ce.

By noon we had almost reached the highest point of the pass, and were
skirting the larger lake, when we met the coolies of Borradaile's party
returning with an escort of some of the Kashmir troops. They all seemed
pretty lively in spite of the poor time they had been having; but as
they are used to crossing the Shandur at all times of the year, I
daresay our sympathy was a good deal wasted.

We were soon descending into the Laspur valley, and we had hardly
dropped three hundred feet before all sense of sickness left me, and I
felt as fit as possible. A short way out of the village we were met by a
patrol which Borradaile had sent out to meet us, and by two o'clock we
were in camp, where we found Oldham in command, Borradaile having gone
on a reconnaissance down the valley. The previous day news had been
brought in that the enemy were assembled in the valley, and a small
party had gone out, as I have already related. On the morning of the 6th
April, Borradaile accordingly determined on another reconnaissance, this
time taking the guns with him, they being carried by Laspuri villagers,
who no doubt thought the game very poor fun. Gough went with the party,
Oldham remaining in command of the post, which was garrisoned with the
maimed, the halt, and the blind--in other words, with men suffering from
frostbite and snow blindness, of whom there were some twenty-six of the
former and thirty of the latter; those men of the Kashmir troops who
were fit to march being sent back across the pass as escort to the
coolies.

When the reconnoitring party had gone some three miles down the valley,
they came across the old camp fires of the enemy. At Rahman, two miles
farther on, they left the snow behind, much to everybody's delight, and
by one o'clock entered the village of Gasht, some eleven miles from
Laspur, and about half-way to Mastuj, the Levies crowning a small knoll
in the middle of the valley at the lower end of the village. From here
they reported they could see the enemy some three miles farther down the
valley, who were evidently engaged in building sangars and entrenching
themselves. A short council of war was held as to the advisability of
attacking them, but, considering that the force consisted of only a
little over a hundred men and some fifty Levies, besides the two guns,
and also the time of day, it was decided to return to camp, which was
reached by dark. The day's work was highly creditable to all concerned;