CH. III WELCOME AT FORT DROSH 29
expressed at not being able to join my party was genuine enough, I could see. So it was a comfort to feel that Chitral with its splendid shooting of ibex, markhor, etc., practically reserved for this dozen and a half of officers, had compensations to offer even to the most eager among them.
I shall not easily forget the cheerful hours I passed among these keen soldiers and sportsmen, or the stirring performance of Highland airs by the regimental pipers marching round the Mess table. Fatigue was soon forgotten in such animated surroundings. Yet I felt grateful for the rest to which at last I could retire about midnight, after having had only a couple of hours' sleep since first dawn of the day before. From Gujar I had covered a distance usually reckoned as three marches, and a good portion of it over snow on a pass unusually trying.
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