T But little by little the almost indistinguishable dots
moved upwards along the face of the cliff to the south.
A deep chimney afforded them both protection from the
Tibetans manning the wall, and the bare possibility
of an ascent. What the hardship must have been of
climbing up to an altitude which could not have been
less than 18,500 feet it is difficult for the ordinary reader
to conceive. Hampered alike by his accoutrements and
by the urgent anxiety for rapidity, Wassawa Singh still
gave his men but scanty opportunities of rest. It was
such a climb as many a member of the Alpine Club would,
under the best circumstances, have declined to attempt,
and the Order of Merit which was afterwards conferred
upon Wassawa Singh was certainly one of the most
hardly earned distinctions of the campaign.
Still, in spite of everything', the little figures crept
upwards, and at last reached the line of perpetual snow,
where they could be seen clambering and crawling against
the dazzling surface of white. There was still a long
way for them to go when an outbreak of fire from the
southern slope of the valley showed that Major Row’s
men had established themselves above the enemy’s
right-hand sangar. A brisk crackle of musketry broke
o u t ; the exchanges were heavy, but the- issue was
never in any doubt. Covered by the fire from the party
above. Major Row led the main body forwards over the
unprotected glacis, at the upper end of which the little
fort had been made. The enemy’s fire slackened, broke
out again, and finally died down as the surviving
Tibetans flung away their guns and attempted to escape
down the almost perpendicular slope of the hill. Not
one of them got away. The wretched men one1 after
another scrambled amid the pitiless bullets that pecked
up the dust all round, and then slid in an inert mass
till they lay quiet on the road below.
With a cheer that we could hear with odd distinctness
in the bottom of the valley, the Gurkhas sprang forward
and captured the post. But even then much
remained to do. The holders of the southern sangar
During the Karo la fight. Colonel Brander (in the foreground) moves up to
reconnoitre. This was probably the most elevated spot in the world at which hostilities
have been carried on.
kept up as steady a fire as before at anyone who showed
himself, and it was impossible to move on from the
recently captured outpost so as to enfilade the main
position, Which ended on the north against a precipitous
cliff. For upwards of an hour the fight again languished.
Nothing could be seen of Wassawa Singh
v o l . 1.