When he had completed the dressing of the wounds, Lisle mounted to
the upper story, which was a feature of every house in the valley.
While the lower part was of stone; the upper one was built of
wicker work, thickly plastered with mud, and quite useless as a
protection against rifle bullets. He set to work to cut a dozen
small loopholes, a few inches above the floor. From these he
commanded a view all round. Then he called up the two wounded men,
who were still able to use their rifles, and ordered them to lie
down, one at each of the side walls; while he himself took his
place over the doorway, with the rifle of the disabled man.
From here he picked off several of the enemy. His fire was returned
but, as he took care to lie well back, the bullets all went over
his head.
When darkness fell, he went down and directed the sepoys to man
only the loopholes in the front wall. This released three men, whom
he brought upstairs and posted above the door.
The Afridis continued to riddle the upper wall and the door with
bullets. Several times they attempted a rush, but were unable to
withstand the heavy magazine fire which met them, when within
twenty yards of the house. Twice they attempted to pile faggots at
the side of the door, but the defence was so strong that many of
the bearers were killed, and the survivors fled.
Knowing that the Afridis were in the habit of hiding their store of
grain, Lisle prodded the floor in all directions with his bayonet
and, at last, found a good supply in one corner of the room.
Unfortunately, however, there was only one vessel, half full of
water. It would not have done to light a fire to cook the grain, as
any illumination within the house would have shown the exact place
of the loopholes to the enemy. Lisle therefore served out some
grain to each of the soldiers, to eat raw. He gave some of the
water to the three wounded men, and served out a mouthful to each
of the others; telling them that they might not be relieved for
some time, and that the little supply must be made to last as long
as possible.
The enemy still kept up a heavy fire but, after the lessons they
had received, there was but small chance that they would attempt
another hand-to-hand attack. Lisle therefore told all the men to
lie down and sleep, while he himself took up his place at the
loophole nearest the door, and kept watch.
No attempt was made until daybreak was approaching; when, with wild
yells, the Afridis again rushed forward. The men were instantly on
their feet, and eight rifles flashed out.
"Magazine firing!" Lisle shouted, "but don't fire unless you see a
man, and make sure of bringing him down. We must husband our
ammunition."
Quietly and steadily, the men kept up their fire. This time the
enemy reached the door, and Lisle was compelled to call down the
two men from above. The Afridis gathered thickly round the door,
tried to push it in with their heavy knives, and battered it with
the butt ends of their rifles. Gradually, in spite of the fire of
the defenders, they splintered it; but the barricade behind still
held and, from this, the besieged poured through the broken door so
galling a fire--one half emptying their magazines, and then falling
back to reload while the others took their places--till at last,
after suffering a loss of some thirty men, the enemy retired again,
and were soon hidden in the darkness. As soon as they had gone, the
garrison brought down all available material from the upper floor
to strengthen the barricade.
"I don't think they will try again, lads," Lisle said.
The numbers of the besieged were, unfortunately, dwindling. One had
been shot through the head, two others had been wounded, and Lisle
himself had received a bullet in his shoulder. There were now but
two unwounded men; but the other four were all capable of using
their rifles, at a pinch. It was a relief, indeed, when day fairly
broke; for then they could see their foes at a distance and, by a
steady fire, force them to take to shelter. When they got into
cover, the tribesmen continued to fire upon the block house; but
the besieged did not reply, for they had only twenty rounds per man
left.
Another mouthful of water was now served to all and, the two
unwounded men having been placed in the upper story to keep watch,
the others sat down under the loopholes, in readiness to leap to
their feet and fire, if an alarm was given.
At length, about eleven o'clock, the fire of the enemy suddenly
ceased and, a few minutes later, a relief party marched up. The men
cheered lustily as the barricade was removed, and Lisle and the six
men came out. The officers ran forward and warmly greeted Lisle,
shaking hands with him and the men of his little party.
"Thank God we have found you alive, Bullen! We hadn't even a hope
that you had survived; for we found poor Macintyre and his party,
all killed and cut up. We started this morning, as soon as your
absence was discovered, and have been searching ever since; but I
doubt if we should ever have found you, had we not heard firing
going on up here. I don't think men were ever so pleased as ours,
when we heard it; for it showed that you, or some of your party,
were still holding out.
"You must have had desperate fighting, for there are some forty
bodies lying near the door; and we know that the enemy always carry
off their dead, when they can. You must have accounted for a good
many more, who have been taken away in the darkness."
"We have done our best, you may be sure," Lisle said. "We have lost
two men killed, and four out of the others are wounded. I myself
have got a rifle ball in my shoulder; at least, it is not there
now, for it went right through. Fortunately it missed the bone, so
I shall be all right again, in a day or two."
"How many were you attacked by?"
"I should say there must have been two hundred. That was about the
number, when they first attacked."
"You must have been exposed to a tremendous fire. The walls are
everywhere pitted with bullet marks, and the upper story seems
perfectly riddled with balls; but of course none of you were up
there."
"Yes, we used it as a lookout. As you see, I made four loopholes in
each side and, as we lay well back, their bullets passed over our
heads.
"What we want now is water. We drank the last drop, when we saw you
coming. We had scarcely a mouthful each, and we have not had much
more during the siege."
Flasks were instantly produced, and each man drank his fill.
"And now we had better be off," the officer in command of the
relief party said. "Likely enough the Afridis will be down upon us,
as soon as we move."
They were, indeed, several times fired at, as they made their way
down to the camp, and at one time the resistance was formidable;
but they were presently joined by another party from the camp, and
the Afridis therefore drew off.
Lisle received many hearty congratulations on his return, and many
officers of other regiments came in to shake his hand.
"I shall send in your name again, Mr. Bullen," his colonel said,
after Lisle had made his report. "It was a most gallant action, to
defend yourself so long, with only seven men, against a couple of
hundred of the enemy; and the loss you inflicted upon them has been
very severe, for forty fell close to the house, so that their
bodies could not be carried off. I certainly should reckon that you
must have killed or wounded a good many more."
"I don't think so, Colonel. No doubt we killed some more but, as it
was dark for the greater part of the time, we could only fire at
the flashes of their rifles. Certainly I saw twelve or fourteen
fall, before it became quite dark and, as they several times tried
to rush us, others might have fallen far enough from the house to
be carried off by their friends."
That day General Lockhart placed, in the order of the day, the
names of Lisle and his little party as having shown conspicuous
gallantry, in defending themselves against a vastly superior force.
Two days later General Lockhart, himself, went out with a strong
force to the top of Saransur; but met with little resistance, and
the force returned at a much earlier hour than on the previous
occasion, and reached camp before nightfall.
In warfare of this kind, it is the wounded who are the cause of
disaster. A wounded man means six men out of the fighting
line--four to carry him, and one to take charge of their rifles. A
few casualties greatly reduce the fighting strength of the party.
In European warfare this would not take place, as the wounded would
be left behind, and would be cared for by the enemy.
The next day representatives of all the Orakzai tribes came in, and
asked for terms. They were told that they must restore all stolen
property, give up five hundred rifles, and pay a fine of thirty
thousand rupees, and the cost of rebuilding the post they had
destroyed. Representatives of three other tribes also came in, and
similar terms were imposed upon them. Two of these, the
Kambar-Khels and the Malikdins, were in the habit of migrating to
British territory in cold weather; but the Kuki-Khels sent their
families and goods, in winter quarters, to the Bara valley. The
other Maidan tribes would probably have come in at the same time,
but for their fear of the Zakka-Khels.
There was trouble the next day in the Mastura valley, where two
officers and four men were wounded. The following night the camp
was fired into, by an enemy who had crept within a hundred and
fifty yards of it. News came that General Kempster, with his
detached brigade, had met with little opposition; and his search
over the hills showed that the Zakka-Khels, in that direction, were
severely punished.
On the 13th, the 3rd Brigade left the camp to cross the Kotal
towards Saransur. Except for a few long-range shots, there was no
opposition. Next day a Mullah's house was destroyed, documents
found there showing that he had taken a vigorous part in the
rising.
Two days later the brigade started on their return march. The 1st
and 3rd Ghoorkhas were to cover the retirement, and the 15th Sikhs
to hold the Kotal. The baggage train reached the Kotal by twelve
o'clock, and the camp at three. The Ghoorkhas, however, had to
fight hard; and were so done up that, instead of continuing to
cover the retirement they passed on, leaving the Sikhs to cover.
The enemy, thinking that only a small rear guard had been left,
came down in great force; but the fire was so heavy that they fell
back, leaving the ground strewn with their dead. The action,
however, now became general, all along the hill. Ammunition was
running short, and Captain Abbott felt that, in the face of so
large a force, and with fifteen or sixteen wounded, he could not
retire down the ravine or valley without support. He therefore
signalled for assistance; and the 46th, and two companies of the
Dorsets, were detached for that purpose.
Colonel Houghton of the 36th, who was now in command, retiring
steadily, found himself hampered with wounded in the rough country;
while the enemy were surrounding him in increasing numbers. He was
suffering heavily from the fire of the enemy posted in a small
village; and he determined to seize it, and hold it for the night.
Three companies of the 15th and two of the 36th therefore rushed up
the hill, and were into the buildings before the Pathans were aware
that they were moving against them. Those that delayed were
bayoneted, the rest fled precipitately into the darkness. Their
fire, however, had cost us an officer and five men killed.
Major Des Voeux on the right, having rushed a clump of buildings
opposite to him, made for a second one on the far side of the
nullah, in which was a small square building. The roof of the house
had been burnt, and the charred beams were lying on the ground. The
men rolled these, and what litter they could find into the gaps of
the building; but the breastwork was barely two feet high. When the
enemy returned to the attack they rushed right up to the house but,
luckily, they fired high in their excitement, and the Sikhs swept
them back again. The breastwork was then completed, a sentry was
placed at each side of the house, and the rest lay down.
Colonel Houghton's post, which was a strong one, was not much
troubled. A disaster, however, occurred to a half company, under
two officers, who tried to push their way back to camp. Their
bodies were found in a nullah, in the morning.
The next morning the parties were relieved by a force from camp.
On the same day General Westmacott, with the 4th Brigade, marched
out. For the past three days the Malikdins and Kambar-Khels had
shown a disposition to be friendly, and had made some attempt to
open a grain traffic. Major Sullivan, with three other officers,
pushed forward to prospect a site for a camp. Some apparently
friendly and unarmed tribesmen approached them; but Major
Sullivan's suspicions were excited when he saw that, instead of
coming down direct, they were making a sweep that would cut off his
little party. He therefore whistled for the others to join him.
When the tribesmen saw that the game was up, they poured in two
volleys. Luckily the shots went high, and the four officers gained
the cover of a house, and were soon joined by a Ghoorkha company.
There was no doubt that the enemy had played the game of friendlies
for the purpose of obtaining four officers, alive, to use as
hostages.
The force then retired, bringing in the baggage animals, loaded
with forage. The return was now decided upon. It was considered by
the authorities that it would be less expensive to organize another
expedition in the spring, when the sowing had begun; than to
maintain a large force in the Tirah during the winter. The Afridis
would not come down, and orders were therefore issued for
destroying all the villages. These were burned, and the axe laid to
the roots of the beautiful groves.
The tribal representatives of the Kambar-Khels, Alla-Khels,
Malikdin-Khels, and Kuki-Khels came in. They were ordered to send
in eight hundred serviceable rifles, fifty thousand rupees in cash,
and all property that had been stolen.
When the force arrived at Bagh there was a sharp action, and the
casualties amounted to twenty-two wounded and seven killed. The
Ghoorkhas reported that they had found the enemy in great force, in
the valley.
On the 22nd of November, Sir William Lockhart made a reconnaissance
to Dwatoi and the Bara valley. He took with him a strong brigade,
under General Westmacott. Every precaution was taken in entering
this unknown country, as the road led down a defile commanded by
high peaks. The Yorkshire Regiment was told off to hold the right
of the advance, the 1st and 2nd Ghoorkhas were to do the same work
on the left. The column was headed by the 3rd Ghoorkhas; followed
by the 28th Bombay Volunteers, two companies of the Sappers and
Miners, the Borderers, and the baggage; the rear guard being
furnished by the 36th Sikhs.
Within a mile of camp, the Ghoorkhas were engaged with stray
riflemen. A mile farther they were met by the main body, and were
unable to proceed farther without support. The flanking regiments,
however, presently came up, and the advance continued. The road lay
in the river bed, and the men were plodding, waist deep, in water.
The passage became narrower and narrower, and so rapid was the
decline that the river bed became impassable, and the men made
their way along by its side. The road was almost dark, so high were
the cliffs and so narrow the passage between them.
Here the resistance became very formidable. The Ghoorkhas were all
engaged in clearing the ridges, and the Bombay Pioneers pushed
forward an advance guard, the Borderers moving up to their support.
The deepest gorge was enfiladed by a party of tribesmen, with
Martinis. One man fell with a broken leg. The man helping him was
shot a moment later and, when a stretcher was brought back, two
more of the Borderers were hit. A section of the 3rd Sikhs was
detached to turn the enemy out, and then the ravine was rushed by
all the rest. There was another gorge to be passed, and the enemy
were pressing on both sides; but a battery was now brought into
action, and soon drove them off.
Thus Dwatoi was reached, where the force encamped. It was but a
small open plain, some five hundred yards across. Three miles away
a gorge opened into the Rajgul valley, and it appeared that, beyond
this, lay Wira valley.
All the summits were strongly picketed. Night fell, and there was
no sign of the baggage. The troops were wet to the waist, there
were seventeen degrees of frost, and the men had neither blankets
nor food.
When morning broke there were still no signs of baggage, but at
eleven it began to appear. At noon fighting began again, and the
rest of the train did not arrive till about five o'clock. Fighting
had been incessant the whole day. It was so severe that Sir William
Lockhart determined to return to Bagh, the following day.
The arrangements were admirable. The baggage was loaded up before
daybreak. The Ghoorkhas were to ascend the hills flanking the
village, three companies of the Borderers were to form the advance
guard, the wounded on stretchers were to follow, and the mountain
battery was to take up a position to cover the retirement. By eight
o'clock the last of the baggage was near the nullah. The helio then
flashed to the pickets. They came in and joined the rear guard of
the Sikhs, and were well in the nullah before a shot was fired.
When the Afridis fairly took the offensive they attacked with fury,
and the Sikhs were obliged to signal for help. They were joined by
a company of the Borderers. A party of Pathans dashed forward to
seize the baggage; they had not, however, seen the few files that
formed the rearmost guard, and were therefore caught between two
bodies of troops, and almost annihilated. This sudden reversal of
the situation seemed to paralyse the tribesmen, and the rest of the
gorge was safely passed. Though the natives followed up the rear
guard to within two miles of the camp, they never made another
determined attack. The force lost, in all, five officers wounded,
and a hundred men killed and wounded, from the 36th.
During the course of the reconnaissance Lisle had been with the
rear guard, and had fallen in the torrent with a rifle ball through
his leg. As every man was engaged in fighting, the fall was
unnoticed and, as he could not recover his footing, he was washed
helplessly down to the mouth of the defile. As he managed to reach
the shore, a party of Afridis rushed down upon him with drawn
tulwars; but a man who was evidently their leader stopped them, as
they were about to fall upon him.
Illustration: A party of Afridis rushed down upon him.
"He is an officer," he said. "We must keep him for a hostage. It
will be better, so, than killing him."
Accordingly he was carried back to a village which the troops had
left that evening. Here some women were told to attend to his
wound, and the party who captured him went off to join in the
attack on the British rear guard.
In the evening, the man who had saved his life returned. He was, it
seemed, the headman of the village; and had been with his force in
the Bara valley, where the natives of the village had retired on
the approach of the British force. There Lisle lay for ten days, by
which time the inflammation from the wound had begun to subside.
The bullet had luckily grazed, and not broken the bone. At the end
of that time, some of the principal men came to him and, by signs,
directed him to write a letter to the British commander, saying
that he was a prisoner, that he was held as a hostage against any
further attempt to penetrate into the valley; and that, in the
event of another British force approaching, he would be at once put
to death.
Four of the Afridis always sat at the entrance to the house, which
was one of the largest in the valley. He was served regularly with
food; of which, as the valley had not been entered, there was, of
course, abundance. The women in the house seldom came in to see
him, except when they brought him his meals; and then it was
evident, from their surly manner, that they strongly objected to
his presence.
As he lay on his rough pallet, he resolved to maintain the
appearance of being unable to walk, as long as possible. He knew
very well that, if General Lockhart had to make another movement
against the Bara valley, he could not be averted from his purpose
by the fact that the Afridis held one officer prisoner, though he
would assuredly revenge his murder, by destroying every house in
the valley; and that he must accordingly trust only to himself to
make his escape. To do this, it would be absolutely necessary to
procure a disguise; and this, at present, he did not see his way to
accomplish.
The guards below were relieved every few hours, and kept up their
watch every day. Still, as they watched only the door, it might be
possible for him to let himself down from the window at the back of
the house.
On the tenth day he found himself really able to walk, without very
great difficulty. Looking out of the window, one morning, he saw
that the women of the house were all gathered round the guards, and
talking excitedly. Evidently some messenger had come in with news
from the Tirah valley. He knew, by this time, how many there were
in the house, and was satisfied that they were all there.
He at once made his way down to the floor below; feeling confident
that, for the moment, he would not be disturbed. Hanging against
the wall were several men's dresses and clothes. He hastily took
down sufficient for a disguise. They were summer clothes--for the
Afridis, when leaving to act against our troops in the mountains,
wear sheepskin garments. At any rate, there was little fear that
their loss would be discovered until the men returned from the
front.
He took the clothes up to his room, and hid them under the pallet.
Then, having ascertained that the women were still engaged in
talking, he took off his boots and made his way down to the lowest
story, which was principally used as a storehouse. Here, among bags
of corn and other stores, he saw a coil of rope. This he carried
upstairs and, having hidden it, lay down again.
The rest of the day passed quietly. It was apparent that the
clothes had not been missed and, with a strong feeling of
hopefulness, he awaited the night. When the house was quiet he
looked out. Four men were sitting, as usual, at the front of the
door. Then he took off his uniform and put on his disguise,
fastened one end of the rope securely, and slid down noiselessly to
the ground.
Keeping the house between him and the guard, he started. Making a
detour, he got free of the village, and then turned to the upper
end of the valley. Half an hour's walking took him to where the
force had encamped, and he soon reached the mouth of the gorge.
Here he plunged into the river. His leg hurt him a good deal, but
he waded on and, after great exertions, reached the head of the
gorge. His leg was now hurting him so much that he could proceed no
farther so, turning off, he mounted the hills and lay down among
the rocks, where there was little chance of his being discovered.
Here he dozed till morning. When he took the rope, he had thrust
several handfuls of grain into his pocket; and this he had tied up
in the skirt of his garment, when he started. He now munched some
of it, and lay, watching the mouth of the gorge below.
Two hours after daybreak, he saw a small party of tribesmen come
hurrying up through the gorge. They did not stop, but kept on their
course, evidently supposing that he had pushed on to join the
British camp. All day he lay hidden and, before dark, he saw the
men come back again. They had evidently given up the chase and, as
he had seen no searchers upon the hills, the idea that he was
hiding had evidently not occurred to them.
He felt, however, that he must give his leg another day's rest
before proceeding. On the following day he suffered a good deal
from thirst, and dared not venture down to the river. When it was
dark, however, he continued his way.
Illustration: It was the dead body of an Afridi.
Presently he saw something white, huddled up behind a rock and,
climbing up, he found that it was the dead body of an Afridi, who
had fallen in the fight. Beside him lay his Lee-Metford rifle. This
was indeed a find. In the scanty garments that he had alone dared
to take, he would be known at once by anyone who happened to pass
near him. He now set to work, and dressed himself in the dead
warrior's garments; and took up his rifle and pouch of ammunition.
"Now," he said, "I only want something to stain my face and hands,
and I shall be able to pass anywhere, if it does not come to
talking."
He kept his eyes about him, and presently saw the plant which he
knew Robah had used in preparing the dye for him. Pulling all the
leaves off, he pounded them with the stock of his rifle, and rubbed
his face with juice from the leaves. There was sufficient to stain
both his face and hands.
By nightfall he entered the Maidan. Here he saw many natives
gathered round the ruined houses. As he approached it, he saw that
heavy firing was going on round the camp. It was greatly reduced in
extent, and he guessed that a considerable proportion of the force
had moved off on some punitive expedition. Between him and it, he
could see many of the Afridis crouched among the rocks, ready to
attack any small parties that might issue out.
He saw at once that it would be impossible to reach the camp
without being questioned, and he therefore determined to fall in
with the column that had gone out. For this purpose, he made a wide
detour until he came upon a track where there were innumerable
signs that a column had recently passed. Crushed shrubs would, in
themselves, have been a sufficient guide; but there were many other
tokens of the path of the army: grain dropped from a hole in a
sack, scratches on the rock by the shod feet of the transport
animals, an empty cartridge case, and a broken earthenware pot.
He pushed on rapidly, keeping a sharp lookout for the enemy. Some
of them, passing along the hill, shouted to him to join them; but
with a wave of his rifle and a gesture, showing that he intended to
keep to the track, he went on.
Late in the afternoon, on mounting a high pass, he could distinctly
hear firing in the distance; and his heart beat at the thought that
he was near his friends. Still, between him and them the Afridis
might be swarming. The risk, however, must be run.
Ascending the slope of the hill, he obtained a view of the
conflict. A body of British troops was firing steadily, and another
regiment was coming up to their assistance. The Afridis were
swarming round in great numbers, and keeping up a continuous fire.
Waiting until he saw where the Afridis were thickest, he made his
way down to the firing line, and took up his position behind a
rock; there being none of the natives within fifty yards of him. He
now began to fire, taking pains to see that his bullets went far
over the heads of the British. This he continued until nightfall,
by which time the conflict had come to an end, and the British
regiments, with the convoy which they were protecting, had reached
camp.