G. A. Henty

“ I cannot make any overtures for help to a man who, though a friend of my own, is fighting against us. And indeed, however willing he might be to aid me to the best of his power, he could not do so. If we are really attacked in the pass, mixed up as we shall be with the camp followers, we could not be found in the crowd; and you may be sure that the tribesmen and the Ghazee fanatics will be mad with bloodshed and hate, and that even a chief would be unable to stand between them and their victims. ”

“ But now the Ameer was a fugitive, the guns were in our hands, the Kuzzilbashes and native tribesmen had come in to salute their new ruler, and nothing remained but to enter the capital in triumph.
The entry took place on the 7th of August. The ceremony was an imposing one. Shah Soojah, after an exile of thirty years, rode at the head of the cortege, on a white charger with golden trappings. He wore a jewelled coronet, his arms and garments were ornamented with precious stones, and his waist encircled with a broad girdle of gold encrusted with rubies and emeralds. ”

“ When a man has an open mind it is well to give him both sides of the case, but when he has pledged his reputation and thrown himself heart and soul into one side of the case it is worse than useless to endeavour to turn him, especially when the die is cast and the day for drawing back is past. If my opinion, gathered from nine months' residence in Cabul and almost daily interviews with Dost Mahomed, has been altogether unheeded, certainly yours, gathered in a passing trip through the country, would have no effect whatever beyond setting him against you. ”

“ It is all very well to talk like that, Azim, when one is in safety, but when one sees one's comrades being slaughtered, a man would not be worthy of the name did he not long to be with them and to die fighting by their side. Indeed, we know not at present whether our lives are to be saved. We know not into whose hands we have fallen, or why we should thus be taken along to be spectators of this massacre. ”

“ Azim shook his head. This was quite beyond him. "He is fighting against you now, master. If the princes find out that you are English they will put you in a dungeon and most likely kill you, and kill me too, so as to shut my mouth. This man is paid to act as a spy on you. Why not kill him? Thousands of people were killed or died at Herat. I cannot understand why one man should not be killed, when we can perhaps get free away if he is dead." ”

“ There is no chief whose name is more honoured in the country than that of Sadut Khan. He is as brave as a lion, good to his people, and faithful to Dost Mahomed, when so many have fallen away from him. The Ameer regards him as if he were a favourite son, and it will gladden his heart indeed, and lessen his troubles, when he learns that he is still alive. ”

“ Thus a fine body of fighting men were reduced to such depths of discontent and shame that when the unworthy order for retreat before their exulting enemy was given they had lost all confidence in themselves or their officers, and, weakened by hunger and hampered by an enormous train of camp followers, they went as sheep to the slaughter in the trap the Afghans had prepared for them. ”

“ The gathering in the street increased every moment. Burnes with the two officers went out on to a balcony, and from thence harangued the mob. His voice was drowned by yells and curses, weapons were brandished, and an attack was made on the doors of both houses. Part of the mob were fanatics, who thought only of slaying the infidels, but a still larger party were animated solely by a desire to share in the sack of the Ameer's treasury next door. The native guards both of Sir Alexander and the treasury opened fire, and for a time maintained themselves with the greatest bravery. ”

“ The trader's surprise increased as Angus spoke. "But who are you, then, who have travelled so far, and how is it that having learned so many languages you are now here as a peasant?"
"It is a disguise," Angus said. "My father was a British merchant at Tabriz, and I myself am in the service of the British minister at Teheran, and am the bearer of a letter from him to Shah Kamran."
"You are young indeed, my son, to be engaged on so difficult and dangerous a mission. Surely I can find you a lodging. All trade is at a stand-still now, and we Armenians suffer like the rest. ”

“ Burnes was unquestionably a man of great ability, and had he been in Macnaghten's place with full power and responsibility, things would probably have turned out differently.
The expedition from the first was a gigantic blunder, undertaken in the teeth of his remonstrances. In any case it was doomed to failure. It was impossible that we could maintain on the throne a man hated by the whole of his subjects—a race of fighting men, jealous to the last degree of their independence, and able to take full advantage of the natural strength of the country. ”

“ Moreover, he was continually applying for money to meet the expenses of Shah Soojah's government. As if the drain that these demands would entail upon the Indian treasury and upon the Indian army were not sufficient, he insisted upon the necessity of conquering the Punjaub, where, since the death of Runjeet Sing, the attitude of the population had been increasingly hostile.
It is difficult to understand how any perfectly sane man could have made such propositions. It would have needed the whole army of India to carry them out, to say nothing of an enormous outlay of money. ”

“ And I should like you to do so too, Angus; but it is a long, long journey, and a difficult one, from Tabriz to Scotland, and it may be many years before I return home again. It is a journey that it is impossible for a boy to make alone. But this is not the only reason why I wish to take you back. I want to train you to help me in my business, and until you speak Persian fluently you will be of no use whatever to me. At your age you will pick it up rapidly, far more rapidly than you could if you did not begin till you were seventeen or eighteen. ”

“ A man's life is worth more than a horse and saddle. Of course in the daytime there would be no escape in that way, for they would bring us down with their matchlocks; but at night we could elude them, and if they did follow us we could defend ourselves, taking shelter and shooting them as they came up."
"Well, it is a satisfaction, anyhow," Angus said, "that there would be a chance for us. Our horses are good beasts, but we value our lives more."
"I think they are honest fellows," he went on after telling Azim the substance of his conversation with the tribesmen. ”

“ None appreciate bravery more than do the Afghans. It was not so much that Pottinger had exposed himself recklessly to the shower of bullets with which the Persians in their trenches swept the spot where he was standing with the wuzeer, but that he should have ventured to abuse, revile, and even forcibly drag their dreaded leader forward astounded them. ”

“ Here Pottinger, after seeing them through, shook hands cordially not only with Angus but with Azim, whom he had learned to like and value for the devotion he showed to his master in Herat. They proceeded on their way without meeting any parties of Afghans until they neared the foot of the hill, then, as they were passing along a path through an orchard, a party of men suddenly sprang out upon them, and they were thrown down on their faces before either had time to offer any resistance. Angus, indeed, had repressed the natural impulse to try to draw one of his pistols. ”

“ It was altogether inexcusable that Lord Auckland, against the advice of the commander-in-chief and the remonstrances of his other military advisers, should have appointed such a man to a command which, beyond all others in India, demanded the greatest amount of energy and activity. There were many men who might have been worthily selected, men with a knowledge of the political conditions of Afghanistan, of the feelings of the people, of their language and of their country. ”

“ Even the murder of the British envoy within sight of the camp failed to arouse the military authorities from their deadly lethargy. Sullenly the troops remained in their cantonments. Not a man was put in motion to avenge the deed or to redeem the honour of the army. The only idea was to renew the negotiations that had been broken short by the murder of their political chief. The commissariat had nothing to do. Beleaguered as they were, it was impossible to collect provisions unless a strong force was sent out, and the military authorities refused to allow a man to be put in motion. ”

“ Angus said gravely. "After what seems to me the imbecility shown yesterday, to which the death of my chief is due, it is impossible to feel anything like confidence in the general."
"That is the universal feeling in camp," Captain Johnson said. "If we had Sale here I believe everything would go right, but poor Elphinstone is only fit for a snug armchair in a comfortable club. He is no more able to cope with a crisis like this than an old woman would be. In fact, for choice I would take the average old woman. ”

“ In Persia the governors squeeze the people a bit, and sometimes there is much grumbling, but the worst of them are very much better than Yar Mahomed, who is a son of Sheitan, whom may Allah confound."
"He is a scoundrel," Angus agreed heartily. "I wonder myself that the people of Herat have not long since risen and torn him to pieces. I know that if I had been a merchant there I should have tried to stir them up to do it."
Azim shook his head. "They cannot trust each other, effendi. There are many who would like to do as you have said, but there are many who cannot trust their own neighbours." ”

“ One will do great things for a friend, one may do something for a stranger, but to hinder one's journey and cumber one's self with a wounded stranger is surely more than can be expected of us."
Angus now entered the tent.
"My trust in the chief was not misplaced," Sadut Khan said. "He will act as our guide across the mountains, though he doubts whether it will be possible to cross the passes. If it is the will of Allah, Persian, that we should not, we can but die." ”

“ Dost Mahomed is worth a dozen of him, and no one who knows anything of the affairs of Afghanistan is able to understand why Lord Auckland and Macnaghten and the rest of them should ever have conceived the idea of supplanting a man who has shown himself really desirous of our alliance and friendship, and who undoubtedly possesses the support of a majority of his countrymen, by one who has never shown any talent, who has no party whatever in Afghanistan, and is a member of a discredited and fallen family. ”

“ The Afghans never spared those who fell into their hands, and fortunate were those who were speedily killed, for in many cases they were tortured before they were done to death. It had never occurred to him to doubt for a moment the good faith of the men who accompanied him; and yet, now he thought over it, such a possibility should have been foreseen, since there was no reason why the men should be traitors to their race, although for the moment they had obeyed their commander's orders and ridden with him into the British camp. ”

“ Captain Johnson therefore looked with interest at the trader, who was standing a little behind Saleh. For a moment he seemed puzzled but Angus had his hand on his chin and suddenly moved two fingers across his lips and very slightly shook his head. Johnson understood the gesture, and replied to Saleh: "The man is right; he may be sure that whatever happens to us our friends will see that he is paid for any goods we may buy of him. We will write a letter in Persian, which you can read to our friends, saying that this man has trusted us and that our orders are to be honoured." ”

“ Misfortunes have befallen our arms, but never one so dark and disgraceful as this. The shame of the disaster was redeemed only by the heroic garrison of Jellalabad, which, although but one-fourth of the strength of that at Cabul, sallied out after a noble defence and routed the army which Dost Mahomed's son Akbar had assembled for their destruction. ”

“ The town made a very favourable impression on Angus after the ruin and dirt of Herat. As a Persian he felt at home here, for Persian inscriptions and names met his eye everywhere, as throughout Afghanistan the whole of the trade is carried on by Persians or by natives of India, the Afghans themselves deeming the profession of arms the only one honourable. The upper classes among them all habitually spoke Persian ”

“ To the first of these questions Angus could only reply that, not having been in the Persian camp, he was unable to give them information. There were certainly Russian generals and officers leading the Persians at the siege of Herat. They were infidels, and neighbours of the Persians. For himself, he thought that while no doubt the Shah wished to be at peace with such powerful neighbours, he would be wise not to trust them very far. He could not really wish for them to become more powerful, and if they aided him, it could only be for their own objects. ”

“ But if the army at Cabul could not withstand us, still less will Sale's force, which is only a third of its strength, hold Jellalabad."
"You forget, chief, that they are commanded by a man, and not by an utterly incapable person. They are not dispirited by forced inaction or want of food. I do not say that Jellalabad may not be taken, but I feel sure that it will offer a sturdy resistance, and the news of what has happened in the passes will only fill the soldiers with fury. ”

“ News came day after day of the terrible mess at Cabul. The news was kept as far as possible from the troops, so as not to discourage them; but, of course, since Brydon came in, the truth of the terrible massacre had to be told. I am happy to say that, although filling them with wrath and indignation, it has in no way abated their spirit. During the six weeks' rest we have had since the battle of the 1st of December, we have, as you see, really done wonders in the way of fortification, and consider that we are in a position to repulse any attack however formidable. ”