k but, in an hour after starting, they heard the welcome
challenge of the sentry, at Jugdulluk.

Saying who he was, Will was at once passed forward into the fort,
and taken to the quarters of the officer in command.

"I am Lieutenant Gale, of the 66th," Will said, "and was on my way
down the pass with the convoy of wounded, and 100 men of the
Guides, under Captain Edwards. They have been attacked at the lower
end of the defile, some four miles above, by a very strong body of
tribesmen. They are attacked front and rear.

"I have made my way through to ask you if you can despatch a force
to their rescue. Were the tribesmen attacked in their rear, now,
they might be scattered easily enough; but they are assembling very
fast and, in the morning, it will be a difficult matter to reach
them."

"We have fancied," the officer said, "for the last two hours that
we heard distant firing; but we could not be sure, for any noise
echoes so, in these mountains. I will set out at once with you,
with as many men as I can spare."

Chapter 17: At Candahar.

The garrison of Jugdulluk consisted only of 220 Sikhs. The officer
in command left seventy of these in charge of one of his
subalterns, with the injunction to exercise the most extreme
vigilance, in his absence. Then with 150 men, a subaltern, and Will
Gale, he started up the path to effect the rescue of the
beleaguered convoy.

The road wound and turned frequently among the spurs of the lofty
hills, which had cut off the sound of firing from the garrison; and
only a faint and distant murmur was audible, when they started.
After marching two miles, however, the rattle of the musketry
became clear and distinct. Upon the way the officer in command
learned, from Will, the exact position of things in front, and the
situation of the Afghans.

When within half a mile of the scene of action, fifty men were
thrown out on either side of the road; while the other fifty
advanced, very slowly, along the center The orders to the flankers
were to search among the rocks, as they advanced, and to bayonet or
shoot every Afghan they found among them.

It was not long before they came upon the enemy. Then the rifles
cracked out; and the wild shouts of the Afghans betokened their
astonishment at being thus, unexpectedly, assailed in rear.
Numerous as they were, they offered but a light resistance. Their
one thought was to effect their escape; and they hurried rapidly
away as the relief