The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 56, December 2, 1897 / A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

Vol. 1 December 2, 1897. No. 56
Copyright, 1897, by The Great Round World Publishing Company.
The recent despatches from India tell us that the soldiers who are fighting on the frontier have performed another gallant deed.
The heroes, this time, belonged to the Northamptonshire regiment.
It was necessary for the British to find out if the enemy was encamped anywhere in the neighborhood, so a portion of the troops left the British camp and marched to the summit of a mountain called Saran Sar.
There were no signs of the Afridis as they marched along, and the top of the hill was reached with little difficulty.
There they found the remains of a hastily vacated camp, and from the various signs that were around became convinced that the enemy was on the mountain with them.
Fearing an ambush, the British commander ordered his men to retreat, and the manœuvre had hardly been put in effect before the tribesmen appeared.
Following the troops closely, the Afridis fired on them from behind every bush and rock that offered cover, and, after many of the English soldiers had been killed or wounded, the tribesmen became so bold that they rushed from their cover and engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter with the soldiers.
General Westmacott, who commanded the party, at once realized that he had serious work before him, and hastily arranging his forces so that he could care for the wounded and move his men as quickly as possible, the commander hastened the retreat.
It was, however, difficult to do; and in the hurry of the retreat one little party, which had charge of a convoy of wounded comrades, became separated from the rest of their comrades and were surrounded by the angry tribesmen.