The 1st and 3rd Ghoorkhas were to cover the retirement, and the 15th Sikhs to hold the Kotal.

The baggage train reached the Kotal by twelve o'clock, and the camp at three.

The Ghoorkhas, however, had to fight hard; and were so done up that, instead of continuing to cover the retirement they passed on, leaving the Sikhs to cover.
The enemy, thinking that only a small rear guard had been left, came down in great force; but the fire was so heavy that they fell back, leaving the ground strewn with their dead.

The action, however, now became general, all along the hill.

Ammunition was running short, and Captain Abbott felt that, in the face of so large a force, and with fifteen or sixteen wounded, he could not retire down the ravine or valley without support.