With Kelly to Chitral

ard from Jones the st

hich I w

and Fowler, who were believed to be in danger at Reshun, and marched to Buni; leaving a detachment there of thirty-t

he river runs between the cliffs, which draw together and make the mouth of the defile. The path which follows the left bank crosses the débris fallen from the cliffs above and then runs along the edge of the river at the foot of another and smaller cliff, or in summer, when the river is full, the path runs over this smaller cliff. Ross's party t

and hold the entrance of the defile to enable them to escape. On the first 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 d

back by avalanches of stones. They then had to scale the mountainside, 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 t

p of the cliff, but this only had the effect of

ne but cut their way out; everyone must take his chance, the rush to be made about 2 A

angars, and cleared out the defenders at the point of the bayonet. Here poor Ross was killed by a bullet through the head, after having, so the natives say, pistolled some four of the enemy. The latter, after being driven out o

the enemy's swordsmen, who tried to close with them, and losing three more men, Jones, noticing an attempt of the enemy to cut the line of retreat, and despairing of any more of the detachment escaping, gave the order to retire. This was carried out slowly and

e fort, and on the 10th March was joined by Captain Bretherto

and though he sent messengers to this party, he never re

l, a position some six miles from Mastuj, he reconnoitred up t

transport, and on the 16th, in spite of the non-arrival of any coolies, he set out to Buni with a hundred and fifty sepoys,

nyal Levies also joined him that evening. Starting the next morning, he reached Buni by 5 P.M., when he found Jones and the remains of the Sikhs. The return journey was begun two hour

ened, the enemy contenting themselves with long-range firing, only one man being slightly wounded a

going through the state of the suppl

sting source of worry, as it generall

ison. Bretherton was sent back to bring up supplies from the rear, and messengers were sent to order in the villagers. We wanted t

in place of the mules left behind; the gun wheel an

the house which had lately been occupied by Mahomed Issar, their commander-in-chief we found the trunk of a tree which the enemy were converting into a cannon. It didn't require cannon to bring the walls of Mastuj down,-a good strong kick would have been quite sufficient. Shortly a

g about. This party would also act as a covering party to Peterson, who was expected to arrive that day. With Peterson came Bethun

yal Levies were sent to

more Punyals up the Ya

spent in writing repor

other necessa

ll got through my work by 5 P.M.; and then Colonel Kelly had out the maps and retur

r every day as we descended to lower latitudes; but this only meant that 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 was seven days' march to Chitral by the direct route, and though our intellig

smile all over his face, and Humayun twirled his long moustache,-he has a fine black beard and moustache and

ace the position of the different sangars, as I had been over the ground with Harley on my previous visit to Chitral. To make matters certain, I suggested that I should reconnoitre the

; these two also had ponies, Akbar Khan having managed to get two over the pass with great difficulty. It was a lovely morning, and we were all very cheerful except Gamme

our right. After about two miles we came to a small homestead and Humayun told me there was a wounded man inside; so in I went, and found the poor beggar with his right leg smashed by a bullet just above the knee. There were

is for about half a mile, when we came to the foot of a stone slope, and I noticed our advanced guard had halted on the top, and on asking the reason, Humayun said that the enemy were occupying the next spurs. So up we went, and fo

matters worse, so I determined to sketch what I could see from here, and then try across the river. In order not to be interrupted, I sent five men well up the hill on to a spur, from whence they could

was very nice of them, for very soon I had a complete list of the garrison of each sangar, and from where I was could see the sort of gun they were armed with,-a few rifles among the lower sangars, and nearly all matchlocks amo

went on sketching. Presently there was a bang, and ping came a bullet over our heads. The beggar was potting at us at about a thousand yards, unpardonable waste of ammunition! I put a rock between us, and went on sketching, everyone else did ditto, and presently our friend shut up, but after a time, finding things slow, I suppose, he began again. This seemed to annoy Humayun, who asked for the loan of my rifl

uck. Humayun had over-judged the distance. By the time he was ready for another shot, our two friends were legging it

ter shot came dropping among us; the enemy evidently had plenty of ammunition, and for some minutes things were

came back, on his shooting powe

he higher sangars, evidently passing on some news. Presently I saw a crowd of men, mostly mounted, with others on foot carrying flags. Then came a fat

s Nos. 16 and 17 in the sketch. Here he sat down, and, I have no doubt, calculated the odds on his winning when the

y sketch, I shut up m

go across

to cross the rive

the end of the

ry will get

avalry?

seen two of t

d I; "you're p

go,"

oing,"

ib goes, I fol

ther thou goest, I will go!' I

screw is a Chevalier Bayard to them. Why, you've only to move ten yards to your right or left in an

hile we were crossing. We had our ponies brought up and rode across the stream, the men fording,

d to know, so, after a careful look, having seen all I wanted, we started homewards by the opposite bank to that by which we had

l Kelly, and then got out ord

ery useful in crossing the Nisa Gol. Accordingly, Oldham set his Sappers to work, and by evening had

collected. The guns had been mounted on ponies, and cou

by Moberly. Moberly was coming out the next day in command of a company of Kashmir troops; after the expec

come out under escort of part of the garrison, who would escort back any wounded we might have, Luard co

believe, to Fowler, but as he was either a prisoner or dead, he wo