A DEARLY-BOUGHT VICTORY. 491 night before by " snipers," and his cavalry were shot at as theyreconnoitred to thefront, but no organised bodiesof theenemy wereencountered. The other brigade, under General Jeffreys, camped near Inayat Kila, a few miles to the eastward, next day. In the darkness of the followingnight the Mohmunds tried to rush the camp. The valley in which the camp lay was cut up with nullahs or watercourses. Soon after eight o'clock three shots were fired as a signal by the enemy,andat once a heavyfusillade was opened from the nullahs on one side of the camp, which waspitchedin a square shape;the troopson thesides; the stores, etc.,inthemiddle. The Guides, who held the face of the square which was attacked, replied steadily,lying in a sheltered trench which completely protected them. About ten o'clock a bugle in theenemy's lines sounded theEnglishcall " Retire," and the firing all but ceased, only a few dropping shots ringing out from time to time. It was bright moonlight. Nosign of the enemy could be seen, and it was supposed the attack was over, but about half an hour later a storm of sire broke out on the opposite side of the camp. The enemy had got to within a hundred yards of it, creeping unseen among the rocks. The 38th Dogras,posted on that side, met and held them with steady volleys. The artillery fired star shells further to light up the ground,but the attack had good coverin the rocks, and for some time held their own close up to the trenches. The tents had been struck ; a rough shelter of boxes of storeshad been made for the field hospital. Two officers of the Dogras were killed and a third mortally wounded. Of themen, five werekilled and seven wounded. Nearly a hundred transport animals were hit, and killed or disabled, a serious loss for the brigade. A little after two the attack ceased, and the tribesmen retired. The Lancers pursued them at dawn and killed twenty-one of them, but the main body of the Mohmunds madesuch a determined rally that the idea of attacking them with the cavalry onlyhad to be abandoned.

of the theatre of war, two divisions, or five brigades in all, were employed against the enemy.

On the 16th General Jeffreys advanced up the Mamund Valley and fought a pitched battle with the tribesmen. It was a dearly-bought success, as there were nearly 150 killed and woundedon the side of the British,the heaviest loss that had occurredin a frontier fight for more than twenty years. Jeffreys had moved up into the hills, with his brigade formed in three columns, inorder to burn theMamund villages. The right column found the village on which it moved too strongly held and fortified to be attacked without a preliminary bombardment, for which it hadno artilleryavailable. Theother two columns met with verylittle resistance,and accomplishedtheir purpose. The villages were ablaze,some of their fortified towers had been blownup,and the order was given to return to camp. But no soonerhad the retirementbegun thanthe whole aspectof the scene changed. The tribesmen,acting on a plan which they adopted on manyother occasions withequalsuccess, were only waiting for this moment to begin their attack.

Therocky valley and the hill slopes became suddenly alive with thousands of armed men. Theypressedon boldly in longskirmishing lines, taking skilful advantage of every bit of cover, andpouring a heavy rifle fire into the rearguard companies. Divided from each other by rocky gullies, several of them were outflanked and temporarily isolated. The whole retreat was slow anddeliberate, and after the firstlosses the rearguard found themselves encumbered and delayed by having to carry off not only their wounded but also their dead; for the bodies of their fallen comrades, if left on the ground, would have been savagely mutilated by the enemy,and no effort was spared to save them from such outrage. The groups formed by the bearersof the deadand wounded became in turn well-marked targets for the fire of the tribesmen, and the loss of the rearguard increased rapidly. Reinforced from the mainbody,theyturnedagain andagain, stood fiercely at bay, and drove back their assailants, but the moment the retreat was resumed the tribesmen came on again, waving their banners, shouting their war-cries, firing from everyrock andcoign of vantage,and often trying to charge home with sword andknife in hand. Towards sundown a tropical storm burst overthe hills and continued long after dark, and the slow,dogged retreat went onunder a deluge It was now decided that while Sir Bindon Blood should, with Wodehouse's brigade, carry out the originalplan of co-operation withGeneral Elles, General Jeffreys should turn aside from hisprearranged line and advance to punish the tribes of Bajaur who had attacked his camp. At the same time the 1st Brigade,under General Meiklejohn, was ordered to leave the Swat Valley and enter that of the Panjkora, to act as a reserve. Thus, in the northern part