ng village, captured
and disarmed it, and brought away, as trophies of war, its chief and
three hundred head of cattle. To add to the modest pride taken in this
bright initial feat of arms, it was achieved single-handed, for the
supporting troop of Sikhs failed to face the dark terrors of the defile
and remained behind. This opening skirmish was the keynote to many an
after success. It helped to foster a spirit of alert preparedness,
readiness to seize the fleeting opportunity, and courage and
determination when once committed to action. These seeds thus planted
grew to be some of the acknowledged attributes of the force as it
blossomed into maturity under its gallant leader.

During the first year of its existence the young corps was engaged in
several more of the same class of enterprise, and in all acquitted
itself with quiet distinction. As, however, the history of one is in
most particulars that of another, it will not be necessary to enter into
a detailed account of each.

The British in the Peshawur Valley, as elsewhere in the Punjab, were in
a somewhat peculiar position. They were not administering, or policing,
the country on behalf of the British Government, but in the name of the
Sikh Durbar. In the Peshawur Valley, in which broad term may be included
the plains of Yusafzai, the Sikh rule was but feebly maintained amidst a
warlike race of an antagonistic faith. In the matter of the collection
of revenue, therefore, the ordinary machinery of government was not
sufficiently strong to effect regular and punctual payment; and
consequently, when any village or district was much in arrears, it
became customary to send a body of troops to collect the revenue. If the
case was merely one of dilatoriness, unaccompanied by hostile intent,
the case was sufficiently met by the payment of the arrears due, and by
bearing the cost of feeding the troops while the money was being
collected. But more often, dealing as they were with a weak and
discredited government, the hardy warriors of the frontier, sending
their wives and cattle to some safe glen in the distant hills, openly
defied both the tax-collector and the troops that followed him. It then
became a case either of coercion or of leaving it alone. An effete
administration, like that of the Sikhs, if thus roughly faced, as often
as not let the matter rest. But with the infusion of British blood a
new era commenced; and the principle was insisted on that, where revenue