ile forming his men to proceed and ascertain whether the
report was correct or otherwise, he was suddenly attacked by large
bodies of horse and foot: the serjeant immediately took advantage of
the ground to protect his party from the heavy fire which was poured
in from all sides, and having observed that the enemy, whoever they
were, were in too great a force to leave him a chance of successfully
maintaining his position, which was commanded from several points, he
determined on retreating to Badjghar, a distance of about nine miles.
The valley was full of orchards divided by low walls, and perhaps to
a well-disciplined company of steady old soldiers with plenty of
officers, a retreat, even in the face of several hundred Uzbegs, might
have been effected without loss, by forming the whole body into two
lines of skirmishers, and retiring alternately; but the serjeant knew
too well the temper of his gallant little mountaineers, who are more
famous for bravery than judgment, to trust the safety of his party to
the success of a manoeuvre, the chief point in which was to know when
to retreat. His first line of skirmishers would never have retired in
order, taking advantage of every natural obstacle of the ground for
concealment, but would have boldly confronted the cavalry and probably
been destroyed to a man. He therefore moved his Goorkhas in quarter
distance column steadily along the road, which luckily hugged the
precipitous hills on one side, so that the enemy could only avail
themselves of the valley on the other side of the road to attack him,
the mountains being so impracticable that while they attempted to
climb them to turn his flank he had already gained so much ground as
to be out of reach of even a "plunging" fire. In ordinary quick time
did this little band retire under a heavy though straggling fire from
a force many times more numerous than themselves. The serjeant was
enabled with difficulty to carry out his plan, which was, not to
return the enemy's fire, but to proceed steadily on till he could
suddenly take advantage of some protecting ledge of rock or orchard
wall behind which he could form his men and confuse the enemy by
pouring in a few volleys. He would then form quarter distance columns
of subdivisions again, and proceed in his retreat as before. He had no
misgivings as to the courage and firmness of his men, for the Goorkhas
have ever been noted for their dashing bravery, and an incident soon
proved