CHAPTER V

CHOKALWAT

At 5 A.M. the next morning, my orderly, Gammer Sing Gurung, woke me.  It was still dark, and I dressed as quickly as possible, so as not to disturb the others, who were snoring peacefully around me.  Dressing consisted of putting on my coat, putties, and some canvas shoes with rope soles.  I knew the ground I should be going over would be pretty bad, and with rope soles you can skip about rocks like a young lamb, whereas shooting boots would send you flying over the cliffs.  By the time I had had some poached eggs and a cup of tea, the Hunza Levies were waiting outside, so I got into my sword and trappings and went.  As I passed out, Colonel Kelly wished me good luck, and I said, “Au revoir till twelve o’clock.”  The others snored peacefully.

Gammer Sing and the fifty Hunza Levies were ready, and I had put some chupatties into my haversack overnight, so off we went.  By the time we were clear of the village, it was getting light, so, keeping close to the edge of the hills, we struck up a side nullah, took a slant across it, and then began the climb.  By this time it was broad daylight.  We kept climbing and gradually working round the face of the hill to the right, until we struck the snow line, and I calculated we were pretty well as high as any sangar the enemy might have on the hill.  My idea was to get above them, and I didn’t want my party swept into space by a stone avalanche.  Still, to make matters secure, I detached ten men to go higher up still, and I had five minutes’ halt to give them a start.

It was now about 7.30 A.M., and I wanted to push on, so as to be well on the right rear of the enemy by nine o’clock.  Once there, we could time our attack at our leisure.  Events, however, worked out somewhat differently.  The ground now got very bad, and presently we came to a stone shoot which extended high up above us, while ending in a cliff a little below.  This we crossed carefully, one man going at a time.  Each step set the whole slide in motion and brought stones bounding down from above.  The best way was to take it at a rush.  We got safely across that, and the ground got worse and worse, and finally we were brought to a halt.  I sent men to find a path above and below, the remainder sat down under cover, while I examined the ground in front with my glasses.  It was eight o’clock now, and I was congratulating myself in having got so far, as another half-mile would bring us on to a spur which ran down on the right flank of the enemy’s line.