l was badly wounded, and Captain Baird died on the following
morning. The two native officers were killed.

The enemy's strength was computed to be from a thousand to twelve
hundred men. Of these, five hundred were Umra Khan's men, who were
armed with Martinis. Many of the others carried Sniders.

The whole of the Chitralis had now joined Sher Afzul, most of them
doubtless being forced to do so, by fear of the consequences that
would ensue should they refuse. The little fort thus stood
isolated, in the midst of a powerful enemy and a hostile
population. The villages stood on higher ground than the fort and,
from all of them, a constant fusillade was kept up on the garrison,
while they were engaged in the difficult work of putting the fort
into a better condition of defence.

The first thing to be done was, of course, to take stock of the
stores; and the next to estimate how many days it would last.
Everyone was put upon half rations, and it was calculated that they
could hold out two and a half months. It was found that they had
two hundred and eighty rounds per man, besides Snider ammunition
for the Kashmir Rifles, and three hundred rounds of Martini
ammunition for the Sikhs.

When the fort was first occupied, it was found that there was an
exposed approach to the river from the water tower, about thirty
yards in width; and a covered way was at once built, going right
down into the water. All through the siege this covered way was the
main object of the enemy's attack; for they knew that, if they
could cut off the water, they could easily reduce the garrison.

An abutment in the south wall of the fort, overlooking the garden,
had been converted into a little bastion. The worst feature of the
fort, however, was the large number of little buildings immediately
outside the walls. These and the walls of the garden were
demolished by moonlight. The stables, which were on the river face
near the water tower, were loopholed; and efforts were made to
loophole the basement walls of the tower, but these had to be
abandoned, as there was a danger of disturbing the foundations.

Among the various ingenious plans hit upon by the besieged, one
proved particularly useful. Loopholes were made in the gun tower; a
wall was built up in the face of the water gate; and fireplaces
were constructed by which the wood, being laid on a slab of stone,
was pushed out some feet from the wall, and could be drawn into the
fort when it was ne