By this time, however, troops had been pushed up to Kohat from Rawal Pindi, and from Peshawar through the Kohat Pass, and the advanced force at Hangu had now been strengthened. Lieutenant-Colonel Abbott was sent on from Hangu to Doaba, twenty-two miles further west, with two mountain guns, a squadron of cavalry, the 15th Sikhs, and half a company Bombay Sappers; and on the 31st Major-General Yeatman-Biggs left Kohat for Hangu, and formed the troops there into two brigades. One of these, now commanded by Colonel Richardson, was ordered to proceed at once to the relief of the posts at Sadda and Parachinar—distant seventy and ninety-two miles respectively—which expected to be attacked in force on the 3rd September. The rapid advance of this brigade—Sadda was reached on the night of the 3rd—staved off actual attack; but Thal had been fired into, Torawari post had been burnt, while Balish Khel, a post on the border three miles from Sadda, had been fiercely attacked, and its defence by twenty men of the Kurram Militia, under an Afridi havildar, was particularly fine. Its relief was effected by the arrival of some fifty armed Turi villagers from Sadda, and 200 militia from Hasan Ali. With the appearance in the neighbourhood of Colonel Richardson’s brigade, matters quieted down for a time, but on the 16th a determined attack was made upon the camp about 10.30 p.m. by 2000 of the Massuzais, who were not finally beaten off until 1 a.m. While these operations were in progress in the Kurram desperate fighting had taken place on the Samana. The posts of Lakka and Saifaldara, at the western end of the range, had, as we have seen, been abandoned, and thereupon destroyed, and in addition two other small police posts, Gogra and Tsalai, had been evacuated and burnt. There remained on the hill two large posts—Fort Lockhart, on the centre of the range, and Gulistan (Fort Cavagnari), at the western end overlooking the Chagru Kotal—and several smaller ones—Saraghari, the Crag Picquet, the Sangar Picquet, Sartop and Dhar. Each of the two larger posts was capable of accommodating two companies, though at Gulistan one company had to be placed in a small hornwork to the west, while the smaller posts could hold from twenty-five to fifty rifles. Of these small posts, Saraghari was by reason of its situation the most important, being on high ground and in signalling communication with the different posts on the range.