by G. A. Henty
Chapter 14: The Advance Upon Cabul.
Throughout the long hours of the night of the 2nd of September,while the roll of musketry and the roar of cannon had gone on,without a moment's pause, just outside the walls of his palace,Yakoob Khan had made no movement, whatever, to protect his guestsor fulfil his own solemn promises. Silent and sullen, he had sat inhis council chamber.
The disgrace of a broken promise is not one which weighs heavilyupon an Afghan's mind, and it is not probable that the thought ofhis tarnished honor troubled him, in the slightest degree; but heknew that the massacre which was being perpetrated at his doorwould be avenged, and that the English troops, which had so easilybeaten the army which his father had spent so many years inpreparing, would be set in movement against Cabul the moment thenews reached India. He cannot but have dreaded the consequences.But he apparently feared, even more, to incur the hostility of theHeratee regiment, by interfering to save their victims.
Again and again during the night, his wisest councilors besoughthim to call upon the loyal Cabullee regiments to act against theHeratees, but in vain. It is doubtful whether Yakoob was previouslyinformed of the intended massacre, but there is strong reason tobelieve that he was so. The proofs, however, were not clear anddefinite. His conduct cost him his throne, and condemned him toremain to the end of his life a dishonored pensioner, andsemi-prisoner, in India.
Many eager questions were asked of Will and his companion, as theymade their way down to the gate of the Bala-Hissar. Yossouf tookupon himself to answer them, and they passed through the gatewithout the slightest suspicion.
"Which way now?"
"I think it will be safest to go into the city. We might lie hidfor a few days in some deserted hut but, sooner or later, ourpresence there would excite comment. It will be best, I think, togo into the city. In the quarters of the Parsee merchants there areassuredly some who would give you shelter. Domajee--who was thecontractor for the supply of the mission--would, I should think, bebest to go to. There is little danger, for none will suspect yourpresence there. His servants are all Hindoos."
"That is the best place, Yossouf. I have been down several times toDomajee, and he is certainly devoted to the English. We can but tryhim."
The first dawn of morning was breaking, when Will and his faithfulfriend arrived at the door of the Parsee trader, in the Hindooquarter of Cabul. The doors were fastened and barred, for it wasimpossible to say whether the attack upon the mission--which hadbeen heard going on, all night--might not be followed by a fanaticoutbreak against the Hindoo and Parsee traders, in the Hindooquarter. Therefore, there was little sleep that night.
Yossouf knocked gently at the door.
"Who is there?" a voice at once inquired, from within.
"I come on urgent business with Domajee," Yossouf replied. "Openquickly, there are but two of us here."
There was a slight pause, and then the door was opened; and closed,immediately the two visitors had entered. A light was burning inthe large anteroom, as they entered it; and several Hindoos--whohad been lying, wrapped up in cloths, on the floor--rose to theirfeet to inspect the newcomers. A moment later the trader, himself,came down the stairs from an apartment above.
"What is it?" he asked.
He did not pause for an answer. The light from the lamp he carriedfell upon Will's face, now white as a sheet from loss of blood.With the one word, "Follow," the Parsee turned on his heel, and ledthe way upstairs.
"Has the mission been captured?" he asked, as they entered an emptyroom.
"Yes," Will replied, "and I believe that I am the only survivor."
The fatigue of climbing the stairs completed the work caused byprolonged excitement and loss of blood and, as he spoke, hetottered; and would have fallen had not Yossouf seized him and,with the assistance of the Parsee, laid him on a couch. In a fewwords, Yossouf informed the trader of what had happened; andsatisfied him that no suspicion could arise, of the presence of oneof the British in his house. As the residency had been burnt down,and the bodies of those who had fallen within it consumed, no onewould suspect that one of the five Englishmen there had effectedhis escape; and it would be supposed that Will's body, like that ofDoctor Kelly, had been consumed in the flames.
The Parsee was sure that Cabul would soon be reoccupied by theBritish and--putting aside his loyalty to them--he felt that hisconcealment of an English survivor of the massacre would be greatlyto his advantage, and would secure for him the custom of theEnglish, upon their arrival at the town.
He first descended the stairs; and warned his Hindoo followers, onno account, whatever, to breathe a word of the entry of strangersthere. Then he again returned to the room, where Yossouf wassprinkling water on Will's face, and was endeavoring to recover himto consciousness.
"There is blood on the couch," the trader said. "He is wounded, andis suffering from its loss. See! The sleeve of his coat is soakedwith blood, but I see no mark on the cloth."
"No," Yossouf replied; "he has put on that uniform since thefight."
"Go downstairs," the trader said; "my wife and daughter will see tohim."
As soon as Yossouf left the room, Domajee's wife and daughterentered, with many exclamations of surprise and alarm. They were atonce silenced by the trader, who bid them cut off the wounded man'suniform, and stanch his wounds.
Will had been hit in two places. One ball had passed through theleft arm, fortunately without injuring the bone. The other hadstruck him in the side, had run round his ribs and gone out behind,inflicting an ugly-looking but not serious wound--its course beingmarked by a blue line on the flesh, behind the two holes of entryand exit.
The wounds were washed and bound up, some cordial was pouredbetween his lips and, ere long, he opened his eyes and lookedround, in bewilderment.
"You are safe, and among friends," the Parsee said. "Drink a littlemore of the cordial, and then go off quietly to sleep. You needhave no fear of being discovered, and your friends will be here,ere long."
Four of the Hindoo servants now, at the order of the trader, cameupstairs and, lifting the couch, carried Will to a cool and airychamber, in the upper story of the house. Here a soft bed of rugsand mattresses was prepared, and Will was soon in a quiet sleep,with Yossouf watching by his side.
It was but twenty-four hours after the massacre that a well-mountednative, from Cabul, brought the news over the Shatur-Gardan Passinto the Khurum valley. Thence it was telegraphed to Simla and, ina few hours, all India rang with it. Not an instant was lost inmaking preparations for avenging the murder of the British mission.On the same day, orders were sent to Brigadier General Massy--atthat time commanding the field force in the Khurum valley--to movethe 23rd Punjaub Pioneers, the 5th Ghoorkas, and a mountain batteryto the crest of the Shatur-Gardan Pass, and to entrench themselvesthere.
A day or two later, the 72nd Highlanders and the 5th PunjaubInfantry ascended the Peiwar-Khotal, to Ali-Kheyl, to secure theroad between the Khotal and the pass. The 72nd then moved forward,and joined the 23rd Pioneers and 5th Ghoorkas on the Shatur-Gardan;and on the 13th General Baker arrived there, and took the command,but some time was needed before the advance could commence.
As is usual with the British, the great transport train--which had,with such pains, been collected and organized for the war--had beendispersed, immediately peace was signed; and the whole work had nowto be recommenced. Vast numbers of animals had been used up, duringthe campaign; and there was the greatest difficulty in obtainingthe minimum number which was required before the troops could move.At last, General Roberts managed to collect, in the Punjaub, 2000mules and 700 camels and bullocks. The tribes in the Khurum valley,too--who had been kindly treated, and were well satisfied with thechange of masters--furnished many animals for the transport ofstores, as far as the Shatur-Gardan.
The news had thrown the Gilgis, and other tribes among themountains beyond the Peiwar-Khotal, into a state of ferment; andseveral determined attacks were made, by them, upon convoys ontheir way up to t
he head of the pass. These, however, were alwayssuccessfully repulsed by the baggage guards, with considerable lossto the assailants and, on the 26th September--three weeks from thedate of the massacre--General Roberts joined the troops atAli-Kheyl, and moved forward to the Shatur-Gardan.
During this time two or three letters had been received from theAmeer, who wrote to General Roberts deprecating any advance of theBritish troops, and saying that he was trying to restore order, toput down the mutinous Heratee troops, and to punish them for theirconduct. As, however, the details which had been received of themassacre showed that the Ameer had behaved in a most suspicious--ifnot in a most treacherous--manner, at the time of the massacre; andthat if he possessed any authority, whatever, over the troops, hehad not attempted to exercise it, no attention was paid to hisletters.
The advanced party of the invading force moved down from theShatur-Gardan Pass. It consisted of the 12th and 14th BengalCavalry, two guns of the Royal Horse Artillery, two companies ofthe 72nd Highlanders, and the 5th Punjaub Native Infantry. The roadwas found to be extremely steep and difficult, and much labor wasnecessary before it could be made practicable for guns and wheeledcarriages. No enemy was encountered, and the little force encampedat night in the Logan valley; over which the cavalry skirmished,far ahead, but found no foes awaiting them.
On the following day they made another march forward, the brigadesof Generals Baker and Macpherson from the pass into the valley. Theadvance force halted at Zerghun-Shah and, soon after they had doneso, some of the cavalry rode in, with the surprising news that theAmeer was close at hand.
Half an hour later Yakoob Khan, attended by some of his principalnobles, rode into camp. He was received with the honor due to hisrank but, personally, General Roberts greeted him with greatcoldness. The Ameer stated that he came into camp because he couldnot control the soldiery of Cabul; and that, therefore, he had leftthe place and come in, to show his friendship for the English.Whatever may have been the motives for his coming, they were neverfully explained. Circumstances which afterwards occurred stronglyconfirmed the suspicion that he meditated treachery.
He was treated honorably; but the guard of honor which was assignedto him was, in fact, a guard over him and, from that time, he wasvirtually a prisoner. General Roberts declined, altogether, todiscuss with him the events of the massacre of Cabul; saying thatthis was a matter which could not now be entered into, but would befully investigated on the arrival at the Afghan capital.
The following day, the brigades of Generals Baker and Macphersonjoined the advance at Zerghun-Shah. The amount of transportavailable was only sufficient for half the baggage of the army; andit was necessary, therefore, to move forward in two divisions--theone advancing a day's march, and then halting; while the animalswent back to bring up the baggage of the second division, on thefollowing day.
A proclamation was now issued by the general, and sent forwardamong the people of the valley; saying that the object of theexpedition was only to punish those concerned in the massacre atCabul, and that all loyal subjects of the Ameer would be welltreated.
On the 3rd of October Macpherson's brigade, with the cavalry,reached Suffed-Sang. Here they halted, while the baggage animalswent back to bring up General Baker's brigade. The attitude of thepeople of the valley had now become very threatening. Great numbersof hill tribesmen had come down; and on this day an attack was madeupon the rear guard, but was beaten off with loss.
That the natives were bitterly hostile was undoubted; but theywere, for the most part, waiting to see the result of theapproaching fight. The Heratee and Cabul regiments were confidentthat they would defeat the approaching column. They had a greatadvantage in numbers, had been drilled in European fashion, werearmed with Enfields, and had an enormous park of artillery at theirdisposal. They were able to choose their own fighting ground, andhad selected a spot which gave them an immense advantage. Theywere, therefore, confident of victory.
Had the British troops been beaten, the inhabitants of the Loganvalley were prepared to rise, to a man. The Ghilzais and other hilltribes would have swept down upon the line of retreat; and few, ifany, of the British force would have returned to tell the tale.
The next day Baker's division had the post of honor, and made ashort march to Chaurasia. Beyond this village, the enemy had takenup their position. Three miles beyond the village the valleyends--a mass of hills shutting it in, with only a narrow defileleading, through them, to the plain of Cabul beyond. Upon bothsides of the defile the enemy had placed guns in position, andlined the whole circle of the hills commanding the approach to it.
Mountaineers from their birth, they believed that--although theBritish infantry might possess a superiority in the plain--theycould be no match for them on the steep hillside; and they no doubtthought that no attempt would be made to storm so strong aposition, but that the British column would march straight up thevalley into the defile, where they would be helplessly slaughteredby the guns and matchlock men on the heights.
Judging from their own tactics, they had reason for the belief thattheir position was an impregnable one. In their hill fights theAfghans never come to close quarters. Posted behind rocks and hugeboulders, the opposing sides keep up a distant musketryduel--lasting, sometimes, for days--until one side or the otherbecomes disheartened with its losses, or has exhausted itsammunition. Then it falls back, and the other claims the victory.The idea that English soldiers would, under a heavy fire from theirconcealed force, steadily climb up the broken mountainside, andcome to close quarters, probably never entered into theircalculations.
At daybreak on the 6th, a working party were sent forward toimprove the road towards the defile. But they had scarcely startedwhen the cavalry patrol in advance rode in, and announced that theenemy were in great strength on the hills, and had guns in positionto command the road.
General Roberts had now a choice of two courses--he could eitherattack the whole Afghan force, with the one division at hand; or hecould wait until joined by Macpherson's brigade, next morning. Thefeat of carrying such a position in face of an immensely superiorforce, with only half of his little command, was a very serious onebut, upon the other hand, every hour added to the number of hillmenwho swarmed upon the flanks of the army, just beyond musket range.A delay of twenty-four hours would bring the whole fighting forceof the tribesmen into the valley and, while attacking the enemy'sposition in the front, he would be liable to an assault upon hisrear, by them.
Confident in the valor of his soldiers, he chose the firstalternative and, at eleven o'clock, his little force marched outfrom the camp to attack the Afghan army. By this time the enemy'sposition had been reconnoitered, and it was found to be too strongfor a direct attack. It was therefore resolved to ascend the hillson both flanks, and so to drive their defenders back beyond thedefile. This, in any case, would have been the best mode ofassault; but against semi-savage enemies, flank attacks arepeculiarly effective. Having prepared for an assault in onedirection, they are disconcerted and disheartened by findingthemselves attacked in a different manner; and the fear of a flankbeing turned, and the line of retreat thereby menaced, willgenerally suffice to cause a rapid retreat.
General Baker, himself, took the command of the left attack. Hisforce consisted of four guns of Number 2 Mountain Battery, twoGatling guns, the 7th company of Sappers and Miners, a wing of the72nd Highlanders, six companies of the 5th Ghoorkas, 200 men of the5th Punjaub Infantry, and 450 of the 23rd Pioneers. This was themain column of attack.
The right column--under the command of Major White, of the 72ndHighlanders--consisted of a wing of that regiment, 100 men of the23rd Pioneers, three guns of the Royal Artillery, and two squadronsof cavalry. This attack was intended only as a feint, and todistract the attention of the Afghans from the main attack. Astrong reserve was left in Chaurasia, to guard the baggage and tooverawe the tribesmen.
As General Baker's column reached the foot of the hills, the 23rd--wholed the advance, thrown out in skirmishing line--b
egan to climb theascent. The enemy were armed with Sniders and Enfields, and their firewas rapid and continuous; fortunately it was by no means accurate, andour losses were small. The Afghans, in their hill fighting, are accustomedto fire very slowly and deliberately--taking steady aim, with their gunsresting on the rocks--and, so fighting, they are excellent shots. It isprobable, however, that the steady advance of our men towards them flurriedand disconcerted them; and that they thought more of firing quickly, thanof taking a correct aim.
The 72nd, pressing up the hill, were assisted by the fire of themountain guns and Gatlings, and by that of the Punjaubees in theirrear. Gradually the upper slopes of the hills were gained; and theBritish troops, pressing forward, drove the Afghans back along thecrest. Several times they made obstinate stands, holding theirground until the 72nd were close to them.
These, however, would not be denied. The massacre of the mission atCabul had infuriated the soldiers, and each man was animated with astern determination to avenge our murdered countrymen. For an hourand a half the fight continued; and then the Afghans abandoned theridge, and fled in confusion. They rallied upon some low hills, 600yards from the rear; but the mountain guns and Gatlings opened uponthem and, the whole line advancing to the attack, the enemy fellback.
Major White's column had been doing excellent service, on theright. Although the attack had been intended only as a feint, itwas pushed forward so vigorously that it met with a success equalto that which had attended the main column, on the left. The enemywere driven off the hills on the right of the defile. Twenty gunswere captured, and the direct road cleared of the enemy.
Unfortunately, our cavalry was in the rear. The road through thepass was difficult and, before they could get through into theplain on the other side, the masses of Afghans had fallen back intothe strong villages scattered over it; and could not be attacked bycavalry, alone. The enemy had from 9000 to 10,000 men upon theridge, including thirteen regiments of regular troops. They left300 dead upon the field and, besides these, carried off largenumbers of killed and wounded, during the night. Upon our side only20 were killed, and 67 wounded.
Had General Roberts had his whole force with him, he could--aftercapturing the hills--have at once pushed forward, and have attackedthe enemy on the plain; and the Afghans, disheartened and panicstricken, would have been completely crushed. With so small a forcein hand, and the possibility of a serious attack by the tribes onhis rear, General Roberts did not think it prudent to advancefarther; and the regiments which had taken the principal part inthe massacre of Cabul marched away, unmolested.
Enormously superior as they still were in numbers, they had nothought of further resistance. The capture of positions which theydeemed impregnable, by a force so inferior in number to their own,had utterly disheartened them; and the Heratee regiments which, butthe day before, had been so proudly confident of their ability toexterminate the Kaffirs, were now utterly demoralized and panicstricken. In the night the whole of the Afghan troops scattered,and fled. Our cavalry--under General Massy--swept along the plainof Cabul and, skirting the town, kept on as far as the Ameer'sgreat entrenched camp at Sherpur, three miles further along thevalley. Here 75 guns were captured.
In the morning, Macpherson arrived. General Roberts now advancedwith his whole force of infantry, and found that he had no longer afoe before him. The Afghan army had disappeared.
There was no longer any occasion for haste, and the column halteduntil all the baggage had been brought up through the difficultdefile. The total defeat of the Afghan army had overawed thetribesmen, and these at once retired to their hills again. Thevillagers, however, were bitterly hostile; and seized everyopportunity of firing at small bodies of troops, on cavalrypatrols. This continued for some time; and General Roberts, atlast, was obliged to punish it with severity and, in such cases,all found with arms in their hands were at once shot.
On the 11th of October Sir Frederick Roberts and his staff, with acavalry escort, rode into the Bala-Hissar and, the next morning,the British troops marched into the fort. The gates of Cabul stoodopen, and a column was marched through the town, and formalpossession taken of it.
During the first five weeks which elapsed, after the massacre ofthe mission, William Gale remained almost prostrate in the house ofthe friendly Parsee trader. He had barely recovered his strength,after his prolonged illness, when the attack was made; and theevents of that night, and the great loss of blood which he hadsuffered, had reduced his strength to that of an infant. Under thecare of the Parsee and his family, however, he slowly but steadilyregained strength.
For the first month, but little news reached him from without. Thena report came that the British had assembled, in considerableforce, on the crest of the Shatur-Gardan; and were going to move onCabul from that direction. Then, day by day, the tidings came in ofthe advance of the force. It was reported, generally, that theAmeer had gone out to meet them; with the intention of leavingthem, when the decisive moment, arrived and taking command of thetribesmen, who would fall upon and annihilate them.
On the 6th the town was unusually quiet, and Will heard that theAfghan army had moved out, to occupy the hills commanding theapproach through the defile; and that, with the aid of thetribesmen, the British army was to be exterminated there.