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, a
man--Chitrali--had come in, having escaped from the enemy. His brothers
were followers of Suji-ul-mulk, the little boy whom Surgeon-Major
Robertson, as he then was, had made Mehter, and who was besieged in
Chitral with our troops. The opposition party, represented by Mahomed
Issar, Sher Afzul's foster-brother, had therefore, on capturing this
man, put him in quod at Killa Drasan. He had managed to escape the day
of the fight, and joined us that evening, and we promptly made use of
him as a guide.

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

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

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

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

The place was evidently deserted, for as we were watching, I saw a man
go up and try the doo