e
story of the abandonment of the guns was false, orders were given
to pile arms in the village, and to encamp there.

This step was an imprudent one, as the Afghans speedily showed.
While our men were sitting or lying upon the ground, waiting for
the baggage to arrive, the Afghans brought up a mountain gun from
the main ridge--about three-quarters of a mile distant--to the
point of the spur overlooking the village of Turrai, and opened
fire at 1700 yards range.

The astonishment of the troops, when the first shell fell among
them, was great. Every one jumped to his feet, and seized his
rifle; and the guns of the Royal Horse Artillery were brought at
once into action. It was four o'clock in the afternoon when the
Afghans opened fire. Had they waited for a few hours, brought up
another gun or two, and made a night attack immediately after
opening fire, it is morally certain that the imprudence of camping
in such a position would have been punished by a disaster, which
might have vied with that of Isandula. Huddled together in a small
village surrounded by scrub; and impeded, as the troops would have
been, by the baggage animals and native followers, rushing in
terror in all directions, our men would have been taken at an
immense disadvantage.

Fortunate was it that the enemy opened fire before the darkness set
in. The troops were at once ordered to fall back a mile and a half,
and to pitch on fresh ground. There was much confusion in the
retreat, as the road in the rear was crowded with the baggage
animals. The spot chosen for the camp was a rough one; for the
ground was covered with scrub, and a scattered growth of hill oak
and thorny bushes, and was broken by the remains of some ancient
terraces but, as the jungle and broken ground extended for three
and a half miles, there was nothing for it but to take up the best
position possible, under the circumstances. The troops bivouacked
on the ridge of a ravine, with steep banks; which formed a line of
defense in front of the camp, while the view in every other
direction was obscured by trees.

The regiments passed a wretched night on the rough ground. Most of
them were unable to find their baggage, which was wandering in the
scrub in the dark; and the greater part of the troops lay down on
the bare ground, and went supperless to sleep, after their
fatiguing march of twenty-one miles.

In the morning, both men and cattle were greatly exhausted by their
long marches