too strong to stem alone, and so they crossed in parties of a dozen or
more, holding hands; but now and then a man would try by himself,
generally with the result that half-way across he would get swept off
his feet, and go floating down the stream, vainly endeavouring to regain
his footing. Then there would be a rush of two or three of the levies,
the man would be swung on to his feet, and his load fished for. One man
I thought was bound to be drowned; he had somehow tied his load on to
his head, and, being washed off his feet, his head was kept down below
the water, while his legs remained waving frantically in the air. The
load, being light, floated, and in this manner he was washed down
stream, till two levies reached him, and, swinging him right side up,
brought him spluttering ashore.

I often noticed, when sending an old man back for the remainder of his
load, that some youngster who had brought his whole load across would
volunteer to bring the remainder of the old man's, and, of course, I was
only too glad to let him. We found the young men easy to manage, and the
old men were let down lightly; it was the middle-aged man, full of
strength and his own importance, who sometimes tried to raise
objections, but it was getting late, and no time for fooling, so we
drove our arguments home with a gun butt, and the man obeyed. The
rearguard crossed in the dark, and by nine o'clock I was able to report
to Colonel Kelly that everybody had arrived in camp, just as dinner was
ready.

I didn't turn in till late that night, as I was on duty, and had to go
scrambling round the pickets; even at that late hour I saw many men
still cooking, probably preparing food for the next day.

As our supplies were now reduced to less than three days, our march the
next morning was ordered for 10 A.M., in order to allow foraging
parties to go out at daybreak to scoop in anything they could find.

In the meantime, I sent some levies forward to the next village to
reconnoitre.

The foraging parties did not bring in much, but in our case every little
was of importance, and by 10 A.M. we started. Our front in camp had been
protected by a deep nullah; it took some time getting across this. By
the time we cleared the village, we met our returning scouts, who
reported having seen the enemy in the village of Mori, and reported
their strength as some one hundred men on foot, and about twenty
horsemen. So we all cheered up at the chance of a figh