THE SAMPAGHA PASS CARRIED. 505 carried the nearest of the sungars with a rush.

Westmacott's men were moving upin thesecond line. The advance was a steady climb fromrock to rock up the hillside, the chief delay being caused by having to cross numerousgullies and ravines. The tribesmen werenot showing either the marksmanship or the determined valour of those who held the Dargai heights. As the attack came on they were giving way slowly.

At a quarter to ten the Queen's,led by Major Haiaford Flood (who, though wounded in the arm, refused to leave his men), reached the summit of the Pass, the tribesmen retiring over the ridge. Some of them clung to a knoll on the right, but this was cleared rapidly by the Yorks and the Sikhs. GeneralSpragge, as soon as he saw the summit was won,sent forwarda mountain battery to assist indriving the enemy from the reverse slope of the Pass. Its commander. Captain de Butts, was killedby a bullet as he brought it into action. The guns and the long-ranging rifle volleys of the infantry drove theOrakzais in wild flight down into thevalley beyond. The Sampagha had been won, with the loss of only twenty-four men. The enemy had carried off all their killed and wounded. The ease with which this formidable Pass had been cleared wasa surprise to everyone,especially after the desperate resistance encountered at Dargai.

The tribesmenin their hurried retreat set fire to several of the villages below the Pass in order to destroy the stores of fodder andgrain accumulated in the houses. All day the troops were marching down the winding hill-path into the Mastura Valley. They camped for the night at thefoot of the descent. The valley was wide and fertile,with terraced fields,plenty of timber, and abundanceof walnut and apricot trees. It seemed all the more beautiful after the stern desolation of the Khanki Valley and the bare slopesof the Samana.