The
whole brigade marched concentrated to the attack, and formed up on the
level ground just out of shot. The general and his staff rode forward
and reconnoitered.
The village lay in a re-entrant of the hills, from which two long spurs
projected like the piers of a harbour. Behind, the mountains rose
abruptly to a height of 5000 feet. The ground, embraced by the spurs,
was filled with crops of maize and barley. A fort and watch-tower
guarded the entrance. At 8.30 the advance was ordered. The enemy did not
attempt to hold the fort, and it was promptly seized and blown up. The
explosion was a strange, though, during the fighting in the Mamund
Valley, not an uncommon sight. A great cloud of thick brown-red dust
sprang suddenly into the air, bulging out in all directions. The tower
broke in half and toppled over. A series of muffled bangs followed. The
dust-cloud cleared away, and nothing but a few ruins remained.
The enemy now opened fire from the spurs, both of which became crowned
with little circles of white smoke.
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