advanced, climbing the steep sides of the valley
by paths only known to themselves; and then, from the hillside far
above, opening a scattered fire, at random, down into the valley.

In five minutes, all resistance had ceased. The flanking parties
were ordered to shelter themselves behind the rocks, and to return
the fire of the natives on the hillsides; to retain the position
until the convoy passed through, and then to close behind it, as a
rear guard. With the fifty men in the road, the officer then pushed
forward; and was soon greeted by a shout of welcome from the
defenders of the defile.

There was not a minute to be lost; for the Afghans, when they
recovered from their first scare, would renew the attack; and the
party pressing down the defile on their rear--ignorant of what had
taken place below--were still keeping up an incessant fire.
Twenty-eight of the Guides were already killed, or wounded.

Several of the sick men, in the dhoolies, volunteered to walk down
to the fort, and to give up their places to those of the wounded
men who were unable to walk and, in a few minutes, the convoy moved
forward. The fifty men of tho relieving party placed themselves in
their rear and, as the tribesmen who had been attacking them from
behind rushed down through the defile, with exulting shouts--believing
that they were now secure of their victims--the Sikhs opened so heavy
a fire on them that they fell back up the defile, in disorder.

As the convoy wound down the valley, the enemy again assembled on
the hills and pursued them hotly. But the Sikhs and Guides kept up
so steady a fire that they did not venture to approach to close
quarters and, with a loss of eighteen more men, the convoy reached
the shelter of the fort. Conscious of their inability to attack
this position, the Afghans drew off.

On returning to his friends, Will had resumed his uniform; and now,
on reaching the fort, Captain Edwards expressed to him his warmest
thanks for the hazardous adventure that he had undertaken.

"I shall, of course," he concluded, "furnish a full report of the
affair to the general; and I should think he would recommend you
for the Victoria Cross. If any fellow ever deserved it, you do so;
for it seemed, to me, almost certain death to venture through the
pass. I never expected to see you again; and I was never more glad,
in my life, than I was when the firing began down below in the
valley, and knew that help was at hand for,