midday
The path up from the river was narrow , but sufficient to allow two loaded mules to pass abreast . It wound for some seven miles , over a low hill , until the river bed was again reached . The next ford was Barkhe . The advance guard was well up in the hills by midday , when it met the Oxfordshire Regiment , which had come out seven miles to meet the force ; but the baggage of a division , filing out of the river bed in pairs , is a serious matter , and there was necessarily a block in the rear . General Westmacott moved as soon as the baggage was off but , long before it was through the first defile , his pickets were engaged , and a general action followed . The enemy , fighting with extraordinary boldness , kept within a few yards of the pickets . Followers with baggage animals were constantly hit , as they came up but , at half-past ten , the rear guard regiments marched out of camp , under cover of artillery fire .