rear. Some attacks which were
made upon the Afghans were repulsed, with loss. Major Birch and
Lieutenant Fitzgerald were killed, and Captain Maclean wounded; and
between thirty and forty of the rank and file were killed, or
wounded. As the fort and its defenses could not have been carried
by direct attack, without immense loss of life; it was determined
to cease operations until morning, in order to give the flanking
columns time to reach the positions assigned to them. A wing of a
regiment, from each brigade, was ordered to remain on the hillside
facing the Afghan entrenchments. The rest of the troops fell back a
short distance, and lay down as they were, for the night.

In the meantime, the brigades of Macpherson and Tytler had
encountered enormous difficulties on the line of march. The roads
they had taken were mere tracks, and there were many places where
it was almost impossible to get the mountain guns along. From
daybreak until late at night the troops labored, unceasingly. They
knew, by the dull roar echoed and re-echoed among the mountains,
that their comrades below were engaged; and the thought that a
failure might ensue, owing to their absence from the contest,
nerved them to continued exertions.

Late at night, however, Macpherson with his brigade arrived on the
top of the hill facing Ali-Musjid; and Tytler, with his column,
came down into the Khyber valley in rear of the fort. But, though
unopposed, their march had not been unnoticed and, late in the
evening, the news reached the Afghans that the British were
marching down into the valley behind them. A wild panic instantly
seized them. Clothes, ammunition, guns, everything that could
impede their flight were thrown away; and the garrison of
Ali-Musjid, and the Afghans in the hillside entrenchments fled, a
herd of frightened fugitives, up the valley. Hasty as was their
retreat, they were not in time. Tytler, with his column, debouched
into the valley before they had passed the spot where the mountain
path descended into it; and large numbers were taken prisoners.

As at the Peiwar-Khotal, the Afghans proved themselves capable of
defending a strong position, valiantly; but were converted into a
mob of panic-stricken fugitives, by their line of retreat being
threatened. A European army, under like circumstances, would have
fallen back in good order. Their force was amply sufficient to have
swept aside the little column which barred their retreat, and they