en in entering
this unknown country, as the road led down a defile commanded by
high peaks. The Yorkshire Regiment was told off to hold the right
of the advance, the 1st and 2nd Ghoorkhas were to do the same work
on the left. The column was headed by the 3rd Ghoorkhas; followed
by the 28th Bombay Volunteers, two companies of the Sappers and
Miners, the Borderers, and the baggage; the rear guard being
furnished by the 36th Sikhs.

Within a mile of camp, the Ghoorkhas were engaged with stray
riflemen. A mile farther they were met by the main body, and were
unable to proceed farther without support. The flanking regiments,
however, presently came up, and the advance continued. The road lay
in the river bed, and the men were plodding, waist deep, in water.
The passage became narrower and narrower, and so rapid was the
decline that the river bed became impassable, and the men made
their way along by its side. The road was almost dark, so high were
the cliffs and so narrow the passage between them.

Here the resistance became very formidable. The Ghoorkhas were all
engaged in clearing the ridges, and the Bombay Pioneers pushed
forward an advance guard, the Borderers moving up to their support.
The deepest gorge was enfiladed by a party of tribesmen, with
Martinis. One man fell with a broken leg. The man helping him was
shot a moment later and, when a stretcher was brought back, two
more of the Borderers were hit. A section of the 3rd Sikhs was
detached to turn the enemy out, and then the ravine was rushed by
all the rest. There was another gorge to be passed, and the enemy
were pressing on both sides; but a battery was now brought into
action, and soon drove them off.

Thus Dwatoi was reached, where the force encamped. It was but a
small open plain, some five hundred yards across. Three miles away
a gorge opened into the Rajgul valley, and it appeared that, beyond
this, lay Wira valley.

All the summits were strongly picketed. Night fell, and there was
no sign of the baggage. The troops were wet to the waist, there
were seventeen degrees of frost, and the men had neither blankets
nor food.

When morning broke there were still no signs of baggage, but at
eleven it began to appear. At noon fighting began again, and the
rest of the train did not arrive till about five o'clock. Fighting
had been incessant the whole day. It was so severe that Sir William
Lockhart determined to return to Bagh, the following day.

The arra