Only there were no cattle.

I rode, as Ranjoor Singh usually did, twenty or thirty horses' length away on the right flank, well forward, where I could see the whole column with one quick turn of the head.
I had ten troopers riding a quarter of a mile in front, and a rear-guard of ten more, but none riding on the flanks because to our left the hills were steep and impracticable and to our right I could generally see for miles, although not always.
We dipped into a hollow, and I thought I heard rifle shots.

I urged my horse uphill, and sent him up a steep place from the top of which I had a fine view.

Then I heard many shots, and looked, and lo a battle was before my eyes.

Not a great battle--really only a skirmish, although to my excited mind it seemed much more at first.
And the first one I recognized taking his part in it was Ranjoor Singh.
I could see no infantry at all.