er a general idea. The
enemy had attacked in tremendous strength along the two roads that gave
access on the eastern side to the great cup of the Malakand. On the
right road, they were checked by the brilliant movement of Colonel McRae
and the courage of his regiment. Pouring in overwhelming force along
the left road, they had burst into the camp itself, bearing down all
opposition. The defenders, unable to hold the extended line of the rim,
had been driven to take up a central position in the bottom of the cup.
This central position comprised the "Sappers' and Miners' enclosure,"
the commissariat lines and the Field Engineer Park. It was commanded
on every side by the fire from the rim. But the defenders stood at bay,
determined at all costs to hold their ground, bad though it was.

Meanwhile the enemy rushed to the attack with wild courage and reckless
fury. Careless of life, they charged the slender line of defence. Twice
they broke through and penetrated the enclosure. They were met by men as
bold as they. The fighting became desperate. The general himself hurried
from point to point, animating the soldiers and joining in the
defence with sword and revolver. As soon as the enemy broke into the
commissariat lines they rushed into the huts and sheds eager for plunder
and victims.

Lieutenant Manley, the Brigade Commissariat Officer, stuck stubbornly
to his post, and with Sergeant Harrington endeavoured to hold the hut in
which he lived. The savage tribesmen burst in the door and crowded into
the room. What followed reads like a romance.

The officer opened fire at once with his revolver. He was instantly cut
down and hacked to pieces. In the struggle the lamp was smashed. The
room became pitch dark. The sergeant, knocking down his assailants, got
free for a moment and stood against the wall motionless. Having killed
Manley, the tribesmen now began to search for the sergeant, feeling with
their hands along the wall and groping in the darkness. At last, finding
no one, they concluded he had escaped, and hurried out to look for
others. Sergeant Harrington remained in the hut till it was retaken some
hours later, and so saved his life.

Another vigorous attack was made upon the Quarter Guard. Lieutenant
Watling, who met it with his company of sappers, transfixed a Ghazi with
his sword, but such was the fury of the fanatic that as he fell dead
he cut at the officer and wounded him severely. The company were driven
back