To Herat and Cabul: A Story of the First Afghan War

by G. A. Henty

In vain the Brigadier and the officers endeavoured to persuade them to advance. They would not move forward, nor would the rest of the troops advance to their assistance. The two guns broke down after a round or two, and what little spirit remained among the Sepoys evaporated at once, and the column had to fall back. One of the guns was spiked and left behind, the Sepoys refusing to make any effort to bring it off. The Brigadier, who with several of our officers was wounded, saw that it was impossible to persevere, and the force fell back beyond the pass. Moseley could obtain no news, and was unaware of the repulse of the relieving column. Although the troops were on half rations supplies were nearly exhausted. The water was bad, and numbers of the Sepoys fell ill, and on the 23rd he determined to evacuate the fortress. Two officers volunteered to hold it, but the Sepoys would not support them, and the former native garrison had lost heart; so, on the 24th, the force marched out. The Afridis mustered strongly to oppose the retreat. The Sepoys, animated now by the hope of safety, fought well. Two British officers were killed, most of the baggage lost, and some of the sick and wounded had to be abandoned, but the main body got through safely.

Such was the news that was brought by a native in our pay, together with a letter from Brigadier Wyld saying that it would be impossible to renew the attempt until reinforcements of at least one British regiment with some guns arrived. But the news that help was still far distant in no way discouraged the garrison of Jellalabad, who redoubled their efforts to strengthen the fortifications and to prepare by their own unaided efforts for the worst.

At Peshawur Wyld's repulse bore the natural consequences. The discontent among the Sepoy's increased, many deserted, and expressions of determination never to enter the pass again were common among them. Sickness broke out, and when on the 25th of February General Pollock, who had been selected to command the force gathered there, and invested with full authority on all other matters, arrived, he found a thousand men in hospital; a week later the number was increased to eighteen hundred.

No better man than Pollock could have been chosen. He possessed at once great firmness, kindness of heart, and a manner calculated to inspire confidence. He declared to the central authorities at once that, even with the brigade which had come up with him, to advance up the pass would be to court another defeat. The four Sepoy regiments that had been engaged could, in their present state, not be counted on for service, and the force at his disposal was therefore no greater than that which Wyld had lost. He set to work in the first place to restore confidence. It was a difficult task. Many even among the officers had become affected with the spirit of defection, and did not hesitate to express their opinion that an advance through the Khyber Pass would involve a repetition of the Cabul disaster. The new Sepoy regiments were at once visited by emissaries from those of Wyld's brigade and from the Sikhs, who endeavoured in every way to persuade them also to refuse to enter the pass, and succeeded in the case of the 26th native regiment, who joined the four other battalions in refusing to advance. On the day after his arrival General Pollock visited all the hospitals, enquired into the ailments of the sick, and talked encouragingly to them. Then he went to the Sepoy regiments, enquired into the cause of their discontent, and exhorted them to return to their duty, and not to bring disgrace upon regiments that had so many times in the past proved their courage and loyalty.

His task was a hard and difficult one, but his method of mildness and firmness combined gradually restored their spirits and discipline; and the knowledge that reinforcements were on their way, with a good proportion of European troops, including cavalry and artillery, greatly aided his efforts. Still, until these reinforcements arrived, Pollock could do nothing but reply to the urgent letters of Sale and Macgregor by pointing out his inability to move.

On the 19th of February Angus was with Macgregor on the walls of Jellalabad. The men were as usual working hard and steadily, grateful in the thought that their long labour had borne its fruits, and that in a few days they would be able to lay by their picks and shovels, the work that they had been set to do having been accomplished.

"Another week," Captain Havelock, who was acting as Persian interpreter to Macgregor, said to Angus, "and the whole work which Broadfoot traced out will be finished. In one respect I am sorry that it should be so, for there is nothing like active work for keeping men's spirits up and preventing them from feeling the effects of idleness. I think—" and he stopped abruptly. There was a sudden tremor of the earth and a deep sound like thunder, then they were both thrown off their feet. The walls, the houses, the whole city, swayed and shook. Then came the crash of falling houses, wild shouts of alarm and pain; the earth crumbled beneath them, and they rolled down together into the moat. On finding that they were unhurt they scrambled up the slope of earth. A terrible sight presented itself. A third of the buildings in the town had fallen. But this was not the worst. Several of the bastions had been destroyed; almost all the parapets were thrown down; several great breaches were made in the wall, one of them eighty feet in length; and the moat had in many places been filled up with the debris of the wall and parapet. The soldiers were extricating themselves or helping their comrades from the earth that had almost overwhelmed them; others were standing gazing with a dazed air at the destruction that had been wrought.

"We had better go to head-quarters," Havelock said, "and see what has happened there."

They made their way with difficulty through the ruins that blocked the streets. The movements of the earth still continued, and they had all they could do to keep their feet. On reaching head-quarters they found to their satisfaction that all was safe. The general and Macgregor had both been occupied in writing despatches to Peshawur, and had rushed out into the little courtyard of the house. The offices round it fell in ruins at their feet, but the dwelling-house, although it swayed to and fro, did not fall. Enquiries were at once set on foot, when it was found that no lives had been lost among the garrison, although two natives had been killed by the fall of their houses.

No time was lost. The whole of the garrison were told off into working parties, and in half an hour were diligently at work repairing the wall at the most important points. They worked until late at night, by which time the breaches were scarped, the rubbish all cleared away, and the ditches dug out again, while a parapet of gabions was erected along the great breach. A parapet was erected on the remains of the bastion which flanked the approach to the Cabul gate, that had been entirely ruined, a trench had been dug, and a temporary parapet raised on every bastion round the place. Never, probably, was so much work accomplished by an equal number of men in the same time. Day after day the work was continued, until by the end of the month the parapets were restored, the breaches built up, the rampart increased in thickness, every battery re-established, and the gates entrenched; and yet the troops were in hourly anxiety that their work might be again destroyed, for during the month succeeding the great earthquake fully a hundred shocks were felt.