se which had lately been occupied by Mahomed Issar, their
commander-in-chief we found the trunk of a tree which the enemy were
converting into a cannon. It didn't require cannon to bring the walls of
Mastuj down,--a good strong kick would have been quite sufficient.
Shortly after we had reached Chitral, Moberly reported that part of the
wall had fallen on a sleeping sepoy, who was luckily saved by some beams
catching and protecting him from being crushed by the debris. There was
no apparent cause for the collapse, but the man is supposed to have
sneezed.

The next day a fatigue party was sent out to Chokalwat to destroy the
enemy's sangars, and bury any dead bodies that might be lying about.
This party would also act as a covering party to Peterson, who was
expected to arrive that day. With Peterson came Bethune and Luard, all
very sick at having missed a fight. This detachment brought the strength
of the Pioneers up to four hundred rifles.

The Hunza and fifty Punyal Levies were sent to reconnoitre towards Nisa
Gol that day, and fifty more Punyals up the Yarkhun valley to forage.
The rest of the day was spent in writing reports, making out official
returns, and other necessary nuisances.

Colonel Kelly and I were writing in a tent pitched on the roof, and I
had pretty well got through my work by 5 P.M.; and then Colonel Kelly
had out the maps and returns of supplies, etc., and, Borradaile being
called, there was a small council of war.

As I have before said, Colonel Kelly had practically settled at Pingal
to advance by Killa Drasan, but the question was, when should we be in a
position to do so? Here came in that everlasting transport and supply
question. We could now, of course, cut down our baggage by leaving
behind warm clothes and poshteens, as the weather would be getting
hotter every day as we descended to lower latitudes; but this only meant
that the men would have to carry less themselves, and, try as we would,
it seemed as if we could only raise enough transport for seven days'
supplies, five on coolies and two days in the men's haversacks. It was
seven days' march to Chitral by the direct route, and though our
intelligence pointed to the fact that supplies in the Chitral fort were
probably plentiful, it was yet only summer. Then, again, we might, or we
might not, get supplies on the road. We worried the question up and down
and inside out, but we couldn't increase the transport by one coolie.
Borradaile