k forward therefore in front of the firing
line, to do which we had to ask Borradaile to stop one company firing,
which he very kindly did. We struck the nullah close opposite the
empty sangar No. 15, and from there followed the edge till we were well
within sight of the sangars in the middle of the maidan, without having
found a place where we could get down, but we noticed a track which led
up the opposite bank. We therefore turned back and retraced our steps
till we came to a spot which we had examined before, but had thought
impossible. Where we stood the drop was sheer for some seventy feet, but
then there came a ledge, from which we thought we could scramble down on
to the bed of the stream and up the opposite side, where we had noticed
the track. We therefore hurried back; Oldham for his Sappers, and I to
report to Colonel Kelly. I likewise asked for the reserve company of
Kashmir troops to cross over as soon as a path could be made under cover
of the fire of the already extended companies of the Pioneers. Colonel
Kelly assented, and I sent off a note to Moberly to bring up his
company. When I got back to the nullah, I found the Pioneers extended
along the edge, and Oldham's Sappers already at work.

[Illustration: Reconnaissance Sketch of the position at Nisa Gol.]

The Levies in the meantime had heard of a path higher up in the hills,
and were sent off to cross as best they could. Having nothing more to
do, I sat down where Oldham's men were at work, and watched the
proceedings. The men in No. 16 sangar had evidently had enough of it,
their sangar having been pretty well knocked about their ears, and when
any of the survivors tried a shot, it called down a volley on him.
Presently they began to bolt, and then the laugh was on our side.

That sangar was a death-trap to its garrison--their only line of escape
was across some open, shaley slopes within four hundred yards of our
firing line, and the Levies were now working along the hill, and would
catch them in the sangar if they didn't clear out. The result was like
rabbit shooting You'd see a man jump from the sangar and bolt across the
shale slope, slipping and scrambling as he went; then there would be a
volley, and you'd see the dust fly all round him--perhaps he'd drop,
perhaps he wouldn't; then there would be another volley, and you'd see
him chuck forward amid a laugh from the sepoys, and he'd roll over and
over till he'd fetch up against a rock and lie s