Desultory
skirmishing continued for some time, shots being fired from the hills,
half a mile away, as well as from the morcha. Bullets kept falling near
the bank, but the cover it afforded was good and no one was hurt. At
length word was brought that the foraging was finished and that the
squadron was to retire under cover of the infantry. Now came a moment of
some excitement. The officer in command knew well that the instant his
men were mounted they would be fired at from every point which the enemy
held. He ordered the first troop to mount, and the second to cover the
retirement. The men scrambled into their saddles, and spreading out into
an extended line cantered away towards a hollow about 300 yards distant.
Immediately there was an outburst of firing. The dust rose in spurts
near the horsemen, and the bullets whistled about their ears. No one was
however hit. Meanwhile, the remaining troop had been keeping up a rapid
fire on the enemy to cover their retirement. It now became their turn to
go.
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