guard to the post two companies
of Gurkhas, a company of the 32nd Pioneers, and a few mounted infantry,
all under the command of Major Murray.

I accompanied the Karo la column, and must rely on hearsay as to my
facts with regard to the attack on the mission. We heard about the
attack the night before Colonel Brander drove the Tibetans from their
wall on the Karo la, after a long fight which altered all our previous
conceptions of the fighting qualities of the Tibetans. The courage shown
by the enemy naturally excited apprehension about the safety of the
mission. Colonel Brander did not stay to rest his troops after their day
of arduous fighting, but began his return march next morning, arriving
at Gyantse on the 9th.

The column had been warned that it was likely to be fired on from the
jong if it entered camp by the direct Lhasa road. Accordingly, we
marched in by a circuitous route, moving in under cover of the grove
previously mentioned. The Maxims and guns came into action at the edge
of the grove to cover the baggage. But, though numbers of Tibetans were
seen on the walls of the jong, not a shot was fired.

We then learnt the story of the attack on the post. It appears that the
day after Colonel Brander left for the Karo la (May 3) certain wounded
and sick Tibetans that we had been attending informed the mission that
about 1,000 armed men had come down towards Gyantse from Shigatze, and
were building a wall about twelve miles away. It was added that they
might possibly attack the post if they got to know that the garrison had
been largely depleted. This news seemed to be worth inquiring into, and,
accordingly, next day Major Murray sent some mounted infantry to
reconnoitre up the Shigatze road. The latter returned with the
information that they had gone up the valley some seven or eight miles,
but had found no signs of any enemy.

The very next morning the post was attacked at dawn. It appears that the
Shigatze force, about 1,000 strong, was really engaged in building a
wall twelve miles away. Hearing that very few troops were guarding the
mission, its commander--who, I hear, was none other than Khomba Bombu,
the very man who arrested Sven Hedin's dash to Lhasa--determined to make
a sudden attack on the post. He marched his men during the night, and
about an hour before sunrise had them crouching behind trees and inside
ditches all round the post.

The attack was sudden and simultaneous. A Gurkha sentry had j