s. One of the party was despatched for
help, and evidently came across a small group of Dorsets. The story
was, that the party were surrounded at short range when he left;
for, had they left their wounded and followed him, they might have
saved themselves. Next morning their bodies were found. In every
case they had been wounded by bullets, before the Pathans came up
and gashed them; which showed that they had fought till the last
man dropped.

Lisle was not one of those who returned to camp and, in the
confusion that occurred as the result of the late arrival of the
troops, his absence was not discovered until the next morning. On
enquiries being made, it was found that he was last seen high up in
the mountains. He had been sent down, with eight men, to request
the guns to direct their fire against the enemy, who were pressing
the regiment during the retreat; but as he had not arrived at the
guns, a strong party was at once sent out, to search for his body
and those of the men with him.

Lisle had, in fact, pushed down halfway to the spot where the guns
were placed, and had dismounted at the top of a nullah; when a
large party of the enemy opened fire upon him. One of the sepoys at
once fell dead, and another was wounded. It was impossible for him
to fight his way through this force. Twilight was already falling
and, owing to the rugged nature of the ground, he was by no means
sure of his position.

While the men returned the enemy's fire, he looked round for some
vantage ground. Fifty yards away there was a small blockhouse and,
when he saw this, he at once determined to shelter in it. He and
one of the men therefore lifted their wounded comrade, and Lisle
shouted to the others:

"Use your magazines, and then make a rush for the hut, keeping well
together."

The little party charged, meanwhile keeping up so heavy a fire,
with their magazines, that the Afridis who stood between them and
the house cleared off, leaving a dozen of their dead on the ground.
Before they reached the block house, two more of the men were
wounded but, fortunately, not severely enough to prevent them from
keeping up with the others. The place was untenanted, and they
rushed in and at once began to pile its contents against the door.

Lisle ordered the unwounded men to take their places at the
loopholes, which served for windows in the Afridi buildings, while
he himself attended to the wounds of the others. He warned the men
who were f