y were occupying the Nisa Gol, a
position some six miles from Mastuj, he reconnoitred up to it, and found
some sangars, which he destroyed, but no enemy.

A reinforcement of sixty sepoys came in that day from Ghizr. The next
two days were spent in trying to collect coolies for transport, and on
the 16th, in spite of the non-arrival of any coolies, he set out to Buni
with a hundred and fifty sepoys, each man carrying a sheepskin coat, two
blankets, a hundred and twenty rounds of ammunition, and three days'
cooked rations.

He halted that night at Sanoghar, where he collected some fifty coolies,
and learned by signal from Mastuj that Bretherton was sending some fifty
Yarkhun coolies the next day--fifty Punyal Levies also joined him that
evening. Starting the next morning, he reached Buni by 5 P.M., when he
found Jones and the remains of the Sikhs. The return journey was begun
two hours later, at 7 P.M., and carried on steadily all night, a small
body of the enemy following, but not daring to attack. Mastuj was
reached between 10 and 11 A.M. the next day, 18th March.

By the 22nd March the enemy had surrounded the fort, and the siege
began. Nothing of any event happened, the enemy contenting themselves
with long-range firing, only one man being slightly wounded and two
ponies killed. On the 9th of April "up we came with our little lot," and
the siege was raised.

Early the next morning we were up and going through the state of the
supplies and available amount of transport.

Transport and supplies were an everlasting source of worry, as it
generally is with every army, great or small.

We soon got a return of the supplies in Mastuj. I forget how many days
it was, but none too much for our force and the Mastuj garrison.
Bretherton was sent back to bring up supplies from the rear, and
messengers were sent to order in the villagers. We wanted their grain to
eat, and men to carry it. The villagers began to come in after a bit,
and brought a small amount of grain with them.

Stewart was hard at work getting ponies for his guns in place of the
mules left behind; the gun wheel and carriage saddles were sent for, and
shortly arrived.

The Levies were billeted in the houses which had lately been occupied by
the enemy, and we soon had pickets out round the fort. In showing the
Levies the houses they were to occupy, I examined the enemy's system of
loopholes and sangars, and found they were very well made indeed. In the
hou