For Name and Fame; Or, Through Afghan Passes

by G. A. Henty

In five minutes, all resistance had ceased. The flanking parties were ordered to shelter themselves behind the rocks, and to return the fire of the natives on the hillsides; to retain the position until the convoy passed through, and then to close behind it, as a rear guard. With the fifty men in the road, the officer then pushed forward; and was soon greeted by a shout of welcome from the defenders of the defile.

There was not a minute to be lost; for the Afghans, when they recovered from their first scare, would renew the attack; and the party pressing down the defile on their rear--ignorant of what had taken place below--were still keeping up an incessant fire. Twenty-eight of the Guides were already killed, or wounded.

Several of the sick men, in the dhoolies, volunteered to walk down to the fort, and to give up their places to those of the wounded men who were unable to walk and, in a few minutes, the convoy moved forward. The fifty men of tho relieving party placed themselves in their rear and, as the tribesmen who had been attacking them from behind rushed down through the defile, with exulting shouts--believing that they were now secure of their victims--the Sikhs opened so heavy a fire on them that they fell back up the defile, in disorder.

As the convoy wound down the valley, the enemy again assembled on the hills and pursued them hotly. But the Sikhs and Guides kept up so steady a fire that they did not venture to approach to close quarters and, with a loss of eighteen more men, the convoy reached the shelter of the fort. Conscious of their inability to attack this position, the Afghans drew off.

On returning to his friends, Will had resumed his uniform; and now, on reaching the fort, Captain Edwards expressed to him his warmest thanks for the hazardous adventure that he had undertaken.

"I shall, of course," he concluded, "furnish a full report of the affair to the general; and I should think he would recommend you for the Victoria Cross. If any fellow ever deserved it, you do so; for it seemed, to me, almost certain death to venture through the pass. I never expected to see you again; and I was never more glad, in my life, than I was when the firing began down below in the valley, and knew that help was at hand for, had you failed, it would have been all up with us. I doubt if we should have seen the morning and, at any rate, few of us would have been left, by that time."

The convoy reached Jellalabad without further adventure, and Captain Edwards reported to the general the events of the march. He was requested to give a full written report of the affair; and the general stated that, in forwarding it, he should certainly append a recommendation that Lieutenant Gale should receive the Victoria Cross, for his gallantry in venturing through the Afghans to fetch assistance for the convoy.

Will himself, as soon as he reached Jellalabad, hurried away to the cantonment of the Norfolk Rangers; who were in a village, a mile distant from the town. He was not recognized, as he passed through the soldiers scattered about the village street; and was soon at the principal house, where the colonel had his quarters. On sending in his name, he was at once shown into the room where the colonel was at work.

"I am indeed glad to see you," the latter said, rising and shaking him heartily by the hand; "and I congratulate you, most warmly, on your promotion. I promised to do what I could for you, when you joined; but I did not expect that it would be so soon."

"I am indeed obliged to you, colonel, for your kindness," Will said; "and am conscious how much I owe to you."