te of the hot fire and the showers
of rocks and stones, drove the enemy out of their strongholds. On
this the tribesmen lost heart and fled, hotly pursued by the
cavalry, who cut them up in great numbers.

During the fighting at the Malakand, previous to the arrival of the
relief, our casualties were one hundred and seventy-three killed
and wounded, including thirteen British officers and seven natives.
The siege of the small fort of Chakdara had been a severe one. The
garrison consisted of two companies of the 45th Sikhs, with
cavalry. On the evening of the 26th they were attacked, but
repulsed their assailants with loss. Next morning Captain Wright,
with a company of forty troopers, arrived from the Malakand, having
run the gauntlet of large parties of the enemy. The whole of the
day was spent in repelling rushes of the enemy and, for the next
few days, Wright's garrison were unable to leave their posts.

On the 29th the enemy attacked the tower and endeavoured to burn it
down; but were again repulsed, with heavy loss.

Chapter 7: Tales Of War.

As soon as it became evident that the Afridis were up, and that
there would be stern fighting, the conversation in the mess room
naturally turned on past expeditions against the wild tribesmen.
Two or three of the officers had exchanged into the regiment, when
their own went home. Having been two or three years on the
frontier, they had many tales of hill fighting to tell; and these
were eagerly listened to by all the younger officers, as they felt
certain that they too would, ere long, be taking part in such
struggles.

"A fine instance of defence," one of the junior captains said, "was
that of Thobal in 1891. As you all know, I am a ranker, and I
received my commission for that business. I was with a mere handful
of men, thirty Ghoorkhas and fifty rifles of the 12th Burmah
Infantry. We were commanded by Lieutenant Grant. I was with him as
quartermaster sergeant, and general assistant. The Ghoorkhas had
sixty rounds per man for their Martini rifles, the Burmah men one
hundred and sixty rounds per man for their Sniders. They were a
pretty rough lot, only twenty of them being old soldiers, the rest
recruits.

"One morning we received news that Mr. Quintin with four civil
officers, and an escort of seven British officers and four hundred
and fifty-four Ghoorkhas, who had gone up to Manipur, had been
massacred. Happily the news was exaggerated, but a treacherous
a