dawn the troops had begun their
cautious advance, the General and his Staff taking up their position at
Palla. The alarm was not given till our leading files were within twenty
yards of the fringe of houses at the base of the rock. The storm of fire
which then burst from the jong was an alarming indication of the
strength in which it was held. The heavy jingals were all directed on
Palla, and the General and his Staff had many narrow escapes. As on the
previous occasion when the jong bombarded us at night, there were
moments when every building in it seemed outlined in flame.

Of the three columns, only that on the extreme left, Gurkhas under
Major Murray, was able to get in at once. The other two columns were for
the time being checked, so bullet-swept was the open space they had to
cross. From time to time small parties of two or three dashed across in
the dark, and gained the shelter of the walls of the houses in front.
There were barely twenty men and half a dozen officers across when
Captain Shepherd blew in the walls of the house most strongly held. The
storming-party came under a most heavy fire from the jong above. Among
those hit was Lieutenant Gurdon, of the 32nd. He was shot through the
head, and died almost immediately. The breach made by Shepherd was the
point to which most of the men of the centre and right columns made, but
their progress became very slow when daylight appeared and the Tibetans
could see what they were firing at. It was not till nearly nine o'clock
that the whole fringe of houses at the base of the front face of the
rock was in our possession.

Then followed several hours of cannonading and small-arms fire. The
position the troops had now won was commanded almost absolutely from the
jong. It was found impossible to return the Tibetan fire from the roofs
of the houses we had occupied without exposing the troops in an
unnecessary degree, but loopholes were hastily made in the walls of the
rooms below, and the 40th Pathans were sent into a garden on the extreme
right, where some cover was to be had. Colonel Campbell, commanding the
first line, was able to show the enemy that our marksmen were still in a
position to pick off such Tibetans as were rash enough to unduly expose
themselves. In the meanwhile, Luke's guns on the extreme right, Fuller's
battery at Palla, and Marindin's guns at the Gurkha outpost threw a
stream of shrapnel on all parts of the jong.

But it was not till four o'cloc