When the sun had begun to decline upon the scene of suffering he had caused that day, the river was descried from the brow of a sandy knoll, winding its shining path through the sterile soil. Man and beast rushed in uncontrollable confusion to the waters, and quenched the fiery thirst under which both had suffered severely.
Our baggage did not arrive in camp till about midnight; and so severe had been the heat, that almost every dog belonging to the officers of the brigade either dropped dead on the road, or was long in recovering the effects of the cruel experiment. Many men were much broken down, and one or two in the hospital doolies died on the road.
The cavalry-brigade alone having advanced, and intimation having been received that the Kandahar chiefs, with three or four thousand cavalry, had left the city to attack us, General Thackwell considered it probable that they would attempt a surprise that night, as their spies would probably have time to inform them of our forced march. Accordingly, pickets, consisting of about one half of our force, were posted to protect the remainder, and sentries, videttes, and patrols, with loaded pistols and carbines, spent the evening of that merciless day in watching for any approaching party. Our vigilance was all in vain: the Kandahar chiefs did not deserve the compliment we paid them; and we lay on watch all night, undisturbed by any sound more warlike than the complaint of a camel, or the bray of a donkey.
The next day, I was sent with a party of four men to reconnoitre some hills about three miles distant, on the opposite bank of the river, and finding many deep ravines in the way, I left my party behind, and fording the stream, ascended the heights, where the sand was so deep, that my charger sank up to his knees at every step. I was about half way up the hill, when an Afghan, armed to the teeth with tolwar, matchlock, and pistols, started suddenly from a cavern behind a rock, a few paces above me. I drew a pistol from my holsters, and levelling it at him, recommended him to surrender. He stood a few seconds, apparently irresolute; then darted behind the rock, which was close beside, and out of my sight. I spurred forwards through the sand to meet my friend on the opposite side; but he had ascended by a narrow ravine, and in a few seconds I caught sight of him among some crags, about fifty yards above me, and in full retreat.
I pursued again, but in vain; for the mountain, which had now become rocky, presented obstacles every ten yards; and when I reached the summit, I caught a glimpse of three or four mountaineers a few hundred yards from me, stealing round the mountain, apparently with the intention of intercepting my retreat. No signs of a camp or any body of men were to be seen in the plain, as far as my glass enabled me to discern; I therefore descended the mountain on the opposite side from which I had ascended, perceiving that my longue carabine attendants were prepared for a shot, which I preferred making a difficult one.
Having reached the foot of the mountain, I stirred my Arab's mettle across the plain, receiving three or four salutes from my polite acquaintances above, some of which whistled as if they had been well directed.
Having struggled through a quicksand, which lay between me and the bank, I recrossed the river, and joined my party on the other side.
I have little doubt that the men I encountered on the hills were spies from the Kandahar army. The matchlock of the Afghan I came upon unawares, must have been unloaded, or he would certainly have tried to prevent my ever reporting our interview. I might easily have sent a pistol-ball through him, for he was not ten paces from me; but it looked so much like murder that I could not draw the trigger.
Marching from hence by the banks of the river, we reached an inhabited village, in which a little grain was procured for our famished horses. News arrived in the course of the day that the Kandahar chiefs had given up all thoughts of opposing us, and retreated towards Herat, leaving the field open to Shah Soojah. That illustrious monarch preceded us next day to Kandahar, where, from the confused salute we heard in the evening of cannon, matchlocks, and various noisy instruments, we conjectured he had been received with tumultuous joy. Public exultation is a cheap commodity at all times, but never less valuable than when inspired by personal fear; and the citizens of Kandahar were actuated, I think, by interested motives towards their new monarch. History assigns no cause he had ever given to render himself popular.
The defection of Hadji Khan (chief of the Kaukers) was the cause assigned by the Afghans for the Kandahar chieftains abandoning their territories without a struggle; but as they could not, at that time, muster above five or six thousand troops, it is probably as well for them that they did not make the experiment.