Here some women were told to attend to his wound, and the party who captured him went off to join in the attack on the British rear guard.
In the evening, the man who had saved his life returned.

He was, it seemed, the headman of the village; and had been with his force in the Bara valley, where the natives of the village had retired on the approach of the British force.

There Lisle lay for ten days, by which time the inflammation from the wound had begun to subside.
The bullet had luckily grazed, and not broken the bone.

At the end of that time, some of the principal men came to him and, by signs, directed him to write a letter to the British commander, saying that he was a prisoner, that he was held as a hostage against any further attempt to penetrate into the valley; and that, in the event of another British force approaching, he would be at once put to death.
Four of the Afridis always sat at the entrance to the house, which was one of the largest in the valley.

He was served regularly with food; of which, as the valley had not been entered, there was, of course, abundance.