cessary to replenish the fire, without those
attending it being exposed. These fires proved invaluable, when
attacks were made upon dark nights. Projecting, as they did, seven
feet from the wall, they threw it into shadow, so that the enemy
could not see what to fire at; and, at the same time, they lit up
the ground in front brilliantly, so that the defenders could make
out their assailants, and fire with accuracy.

The fort was eighty yards in length. The walls were twenty-five
feet in height, and the five towers fifty feet. It lay in a hollow
in the lowest part of the valley, and was commanded on all sides by
hills, on which the enemy erected numerous sangars. As, from these,
the men moving about inside the fort were clearly visible to the
enemy, barricades of stones had to be erected, along the sides of
the yards, to afford cover to the men as they went to and from
their posts.

On March 5th a letter was received from Umra Khan, stating that the
British troops must leave Chitral at once, and that he would
guarantee them a safe conduct. The offer was, naturally, refused.
Next night the enemy, about two hundred strong, made a determined
effort to fire the water tower. They brought faggots with them and,
in spite of the heavy volleys poured upon them managed, under cover
of the darkness, to creep into the tunnel leading to the water, and
to light a large fire underneath the tower. They were, however,
driven out; and three water carriers went into the tunnel, and put
out the fire. They were just in time, for the flames had taken a
firm hold of the wooden beams.

After this, twenty-five men were always stationed in the tower and,
at night, another picket of twenty-five men were placed in the
covered way leading to the water. The entrance to this, at the
water side, was exposed to the enemy's fire; but a barricade of
stones, with interstices to allow the water to go through, was
built into the river, and formed an efficient screen to the water
bearers.

On the night of the 14th, the enemy again made an attack on the
water bearers, but were repulsed with loss. The water way was,
indeed, a source of constant anxiety. Between it, and the trees at
the northwest corner of the fort, there was a stretch of seventy
yards of sandy beach; lying underneath an overhanging bank, which
entirely covered it from the fire of the fort, so that the enemy
were able to get right up to the water tunnel without exposing
themselves.

On