Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti

by G. A. Henty

At two o'clock the return march began. A company of the Northamptons were placed within range of the wooded slope, which should have been covered by the Dorsets, had they come up. They were suddenly fired upon, and the men fell fast. Another company came up to help them. The enemy could not be seen, but volleys were fired into the wood. The 36th Sikhs went back to reinforce them, and the whole force were withdrawn without further casualty.

As the Northamptons were retiring across the wooded zone, the first four companies were allowed to pass unmolested; but when the fifth reached the clear ground, they were greeted with a blaze of fire. The carriage of the wounded delayed the retirement, and it was not until dusk that the foot of the hill was reached.

The enemy had taken every advantage that their knowledge of the country gave them. They had now begun to creep up the ravines, and their number increased every minute. Men were falling fast. Each man carrying a wounded comrade became a target. The Dorsets also were severely engaged. The Northamptons stuck to their work, and slowly withdrew their wounded; but the number of casualties increased alarmingly.

Then an unfortunate occurrence took place. A party of Northamptons, under Lieutenant Macintyre and Lieutenant Sergeant Luckin, turning a corner, were cut off. It appeared that they sacrificed themselves to their wounded comrades. One of the party was despatched for help, and evidently came across a small group of Dorsets. The story was, that the party were surrounded at short range when he left; for, had they left their wounded and followed him, they might have saved themselves. Next morning their bodies were found. In every case they had been wounded by bullets, before the Pathans came up and gashed them; which showed that they had fought till the last man dropped.

Lisle was not one of those who returned to camp and, in the confusion that occurred as the result of the late arrival of the troops, his absence was not discovered until the next morning. On enquiries being made, it was found that he was last seen high up in the mountains. He had been sent down, with eight men, to request the guns to direct their fire against the enemy, who were pressing the regiment during the retreat; but as he had not arrived at the guns, a strong party was at once sent out, to search for his body and those of the men with him.

Lisle had, in fact, pushed down halfway to the spot where the guns were placed, and had dismounted at the top of a nullah; when a large party of the enemy opened fire upon him. One of the sepoys at once fell dead, and another was wounded. It was impossible for him to fight his way through this force. Twilight was already falling and, owing to the rugged nature of the ground, he was by no means sure of his position.

While the men returned the enemy's fire, he looked round for some vantage ground. Fifty yards away there was a small blockhouse and, when he saw this, he at once determined to shelter in it. He and one of the men therefore lifted their wounded comrade, and Lisle shouted to the others:

"Use your magazines, and then make a rush for the hut, keeping well together."

The little party charged, meanwhile keeping up so heavy a fire, with their magazines, that the Afridis who stood between them and the house cleared off, leaving a dozen of their dead on the ground. Before they reached the block house, two more of the men were wounded but, fortunately, not severely enough to prevent them from keeping up with the others. The place was untenanted, and they rushed in and at once began to pile its contents against the door.

Lisle ordered the unwounded men to take their places at the loopholes, which served for windows in the Afridi buildings, while he himself attended to the wounds of the others. He warned the men who were firing to withdraw quickly after every shot, for the Afridis were such admirable marksmen that their bullets frequently entered the loopholes.