was due, the villagers must pay or fight. And further, if they chose the
latter alternative, a heavy extra penalty would fall on them, such as
the confiscation of their cattle, the destruction of their strongholds,
and the losses inevitable when the appeal is made to warlike
arbitration.

It was on such an expedition that one of the Guides had a curious and
fatal adventure. Colonel George Lawrence, who was the British
Representative in Peshawur, was out in Yusafzai with a brigade of Sikh
troops, collecting revenue and generally asserting the rights of
government. Co-operating with him was Lumsden with the Guides. Among the
recalcitrants was the village of Babuzai, situated in a strong position
in the Lundkwar Valley, and Lawrence determined promptly to coerce it.
His plan of operation was to send the Guides' infantry by night to work
along the hills, so that before daylight they would be occupying the
commanding heights behind the village, and thus cut off escape into the
mountains. He himself, at dawn, would be in position with the Sikh
brigade to attack from the open plain; while the Guides' cavalry were
disposed so as to cut off the retreat to the right up the valley.

In pursuance of their portion of the plan of operations, as the Guides'
infantry were cautiously moving along the hills towards their allotted
position, in the growing light they suddenly came upon a picquet of the
enemy placed to guard against this very contingency. To fire was to give
the alarm, so with exceeding promptness the picquet was charged with the
bayonet, and overpowered. At the head of the small storming party
charged a _duffadar_[1] of the Guides' cavalry, by name Fatteh Khan.
Fatteh Khan was one of those men to whom it was as the breath of life to
be in every brawl and fight within a reasonable ride. On this occasion
he was of opinion that the cavalry would see little or no fighting,
whereas the infantry might well be in for a pretty piece of hand-to-hand
work. "To what purpose therefore, Sahib, should I waste my day?" he said
to Lumsden. "With your Honour's permission I will accompany my infantry
comrades on foot. Are we not all of one corps?" And so he went, keeping
well forward, and handy for the first encounter.

[1] _Duffadar_, a native non-commissioned officer of cavalry,
answering to the _naik_ (corporal) of infantry.

As the gallant duffadar, sword in hand, dashed at the picquet, he was
from a side position shot through bo