1 SKIRMISHING. 379
2 ‘SA day or two afterwards, Ferris having con-
3 structed a very fair attempt at a battery in the
4 enclosure, we rode there in the evening, taking
5 with us the howitzer, and also a gun that had
6 been sent from the camp at Koulsir on the
7 Colonel’s requisition, The left bank of the
8 river was on this occasion crowded with the
9 partizans of Sadat Khan, who was also said to
10 be present; but they were wary, and kept
11 almost beyond the range of shot. A few
12 shells were sent at a building close to a
13 garden, which we saw with a telescope was
14 filled with men, who soon evacuated it; and
15 a few shots from the six-pounder in the direc-
16 tion of Sadat Khan caused him and his train
17 to fall back and take up a more distant and
18 respectful position. Several marksmen again
19 crossed over to the island, and a few of their
20 bullets buried themselves in the parapet of
21 Colonel, in occupying a position, immediately to fortify it
22 by a stockade, behind which the men might find a security
23 the want of discipline could not supply. For that purpose
24 a large party of Bildars or pioneers always accompanied
25 every detachment, and the country being strewed with
26 stones, these defences were easily and quickly erected.