At each village through which William Gale and his escort passed,
the inhabitants turned out, and hooted and yelled at the prisoner;
and it was with the greatest difficulty that the chief protected
him from personal violence. William himself was scarce conscious of
what was passing. The swinging action of the camel added to his
great weakness, and he would not have been able to keep his seat on
its back, had not his captors fastened him with ropes to the
saddle. Although the snow had only just melted on the Shatur-Gardan
Pass, in the valleys below the heat of the sun was already great
and, often as it poured down upon him, he lapsed into a state of
semi-consciousness; and drowsily fancied that he was again in his
canoe, tossing on the tiny waves, in the shelter of the reef.
On the sixth day after the start, a shout from his guard aroused
him, as they emerged from a steep ascent amongst some hills. Before
him an undulating ground, dotted with villages, stretched for three
or four miles. At the foot of some steep hills, to the left of a
wide valley, was a large walled town which he knew to be Cabul. On
the hillside above it was a strong building: half fort, half
palace. This was the Bala-Hissar, the abode of the Ameer, and the
fortress of Cabul. In addition to the king's residence it contained
barracks, store houses, magazines, and many residences. Towards
this the cavalcade made its way.
They halted two miles from the town, and the chief sent his son
forward to the Ameer, to inform him that he had brought in an
English prisoner; and to request that an escort might be sent out,
lest he should be killed by the people on approaching the town. An
hour after the man had left, a troop of cavalry sallied out from
the gate of the Bala-Hissar, and rode rapidly to the spot where the
party had halted. Surrounding the camel on which William Gale was
mounted, they conducted it to the fortress.
Illustration: William Gale in the hands of the Afghans.
When he was lifted down from his camel, Will was unable to stand.
Fever had set in again, and he was conveyed to an apartment in a
house near the royal residence. The Ameer was already negotiating
with the British, and orders were consequently given that the
prisoner should receive every attention. The king's own doctor was
ordered to attend him, and two attendants were told off to take
charge of him. The old chief received a recompense, for the care
which he had taken of the prisoner, which fully answered to his
expectations; and he returned home well satisfied with the success
of his policy.
For weeks, Will lay between life and death; and he was a mere
skeleton when, two months after his arrival, he was able for the
first time to sit up at the window, and look across the valley.
Very gradually, he recovered strength. He was well supplied with
food, and especially enjoyed the delicious fruits for which Cabul
is celebrated.
His attendants were a old man and his son, the latter a lad of some
fifteen years of age. The father did his duty, because ordered to
do so; but his scowling face often showed the hatred which he felt
of the Kaffir. The lad, however, took kindly to his patient. He it
was who for hours together would, while Will was at his worst, sit
by his bedside, constantly changing the wet cloths wrapped round
his head, and sometimes squeezing a few drops of the refreshing
juice of some fruit between his parched lips; and as his patient
turned the corner and became slowly convalescent, his pleasure over
the life he had saved, by his care, was very great.
Like most soldiers in the expeditionary force, Will had picked up a
few words of Afghan; and had greatly increased his stock, during
the time he lay in the hut in the mountains. Alone now all day with
the boy, with nothing to do but to look out on the town below, and
the wide valley beyond, he made rapid progress; and was, by the
time he was strong enough to walk alone across the room, able to
hold some sort of conversation with his friend--for so he had come
to regard his devoted attendant.
One morning the boy came into the room in a state of great
excitement.
"English officers are coming," he said, "with soldiers."
"But I thought it was peace," Will exclaimed, delighted. "You told
me peace had been signed, at Gundamuk, two months ago."
"Yes, it is peace," the boy said. "The officers are coming in
friendship, to be here with the Ameer."
Will was greatly moved at the news. When he had heard, six weeks
before, that peace was signed, he had begun to hope that, some day
or other, he should again be able to return to India; but the news,
that some of his countrymen were close at hand, almost overcame
him.
The next day, which was the 24th of July--although Will had lost
all account of time--he saw vast numbers of people out on the
plain; and presently, far away, he beheld a large body of horsemen.
These, the lad told him, were the Ameer and his bodyguard,
accompanied by the English officers. Cannon were fired in salute,
and the garrison of the Bala-Hissar stood to their arms and,
presently, Will saw a cavalcade riding up from the gate of the
fortress. First came some Afghan cavalry; then rode a tall and
stately man, whom the boy told him was the Ameer. But Will had no
eyes for him. All his thoughts were centered on the white officer
who rode beside him: Major Sir Lewis Cavagnari, the English envoy.
Behind, among the chiefs of the Ameer's suite, rode two or three
other English officers; and then came a detachment of some
twenty-five cavalry, and fifty infantry of the Guides, a frontier
force consisting of picked men.
As they passed near his window, Will stood up with his hand to his
forehead, in salute. Major Cavagnari looked up in surprise, and
spoke to the Ameer. The latter said a few words in reply, and then
the cavalcade rode on to the palace. Ten minutes later two of the
Ameer's attendants entered, and told Will to follow them.
He had that morning, for the first time since his arrival in Cabul,
put on his uniform. He was still very weak but, leaning one hand
upon his attendant's shoulder, he followed the messengers. He was
conducted to a large room in the palace, where the Ameer and his
adviser, and the British officers were sitting.
"Well, my lad," Major Cavagnari said, kindly, "I hear you have had
a bad time of it. The Ameer tells me that you were taken prisoner
near Ali-Kheyl, that you were badly wounded, and that after the
snow melted you were brought down here. He says he gave orders that
everything should be done for you, but that you have been very ill,
ever since."
"I have been treated very kindly, sir," Will said, "and I am now
getting round. I owe my life chiefly to the care and attention of
the lad, here, who has watched over me like a brother."
Will's words were translated to the Ameer, who expressed his
satisfaction, and ordered a purse of money to be given to the boy,
in testimony of his approval of the care he had taken of his
patient. As Major Cavagnari saw that the young soldier was almost
too weak to stand, he at once told him to retire to his room,
adding kindly:
"I will ask the Ameer to assign you quarters in the same house with
us. We will soon bring you round, and make you strong and well
again."
The same evening Will was carried over--for the fatigue he had
undergone had been almost too much for him--to the large house
assigned to Major Cavagnari, his officers and escort. It was built
of wood, surrounded by a courtyard and wall. A room was assigned to
Will, on the same floor as that occupied by the officers. The
Afghan lad had received orders to accompany his patient, and remain
with him as long as he stayed in Cabul.
Will's progress towards recovery was now rapid. He had no longer
any cause for anxiety. He was carefully attended to by Doctor
Kelly, the surgeon of the Guides, who had accompanied the mission
as medical officer. The escort was commanded by Lieutenant
Hamilton; and Sir Lewis Cavagnari was accompanied by Mr. William
Jenkyns, of the Indian Civil Service, as his secretary. The care of
Doctor Kelly, and the influence of quinine and tonics quickly added
to Will's strength; but his best medicine was the sound of English
voices, and the kindness which was shown to him. In a fortnight he
was able to get about, as usual; and the doctor said that, in
another month, he would be as strong as ever.
For two or three weeks after Major Cavagnari's arrival in Cabul,
all went well; and it appeared as if the forebodings of those who
had predicted trouble and danger to the little body who had gone
up, as it were, into the lion's den, were likely to be falsified.
That the mission was not without danger the authorities, and Major
Cavagnari himself, were well aware; but it was important that the
provision in the treaty of Gundamuk, by which England secured the
right of maintaining a resident at Cabul, should be put into
operation. Besides, the Ameer had himself given the invitation to
Major Cavagnari, and had pressed the point warmly, giving the most
solemn promises of protection.
At any rate, for the first two weeks the soldiers of the escort
moved freely in the city, without molestation or insult; and it
appeared as if the population of Cabul were content with the terms
of peace which, indeed, imposed no burdens whatever upon them, and
was supposed to have inflicted no humiliation on their national
pride.
On the 5th of August, several regiments marched in from Herat.
These troops--which were considered the flower of the Afghan
army--had, in consequence of the distance of Herat from the seat of
war, taken no part whatever in the struggle. Upon the very day
after their arrival they scattered through the town, and were loud
in their expression of hostility to the terms of peace. Had they
been there, they said, the Kaffirs would have been easily defeated.
Why should peace have been made at the very first reverse, and
before the best fighting men had come to the front?
That evening Will Gale's young attendant came to him in his room,
looking very serious.
"What is the matter, Yossouf?"
The lad shook his head.
"Trouble is coming," he said. "The Heratee men are stirring up the
people, and the Budmashes are threatening that they will kill the
English."
"But the Ameer has promised his protection," Will said. "He has
sworn a solemn oath to stand by them."
"Yakoob Khan is weak," the boy said. "He was a great warrior, once;
but he has been in prison for many years and he is no longer firm
and strong. Some of the men round him are bad advisers. Yakoob Khan
is no better than a reed to lean upon."
The next day there were riots in the town. The Heratee men taunted
the people of Cabul with cowardice, and the excitement spread in
the city. The soldiers of the escort could no longer stroll quietly
through the bazaars; but were hooted at, and abused, although of
the same religion and race as the people around them--for the Guide
regiments were recruited from Pathans, and other border tribes.
Day after day the position became more threatening. The men of the
escort were ordered no longer to go down into the town, where their
presence was the occasion of tumults. A native officer of one of
our cavalry regiments, who was spending his furlough at a village
near Cabul, came into the Bala-Hissar and told Major Cavagnari that
he feared, from rumors that reached him, that the Heratee regiments
would break into mutiny, and attack the embassy.
The officer, who was a man of immense courage and coolness, replied
quietly:
"If they do, they can but kill the three or four of us here, and
our deaths will be revenged."
He, however, made representations to the Ameer as to the
threatening behavior of the Heratee troops; but Yakoob assured him
that he could rely thoroughly upon his protection, and that--even
should the Heratee troops break out in mutiny--he would at once
suppress the movement, with the Cabul regiments.
Yossouf became daily more anxious. Going into the town, to buy
fruits and other necessaries, he heard more of what was going on
than could the members of the embassy.
"Things are very bad," he said, over and over again. "It would be
better for you all to go away. Why does your officer stop here, to
be killed?"
"It is his duty to stay at his post," Will said. "He has been sent
here by the commander-in-chief. He is like a soldier on outpost
duty. He cannot desert his post, because he sees danger
approaching; but I wish, with all my heart, that an order would
come for his recall; not only because of the danger, but because I
am longing to be back again with my regiment and, although I am
strong enough to ride down to the Punjaub, now, I cannot go except
with Sir Lewis and his escort. Although it is peace, a single
Englishman could not travel down to Jellalabad, through the
passes."
Will had, from the first week after the arrival of the mission,
fallen into the position of an orderly-room sergeant. His duties
were little more than nominal, but he acted as assistant to Mr.
Jenkyns, and made copies and duplicates of reports and other
documents which were, from time to time, sent down to Jellalabad.
Being the only Englishman there, with the exception of the four
officers, these greatly relaxed the usual distance prevailing
between an officer and a corporal; and treated him as a civilian
clerk when in office, and with a pleasant cordiality at other
times. Except, indeed, that he messed alone, and kept in his own
room of an evening, he might have been one of the party.
Each day, he reported to Sir Lewis the rumors which Yossouf had
gathered in the town. In his reports to headquarters, Major
Cavagnari stated that trouble had arisen from the conduct of the
Heratee troops; but he scarcely made enough of the real danger
which threatened the little party. Had he done so, the embassy
would probably have been recalled.
"What have you got there, Yossouf?" Will asked one day, when his
follower returned with a larger bundle than usual.
"I have brought the uniform of an Afghan soldier," the boy replied,
"which I have purchased from the bazaar. It is for you. I am sure
that soon you will be attacked. The English are brave, but there
are only four of them. Their soldiers will fight, but what can they
do against an army? When the time comes, you must dress yourself in
these clothes, and I will try to conceal you."
"But I cannot do that, Yossouf," Will said. "It is very good of you
to try and aid me to escape; but I am a soldier, and must share the
fortunes of my officers, whatever they may be. If they fight, I
shall fight. If they are killed, I must be killed, too. I cannot
run away and hide myself, when the danger comes."
The lad hung his head.
"Then Yossouf will die, too," he said quietly. "He will not leave
his white friend."
"No, no, Yossouf," Will said, warmly; "you have nothing to do with
the business. Why should you involve yourself in our fate? You can
do me no good by sacrificing your life."
Yossouf shook his head.
"If," he said presently, "the time comes, and you see that it is of
no use any longer to fight, and that all is lost, would you try to
escape then?"
"Yes," Will said, "certainly I would. When all hope of further
resistance is gone, and fighting is useless, my duty would be at an
end; and if I could manage to escape, then, I should be justified
in trying to save my life."
Yossouf looked relieved.
"Very well." he said, "then, at the last, I will try and save you."
"Still, Yossouf," Will said, "we must hope that it is not coming to
that. The Ameer has sworn to protect us, and he can do so. The
Bala-Hissar is strong, and he can easily hold it, with one or two
of his Cabul regiments, against the Heratee men. He has three or
four of these regiments here. He cannot be so false to his oath as
to allow his guests to be massacred."
Yossouf made a gesture which expressed his utter disbelief in the
Ameer, and then again went about his duties.
On the 2nd of September, on his return from the town, he reported
that there was great excitement among the people; and that he
believed that the night would not pass off, without trouble. Major
Cavagnari, to whom Will reported the news, sent in a message to the
Ameer--whose palace was within two or three hundred yards--and
begged him to take measures to secure the Bala-Hissar against any
attack by the Heratees.
The members of the escort, available for the defense of the
residency, were but about fifty men. Most of the cavalry were away.
Some were down the pass with despatches. The rest were stationed a
short distance off in the plain, as forage was difficult to obtain
in the fort.
The Ameer returned a curt message to Major Cavagnari, saying that
there was no cause for uneasiness. The latter, however, doubled the
sentries at the gate of the little enclosure.
Just as the officers were about to retire to rest, Yossouf--who
had, a short time, before gone out again, telling Will that he
would bring back news of what was going on, ran in.
"The Heratees are coming," he said. "The gates of the fort have
been left open. The Cabul men are all in their barracks. They are
pouring in at the gates. Do you not hear them?"
William Gale ran to the window, and could hear a loud and confused
noise of yelling and shouting. He ran in to the envoy's room, and
warned him that the Heratees were at hand. Without the loss of a
moment's time, Lieutenant Hamilton got his men under arms; and
posted them at the upper windows of the house, where their fire
would command the approaches to the gate.
Quickly as this was done, the Afghans were close at hand by the
time that each man was at his post; and instantly opened a
scattering fire at the residency, shouting to the soldiers to come
out and join them, and to bring out the Kaffir officers to be
killed. The Pathans were, however, true to their salt and, in
reply, opened a steady fire upon the mass of the enemy. With wild
yells the Afghans rushed at the gate but, so steadily and rapidly
did the defenders shoot, from the upper windows and loopholes cut
in the gate, that the assailants were forced to fall back.
"That's right, my lads," Major Cavagnari said cheerfully to his
men; "we can hold the place for some time, and the Ameer will bring
the Cabul regiments down in no time, and sweep away these rascals."
The Afghans, now some thousands strong--assisted by all the Budmashes,
and turbulent portion of the population of Cabul--surrounded the house
on all sides, and kept up a heavy and incessant fire; which was coolly
and steadily returned by the Guides. After an hour's fighting, there
was a sudden roar above the rattle of musketry; followed by another,
and another. Simultaneously came the crash of shells. One burst in
the house, the other tore through the gate. Still there was no sign of
the Cabul regiments.
Eight or ten guns were brought to play on the little garrison. The
gate was broken down, and nearly half the force of the house were
already killed, or wounded, by the musketry and shell fire. Still
they continued the defense Over and over again, the Afghans swarmed
up close to the gate; only to fall back again, before the steady
fire of the Snider rifles of the Guides. Major Cavagnari went from
room to room, encouraging the men; while the other officers and
Will Gale, taking rifles which had fallen from the hands of men no
longer able to use them, set an example of cool and steady firing
to their men.
For four hours the unequal contest continued; then a cry arose,
from the men, that the house was on fire. It was but too true. A
shell had exploded in the lower part of the house, and had ignited
the woodwork; and the fire had already obtained so firm a hold that
it was impossible to extinguish it. A few of the men continued
their fire from the windows, to the last; while the rest carried
their wounded comrades out into the courtyard. As the flames shot
out from the lower windows, the yells of the Afghans rose higher
and higher; and a fearful storm of lead and iron swept down upon
the little band, who were now plainly visible in the light of the
flames. Even now the enemy did not dare, although numbering
hundreds to one, to come too close upon them, though they flocked
up close to the gate.
"Now, lads!" Major Cavagnari exclaimed, "let us rush out, and die
fighting hand to hand; better that than to be shot down
defenseless, here."
Thus saying he led the way, and charged out upon the crowded foe.
There were but Lieutenant Hamilton and eight men to follow him. All
the rest had fallen. Doctor Kelly had been shot in the house, while
dressing the wound of one of the soldiers. Mr. Jenkyns had fallen
outside.
Will Gale had twice been wounded, but was still on his feet and,
grasping his musket, he rushed forward with his comrades. A figure
sprang out just as he reached the gate and, with a sudden rush,
carried him along for some paces. Then he stumbled over a fragment
of the wall, and fell just at the corner of the gate--which had
swung inward, when burst open by the enemy's shell. Confused and
bewildered, he struggled to regain his feet.
"Keep quiet, master!" Yossouf's voice said, in his ear. "It is your
only chance of safety."
So saying, he dragged Will into the narrow space between the gate
and the wall; then, as he rose to his feet, he wrapped round him a
loose Afghan cloak, and pressed a black sheepskin cap far down over
his face.
In a minute there was the sound of a fierce struggle, without. The
shots of the revolvers of the two English officers rang out, in
quick succession, mingled with the loud report of the Afghan
muskets. The savage yells rose, high and triumphant. The last of
the gallant band, who had for hours defended the embassy, had
fallen. Then there was a rush through the gate, as the Afghans
swarmed into the courtyard, till the space around the burning house
was well-nigh full.
Unperceived, Will Gale and Yossouf stepped from behind the gate and
joined the throng and, at once, made their way into the stables,
where several of the Budmashes were already engaged in their work
of plunder. Yossouf caught up three or four horse rugs, and made
them into a loose bundle; and signed to Will to do the same. The
young soldier did so, and lifted them on his shoulder, so as to
partly hide his face. Then he followed Yossouf into the courtyard
again.
Already there was a stream of men with saddles, rugs, muskets, and
other plunder making their way out, while others were still
thronging in. Joining the former, Will and his guide were soon
outside the enclosure At any other time, his disguise would have
been noticed, at once; but in the crowd his legs were hidden, and
all were too intent upon plunder, and too excited at their success,
to notice him.
Once outside the wall, he was comparatively safe. The light thrown
over the courtyard, by the blazing house, made the darkness beyond
all the more complete. Keeping carefully in shadow, Yossouf led him
along to a clump of bushes, in a garden a hundred yards from the
house. Stooping here, he pulled out a bundle.
"Here," he said, "is the uniform. Put it on, quickly!"
It was but the work of a minute for Will to attire himself in the
uniform of the Afghan soldier. He had still retained the musket,
which he had in his hand when Yossouf had leaped upon him; and as
he now went on with his guide he had no fear, whatever, of being
detected. He still carried the bundle of rugs on his shoulder.
As they walked round towards the lower gate of the Bala-Hissar,
they met numbers of villagers and townspeople thronging in. These
had waited to hear the issue of the attack before leaving their
homes but, now that the arrival of the plunderers from the
residency, and the cessation of the fire, told of the successful
termination of the assault, they flocked up to join in the
rejoicings over the annihilation of the Kaffirs.