Thus brilliantly was an exceptionally strong position carried, and the first obstacle which lay in the path of the Southern column of the Relief Force brushed away. The action lasted five hours, and it is difficult to praise too highly the dash and determination with which the pass was carried. Nor is it possible to forget the sterling bravery of the enemy, who for five hours withstood a most searching and splendidly-directed shell fire from three batteries, and yet were still firm enough to stand up to a bayonet charge at the end of it. Their loss was computed by themselves at 500 killed, and the general average of battles would make their wounded probably reach a total of 1,000, or, say, a total loss of from 1,250 to 1,500. The British loss was under seventy killed and wounded.
Several curious cases of the vitality of the wounded was furnished by both sides. A man of the Guides, hit in the region of the stomach, climbed down to the foot of the pass, and walked five miles back to the Field Hospital, supported by a comrade. One of the enemy on the other hand, with no less than six bullets through him, walked all the way to Chakdara, nine miles off, and was afterwards treated by our surgeons, and, strange to say, made a rapid recovery. There is no doubt that Asiatics can stand wounds inflicted by sword or bullet infinitely better than Europeans can. Wounds that would kill a European, or at any rate lay him up for months, affect these hardy and abstemious mountaineers in a very much less severe manner. Imagine, for instance, having the whole lock of an exploded gun blown into one's shoulder, and going about as if nothing in particular had happened! Yet such a lock was cut out of a man's shoulder months after the occurrence by one of our surgeons. Marvellous cases of recovery, without number, might be told, but perhaps the case of quite a young boy is as typical as any. Like boys in any other part of the world, hearing that a fight was going to take place hard by, he naturally determined to go and look on. Whilst he was thoroughly enjoying himself in all the excitement of the fight, and probably throwing stones vigorously, a stray bullet hit him in the arm, passing through it in several places and splintering it badly. When the pass was taken he was found lying wounded, and his wound was examined. The doctors decided that he must have his arm cut off, or mortification would certainly set in, and they gave the boy the choice between death or the amputation of his arm. He chose the former, but in a few days instead of being dead he was better, and in a few days more was out and about again.