The Ghurkas were gleefully ready for a job like this, and at the word followed him noiselessly to the point in the palisade whence he had observed the unsuspecting Malays. A quick scramble over and the whole party were inside. The first man who offered resistance Major Channer shot dead with his revolver. The rest stood aghast at the unexpected spectacle of a white officer in their midst, and before they could recover from their astonishment the Ghurkas in their neat green uniforms and little round caps were among them, using their keen kukris with deadly effect. The surprise was complete. The Malays, ignorant of the numbers of their assailants, abandoned the fort and fled precipitately into the jungle.
A message to the main body soon brought up the troops, when the fort was destroyed, leaving the way clear for the march to be continued. But for Major Channer’s bold attack the fort would have had to be carried by a bayonet charge, as it was secure from the big guns, and much loss of life must have been caused. His act, therefore, was one of the greatest service to the expedition.
The gallant major, who got his Cross a few months later, afterwards served with considerable distinction under Lord Roberts in Afghanistan, and commanded a brigade in the Black Mountain (Hazara) expedition of 1888. He died at his home in North Devon only at the end of last year, a General and a C.B.
CHAPTER XVIII.
HOW SOME AFGHAN CROSSES WERE WON.
The war which broke out in Afghanistan in 1878 and lasted two years was of a far more serious nature than the campaign in Ashanti which I have just dealt with. It was at bottom a struggle to assert our supremacy on the Indian frontier, where Russia was beginning to menace us, and on its result hung the fortunes of a large part of Asia. Before I tell of how several notable V.C.’s were gained in the hill-fighting round Candahar and Cabul it is necessary to say a few words about the war itself, in order that we may properly understand the situation.
Trouble over Afghanistan began very early in the nineteenth century, but Great Britain maintained a firm hold over the country and its Amir until the advent to the throne of Shere Ali Khan. This turbulent ruler was a very go-ahead monarch indeed. He organised a splendid army, well-drilled and well-equipped with modern arms, and spent some years in military preparations which could have had only one object—the ultimate overthrow of British influence in that part of the world.
That Russia and Russian money was behind all this has been made very clear. The go-ahead Shere Ali went ahead so far that he made overtures to the Muscovite Government and received a Russian mission at Cabul. When Lord Roberts reached the capital after his victorious march he found, he says, “Afghan Sirdars and officers arrayed in Russian pattern uniforms, Russian money in the treasury, Russian wares sold in the bazaars; and, although the roads leading to Central Asia were certainly no better than those leading to India, Russia had taken more advantage of them than we had to carry on commercial dealings with Afghanistan.”
Our first move was to establish a British mission at Cabul, but this met with failure. Then Shere Ali, after abdicating in favour of his son, Yakoub Khan, conveniently died, and our prospects improved. A mission, at the head of which was Sir Louis Cavagnari, was received at the capital, and all seemed to be going well when the civilised world was startled by the news that Cavagnari and all with him had been massacred.