The recent despatches from India tell us that the soldiers who arefighting on the frontier have performed another gallant deed.
The heroes, this time, belonged to the Northamptonshire regiment.
It was necessary for the British to find out if the enemy was encampedanywhere in the neighborhood, so a portion of the troops left theBritish camp and marched to the summit of a mountain called Saran Sar.
There were no signs of the Afridis as they marched along, and the top ofthe hill was reached with little difficulty.
There they found the remains of a hastily vacated camp, and from thevarious signs that were around became convinced that the enemy was onthe mountain with them.
Fearing an ambush, the British commander ordered his men to retreat, andthe manœuvre had hardly been put in effect before the tribesmenappeared.
Following the troops closely, the Afridis fired on them from behindevery bush and rock that offered cover, and, after many of the Englishsoldiers had been killed or wounded, the tribesmen became so bold thatthey rushed from their cover and engaged in a hand-to-hand encounterwith the soldiers.
General Westmacott, who commanded the party, at once realized that hehad serious work before him, and hastily arranging his forces so that hecould care for the wounded and move his men as quickly as possible, thecommander hastened the retreat.
It was, however, difficult to do; and in the hurry of the retreat onelittle party, which had charge of a convoy of wounded comrades, becameseparated from the rest of their comrades and were surrounded by theangry tribesmen.
The retreating army reached the camp safely about dark, and then it wasdiscovered that a lieutenant named McIntyre and twelve soldiers weremissing.
It was at first hoped that they had simply dropped behind and wouldreach camp any moment. When, however, hours passed and they did notreturn, the worst fears were entertained.
At last a soldier arrived, bringing with him the dreadful news, andtelling the story of the gallant deed of the lieutenant and his bravecompanions.
It seems that the rough ground over which they had to travel made theprogress of this little party very slow, and the care of the woundedunder their charge hampered their movements so much that they at lastfound themselves completely cut off from their comrades.
As soon as the young officer realized what had happened to him, hedespatched one of his men for aid, and with the others formed a ringaround the wounded, preparing to defend them until help arrived.
The wounded men, on their part, behaved as nobly as the lieutenanthimself.
Realizing the situation, they begged the young officer to leave them totheir fate, and do what he could to save his own life and the lives ofhis men.
Mr. McIntyre absolutely refused to abandon the wounded, and prepared todefend them to the last.
When the messenger last saw the gallant little band, they were bravelyfacing the enemy, waiting calmly for the death which was sure to followunless help reached them soon.
A party was immediately sent out from camp to their relief, but when thespot was reached the brave fellows were beyond hu