were to proceed with the column. The 5th Punjaub
Infantry, the 8th Regiment, two guns Royal Horse Artillery, three
guns Royal Artillery, and the 5th Bengal Cavalry--the whole under
the command of Brigadier General Cobbe--were to make an attack on
the Peiwar-Khotal direct.

The rest of the force was to remain to guard the camp and--in order
to convince the enemy that a front attack upon the Peiwar-Khotal
was intended--a party of pioneers, with an engineer officer and a
covering party of the 8th Regiment, were to construct a battery
near the village of Turrai. Frequent reconnoitering parties had
also been sent out in this direction and, so well was the secret of
the general's intention to attack by the Spingawi Khotal kept, that
everyone in camp who had not been let into the secret was confident
that the Peiwar-Khotal would be stormed, on the morrow.

The enemy--although those in camp were ignorant of the fact--were
reinforced, on the 1st, by four regiments of infantry, with a
mountain battery and, on their side, were meditating an attack upon
the British camp. The regiments which had freshly arrived were,
however, fatigued by their long march; and the assault on our camp
was postponed until the next day, and the chance of its coming off
was, therefore, lost for ever.

To William Gale's great satisfaction, a company of the
Rangers--that to which he had been posted--was the one selected by
the colonel to accompany the column marching up the pass. He did
not, indeed, know that this was the route by which they were to
advance; but he was pleased at not being left behind, with the
regiment, in charge of the camp.

"Well, young 'un," a corporal said to him, that evening, "we are
going to be under fire, at last; and a nice climb we shall have of
it. It puts one out of breath, to look at that steep road running
up the hill and, when it comes to fighting one's way up it, with
cannon and Afghans on the top, we shall find it hard work."

"I expect," William answered, "that we sha'n't go up it at any
extraordinary pace. If we skirmish up--as I expect we shall--from
rock to rock, we shall have plenty of time to get our wind, at each
halt. We are not to take our knapsacks; so we shall fight light,
and we have not much extra weight to carry. What with the heat, and
what with the long marches, I should think I must have lost a stone
in weight, since we landed in Calcutta."

"I don't think you have lost weight at all," the corpor