on laying his ear to the
ground, at once pronounced to be the booming of heavy guns, and as the
reconnoiterers drew near to the edge of the ridge overlooking Ali
Masjid, the sound of artillery fire became more and more clear and
distinct. Though cave dwellings and patches of cultivation had
occasionally been passed, with here and there the tower of some robber
chieftain, the country, but for one small band of marauders which
exchanged shots with the head of the column, had appeared to be
entirely deserted by its inhabitants. Now a large number of armed
Mohmands came suddenly into sight, rushing down the hillside, and
Jenkins fell back upon Pani Pal to report what he had seen and heard.

The news that the main body of the division was engaged with the enemy
quickly spread through the ranks, and the men, forgetting fatigue and
hunger--the last of the food carried by them had been eaten before
leaving Lashora, and the bullocks carrying the rest of the rations had
long since parted company with the troops--were eager to push on. But
Tytler saw clearly that the circumstances in which he now found himself
demanded a change in the original plan, by which the whole of his force
was to take up its position across the Khyber defile.

As the Mohmands were evidently present in great strength and hostilely
inclined, and as his hospital establishment and commissariat were six
miles in rear, and the brigade which ought to have covered his left
flank was also behind--by abandoning Pani Pal he would not only lose
his communications with the latter and expose the former to danger and
the risk of being cut off and captured, but would leave open the road
by which the Mohmand contingent in Ali Masjid might retire from that
fortress after its fall, or by which it could be reinforced in case
that fall should be delayed. Very reluctantly, therefore, though with
soldier-like promptness, he made up his mind to send Jenkins with the
Guides and the major portion of the 1st Sikhs to Kata Kushtia, whilst
he himself, with a detachment of the latter corps and Her Majesty's
17th Regiment, remained at Pani Pal to guard Jenkins' rear and keep in
touch with Macpherson. That general, having detached the 20th Punjaub
Infantry under Major H. W. Gordon to cover his left, had resumed his
march at 8 a.m., and following in Tytler's wake had soon overtaken that
officer's commissariat bullocks, which so blocked the narrow path that
the troops had considerable dif