It was known that the Persians were in order of battle at about eight or nine miles from the spot on which the troops had bivouacked on the night of the 4th of February; therefore, before proceeding on the march on the morning of the 5th, the loaded arms were discharged and reloaded, in order to avoid the damaging effects of the night’s rain. Shortly after mid-day the Persian army was discovered in an intrenched position. A short halt took place, in order to get the regiments into their proper positions, when, to the annoyance of our men, the enemy were seen in full retreat, which they continued at such a pace as to prevent their being overtaken, except by a few of our cavalry who attacked their rear-guard. Our troops immediately took possession of their intrenched camp, in which were large quantities of ammunition, grain, and camp equipage. The intrenched position was found very weak, and would easily have been taken by our little army, whereas a village near, termed Brás-Joon, had it been but slightly fortified, would have become a most formidable position. During the 6th and 7th of February the troops were occupied in destroying military stores and searching for hidden guns, treasure, &c. On the night of the 6th an alarm occurred in the camp, and the whole force stood to their arms. Fortunately, the moon shone brilliantly, and thus a probable disaster was avoided, for one of the corps mistook a patrol of the Poonah Horse for a party of the enemy, and skirmished up to it, but fortunately discovered the mistake before a shot was fired. These night alarms—especially with soldiers not thoroughly trained—are invariably dangerous, the probability being that friends are mistaken for enemies, and shots not unusually exchanged. We were once witness to a scene which, although ludicrous afterwards and to the lookers-on, was certainly unpleasant to the principal performer. It happened that a soldier in his shirt and trousers had wandered some distance from our camp during the night, when an alarm arose that the enemy were upon us. Men scarcely awake rose to their feet, rifle in hand, and seeing a white object in the distance rushing towards them opened fire on it. The more the unfortunate man shouted (for he was within the white object, which was his shirt) the more rapid was the firing at him, until he came sufficiently close to be recognised. Fortunately the darkness of the night and the hurried manner in which the men fired saved him from being hit.