Chapter 12

After their mid-day meal the men lined up on the parade ground standing alongside their horses; Havildar Turin standing a little in front. David mounted the stallion and walked to Turin. “Carry on Havildar Turin,” he ordered.

Turin shouted over his shoulder, “Detail; prepare to mount; mount”. The twenty-six men moved as one. “Left by twos; forward,” he cried giving the sign with his arm.

David sat on his horse as the men passed; their rifles slung over their shoulders; the last man leading the two packhorses. He trotted to the front of the column, taking his place alongside Havildar Turin. They joined the caravan road and followed it as it snaked higher into the hills. It took nearly five hours for the slow moving column to reach the entrance of the Pass.

The eighteen men detailed for guard duty were surprised to see them, especially with the Colonel Sahib in charge. He told the Havildar in charge that they were relieved of duty and could return to the Fort in the morning.

In the meantime Turin had set up a picket line for the horses, and had them unsaddled. His men would sleep alongside of them that night; there not being enough room in the crude building used by the guards.

Later that night after a meal, David sat alongside Turin by the campfire. “We will have to do something about housing the men, but I’m not sure this is the right site for a guard post. I intend to take a small section and scout the Pass for a better location in the morning.”

David had an uncomfortable night, feeling the cold.

The next morning the guard detail marched away but leaving behind their cooking equipment and blankets. David, Turin, and four Riflemen mounted up and rode up into the Pass. At this point in the Pass, the walls sloped down to the road with outcrops of rocks. A difficult place to defend if the Afghans got amongst those rocks he realised.

They followed the road as it rose up into the mountains, the sides becoming steeper. After two hours of climbing they came to a section of the Pass where the walls were almost vertical and a buttress jutted out, with the distance between the walls reduced to only about thirty feet. Beyond this point the road continued to climb, and the walls started to slowly recede.

David returned to the vertical point of the Pass. “This is where we need to make the guard-post Havildar,” he said. A bitterly cold wind blew down the Pass and the steepness of the wall let in very little sunlight. He discussed at length the logistics of setting a guard-post up there. Water and firewood would need to be brought up from the entrance, a building to house the men erected, and provision for the horses found.

Once he was satisfied Turin understood his requirement, they returned to the entrance. On the way back he said he would dispatch wagons with building materials and large earthenware jars to hold water. The men would require warmer clothes and more blankets. In the meantime Turin would have to make the best of it.

It took him three hours to return to the Fort pushing the stallion. Handing over the stallion to Hanga, he collected Subedar Major Para and the Quartermaster and told them what he needed. The Quartermaster was dispatched to the city to purchase warm coats and thicker blankets along with four of the largest earthenware jars he could locate. Para said there were four wagons pulled by bullocks currently in the Fort unloading materials. He said he would have them reloaded with sufficient materials and equipment, to build quarters for the men, and have it sent back to the Pass that day.

He returned to his quarters, had a bath, and changed his clothes. Hanga saw to his saddlebags and rifle scabbard. He walked out to the paddock to see the horses; before he had even arrived they saw him, and galloped across the paddock their tails held high, whinnying. Both vied to push their heads against his chest; as usual Khan won. He stroked their velvet noses talking softly to each. He decided that he would start to accustom Khan to the saddle in the morning, if time permitted.

When he returned to the Fort he sought out the Naik commanding the other section of Tiger Company to have four riflemen with a Lance Naik draw ammunition and accompany the supply column that had set out for the Pass. They should catch them up before they reached the caravan road he reasoned. He also said he would need another detail to guard another wagon when the Quartermaster returned. He had an early dinner that night and was in bed as the bugle sounded Last Post, exhausted from lack of sleep and the hard ride from the Pass.

He started on Khan with the horse blanket as soon as he had him in the paddock. By the afternoon he had the saddle on him. Khan had trembled and rolled his eyes, but had stood still. Sulkie looked at him as to say, ‘What’s all the fuss?’ David left him with the saddle on to grow accustomed to it, and returned to the Fort.

A large wagon with three earthenware pots almost as tall as a man sat inside it. The Quartermaster along with the tailor waited for him by the office. “Colonel Sahib, I could only get three pots; the merchant said he could get another in a week’s time. I have bought twenty-six sheepskin coats, the warmest I could find, from this thief of a tailor along with the heaviest blankets available.”

The tailor looked pained at being called a thief. “Colonel Sahib I understand that you require warm clothing for your men. I have brought some samples that may be of benefit for you.” He proceeded to show David fine woollen long johns and woollen shirts. While David examined them he rummaged around in the pile of sheepskin coats finally selecting one. “I have brought this for the Sahib as it is the longest in my store”.

David tried it on. There was no doubt it was warm and it had a high collar that when fastened protected his ears and came down to his knees. The only problem was you couldn’t ride in it. David explained to him he needed a heavy winter coat, but with a slit up the back so that a man with it on could sit on a horse.

The tailor assured him he could make such a garment from wool. David also said it would need epaulets on the shoulders. He asked if he could supply twenty-six long johns and shirts immediately, one set of long johns and shirt to fit him.

The tailor said he could have them at the Fort in two days’ time.

David watched as the wagon set off for the Pass guarded by the detail, knowing the men there would welcome the coats and blankets. He decided to wait for the tailor to return, and then he would take the long johns and shirts to the Pass himself.

The next morning after breakfast he saddled Khan outside of the stable, and then fitted the bridle on to him, having to adjust it due to Khan’s bigger head. Khan rolled his eyes at the bit but remained still as he talked to him. David was surprised at how easy it had been with Khan so far as he led the two to the paddock. Later that day he returned to fit the reins on and tighten the girth.

He was sitting in Subedar Major Para’s office when he asked about the pigeons. Para told him that Ali had said that ten of the birds have to recognise the dovecote as their home, that way they would return to it when released from somewhere else. However, the remaining five birds were kept in their baskets. These when released would return to the Palace. He opened a drawer and removed a small cylinder with a soft ribbon attached to it and a strip of rice paper half an inch wide and two inches long. “This is the message paper; it’s rolled up and slipped into the cylinder,” Para explained.

Back in his own office David began to give some thought to what code could be used at the Pass. Logically, the only time a bird would be sent was in the event of an attack, in which case the numbers of the enemy would be important. The only other emergency he could at the moment envisage, was a shortage of ammunition.

The next morning he made a big fuss over Khan as he saddled him, much to Sulkie’s displeasure. In the paddock he repeated what he had done with Sulkie. Once sat in the saddle he leaned forward talking to him as he felt his trembling. David could almost feel what was going through his mind, torn between his love for David and anger at this weight upon his back. For fifteen minutes David didn’t know how he would react, then slowly the trembling ceased.

He waited a few more minutes, and then gently tapped him in his ribs with his boots, and Khan began to walk. He let him find his own way around the paddock at first. Then he started to guide his mount who responded to the bit. He stopped him and dismounted, then went to the front to make a fuss of him scratching between his ears as Khan lowered his great head. “Oh you clever brave boy,” he said kissing his nose. He remounted and they set off walking again. He gave another light kick and Khan started to trot. They started doing figure of eights as Khan responded to the reins and knee pressure; they’d stop and reverse the direction. Sulkie trotted alongside of them as if it was a game.

He rode him into the Fort that evening with Sulkie walking along side of them. The men cheered and clapped as they saw him. As he unsaddled Kahn he realised that if the tailor arrived he wouldn’t be able to ride him the next day. Once in the stalls, he fondled both of them as Hanga brought the apples.

The tailor arrived shortly after breakfast. He brought a package over to David’s quarters. “Colonel Sahib the clothes you requested.” David thanked him, told him the Quartermaster would pay him, and that he needed a further one hundred sets.

“The coat you requested Sahib should be ready in four or five days; once I have found suitable material.”

David called out to a passing Lance Naik to pack the clothes the tailor had brought onto one of the training horses while he brought his stallion over to the stable. Hanga saddled it while he changed into the long johns. He packed the shirt into his saddlebag and Hanga took it out to the horse. He placed the ammunition belt over his shoulder, and had a last look round to see he had everything. Outside he saw Hanga had tied the sheepskin coat over the bedroll. He gathered up the halter rope of the packhorse, and led it out of the Fort.

It took nearly five hours to reach the Pass due to the fact it was a climb.

Four Riflemen were chopping up firewood when he reached the entrance. He continued up into it coming at last to the vertical buttress that closed in on the Pass. He saw at a glance that Havildar Turin had not been idle. A low block building had been built against the vertical wall of the buttress where it jutted into the Pass. Horse lines were near to it offering some protection from the cold wind that blew constantly through. Turin came hurrying up followed by two riflemen who took charge of the horses.

David congratulated him in the work he had achieved. He was shown a small hut that had been made from blocks and boulders which housed the food and ammunition. But Turin was most pleased that they had found a lookout point from which they could look down the Pass for some miles. David followed him as they walked some two hundred yards back along the Pass until they reached a path of sorts that climbed up the side of the wall. In places steps had been cut out, and the path widened. The path angled up until at last they were higher than the buttress that nearly blocked the Pass.