Chapter 14

It was still dark as he saddled Khan then he trotted out of the Fort. Once on to the road he broke into a gentle canter. Khan’s long legs ate up the miles. The sun was just appearing over the mountains to the east as they trotted through the entrance, the guards surprised to see him. As they came to present arms, he acknowledged with a salute.

The wind cut through him as he neared the cleft. When he dismounted, a rifleman led Khan away around the brushwood screen. He walked into the blockhouse and warmed himself by the stove as men brought out his furs. He dressed quickly; changing his hat for the fur one and his boots for the warmer others. Once he had the coat on he started to feel warmer. Subedar Turin waited until he finished and the men had left the room.

“Sit down my old friend,” David told him. They sat opposite each other on the bunks.

“The Colonel Sahib is here because he senses an attack is imminent.”

David laughed, “You know me too well old friend.”

“I have not thanked you for my promotion Colonel.”

“It is nothing you have not earned.” David replied. “How are the men?”

Turin chuckled, “The conditions were a shock to them, but I told them they were women. They should have been here before the Colonel Sahib brought the furs and the stove.” A rifleman entered with two mugs of hot tea.

“We have made more firing positions since you were here last, and have devised a way of the lookouts warning us of any approach. They drop a rock attached to a cord and write with charcoal the number that approaches. It saves a lot of time from scrambling down as they have to be careful since the path has ice on it now.”

After they had their tea Turin showed him the new firing positions. They were on the opposite wall of the valley. Steps had been cut into the cliff and David climbed up them. They rose to about twelve feet, stopping at what looked like trench some five feet deep filled with rubble.

The trench extended along the cliff for roughly ten feet. Turin behind him explained, “It was much deeper, Colonel Sahib but we filled it up with rocks so three or four Riflemen can now be concealed there now.”

David realised that not only did it give an excellent field of fire for the area around the blockhouse but also down the cleft itself.

“I have assigned my best marksmen to this position,” Turin added.

They climbed back down where Turin was called away for something. David went behind the brush cover to find Khan. He was down near the end tied to the rope that ran along the face of the cliff. He patted his steeds back as he moved to his head. “Hello boy, are they looking after you?” he spoke quietly to him. He could see a few grains of oats left on the ground sheet in front of him. The wind was not so fierce here by the cliff, but it was still bitterly cold. His saddle blanket had been left on him, as had been done for all the horses. They need better protection against the cold he knew, something else he would have to look into when he got back to the Fort.

His saddlebags and bedroll were on his bed, and his rifle and scabbard rested against the wall when he entered the blockhouse. His saddle was placed under his bed. It felt warm in there after the cold of outside. He unfastened his bedroll, and spread it out over the paillasse with the groundsheet below the heavy blankets. Men coming off duty or guard came in and warmed themselves by the stove before going to their bunks.

David knew two men would be on guard duty at the entrance to the cleft all through the night, but they only stood guard for an hour before being relieved due to the bitterly cold wind that blew from it. David smiled, they never complained or protested, and just accepted it as their duty. Someone lit the oil lamps, but he noticed there were only two of them. The other was up in the cave he was told.

The five men from the guard at the entrance to the Pass entered carrying their rifles and a Martini Henry. Going by the banter from the men it seemed to be classed as an easy detail. Due to it being much warmer down there he reasoned. Turin came in and sat on a bunk opposite him. David asked if the men up on the cliff still stood guard all night. Turin said, No, once the light was gone and you couldn’t see the road, they returned to the cave to sleep.”

David also mentioned about the horses and his concern for them. Turin said he too was concerned, but at the moment there was little he could do about it. The blockhouse was filling up and men started coming in handing out plates and bread.

David took his; it was some sort of stew with rice. He didn’t know what, but he cleaned his plate and ate the bread; he was hungry. Afterwards he slipped between his blankets and spread his coat over him; he kept his fur hat on and pulled the flaps down over his ears. He was asleep in seconds.

He was woken the next morning by a rifleman shaking his shoulder. When he opened his eyes the man was offering him a steaming mug of tea. He looked at his watch and wound it at the same time and realised it was nearly eight. The blockhouse was empty except for two men sleeping further down. When he got outside he saw the men were carrying out various duties. Some were carrying the horse droppings in ground sheets. Others were on kitchen duty, whilst others were feeding the horses.

Turin came over to him to ask if he had slept all right. When he complained that he had been allowed to sleep so late, Turin said he must have set off well before dawn the previous day. He asked about the horse droppings and was told there was a deep fissure about two hundred yards away, similar to the one the men used for a latrine.

It was just before midday they got the warning from the cliff. All that was written on the rock was L+. Immediately the fires were put out, and the horses moved further down the Pass. Turin conferred with his Naik’s and they ran to take up firing positions, David saw the three climbing up to the fissure.

“They won’t know we are here Colonel Sahib. They can only come through the cleft at the most five abreast and by the time they are all through they will only be fifty yards away from the nearest trench.

David ran to the blockhouse and removed his pistol from the saddle holster. Then put his ammunition belt over his shoulder, and removed his rifle from the scabbard and checked the load. He stuck the pistol in his belt after checking it was fully loaded, and then checked the load of the pistol in his holster as he walked back to his trench. He noticed some of the men were removing clips from their ammunition belts and placing them in easy reach. He and Turin had a look round to see everyone was concealed before dropping into the trench.

“The men at the Pass entrance have orders to open fire on anyone coming up to them if they hear firing from us,” he told David.

They heard the Afghans before the saw them. They were trotting as they came out of the cleft, as Turin predicted, in lines four and five abreast. They were almost on top of the nearest trench when he and Turin opened fire. David aimed at the leader sitting on a beautiful white Arabian stallion; he fell dead with a bullet through his head. He worked the bolt and shot five more in as many seconds. Men were falling from their horses as the riflemen killed them. Horses were rearing and bucking and two went down shot. The Afghans had been taken completely unaware. Two bolted with their riders up the Pass and a few minutes later they heard gunfire from the entrance, then two empty horses came trotting back.

The riflemen sprang from their trenches; the wounded were dispatched with their kukris as well as the two horses. One of the men in the fissure shouted that one had escaped wounded and slumped over his horse’s back. The men started collecting weapons and valuables. The horses had their saddles removed and food was found in the saddle bags as well as bedrolls. It appeared to David that they had intended staying several days in Kanda.

In all there had been fifty-four in the raiding party including the one who got away. Among the weapons found were thirty-five Russian rifles.

David ordered all the ammunition for them to be collected in a separate pile. Anything of value was retained, David found a fine telescope in a leather case, and he gave it to Turin. Afterwards the bodies were draped over the horses and led away. Some of the men were butchering the horses to supplement their rations as would the food found in the saddlebags.