After the assault had been thus successfully repulsed water was served out, a meal was cooked, and the men allowed to sleep in turns. In the evening it was seen that the enemy had barred the road down to the water. At dusk the defenders still further strengthened their sangars, and fully expecting another attack, kept up a vigilant outlook. But "we and the men were terribly weary," say the officers, "and it was very difficult to keep the sentries awake, although they were posted double."
The night passed off quietly, however, and in the morning it was seen that the enemy had cleared off the hills, though sharpshooters still surrounded the defenders in sangars from fifty to two hundred yards distant. Lieutenant Edwardes dressed the wounded, who had so far only been bandaged. "Never a groan or complaint was heard," says the report, though there were no medical appliances, and though not sufficient water was available with which to thoroughly wash the wounds. Bandages, crutches, and splints had to be improvised, and the officers used a weak solution of carbolic and carbolic tooth-powder for the purpose of dressing the wounds. The corpses of the six dead men were also brought out and prepared for burning. At dusk an attempt was made to procure water again, and Lieutenant Fowler with twenty sepoys started down towards the river. But the enemy had now built and occupied sangars along the cliff at the river's edge, and the work of getting down to the river was one of extreme risk. Lieutenant Fowler succeeded in getting to within ten yards of the first sangar and within five yards of the sentry without being observed. About twenty men could be seen sitting round a fire in the interior with their rifles lying by their sides. A volley was poured into these men, and then Lieutenant Fowler charged down on the top of them. A few men only succeeded in escaping down the cliff to the river bed. Meanwhile the enemy in a second sangar, roused by the firing, lined the walls and began firing to their front. But Fowler had got round them behind a wall on their flank, and he now charged right up the wall, poured a second volley into these men over the fires, also knocked over about six of them, then bayoneted a few more, while the remainder fled. And so successful had Fowler been in surprising these parties, that not a single man of his was scratched. The way down to the water was open, but Fowler now heard heavy firing and the Pathan cry of attack in the direction of the post. So having collected his men, he retired at once to rejoin Lieutenant Edwardes. The enemy's attack was repulsed by this latter officer before Fowler's return, but the attempt to obtain water had to be abandoned for the night.