ine, and still the enemy melted away--fled up the
hills by hundreds when there were only twenty bullets to stop them. On
the heights the screw-guns ceased firing--they had run out of
ammunition--and the Brigadier groaned, for the musketry fire could not
sufficiently smash the retreat. Long before the last volleys were
fired, the doolies were out in force looking for the wounded. The
battle was over, and, but for want of fresh troops, the Afghans would
have been wiped off the earth. As it was they counted their dead by
hundreds, and nowhere were the dead thicker than in the track of the
Fore and Aft.

But the Regiment did not cheer with the Highlanders, nor did they
dance uncouth dances with the Gurkhas among the dead. They looked
under their brows at the Colonel as they leaned upon their rifles and
panted.

'Get back to camp, you. Haven't you disgraced yourself enough for one
day! Go and look to the wounded. It's all you're fit for,' said the
Colonel. Yet for the past hour the Fore and Aft had been doing all
that mortal commander could expect. They had lost heavily because they
did not know how to set about their business with proper skill, but
they had borne themselves gallantly, and this was their reward.

A young and sprightly Colour-Sergeant, who had begun to imagine
himself a hero, offered his water-bottle to a Highlander, whose tongue
was black with thirst. 'I drink with no cowards,' answered the
youngster huskily, and, turning to a Gurkha, said, 'Hya, Johnny! Drink
water got it?' The Gurkha grinned and passed his bottle. The Fore and
Aft said no word.

They went back to camp when the field of strife had been a little
mopped up and made presentable, and the Brigadier, who saw himself a
Knight in three months, was the only soul who was complimentary to
them. The Colonel was heart-broken, and the officers were savage and
sullen.

'Well,' said the Brigadier, 'they are young troops of course, and it
was not unnatural that they should retire in disorder for a bit.'

'Oh, my only Aunt Maria!' murmured a junior Staff Officer. 'Retire in
disorder! It was a bally run!'

'But they came again, as we all know,' cooed the Brigadier, the
Colonel's ashy-white face before him, 'and they behaved as well as
could possibly be expected. Behaved beautifully, indeed. I was
watching them. It's not a matter to take to heart, Colonel. As some
German General said of his men, they wanted to be shooted over a
little, that was all.'