and Killa Drasan, and had also got the higher ground, our road from here
onwards being down hill.

I went ahead now with the Levies, as I wanted to find out if the fort
was held at Drasan.

We got to the edge of the downs by 2 P.M., looking straight down on the
fort, which was the other side of the river, but from our position we
could see right down into the interior.

The place was evidently deserted, for as we were watching, I saw a man
go up and try the door, but, finding it closed, he went away again. The
villages all round seemed deserted, and I could only see two men driving
some cattle high up in the hills.

Before I had finished my sketch, the advance guard came up, and, shortly
after, Colonel Kelly. There was a short halt to let the tail of the
column close up, and then we commenced the descent. We were down on the
river bank in twenty minutes, and the Levies waded across, I on my pony.
We found the remains of a bridge which had evidently only just been
destroyed, and the material, I fancy, thrown into the river. The Levies
were soon up to the fort, and we had the main gate down in a jiffy by
using a tree as a battering-ram, and then the Levies went through the
place like professional burglars. Before I had hardly got into the
courtyard they had found the grain store, and were looting it. I put
Gammer Sing on sentry duty over the entrance, and, Borradaile coming up,
we inspected it, and found enough grain to last us some months. We now
set the Levies to work to get beams for repairing the bridge; at first
we could not find any long enough, until the Levies noticed the roof
poles of the verandah. We had them out and ran them down to the river