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

by G. A. Henty

"I will not refuse the gift of the Ameer so given to me, and shall cherish it as my most valued possession and the gift of a man whom I for one, and I may say most British officers, consider to be very badly treated by us. I know from Sir Alexander Burnes that Dost Mahomed was most anxious for our alliance. Shah Soojah is as unpopular among us as among his own people. Of course, as soldiers, it is not our business to concern ourselves with politics; that is a matter for the government only. Still we cannot but have our feelings, and I am sure that should the fortune of war ever place Dost Mahomed in our hands he would receive honourable treatment. Your gift I shall prize as highly, as a token of our warm friendship, and trust that the time may never come when I have to put its virtue to the test, though I well know that I could in necessity rely upon any help that you might be able to give me."

After talking for some time of the best route to follow, Sadut Khan took an affectionate leave, and Angus started the next morning with his party. Before setting out he bestowed handsome gifts upon Hassan and his followers, whom he had learned to like greatly for the devotion they had shown to Sadut and the energy and courage with which they had worked during the journey. Travelling from twenty to five-and-twenty miles a day, with occasional halts, he reached Cabul after two months of travel. His journey had been greatly facilitated by the order that he carried from Dost Mahomed. He had not entered Herat, as it was probable that he would be recognized there. Avoiding the city, he travelled by the same route as before to Girishk, and then took a road running a few miles north of Candahar and falling into the main road at Kelat-i-Ghilzye.

His first step was to see Sir Alexander Burnes and to report to him that assuredly Dost Mahomed would come south with a considerable force as soon as the passes were opened. His following would not itself be very formidable, but he relied upon being joined by all the tribesmen south of the hills.

"Your news is most opportune," the agent said, "and can hardly fail to induce the Governor-general to alter his determination to withdraw the greater part of our force in the spring. Already we have not a man too many for contingencies that may arise. Now, tell me about your journey. The winter set in so severely directly you left us that I have been seriously uneasy about you. I had only one message from Mackenzie after you had left, it was brought by a native; and he told me that you had passed through, but that the weather had changed for the worse the day after you started, and the universal opinion among the natives was that you and your party had perished."

Angus gave an account of his journey. He had thought over the question whether it would be wise to mention the episode of the wounded Afghan, but he concluded that it would be better to do so, as Mackenzie, when he rejoined the force, might casually mention that he had a sick man with him; and he therefore told the whole story as it happened.

"I admire your humanity, Mr. Campbell, though it seems almost quixotic to burden yourself with a wounded man. But, as you say, it was evident that if you could manage to carry him through he might be of great service to you. Undoubtedly he would have been a valuable prisoner to have in our hands, but his gratitude to you may prove valuable to us, for the Momunds are a powerful tribe, and your conduct to him cannot but have inspired him with a better feeling towards us than he has hitherto shown."

"He may have less animosity, sir, but I fear that he will still be found fighting against us. On the way he spoke many times of his determination to continue the struggle until Afghanistan was free from the infidel; I am convinced that his indignation at the treatment of Dost Mahomed, and his fanaticism are so strong that no private matter is likely to shake them."

The winter passed quietly, and the attention of Burnes and Macnaghten was turned rather towards the frontier than to the state of things round Cabul. Yar Mahomed, virtual ruler of Herat, although he was receiving large sums of money from us, was known to be intriguing with Persia, and trying to form an alliance with the Shah to expel the British from Afghanistan. Russia had sent an expedition against Khiva, and the conquest of this little state would bring her more closely to the frontier of Afghanistan. Dost Mahomed, however, had gone on a visit to the Ameer of Bokhara, and had been detained for the present by that treacherous ruler; thus for a time the prospect of an invasion on his part was greatly diminished.

In the spring Macnaghten and Shah Soojah returned to Cabul. The former continued to ignore the warnings of Sir A. Burnes, as to the ever-growing hostility of the Afghans to the British and the man they had forced upon them. His advice and that of Burnes had been so far followed that the force at Cabul had not been diminished; but, not content with this, Macnaghten continued to urge on the Indian government the necessity of sending a great force to occupy Herat and another to cross the mountains and thwart the projects of the Russians by carrying our arms into Bokhara. Moreover, he was continually applying for money to meet the expenses of Shah Soojah's government. As if the drain that these demands would entail upon the Indian treasury and upon the Indian army were not sufficient, he insisted upon the necessity of conquering the Punjaub, where, since the death of Runjeet Sing, the attitude of the population had been increasingly hostile.

It is difficult to understand how any perfectly sane man could have made such propositions. It would have needed the whole army of India to carry them out, to say nothing of an enormous outlay of money. Although the Governor-general and his council firmly declined to enter upon the wild schemes proposed to them, Macnaghten did not cease to send them lengthy communications urging the absolute necessity of his advice being followed.