478 CHITRAL AND THE N.W. FRONTIER CAMPAIGN.

through,and, as we have seen, the brigadier in command at the pass determined on itsreceipt to go to the helpof the Chakdara garrison next day at all costs.

McCrae had checked the enemy's rush on the first night was held by a body of the tribesmen, entrenched in sungars and armed with rifles. Sir Bindon Blood assigned to another and smaller force, under Colonel Goldney, the task of clearing this hill. With 250 of the 35thSikhs,and fifty of the 38th Dogras,Goldney moved out silently in the grey dawn. Unperceived,he reached apoint only a hundred yards from the sungars. The tribesmenthen stood to their arms and opened a hurried, ill-aimedfare. Without losing a man the Sikhs rushed the sungars. Seven of the enemy werekilled, one captured, and the rest flsd wildly down the hillside.

TheIndianGovernmenthadmeanwhile taken steps to deal effectually with the rising of the Swat Valley tribes. On July 28th Sir Bindon Blood, whohad beenLow's chief of the staff in the Chitral campaign, was informed officially that he wouldbe given the command of a force to operatein the Swat district, and was ordered to proceed at once to the front. He reached Nowshera on the 31st, and there received a message informing him that Chakdara was hard pressed, so he hurried on to the Malakand camp without resting. On the 30th an order had been issued directing the assembly of the troops he was to command. The division, known as the MalakandField Force, was to be constituted of the followingtroops:— As theyfled under the fire of Goldney's men, Meiklejohn moved his column out through the defile, formed line of battle on the more open groundbeyond,and, withoutwaitingto exchange fire with the enemy in his front, went for them with thebayonet. Surprised andpanic stricken, the enemy gave way on all sides, and Adams, with his four squadrons, Guides and Benga' Lancers, charged after them in hot pursuit Only those whoescaped across therice fields b} the Swat River saved themselves from the rush of horsemen.

ist Brigade : Brigadier-General Meiklejohn. ist Battalion West Kent Regiment, 24th and 31st PunjaubInfantry, 45th Sikhs. 2nd Brigade:Brigadier-General Jeffreys. 1st Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs), Guides' Infantry, 35th Sikhs,38thDogras.

Other troops attached to the Division:— nth Bengal Lancers (four squadrons), 10th Bengal Lancers (one squadron), Guides' Cavalry (two squadrons), 10th Battery R.A., Nos. 1 and 7 British mountain batteries, the Bengal mountainbattery (twenty-four guns in all), two companies, native sappers and miners, the 22nd PunjaubInfantry, and two companiesof the21st.

Meanwhile the infantry was pushing forward along the military road. A fortifiedvillage was stormed with the bayonet by the Sikhs,Colonel McCrae being the first manin. As the vanguard of therelieving force neared the bridge,Rattray, with the Chakdara garrison, salliedout upon the besiegers,who were now giving wayinall directions. Chakdara had been saved, and the cost of the battleon the side of the victors hadbeen less than forty killed and wounded. Theenemy are believed to have lost 2,000 men during the siege. The garrison had a loss of only seven killedand thirteen wounded.

Most of these troops were at or near the front. The total force of thedivision was6,800infantry, 700 cavalry, and 24 guns. Sir BindonBlood reachedthe Malakandcamp on the afternoon of August ist and took command. He gave Meiklejohn the direction of the relieving column that was to move out to Chakdara next clay. It was madeup of 200 of the Guides' Infantry, 400 of the 24th Punjaubis, 400 of the 45th Sikhs, four squadrons of cavalry under Colonel Adams, and four mountain guns. During the night the enemy attacked the camp for the last time, and there was a good deal of heavy firing. Before dawn the attack ceased, and Meiklejohn's column fell in in the dark, ready to moveat daybreak.

But it was important that the column should be able to advance without having its progress checked asit marched out between the mountain spurs that commanded the road. The most prominent of these above the point where In the days that followedthis victorious entry of theMalakand garrison into the Swat Valley, numerous deputations of the tribesmen came in to make their submission. But it was decided that the force concentrated at the Malakand should make a march through the Swat country to enforce a complete surrender of all who had been concerned in the outbreak. With a view to dealingwith a possible spread of the disturbances, a newbrigade was formed under Geneial J. H.Wodehouse, an officer whohad seen some years of service on the Nile, and had won the hard-fought battleof Argin against the Dervish Emir Wad-en-Nejunai in 1883. The following was the compositionof the newbrigade:—