mayun, who asked for the loan of my rifle, and he and
Akbar went dodging down the hill. They disappeared behind a dip in the
ground, and presently I saw them come out lower down among some bushes,
and gradually they worked their way down to the edge of the river about
eight hundred yards from our friend, who was calmly sitting in the open,
having occasional pot shots at us, while his friend had come out and was
evidently criticising the performance.

Presently there was a bang from our side of the river, and a spurt of
dust on the opposite maidan where the bullet struck. Humayun had
over-judged the distance. By the time he was ready for another shot,
our two friends were legging it across the plain as fast as their ponies
could gallop. He got in a couple of shots more, but they did not hurt
anybody.

As soon as Humayun commenced firing, the sangars in our front began
humming like a beehive and presently shot after shot came dropping among
us; the enemy evidently had plenty of ammunition, and for some minutes
things were quite lively; but, finding we made no response, they calmed
down gradually, and peace once more reigned supreme.

I chaffed old Humayun, when he came back, on his shooting powers, and he
grinned in response.

I now noticed rather a commotion among the garrison of the sangars
across the Nisa Gol nullah; the men began turning out, and one or two
ran towards the higher sangars, evidently passing on some news.
Presently I saw a crowd of men, mostly mounted, with others on foot
carrying flags. Then came a fat man in white, with a standard-bearer all
to himself. All the garrisons of the sangars turned out, and I counted
them--there were over a hundred in each.

The commander-in-chief rode up the whole length of the nullah, and then
walked up the spur on which are shown sangars Nos. 16 and 17 in the
sketch. Here he sat down, and, I have no doubt, calculated the odds on
his winning when the action came off. After a time he came down the
hill, and the procession moved down along the nullah and out of sight.

When I had finished my sketch, I shut up my telescope and said--

"Now we'll go across the river."

"Why do you want to cross the river?" said Humayun.

"I want to see the end of the nullah," said I.

"Their cavalry will get you," said he.

"What cavalry?" said I.

"You've just seen two of them," said he.

"Get out!" said I; "you're pulling my leg."

"Don't go," said he.

"I'm going," said