We had a very jolly mess.  The force being so small, the 32nd Pioneers kindly asked the remaining officers to mess with them, every man of course providing his own plate, knife, fork, and spoon, the cooking pots being collected for the general good.  We had breakfast before starting, the hour for marching being 7 A.M. as a rule.  The Pioneers had some most excellent bacon; good eggs and bacon will carry a man through a long day most successfully.  I remember that when that bacon gave out, there was more mourning than over all the first-born of Egypt.  Mutton we never ran out of; like the poor, it was always with us.

We got into camp as a rule some time in the afternoon, and then indulged in tea and chupatties; whisky was precious, and kept for dinner, which took place at dusk.  Sometimes, when we got into camp late, dinner and tea were merged into one; however, it made no odds, we were always ready to eat when anything eatable came along.  The mess provided some camp tables, and most of us managed to bring a camp stool, so we were in the height of luxury.  After dinner a pipe or two, and then we turned in; we generally managed to get some grass to put under our blankets, but if we didn’t, I don’t think it made much difference; we were all young, and used to sleeping out on the hillside after game, frequently above the snow line, so it was no new experience.  If it rained or was cold, we generally managed to get into a hut; these are remarkably strongly built, good stone walls, and thick, flat, wooden roofs with a mud covering, a hole in the middle of the floor for the fire, and a hole in the roof for the smoke—­at least that was what we supposed was the idea, but the smoke generally preferred to remain inside.

There were also other discomforts of a minor nature.  For instance, the cows and goats used to take it as a personal matter if you objected to their sharing the room with you; they were big enough, however, to catch and turn out, but there were other occupants of a more agile nature, armies of them, whom it was hopeless to try and eject; we suffered so much from their pleasing attentions that we generally preferred to sleep outside, weather permitting.

Our second march was to a village called Suigal in the Punyal district, governed by Raja Akbar Khan, a jolly old chap who came out to meet us on the road; he lives in a castle on the left bank of the river, which is here crossed by one of the highest and longest rope bridges in the country.  In spite of his size, he is a very good polo player, as are all his family, some of whom were shut up in the Chitral Fort with Dr. Robertson.  He now offered his services and those of his people to Government, which Colonel Kelly accepted, and the old man retired very pleased, to rejoin us later on.  At Suigal we managed to get all the troops under shelter, as it was still raining, and it was now the second day that they had been wet through.