A sufficient occasion was all that was needed to bring about open hostility, and this was afforded by the tribesmen themselves on June 18, 1888. On that day Colonel Battye and Captain Urmston conducted a route-march with some three score Goorkhas from the frontier post at Oghi; they had gone perhaps a little nearer to the frontier than was quite expedient, but it was afterwards shown that they had never actually left British territory. When about ten miles from Oghi, they were fired at from two points simultaneously. Colonel Battye ordered the Goorkhas to rush a ridge just ahead on which they could make a stand. The ridge was secured, but, unfortunately, the two British officers turned back to help a wounded man, and, while they were thus separated from the troops, both were cut down with swords. The Subadar (native officer) at once took command, though one arm had been disabled by a blow from a stone, and a bullet had gone through his thigh, and his head was streaming with blood. He collected the party, and marched back to the spot where the two officers had fallen. Keeping up a spirited fire to drive back the tribesmen, he succeeded in recovering both bodies, and brought the whole party back into camp at 8.30 that night. This man, Subadar Kishnbir Nagar Koti, had already gained the Order of Merit three times in the Kabul Campaign.[3] [3] See _Civil and Military Gazette_, June 1888. As the Headman of the tribe refused to hand over the offenders, the Government was driven {74} to avenge this outrage by sending an armed force into the country of the Hassenzais and Akazais, who were held responsible. [Sidenote: Hazara Field Force] This force, which numbered about 8,000 men, was organised in four columns, each formed of one British and two native regiments. A peculiar feature of this force was that no regiment was allowed to send more than six hundred men, which was a device to ensure the selection of a picked body of men. The late Sir John McQueen, who was then commanding the Punjab Frontier Force, was given command of the expedition, and Colonel W. F. Gatacre was appointed his Chief Staff Officer. This was naturally a moment of the liveliest satisfaction and anticipation for him. At last he found himself on active service; at last he was to face the ordeal for which he had been training for twenty-six years. Three of the columns marched out of Oghi on October 2, twenty-four hours' grace having been allowed beyond the time named in the ultimatum sent to the Maliks of the tribes. No. 4 Column, under Brigadier-General Galbraith,[4] had assembled at Derband on the River Indus, and was known throughout the campaign as the River Column; its function was to prevent any trans-Indus tribes moving eastwards across the river to join their neighbours, and it was hoped that the area of hostilities could thus be confined to those spurs of the Black Mountain where lay the heart of the disaffection.