four in the morning
The reasons for the retirement were that a complete brigade would have been required to take the place , that the picketing of the road would have taken half a brigade , and that no commissariat arrangements had been made for the supply of a force on the plateau . Further , not a drop of water was available ; and lastly , if Dargai had been held , the enemy would have massed their whole force against it ; whereas , when the force withdrew , the tribesmen would be compelled to divide their force in order to watch the other road . The conclusion arrived at , by the members of the mess , was that the retirement was probably necessary ; but that the next advance would assuredly meet with much greater opposition than the first . Three days passed ; and then , at half-past four in the morning , the advance guard of General Yeatman-Biggs ' column left the camp , under General Kempster , and proceeded up the Chagru Pass . It was a long , weary pull up the hill . The sappers had been working hard on the road , for the past ten days ; but it was still very narrow for a whole division , and three mountain batteries . At half-past eight the force reached the summit , and the advance guard sent back news that the crest of the Dargai was held , by the enemy , in force .