Chapter 10: Through The Mohmund Country.
For a time the firing ceased entirely but, soon after nightfall, ascattered fire opened round the camp. Lisle now made his way downfearlessly, until within four hundred yards of the camp. He wasable to make out the white dresses of the Afridis, lying crouchedbehind rocks. No one paid any attention to him and, as soon as hehad passed them, he dropped on his hands and knees and begancrawling forward; keeping himself carefully behind cover for, atany moment, the pickets might open fire. When he approached theBritish lines, he stopped behind a rock and shouted:
"Don't fire! I am a friend."
"Come on, friend, and let us have a look at you," the officer incharge of the picket answered.
Rising, he ran forward.
"Who on earth are you?" the officer asked when he came up. "Youlook like one of the Afridis, but your tongue is English."
"I am Lieutenant Bullen," he said; and a burst of cheering rosefrom the men, who belonged to his own regiment.
"Why, we all thought you were killed, in that fight in thetorrent!"
"No; I was hit, and my leg so disabled that I was washed down bythe torrent; and the men were, I suppose, too much occupied inkeeping the Afridis at bay to notice me. On getting to the otherside of the pass I crawled ashore, and was made prisoner. No doubtthe Afridis thought that, as I was an officer, they would hold meas a hostage, and so make better terms.
"I was put into the upper story of one of their houses but, afterten days, my wounds healed sufficiently to allow me to walk; and Ihave got here without any serious adventure."
"Well, I must congratulate you heartily. I will send two of the meninto camp with you, for otherwise you would have a good chance ofbeing shot down."
On arriving at the spot where the officers of the regiment weresitting round a campfire, his escort left him. As he came into thelight of the fire, several of the officers jumped up, with theirhands on their revolvers.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Lisle exclaimed, with a laugh. "I canassure you that I am perfectly harmless."
"It is Bullen's voice," one of them exclaimed, and all crowdedround him, and wrung his hands and patted him on the back.
"This is the second time, Bullen, that you have come back to usfrom the dead; and this time, like Hamlet's father, you have comeback with very questionable disguise. Now, sit down and take a cupof tea, which is all we have to offer you."
"I will," Lisle said, "and I shall be glad of some cold meat; for Ihave been living, for the past three days, on uncooked grain."
The meat was brought, and Lisle ate it ravenously, declining toanswer any questions until he had finished.
"Now," he said, "I will tell you a plain, unvarnished tale;" and hegave them, in full detail, the adventure he had gone through.
"Upon my word, Lisle, you are as full of resources as an egg isfull of meat. Your pluck, in going down to the lower story of thathouse while the women were chatting outside, was wonderful. It was,of course, sheer luck that you found that dead Pathan, and so gotsuitable clothes; but how you dyed your face that colour, I cannotunderstand."
Lisle explained how he had found a plant which was, as he knew,used for that purpose; and how he had extracted the colouringmatter from it.
"You had wonderful luck in making your way through the Pathans,without being questioned; but, as we know, fortune favours thebrave. Well, I shall have another yarn to tell General Lockhart, inthe morning; but how we are to rig you out, I don't know."
Several of the officers, however, had managed to carry one or twospare garments in their kits. These were produced; and Lisle, withgreat satisfaction, threw off the dirt-stained Pathan garments, andarrayed himself in uniform.
Pleased as all the others were at his return, no one was sodelighted as Robah, who fairly cried over his master, whom he hadbelieved to be lost for ever.
"We shall not be uneasy about you again, Bullen," the colonel said,as they lay down for the night. "Whenever we miss you we shall knowthat, sooner or later, you will turn up, like a bad penny. If youhadn't got that wound in the leg--which, by the way, the surgeonhad better dress and examine in the morning--I should have saidthat you were invulnerable to Afridi bullets. The next time thereis some desperate service to be done, I shall certainly appoint youto undertake it; feeling convinced that, whatever it might be, andhowever great the risk, you will return unscathed. You don't carrya charm about with you, do you?"
"No," Lisle laughed, "I wish I did; but anything I carry would notbe respected by a Pathan bullet."
Next morning the colonel reported Lisle's return, and Sir WilliamLockhart sent for him and obtained, from his lips, the story of theadventure.
"You managed excellently, sir," the general said, when he hadfinished. "Of course, I cannot report your adventure in full, butcan merely say that Lieutenant Bullen, whom I had reported killed,was wounded and taken prisoner by the Pathans; and has managed,with great resource, to make his escape and rejoin the force. Yourlast adventure, sir, showed remarkable courage; and this time youhave proved that you possess an equal amount of calmness andjudgment. If you go on as you have begun, sir, you will make a verydistinguished officer."
During the day Lisle had to repeat his story, again and again, tothe officers of other regiments; who came in to congratulate him onmaking his escape, and to learn the particulars.
"I shall have," he said, laughing, "to get the printing officer tostrike off a number of copies of my statement, and to issue one toeach regiment. There, I think I would rather go through theadventure again, than have to keep on repeating it."
He had received a hearty cheer, from the regiment, when he appearedupon parade that morning; a reception that showed that he was ageneral favourite, and that sincere pleasure was felt at hisreturn.
Lisle had been known among the men as 'the boy' when he firstjoined, but he was a boy no longer. He was now eighteen; and had,from the experiences he had gone through, a much older appearance.He learned, on the evening of his return, that he was now a fulllieutenant; for there had been several changes in the regiment.When in cantonments other officers had joined, junior to himself;and four or five had been killed during the fighting.
"If this goes on much longer, Mr. Bullen, you will be a captainbefore we get back to India," one of the officers said.
"I am sure I hope not," he replied. "I don't wish to gain steps bythe death of my friends. However, I hope that there is no chance ofit coming to that."
After the visit of the commander to the Mohmund hill force, thetroops under General Lockhart learned the history of the operationsof that force, of which they had hitherto been in completeignorance. On the 28th of August the force was concentrated. Itconsisted of the troops which, under Sir Bindon Blood, had justpacified the Upper Swat Valley; with a brigade, under BrigadierGeneral Jeffreys and General Wodehouse, mobilized near Malakand. Onthe 6th of September orders were issued to march to Banjour,through the Mohmund country to Shabkadr, near Peshawar, and operatewith a force under Major General Ellis. A force had already beendespatched, under General Wodehouse, to seize the bridge over thePanjkora. This was successfully accomplished, the force arrivingjust in time, as a large body of the enemy came up only a few hourslater.
General Meiklejohn was in command of the line of communication, andthe 2nd and 3rd Brigades crossed the Panjkora without opposition.On the 13th of September the Rambuck Pass was reconnoitred, and thetwo brigades arrived at Nawagai. General Jeffreys encamped near thefoot of the Ramjak Pass; and part of his force was detached, toprepare the road for the passage of the expedition, and to bivouacthere for the night. The road was partially made, and the brigadewould have passed over but, about eight o'clock in the evening, thecamp at the foot of the pass was suddenly attacked. All lights wereat once extinguished, and the men fell in rapidly; the trenchesopening fire on the unseen enemy, who moved gradually round to theother side of the camp. It was pitch dark, for the moon had not yetrisen; and the enemy poured in a murderous fire, but did notattemp
t to rush the camp. The troops were firing almost at randomfor, in spite of star shells being fired, very few of the enemycould be made out.
The fire was hottest from the side occupied by the 38th Dogras, whodetermined to make a sortie, for the purpose of clearing the enemyaway from that flank. In spite of the fact that the ground wasswept by bullets, several volunteered for the sortie. The fire,however, was too hot. Captain Tomkins and Lieutenant Bailey fell,almost the instant they rose to their feet. Lieutenant Harringtonreceived a mortal wound, and several men were also killed andwounded, and the sortie was given up.
All night a heavy fire was kept up by the enemy, but they moved offin the morning. The camp presented a sad sight, when day broke;dead horses and mules were lying about among the tents andshelters, which had been hurriedly thrown down at the first attack.When it was learned that the assailants belonged to the Banjourtribes, living in the Mohmund Valley, a squadron of Bengal Lancerswere sent off in pursuit and, overtaking them in a village at theentrance of their valley, killed many, pursuing them for four orfive miles. When they returned to the village, they were joined bythe Guides Infantry and a mountain battery. This was too small aforce to follow the enemy into their hills, but they destroyed thefortifications of several small villages and, before night, GeneralJeffreys, with the rest of the brigade, arrived.
Night passed without interruption and, in the morning, the forcemarched in three columns; the centre keeping straight up thevalley, while the other two were to destroy the villages on eachside. When the centre column had advanced six miles up the valley,they saw the enemy in a village on the hill; and a detachment ofthe Buffs went out to dislodge them. The remainder of the columnpushed on.
Two companies of the 35th Sikhs, who were in advance, went too far;and were suddenly attacked by a great number of the enemy. Fightingsturdily they fell back but, being hampered by their wounded, manyof the men were unable to return the fire of the tribesmen; whoformed round them, keeping up a heavy fire at close quarters. TheGhazis, seeing their opportunity, came closer and closer; theirswordsmen charging in and cutting down the Sikhs in the ranks.Seventeen were thus killed or wounded. Presently, however, theBuffs arrived in support, and a squadron of the 11th Bengal Lancerscharged the Ghazis, and speared many of them before they couldreach the shelter of the hills; and the Buffs soon drove them away,with heavy loss.
While this was going on the third detachment, which had destroyedmany of the numerous villages, was called in to join the main body.The guns had been doing good work among the flying tribesmen. Acompany and a half of the 35th Sikhs were told to take post, on ahigh hill, to cover the guns. This force, when the troops returned,diverged somewhat from the line of march which the main body werefollowing. It was hard pressed by the tribesmen, hampered by thewounded, and was running short of ammunition; and was obliged tosend for help. The general ordered the Guides to go to theirassistance but, fortunately, a half company of that regiment withsome ammunition had already reached them, and the party could beseen fighting their way up a steep rocky spur.
The tribesmen, confident that they could cut off the small bandfrom the main force, rushed at them with their swords. Both theofficers were severely wounded. When, however, the rest of theGuides arrived on the hill, they poured several volleys into theenemy, and so checked their advance. A Havildar then volunteered tomount the hill with ammunition. He reached the party with seventycartridges, and carried back a wounded native officer. Other Guidesfollowed his example, and all reached the valley as evening wasclosing in.
The Ghazis crept up the ravine, and maintained a hot fire uponthem. It soon became pitch dark, and the difficulty of the marchwas increased by a heavy storm. The force lost the line of retreatand, but for the vivid lightning, would have found it impossible tomake their way across the deep ravine. At ten o'clock they reachedthe camp.
Here they found that General Jeffreys, with part of his brigade,had not yet returned. At dawn, however, the general appeared, withhis mountain battery and a small escort. They had become separatedfrom the remainder of the brigade, and the general decided tobivouac in a village. Defences were at once formed. The trenchingtools were with the main body, but the sappers used their bayonetsto make a hasty shelter.
The enemy took possession of the unoccupied part of the village,and opened fire on the trenches. This grew so hot that it becameabsolutely necessary to clear the village. Three attempts weremade, but failed; the handful of available men being altogetherinsufficient for the purpose.
The enemy now tried to rush the troops, and a continuous fire waspoured into a small enclosure, packed with men and mules. Thecasualties were frequent, but the men now threw up a freshdefensive work, with mule saddles and ammunition boxes. The fury ofthe storm, which came on at nine o'clock, somewhat checked theardour of the assailants; and the water was invaluable to thewounded.
At midnight four companies, who had gone out in search of thegeneral, arrived and cleared the enemy out of the village. Thecasualties had been heavy, two officers and thirty-six men havingbeen killed, and five officers and a hundred and two men wounded.
Next day the force started on their way up the valley. Their objectwas to attack a strongly-fortified village on the eastern side ofthe valley, about six miles distant from the camp. When they werewithin two thousand yards of the enemy's position, the tribesmencould be seen, making their disposition for the attack.
The Sikhs, Dogras, and Buffs stormed the heights on either side;but the enemy made no attempt to stand. The Guides advancedstraight on the village, which was destroyed without loss. Thegrain found there was carried into camp. Several other villageswere captured and, though the enemy were several times gathered inforce, the appearance of a squadron of Bengal Lancers, in everycase, put them to flight.
In the meantime, the 3rd Brigade were encamped at Nawagai. The newsof the attack on General Jeffreys' column had upset thearrangements. It was of the utmost importance to hold Nawagai,which separated the country of the Hadda Mullah and the Mamunds. Asthe whole country was hostile, and would rise at the firstopportunity, the force was not strong enough to march against theHadda Mullah, and leave a sufficient body to guard the camp. It wastherefore decided to wait, until they were joined by General Ellis'force.
Skirmishing went on daily. On the 17th, heliographic communicationwas opened with General Ellis. On the following day an order wasflashed to them, to join General Jeffreys in the Mamund valley.This was impracticable, however, until General Ellis should arrive.
Next night a couple of hundred swordsmen crept up to a ravine,within fifty yards of the camp, and suddenly fell upon the WestSurrey regiment. They were met by such a hail of bullets that mostof them dropped, and of the remainder not a man reached Hallal.
On the following day a messenger arrived, from General Ellis,asking Sir Bindon Blood to meet him ten miles away. That afternoona reconnaissance was made, as news had been received that largereinforcements had been received by Hadda Mullah. The enemy showedthemselves in great force, but kept out of range of the gunsthough, during the return march, they followed the troops and, whendarkness set in, were but two miles from camp.
At nine in the evening the enemy, who had crept silently up,attempted to rush the camp on three sides. The troops were wellprepared, and maintained a steady fire; although the enemy'sswordsmen hurled themselves against our entrenchments in greatnumbers. The star shells were fired by the mountain battery, andtheir reflection enabled the infantry to pour deadly volleys intothe midst of the enemy, who were but a few yards distant. Thetribesmen, however, completely surrounded the camp, their riflemenkeeping up a heavy fire, and their swordsmen making repeatedrushes.
The tents had all been struck, and the troops lay flat on theground while the enemy's bullets swept the camp. This was kept uptill two o'clock in the morning, the fire never slackening for aminute; and the monotony of the struggle was only broken by anoccasional mad, fanatical rush of the Ghazis. The entrenchmentswere so well made that only thirty-two casualties
occurred, but ahundred and fifteen horses and transport animals were killed.
The effect of this decisive repulse, of an attack which the enemythought would certainly be successful, was shown by the completedispersal of the enemy. Their losses had been terrible. It wasascertained that, in the surrounding villages alone, three hundredand thirty had been killed; while a great number of dead andwounded had been carried away over the passes.
On the following day General Ellis arrived. It was arranged thatthe 3rd Brigade should join his command. Thus reinforced, he coulddeal with the Hadda Mullah, and General Blood would be at libertyto join the 2nd Brigade in the Mamund Valley.
General Ellis took up a position, with the two brigades at hisdisposal, at the mouth of the Bedmanai Pass; and sniping went onall night. Next morning the troops moved forward to the attack.Covered by the rest of the force, the 20th Punjabis, with the 3rdGhoorkhas in support, were ordered to make the assault, and tosecure the hills commanding the pass. The enemy fought stubbornly,but were gradually driven back; their numbers being greatly reducedby deserters, after the attack on the camp. The Hadda Mullah hadfled, directly the fight began; but the Suffi Mullah was seenconstantly rallying his followers.
On the following morning, General Westmacott's brigade marched to avillage situated at the mouth of the Jarobi gorge--a terribledefile, with precipitous cliffs on either side, the crests of whichwere well wooded. The resistance, however, was slight, and theforce pushed through and burned the houses, towers, and forts ofthe Hadda Mullah. They were harassed, however, on their return tocamp.
In the meantime, Sir Bindon Blood had joined General Jeffreys'brigade, which was still engaged in operations against the Mamunds.Several villages were burned, and large supplies of game and foddercarried off. The Mamunds at last sent in a party to negotiate; butit soon appeared that they had no intention of surrendering, forthey had been joined by a considerable number of Afghans, and wereready for a fresh campaign. The Afghan borderers were in a goodposition, and were able to bring their forces to the assistance ofthe Mamunds with the assurance that, if they were repulsed, theycould return to their homes.
General Jeffreys therefore recommenced operations, by an attackupon two fortified villages. These were situated on the lower slopeof a steep and ragged hill, near enough to give support to eachother, and protected by rocky spurs. The inhabitants sallied out toattack, but were checked by the appearance of our cavalry. Theforce then pressed forward to the high jungle.
It was evident that the spurs on either side must be captured,before the village could be stormed. The Guides were ordered toclear the spur to the left, the 31st Punjab Infantry and the Dograsthe centre ridge between the two hills, while the West Kentsadvanced straight up the hill.
The Guides dashed up the hill with a wild yell. This so intimidatedthe tribesmen that, after firing a volley so wild that not a singleman was wounded in the attacking column, they fled in a panic.
The Punjabis, on the other hill, were stubbornly fighting theirway. The ground consisted, for the most part, of terraced fields,commanded by strongly-built sangars. Colonel O'Brien was killed,while gallantly leading his men on to the assault; but the Punjabispersisted, under the covering fire of the mountain battery, anddropped shell after shell into the Mamunds; who, however, althoughlosing heavily, stuck manfully to their rocks and boulders, andfinally were only driven out at the point of the bayonet.
The 31st were now joined by the West Kent, who came down from aspur on the west, and were able to drive the enemy out of severalstrong positions above the other village. On their way a halfcompany, on reaching a sangar, were suddenly charged by a body ofGhazis. From the melee which ensued, many of the West Kents werekilled and wounded, among them the officer in command.
As it was now late, it was decided to return to camp for the night.This was done steadily and deliberately, although the enemy kept upa heavy fire. The casualties of the day were sixty-one, no fewerthan eight British officers being killed or wounded.
Two days' rest was given the troops, and then they marched againstBadelai. The attack was almost unopposed. The tribesmen imaginedthat we were again going to attack their former position, and theywere unable to return in time to defend the village. Their loss,however, was severe, as they came down to the open ground, and wereswept by the guns of the mountain battery.
A few days afterwards the campaign was brought to an end, the enemycoming in and offering a general surrender. The expedition had beenvery successful, twenty-six villages having been destroyed, and allthe hoards of grain having been carried off.
On the 13th of October the Mamund valley was evacuated, and theforce moved into Matassa. The inhabitants here were perfectlypeaceable and, beyond the blowing up of the fort of a chief, whohad continued hostile, there was no fighting. The force thenreturned to Malakand, where it remained for two months.
Two tribes yet remained to be dealt with, namely the Bulas andChamlas. Both refused to comply with the reasonable terms imposedupon them, by the government, for their complicity in therebellion.
The force selected for their punishment consisted of two brigades,under General Meiklejohn and General Jeffreys. These advanced tothe assault on the Tangi Pass. The Guides, 31st Punjabis, threesquadrons of the Bengal Lancers, and two squadrons of the Guidecavalry were sent to Rustam, a place which threatened three passesleading into Buner. The enemy, being thus compelled to watch allthree routes, were prevented from assembling in any force.
Sir Bindon Blood encamped the two brigades on Thursday, the 6th ofJanuary, at the mouth of the Tangi Pass. The detached column was toprotect an entrance over the Pirsai Pass. The assault was made bythe column under General Meiklejohn, and so well was the forcedistributed--the hills on either side being captured, while threebatteries opened fire on the hill with shrapnel--that the tribesmenwere unable to maintain their position. The pass was captured withonly one casualty, and the troops marched triumphantly down intoBuner, the first British troops who had ever entered the country.
They halted at the first village. As this place was plentifullystocked with goats and chickens, they found abundance of food.
The detached column were equally successful in their attack on thePirsai Pass, for they met with scarcely any resistance. Oursuccess, in capturing the two passes hitherto deemed impregnable,brought about a complete collapse of the enemy. Deputations came infrom all the surrounding villages, and the tribesmen complied withthe terms imposed upon them.