ed portions of the 1st and 2nd
Ghoorkhas, and the 2nd Punjab Infantry, to flank the whole force.

The Malikdin Khels were staunch to their word, and not a single
shot was fired till the force had passed through the defile. The
difficulties, however, were great, for the troops, baggage, and
followers had to wade through the torrent, two-thirds of the way.
The flanking had used up all the Ghoorkhas, and the Borderers now
became the advance guard.

Everything seemed peaceful, and the regiment was halfway across the
small valley, when a heavy fire was opened on the opposite hill.
General Westmacott was in command of the brigade. The Borderers
were to take and hold the opposite hill, supported by a company of
Dorsets and of Scottish Fusiliers. The battery opened fire, while a
party turned the nearest sangars on the right flank. By three
o'clock the whole of the crests were held, and the baggage streamed
into camp. Fighting continued, however, on the peaks, far into the
night.

No explanations were forthcoming why the enemy should have allowed
the force to pass through the defile, without obstruction, when a
determined body of riflemen could have kept the whole of them at
bay; for the artillery could not have been brought into position,
as the defile was the most difficult, of its kind, that a British
division had ever crossed.

The day following the withdrawal of the rear guard, it rained in
the Bara Valley, which meant snow in the Maidan. The pickets on the
heights had a bad time of it that night, as some of them were
constantly attacked; and it was not till three in the morning that
the baggage came in, the rear guard arriving in camp about ten.

The camp presented a wonderful sight that day, crowded as it was
with men and animals. The weather was bitterly cold, and the men
were busy gathering wood to make fires. On the hills all round, the
Sikhs could be seen engaged with the enemy, the guns aiding them
with their work. The 36th Sikhs, as soon as they arrived, were sent
off to occupy a peak, two miles distant, which covered the advance
into the Rajgul defile. The enemy mustered strong, but were turned
out of the position.

The next morning the villages were white with snow. A party was
sent on into the Rajgul valley, where they destroyed a big village.

Immediately after leaving Dwatoi, the valley broadened out till it
was nearly a mile wide. On the right it was commanded by steep
hills; on the left it was, to s