CHITRAL AND THE N.W. FRONTIER CAMPAIGN. 444 rest of the day. An attempt tobreak out in the dark had to be abandoned after further losses. Another anxious day was spent in the caves.

whenthe starving men hadlaid down their arms allbut one were hacked to pieces by the swords of their treacherous enemies. Jones held his ownin Buni for a week, and then was relieved by a force, under Lieutenant Moberly, from Mastuj, to whichhe retired withhis rescuers.

" That night," writes Sir G.Robertson, " the poor fellows tried to escape by scaling the hillside,but were brought up short by a precipice, as they supposed, where a Sikh was lost. It was thought that the manhad fallen over a cliff, and that the place was impassable. Chitralis,on the other hand, say that they werewithin a few feet of safety, there being in front of themonly a smallpicquet, which fired andran away; that the man was killed by a bullet before he fell, and that they (the Chitrali critics)never could understand how the Sikhs failed to perceive that they had actually escaped. Be that as it may, they returned to the Meanwhile Edwardes and Fowler, with their escort of sixty-seven men, had been attackedat Reshun, and had shut themselves up in the village,which they had hurriedly put into a state of defence. The want of water was the chief difficulty, for the village stands a hundred yards from the edge of a high cliff,rising from the river. But water was obtained by daring sorties at night. The attacks of the Chitralis were gallantly repulsed, not without loss on the side of the defence. On the 13th, when food was running short, a flag of truce was displayed by the besiegers, and the garrison were informed that Mohammed Isa, one of Sher Afzul's officers, had arrived from Chitral to negotiate. He informed Edwardes that a truce hadbeen arranged at Chitral, and proposed that the officers and their escort should retire under his safe conduct to join their friends at Mastuj. Edwardesreplied that he could not leave his post without orders, but would be ready to send a caves once more, and passed another miserable day without food. Then Ross perceived he must cut his way out at all cost. Starting at two o'clock in the morning they rushed along, losing heavily. Ross behaved with astounding gallantry. It is related that he charged a sungar a little off the track by himself, and killed two or three of its inmates with his revolver at close quarters. Then a stone .partiallystunned him, and he Was shot dead. Jones and seventeen sepoys got through to COLONEL KELLY.

the plain on the east side of the defile, letter with these proposals to Mastuj ; meanwhile he would accept a truce provided that supplies were sent into thegarrison. Water was running short, food was sadly needed,especially for the wounded, so Edwardes was glad thus to gaina respite. On Mohammed Isa's invitation the two officers, after the foodhadbeenprovided andthe truce arranged, came outside the village to watch a polo match. While thus engaged they were suddenly seized and bound. The Chitralis then rushed the village,killingall but twelve of the garrison. Thus the tribesmen got possession of two valuable hostages and a large supply of arms andammunition. Thecampaign in Chitral had begun with a seriesof disasters. True, none of them were of any great extent materially. A skirmish or two had beenlost, one hill fort besieged, a village surprised, a detachment cut up, some cartridges and rifles captured, two British officers were dead, two where two consecutive masses of charging swordsmen withered up and melted before them, teaching the Chitralis their bitter mistake in attacking Sikhs shoulder to shoulder on open ground. But three more men were killed, and theremaining fourteen, ten of whom, including Jones, were grievously wounded, crawled painfully into Buni at six o'clock in the morning, and found the party left there by Ross. These fourteen men and one other werethe sole survivors of the sixty soldiers who entered the Koraghdefile.''

That "one other" had a stillmore terrible experience. When Ross dashed out of the caves some twenty of the Sikhs lost heart andretired again into their place of refuge. Without food or water, they held the cave mouth for eight days. Then they surrendered on a solemn promise that their lives should be safe. But