. Two sections, 'C' Company, 'A' Company, in reserve. The gunsnow took up position on the right and opened on 'A' sangar at a range ofeight hundred and twenty-five yards. As the action progressed, thesupporting section of 'C' Company advanced and reinforced. The remaininghalf of 'C' Company advanced, and, leaving sufficient space for theguns, took up their position in the firing line on the extreme right. Volley firing at first was opened at eight hundred yards, but the firingline advanced one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards as the actionprogressed. At a later stage, one section of 'A' Company was pushed upto fill a gap on the right of the guns in action in the centre of theline. The enemy, after receiving some well-directed volleys andcorrectly played shells, were seen to vacate 'A' sangar by twos andthrees until it was finally emptied. During our advance to the fan, shots were heard in the direction of the hills, Lieutenant Beynon havingcome into contact with the enemy in their sangars up the hillside, whowere driven from ridge to ridge. When 'A' sangar was vacated, attentionwas directed on 'B' sangar, and the same course adopted, with the sameresult; at the same time those driven down from the hills above streamedinto the plain, and there was then a general flight. Six shrapnel werefired into the flying enemy at ranges of a thousand, twelve hundred, andthirteen hundred and fifty yards (three rounds per gun). 

"A general advance was then made down precipitous banks to the bed ofthe river, covered by the fire of the reserves, the river forded, andsangars 'A' and 'B' occupied. The guns were then carried across, and, the whole line of sangars having been vacated, the column was re-formedon the fan; the line taken in crossing enabled the enemy to get well ontheir way to Mastuj; the advance was then continued to a village a mileand a half farther along the river, where a halt was made. Thecasualties consisted of one man of the 32nd Pioneers severely wounded, and three Kashmir Sappers slightly. The action commenced at 10. 30 A. M. And lasted one hour. The position was of unusual natural strength, andthe disposition of the sangars showed considerable tactical ability, being placed on the edge of high cliffs on the left bank of the river. The enemy were computed at four to five hundred, and were armed withMartini-Henry and Snider rifles. Several dead were found in the sangars, and the losses I estimate to have been from fifty to sixty. "

By the time I had joined Colonel Kelly, the Pioneers had re-formed andwere advancing, so I had very little time to take a look at the sangars. I saw one or two bodies lying around, and the shells seemed to haveknocked sparks pretty successfully out of the stone breastworks. I alsonoticed the neat little cooking places the enemy had made behind theirsangars, showing that they had been there for some time. 

The advance was carried on without a check for about one and a halfmiles, when we came to a cluster of huts near the termination of theplain, the river here making a slight sweep towards the left side of thevalley. An advance guard was thrown out well to the front, and undertheir protection the column halted and the men fell out. I had afirst-class thirst by this time, and Gammer Sing made several trips tothe river before it was quenched. Gammer Sing and I always share thesame tin mug on the march. It is his mug, but he always gives me firstgo. In return I supply Gammer Sing with tobacco, so it is a fairdivision of labour. Here I finished my chupatties, and some kind man--Ithink it was Borradaile--gave me a stick of chocolate, my own storehaving run out, but I managed to get it replenished at Mastuj. 

Good old Stewart came up as pleased as Punch at having had his firstfight. Said he, "And d'ye think now that me shells killed many of thebeggars? sure and their corpses ought to be just thick. " He was painedto hear that in all probability we should not catch up the enemy againthat day, I really think nothing less than twelve hours' hard fightingevery day, with short intervals for refreshments, would satisfy him. 

One of the guns, when being brought up the cliff, had slipped off thecoolies and fallen down to the bottom again, breaking off the foresight, but Stewart mended it during the halt. 

At the same time, the Sappers were hard at work pulling down a house formaterials to build a bridge, but before it was actually begun, we heardthat the river could be forded again lower down, so the bridge was notbuilt. By this time the men were sufficiently rested, the whole columnhad closed up, and orders sent back for the baggage to come on. 

Off we started, the Punyal Levies working down the right bank, theHunzas on the left, the main column following the left bank of thestream. By 4 P. M. We reached the ford and crossed to the right bank, thewater not being much above our knees. And almost immediately after, wesaw some men drawn up on the spur we were approaching; they turned outto be the Mastuj garrison, who, on finding the besieging force halting, had come out to find out the reason. If they had only heard our guns andturned out at once, they would have cut the line of retreat of ouropponents, and the whole crew must have been wiped out. Unfortunatelythe fort of Mastuj is built far down the reverse slope of a fan, andalthough some of the sentries reported they heard firing, it was thoughtthey must be mistaken. 

By 5 P. M. We had got on to the spur, and found Moberly, with part of thegarrison, all looking very fat and fit; evidently the siege had notworried them much so far. A detachment of the 14th Sikhs (the remains ofRoss's company) were left on the spur to cover the baggage coming in, while our column trotted down to the fort, getting there by 5. 30 P. M. Here we found Jones with his arm in a sling. Our force bivouacked in agarden attached to the fort, the trees of which had been lopped todeprive the enemy of shelter, and the farther wall destroyed. This weprecious soon built up again, and within an hour our force wascomfortably entrenched and cooking its dinner. 

What a blessing it was to be down again in a decent climate! Fires werestill pleasant at night, but in the daytime the bright, cool weather wassplendid. 

Moberly's servant soon had some tea and chupatties ready, and while wewere eating them, Bretherton, who had been out clearing some village onthe other side of the fort, came in. 

There was lots of news, both to hear and relate, and we were hard at itwhen there came the sound of a volley from the direction in which wewere expecting the baggage. 

Somebody said, "Cuss those niggers! why can't they let us have our teain peace?"--it wasn't Stewart, --and there was a general scramble forswords and belts. A company of the Pioneers was soon doubling off, whilethe rest of us strolled up the road to see what the row was. We met thebaggage coming in, and heard that the 14th Sikh picket had heard somepeople moving in the river bed, and had let drive a volley atthem--result unknown. As soon as the last of the baggage had passed, wefollowed it, and the picket was withdrawn. Later that night we sent backa messenger with an account of the day's fighting and the relief ofMastuj to Gilgit, but the messenger--a levy--shortly returned, havingbeen fired on, and returned the fire, so it was evident that a goodmany of the enemy were still sneaking about. 

We officers slept in the fort that night, four or five of us in a room. Mastuj is of the ordinary type of country fort, square, with a tower ateach end and one over the gateway, curtains between each tower abouteighteen to twenty feet high, and the towers another fifteen feet higherstill. The whole place is built of layers of stones and wood plasteredtogether with mud, while there is generally a keep or citadel insidewhich commands the rest of the fort, and in which are the governor's andwomen's quarters. In Mastuj, of course, we used these as officers'quarters. The whole fort is a horribly dirty and tumble-down old place;the roof of the officers' quarters had to be propped up, as it wasconsidered unsafe, and I quite believe it. The rooms had the usual holein the roof for the smoke to get out at, but Moberly had erected a stovein his room, which was a great improvement. 

CHAPTER VI

THE RECONNAISSANCE FROM MASTUJ

While at Mastuj we heard from Jones the story of the disaster atKoragh--which I will give. 

Ross, with Jones and about ninety-three Sikhs, left Mastuj on the 7thMarch, with the intention of helping Edwardes and Fowler, who werebelieved to be in danger at Reshun, and marched to Buni; leaving adetachment there of thirty-three sepoys under a native officer, hemarched with Jones and sixty men for Reshun, hoping to arrive there thatday. 

After leaving Buni, the road runs for some distance along flat grounduntil the junction of the Turikho and Yarkhun rivers is reached. At thispoint the road leads up along the face of a cliff and then down on to asmall plain, where are a few houses and some patches of cultivation. This is known as the village of Koragh, and immediately after, the riverruns between the cliffs, which draw together and make the mouth of thedefile. The path which follows the left bank crosses the débris fallenfrom the cliffs above and then runs along the edge of the river at thefoot of another and smaller cliff, or in summer, when the river is full, the path runs over this smaller cliff. Ross's party took the lower road. After the second cliff the paths lead on to a small plain about twohundred yards wide at its greatest width, and perhaps half a mile long, and then runs up and across the face of a third cliff which drops sheerdown into the river. This cliff forms the end of the trap. It would behard to find a better place for an ambuscade. 

Ross's advance guard was on this plain, approaching the spur whichcloses the trap, when they were fired on. Ross went forward toreconnoitre the ground, and at once saw the impossibility of driving theenemy out with his small force, and therefore ordered Jones to go backand hold the entrance of the defile to enable them to escape. On thefirst shot being fired, the coolies had chucked their loads and bolted, as likely as not helping to man the sangars enclosing the party. Jones, taking ten men, made an attempt to reach the mouth of the defile, butfound it already occupied by the enemy, who had run up stone sangars, and by the time he had got within a hundred yards of it, eight of histen men were wounded. He therefore fell back on the main party, who hadtaken refuge in some caves at the foot of the cliff. 

The caves, now half full of water, owing to the rising of the river, canbe seen in the photograph. The party remained in these caves till 9P. M. , when they made another attempt to cut their way out, but weredriven back by avalanches of stones. They then had to scale themountainside, but were stopped by an impossible cliff, and one sepoy, falling over, was killed, so they came back to the caves dead tired. Here they remained the whole of the next day, the enemy trying anoccasional shot from across the river, where they had erected sangars;but the Sikhs had, in their turn, built sangars across the mouth oftheir cave, which sheltered them. 

Then the enemy tried rolling stones over the top of the cliff, but thisonly had the effect of strengthening the sangars, so they shut that up. 

During that day, Ross and Jones came to the conclusion that there wasnothing to be done but cut their way out; everyone must take his chance, the rush to be made about 2 A. M. On the morning of the 10th, accordingly, at the time fixed, they made their sortie. 

A heavy fire was at once opened on them from both sides of the river, while avalanches of stones were sent hurtling down the cliffs. A numberof sepoys were killed or knocked senseless by stones, but the remainderreached the sangars, and cleared out the defenders at the point of thebayonet. Here poor Ross was killed by a bullet through the head, afterhaving, so the natives say, pistolled some four of the enemy. Thelatter, after being driven out of the sangars, bolted up the hillside, and again opened fire from among the rocks. By the time the small bandreached the maidan, there were only some seventeen men, headed by Jones:of these, Jones and nine others were wounded. 

Here the little party formed up, and tried to help any more of theirfriends who might be struggling through, by heavy volley-firing into thesangars on both sides of the river. After some ten minutes of thuswaiting, during which they twice drove off attacks of the enemy'sswordsmen, who tried to close with them, and losing three more men, Jones, noticing an attempt of the enemy to cut the line of retreat, anddespairing of any more of the detachment escaping, gave the order toretire. This was carried out slowly and leisurely till they reachedBuni, at about 6 A. M. , when they joined the detachment they had leftbehind. Jones and his party remained in Buni till the 17th, the enemynot daring to attack them, and they were unable to move, having notransport for their wounded. 

After Ross had left Mastuj, Moberly remained in command of the fort, andon the 10th March was joined by Captain Bretherton of the Commissariatwho came in with two sepoys from Ghizr. 

Moberly heard that Ross had left a small party at Buni, and though hesent messengers to this party, he never received any reply, themessengers probably being captured. 

On the 13th, hearing that the enemy were occupying the Nisa Gol, aposition some six miles from Mastuj, he reconnoitred up to it, and foundsome sangars, which he destroyed, but no enemy. 

A reinforcement of sixty sepoys came in that day from Ghizr. The nexttwo days were spent in trying to collect coolies for transport, and onthe 16th, in spite of the non-arrival of any coolies, he set out to Buniwith a hundred and fifty sepoys, each man carrying a sheepskin coat, twoblankets, a hundred and twenty rounds of ammunition, and three days'cooked rations. 

He halted that night at Sanoghar, where he collected some fifty coolies, and learned by signal from Mastuj that Bretherton was sending some fiftyYarkhun coolies the next day--fifty Punyal Levies also joined him thatevening. Starting the next morning, he reached Buni by 5 P. M. , when hefound Jones and the remains of the Sikhs. The return journey was beguntwo hours later, at 7 P. M. , and carried on steadily all night, a smallbody of the enemy following, but not daring to attack. Mastuj wasreached between 10 and 11 A. M. The next day, 18th March. 

By the 22nd March the enemy had surrounded the fort, and the siegebegan. Nothing of any event happened, the enemy contenting themselveswith long-range firing, only one man being slightly wounded and twoponies killed. On the 9th of April "up we came with our little lot, " andthe siege was raised. 

Early the next morning we were up and going through the state of thesupplies and available amount of transport. 

Transport and supplies were an everlasting source of worry, as itgenerally is with every army, great or small. 

We soon got a return of the supplies in Mastuj. I forget how many daysit was, but none too much for our force and the Mastuj garrison. Bretherton was sent back to bring up supplies from the rear, andmessengers were sent to order in the villagers. We wanted their grain toeat, and men to carry it. The villagers began to come in after a bit, and brought a small amount of grain with them. 

Stewart was hard at work getting ponies for his guns in place of themules left behind; the gun wheel and carriage saddles were sent for, andshortly arrived. 

The Levies were billeted in the houses which had lately been occupied bythe enemy, and we soon had pickets out round the fort. In showing theLevies the houses they were to occupy, I examined the enemy's system ofloopholes and sangars, and found they were very well made indeed. In thehouse which had lately been occupied by Mahomed Issar, theircommander-in-chief we found the trunk of a tree which the enemy wereconverting into a cannon. It didn't require cannon to bring the walls ofMastuj down, --a good strong kick would have been quite sufficient. Shortly after we had reached Chitral, Moberly reported that part of thewall had fallen on a sleeping sepoy, who was luckily saved by some beamscatching and protecting him from being crushed by the débris. There wasno apparent cause for the collapse, but the man is supposed to havesneezed. 

The next day a fatigue party was sent out to Chokalwat to destroy theenemy's sangars, and bury any dead bodies that might be lying about. This party would also act as a covering party to Peterson, who wasexpected to arrive that day. With Peterson came Bethune and Luard, allvery sick at having missed a fight. This detachment brought the strengthof the Pioneers up to four hundred rifles. 

The Hunza and fifty Punyal Levies were sent to reconnoitre towards NisaGol that day, and fifty more Punyals up the Yarkhun valley to forage. The rest of the day was spent in writing reports, making out officialreturns, and other necessary nuisances. 

Colonel Kelly and I were writing in a tent pitched on the roof, and Ihad pretty well got through my work by 5 P. M. ; and then Colonel Kellyhad out the maps and returns of supplies, etc. , and, Borradaile beingcalled, there was a small council of war. 

As I have before said, Colonel Kelly had practically settled at Pingalto advance by Killa Drasan, but the question was, when should we be in aposition to do so? Here came in that everlasting transport and supplyquestion. We could now, of course, cut down our baggage by leavingbehind warm clothes and poshteens, as the weather would be gettinghotter every day as we descended to lower latitudes; but this only meantthat the men would have to carry less themselves, and, try as we would, it seemed as if we could only raise enough transport for seven days'supplies, five on coolies and two days in the men's haversacks. It wasseven days' march to Chitral by the direct route, and though ourintelligence pointed to the fact that supplies in the Chitral fort wereprobably plentiful, it was yet only summer. Then, again, we might, or wemight not, get supplies on the road. We worried the question up and downand inside out, but we couldn't increase the transport by one coolie. Borradaile was for going on. I said, "The first man in Chitral gets aC. B. "

Just then Raja Akbar Khan and Humayun came back, so we went out to heartheir report. Old Akbar smiled a fat smile all over his face, andHumayun twirled his long moustache, --he has a fine black beard andmoustache and a deep bass voice. Akbar Khan curls his beard like anAssyrian king, and smiles good-naturedly at everything. 

They reported that they had seen the enemy building sangars, and thatthere were many men, also cavalry. Their report was clear enough, andfrom their description I could pretty well place the position of thedifferent sangars, as I had been over the ground with Harley on myprevious visit to Chitral. To make matters certain, I suggested that Ishould reconnoitre the position next day. This was agreed to, and it wasalso determined to attack the enemy on the 13th April, as it was no usegiving them time to entrench themselves more than we could help. 

I started off about 9 A. M. On the morning of the 12th April, mounted ona transport pony. I had about fifty Hunza and Punyal Levies, underHumayun and Akbar Khan, with me; these two also had ponies, Akbar Khanhaving managed to get two over the pass with great difficulty. It was alovely morning, and we were all very cheerful except Gammer Sing, whowanted to come along with me; but as he had to get my kit sorted and putright for the next day's march, I left him behind, but took his rifleand ammunition. 

We dropped over the bluff and forded the Laspur stream, which washardly over the men's knees, and then kept along the bed of the river, with a few scouts well up the hills on our left, the Mastuj or Yarkhunriver protecting our right. After about two miles we came to a smallhomestead and Humayun told me there was a wounded man inside; so in Iwent, and found the poor beggar with his right leg smashed by a bulletjust above the knee. There were a lot of women and children and two menin the house, his brothers, so I gave them a note to Luard, and toldthem to carry the man into Mastuj, which they did. Luard set his leg, and by this time he is no doubt well and happy. 

Shortly after that, we climbed up from the bed of the river on to anarrow ledge which ran along the foot of the hills about two hundredfeet above the river. Here we left our horses, and went scrambling alongamong the fallen débris for about half a mile, when we came to the footof a stone slope, and I noticed our advanced guard had halted on thetop, and on asking the reason, Humayun said that the enemy wereoccupying the next spurs. So up we went, and found the fact true enough, but the next spur was some thousand yards away; so on we went acrossthat slope, and on to the next, eventually reaching a very nice littleplace some eight hundred yards from the spur occupied by the enemy. 

From here I could see pretty well the whole of the position occupied bythe enemy, except the end of the Nisa Gol nullah where it debouches onto the river. I tried going up the hill, but that only made mattersworse, so I determined to sketch what I could see from here, and thentry across the river. In order not to be interrupted, I sent five menwell up the hill on to a spur, from whence they could see any man whotried to sneak up for a shot, and spread out the rest in skirmishingorder to my front. Humayun and Akbar got behind a rock and went tosleep, and I got out my telescope and set to work. 

The enemy seemed rather interested in our proceedings--we could seetheir heads bobbing up and down behind the sangars; but after we hadsettled down, they gradually took courage, and, coming outside, sat downto watch us. This was very nice of them, for very soon I had a completelist of the garrison of each sangar, and from where I was could see thesort of gun they were armed with, --a few rifles among the lower sangars, and nearly all matchlocks among the higher and more inaccessible ones. It was a calm, peaceful scene: the enemy sitting outside their sangarssunning themselves; and my men lying down, a few watching, the restsleeping, one or two enjoying a friendly pipe. 

Shortly after, we saw two gallant young sparks come riding along theplain on the opposite side of the river, evidently having been sent bythe general to report on our proceedings. They pulled up opposite us andwatched us for a short time, and then one slipped off his horse, whichwas led by the other behind a big boulder. Thinking they would merelywatch us, I shouted to my men to keep an eye on them, and went onsketching. Presently there was a bang, and ping came a bullet over ourheads. The beggar was potting at us at about a thousand yards, unpardonable waste of ammunition! I put a rock between us, and went onsketching, everyone else did ditto, and presently our friend shut up, but after a time, finding things slow, I suppose, he began again. Thisseemed to annoy Humayun, who asked for the loan of my rifle, and he andAkbar went dodging down the hill. They disappeared behind a dip in theground, and presently I saw them come out lower down among some bushes, and gradually they worked their way down to the edge of the river abouteight hundred yards from our friend, who was calmly sitting in the open, having occasional pot shots at us, while his friend had come out and wasevidently criticising the performance. 

Presently there was a bang from our side of the river, and a spurt ofdust on the opposite maidan where the bullet struck. Humayun hadover-judged the distance. By the time he was ready for another shot, our two friends were legging it across the plain as fast as their poniescould gallop. He got in a couple of shots more, but they did not hurtanybody. 

As soon as Humayun commenced firing, the sangars in our front beganhumming like a beehive and presently shot after shot came dropping amongus; the enemy evidently had plenty of ammunition, and for some minutesthings were quite lively; but, finding we made no response, they calmeddown gradually, and peace once more reigned supreme. 

I chaffed old Humayun, when he came back, on his shooting powers, and hegrinned in response. 

I now noticed rather a commotion among the garrison of the sangarsacross the Nisa Gol nullah; the men began turning out, and one or tworan towards the higher sangars, evidently passing on some news. Presently I saw a crowd of men, mostly mounted, with others on footcarrying flags. Then came a fat man in white, with a standard-bearer allto himself. All the garrisons of the sangars turned out, and I countedthem--there were over a hundred in each. 

The commander-in-chief rode up the whole length of the nullah, and thenwalked up the spur on which are shown sangars Nos. 16 and 17 in thesketch. Here he sat down, and, I have no doubt, calculated the odds onhis winning when the action came off. After a time he came down thehill, and the procession moved down along the nullah and out of sight. 

When I had finished my sketch, I shut up my telescope and said--

"Now we'll go across the river. "

"Why do you want to cross the river?" said Humayun. 

"I want to see the end of the nullah, " said I. 

"Their cavalry will get you, " said he. 

"What cavalry?" said I. 

"You've just seen two of them, " said he. 

"Get out!" said I; "you're pulling my leg. "

"Don't go, " said he. 

"I'm going, " said I. 

"Where the Sahib goes, I follow, " said he. 

"Come on, Ruth, " said I. "'Whither thou goest, I will go!' I've heardthat remark before. "

These hillmen have an extraordinarily exaggerated idea of cavalry. Anyyoung buck on a long-tailed screw is a Chevalier Bayard to them. Why, you've only to move ten yards to your right or left in any part of thecountry, and no cavalry could reach you, while you could sit and chuckstones at them. 

Down we dropped again into the river bed, leaving a few men to signalany movement of the enemy while we were crossing. We had our poniesbrought up and rode across the stream, the men fording, then wescrambled up the high slope of the opposite bank and shouted for theremainder to follow. 

A short distance up the hill, and I could see the end of the nullah, with a large sangar covering the road. This was what I wished to know, so, after a careful look, having seen all I wanted, we started homewardsby the opposite bank to that by which we had come, crossing the riveragain by a bridge which Oldham had been employed the day before inmending, and reached Mastuj by 1 P. M. 

I gave in my report to Colonel Kelly, and then got out orders for thenext day's march. 

I also suggested that some light scaling ladders should be made, as Iexpected we should find them very useful in crossing the Nisa Gol. Accordingly, Oldham set his Sappers to work, and by evening had tenlight scaling ladders ready, each about ten feet long, and light enoughto be carried by one man. 

A certain amount of supplies and some coolies had been collected. Theguns had been mounted on ponies, and could now march along faster thanwhen carried by coolies. 

Everything was ready for an early advance the next morning, so as alittle diversion we were photographed by Moberly. Moberly was coming outthe next day in command of a company of Kashmir troops; after theexpected fight, he would return to Mastuj to resume command, and theKashmir troops would be put under my charge. 

The orders for next day were to march at 7 A. M. , baggage to remain inMastuj till sent for, and then to come out under escort of part of thegarrison, who would escort back any wounded we might have, Luard comingout in charge of the field hospital and returning with the wounded toform a base hospital at Mastuj. 

I managed to get a bottle of whiskey out of Moberly. It belonged, Ibelieve, to Fowler, but as he was either a prisoner or dead, he wouldn'trequire the whiskey. I also replenished my store of chocolate. 

CHAPTER VII

THE FIGHT AT NISA GOL

Next morning, 13th April, we were all having a good square breakfast by6 A. M. , and punctually at seven o'clock the column moved off, headed bythe Levies. 

Our force consisted of--

400 Pioneers, 100 Kashmir Infantry, 40 Kashmir Sappers, 2 Mountain guns, 100 Hunza and Punyal Levies;

rather less than a single battalion, and not much with which to forceour way through seventy miles of bad country, but still we weredetermined to get to Chitral before the Peshawur force. 

It was a perfect morning, nice bright sunshine, and a jolly freshfeeling in the air, sort of day that makes you want to take a gun and goshooting; in fact, just the very day for a fight. 

The Levies were across Oldham's bridge in no time, but the Pioneers hadto cross it slowly, as it was very jumpy, and only four men could beallowed on it at a time. The guns were sent up to a ford some threehundred yards up the stream. After crossing the main stream there wasstill a creek to be forded, but this was not much above the men's knees. This gave the Levies time to get ahead and send some scouts up the hillsto the right, in order to give timely warning if the enemy should try onthe rolling stone dodge, but the hills just here did not lend themselvesvery readily to this mode of warfare. When our little army got acrossthe river, the advance guard was halted and the column formed up, andthen on we went. Peterson was in command of the advance guard, withorders to halt when he reached the edge of the plain to allow the columnto close up for the attack. On the order to advance he was to hug thehill on his right. 

Just before the maidan the road drops down on to the river bed, and thenruns up on to the maidan itself, which gradually slopes up to thecentre, where it is divided by a deep nullah that I think they call inAmerica a cańon. The sides of this nullah are in most placesperpendicular, varying from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feetin depth, with a small stream running along the bottom, the amount ofwater depending on the melting of the snow in the hills above. There aretwo places to cross it, one the regular road to Chitral, which zig-zagsdown the nullah near the mouth, and the other a goat track abouthalf-way between the road and the hills. Both of these had sangarscovering their approach on the enemy's side of the nullah, and anyattempt to rush them would have led to great loss of life. 

To the casual observer the plain looks perfectly flat, but as a matterof fact the slope is rather more pronounced at the foot than at the topnear the hills, with the result that from the sangar covering the mainroad, the upper end of the plain is partially hidden from fire. 

The plain also is really a succession of what may be described as wavesrunning parallel with the nullah, which afford very excellent shelter toany attacking force. In fact, the only obstacle is the nullah; but, as you may see from the photos, this obstacle is no small one, and couldonly be crossed by two paths as far as we knew. Our object was to findanother path, and to get to close quarters with the enemy. 

[Illustration: Looking up the Nisa Gol Nullah. ]

So much for the ground: now for the fight. Peterson and the Levies goton to the maidan and extended, while the main body formed up for attack. Then the order to advance was given, and off we went. 

Peterson and the Levies were in the firing line and extended, the Levieson the right. 

As the remaining companies reached the level plain, they first formedinto line and went forward in the regular everyday style. The ground wasvery nice for parade movements, a gentle, grassy slope with plenty ofroom. The Levies, however, were not keeping close enough to thehillside, and were gradually pushing Peterson's company off to the left, where they would have been exposed to the fire of the big sangar plusthe flanking fire from the sangars up the spur on the left bank of theriver. 

Colonel Kelly accordingly sent me off to change their direction more tothe right, and to close the Levies until they were wanted. I foundHumayun's pony taking shelter under a rock, so, mounting it, I gallopedafter Peterson, gave him the order, and then closed the Levies on theirright. This made a gap into which we of the supporting companies pushed, so now we had two companies in the firing line, two in support, and theKashmir Company in reserve. In this formation we pushed on till we cameunder fire of the sangars, and had reached the valley running up intothe hills, about four hundred yards from the nullah, thus again givingroom for the Levies to form line on the right of the Pioneers. 

The fun now began as the enemy started plugging away at us from thesangars on the spur, but not much at present from the lower ones, asonly the flank of Peterson's company could be seen. 

Stewart had got his guns into action and was shelling sangar No. 16. After a time Peterson engaged the sangars on the maidan, and they gavehim a pretty warm time of it. 

The Levies opened fire at three hundred yards, rather close range tobegin an action, and it was very amusing watching them; theirinstruction in volley-firing had only just been begun, but they hadentire faith in its efficiency. 

The section commanders used to give the word to load in their ownlanguage, but the order to fire was "fira vollee, " and they weresupposed to fire on the word "vollee. " If any man fired before theorder, --and they frequently did, --the section commander used to rush atthe culprit and slap him severely on the nearest part of him. As theLevies were lying down, the slaps were--on the usual place. 

After a time the fire from the sangar slackened, and as things seemed tobe going all right, I stopped the Levies firing, and, taking two ofthem, went forward up to the edge of the nullah to see if there was anysign of a road. We followed the edge upwards for some two hundred yards, and then I told the two levies to go on until they found a place, andthen went back. 

The fire from the sangar had recommenced, as Stewart's attention hadbeen turned towards others, so Colonel Kelly sent orders to Stewart tosend in one or two more shells, which had the desired effect. 

I now sent Gammer Sing to get a fresh supply of ammunition for theLevies, which he brought, and I then followed Colonel Kelly down theline to the Pioneers. In the meantime the guns had changed theirposition, and were engaged with the lower sangars, as was also Peterson, who, I think, was under the hottest fire the whole time, as he had theattention of two big sangars entirely paid to him. The guns also got hita bit, and among others two of the drivers were killed; they were theowners of the gun ponies, and remained with the ponies under a guard offour Kashmir sepoys, who had commands to shoot any man trying to bolt. They and their ponies of course made a large target, but the ponies alsoacted as a protection. One more of the Pioneer companies now came intothe firing line, and these three companies devoted their entireattention to one sangar, whose fire was now very intermittent. 

I now got Colonel Kelly's leave to go and look for a path, and hailedOldham to come and help me work forward therefore in front of the firingline, to do which we had to ask Borradaile to stop one company firing, which he very kindly did. We struck the nullah close opposite theempty sangar No. 15, and from there followed the edge till we were wellwithin sight of the sangars in the middle of the maidan, without havingfound a place where we could get down, but we noticed a track which ledup the opposite bank. We therefore turned back and retraced our stepstill we came to a spot which we had examined before, but had thoughtimpossible. Where we stood the drop was sheer for some seventy feet, butthen there came a ledge, from which we thought we could scramble down onto the bed of the stream and up the opposite side, where we had noticedthe track. We therefore hurried back; Oldham for his Sappers, and I toreport to Colonel Kelly. I likewise asked for the reserve company ofKashmir troops to cross over as soon as a path could be made under coverof the fire of the already extended companies of the Pioneers. ColonelKelly assented, and I sent off a note to Moberly to bring up hiscompany. When I got back to the nullah, I found the Pioneers extendedalong the edge, and Oldham's Sappers already at work. 

[Illustration: Reconnaissance Sketch of the position at Nisa Gol. ]

The Levies in the meantime had heard of a path higher up in the hills, and were sent off to cross as best they could. Having nothing more todo, I sat down where Oldham's men were at work, and watched theproceedings. The men in No. 16 sangar had evidently had enough of it, their sangar having been pretty well knocked about their ears, and whenany of the survivors tried a shot, it called down a volley on him. Presently they began to bolt, and then the laugh was on our side. 

That sangar was a death-trap to its garrison--their only line of escapewas across some open, shaley slopes within four hundred yards of ourfiring line, and the Levies were now working along the hill, and wouldcatch them in the sangar if they didn't clear out. The result was likerabbit shooting You'd see a man jump from the sangar and bolt across theshale slope, slipping and scrambling as he went; then there would be avolley, and you'd see the dust fly all round him--perhaps he'd drop, perhaps he wouldn't; then there would be another volley, and you'd seehim chuck forward amid a laugh from the sepoys, and he'd roll over andover till he'd fetch up against a rock and lie still. Sometimes two orthree would bolt at once; one or two would drop at each volley, and gorolling, limp and shapeless down the slope, until they were all down, and there would be a wait for the next lot. An old sepoy lying near medeclared as each man dropped that it was his particular rifle whose aimhad been so accurate, until Borradaile called him sharply to order, andtold him to attend to business. Presently a crowd of men appeared higherup on the same spur, and someone called out that they were Levies. Justthen one of them dropped on his knee and fired in our direction, therewas a volley back, and the men disappeared again. 

Oldham had now managed, with ropes and the scaling ladders, to get downon to the ledge below, so calling to Moberly to bring along his company, I dived down, followed by Gammer Sing and then Moberly, and one or twomen of the Sappers followed him, and we, thinking the whole company wascoming, went scrambling down to the bottom. We slid down the ropes on tothe ladders, and from them on to the ledge, followed it a bit along thecliff, and then down a shale and débris slope to the stream, across thatand up the other side. Scrambling on all fours up the opposite side, Iheard Oldham, who was ahead of me, shout back that the company wasn'tfollowing. I yelled, "Run up a sangar, and we can hold on till theycome, " and finished my scramble up to the top. 

Then we took a look round to see how things stood. 

Devil a sign of the company coming down the rope was there, and thePioneers seemed to have disappeared too. 

Then we numbered our party--three British officers, my orderly, andeleven Sappers, the latter armed with Snider carbines only; my orderlywas the only one with a bayonet. There was a low ridge in front of ushiding the enemy's sangars, so we lined this with the Sappers, till wecould see what the game was. We now saw the Pioneers moving down thenullah towards the river, while at the same time the Levies showed onthe ridge and took possession of the sangar. We were all right, I saw, so I gave the order to advance--keeping along the edge of the nullah soas to get at the sangars. Of course just my luck that as we started toadvance, the buckle of my chuplie broke; there was no time to mend it, so I shoved it into my haversack, and went along with one bare foot;luckily the ground was not very stony. 

As soon as we topped the swell of the ground, we saw the enemy boltingin twos and threes from the nearest sangar, now about two hundred yardsoff, and presently there came a rush right across our front. We openedfire, trying volleys at first, but the Sappers were useless at that, never having had any training, so independent firing was ordered. Duringthe halt Moberly had a narrow shave, a bullet passing between his lefthand and thigh, as he was standing superintending the firing. His handwas almost touching his thigh, and the bullet raised the skin of thepalm just below the little finger. 

The nearest sangar was now pretty well empty, and the Pioneers from theother side of the nullah were firing obliquely across our front, rathertoo close to be pleasant; so we altered our advance half right, so as tocut into the line of retreat of the enemy, and made for a jumble ofstones out in the open; by the time we reached it, there was a stream ofmen flying right across our front, horse and foot, at about five hundredyards, so again we opened fire. Moberly and I both took carbines fromthe men, as they were firing wildly; the sepoy whose carbine I tookinvariably managed to jam the cartridge, partly his fault, and partlythe fault of the worn state of the extractor. Gammer Sing was pluggingin bullets quietly on my right, and gave me the distance as five hundredyards. I knew he was pretty correct, as I watched his bullets pitch. Isang out the distance, and we got merrily to work. Oh, if I had only hada company of my regiment, I think even Stewart would have beensatisfied. Precious soon the rush had passed us, and we had to beginputting up our sights, and of course then the cream of the business wasover. 

About this time Shah Mirza came along, and, seeing me with only onechuplie, offered me his, which I accepted, as it was a matter ofindifference to him whether he went barefooted or not. I sent him off tobring up the Levies, who were looting the arms and securing theprisoners from the sangars. 

Cobbe now appeared with some few Pioneers, and shortly after, a wholecompany, but the enemy were now quite out of sight; however, a companywas sent in pursuit. Colonel Kelly came up, and we congratulated him, and there was a general demand for cigarettes, Moberly, I believe, beingthe happy possessor of some. As we were grouped round Colonel Kelly, "whit" came a bullet over us, some idiot up the hill leaving his P. P. C. Card, I presume. 

One of the first questions I asked was, what had become of the KashmirCompany, and then first heard the following curious incident. 

It appears that after the first few of us had gone down the cliff, andthe rest were preparing to follow, a bullet struck some cakes ofgun-cotton lying on the ground by the head of the path, where they hadbeen placed while the Sappers were at work. The bullet, striking thesecakes, ignited them, and they blazed up, and Borradaile, fearing anexplosion, ordered a retirement of those troops nearest it to cover somethirty yards in rear, where they were protected by a wave of the ground. The enemy, seeing our men bolting, as they thought, rushed out of theirsangars, but were promptly fired into by the Pioneers. Just then theLevies on the ridge and our small party showed across the nullah, threatening their line of retreat; this was apparently more than theyhad bargained for, so they began to bolt, as I have said. Then thePioneers moved down the nullah and crossed by the goat track. 

Peterson's company had found a box full of Snider ammunition in one ofthe sangars, so the Kashmir Company was sent back to look for any more, and also to demolish the sangars. I took the opportunity to have a lookat them too. I was surprised at the magnificent way in which they werebuilt, partly sunk into the ground, and made of huge boulders thatrequired many men to move, and with head cover constructed of logs inthe most approved fashion, evidently made by men who had been properlyinstructed. As I neared the largest sangar, I saw a native clothed in ared dressing-gown, sitting on the ground with a long native jezail. Rather surprised at seeing one of the enemy thus armed, I went up tohim, and as I did so, he picked up his gun. I had my revolver on him ina second, and told him to drop the gun, which he did. I then asked himwho he was, and found he was our long-lost child--I mean levy--who hadbeen captured at Laspur. The enemy had not treated him badly, but hadtaken his carbine and his choga, hence the dressing-gown; in return hehad sneaked a gun when the enemy were flying. I set the Kashmir troopsto work, and then went back, meeting Humayun and his captives on theway. 

"Humayun, " I said, "your levy is over there. "

"Is he alive?" said Humayun, looking in a most bloodthirsty way at hisprisoners. 

I assured him he was. Thereupon Humayun gave a jump, caught hold of bothmy hands, and kissed them violently. I was afraid he was going to kissmy ruby lips, but he didn't. He and Akbar Khan then went scuttlingacross country to the sangar, followed by a crowd of his men, whoopingand yelling with joy. 

The guns were now coming across the nullah, and the column was beingformed up with the intention of crossing the river to Sanoghar, where itwas proposed to camp for the night. Part of the Levies and a company ofthe Pioneers were sent ahead to clear the village of any evilly disposedpersons; arrangements were made for bringing up the sick and wounded;and a signal message was flashed back to Mastuj for the baggage to comeout. 

The fight was over by 12. 30 P. M. , so we had only been about two hoursfrom start to finish. Our losses were six killed and sixteen wounded, two of whom died next day. Three of the battery ponies were also killed. 

The path down to the river was so steep and the rickety bridge over itso unsafe that it was determined to camp on the side of the river onwhich we were, especially as we should have to recross the next day. 

A camping ground was soon found, pickets thrown out, and the woundedbrought in. 

A deputation from Sanoghar village was now seen coming across from theopposite bank. Most of the deputation on arrival seemed half naked; wethought this was a sign of humility on their part, but I heardafterwards that the Levies had come across them, and taken their chogasin exchange for that of their man in the red dressing-gown. 

This deputation gave the usual yarn about being compelled to fightagainst us, and how glad they were that we had won. 

We made our usual reply, that they could and must show their gladnessby providing coolies and supplies, all of which would be paid for. Wealso made them send over charpoys (beds) for the wounded. 

We had taken some twelve prisoners, who came in useful as transport; infact, until we got to Chitral every man we caught was turned into abeast of burden and given a load; and if he was an Adamzada, ornobleman, he was given the heaviest load that we could find for him, oftentimes much to the delight of the poorer coolies, as an Adamzada isexempt from coolie labour in ordinary times. 

The coolies used to bolt at every opportunity, which was only natural, and there was not much difficulty in doing so. As often as not, we gotinto camp after dark, when the coolie simply put down his load andwalked off; but as our supplies diminished, we naturally required fewercoolies--at any rate, we managed to get all our baggage into Chitral. 

Moberly now handed over the company of Kashmir troops to my tendercharge and departed back to Mastuj, so now I had the command of theLevies and one company added to my numerous other duties, so generallyI was pretty well on the hop. 

By dark the baggage had come in, the dead either buried or burntaccording to their religion, and the wounded attended to and made ascomfortable as we could make them under the circumstances. 

Oldham and some fifty Levies who had been reconnoitring down the leftbank of the river had returned, and by nine we got some dinner. 

Just as we were turning in, the picket on the road over the nullah firstlet drive a volley, and Oldham, who was on duty, took some men anddoubled out to see what was the matter. On his return, he reported thepicket had heard someone moving in the nullah, and as the sentry'schallenge had not been answered, they had let drive at it. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE MARCH RESUMED THROUGH KILLA DRASAN

We were up by daylight the next morning, had breakfast, and were readyto march by 7 A. M. The wounded were sent back under Luard and the escortwho had brought out the baggage, and we moved off in the oppositedirection. Our order of march was always the same, each company takingit in turn to act as advance or rear guard, and every British officer, with the exception of Colonel Kelly and Borradaile, taking his turn onduty. 

When my company of Kashmir troops was on rear or advance guard, I wentwith it; at other times I went with the Levies or Colonel Kelly, whichever seemed most useful. 

Our march for this day led for some miles along a flat, grassy plain, acontinuation of the Nisa Gol Maidan, then up and over a fairly highspur, and gradually down to the river bed opposite the village of Awi orAvi. Here we had a halt for the men to drink, as it was pretty thirstywork marching in these hot valleys. We passed a village or two on theopposite bank, but our side of the river was a desert of rocks andstones. There was a small bridge at Awi, so Cobbe, with fifty men andShah Mirza as interpreter, was sent across to collect supplies fromBuni, the village in which Jones had remained for a week after theKoragh affair. The main body continued along the right bank parallelwith Cobbe's party. 

During our halt two men had come in, bringing two ponies, which weremuch appreciated by Colonel Kelly and Borradaile. 

When we got opposite Buni, there was a halt at the head of the column, and Colonel Kelly sent me on to find out the reason. 

I forgot to mention that when we were encamped at Sanoghar, aman--Chitrali--had come in, having escaped from the enemy. His brotherswere followers of Suji-ul-mulk, the little boy whom Surgeon-MajorRobertson, as he then was, had made Mehter, and who was besieged inChitral with our troops. The opposition party, represented by MahomedIssar, Sher Afzul's foster-brother, had therefore, on capturing thisman, put him in quod at Killa Drasan. He had managed to escape the dayof the fight, and joined us that evening, and we promptly made use ofhim as a guide. 

This guide now informed us that the road ahead was destroyed, and wouldtake two days to repair, but, by turning up a spur on the right, wecould get past the broken part of the road. 

In consequence of this there was a halt while the Levies ascended thespur and reconnoitred the top, and very soon we saw them signalling backthat all was clear. Sending back the news to Colonel Kelly, I remainedwith the Levies, who now turned sharp to the right and began the ascent. Humayun offered me a pony, which I thankfully accepted, and noticed thatthere were now two or three ponies where before there had been none. Ididn't say anything at the time, but shortly after there appeared anorder to say all captured ponies were to be given up to theCommissariat after the battery had had first pick. It was an awful pullup that spur. I suppose we went up at least two thousand feet. I was allright, as I had a pony, but it must have been agony for the ladencoolies. Once up, the going was easy enough; open, grassy downs, gradually sloping down from where we stood to the junction of theYarkhun and Turikho valleys, though the actual sides of the tablelanddropped steeply down to the rivers. By our present divergence we hadturned the flank of any position the enemy could take up between Mastujand Killa Drasan, and had also got the higher ground, our road from hereonwards being down hill. 

I went ahead now with the Levies, as I wanted to find out if the fortwas held at Drasan. 

We got to the edge of the downs by 2 P. M. , looking straight down on thefort, which was the other side of the river, but from our position wecould see right down into the interior. 

The place was evidently deserted, for as we were watching, I saw a mango up and try the door, but, finding it closed, he went away again. Thevillages all round seemed deserted, and I could only see two men drivingsome cattle high up in the hills. 

Before I had finished my sketch, the advance guard came up, and, shortlyafter, Colonel Kelly. There was a short halt to let the tail of thecolumn close up, and then we commenced the descent. We were down on theriver bank in twenty minutes, and the Levies waded across, I on my pony. We found the remains of a bridge which had evidently only just beendestroyed, and the material, I fancy, thrown into the river. The Levieswere soon up to the fort, and we had the main gate down in a jiffy byusing a tree as a battering-ram, and then the Levies went through theplace like professional burglars. Before I had hardly got into thecourtyard they had found the grain store, and were looting it. I putGammer Sing on sentry duty over the entrance, and, Borradaile coming up, we inspected it, and found enough grain to last us some months. We nowset the Levies to work to get beams for repairing the bridge; at firstwe could not find any long enough, until the Levies noticed the roofpoles of the verandah. We had them out and ran them down to the riverbank, opposite to where the Pioneers had drawn up on the farther bank. 

It took some time to build the bridge, and it was pretty rickety whendone, but it saved the men having to ford. Only one man fell into theriver, but he was pulled out all right. The baggage did not arrive atthe bridge till dark, and most of the coolies waded across, as there wasnot time for them to cross in single file on the bridge. The batteryalso forded, but the donkeys had to be unladen and the loads carriedacross by hand, and the donkeys were then driven in and made to swim. Itwas night before the rearguard began to cross, Cobbe, who was incommand, not getting in till close on nine o'clock. A couple of shotswere fired after dark, and there seemed no satisfactory explanation asto why they were fired, but nobody was hit. The coolies were all putinto the courtyard of the fort and a guard on the gate, and they soonhad fires going, round which they huddled. 

As it was impossible to carry away all the grain we had found, I gotpermission to issue a ration to all the coolies, who had most of themno supplies of any description, and, telling the guard who had replacedGammer Sing to let the coolies in in single file, I then sent someLevies to drive them up like sheep. The news soon spread that food wasgoing cheap, and they didn't require much driving. The flour was in abin about six feet square, by four feet high, and only a small roundhole at the top. We soon enlarged that so that a man could get in. Ifurnished him with a wooden shovel evidently meant for the job, and gavethe order for the men to file in. As each man came in he received ashovelful, into his skirt tail, and then had to march round a box andout of the door. It took some two hours to finish the job, and even thenthe flour was not expended, while the grain, of which there was some inmore bins, had not been touched. I left the guard over the door, and gotback in time to get orders out for the next day's march, by which timeCobbe and the rearguard had come in, dinner was ready, and it had begunto rain. 

We were camped in front of the fort, the men in a field, ourselvesalongside on a praying place overlooking the river. The Levies were onthe right, the ammunition and stores piled by the quarter-guard, thecoolies locked up in the fort, and the pickets all right, so we turnedin. Towards morning the rain began to fall heavily, so I pulled mybedding under the fort gateway, where I found Stewart and Oldham hadalready got the best places; however, I found a spot between two levies, and finished the night comfortably enough. We had not done a bad day'swork on the whole. Marched from seven in the morning till six at night, covering some twenty miles of hilly country, made a bridge, and occupiedone of the chief forts of the country. Cobbe, with the rearguard, hadhad the poorest time, but he had had the satisfaction of raiding intoBuni. 

We woke up next morning to find a dull grey sky and the rain pouringdown, everything damp and miserable, and the cook having a fight withthe wood to make it burn. Our proposed march for the day being only ashort one, we did not start till eight A. M. As we were moving off, aKashmir sepoy turned up who had been one of Edwardes' party, and whoselife had been saved by a friendly villager who gave him some Chitraliclothes. I told him to fall in with the company, and he came down withus to Chitral. The remainder of the flour was distributed among thesepoys, and we took as much grain as we could find carriage for, but itwas very little. 

A small convoy of Punyal Levies joined us that day; they had beenforaging up the Yarkhun valley, and had been sent after us by Moberly. Our road led along the valley through cornfields and orchards, which, inspite of the rain, looked very pretty and green. The trees were just intheir first foliage and the corn about a foot high, while all the peachand apricot trees were covered with bloom. We did not see a soul on ourmarch, but the officer in charge of the rear-guard reported that assoon as we left Killa Drasan, the villagers came hurrying down the hillin crowds. 

At one place we had a short halt on account of a battery pony, which wasamusing itself by rolling down a slope with a gun on its back; it wasbrought back nothing the worse for its escapade, and we resumed ourmarch. 

Before getting into camp, our road led up from the lower valley on tosome gentle, undulating spurs of the main range of hills; here there wasa cluster of villages, and every available spot was cultivated. 

On one of these spurs we camped, where three small villages or clustersof houses formed a triangle, the centre of which was a cornfield. Thisformed an excellent halting-place, as the men were billeted in thehouses, each giving the other mutual protection. We formed our mess inpart of the rooms of the headman's house, one Russool of Khusht; he wasfoster-father to the late Nizam-ul-mulk, but had acknowledged theopposition and joined Sher Afzul. (In the photograph he is sitting halfhidden behind the Mehter's left arm, with his head rather raised. )

As we had been great friends during my first visit to Chitral, --(he wasawfully fond of whisky), --I've no doubt he was pleased to hear I hadbeen his guest in his own house, but I never had an opportunity tothank him, as he left Chitral hurriedly just before our arrival. Thehouse is the best I have seen in Chitral, a fine stone-paved courtyard, surrounded on three sides with rooms and a verandah, a fine old chinartree near the gateway on the fourth side. The principal rooms are highand larger than usual, but of the usual pattern. I think we got twocompanies of the Pioneers and ourselves into this house alone. 

By three o'clock we had settled down, and were getting dry. The Levieswere sent out foraging, and brought in several ponies. As our storesdecreased, and more ponies were brought in, we had spare ponies forriding, and we were nearly all mounted by the time we reached Chitral. However, we had not been there ten days before the owners began turningup, and we were ordered to give them back, much to our disgust. It wasquite a treat to be in camp and settled before dark, and I've no doubtthe coolies were as thankful as we were. The only drawback to our foodwas the flour of which the chupatties were made; it was coarse to adegree, and seemed to consist chiefly of minute speckly pieces of husk, which used to tickle our throats up in the most unpleasant manner, andhad a nasty habit of choking the swallower, in addition to being highlyindigestible. We used at last to sift the flour through linen, and theresiduum was a surprise and revelation. 

We had intended to march the next morning by 7 A. M. , with the intentionof getting to a village called Parpish, but as it was still pelting withrain, the march was deferred, to give the weather a chance of clearingup, which it very kindly did about 10 A. M. , when we started. The KashmirCompany was on advance guard that day, so I went with them, two leviesleading, as usual, about a quarter of a mile ahead. We struck up countryfor about two miles, till we got to a kotal, or saddle, from whence wehad a splendid view of the surrounding country. During a halt, ColonelKelly came up, and I was able to point out to him the differentplaces--Koragh Defile, where Ross's party had been cut up, Reshun, whereEdwardes and Fowler had held out for a week, and Barnas, a village wereached the next day. All these places were on the opposite bank of theriver and several thousand feet below us. We had, by taking our presentroute, avoided a very difficult and dangerous part of the country, andno doubt much disgusted the inhabitants, who, on the old route, wouldhave had all things their own way. 

By two o'clock we had reached the village of Gurka, where we were met bya deputation, from whom we demanded certain supplies to be brought toour camp on pain of severe punishment if not complied with, and by 4P. M. We got to the hamlet of Lun, and as there was a good campingground, good water and firewood, Colonel Kelly decided to halt there. Here also supplies were demanded, the amount depending a good deal onthe number of houses and the knowledge of the locality possessed byHumayun. The Lunites paid up smartly enough, as we were too closeneighbours to allow of any hesitation; but the Gurka contribution hadonly partly come in the next morning, so that a party of the Levies wassent back, and the Gurka villagers had the trouble of bringing the loadsalong to Barnas, instead of only two miles into Lun, while the headmanwas made to carry a box of ammunition all the way to Chitral. 

Before evening the sun came out, and it was very jolly in camp. We hadsome nice short turf to lie on, and the night was not too cold forcomfort. There were good places for the pickets, and the camp wascompact and handy. 

CHAPTER IX

NEARING CHITRAL

The next morning, April 17th, we started sharp at 7 A. M. Two prisonershad been brought in the night before, one of whom had a Snider andtwenty rounds of ammunition, the other a matchlock. They confessed thatthey had fought us at Nisa Gol, and stated they were now going home. Wethought differently, and requested them to carry boxes of ammunition;one of them, the owner of the Snider, objected, on the ground that hewas a mullah, but the objection was overruled as frivolous, and heaccompanied us to Chitral. We always gave the ammunition to doubtfulcharacters, as they were then under the direct supervision of the guard, and the loads were also more awkward and heavier than skins of flour. 

We dropped down the hills now to the river bank. I was on rearguard, anuisance at the best of times, as any check at the head of the columnacts on the rearguard in increasing ratio to the length of the column, so a good deal of time is spent in wondering why the dickens they don'tget on in front. That was a particularly bad day for halts: the firstone was caused by the column having to cross the Perpish Gol, a verysimilar place to the Nisa Gol, but undefended. About two miles fartheron, the road ran across the face of a cliff, and had been destroyed; ittook some three hours to repair it, and then the baggage could only getalong slowly. 

We had some five unladen donkeys that were kept at the end of thebaggage column in case of need, and, one of them trying to push pastanother, they both rolled over the cliff and went down about a hundredfeet on to the road below, which here made a zigzag. The first donkeywho came down landed on his head and broke his silly neck; but thesecond donkey had better luck, and landed on the first donkey in asitting position. He got up, sniffed contemptuously at his late friend, and resumed his journey. We rolled the remains of the elect over thecliff into the river, and also resumed our course. 

During this march and following ones we frequently saw the bodies of menfloating down the river or stranded in shoals. They were probably theSikhs killed with Ross, or perhaps some of Edwardes' party. By 4. 30 P. M. The rearguard had crossed the cliff, and, rounding the shoulder of aspur, descended to a plain, bare of vegetation, with the exception ofthe inevitable wormwood. We crossed this for about a mile, and thenstruck down to the river, and saw the Pioneers and guns drawn up on thefarther bank, and just moving off. 

The road on the right hand having been again destroyed a few milesbeyond, the direction of the column had been changed, and, a ford havingbeen found, the troops had waded across, with the intention of campingthat night at the village of Barnas, the rearguard arriving just in timeto see the main body move off towards the village. The Levies had beenleft behind to help the baggage across, and rendered invaluableassistance, saving many a man from drowning. 

I found most of the coolies with their loads still on the right bank ofthe river, leisurely proceeding to strip before wading across; the loadshad to be carried on their heads, the water being well above theirwaists. Those loads that could be divided were carried over piecemeal, the coolie returning for the second part after taking the first across. This idea was all very fine in theory, but we found that most of thecoolies, having made the first trip, sat down on the bank and proceededto dress, leaving the remainder of their load to find its way across asbest it could. Luckily Sergeant Reeves was on the farther bank, and Ihaving also crossed over, we proceeded to drive every coolie back intothe river, until there was not a load left on the opposite bank. 

Rudyard Kipling, in his story of the taking of the Lungtungpen, tellshow, after the scrimmage in the village, "We halted and formed up, andLiftinant Brazenose blushin' pink in the light of the mornin' sun. 'Twasthe most ondacent parade I iver tuk a hand in--four-and-twenty privatesan' a officer av the line in review ordher, an' not as much as wud dusta fife between 'em all in the way of clothin'. " As I stood on thatbank, with the evening sun lighting up the river, I thought of"Liftinant Brazenose, " and also blushed. True, I was clothed myself, butinstead of twenty-five, I had two hundred coolies in the same conditionas that bashful officer's army. 

It took us some three hours before all those loads were over, duringwhich we had some exciting moments. Most of the coolies found the streamtoo strong to stem alone, and so they crossed in parties of a dozen ormore, holding hands; but now and then a man would try by himself, generally with the result that half-way across he would get swept offhis feet, and go floating down the stream, vainly endeavouring to regainhis footing. Then there would be a rush of two or three of the levies, the man would be swung on to his feet, and his load fished for. One manI thought was bound to be drowned; he had somehow tied his load on tohis head, and, being washed off his feet, his head was kept down belowthe water, while his legs remained waving frantically in the air. Theload, being light, floated, and in this manner he was washed downstream, till two levies reached him, and, swinging him right side up, brought him spluttering ashore. 

I often noticed, when sending an old man back for the remainder of hisload, that some youngster who had brought his whole load across wouldvolunteer to bring the remainder of the old man's, and, of course, I wasonly too glad to let him. We found the young men easy to manage, and theold men were let down lightly; it was the middle-aged man, full ofstrength and his own importance, who sometimes tried to raiseobjections, but it was getting late, and no time for fooling, so wedrove our arguments home with a gun butt, and the man obeyed. Therearguard crossed in the dark, and by nine o'clock I was able to reportto Colonel Kelly that everybody had arrived in camp, just as dinner wasready. 

I didn't turn in till late that night, as I was on duty, and had to goscrambling round the pickets; even at that late hour I saw many menstill cooking, probably preparing food for the next day. 

As our supplies were now reduced to less than three days, our march thenext morning was ordered for 10 A. M. , in order to allow foragingparties to go out at daybreak to scoop in anything they could find. 

In the meantime, I sent some levies forward to the next village toreconnoitre. 

The foraging parties did not bring in much, but in our case every littlewas of importance, and by 10 A. M. We started. Our front in camp had beenprotected by a deep nullah; it took some time getting across this. Bythe time we cleared the village, we met our returning scouts, whoreported having seen the enemy in the village of Mori, and reportedtheir strength as some one hundred men on foot, and about twentyhorsemen. So we all cheered up at the chance of a fight. 

The road now dropped down to the river bed, and ran along the foot ofsome cliffs three or four hundred feet sheer above the roadway; therewas about a mile of this, and then two miles of narrow path along theface of steep shale slopes and cliff face high above the river. Anyforce once caught in this place could be cut off to a man. The path wasso narrow that in many places the gun ponies could not have turnedround. 

Colonel Kelly, however, was not to be caught in this way, so theadvance guard was ordered to go right through this part of the road tillthey reached the maidan on the farther side, to hold that, and send backword that they had done so, the main body halting in the meantime till aclear road was announced. Half-way through, the advance guard found theroad broken, but it was soon mended, and the end of the road under thecliff reached. Here there was a flattish bit of maidan for about fiftyyards before the path ascended, and crossed the face of slope and cliff. The officer in command of the advance guard, thinking this was themaidan mentioned in his orders, sent back word that he was through thedefile, and the road clear. Accordingly the main body advanced with aflanking picket on the cliff above. I was with Colonel Kelly at the headof the column, when, turning a corner, we came slap on top of the haltedadvance guard. There was no time to stop now, and the advance guard washurried on to allow the main body to, at least, get clear of the cliffsand on the slopes. We got at last on to the slopes, but found the roadbroken in several places, which delayed the column considerably;luckily, I knew the Levies were on ahead, but I was glad when wereached the end of the bad track. 

When we were once more on the move, I went ahead to join the Levies, andfind out about the reported enemy. I found the Levies on the maidan thatour advance guard should have occupied in the first place, and with themtwo men who had come out from the village of Mori, now only some twomiles away. 

These men reported that Mahomed Issar had left about 7 A. M. For Khogazi, taking all his following with him, and that he would defend a positionknown as the Goland Gol, just in front of that village. 

I now went ahead with the Levies, and we swept through the village tillwe saw clear open country ahead, and satisfied ourselves that there werenone of the enemy left. 

I then ordered the Levies to ransack every nook and cranny for supplies, and went myself in search of a camping ground. That was not a verydifficult job, and I soon came upon a nice garden and orchard, with bigshady mulberry trees, and a stream flowing down the centre. On one sidewas the house that Mahomed Issar had occupied, and belonged to one ofSher Afzul's leading men. It was a well-built house, and inside we foundsome thirty sacks of caraway seeds, the stuff they put in what arecalled "wholesome cakes for children. "

The Pioneer native officers told us that each sack was worth at leastone hundred rupees in Peshawur, but we would gladly have exchanged thewhole amount for half the amount of flour. One of the sacks was emptiedout and the men allowed to help themselves; each man took away a handfulor so, as natives are very fond of it for cooking purposes, especiallyfor curry, a little going a long way. The whole camp smelt of carawayseed, and not an unpleasant smell either. The house was pulled down forfirewood. Everyone was delighted with the camp, and it was aspicturesque as could be desired. The weather was first-class forbivouacking, the trees were in full leaf, and gave a delightful shade, while the ground was covered with a good sound turf. 

Foraging parties were sent out immediately, and the villagers who hadmet us promised to go and induce their friends to return. In fact, theydid collect some ten men, each of whom brought a small sack of flour, and with that and what the foraging parties brought in, we had enoughfor ourselves and the coolies for three days, by which time we hoped toarrive in Chitral. A good deal of the grain brought in consisted ofunhusked rice and millet, what canary birds are fed on in England, --goodenough for the coolies, at any rate, most of them having been used to itfrom childhood. We tried to get the village water-mills going, but allthe ironwork had been carried away, and we had no means of quicklyrefitting them, so the unthreshed rice and millet seed was issued as itwas, and the men had to grind it as best they could, with stones. Westill had some goats and sheep, and the men used to get a meat rationwhenever there was enough to go round. 

The rearguard was in by 5 P. M. That day, the first time since we hadleft Mastuj that it had come in before dark. Things were looking up. 

The bridge at Mori had been burned, but we heard of another some twomiles farther down, which, if destroyed, could be more easily mended, and as the reputed position taken up by the enemy could be turned fromthe right bank of the river, it was determined to repair it. 

Consequently, early the next morning, Oldham and his Sappers, with acovering party of one company of Pioneers under Bethune, and the HunzaLevies, started to repair the bridge, and be ready to cross and turn theenemy's flank, should he be found awaiting us. 

An hour later the main body started over a road leading along a highcliff. Here and there the enemy had evidently made attempts to destroythe road, but so ineffectually that the advance guard hardly delayed itsadvance for five minutes to repair it, and by 10 A. M. We had reached thebroken bridge, and found Oldham and his party hard at work mending it. 

The great difficulty was want of beams to stretch across from pier topier, but attempts were being made to get these from an adjacent villageon the opposite bank of the river. 

The bridge would not be ready for some two hours at earliest, soColonel Kelly sent me on to reconnoitre the Goland Gol, which weexpected the enemy to hold. I kicked my pony into a gallop and hurriedforward. 

About a quarter of a mile farther on, I saw one of the road-bearingbeams of the destroyed bridge which had stranded on the opposite bank, and sent back a note describing where it could be found. 

Another quarter of a mile brought me up to the Punyal Levies, who werealready reconnoitring the spurs where the army were supposed to be; butafter a careful look through my glasses, we came to the conclusion thatthere was no enemy, and again advanced. We reached the Goland Gol, whichis a narrow nullah running up into the hills on the left bank of theriver, the sides being impracticable for several miles, and down thecentre of which rushes a mountain torrent, the road to Chitral crossingthis latter, just before it flows into the Yarkhun river, by means of abridge. This bridge we found destroyed, but I sent half the Leviesacross by fording the stream a hundred yards higher up, and made themoccupy the ridge on the far side, and put the remainder on to repairthe bridge. I also gave my pony and a note to one of the levies, whom Isent back with a report to Colonel Kelly, who, on receiving it, had workon the other bridge knocked off, as it was no longer wanted. 

We hunted for the beams of the Goland Gol bridge, which we found jammedin the stream a short way down, only one out of the four being smashed, and soon had them back in their places. Then we laid a roadway of boardsfrom a hut near, and filled up the holes with branches, and had thebridge ready before the advance guard arrived. I sent back word, andthen crossed the stream and joined the remainder of the Levies on thefarther side. Here I found several sangars which covered the approachesto the bridge, and soon had them down, and then went on to the villageof Khogazi, which was about a mile ahead. 

We swept through that village in the usual manner from end to end, finding only one man who turned out to be a Gilgiti; he had been carriedinto slavery several years previously, but had married and settleddown. From him we learned that Mohamed Issar, with a following of aboutone hundred men, had arrived the day before about noon; shortly after, amessenger came in from Sher Afzul, telling him to come into Chitralwithout delay, and consequently the whole party had set off about 4 P. M. All the villagers, he said, had fled up the Goland Gol to the higherhills, but he would try and bring in any he could find. He did not thinkthe enemy would try and fight again, though there was a place calledBaitali, just before the opening into the Chitral valley, where, if anyopposition was offered, it would be made. The position could be turnedfrom both flanks, and ponies could go, but it was not a good road. Heprofessed himself as willing to go and find out if the Baitali Pari wasoccupied, so I sent him off. I knew the place as one of the worst bitsin the whole road between Mastuj and Chitral, but I also knew it couldbe passed by crossing the river at Khogazi and climbing the hills on theright hand, and down on to the Chitral river above its junction with theYarkhun river. This would be convenient if the Chitral bridge wasdestroyed, as it would take us along the right bank, on which standsthe fort; but I knew also of a ford about two miles above the Chitralbridge, where we could cover our passage, as the ground was level andopen. 

CHAPTER X

WE REACH THE GOAL

I picked out a camping ground even better than we had enjoyed at Mori, and then shared some chupatties and chocolate with Rajah Akbar Khan. 

The main body came in by two o'clock, and the baggage shortly after. Foraging parties were sent out, and Oldham sent to report on the bridgein case we decided to cross. He reported it as practicable, so a guardwas put on it to keep it so. 

Stewart came into camp that day like a bear with a sore head. "Here hadhe been hauling his guns over condemned precipices in pursuit of aninvisible enemy. Call this war! it was only a route march. For apromenade he preferred the Empire Theatre. "

We tried to console him with hopes of a fight before Chitral, but hedeclared the Chitralis had grievously disappointed him, and went off tosee about fodder for his ponies. Alas, poor Stewart! he didn't get hisdesire. 

As soon as we had settled down in camp, Colonel Kelly told me to try andfind some man who would carry a letter into Chitral, to warn thegarrison of our approach. I got hold of Shah Mirza, and asked him if heknew anyone who would go. First, we tried the man who had escaped fromKilla Drasan, but he refused; then Shah Mirza volunteered to go himself, but he was too useful to be spared. Just as we were wondering who wecould get to go, Humayun and Akbar Khan turned up, evidently excited, and escorting a man who was bearing letters from Chitral. He handed overa letter addressed to "The officer commanding troops advancing fromGilgit. " Inside was a letter from Surgeon-Major Robertson, saying thatSher Afzul had fled on the night of the 18th April, and the siege ofChitral was raised. He enclosed a return of the killed and wounded, which, he requested, might be forwarded to India. Then we went throughthe list, and came across poor Baird's name among the killed. This wasthe first we had heard of it, the natives all declaring that it wasGurdon who had been killed. Among the wounded we came acrossSurgeon-Major Robertson severely and Captain Campbell severely. Poor oldGeneral Baj Singh and Major Bicham Singh were killed, and all togetherthe casualties amounted to one hundred and four killed and wounded outof three hundred and seventy combatants. So the garrison had evidentlyhad a lively time of it. Then we set to work and pumped the messengerdry of all the news he could tell, the details of which are now too wellknown for me to relate. The man had a passport from Surgeon-MajorRobertson, sending him to Killa Drasan, so he was allowed to go. We alsofound out from him that there was no enemy between us and Chitral, atwhich Stewart swore openly. My spy returned on meeting the Chitralmessenger. 

There was no difficulty now in getting a man to go to Chitral, so wesent off one with a note, saying we should arrive next day by noon, the20th April. 

The news had spread quickly through camp, and the native officers cameround to hear about it. We sent back a post to Mastuj by some NagarLevies who had just brought in a post, and then had a good discussion asto the causes that led to the raising of the siege. 

I don't know if any of the other officers felt it, but I know, speakingfor myself, that with the departure of any uncertainty about our arrivalin Chitral in time to save the garrison, a good deal of interest alsodeparted. 

I felt inclined to agree with Stewart, that the enemy had given us ajust cause for complaint by not playing the game. At any rate, theymight have given us a run for our money in front of Chitral, and thisseemed to be the general idea throughout the column, consequently ouropinion of the Chitrali pluck sank considerably. 

We marched at 6 A. M. The next morning punctually, and by noon theadvance guard was in the Chitral valley. A halt was ordered to allow themain body to form up, as the guns had had a bad time getting through theBaitali Pari, and had to be unloaded and carried by hand for somedistance. 

After about two miles we came in sight of the Chitral bridge, which hadnot been destroyed, and, soon after, of the fort, with the Union Jackstill floating on one of the towers. 

We crossed the bridge, closed up the column on the other side, thebuglers were sent to the front, and we marched on to the fort with asmuch swagger as we could put on. 

We found the garrison in front of the main gate, and were very glad toshake hands again with all our old friends and congratulate them ontheir splendid defence. 

We had a short halt, and then moved on, and took up a position coveringthe fort, with our front on a nullah and pickets facing south. Ourbivouac was in a nice shady garden, with plenty of good water and wood. 

When the men had settled down in camp, the officers went back to thefort, where the garrison gave us breakfast, or rather lunch. There was agreat deal to hear and tell, and for the first time we began to realisewhat a touch-and-go time the garrison had been having. There was onlyone pause in the conversation, and good old Stewart chipped in with"D'ye think, now, there's any chance of another fight?"

After tiffin, we went round and saw all the sights of interest, andgenerally interviewed the lions. We saw Harley's mine, the gun tower, the enemy's sangars, the hospital, and we did not forget poor Baird'sgrave, which was just outside the main gate. Then we went back to camp, and most of us took the opportunity to write home. I also took aphotograph when everyone was assembled over the homely cup of tea. Thebottles on the table look like whisky, but they only contain treaclemade by melting down country goor, the extract of sugar-cane. It was oursubstitute for butter or jam, luxuries we had not seen for weeks. Whiskywas a dream of the past, and rum a scarcity. In fact, there was nodifference between what we and the sepoys ate, except in the manner ofcooking. 

We went to sleep that night with the blissful consciousness that thenext day was a halt at any rate, and I think we needed the rest. We hadput on our least ragged coats to march in and make as brave a show aspossible, but our kit generally was in a pretty disreputable state, andthere was a good deal of work wanted in the laundry line. Most of us, also, had misgivings about our boots. I was reduced to choosing betweenboots with large holes in the soles or chuplies mended with string; theboots I kept for show days, as the holes didn't show, and the chupliesfor ordinary work. Most of the other officers were much in the sameplight. 

So ended the march of Colonel Kelly's column to Chitral. Our record, onthe whole, was not bad, though, of course, judging by actual distance, we had not done much; it was more the difficult nature of the ground andthe altitude at which some of it was done that lent interest to themarch, and I am unfeignedly glad my luck caused me to participate in it. 

The next day the Kashmir troops of the garrison came out and camped withus, and revelled in the fresh air after the poisonous atmosphere of thefort. Poor chaps! they were walking skeletons, bloodless, and as quietas the ghosts they resembled, most of them reduced to jerseys andgarments of any description, but still plucky and of good heart. Theycheered up wonderfully in a few days with good fresh air and sleep, andmarched from Chitral quite briskly when they left. 

The next day I again went round the fort and got some photos, whichfollow. One of the British officers of the garrison beneath the guntower, which was set on fire, and during the extinguishing of whichSurgeon-Major Robertson, the British agent, was wounded by a Sniderbullet. There is also the loophole, afterwards made, from which a sentryinside the tower could fire at anyone within a few feet. Then I gotHarley to show me the site of his sortie, and pretty grisly the placelooked, but unfortunately the photograph I took, showing the mine lyingopen like a ditch to the foot of the tower, was a "wrong un. " But Isucceeded in getting one showing the mouth of the mine, with theexcavated earth. 

Then I took one of the sangars from the interior, with the littleshelters used by the Pathans when not amusing themselves with riflepractice. The water tower is just visible through the foliage. 

Then I took a photo of the fort from the corner by the gun tower lookingtowards the musjid, which is shown in a photo at the beginning of thebook, but taken in more peaceful times. It shows the bridge in thedistance, which the fire of the Sikhs made too hot for the Chitralis, who had to cross over the hills in the daytime. 

Then I took Harley and the two native officers of the 14th Sikhs, Subadar Gurmuskh Singh and Jemadar Atta Singh. Atta Singh put on whitegloves to grace the occasion, but evidently trembled violently duringthe exposure. 

I got a shot at Borradaile sitting in a shelter Oldham had run up forhimself; the hawk and spear were looted at Sanoghar, I think. Borradailelooks very like Diogenes in his tub. I also took some Kafirs whostrolled into camp. We used to buy their daggers, but they got to askingas much as twenty rupees for a good one after a time. Every Kaffir has adagger, some of them very good ones, but roughly finished. 

After we had been some days in Chitral, some of the 3rd Brigade underGeneral Gatacre arrived, followed by General Low and the headquarterstaff. 

There was a parade of all the troops in Chitral, with the usual tomashaof salutes and inspection. We were then formed up in a square, andGeneral Low made a speech, in which he said that the honour of raisingthe siege of Chitral belonged to Colonel Kelly's force; whereat we ofthat force threw out our chest and patted ourselves on the back. We alsowinked the other eye. 

Little Suji-ul-mulk, the Mehter elect, was present at the review withhis following, and personally conducted by the B. A. , resplendent inpolitical uniform, we soldiers being in khaki. The parade was dismissed, and, headed by the pipes of the general's escort and of the 4th Gurkhas, we marched back to our camp. 

A few days afterwards, I was ordered back to Gilgit, to take up Baird'sduties, and the Pioneers followed shortly after. 

The Kashmir troops have gone back to Sudin on relief, and the Pioneershave followed. There are only one or two of us now left in Gilgit whotook part in the march; but, black or white, it is a bond between uswhich will, I hope, last our lifetime.