When, on the 6th March, Lieutenant Edwardes heard of the gathering below Reshun, he had at once sent back news to Mastuj, where it arrived the same evening, and Captain Ross thereupon started next morning with his party—two British officers, one native officer and ninety-three of other ranks—to bring Lieutenant Edwardes’ detachment back to Buni. Reaching Buni late on the night of the 7th, he there left his native officer with thirty-three rank and file, and pushed on next morning for Reshun with the remainder of his party. At 1 p.m. the Koragh Defile was reached; as described by Robertson, “the defile is the result of the river cutting its winding course through terrible cliffs. A goat, scuttling along the high ridges, might start a thunderous avalanche of boulders down the unstable slopes. At the lower end of this frightful gorge the pathway begins to ascend from the river above some caves, and then zigzags upwards. There the ‘point’ of the advance guard was fired upon, and hundreds of men disclosed themselves and set the very hillsides rolling down.” The small party were in a trap. Several men were at once hit, and Captain Ross then decided to occupy some caves in the river bank. He made several attempts to scale the cliffs and to force his way back to Buni, but was everywhere met by a heavy fire from both banks of the river, and by a deadly hail of rocks from the cliffs above. Captain Ross was killed, and eventually his subaltern, Lieutenant Jones, with only fourteen men, ten of the party being wounded, reached Buni on the evening of the 10th. Here he occupied a house and held it until the 17th, when Lieutenant Moberley marched out from Mastuj with 150 men of the Kashmir troops, and relieved and brought in the remnants of Captain Ross’ party. From the 22nd March until the 9th April Mastuj was invested by the enemy, but on this latter date they began to retire owing to the advance of the Gilgit column under Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly. The Mastuj garrison had only one man wounded. [Sidenote: The Gilgit Column]