64 A Sportswoman in India 



fright, and began backing the cart over the edge ! 

 Appalling moment ! No whip or voice was of the 

 slightest use. I remember the thought flashing through 

 my mind that the others were amazingly cool, as the 

 wheels neared the edge of the precipice. That which 

 takes a moment to read happened in a second of time. 

 Another instant, and the ponies seemed to rise up in 

 the air and the cart to fall under our feet ! we 

 tumbled out on either side into the arms of some of 

 the Afghan camel-drivers ; at the same time our syce 

 and others seemed to get hold of the cart and ponies, 

 and to haul them back into the road. And thus 

 most providentially was a very serious accident averted. 



We drove on, winding round the rocks, until at last 

 Fort Maude towered above us, its blackened and 

 ruined walls a disgrace indeed to the British Govern- 

 ment, who, in spite of every warning, refused to send 

 troops up to it and to AH Musjid in time to prevent 

 the fatal catastrophe and loss of prestige which occurred 

 when the Afridis overpowered the Khyber Rifles and 

 burnt and sacked both forts. 



We met a few Afridis on the road tall, athletic 

 highlanders, lean and muscular, with high noses and 

 cheek-bones, fair complexions, and long, gaunt faces ; 

 a tribe of brave robbers, but only possessed of the 

 honour which exists among thieves. Excellent marks- 

 men and nimble and hardy as mountain goats, they 

 picked our men off from behind the crags, and then 

 moved up the mountains at a long, slow, wolf-like 

 trot a characteristic point about the Afridis. 



