tiful repast awaiting us spread under the shade of some trees.
Knives and forks were evidently considered unnecessary adjuncts by our
entertainers, so I unhesitatingly took my first lesson in eating roast
kid and pillaued chicken without their aid.

On the 24th we marched to the Darwazai defile, and the next day
proceeded through it to Kuram, forty-eight miles from Thal. We found
the fort evacuated by the Afghans, who had left behind one 6-pounder
gun.

Notwithstanding the proffers of assistance I had received, I could get
no reliable information as to the whereabouts of the enemy; from one
account I was led to believe that they were in full retreat, from
another that they were being strongly reinforced. So, to find out the
truth, I reconnoitred as far as the cantonment of Habib Kila, fifteen
miles ahead, and there ascertained that the Afghan army, consisting
(it was said) of 18,000 men and eleven guns, had left the place only
a short time before, and was then moving into position on the Peiwar
Kotal.

Depot hospitals were formed at Kuram, and all our surplus stores and
baggage were left there with the following garrison: Two guns of F/A,
Royal Horse Artillery, half of G/3, R.A., the squadron 10th Hussars,
one squadron 12th Bengal Cavalry, and the company of Bengal Sappers
and Miners, besides all the sick and weakly men of the column.

At 5 a.m. on the 28th the remainder of the force, with the exception
of the troops who had been dropped at the several halting-places to
keep open our line of communication, marched towards the Peiwar.

The stars were still shining when we started, but it was very dark,
and we were chilled to the bone by a breeze blowing straight off the
snows of the Sufed Koh; towards sunrise it died away, and was followed
by oppressive heat and clouds of dust. Our progress was slow, for the
banks of the numerous nullas which intersect the valleys had to be
ramped before the guns and baggage could pass over them.

On reaching Habib Kila, intelligence was again brought that the Amir's
troops were in disorderly retreat, and had abandoned their guns at the
foot of the pass. I at once pushed a reconnaissance in force up the
south-eastern slopes of the mountain under the command of Colonel
Gordon,[3] of the 29th Punjab Infantry, who discovered that, so far
from the enemy having abandoned their guns, they had taken up an
extremely strong position on the pass, from which they fired on the
reconnaissance