The loads being packed, and all the tents, save three or four lazy stragglers, having disappeared, the second trumpet sends its shrill echoes through the lines, and gives warning that the treadmill will soon be at work. Beware of that camel's mouth gaping close to your hand in the dark, or he will spoil it for holding a rein or a sabre; and beware the treacherous tent-peg, which lurks in savage gloom for the shins of the unwary. "It is no use cursing the peg. Why did you not get out of its way when you found it was not inclined to get out of yours?" cries a facetious neighbour, as you stoop to rub the lacerated shin, and narrowly escape being trampled by an elephant, who is hustling off with a few hundred weight of canvas and tent-poles hanging about him.
The third trumpet and a cup of boiling coffee generally accompany each other, if your khansanah belong to the right Dean Swift's breed; and it is no punishment to insist on his drinking it himself—the man would swallow a cup of cayenne and fire, without winking.
The troops are formed in dusky masses on their alarm-posts; the commanding-officer rides along the line; the word of command is given, and passed down the squadrons; the welcome note for the march is heard, and the tramping of the steeds raises an impenetrable cloud of dust around the column, as we cheerfully turn our backs on Caubul, most probably for ever; the band prophetically striking up, "Ha til mi tulidh," or something which I mistook for it.
Sir John Keane marched with the head column, consisting of the 16th Lancers, one troop of Horse Artillery, and four companies of Native Infantry. General Thackwell followed, the next day, with the 3rd Native Cavalry, detachments of Infantry, and the state prisoners, Hyder Khan, late governor of Ghuzni, and Hadji Khan Kaukur. The former was destined for Bombay, the latter, for Bengal, where it was intended to place him in close confinement at Chunar, on the Ganges; but this was afterwards commuted for a more salutary and agreeable durance at Landour, where Hadji Khan had little cause to complain of the severity of his captors.
The 2nd Bengal Cavalry, which were left at Caubul, soon afterwards had an opportunity of distinguishing themselves at Purwan Durrah, in an encounter with Dost Mahomed. The Ameer having been nearly surrounded by his enemies, and entertaining a low opinion of the courage of the Native Cavalry, resolved to dash through the circle at the post held by the above-named corps, and accompanied by a determined body of his adherents, he charged two squadrons of the 2nd Cavalry.
The officers of the regiment having tried unsuccessfully to induce their men to follow, formed a line, and gallantly charged the Afghan force. Three of the regiment were killed, and most of the remainder severely wounded; but such was the moral effect of this behaviour, that Dost Mahomed exclaimed, "that war against such a nation must be hopeless."
The dastardly black fugitives who had been spectators, during their flight, of the self-devotion and butchery of their officers, spread themselves in the wildest disorder and affright, but the avenging cimeters of the Afghans soon flashed amongst them, and dealt a partial retribution for their detestable cowardice.
The number of this regiment was afterwards erased from the list of the Company's troops, and the corps was disbanded at Kurnaul, with the exception of one squadron, which, not having been present at Purwan Durrah, was distributed throughout the remaining regiments of Native Cavalry. The officers were provided with various situations in the Company's service, and subsequently incorporated in a new cavalry regiment, (the 11th.)
Some attempts to palliate the conduct of the 2nd Cavalry, on this occasion, have been attempted; and I have heard it adduced in extenuation, that the men (save the mark!) had no confidence in their arms and equipments or their horses' bits—that they reverenced Dost Mahomed and the Afghans as the heads of their religion[48]—and that British cavalry have also been known to be backward.
Regarding the first of these assertions, we need but ask—Is not the Native Cavalry soldier as carefully instructed in the use of his weapon as the English Dragoon? If he be, there is no reason for his running away. If he be not, I cannot admit that a brave man is likely to run away with a piece of English steel in his hands, because he thinks he is not sufficiently instructed in the use of the sabre, or because he prefers Hindustanee manufacture.