ituation is one which will make a coward
valorous, and affords to brave men opportunities for the most sublime
forms of heroism and devotion.

Chakdara holds the passage of the Swat River--a rapid, broad, and at
most seasons of the year an unfordable torrent. It is built on a rocky
knoll that rises abruptly from the plain about a hundred yards from
the mountains. Sketches and photographs usually show only the knoll
and buildings on it, and any one looking at them will be struck by the
picturesque and impregnable aspect of the little fort, without observing
that its proportions are dwarfed, and its defences commanded, by
the frowning cliffs, under which it stands. In its construction the
principles of defilade have been completely ignored. Standing on the
mountain ridge, occupied by the signal tower, it is possible to look or
fire right into the fort. Every open space is commanded. Every parapet
is exposed. Against an enemy unprovided with artillery, however,
it could be held indefinitely; but the fact that all interior
communications are open to fire, makes its defence painful to the
garrison, and might, by gradually weakening their numbers, lead to its
capture.

The narrow, swinging, wire bridge across the Swat is nearly 500 yards
long. At the southern end it is closed by a massive iron door, loopholed
for musketry, and flanked by two stone towers, in one of which a Maxim
gun is mounted. On the further side is the fort itself, which consists
of the fortified knoll, a strong stone horn-work, an enclosure for
horses, protected by a loopholed wall and much tangled barbed wire, and
the signal tower, a detached post 200 yards up the cliff.

The garrison of the place consisted at the time of the outbreak of
twenty sowars of the 11th Bengal Lancers and two strong companies of the
45th Sikhs, in all about 200 men, under the command of Lieutenant H.B.
Rattray. [The actual strength was as follows: 11th Bengal Lancers, 20
sabres; 45th Sikhs, 180 rifles; 2 British telegraphists; 1 Hospital
Havildar; 1 Provost Naick (24th Punjaub Infantry); 1 Jemadar (Dir
Levies). British officers--45th Sikhs, Lieutenants Rattray and Wheatley;
Surgeon-Captain V. Hugo; Political Agent, Lieutenant Minchin.] As the
rumours of an impending rising grew stronger and stronger, and the end
of July approached, this officer practised his men in taking stations
in the event of an alarm, and made such preparations as he thought
necessary for eventualities.