would permit" – a line pregnant with fearful meaning. At the Pass of Surtuf the retreating force was attacked, and the small remnant of baggage which circumstances had allowed to be removed fell into the hands of the enemy, who here also slaughtered many of the camp-followers. Pursuing their way without food to sustain their failing strength, or water to quench their burning thirst, or tents to afford shelter from the scorching sun, the force was unable to halt till it reached the town of Poolajee, whence it had not long before departed. In the brief period that intervened it had lost a hundred and seventy-nine men killed, ninety-two wounded, ,together with all its artillery, ammunition, stores, and beasts of burden. "Excepting its arms and colours," says the official account, "the detachment is completely disorganised." Victorious over those who had opposed its progress, it arrived at Poolajee with all the disastrous indications of defeat. "We beat the enemy," wrote one of the sufferers, "but heat and thirst killed us." Of the conduct of Major Clibborn it is impossible to speak too highly. He yielded indteed to difficulties, but they were difficulties which no degree of energy or skill could, under the circumstances in which he was placed, have surmounted.[1]
As a sequel to this disastrous expedition, the retreat of Captain Brown, 50th Bengal Native Infantry, the gallant defender of Kahun, must not be passed over. It was effected by arrangements with the Beloochees, who took a solemn oath on the Koran, that if Captain Brown would leave the fort in three days, they would protect him from all opposition down to the plains. The agreement was ratified by Captain Brown, not without suspicion of treachery; a similar suspicion seemed also to be entertained by Dodah, the Beloochee chief, at their interview. "Wishing at once," says Captain Brown, "to see whether it was to be 'treachery or no treachery,' I, with Erskine and four native officers, met him about a mile from the
- ↑ Thornton. "History of British India."
