he wouldn't
require the whiskey. I also replenished my store of chocolate.

CHAPTER VII

THE FIGHT AT NISA GOL

Next morning, 13th April, we were all having a good square breakfast by
6 A.M., and punctually at seven o'clock the column moved off, headed by
the Levies.

Our force consisted of--

400 Pioneers,
100 Kashmir Infantry,
40 Kashmir Sappers,
2 Mountain guns,
100 Hunza and Punyal Levies;

rather less than a single battalion, and not much with which to force
our way through seventy miles of bad country, but still we were
determined to get to Chitral before the Peshawur force.

It was a perfect morning, nice bright sunshine, and a jolly fresh
feeling in the air, sort of day that makes you want to take a gun and go
shooting; in fact, just the very day for a fight.

The Levies were across Oldham's bridge in no time, but the Pioneers had
to cross it slowly, as it was very jumpy, and only four men could be
allowed on it at a time. The guns were sent up to a ford some three
hundred yards up the stream. After crossing the main stream there was
still a creek to be forded, but this was not much above the men's knees.
This gave the Levies time to get ahead and send some scouts up the hills
to the right, in order to give timely warning if the enemy should try on
the rolling stone dodge, but the hills just here did not lend themselves
very readily to this mode of warfare. When our little army got across
the river, the advance guard was halted and the column formed up, and
then on we went. Peterson was in command of the advance guard, with
orders to halt when he reached the edge of the plain to allow the column
to close up for the attack. On the order to advance he was to hug the
hill on his right.

Just before the maidan the road drops down on to the river bed, and then
runs up on to the maidan itself, which gradually slopes up to the
centre, where it is divided by a deep nullah that I think they call in
America a canon. The sides of this nullah are in most places
perpendicular, varying from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet
in depth, with a small stream running along the bottom, the amount of
water depending on the melting of the snow in the hills above. There are
two places to cross it, one the regular road to Chitral, which zig-zags
down the nullah near the mouth, and the other a goat track about
half-way between the road and the hills. Both of these had sangars
covering their approach o