Large supplies of arrack, biscuits, and rice, together with money to pay the troops, having been promised from the Upper Provinces, their arrival was looked forward to with some anxiety in the camp, as we could not leave Cabul without them. Information was at length received that Colonel Herring was on his way through the Punjaub, and after a tedious and harassing journey, in which he had to encounter frequent opposition to his progress from the mountain tribes, he at length reached Hyder Khail within one day's march of Cabul. Riding out alone next morning, for the purpose of inspecting the country, the Colonel was set upon by a body of Affghans and barbarously murdered, his body being plundered of every article of value he had about him, and his horse carried off. His mutilated remains were found in the course of the day by some troopers, who had been sent out in search of him, and brought to Cabul along with the stores, which reached that place in safety the same night. He was interred with military honours in the Armenian burial-ground, on the following day. The deceased had been long in the service, and was a gallant and experienced officer. We heard that his murderers were captured shortly after we left Cabul, and put to a dreadful death, by order of the Shah.
CHAPTER XI.
Institution of the Order of the Doorannee Empire.—Murder of a Private of the 13th Light Infantry.—Departure from Cabul.—Return to Ghuznee.—Accident to the Revd. Mr. Pigot.—Discovery of the Skeletons of British Soldiers.—Horse- steaks.—Treachery of some Ghiljie Chiefs and destruction of their Fort.—Adventure of a Dragoon.—Loss of a Cook.
In order to testify his gratitude towards the British, the Shah resolved to institute an order of merit, to be called the order of the Doorannee Empire, and to confer its respective grades upon three classes of officers, namely, Generals, Brigadier Generals, and Field Officers. A durbar having been summoned, at which the Ministers of State, the Politicals, and a number of British Officers were present, a chapter of the order was held, and his Majesty, as Sovereign, invested the Commander-in-Chief, several general and field officers, and the Politicals with the decoration, which consisted of a sort of Maltese cross with a jewel in the centre. His Majesty was also pleased to express his desire that every officer, non-commissioned officer, and private soldier in the army should receive a silver medal, commemorative of the campaign, and for this purpose placed a large sum of money at the disposal of Sir John Keane. The Queen's sanction has been obtained to the measure, but the medal has not as yet been issued.
Leave had been given by the officers in command of the different regiments to men entering the town to carry their side arms, as a protection in case of chance collision with the inhabitants. The facility of obtaining intoxicating liquors rendered this a contingency of not unlikely occurrence, and our men soon got themselves into unpleasant and in some instances dangerous scrapes. On one occasion, a private of the 13th Light Infantry having been drinking rather freely, forced himself into the apartments of the wife of a respectable inhabitant. Proceeding to offer her some violence, her screams alarmed the neighbourhood, and the soldier was soon surrounded by a host of angry husbands and fathers, armed with every description of weapon. He defended himself with his bayonet for some time, contenting himself with merely parrying their blows, and had fought his way into the street, when he was met by several others of the townspeople, who set upon the unfortunate fellow and instantly despatched him. They secreted the body until night-fall, and then threw it outside the walls of the town, where it was discovered next morning.
It having been determined that early in September part of the forces should set out on their return homeward, the choice fell upon her Majesty's 17th Foot, the 2nd or Queen's Royals, one Company of Foot Artillery, a detachment of the 4th Light Dragoons, the 1st regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry, and two troops of Bombay Horse Artillery, the whole under the command of Major General Sir Thomas Wiltshire. It would naturally be supposed that after so long an absence from quarters, we hailed this intimation with something like pleasure, but such was far from being the fact. We had rioted in profusion and luxury, and did not relish the idea of again encountering the privations of the long and dreary route which lay between us and India. Added to this we had seen but little of actual fighting, and the promotions had been consequently few.
Promotion and prize money are the all engrossing subjects of a soldier's ambition, and this speedy return put an end at once to our long cherished hopes. We well knew that the restless and turbulent spirit of the Affghan Chiefs would not permit them to remain long in subjection to Shah Soojah, and that there would consequently be more work for the British troops. Regret and envy of our more fortunate comrades were therefore the predominant feelings which pervaded nearly the whole of the departing troops.
We left Cabul on the 14th of September, and arrived at Ghuznee, the scene of our former exploits, after eight days' march, during which nothing worthy of mention occurred. It is astonishing how soon the traces of war disappear, and the living gaps caused by its ravages are filled up. The fortress appeared as perfect in its outline as if the hand of the destroyer had not recently passed over it, new gates having been substituted for those which had been damaged, and the breach immediately above them re-filled with masonry. The inhabitants of the bazaar had resumed their accustomed occupations, and scolded, and chaffered, and jested, and laughed, as if they had neither lost relatives nor friends, nor dabbled through mire freshly reeking with their blood. Familiarity, they say, breeds contempt and blunts the feelings, and the Asiatic, before whose eyes such scenes pass almost daily, thinks of them only as the immutable decrees of fate, which cannot be shunned, and ought not to be repined at.
The sick and wounded, of whom we had left numbers at Ghuznee, had almost all died, and were interred in an open space selected for the purpose outside the walls of the fortress. The last resting-place of our brave fellows is situated at the foot of one of the adjacent mountains, but neither stone nor inscription indicates the spot.