The officer who supplies this tale concludes: "I can see and hear the General's chuckle after administering this little pill."
Snipers
Colonel Ronald Brooke,[[3]] who proved himself an orderly officer after his General's own heart, tells us how the Ashreth Valley became infested by a band of hillmen who cut up stragglers from the convoys, and finally one night attacked a band of Chitrali traders (under the impression that they were our transport followers) who had incautiously spent the night at the foot of the pass. Twelve out of thirteen were killed; one only escaped, badly wounded, to carry the news to the nearest military post. The story goes on:
[[3]] Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel R. G. Brooke, D.S.O.
"The General and I at once hurried to the spot, which looked just like a shambles, and he immediately ordered a beat on a huge scale. Troops silently surrounded the Ashreth Valley from every side; and on August 12, instead of a grouse drive, we indulged in the far more exciting experience of a Kafristan robber drive. A band of fifteen were flushed on the hillside, of whom five were captured, the others escaping, never to return to so dangerous a spot. Of the five prisoners, three were sentenced to death, and the other two were set free on account of their youth."
General Gatacre and his favourite pony.
Having thus cleared his own valley of snipers, Gatacre longed to do the same on the Dir-Janbatai section, where the troops on escort-duty had been constantly fired on, several soldiers having been mortally wounded. At last he secured from the Major-General Commanding permission to take over this dangerous section as well as his own. A picked lot of Pathan Sepoys were sent down under an excellent native non-commissioned officer, with instructions to patrol the hillsides far above the position that snipers might take up, just when convoys were on the move, and thus literally to stalk the stalkers. This idea was crowned with success. In a few days' time the Pathans spotted a party of three hillmen lying up for the convoy. With extraordinary skill they succeeded in capturing two of the party; the third man escaped, although so severely wounded that he was tracked by his blood-marks for nine miles. The two prisoners turned out to be Afghans who had come over the frontier bent on doing as much harm as possible. Both were hanged, and thenceforward there was no more sniping on that section.
The General's interest in the scenery and flowers was very genuine. During the three months that the troops were scattered in various camps in these beautiful valleys, he found time to make a large collection of flowers and ferns, and himself attended to the drying and packing of the specimens. When these were eventually handed over to the Forest Department at Calcutta, the botanists found one fern which was pronounced a new variety, and named it after the General in the records of the Department.