d in such a
country would have meant disaster, so General Westmacott selected a
ridge, which he determined to hold for the night. The wearied men
were just filing up, when a tremendous rush was made by the
Afridis. For a moment, it seemed as if they would all be enveloped
and swept away; but the officers threw themselves into the ranks,
magazines were worked freely, and the very bushes seemed to melt
away before the hail of shot. The tribesmen were swept back in the
darkness, and they never tried a second rush. Their firing also
slackened very much, and this permitted the men to form a camp, and
see to the wounded.

That day the rear guard lost one officer killed and three wounded,
eighteen men killed, eighty-three wounded, and six missing. The
night in camp was a terrible experience. The troops had been
fighting since early morning, the frost was bitter, and they had
neither water, food, nor blankets. General Westmacott passed the
night with the sentry line.

Early in the morning the action recommenced and, stubbornly
contesting each foot, at times almost in hand-to-hand conflict with
tribesmen in the bushes, the rear guard fell back. The summit of
the Kotal was passed; but the enemy continued to harass their
retirement down to the river, where the picket post of the 9th
Ghoorkhas was reached. The retirement from the Tirah had cost a
hundred and sixty-four killed and wounded. As a military
achievement, this march of Lockhart's 2nd Division should have a
prominent place in the history of the British army.

After a quiet day, the force marched into Swaikot. Next morning the
troops in camp there gathered on each side of the road, cheering
their battle-grimed comrades, and bringing down hot cakes to them.
It was a depressing sight. The men were all pinched and
dishevelled, and bore on their faces marks of the terrible ordeal
through which they had just passed.

The advance guard were followed by the wounded. The 4th Brigade
followed. They were even more marked by hardship and strife than
those who had preceded them. Then the rear guard marched in, and
the first phase of the Tirah expedition was at an end.

The expedition had carried out its object successfully. The Afridis
had been severely punished, and had been taught what they had
hitherto believed impossible, that their defiles were not
impregnable, and that the long arm of the British Government could
reach them in their recesses. The lesson had been a very se