CHITRAL AND THE N.W. FRONTIER CAMPAIGN. 504 of the advance, and supplying an escort for the artillery, which was all to be massed under the command of General Spragge, in order to prepare the way for Gaselee's attack by a heavy, bombardment of the Pass and its approaches.

between the Khanki and Mastura Valleys, through a depression in the ridge. Right and left are bold spurs, difficult to climb,and rocky knolls rise from the groundin the gap justabove the path. Lower down the hillside projects an advanced spur, and on this,on the knollsin the Pass, and on the slopes and spurs oneither side, the tribesmen had erected strong breastworks. They were evidently anxious about a turning movement, and had taken a good dealof trouble The advancebegan as the dawn whitened the eastern sky, and while the shadows still lay deep in the valleys. Up through the twilight, with the Goorkha scoutsin front,came Gaselee's THE PASS CAPTURED, to fortify the spurs on both flanks near the summit of the ascent. Why it was they did not make a more dogged resistance is not at all clear. The most likely reason seems to have been that the Afridi clansmen had been quarrelling with their Orakzai allies. The Pass and the valleys on both sides of it are in the Orakzai country, and the Afridis, more anxious to defend their own valleys than this outlying borderland of Tirah, withdrew from the Sampagha before the fight, leaving the Orakzais to meet Lockhart's advance singlehanded.

brigade. On the right the Devons,on the left the Goorkhas of Hart's brigade, were making their way along the flanking ridges. Another battalion of the same brigade, the Derbyshire Regiment, had seized a bold knoll facing the Pass, and up behind them the long train of mules were picking their way over the rocks, bringing up the thirty-six mountain guns and their ammunition. At first only space could be found to put half of them into position, but later the whole six batteries were in action. By seveno'clock the fight had openedall along the front. The mountains were echoing to the roarof the guns, the explosionsof burstingshells, and the sharp crackle of infantry fire. Gaselee had deployedhis brigade, the Sikhs on the right, the Queen's and the Yorkshire Regiment in the centre, and the Goorkhas on the left, and had Theplan of attack wasvery simple. The Pass was to be stormed from the front by Gaselee's brigade,(the second),supportedby Westmacott's (the fourth). Kempster's (the third) wasto form the reserve, and Hart's (the first) was to be broken up, its regiments protecting the flanks