lundered into the midst of the troops. One corps
lost touch with another. A large part of the 17th Regiment wandered
away from the path, and was with difficulty brought back to it by the
shouting and whistling of its commander. There was so much confusion
and so many delays that it was ten o'clock before the force, tired and
cold, the men's boots and putties soaked through and through from
frequent crossing and recrossing of the Lashora River, arrived at the
little hamlet of the same name. Here it settled down to such rest as
could be obtained under these uncomfortable conditions, for fires were
out of the question where there was no certainty that hidden foes might
not be lurking close at hand.

The 1st Brigade, consisting of the 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade, the 4th
Gurkhas, the 20th Punjab Infantry, and the Hazars Mountain Battery,
fared even worse than the 2nd, for it had to begin the day with
marching from Hari Singhka-Burg to Jamrud, where it arrived to find, to
the disgust of its commander, Brigadier-General Macpherson, that the
supplies and transports which ought to have been awaiting it were not
ready, and to be kept hanging about till 11 p.m. before it could get a
fresh start. What with the darkness, the difficulty of getting the
laden bullocks along, the practical absence of a road, the subsequent
march proved very trying, and the position of the troops throughout the
night was potentially one of great peril. If the Mohmands had come down
the eastern slopes of the Rhotas Heights and fallen upon them as they
stumbled and groped their way along the Lashora ravine, Macpherson
would have had to choose between a retreat or an advance up the steep
mountain side, three thousand feet high, in pursuit of an invisible
enemy, and exposed to a shower of rocks and stones--missiles which
every hill-man knows well how to handle.

Fortunately no such alternative was presented to him, and the head of
the column--the rear guard being still far behind--reached Lashora
between six and seven o'clock on the morning of the 21st, just as the
2nd Brigade was preparing to leave it, and halted to look up and give
Tytler a fair start. The latter did his best to get and keep well
ahead, but though his brigade, led by that active officer, Colonel F.
H. Jenkins, pushed on as fast as it could, its progress was painfully
slow. The column advancing in single file extended over a distance of
nearly three miles, and as the sun rose high in the