It was still only twilight when Gerrard and his men, with the two field-pieces drawn by bullocks, left the bivouac for the mouth of the defile, with one of the Darwani guides to pioneer for them. Another of these men was to remain on the hillock where the halt had been made, to watch for any sign of pursuit from the Adamkot direction, and bring the news instantly if any appeared. Charteris and the main body, with the elephants, struck to the right of Gerrard's line of march to gain the other path, and that their intention might not become apparent to the liers-in-wait, Gerrard halted his guns as soon as he was within possible range of the mouth of the defile, and with fear and trembling discharged them both, by way of giving the enemy something to think about. The guns did not burst, and though the shot fell far short, in consequence of the reduced charges, they drew an excited matchlock fire from the men in ambush, which did no harm, but showed their positions. The guns moved on, and Gerrard found excellent places for them in some rocky ground thick with thorny bushes, while his matchlockmen exchanged long shots with the concealed enemy. The fire of the field-pieces seemed to have an impressive moral effect, preventing any desire of coming out into the open on the enemy's part, but was unsuccessful in turning them out of their hiding-places, which were in the cliffs overlooking the track. Gerrard advanced his sharp-shooters and changed the position of the guns from time to time, but the sun was growing hot, his men were grumbling loudly because he would not allow them to charge the defenders, and he was glad to see that the time he had fixed with Charteris for his withdrawal was approaching. His men were recalled from the front two or three at a time, the remainder keeping up a brisk fire to delude the enemy and divert their minds, and when all were withdrawn, the two cannon were spiked, and a start made across the rocky ground towards the right. Before they had gone far, the scout left at the bivouac came riding in hot haste to say that he had seen a great cloud of dust advancing from the direction of Adamkot, and evidently concealing a large force of horsemen hastening towards the sound of the firing. This was vexatious, as they would probably arrive at the spiked field-pieces and divine the truth long before the ambush in the defile would be emboldened by the silence to creep down and see what had happened, and Gerrard hurried his men on. It was difficult to hasten, however, over the rough ground and through the thorny bushes, while it was inadvisable to venture out upon the plain lest they should be seen, and the horsemen sweep down upon them. The cloud of dust was quite visible now, whenever a break in the jungle gave a view of the plain, and Gerrard found himself wondering whether the pursuers had a man of Charteris's type or of his own in command of them. He could not help hoping it might prove to be his own.