three
o'clock in the morning
The sides of the nullah were extraordinarily precipitous , and on the edge furthest from us stone sangars were already built as a second line of defence . Shere Ali occupied the village in front of the nullah , and we encamped six miles down the valley , meaning to attack in the morning . But the Chiltis abandoned their traditional method of fighting behind walls and standing on the defence . A shot rang out on the outskirts of our camp at three o'clock in the morning , and in a moment they were upon us . It was reckoned that there were fifteen thousand of them engaged from first to last in this battle , whereas we were under two thousand combatants . We had seven hundred of the Imperial Service troops , four companies of Gurkhas , three hundred men of the Punjab Infantry , three companies of the Oxfordshires , besides cavalry , mountain batteries and Irregulars . The attack was unexpected .