and
a bath. In half an hour, the ill-omened spot was occupied only by the
few sowars engaged in shooting the wounded mules, and by the vultures
who watched the proceedings with an expectant interest.

Gradually we learnt the story of the night. The battery, about thirty
sappers and half the 35th Sikhs, were returning to camp. At about seven
o'clock an order was sent for them to halt and remain out all night, to
assist the Guides Infantry, whose firing could be heard and for whose
safety the brigadier was above all things anxious. This order reached
the battery, and with the sappers as an escort they turned back,
recrossed a nullah and met the general with two companies of Sikhs
outside the village of Bilot. The half-battalion of the 35th did not
apparently receive the order, for they continued their march. Lieutenant
Wynter, R.A., was sent back to look for them. He did not find them,
but fell in with four fresh companies, two of the Guides and two of the
35th, who, under Major Worlledge, had been sent from camp in response to
the general's demand for reinforcements. Lieutenant Wynter brought these
back, as an escort to the guns. On arrival at the village, the brigadier
at once sent them to the assistance of the Guides. He counted on his own
two companies of Sikhs. But when Worlledge had moved off and had
already vanished in the night, it was found that these two companies had
disappeared. They had lost touch in the darkness, and, not perceiving
that the general had halted, had gone on towards camp. Thus the battery
was left with no other escort than thirty sappers.

A party of twelve men of the Buffs now arrived, and the circumstances
which led them to the guns are worth recording. When the Buffs were
retiring through the villages, they held a Mahommedan cemetery for
a little while, in order to check the enemy's advance. Whilst there,
Lieutenant Byron, Orderly Officer to General Jeffreys, rode up and told
Major Moody, who commanded the rear companies, that a wounded officer
was lying in a dooly a hundred yards up the road, without any escort. He
asked for a few men. Moody issued an order, and a dozen soldiers under
a corporal started to look for the dooly. They missed it, but while
searching, found the general and the battery outside the village. The
presence of these twelve brave men--for they fully maintained the honour
of their regiment--with their magazine rifles, just turned the scale.
Had not the luck of the Bri