No operation of this campaign has been more criticised, either by those who took part in it or by historians, than the evacuation on the 18th October of the Dargai position and its recapture thereby necessitated only two days later. The matter is barely touched upon in Sir William Lockhart’s despatch, appearing in the _Gazette of India_ of January 22nd, 1898, beyond a remark that “the track to the water supply was afterwards found to be about three miles in length, so commanded from the adjacent heights that water could not have been obtained in the presence of an enemy unless these heights as well as Dargai itself had been held.” The inference is that, to hold the position won on the 18th, and safeguard the water supply, a far larger force would have been required than could at the time be spared. “Colonel (now Lieutenant-General) Hutchinson in his book, the _Campaign in Tirah_, states[120] as the principal excuse for the failure to hold the Dargai heights when they had once been captured, that ‘the water supply of Dargai was at a place called Khand Talao, nearly three miles away to the west, and the road to it was commanded throughout by adjacent heights, so that, in the presence of an enemy, water could not have been obtained for the troops, unless these heights, as well as the village of Dargai, had been held in force.’ This statement is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that, on the excellent map of the position which he gives three pages before, are clearly marked both the small Talao (or tank), 100 yards below the village, containing muddy but not undrinkable water, which we used at first on the morning of the 21st, but also the larger tank some 500 yards further to the east.... The summit of the Narikh Sukh completely dominates the village of Dargai and the reverse slope of the enemy’s position, and commands an extensive view of the country for miles round. It is strewn with large rocks, very much like a Dartmoor Tor, and abounds in natural cover. A battalion left there on the 18th could have set at defiance any number of tribesmen, and, supported by another battalion on the kotal to connect it with the base and furnish it with supplies, could with little difficulty, in conjunction with the troops already in possession of the Samana across the valley, have effectually prevented any attempt of the Afridis to come up to meet us from the Khanki Valley.” [Sidenote: Retirement from Dargai]