ative
servants had replaced the camp equipage, and at the end of the quarter
of an hour the march was resumed in the most orderly way, the
baggage-train being strongly guarded, and the men well rested, flushed,
and eager for the coming fray.

It was like a glorious late spring morning in England, and the wide
valley the regiment was traversing presented a lovely series of
landscapes, backed up in front and to right and left with mighty
snow-capped mountains, whose peaks looked dazzling in the early morning
sun. But though every breast breathed in the crisp air with a strange
sense of exhilaration, no one had eyes for anything but the two bodies
of white-robed men approaching them from right and left, the third being
hidden by the forest patch where the troops had bivouacked, and for
which the enemy had made as soon as it was evacuated, evidently to cover
their movements prior to a rush upon the rear.

The Colonel, upon seeing this, made a slight alteration in his plans,
halting Captain Roberts's company with orders to close in and follow the
rear of the column, thus bringing the impedimenta and servants more into
the centre, the movement being performed without the slightest check to
the advance, though the appearance of the bodies several hundred strong,
to right and left, was very suggestive of an immediate attack.

This was delivered, evidently by an agreed-upon signal; for suddenly a
tremendous burst of yelling arose, and the two unorganised crowds came
rushing down upon the column, which halted, faced outward, and the next
moment, while the enemy on either hand was about a couple of hundred
yards off, there was a rolling volley nearly all along the line, and the
white smoke began to rise, showing the two bodies of the enemy
scattering and every man running for his life back towards the hills,
but leaving the flowery grass dotted with patches of white, others
dropping fast as they grew more distant and the wounds received began to
take effect.

There was a little disorder in the centre among the servants, and mules
and camels were restive as the shouting hill-men came rushing on, with
their swords flashing in the sunshine, and the rattle of the musketry
threatened to produce a panic; but the native servants behaved well, and
were quieting their animals, when there was another suggestion of panic,
as Captain Roberts suddenly exclaimed:

"Here they come, Bracy!"

For the sergeants and men thrown out in the rea