Hunter, the moment the alarm was given, ran round the fort to see that the sentries were on the alert, and when he had done so found that Von Tempsky had started with his own men, the infantry, leaving no orders for the mounted men nor for himself. This placed him in a dilemma. It was clear the headquarters fort, containing large supplies of arms and ammunition, could not be left in charge of a guard of six men. It was also clear that the mounted men were the proper men to have gone to their comrades’ assistance, but as his senior officer had left them behind without orders it was clear he must utilise them to hold the fort. He therefore gave orders to lead the horses back to their stables and for the troopers to man the bastions. Now the troopers were as keen as mustard, and had been ready for duty even before the infantry, for although they did not, like the bold garrison of Branxholm Castle, drink their wine through their helmets barred, it was only because they had no wine to drink nor tin pots to wear on their heads, but they drank their ration rum, when they could get it, under their forage caps, and they always lay down to sleep fully accoutred, breeched, booted, belted and spurred, while their horses stood all night in their stalls saddled and bridled, with their heads round, ready to be led out and mounted in a moment. It was so on this occasion. In fact they were standing by their horses before the foot men fell in, so it was through no fault of theirs they were not employed. Now the troopers were well aware that they were the men who should have been selected to have gone, as they could have reached their endangered comrades at least half-an-hour before the footsloggers could hope to do so, and the fact of their being left behind drove them hopping mad, while on receiving the order to man the bastions the sergeant-major used language most reprehensible and unwarrantable, for which he should have been most severely punished. As the delay caused by using foot instead of mounted men was responsible for at least half the casualties, great irritation was felt not only through the force but also through the country, and the newspapers, getting to hear of the sergeant-major’s hasty words, immediately started to disseminate their garbled reports, it even pleasing the ink-slinging stool-polishers, who write them, to shower abuse and cast doubts on the courage of a brave officer whose boots they were not worthy to black. The synopsis of the wretched affair was this. Major Von Tempsky was the senior officer whose undoubted duty it was to take steps to immediately relieve the besieged fort. Well, he chose to go himself, taking his own men, infantry, with him, and leaving the mounted men and their officer behind without orders.