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 SAM DICKSON FINDS LITTLE WXLWE G.U.K. Page iw
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME 
 
 OR, 
 
 THROUGH AFGHAN PASSES. 
 
 BY G. A. HENTY, 
 
 Author of "True to the Old Flag," "St, George for England, 
 
 "In Freedom's Cause," "With dive in India" "Facing 
 
 Death," "By Sheer Pluck," etc., etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 A. L. BURT, PUBLISHER.
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 J'K, 
 PREFACE. 
 
 MY DEAR LADS: 
 
 In following the hero of this story with the 
 British army during the last war in Afghanistan, 
 you will be improving your acquaintance with a 
 country which is at present, and is likely to be so 
 for a long time, of supreme interest to Englishmen. 
 Afghanistan stands as a dividing line between the 
 two great empires of England and Russia, and is 
 certain, sooner or later, to become the scene of a 
 tremendous struggle between these nations; pos- 
 sibly the struggle may have begun before these 
 pages are read by you. Happily, at the present 
 time the Afghans are on our side. It is true that 
 we have lately warred with and beaten them, but 
 our retirement after victory has at least shown 
 them that we have no desire to take their country ; 
 while, on the other hand, they know that for those 
 upon whom Russia has once laid her hand there is 
 no escape. In these pages you will see the strength 
 and the weakness of these wild people of the 
 mountains; their strength lying in their personal
 
 i v PREFACE. 
 
 bravery, their determination to preserve their free- 
 dom at all costs, and the nature of their country. 
 Their weakness consists in their want of organiza- 
 tion, their tribal jealousies, and their impatience 
 of regular habits and of the restraint necessary to 
 render them good soldiers. But when led and 
 organized by English officers there are no better 
 soldiers in the world, as is proved by the splendid 
 services which have been rendered by the frontier 
 force, which is composed almost entirely of Afghan 
 tribesmen. Their history shows that defeat has 
 little moral effect upon them. Crushed one day, 
 they will rise again the next; scattered, it would 
 seem hopelessly, they are ready to reassemble and 
 renew the conflict at the first summons of their 
 chiefs. Guided by British advice, led by British 
 officers, and, it may be, paid by British gold, 
 Afghanistan is likely to prove an invaluable ally to 
 us when the day comes that Russia believes herself 
 strong enough to move forward toward the goal of 
 all her hopes and efforts for the last fifty years, the 
 conquest of India. 
 
 Yours sincerely, (j 
 
 G. A. HENTY
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. "0* 
 
 The Lost Child 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Foundling 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Life on a Smack 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 RunDown 68 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Castaways 76 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Attack on the Village 93 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Fight with the Prahus 105 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Torpedo 123 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Advance into Afghanistan 143 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Pel war Khotal.. . 160
 
 CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A Prisoner 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 The Advance Up the Khyber ........ . ..................... 195 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Massacre atCabul .................................. . . 201 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Advance Upon Cabul ................................. 228 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Fighting Round Cabul ................................ 247 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Fight in the Pass ..................................... 267 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 At Candahar .............................................. 286 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 On the Helmund ..... .................................... 305 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Battle of Maiwand ..................... ............. 318 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Candahar ................................................ 341 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Battle of Candahar ...................... ............ 360 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 At Home at Last. .... .................................... 380
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME : 
 
 A TALE OF THE AFGHAN WAR 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TH E LOST CHI LD. 
 
 " MY poor pets !" a lady exclaimed sorrowfully ; 
 " it is too bad. They all knew me so well, and ran 
 to meet me when they saw me coming, and seemed 
 really pleased to see me even when I had no food 
 to give them." 
 
 " Which was not often, my dear," Captain Ripon, 
 her husband, said. " However, it is, as you say, 
 too bad, and I will bring the fellow to justice if I 
 can. There are twelve prize fowls worth a couple 
 of guineas apiece, not to mention the fact of their 
 being pets of yours, stolen, probably by tramps, 
 who will eat them, and for whom the commonest 
 barn-door chickens would have done as well. There 
 are marks of blood in two or three places, so they 
 have evidently been killed for food. The house
 
 2 FOR NAME AND FA MR. 
 
 was locked up last night all right, for you see they 
 got in by breaking in a panel of the door. Robson, 
 run down to the village at once, and tell the police- 
 man to come up here, and ask if any gypsies or 
 tramps have been seen in the neighborhood." 
 
 The village lay at the gate of Captain Ripon's 
 park, and the gardener soon returned with the 
 policeman. 
 
 " I've heard say there are some gypsies camped 
 on Netherwood Common, four miles away," that 
 functionary said in answer to Captain Eipon. 
 
 " Put the gray mare in the dog-cart, Sam ; we 
 will drive over at once ; they will hardly expect us 
 so soon. "We will pick up another policeman at 
 Nether wood ; they may show fight if we are not in 
 strength." 
 
 Five minutes later Captain Ripon was traveling 
 along the road at the rate of twelve miles an hour, 
 with Sam by his side, and the policeman sitting be- 
 hind. At Netherwood they took up another police- 
 man, and a few minutes later drove up to the gypsy 
 encampment. 
 
 There was a slight stir when they were seen ap- 
 proaching, and then the gypsies went on with their 
 usual work, the women weaving baskets from osiers, 
 the men cutting up gorse into skewers. There 
 were four low tents, and a wagon stood near, a bony 
 horse grazing on the common.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 3 
 
 " Now," Captain Kipon said, " I am a magistrate, 
 and I dare say you know what I have come for. 
 My fowl-house has been broken open, and some 
 valuable fowls stolen. Now, policeman, look about 
 and see if you can find any traces of them." 
 
 The gypsies rose to their feet with angry ges- 
 tures. 
 
 " Why do you come to us ?" one of the men said. 
 " When a fowl is stolen you always suspect us, as if 
 there were no other thieves in the world." 
 
 " There are plenty of other thieves, my friend, 
 and we shall not interfere with you if we find noth- 
 ing suspicious." 
 
 " There have been some fowls plucked here," one 
 of the policemen said ; " here is a little feather " 
 and he showed one of only half an inch in length 
 " and there is another on that woman's hair. They 
 have cleaned them up nicely enough, but it ain't 
 easy to pick up every feather. I'll be bound we 
 find a fowl in the pot." 
 
 Two of the gypsies leaped forward, stick in hand ; 
 but the oldest man present said a word or two to 
 them in their own dialect. 
 
 " You may look in the pot," he said, turning to 
 Captain Ripon, " and maybe you will find a fowl 
 there with other things ; we bought 'em at the mar- 
 ket at Hunston yesterday."
 
 4 FOR NAME AXJ) FAME. 
 
 The policeman lifted the lid off the great pot 
 which was hanging over the fire, and stirred up the 
 contents with a stick. 
 
 " There's rabbits here, two or three of them, I 
 should say, and a fowl, perhaps two, but they are 
 cut up/' 
 
 " I cannot swear to that,'' Captain Ripon said, 
 examining the portions of fowl, " though the plump- 
 ness of the breasts and the size show that they are 
 not ordinary fowls.'' He looked round again at the 
 
 / 
 
 tents. " But I can pretty well swear to this," 
 he said as he stooped and picked up a feather 
 which lay half-concealed between the edge of one 
 of the tents and the grass. " This is a breast- 
 feather of a Spangled Dorking. " These are not 
 birds which would be sold for eating in Hunston 
 market, and it will be for these men to show where 
 they got it from.'' 
 
 A smothered oath broke from one or two of the 
 men. The elder signed to them to be quiet. That's 
 not proof," he said insolently. " You can't convict 
 five men because the feather of a fowl which you 
 cannot swear to is found in their camp." 
 
 " Xo," Captain Eipon said quietly. " I do not 
 want to convict any one but the thief ; but the 
 proof is sufficient for taking you in custody, and we 
 shall find out which was the guilty man afterwardc
 
 FOR NAXK AND FAME. 5 
 
 Xow, lads, it will be worse for you if you make 
 trouble. Constables, take them up to Mr. Bailey ; 
 he lives half a mile away. Fortunately, we have 
 means of proving which is the fellow concerned. 
 Xow, Sam, you and I will go up with the Nether- 
 wood constable to Mr. Bailey ; and do you," he said 
 to the other policeman, k ' keep a sharp watch over 
 these women. You say you can find nothing in the 
 tents, but it is likely the other fowls are hid not far 
 off, and I will put all the boys of the village to 
 search when I come back." 
 
 The gypsies, with sullen faces, accompanied Cap- 
 tain Ripon and the policeman to the magistrate's. 
 
 " Is that feather the only proof you have, Ripon T 
 Mr. Bailey asked when he had given his evidence. 
 " I do not think that it will be enough to convict if 
 unsupported ; besides, you cannot bring it home to 
 any one of them. But it is sufficient for me to 
 have them locked up for twenty-four hours, and, in 
 the mean time, you may find the other fowls." 
 
 "But I have means of identification," Captain 
 Ripon said. " There is a foot-mark in some earth 
 at the fowl-house door. It is made by a boot which 
 has got hob-nails and a horseshoe heel, and a piece 
 of that heel has been broken off. Xow, which of 
 these men has got such a boot on ? Whichever has 
 he is the man." There was a sudden movement 
 among the accused.
 
 6 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 " It's of no use," one of them said when the po- 
 liceman approached to examine their boots. " I'm 
 the man ; I'll admit it. I can't get over the boot ;" 
 and he held up his right foot. 
 
 "That is the boot, sir," the constable exclaimed. 
 " I can swear that it will fit the impression exactly." 
 
 " Yery well," the magistrate said. " Constable, 
 take that man to the lock-up, and bring him before 
 the bench to-morrow for final committal for trial. 
 There is no evidence against the other four. They 
 can go." 
 
 With surly, threatening faces the men left the 
 room, while the constable placed handcuffs on the 
 prisoner. 
 
 " Constable," Mr. Bailey said, " you had better 
 not put this man in the village lock-up. The place 
 is of no great strength, and his comrades would as 
 likely as not get him out to-night. Put him in my 
 dog-cart ; my groom shall drive you over to Hun- 
 ston." 
 
 Captain Ripon returned with his groom to Neth- 
 erwood, and set all the children searching the gorse, 
 copses, and hedges near the common by the promise 
 of ten shillings reward if they found the missing 
 fowls. 
 
 Half an hour later the gypsies struck their tents, 
 loaded the van, and went off.
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 7 
 
 Late that afternoon the ten missing fowls were 
 discovered in a small copse by the wayside, half a 
 wile from the common on the road to Captain Ri- 
 pon's park. 
 
 "I cannot bring your fowls back to life, Emma," 
 that gentleman said when he returned home, " but 
 I have got the thief. It was one of the gypsies 
 on Nether wood Common. We found two of 
 the fowls in their pot. No doubt they thought 
 that they would have plenty of time to get their 
 dinner before any one came, even if suspicion fell 
 on them ; and they have hidden the rest away some- 
 where, but I expect that we shall find them. They 
 had burned all the feathers, as they thought ; but I 
 found a breast-feather of a Spangled Dorking, and 
 that was enough for me to give them in custody. 
 Then, when it came to the question of boots, the 
 thief found it no good to deny it any longer." 
 
 That evening Captain Ripon was told that a 
 woman wished to speak to him, and on going out 
 into the hall he saw a gypsy of some thirty years of 
 
 " I have come, sir, to beg you not to appear 
 against my husband." 
 
 " But, my good woman, I see no reason why I 
 should not do so, If he had only stolen a couple of 
 common fowls for a sick wife or child I might have
 
 8 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 been inclined to overlook it, for I am not fond of 
 sending men to prison ; but to steal a dozen valu- 
 able fowls for the pot is a little too much. Besides, 
 the matter has gone too far now for me to retract, 
 even if I wished to, which I certainly do not." 
 
 " He is a good husband, sir." 
 
 "He may be," Captain Ripon said, " though that 
 black eye you have got does not speak in his favor. 
 But that has nothing to do with it ; matters must 
 take their course." 
 
 The woman changed her tone. 
 
 " I have asked you fairly, sir ; and it will be bet- 
 ter for you if you don't prosecute Reuben." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, my good woman ! Don't let me 
 have any threats., or it will be worse for you." 
 
 " I tell you," the woman exclaimed fiercely, " it 
 will be the worse for you if you appear against my 
 Reuben." 
 
 " There, go out," Captain Ripon said, opening 
 the front door of the hall. " As if I cared for your 
 ridiculous threats ! Your husband will get what 
 he deserves five years, if I arn not mistaken." 
 
 " You will repent this," the gypsy said as she 
 passed out. 
 
 Captain Ripon closed the door after her without 
 a word. 
 
 ki "Well, who was it ?" his wife: inquired -when he 
 returned to the drawing-room.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 9 
 
 " An insolent gypsy woman, wife of the man who 
 stole the fowls. She had the impudence to threaten 
 me if I appeared against him." 
 
 " Oh, Robert !" the young wife exclaimed appre- 
 hensively, " what could she do ? Perhaps you had 
 better not appear." 
 
 " Nonsense, my dear !" her husband laughed. 
 " Not appear because an impudent gypsy woman 
 has threatened me ? A nice magistrate I should 
 be! Why, half the fellows who are committed 
 swear that they will pay off the magistrate some 
 day, but nothing ever comes of it. Here we have 
 been married six months, and you are wanting me 
 to neglect my duty, especially when it is your pet 
 fowls which have been stolen. Why, at the worst, 
 my dear," he went on, seeing that his wife still 
 looked pale, " they could burn down a rick or .two 
 on a windy night in winter ; and to satisfy you I 
 will have an extra sharp lookout kept in that direc- 
 tion, and have a watch-dog chained up near them. 
 (Dome, my love, it is not worth giving a second 
 thought about, and I shall not tell you about my 
 work on the bench if you are going to take matters 
 to heart like this." 
 
 The winter came and went, and the ricks were 
 untouched, and Captain Ripon forgot all about the 
 gypsy's threats. At the assizes a previous convic-
 
 10 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 tion was proved against her husband, and he got five 
 years' penal servitude, and after the trial was over 
 the matter passed out of the minds. of both husband 
 and wife. They had indeed other matters to think 
 about, for soon after Christmas a baby boy was 
 born and monopolized the greater portion of his 
 mother's thoughts. When in due time he was taken 
 out for walks the old women of the village, perhaps 
 with an eye to presents from the park, were 
 unanimous in declaring that he was the finest boy 
 ever seen, and the image both of his father and 
 mother. He certainly was a fine baby, and his mother 
 lamented sorety over the fact that he had a dark 
 blood-mark about the size of a threepenny piece 
 upon his shoulder. Her husband, however, con- 
 soled her by pointing out that, as it was a boy, the 
 mark did not matter in the slightest, whereas had 
 it been a girl, the mark would have been a disfigure- 
 ment \vken she attained to the dignified age at 
 which low dresses are worn. 
 
 "Yes, of course, that would have been dreadful, 
 Robert ; still, you know, it is a pity." 
 
 "I really cannot see that it is even a pity, little 
 woman ; and it would have made no great differ- 
 ence if he had been spotted all over like a leopard, 
 so that his face and arms were free ; the only draw- 
 back would have been he would have got some
 
 FOR NA ME AND FA ME. H 
 
 nickname or other, such as ' the Leopard,' or 
 * Spotty,' or something of that sort when he went 
 to bathe with his school-fellows. But this little spot 
 does not matter in the slightest. Some day or 
 other Tom will laugh when I tell him what a fuss 
 you made over it." 
 
 Mrs. Ripon was silenced, but although she said 
 nothing more about it, she was grieved in her 
 heart at this little blemish on her boy, and lamented 
 that it would spoil his appearance when he began 
 to run about in little short frocks, and she deter- 
 mined at once that he should wear long curls until 
 lie got into jackets. 
 
 Summer, autumn, and winter came and passed. 
 In the spring Tom Ripon was toddling about, but 
 he had not yet begun to talk, although his mother 
 declared that certain incoherent sounds which he 
 made were quite plain and distinct words ; but her 
 husband, while willing to allow that they might be 
 perfectly intelligible to her, insisted that to the 
 male ear they in no way resembled words. 
 
 " But he ought to begin to talk, Robert." his 
 wife urged. " He is sixteen months old now, and 
 can run about quite well. He really ought to be 
 gin to talk." 
 
 " He will talk before long," her husband said 
 carelessly. " Many children do not talk till they
 
 12 FOB NAME AND FAME. 
 
 are eighteen months old, some not till they are two 
 years. Besides, you say he does begin already." 
 
 " Yes, Robert, but not quite plainly." 
 
 " No, indeed, not plainly at all," her husband 
 laughed. "Don't trouble, my dear, he will talk 
 soon enough, and if he only talks as loud as he 
 roars sometimes, you will regret the hurry you have 
 been in about it." 
 
 " Oh, Robert, how can you talk so ? I am sure 
 he does not cry more than other children. Nurse 
 says he is the best child she ever knew." 
 
 " Of course she does, my dear ; nurses always do. 
 But I don't say he roars more than other children. 
 I only say he roars, and that loudly ; so you need 
 not be afraid of there being anything the matter 
 with his tongue or his lungs. What fidgets you 
 young mothers are, to be sure !" 
 
 " And what heartless things you young fathers 
 are, to be sure !" his wife retorted, laughing. " Men 
 don't deserve to have children ; they do not appre- 
 ciate them one bit." 
 
 " We appreciate them in our way, little woman, 
 but it is not a fussy way. We are content with 
 them as they are, and are not in any hurry for them 
 to run, or to walk, or "to cut their first teeth. Tom 
 is a fine litt.e chap, and I am very fond of him in 
 his way, principally, perhaps, because he is your 
 Tom ; but I ca.mot see that he is a prodigy."
 
 FOR NA NK A ND FA ME. 13 
 
 3"** He is a prodigy," Mrs. Ripon said, with a little 
 toss of her head, " and I shall go up to the nursery 
 to admire him." So saying she walked off with 
 dignity, and Captain Ripon went out to look at his 
 horses, and thought to himself what a wonderful 
 dispensation of providence it was that mothers were 
 so fond of their babies. 
 
 " I don't know what the poor little beggars would 
 do," he muttered, " if they had only their fathers to 
 look after them ; but I suppose we should take to 
 it, just as the old goose in the yard has taken to 
 that brood of chickens whose mother was carried 
 off by the fox. By the way, I must order some 
 wire-netting ; I forgot to write for it yesterday." 
 
 Another two months. It was June; and now 
 even Captain Ripon allowed that Tom could say 
 " Pa " and " Ma " with tolerable distinctness, but as 
 yet he had got no farther. He could now run about 
 sturdily ; and as the season was warm and , bright, 
 and Mrs. Ripon believed m fresh air, the child spent 
 a considerable portion of his time in the garden. 
 One day his mother was out with him, and he had 
 been running about for some time. Mrs. Ripon was 
 picking flowers, for she had a dinner-party that 
 evening, and she enjoyed getting her flowers and 
 arranging her vases herself. Presently she looked 
 round, but Tom was missing. There were many
 
 14 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 clumps of ornamental shrubs on the lawn, and Mrs. 
 Eipon thought nothing of his disappearance. 
 
 " Tom," she called, " come to mamma, she wants 
 you," and went on with her work. 
 
 A minute or two passed. 
 
 " Where is that little pickle ?" she said. " Hid- 
 ing, I suppose;" and she went off in search. No- 
 where was Tom to be seen. She called loudly, and 
 searched in the bushes. 
 
 " He must have gone up to the house. Oh, here 
 comes nurse. Nurse, have you seen Master Tom ? 
 he has just run away," she called. 
 
 " No, ma'am, I have seen nothing of him." 
 
 " He must be about the garden then, somewhere. 
 Look about, nurse ; where can the child have hid- 
 den itself?" 
 
 Nurse and mother ran about, calling loudly the 
 name of the missing child. Five minutes later 
 Mrs. Ripon ran into the study, where her husband 
 was going through his farm accounts. 
 
 " Oh, Robert," she said, " I can't find Tom !" and 
 she burst into tears. 
 
 " Not find Tom ?" her husband said, rising in sur- 
 prise. " Why, how long have you missed him ?" 
 
 " He was out in the garden with me ; I was pick- 
 ing flowers for the dinner-table, and when I looked 
 round he was gone. Nurse and I have been look-
 
 FOR NA ME AND FA ME . 1$ 
 
 ing everywhere, and calling, but we cannot find 
 him." 
 
 " Oh, he is all right," Captain Ripon said cheer- 
 fully ; " do not alarm yourself, little woman ; he 
 must have wandered into the shrubbery ; we shall 
 hear him howling directly. But I will come and 
 look for him." 
 
 No better success attended Captain Ripon's search 
 than that which his wife had met with. He looked 
 anxious now. The gardeners and servants were 
 called, and soon every place in the garden was 
 ransacked. 
 
 " He must have got through the gate somehow 
 into the park," Captain Ripon said, hurrying in that 
 direction. " He certainly is not in the garden or in 
 any of the hothouses-" 
 
 Some of the men had already gone in that direc- 
 tion. Presently Captain Ripon met one running 
 back. 
 
 " I have been down to the gate, sir, and can see 
 nothing of Master Tom ; but in the middle of the 
 drive, just by the clump of laurels by the gate, this 
 boot was lying, just as if it had been put there on 
 purpose to be seen." 
 
 " Nonsense !" Captain Ripon said. " What can 
 that have to do with it?" Nevertheless he took the 
 boot and looked at it. It was a roughly made
 
 16 FOR NAME A ND FAME. 
 
 heavy boot, such as would be worn by a laboring 
 man. He was about to throw it carelessly aside, 
 and to proceed on his search, when he happened tc 
 turn it over. Then he started as if struck. " Good 
 Heaven !" he exclaimed, " it is the gypsy's." Yes, 
 he remembered it now. The man had pleaded not 
 guilty when brought up at the assizes, and the boot 
 had been produced as evidence. He remembered it 
 particularly because, after the man was sentenced, 
 his wife had provoked a smile by asking that the 
 boots might be given up to her in exchange for a 
 better pair for her husband to put on when dis- 
 charged from prison. Yes, it was clear. The 
 gypsy woman had kept her word, and had taken 
 her revenge. She had stolen the child, and had 
 placed the boot where it would attract attention, in 
 order that the parents might know the hand that 
 struck them. Instantly Captain Ripon ran to the 
 stable, ordered the groom to mount at once, and 
 scour every road and lane, while he himself rode off 
 to Hunston to give notice to the police, and offer a 
 large reward for the child's recovery. 
 
 He charged the man who had brought the boot 
 to carry it away, and put it in a place of safety till 
 it was required ; and on no account to mention to a 
 soul where he put it. 
 
 Before riding off, he ran in to his wife, who was
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 17 
 
 half-wild with grief, to tell her that he was going to 
 search outside the park, and that she must keep up 
 her spirits, for no doubt Torn would turn up all 
 right in no time. 
 
 He admitted to himself, however, as he gal- 
 loped away, that he was not altogether sure that 
 Tom would be so speedily recovered. The woman 
 would never have dared to place the boot on the 
 road, and so give a clew against herself, unless she 
 felt very confident that she could get away or con- 
 ceal herself. 
 
 " She has probably some hiding-place close by 
 the park," he said to himself, " where she will 
 lie hid till night, and will then make across coun- 
 try." 
 
 He paused at the village, and set the whole popu- 
 lation at work by telling them that his child was 
 missing, and had, he believed, been carried off by a 
 gypsy woman ; and that he would give 50 to any- 
 one who would find him. She could not be far off, 
 as it was only about half an hour since the child 
 had been missed. 
 
 Then he galloped to Hunston, set the police at 
 work ; and, going to a printer, told him instantly 
 to set up and strike off placards offering 500 re- 
 ward for the recovery of the child. This was to be 
 done in an hour or two, and then taken to the
 
 18 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 police station for distribution throughout the coun- 
 try round. 
 
 Having now done all in his power, Captain Ripon 
 rode back as rapidly as he had come, in hopes that 
 the child might already have been found. 
 
 No news had, however, been obtained of him, nor 
 had any one seen any strange woman in the neigh- 
 borhood. 
 
 On reaching the house he found his wife pros- 
 trated with grief ; and, in answer to her questions, 
 he thought it better to tell her about the discovery 
 of the boot. 
 
 " We may be some little time before we find the 
 boy," he said, " but we shall find him sooner or 
 later. I have got placards out already, offering 
 500 reward; and this evening I will send adver- 
 tisements to all the papers in this and the neighbor- 
 ing counties. Do not fret, darling. The woman 
 has done it out of spite, no doubt ; but she will not 
 risk putting her neck in a noose by harming the 
 child. It is a terrible grief, but it will only be fora 
 time ; we are sure to find him before long." 
 
 Later in the evening, when Mrs. Ripon had some- 
 what recovered her composure, she said to her hus- 
 band : 
 
 " How strange are God's ways, Robert ; how 
 wicked and wrong in us to grumble ! I was foolish
 
 FOR NA ME AND PA ME. 19 
 
 enough to fret over that mark on the darling's 
 neck, and now the thought of it is my greatest com- 
 fort. If it should be God's will that months or 
 years shall pass over before we find him, there is a 
 sign by which we shall always know him. No 
 other child can be palmed off upon us as our own ; 
 when we find Tom we shall know him, however 
 changed he may be !' 
 
 " Yes, dear," her husband said, " God is very 
 good, and this trial may be sent us for the best. 
 As you say, we can take comfort now from what 
 we were disposed to think at the time a little cross. 
 After that, dear, we may surely trust in God. That 
 mark was placed there that we might know our boy 
 again ; and were it not decreed that we should 
 again see him, that mark would have been useless." 
 
 The thought, for a time, greatly cheered Mrs. 
 Ripon ; but gradually the hope that she should ever 
 see her boy again faded away, and Captain Ripon 
 became much alarmed at the manifest change in her 
 health. 
 
 In spite of all Captain Ripon could do, no news 
 was obtained of the gypsy or Tom. For weeks he 
 rode about the country asking questions in every 
 village, or hurried awaj r to distant parts of England, 
 where the police thought they had a clew. 
 
 It was all in vain. Every gypsy encampment in
 
 20 FOR NA ME AND FA ME. 
 
 the kingdom was searched, but without avail ; and 
 oven the police, sharp-eyed as they are, could not 
 guess that the decent-looking Irishwoman, speaking 
 when she did speak, which was seldom, for she was 
 a taciturn woman with a strong brogue, working in 
 a laundry in a small street in the Potteries, Netting 
 Hill, was the gypsy they were looking for ; or that 
 the little boy, whose father she said was at sea, was 
 the child for whose discovery a thousand pounds 
 was continually advertised.
 
 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 2 1 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 THE FOUNDLING. 
 
 IT was a bitterly cold night in January. The 
 wind was roaring across the flats and fens of Cam- 
 bridgeshire, driving tiny flakes of snow before it. 
 But few people had been about all day, and those 
 whose business compelled them to face the weather 
 had hurried along muffled up to the chin. It was 
 ten at night, and the porter and his wife at the 
 workhouse at Ely had just gone to bed, when the 
 woman exclaimed, " Sam, I hear a child crying." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense !" the man replied, drawing the 
 bedclothes higher over his head ; " it is the wind ; 
 it's been whistling all day." 
 
 The woman was silent but not convinced. 
 Presently she sat up in bed. " I tell you, Sam, it's 
 a child ; don't you hear it, man ? It's a child out- 
 side the gate. On such a night as this too. Get 
 up, man, and see ; if you won't I will go myself." 
 
 " Lie still, woman, it's all thy fancy." 
 
 " You are a fool, Sam Dickson," his wife said 
 sharply. " Do you think I have lived to the age of
 
 22 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 forty-five, and don't know a child's cry when I 
 hear it? Now are you going to get up, or am I ?" 
 
 With much grumbling the porter turned out of 
 bed, slipped on a pair of trousers and a greatcoat, 
 took down the key from the wall, lighted a lantern, 
 and went out. He opened the gate and looked out. 
 There was nothing to be seen, and he was about to 
 close the gate again with a curse on his wife's fan- 
 cies, when a fresh cry broke on his ears. He hur- 
 ried out now, and, directed by the voice, found 
 lying near the gate a child wrapped in a dark-col- 
 ored shawl, which had prevented him from seeing 
 it at his first glance. There was no one else in 
 sight. The man lifted his lantern above his head 
 and gave a shout. There was no answer. Then he 
 raised the child and carried it in, locked the door, 
 and entered the lodge. 
 
 " You are right for once," he said. " Here is a 
 child, and a pretty heavy one too. It has been de- 
 serted by some one ; and a heartless creature she 
 must have been, for in another half-hour it would 
 have been frozen to death, if you had not heard it." 
 
 The woman was out of bed now. " It is a boy," 
 she said, opening the shawl', " about two years old, 
 I should say. Don't cry, my boy don't cry. It's 
 half-frozen, Sam. The best thing will be to put it 
 into our bed, that has just got warm. I will warm
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 23 
 
 it up a little milk. It's no use taking it into the 
 ward to-night." 
 
 Ten minutes later the child was sound asleep, the 
 porter, who was a good-natured man, having gone 
 over to sleep in an empty bed in the house, leaving 
 the child to share his wife's bed. 
 
 In the morning the foundling opened its eyes and 
 looked round. Seeing everything strange it began 
 to cry. 
 
 " Don't cry, dear," the woman said. " I will get 
 you some nice breakfast directly." 
 
 The kindness of tone at once pacified the child. 
 It looked round. 
 
 "Where's mother?" he asked. 
 
 " I don't know, dear, we shall find her soon 
 enough, no doubt ; don't you fret." 
 
 The child did not seem inclined to fret ; on the 
 contrary, he brightened up visibly. 
 
 " Will she beat Billy when she comes back ?" 
 
 " No, my dear, she shan't beat you. Does she 
 often beat you ?" 
 
 The child nodded its head several times emphat 
 ically. 
 
 " Then she's a bad lot," the woman said indig- 
 nantly. 
 
 The child ate its breakfast contentedly, and was 
 then carried by the porter's wife to the master, who 
 had already heard the circumstance of its entry.
 
 24 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 " It's of no use asking such a baby whether it has 
 any name," he said ; " of course it would not know. 
 It had better go into the infants' ward ; the guard- 
 ians will settle what its name shall be. We will set 
 the police at work and try and find out something 
 about its mother. It is a fine-looking little chap, 
 and she must be either a thoroughly bad one, or 
 terribly pressed, to desert it like this. Most likely 
 it is a tramp, and in that case it's odds we shall 
 never hear further about it. Any distinguishing 
 mark on its clothes ?" 
 
 " None at all, sir. It is poorly dressed, and 
 seems to have been very bad treated ; its skin is 
 dirty, and its little back is black and blue with 
 bruises ; but it has a blood-mark on the neck, which 
 will enable its mother to swear to it, if it's fifty 
 years hence ; but I don't suppose we shall ever hear 
 of her again." 
 
 That afternoon, however, the news came that the 
 body of a tramp had been found frozen to death in a 
 ditch near the town. She had apparently lost her 
 way, and when she had fallen in was so numbed and 
 cold that she was unable to rise, and so had been 
 drowned in the shallow water. AVhen the master 
 heard of it he sent for the porter's wife. 
 
 " Mrs. Dickson," he said, " you had better take 
 that child down and let it see the tramp they have
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 25 
 
 found frozen to death. The child is too young to 
 be shocked at death, and will suppose she is asleep. 
 But you will be able to see if he recognizes her." 
 
 There was -no doubt as to the recognition. The 
 child started in terror when he saw the woman ly- 
 ing in the shed into which she had been carried. It 
 checked its first impulse to cry out, but struggled 
 to get further off. " Hoder asleep," he said in a 
 whisper. " If she wake she beat Billy." 
 
 That was enough. The woman carried him back 
 to the house. " She's his mother, sir, sure enough," 
 she said to the master, " though how she should be 
 puzzles me. She is dressed in pretty decent clothes, 
 but she is as dark as a gypsy, with black hair. 
 This child is fair, with a skin as white as milk, now 
 he is washed." 
 
 " I dare say he takes after his father," the master, 
 who was a practical man, said. " I hear that there 
 is no name on her things, no paper or other article 
 which would identify her in her pockets ; but there 
 is 2, 12s. in her purse, so she was not absolutely in 
 want. It will pay the parish for her funeral." 
 
 An hour later the guardians assembled, and upon 
 hearing the circumstances of the newcomer's ad mis- 
 sion and the death of the tramp, they decided that 
 the child should be entered in the books as " \V il- 
 liam Gale," the name being chosen with a reference
 
 26 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 to the weather during which he came into the 
 house ; and against his name a note was written to 
 the effect that his mother, a tramp, name unknown, 
 had, after leaving him at the door of the work- 
 house, been found frozen to death next day. Wil- 
 liam Gale grew and throve. He was a quiet and 
 contented child ; accustomed to be shut up all day 
 alone, while his mother was out washing, the com- 
 panionship of other children in the workhouse Avas 
 a pleasant novelty ; and if the food was not such as 
 a dainty child would fancy, it was at least as good 
 as he had been accustomed to. The porter's wife 
 continued to be the fast friend of the child whom 
 she had saved from death. The fact that she had 
 done so gave her an interest in it. Her own chil- 
 dren were out in service or at work in the fields, 
 and the child was a pleasure to her. 
 
 Scarce a day passed then that she would not go 
 across the yard up to the infants' ward and bring 
 Billy down to the lodge, where he would play con- 
 tentedly by the hour, or sit watching her and suck- 
 ing at a cake while she washed or prepared her 
 husband's dinner. 
 
 Billy was seldom heard to cry. Perhaps he had 
 wept all his stock of tears away before he entered 
 the house ; he had seldom fits of bad temper, and 
 was a really lovable child. Mrs. Dickson never
 
 FO R NA ME AND FA ME. 27 
 
 wavered in the opinion she had first formed, that 
 the dead tramp was not Billy's mother ; but as no 
 one else agreed with her she kept her thoughts to 
 herself. The years passed on, and William Gale 
 was now no longer in the infants' ward, but took 
 his place in the boys' school. Here he at once 
 showed an intelligence beyond that of the other 
 boys of his own age. The hours which he had each 
 day spent in the porter's lodge had not been wasted. 
 The affection of the good woman had brightened 
 his life, and he had none of the dull, down-cast look 
 so common among children in workhouses. She 
 had encouraged him to talk and play, had taught 
 him the alphabet, and supplied him with an occa- 
 sional picture-book with easy words; indeed she 
 devoted far more time to him than many mothers 
 in her class of life can give to their children. The 
 guardians, as they went in and out to board-meeting, 
 would delight her by remarking : 
 
 " That is really a fine little fellow, Mrs. Dickson ; 
 he really does you credit. A tine sturdy, independ- 
 ent little chap. ?) 
 
 The child of course wore the regular uniform of 
 workhouse children ; but Mrs. Dickson, who was 
 handy with her needle, used to cut and alter the 
 clothes to fit him, and thus entirely changed their 
 appearance.
 
 28 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 " He looks like a gentleman's child," one of the 
 guardians said one day. 
 
 " I believe he is a gentleman's child, sir. Look at 
 his white skin ; see how upright he is, with his head 
 far back as if he was somebody ; he is different 
 altogether from the run of them. I always said he 
 came of good blood, and I shall say so to my dying 
 day." 
 
 " It may be so, Mrs. Dickson ; but the woman 
 who left him here, if I remember right, did not 
 look as if she had any good blood in her." 
 
 " Not likely, sir. She never came by him 
 honestly, I am sure ; I couldn't have believed she 
 was his mother, not if she had sworn to it with her 
 dying breath." 
 
 Mrs. Dickson's belief was not without influence 
 upon the boy. When he was old enough to under- 
 stand she told him the circumstances of his having 
 been found at the workhouse door, and of the dis- 
 covery of the woman who had brought him there ; 
 and impressed upon him her own strong conviction 
 that this was not his mother. 
 
 " I believe, Billy," she said over and over again, 
 " that your parents were gentlefolk. Now, mind, 
 it does not make one bit of difference to you, for it 
 ain't likely you will ever hear of them. Still, 
 please God, you may do so ; and it is for you to
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 29 
 
 bear it in mind, and to act so as, if you were to meet 
 them, they need not be ashamed of you. You have 
 got to earn your living just like all the other boys 
 here, but you can act right and straight and honor- 
 able. Never tell a lie, Billy, not if it's to save your- 
 self from being thrashed ever so much ; always 
 speak out manful and straight, no matter what 
 comes of it. Don't never use no bad words, work 
 hard at your books and try to improve yourself. 
 Keep it always before you that you mean to be 
 a good man and a gentleman some day ; and, mark 
 my words, you will do it." 
 
 " You're spoiling that child," her husband would 
 say, " filling his head with } 7 our ridiculous notions." 
 
 " No, I am not spoiling him, Sam ; I'm doing him 
 good. It will help keep him straight, if he thinks 
 that he is of gentle blood and must not shame it. 
 Why, the matron said only yesterday she could not 
 make him out, he was so different from other 
 boys." 
 
 '' More's the pity," grumbled the porter ; " it 
 mayn't do him harm now I don't say as it does ; 
 but when he leaves the house he'll be above his 
 work, and will be discontented, and never keep a 
 place." 
 
 " No, he won't," his wife asserted stoutly, al- 
 though in her heart she feared that there was some
 
 30 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 risk of her teaching having that effect. So far, 
 however, there could be no doubt that her teaching 
 had been of great advantage to the boy, and his 
 steadiness and diligence soon attracted the atten- 
 tion of the schoolmaster. Schoolmasters are always 
 ready to help pupils forward who promise to be a 
 credit to them, and William Gale's teacher was no 
 exception. He was not a learned man, very far 
 from it. He had been a grocer who had failed in 
 business, and having no other resource had accepted 
 the very small salary offered by the guardians of 
 Ely workhouse, as the only means which presented 
 itself of keeping out of one of the pauper wards of 
 that institution. However, he was not a bad reader, 
 and wrote an excellent hand. With books of geog- 
 raphy and history before him he could make no 
 blunders in his teaching, and although he might 
 have been failing in method, he was not harsh or 
 unkind ; and the boys, therefore, learned as much 
 with him as they might have done with a more 
 learned master of a harsher disposition. He soon 
 recognized not only William's anxiety to learn, but 
 the fearlessness and spirit with which he was always 
 ready to own a fault and to bear its punishment. 
 On several occasions he brought the boy before the 
 notice of the guardians when they came round the 
 school ; and when questions had to be asked before
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 31 
 
 visitors, William Gale was always called up as the 
 show boy. This prominence would have made him 
 an object of dislike among the other lads of his own 
 age, had it not been that William was a lively 
 good-tempered boy ; and if, as sometimes happened 
 on these occasions, a sixpence or shilling was slipped 
 into his hand by some visitor who was taken by his 
 frank open face and bright intelligent manner, it 
 was always shared among his school-fellows. At 
 one. .of the examinations, the wife of a guardian, 
 who was present with her husband, said on return- 
 ing home : 
 
 " It must be very dull for those poor boys : I will 
 pack up some of the boys' books and send them. 
 Now the} 7 " have gone to college they will never 
 want them again, and they would make quite a 
 library for the workhouse boys. There must be 
 twenty or thirty of them at least." 
 
 If ladies could but know what brightness they can 
 infuse into the lives of lads placed like these in Ely 
 workhouse, by a simple act of kindness of this kind, 
 there would not be an institution in the kingdom 
 without a well-supplied library. 
 
 The gift infused a new life into the school. 
 Hitherto the world outside had been a sealed book 
 to the boys. They knew of no world save that in- 
 cluded within the walls of the house. Their geog-
 
 32 FOR NAME AND 
 
 raphy told them of other lands and people, but 
 these were mere names until now. Among the 
 books were " Robinson Crusoe," " Midshipman 
 Easy," " Peter Simple," three or four of Cooper's 
 Indian tales, Dana's " Life before the Mast," and 
 several of Kingston's and Ballantyne's books. 
 These opened a wonderland of life and adventure 
 to the boys. The schoolmaster used to give them 
 out at twelve o'clock, and they were returned at 
 two when school recommenced ; and only such 
 boys as obtained full marks for their lessons were 
 allowed to have them. In this way, instead of the 
 "library " being a cause of idleness, as some of the 
 guardians predicted when they heard of its presen- 
 tation, it was an incentive to work. Certainly its: 
 perusal filled the minds of most of the boj*s with an 
 intense longing to go to sea, but as there is always 
 a demand for apprentices for the Yarmouth and 
 Lowestoft smacks, the guardians did not disapprove 
 of this bent being given to their wishes ; indeed, as 
 no premium had to be paid with apprentices to 
 smack-owners, while in most trades a premium is 
 required, a preference was given to the sea by the 
 guardians. 
 
 "When William Gale reached the age of fifteen, 
 and was brought before the board to choose the 
 trade to which he would be apprenticed, he at once
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 33 
 
 said that he would go to sea. There were applica- 
 tions from several smack-masters for apprentices, 
 and he, with the five other boys brought up with 
 him, were all of one opinion in the matter. 
 
 " Mind, lads," the chairman said, " the life of an 
 apprentice on board a North Sea smack is a hard 
 one. You will get a great many more kicks than 
 half-pence. It will be no use grumbling when you 
 have once made your choice. It is a rough, hard 
 life, none rougher or harder. When you have 
 served your time it will be open to you either to 
 continue as smacksmen or to ship as seamen in sea- 
 going ships. Sailors who hail from the eastern 
 fishing ports are always regarded as among the 
 best of our seamen. Still it is a rough life and a 
 dangerous one ; the hardest life on shore is easy in 
 comparison. There is time to change your minds 
 before you sign ; when you have done so it will be 
 too late. Are you all determined ?" 
 
 None of them wavered. Their signatures were 
 attached to the indentures, and they were told that 
 the porter would take them to Yarmouth on the 
 following day. William Gale obtained leave to 
 spend his last evening at the porter's lodge, and 
 there he talked very seriously with Mrs. Dickson. 
 over his future prospects. 
 N " I know," he said, " from Dana's book, that the
 
 3 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 life is a very rough one, but that will not matter. 
 A sailor, when he has been four years at sea, can 
 pass his examination as a mate, and I mean to work 
 hard and pass as soon as I can. I don't care how 
 much I am knocked about, that's nothing ; there's a 
 good chance of getting on in the end." 
 
 " You will meet a great many bad boys, Bill ; 
 don't you let them lead you into their ways." 
 
 " Don't be afraid of that," he answered, "I wont 
 do anything I should be ashamed of afterward. 
 You have taught me better." 
 
 " I suppose the guardians gave you a Bible to- 
 day ; they always do when boys goes out." 
 
 Will nodded. 
 
 " Be sure you read it often, my boy. You read 
 that and stick to it, and you won't go far wrong. 
 You know what the parson said last Sunday, 'No 
 one is strong in himself, but God gives strength." 
 
 " I remember," Will said. " I made up my mind 
 then that I'd bear it in mind and act upon it when 
 I could. I think the thought of God, and the 
 thought that I may meet my parents, and they must 
 not be ashamed of me, will help me to be honest 
 and firm." 
 
 " I hope, Bill, you will come sometimes and see 
 me when you are ashore." 
 
 " I shall be sure to do that when I can," he an-
 
 FOR NA ME AND VAMti. 35 
 
 swered. " But, of course, I shall have no money at 
 first ; and it may be a long time before I can pay 
 my railway fare here ; but you may be sure I will 
 come. Whoever may be my real mother, you are 
 the only mother I ever knew, and no mother could 
 have been kinder. When I grow to be a man, and 
 go to sea in big ships, I will bring you all sorts of 
 pretty things from abroad ; and if ever you should 
 want it, you may be sure that my wages will be 
 quite as much yours as if I had been really your 
 son !" 
 
 Sam Dickson gave a snort. It was very good of 
 the boy, but he considered it his duty to snub him 
 in order to counteract what he considered to be the 
 pernicious counsels and treatment of his wife. 
 " Fine talk," he said, " fine talk. We shall see." 
 " You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Sam Dick- 
 son," his wife said wrathfully. " The boy means 
 what he says, and I believe him.- If anything was 
 to happen to you, and that boy was growed-up, I 
 believe he would come forward to lend me a help- 
 ing hand, just as he says, as if he were my son. 
 The gals is good gals, but gals in service have plenty 
 to do with their wages, what with dress and one 
 thing or another; we must never look for much 
 help from them ; but if Bill is doing well, and I 
 ever come to want, I believe as his heart would be 
 good to help a bit-'*
 
 3(] FOR NAME AND 
 
 "Well," the porter said dryly, "there's time 
 enough to see about it yet. I ain't dead, you ain't 
 a pauper, and he ain't a man, not by a long way." 
 
 " Well, you needn't go to be short-tempered over 
 it, Sara. The boy says as he'll be as good as a son 
 to me if the time ever comes as how I may want it. 
 There is no call for you to fly out as if he'd said as 
 he'd poison me if he'd the chance. Anyhow, you'll 
 write to me regular, won't you, Bill ?" 
 
 " That I will," the boy said. " Every time I gets 
 back to port I'll write ; and you'll write sometimes, 
 won't you? and tell me how you are, and how 
 every one is, schoolmaster and all. They have all 
 been very kind to me, and I have nothing to say 
 against any of them." 
 
 The next morning William Gale laid aside for- 
 ever his workhouse dress, and put on a suit of rough 
 blue cloth, fitted for his future work. Then, bid- 
 ding adieu to all his friends, he, with his five fellow- 
 apprentices, started by rail under charge of Sam 
 Dickson for Yarmouth. The journey itself was to 
 them a most exciting event. They had in all their 
 remembrance never been a mile from the work- 
 house, and the swift motion of the train, the chang- 
 ing scenery, the villages and stations, were a source 
 of immense interest. As they neared Yarmouth 
 heir excitement increased, for now they were near-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 37 
 
 ing the sea, of which they had read so much, but 
 could form so little idea. They were disappointed, 
 however, inasmuch as no glimpse was obtained of 
 it as they crossed the flat country leading to the 
 town ; but, failing the sea, Yarmouth itself the 
 town which was henceforth to be their headquar- 
 ters was in the highest degree interesting. Pres- 
 ently the train reached the station, and then Sam 
 Dickson, who had made many annual journeys to 
 Yarmouth on the same errand, at once started off 
 with them to the smack-owners who had written to 
 the workhouse. These lived at Gorleston, a large 
 village on the south side of the river. "Walking 
 down from the station, the boys caught a glimpse 
 of the river, and were delighted at the sight of the 
 long line of smacks and coasters lying by the 
 wharves opposite. 
 
 Presently they left the road and made their way 
 down to the river side. Their guardian had great 
 difficulty in getting them along, so interested were 
 they in the smacks lying alongside. Presently they 
 stopped at a large wooden building, over which 
 was the name of " James Eastrey." 
 
 " Here we are," Sam Dickson said. " Now stop 
 quietly outside, I will call three of you up when I 
 have spoken to Mr. Eastrey." 
 
 Presently the porter reappeared at the door, and
 
 38 FOR tfAME AND FAME. 
 
 called three of the boys in. William Gale was one 
 of the number, James Eastrey being the name of 
 the owner to whom he had signed his indentures. 
 A smell of tar pervaded the whole place. Nets, 
 sails, and cordage were piled in great heaps in the 
 store ; iron bolts and buckets, iron heads for trawls, 
 and ship's stores of all kinds. 
 
 Mr. Eastrey came out from a little wooden office. 
 
 "So," he said, "you are the three lads who are 
 going to be my apprentices. Well, boys, it is a 
 rough life ; but if you take the ups and downs as 
 they come, it is not a bad one. I always tell my 
 captains to be kind to the boys ; but when they are 
 at sea they do not always act as I wish them. 
 When you are on shore, between the voyages, I give 
 you eight shillings a week to keep yourselves, or I 
 put you in the Smack-boys' Home and pay for you 
 there. The last is the best place for you, but some 
 boys prefer to go their own way. I suppose you 
 are all anxious to go to sea boys always are for 
 the first time. One of my boats is going out to- 
 morrow. You," he said, pointing to William Gale, 
 " shall go in her. What is your name ?" 
 
 " William Gale, sir." 
 
 " Very well, William Gale, then you shall be off 
 first. The others will only have a day or two to 
 wait. I can only send one new hand in each smack,
 
 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 39 
 
 The others will go to the Home till the smacks are 
 ready. I will send a man with them at once. 
 They can have a day to run about the town j 
 I shall find plenty of work for them afterward. 
 You, Gale, will stop on the smack. I will take you 
 on board in half an hour when I have finished my 
 letter." 
 
 The three lads said good-by to their comrades 
 and to Sam Dickson. A sailor was called up and 
 took two off to the Smack-boys' Home, and Will 
 Gales at down on a coil of rope to wait till his em- 
 ployer was ready to take him down to the craft to 
 which he was henceforth to belong.
 
 40 FOR NAME AND FAME. ' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LIFE ON A SMACK. 
 
 " Now come along, Gale," Mr. Eastrey said at 
 last, " the Kitty is close by." 
 
 Following his master the lad went out from the 
 store, and along the wharf, and presently stepped 
 upon a smack on which several men and a boy were 
 at work. 
 
 " Harvey," Mr. Eastrey said, " I have brought you 
 a new lad. He will sail with you to-morrow. I 
 have a very good account of him, and I think you 
 will find him quick and ready." 
 
 " So as he's not up to tricks I shall do very well 
 with him, I don't doubt," the skipper said ; " but 
 boys are an awful trouble the first voyage or 
 two. However, I will do my best for him. Are you 
 ready to begin work at once, young 'un ? what is 
 your name ?" 
 
 ""William Gale, and I am quite ready." 
 
 " Yery well, Bill, chuck off your jacket then, and 
 pass those bags along from the wharf." 
 
 The boy was soon hard at work. He was a little
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 41 
 
 disappointed at finding that the skipper was in dress 
 and manner in no way superior to the rest of the 
 crew. The Kitty was a yawl of forty-five tons, 
 deep in the water and broad in the beam. Her deck 
 was dirty and at present in disorder, and she did not 
 come up to the perfection of neatness and cleanli- 
 ness which William Gale had read of in the pages 
 of his favorite author. However, as he iold him- 
 self, there must of course be a good deal of differ- 
 ence between a man-of-war, where the crew have 
 little to do but to keep things neat and bright, and 
 a fishing-smack. The work upon which he was at 
 present engaged was the transferring of the pro- 
 visions for the voyage from the quay to the hold. 
 These consisted principally of barrels of salt meat 
 and bags of biscuits, but there were a large tin of 
 tea, a keg of sugar, a small barrel of molasses or 
 treacle two or three sacks of potatoes, pepper and 
 salt. Then there was a barrel of oil for the lamps, 
 coils of spare rope of different sizes, and a number 
 of articles of whose use William Gale had not the 
 most remote idea. 
 
 After two hours' work^the skipper looked at his 
 watch. "Time to knock off work," he said, "and 
 we've got pretty near everything on board. Now 
 be sure you are all here by six in the morning. 
 Tide will begin to run out at eight, and I don't want
 
 42 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 to lose any of it. Bill, you are to come home with 
 me for the night." 
 
 It was but a hundred yards to the sailor's cottage, 
 which stood on the edge of the sharp rise a short 
 distance back from the river. 
 
 " Here, wife," he said as he entered, " I've got a 
 new apprentice, and I expect he's pretty hungry ; 1 
 am, I can tell you, and I hope tea's ready. His 
 name's Bill, and he's going to stop here to-night." 
 
 " Tea is quite ready, John, and there's plenty of 
 mackerel. I thought you would not be getting 
 them again for a spell. Do you like fish ?" she 
 asked the boy. 
 
 " I don't know, ma'am I never tasted them." 
 
 " Bless me !" the woman cried in astonishment ; 
 " never tasted fish ! To think now ! 
 
 " I've been brought up in a workhouse," William 
 said, coloring a little as he spoke, for he knew the 
 prejudice against the House. 
 
 "Ah !" she said, " we have had a good many of 
 that sort, and I can't say as I likes 'em for the most 
 part. But you haven't got the look about you. 
 You don't seem that sort." 
 
 " I hope I shall turn out none the worse for it," 
 the boy said ; " at any rate I'll do my best. 
 
 " And none can't do more," the good woman 
 said briskly. " I like your looks, Bill, and you've a 
 nice way of talking; well, we shall see."
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 43 
 
 In a few minutes tea was upon the table, and 
 Will sat down with the skipper, his wife, and two 
 daughters, girls of ten and twelve. The lad enjoyed 
 his meal immensely, and did full justice to the fish. 
 
 " You will have plenty of them before you eat 
 your next tea on shore. "We pretty nigh live on 
 them when we are on the fishing grounds." 
 
 **The same kind of fish as this ?" 
 
 " No, mackerel are caught in small boats with a 
 different sort of gear altogether. We get them 
 sometimes in the trawl, not shoals of 'em, but single 
 fish, which we call horse-mackerel." 
 
 After tea the skipper lit his pipe, and his wife, 
 after clearing up, took some knitting and sat down 
 and began to question the new apprentice. 
 
 " It's lucky for you, you found such a good 
 friend," she said when he had finished his story. 
 " That's how it is you are so different from other 
 boys who have been apprenticed from the House. 
 I should never have thought you had come from 
 there. And she gave you good advice as to how 
 you should go on, I'll be bound." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," Will said, " and I hope I shall act 
 up to it." 
 
 " I hope so, Bill ; but you'll find it hard work tc 
 keep yourself as you should do among them boys. 
 They are an awful lot, them smack-boys."
 
 44 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 " Not worse nor other boys," her husband said. 
 
 "Not worse than might be looked for, John, but 
 they are most of 'em pretty bad. The language 
 they use make my blood run cold often. They 
 seems to take a delight in it. The hands are bad 
 enough, but the boys are dr.eadful. I suppose you 
 don't swear, Will ; they look too sharp after you in 
 '"the House ; but if you take my advice, boy, don't you 
 ever get into the way of bad language. If you once 
 begin, it will grow on you. There ain't no use in 
 it, and it's awful to hear it" 
 
 " I will try not to do so," AVill said firmly. 
 " Mother I always call her mother told me how 
 bad it was, and I said I'd try." 
 
 ''That's right, Will, you stick to that, and make 
 np your mind to keep from liquor, and you'll do." 
 
 " What's the use of talking that way ?" the skip- 
 per said. " The boy's sure to do it. They all do." 
 
 " Not all, John ; there's some teetotalers in the 
 
 fleet." 
 
 " I won't say I'll never touch it," Will said, " for 
 
 I don't know yet how I may want it; they say 
 when you are cold and wet through at sea it is 
 really good ; but I have made up my mind I'll 
 never drink for the sake of drinking. Half the men 
 ay, nineteen out of twenty in the House would 
 never have been there, I've heard mother say, if it
 
 FOR NAME AND 'FAME. 45 
 
 hadn't been for drink ; and I told her she need 
 never fear I'd take to that." 
 
 " If you can do without it on shore, you can do 
 without it at sea," the skipper said. " I take it 
 when I'm on shore, but there's not a drop goes out 
 on the Kitty. Some boats carries spirits, some 
 don't. We don't. The old man puts chocolate on 
 board instead, and of a wet night a drink of hot 
 chocolate's worth all the rum in the world. As for 
 giving it up altogether, I see no call for it. There 
 are men who can't touch liquor but they must go on 
 till they get drunk. That sort ought to swear off 
 and never touch it at all. It's worse than poison to 
 some. But for a man who is content with his pint 
 of beer with his dinner, and a glass of grog of an 
 evening, I see no harm in it." 
 
 " Except that the money might be better spent, 
 John." 
 
 " It might be, or it might not. In my case the 
 saving would be of no account. The beer costs 
 threepence, and the rum as much more. That's six- 
 pence a day. I'm only at home ten days once every 
 two months, so it come to thirty shillings a year ? 
 and I enjoy my dinner and my evening pipe all thfc 
 better for them." 
 
 " The thing is this, Will, you don't know, when 
 you begin, whether you are going to be one of th
 
 46 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 men who, like my John, is content with his pint of 
 beer and his glass of grog, or whether you will be 
 one of them as can't touch liquor without wanting 
 to make beasts of themselves. Therefore the safest 
 plan is, don't touch it at all leastways till you've 
 served your time. The others may laugh at you 
 at first, but they won't like you any the worse for 
 it." 
 
 " Thank you, ma'am. I will make up my mind 
 to that not to touch liquor till I am out of my 
 apprenticeship. After that, I can see for myself." 
 
 "That's right, lad. When you come back from 
 your first trip, you can join the lodge if you like. I 
 and my girls are members." 
 
 " Thank you, ma'am," Will said ; " but I won't 
 take any pledge. I have said I will not do it, and I 
 don't see any use in taking an oath about it. If T 
 am so weak as to break my word, I should break 
 my oath. I don't know why I shouldn't be able to 
 trust myself to do as I am willed, in that w r ay as in 
 any other. If I'd a craving after it, it might be 
 different ; but I never have tasted it, and don't 
 want to taste it ; so I don't see why I can't trust 
 myself." 
 
 " Yes, I think as how you can trust yourself, 
 Will," the woman said, looking at him ; "and I've 
 noticed often that it isn't them who say most as do
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 4? 
 
 most. Now, I dare say, you are sleepy. There's 
 my boy's bed for you. He is fourth hand in one of 
 the smacks at sea." 
 
 The next morning Will was out of bed the instant 
 he was called, excited at the thought that he was 
 going really to sea. The skipper's wife had tea 
 made and the table laid. 
 
 " Here," she said, " are some oilskin suits my 
 boy has given up. They will suit you well enough 
 for size ; and although they are not as good as they 
 were, they will keep out a good deal of water yet. 
 You will get half-a-crown a week while you are at 
 sea, so by the time you get back you will have 
 enough to buy yourself a fresh suit." 
 
 Half an hour later Will was at work getting two 
 spare sails and the last of the stores on board. 
 
 " Now, Bill, come below," the skipper said. " I 
 will show you your bunk." 
 
 The cabin was larger than Will had expected. It 
 was about twelve feet square, and lofty enough for 
 a tall man to stand upright. Bj> the side of the 
 companion stairs was a grate, on which a kettle was 
 boiling ; and this, as he afterward learned, was a 
 fixture, except when cooking was going on, and the 
 men could have tea whenever they chose. Round 
 three sides of the cabin extended lockers, the tops 
 forming seats. Above were what looked like cup-
 
 48 FOR NAME AftD FAMH. 
 
 boards running round the sides, but the skipper 
 pushed open a sliding door and showed a bed- 
 place. 
 
 " That is your bunk," he said. " You see, there 
 are two at the end, and one each side, above, and as 
 many under them eight bunks in all. You will 
 have to help Jack, that is the other boy, in cooking, 
 and make yourself useful generally in the day. 
 The crew are divided into two watches, but you will 
 not have much to do on deck. If the night is clear 
 you can sleep, except when the trawl is being got 
 up. Of a thick or stormy night you will keep your 
 watch. Now, as the other lad is more handy on 
 deck than you are, you can take charge here. All 
 you have to do is to see that the kettle is kept boil- 
 ing. You can come on deck and lend a hand if 
 wanted, but you must come down sometimes and 
 see the tire is all right." 
 
 After inspecting the contents of the kettle, and 
 seeing that it was full, "Will climbed up the steep 
 ladder again, and was soon working away coiling 
 down the ropes with the other lad, while the crew 
 hoisted sails and got the boat under weigh. 
 
 "Are there only two hands under the captain?" 
 he asked the other boy. 
 
 " There are two others," the boy said. " They 
 will come on board after we get out of the river,
 
 FOR NAME AND FAMJS. 49 
 
 and you'll see they will be just as drunk as they can 
 stand." 
 
 " What, drunk at this time in the morning ?" 
 
 " Yes, they got drunk last night, and as they 
 won't have fairly slept it off they will be beginning 
 again this morning. The old man will look them 
 up and get them off." 
 
 " Who is the old man ?" 
 
 "Old Eastrey, of course, stupid. I wish they 
 were all on board. There's a fine breeze, and I hate 
 wasting four or five hours off the bar waiting for 
 the hands to come off." 
 
 " I wonder the old man stands it," Will said. 
 
 " He can't help it," the other answered. " Scarce 
 a smack goes out of Yarmouth without half the 
 hands being drunk when she starts. They don't 
 get much chance afterward, you see, and they sleep 
 it off by night, so it don't make any odds. Our 
 skipper is always sober, and that's more than many 
 of them are. I have gone out when me and the 
 other boy were the only two sober on board." 
 
 " But isn't it very dangerous ?" 
 
 " Dangerous ! no," the boy said ; " one of them is 
 sure to be sober enough to manage to stand at the 
 helm,*and though I've bumped pretty heavy on the 
 sands sometimes we generally strike the channel. 
 There is no fear of anything else. We never start
 
 50 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 if a gale is blowing, and the smacks are safe in any- 
 thing but a gale. They are too deep to capsize, and 
 at sea there's no more drinking." 
 
 The smack dropped down the river, and stood off 
 and on near its entrance. "Will was delighted with 
 the bright sea, dotted with ships and fishing-craft. 
 The sun was shining, and there was just enough 
 wind to send the smack along briskly through the 
 water without raising any waves sufficiently high 
 to give her a perceptible motion. At eight o'clock 
 the captain went on shore in the boat with a man 
 to look after the absent sailors, leaving only one 
 hand and the two boys on board. At ten the boat 
 was again seen coming out. 
 
 " One, two, three, four," the boy said, " he has 
 got them both. Now we shall be off." 
 
 The boat was soon alongside, the two drunken 
 men were helped on board, and at once went below 
 to sleep themselves sober. Then the boat was 
 hoisted on board, and the second hand taking the 
 helm, the Kitty started fairly on her way. 
 
 " Now," the captain said, " let us get her a little 
 tidy." 
 
 It took some hours' work before the deck was 
 washed, the ropes coiled down, and every thing ship- 
 shape. By the time all was done the low coast of 
 Norfolk had sunk below the horizon, and the smack
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 51 
 
 was far out at sea. There was more motion now, 
 but the wind was still light. The skipper was 
 pleased with the earnestness and alacrity which the 
 new apprentice showed. 
 
 " Now, Jack," he said to the other boy, " take 
 Will below with you and show him. how to make 
 tea." 
 
 The process of tea-making on board a smack is 
 not a difficult one to master ; the sole operation 
 consisting in putting a few more spoonfuls of tea 
 into the kettle boiling over the fire when it begins 
 to get low, and filling up with fresh water. But 
 simple as the thing was, William Gale did not learn 
 it on that occasion. He had been feeling somewhat 
 shaky even while on deck, and the heat of the cabin 
 and the smell of some grease which Jack had just 
 put in the frying-pan preparatory to cooking some 
 fish brought off from shore, completed the effect of 
 the rising sea. Until next morning he was not in a 
 condition to care even had the tea remained unmade 
 to the end of time. He did not go below, but lay 
 under the shelter of a tarpaulin on deck. In the 
 morning the skipper roused him up. 
 
 " Now, lad, just take off your coat and shirt ; here 
 is a bucket of water, put your head in that, and 
 give yourself a good sluice, and then come down 
 and have a cup of tea and a bit of biscuit, and you 
 will find yourself alj^ right again."
 
 52 #07? NAME AND 
 
 Will followed the instructions and found himself 
 wonderfully better. 
 
 " Now, lad, lend a hand in tidying up on deck ; 
 there is nothing like work for keeping off sea-sick- 
 ness. Jack shall cook for to-day." 
 
 The boy set to work with a will, and felt so re- 
 freshed that by one o'clock he was able to go below 
 and take his share of the dinner. At present, while 
 on their way to the fishing-grounds, their meals 
 were taken at the same time as on shore ; but once 
 at work, there were only two meals a day : of these 
 the first was taken when the fishing was over, the 
 fish cleaned, picked, weighed, and packed the hour 
 varying between nine and eleven. The second meal 
 was taken before the trawl was lowered at six or 
 seven o'clock in the evening. 
 
 After five days' sailing the smack arrived oif the 
 fishing-ground, but another two days were spent in 
 finding the fleet, as the fishing-grounds extend over 
 a distance of some hundreds of miles. When they 
 came up with it William Gale was astonished at the 
 vast number of boats that dotted the sea. 
 
 In the Yarmouth fleet there are between four 
 and five hundred vessels ; and, were it not that the 
 most perfect order and discipline reign, the number 
 of accidents which would occur, from so man}' 
 boats fishing close to each other at night, would be
 
 FO n NA ME AND FA ME. 53 
 
 terrible. The fleet is commanded by one of the 
 most experienced skippers, who is termed the ad- 
 miral. His authority is absolute : he leads the fleet 
 to the grounds he selects for fishing, and by signals 
 by day and rockets by night issues his orders 
 when the nets are to be lowered down and drawn 
 up, the course which is to be steered, and the tack 
 on which they are to stand. 
 
 The fishing is entirely done at night. The trawls 
 are let down about dusk, and the fleet attached to 
 these moving anchors forge slowly ahead and to 
 leeward until daybreak. Then the trawls are got 
 in and the fleet sail in a body to the spot where the 
 admiral decides that fishing shall be continued in 
 the evening. At ten o'clock at night the trawls 
 are hauled in and the nets emptied. All hands are 
 called up for this operation ; when it is concluded 
 the trawl is again lowered and the fish cleaned and 
 packed, by the light of a torch formed of rope 
 dipped in tar. The watch who have hitherto been 
 on deck turn in, and the others remain on deck 
 until morning, when the nets are again hauled in. 
 
 There is not, indeed, much for the watch to do, 
 as the smack needs no steering and the attention of 
 the men on deck is directed chiefly to see that no 
 other smack drifts down upon them. Should there 
 appear any danger of this, a flare is lit to warn the
 
 54 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 other smacksmen. The trawl rope is slacked oat or 
 hauled in as the case may require, and generally 
 volleys of strong language pass between the respec- 
 tive crews. The trawl-beam is a heavy pole, some 
 thirty or thirty -five feet long ; at each end are fitted 
 strong iron hoops of about three feet in diameter. 
 These keep the pole from touching the ground and 
 keep open the mouth of the net, one side of which 
 is attached to the pole while the other drags along 
 the bottom. 
 
 The net resembles in shape a long deep purse, 
 and has various pockets and other contrivances by 
 which, when a fish has once entered its mouth, it is 
 prevented from returning. 
 
 The trawl-rope, which is from forty to eighty 
 yards in length, according to the depth of the water, 
 is hauled in by means of a winch, and its great 
 weight taxes the united strength of the crew to get 
 it level with the bulwark. When it is up, the net 
 is hauled on board, the small end is opened, and the 
 fish tumble on to the deck ; they are then separated 
 and packed in trunks, as the wooden cases in which 
 they are sent to market are called. Soles fetch by 
 far the highest price, and fortunate are the crew 
 who get a good haul of this fish, for the men work 
 upon shares, an account being kept of all the sales 
 made during the fishing trip. The owner deducts
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME, 55 
 
 the cost of the provisions and stores which have 
 been put on board and takes one or more shares for 
 the vessel. Each man has one share, the skipper 
 and mate receiving rather a larger proportion than 
 the others ; thus the men have a lively interest in 
 each haul, and great is the satfsfaction when the 
 net comes up well filled, and there is seen to be a 
 good proportion of soles among the contents. 
 
 The coarse fish, as they are called, include brill, 
 haddock, hake, ling, whiting, and many others. 
 Turbot are also caught. 
 
 In each haul there would probably be a vast num- 
 ber of objects which would delight the heart of a 
 naturalist. Dog-fish, too, are sometimes taken, as 
 are conger-eels and horse-mackerel; stones and 
 oj^sters too come up in the nets and the latter are 
 the betes-noirs of the fishing. Sometimes when the 
 fleet gets over a bed of oysters a score of nets will 
 be lost in a single night ; for when the bag becomes 
 full of oysters, its weight is so great that the utmost 
 power of the fishermen's exertions on the winch is 
 insufficient to lift it from the bottom, and there is 
 nothing to be done but to cut the rope and abandon 
 trawl and net. Upon these occasions the language 
 applied to the admiral is scarcely of a kind for 
 polite ears. 
 
 The food of the crews, when once upon the fish- 
 ing-ground, consists almost wholly of fish. With
 
 56 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the exception of soles, each man may select any fish 
 he fancies from the glistening mass upon the deck, 
 and the amount which each consumed at a meal at 
 first astonished William Gale, accustomed as he 
 was to meager workhouse rations. He soon, how- 
 ever, found himself able to keep up with the rest, 
 but the operation of frying seemed sometimes inter- 
 minable, so many times had the pan to be filled 
 and emptied. 
 
 Hard biscuits were eaten with the fish, and the 
 whole washed down with copious draughts of tea 
 without milk. Two or three times a week the men 
 would, as a change, have a meal of salt meat ; and 
 on Sundays a duff or pudding of flour and currants 
 was made. 
 
 A few days after joining the fleet the weather 
 changed, the sky became gloomy and threatening. 
 The wind blew hard and a heavy sea got up. Will 
 found that keeping watch at night, which was 
 pleasant enough on a fine star-light night, was a 
 very different thing now. It was no joke looking 
 ahead with the wind blowing fiercely and showers 
 of spray dashing into the eyes ; and yet a vigilant 
 watch must be kept, for if the rockets which 
 ordered the hauling of the trawl were not noticed, 
 some other smack moving rapidly when released 
 from the drag of its net might at any moment come 
 into collision with the smack.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAMfi. 57 
 
 Still more important was it to notice upon which 
 side the trawl was to be lowered, after being 
 emptied, and upon which tack the vessel was to 
 proceed. For a mistake in this respect would be 
 certain to bring the smack across another, in which 
 case the trawl-ropes would become entangled, in- . 
 volving, in a heavy sea, the certain loss of one or 
 the other. Many of the smacks carry dogs, and it 
 is found that these become even better watchers 
 than their masters ; for they can be relied on to 
 call the attention of the watch, by sharp barking, 
 to the letting up of the rocket, however distant. 
 
 A rocket may seem to be an easy thing to see, 
 but in a large fleet the sternmost smacks may be 
 three or four miles away from the leaders, and in a 
 dark thick night it is exceedingly difficult to make 
 out even a rocket at that distance. 
 
 The wind increased to a gale ; the trawls were 
 up now, and the fleet lay-to. It may be explained 
 that this operation is performed by bringing a ship 
 nearly into the eye of the wind, and then hauling 
 the fore-sail across, and belaying the sheet. The 
 aft sail or mizzen is then hauled tight and the 
 tiller lashed amidships; As the fore-sail pays the 
 vessel off from the wind, the after-sail brings her 
 up again, and she is thus kept nearly head to sea, 
 and the crew go below and wait till the storm 
 abates.
 
 58 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 RUN DOWN. 
 
 WILLIAM GALE was astonished at the fury of the 
 tempest and the wildness of the sea. Although at 
 the workhouse he had often heard the wind roaring 
 round the walls, there was nothing to show him the 
 force that was being exerted. There were but few 
 trees in the neighborhood, and William had hardly 
 ever been without the walls except in fine summer 
 weather. He was therefore almost bewildered by 
 the force and fury of the gale, and by the noise as 
 it shrieked through the rigging and howled across 
 the water. The occasional flapping of the sails and 
 the rattling of the heavy blocks added to the din, 
 and it seemed to him that the Kitty, which, like rll 
 fishing-smacks, was very deep in the water, must be 
 completely engulfed by the great waves which 
 swept down upon her. 
 
 Several times indeed, he was obliged to leap 
 down into the cabin to avoid being swept away 
 by the great masses of green water which, pouring
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 59 
 
 over her bows, swept aft, carrying away all before 
 them. 
 
 But the Yarmouth smacks are admirable sea 
 boats, and pounded and belabored as she was, the 
 Kitty always shook off the water that smothered 
 her, and rose again for the next wave. In twenty- 
 four hours the gale abated, the scattered fleet were 
 assembled, each flying its flag, and it was found 
 that three were missing, having either foundered, 
 or been driven away from their consorts. 
 
 With the return of fine weather the fishing began 
 again, and William thoroughly enjoyed his life. 
 The skipper was kind and forbearing ; he neither 
 ill-treated the boys himself nor permitted any of 
 the crew to do so, and every thing went on regularly 
 and comfortably. There were a few books on 
 board, and of an evening after the trawl was low- 
 ered, and before the watch below turned into their 
 bunks, William, who was the best reader on board, 
 would be asked to read aloud for an hour. Some- 
 times there were songs, and as the Kitty was for- 
 tunate, and her taking of fish good, the men were 
 all cheerful and good-tempered. 
 
 Once every three or four days the collecting 
 steamer came in sight, then there was a general 
 race in the fleet to put the trunks of fish on board 
 her. Each did his best to be in good time, for when
 
 60 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the catch had been heavy the steamer was some- 
 times unable to take the whole of it, in which case 
 the portion left behind would be wholly spoilt be- 
 fore the arrival of another steamer. 
 
 The whole of the fleet, therefore, ran down to- 
 ward the steamer as soon as she was seen ; the 
 heavy boats were tossed overboard, and the trunks 
 lowered into them, and two hands jumped in to row 
 them to the steamer. Kound her a swarm of boats 
 would soon be collected, each,strivmg to get along- 
 side to deliver the fish. 
 
 In calm weather the scene was simply amusing, 
 but when the sea was high it was exciting and even 
 dangerous ; indeed, in the course of a year more 
 lives are lost in the process of taking the fish from 
 the smack to the steamer than in vessels foundered 
 by gales. 
 
 Sometimes the fleet will be joined by Dutch trad- 
 ing-smacks, who exchange fresh bread and meat, 
 tobacco, and spirits, for fish. This traffic is the 
 cause alike of loss to the owners by the fish thus 
 parted with, and of injury to the men by the use of 
 spirits. Fortunately the skipper of the Kitty al- 
 though not averse to the use of spirits on shore, 
 was a strict man at sea, and saw that no one took 
 more than a single glass of grog of an evening. 
 
 Over ami over again Will congratulated himself
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 61 
 
 that he had the good fortune to make his first voy- 
 age under such a skipper, for he shuddered at the 
 stories Jack told him of the cruelties and barbarities 
 with which apprentices are treated on board some 
 of the smacks. Although, however, there is no 
 doubt many brutal skippers hail from Yarmouth, 
 the fleet from that town bears a good reputation in 
 comparison with that of Grimsby, where the num- 
 ber of apprentices returned as drowned each year is 
 appalling. 
 
 One night when the wind was high and the fleet 
 trawling lower down the North Sea than usual, 
 Will, who was on deck, was startled at seeing a 
 great ship bearing down upon the smack. He gave 
 a shout of terror and warning, which was joined in 
 by the crew on deck. One ran for the hatchet to 
 cut the trawl, and thus give steerage-way to the 
 smack. It was too late ; in another moment the 
 great ship bore down upon them with a crash, and 
 the Kitty sank beneath the waves. 
 
 The bowsprit of the vessel projected across the 
 deck, just at the point where William Gale was 
 standing ; and in a moment he caught at the bob- 
 stay, and quickly hauled himself on to the bowsprit. 
 Climbing along this he was soon on board. Two 
 or three sailors were leaning over the bows, peering 
 into the darkness. They had not seen the smack,
 
 62 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 until too late to avoid it ; and the collision which 
 had proved fatal to the Kitty had scarcely been felt 
 by the ship. Will was at once taken to the captain, 
 who spoke English ; the boy implored him to turn 
 back, but the captain shook his head. 
 
 " It would be useless," he said ; "the sea is heavy, 
 and in these long boots " and he pointed to the 
 sea-boots up to the thigh which all fishermen wear 
 " no man could swim for two minutes, nor would 
 there be a chance, if they could, of our finding them 
 on so dark a night. I am very sorry, my lad, but it 
 cannot be helped ; it would take half an hour to 
 bring the ship about and go back to the spot where 
 the smack sank, and we might not get within half 
 a mile of it. You know as well as I do." 
 
 Will had been long enough at sea to recognize 
 the truth of what the captain said. As he was led 
 forward he burst into tears at the thought of the loss 
 of his kind friend the captain, and the rest of his 
 mates. The sailor who accompanied him patted 
 him on the back, and spoke cheeringly to him in a 
 foreign language, and he was soon between decks 
 with the crew. Several of these could speak Eng- 
 lish, and Will found that he was on board a Dutch 
 merchantman, bound with troops for Java. The 
 wind got up, and in the morning it was blowing a 
 heavy gale from the east, and the vessel with
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME . gg 
 
 reefed topsails was running for the straits between 
 Dover and Calais at twelve knots an hour. After 
 breakfast the captain sent for William. 
 
 " I am sorry, for your sake, that the state of the 
 weather will prevent our communicating with any 
 ship we may meet. But I promise you that if the 
 gale breaks before we are fairly out from the 
 channel, I will heave to and put you on board a 
 homeward-bound ship." 
 
 Such a chance did not occur. For four or five 
 days the gale continued with great severity, and be- 
 fore it ceased the ship was well down the coast of 
 Spain on her way south. When the captain saw 
 that there was but small chance of his being able 
 to tranship his involuntary passenger, he said to 
 him : 
 
 "Look you, my lad. I fear that you will have 
 to make the voyage with me, for we shall not touch 
 at any port until we arrive at our destination. If 
 you like, I will ship you as a hand on board as from 
 the day of the collision. A hand, more or less, will 
 make no difference to the owners, and the money 
 will be useful to you when you leave the ship. Of 
 course, you can return in her if you think fit ; but 
 it is likely enough that when we reach Java, we 
 may be sent up to China for a homeward cargo, in 
 which case I will procure you a passage in the first 
 ship sailing for your home."
 
 64 OR NAME AND FAtifi. 
 
 Will gladly accepted the offer. He was, however, 
 by no means penniless ; for upon the morning after 
 his coming on board, the Dutch officers and passen- 
 gers, hearing what had happened in the night, made 
 a collection among themselves and presented the 
 boy with a purse containing fifteen pounds. 
 
 It was a long voyage, but not an unpleasant one 
 for "William; his duties were not very heavy he 
 had far less to do than had been the case on board 
 the smack. A month on board the Kitty had done 
 much toward making a sailor of him, for there are 
 no better seamen in the world than the Yarmouth 
 smacksmen. Going aloft was at first a trial, but he 
 soon learned his duties ; and being a strong and ac- 
 tive lad, he was quickly able to do efficient work, 
 and speedily gained the good opinion of the Dutch 
 sailors by his good temper and anxiety to please. 
 
 They ran some little distance to the south of the 
 Cape before shaping an easterly course, to avoid 
 the bad weather so frequently met with there ; and, 
 beyond encountering two or three gales of no ex- 
 ceptional severity, nothing occurred to break the 
 monotony of the voyage, until the coasts of Java 
 were in sight. Upon their arrival in port they 
 found no vessel there about to sail for Europe, and 
 the captain's expectation was fulfilled, as he found 
 orders awaiting him to proceed to China when he
 
 FOR NAME AND FAMW. 65 
 
 had landed the troops and discharged his cargo. 
 Will determined to continue his voyage in her to 
 that place. 
 
 Among the ship-boys on board was one between 
 whom and Will Gale a great friendship had been 
 struck up. He was a year or two Will's senior, but 
 scarcely so tall ; upon the other hand he was nearly 
 twice his girth. He talked but little, but his broad 
 face was ever alight with a good-tempered grin. 
 He spoke a few words of English, and Will had, 
 when first picked up, been given specially into his 
 charge. Will's superior activity and energy as- 
 tonished the Dutch lad, whose movements were 
 slow and heavy ; while Will, on his part, was sur- 
 prised at the strength which Hans could exert when 
 he chose. 
 
 One day when Will had been plaguing him, and 
 ventured within his reach, the lad had seized and 
 held him out at arm's-length, shaking him as a dog 
 would a rat, till he shouted for mercy. 
 
 The two were soon able to get on in a queer mix- 
 ture of Dutch and English, and when words failed, 
 they would eke out their words by gestures. The 
 vessel had sailed but a few days from Java, when 
 there were signs of a change of weather. Hitherto 
 it had been lovely ; now a slight mist seemed to 
 hang over the sea, while overhead it was clear and
 
 66 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 
 
 bright. There was not a breath of wind, and the 
 sails hung listlessly against the masts. "Will, who 
 was leaning against the bulwarks chatting to Hans, 
 observed the captain, after looking round at the 
 horizon, go into his cabin ; he reappeared in a min- 
 ute, and spoke to the officer, who immediately 
 shouted an order for " all hands to shorten sail." 
 
 "What is that for?" "Will said wonderingly ; 
 " there is not a breath of wind." 
 
 " I egzpect captain haz looked at glass," Hans 
 said; "find him fall; I egzpect we going to have 
 ztorm ; very bad ztorms in dese zeas." 
 
 AVill ran aloft with the sailors, and in ten minutes 
 every inch of canvas, with the exception of a small 
 stay-sail, was stripped from the ship ; still there was 
 not a breath of wind. The sea was as smooth as 
 glass, save for a slight ground-swell. Although the 
 mist did not seem to thicken, a strange darkness 
 hung over the sky, as if high up a thick fog had 
 gathered. Darker and darker it grew, until there 
 was little more than a pale twilight. The men 
 stood in twos and threes, watching the sea and sky, 
 and talking together in low tones. 
 
 " I don't like this, Hans," Will said. " There is 
 something awful about it." 
 
 "We have big ztorm," Hans replied, "zyclone 
 thev call him."
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 6? 
 
 
 
 Scarcely had Hans spoken when the sky above 
 seemed to open with a crash, a roar of thunder 
 louder than ten thousand pieces of artillery pealed 
 around them, while at the same moment a blinding 
 flash of lightning struck the mainmast, shivering it 
 into splinters, and prostrating to the deck five sea- 
 men who were standing round its foot. As if a 
 signal had been given by the peal of thunder, a 
 tremendous blast of wind smote the vessel, and, 
 stripped though she was of sails, heaved her over 
 almost to the gunwale. 
 
 For a moment the crew were paralyzed by the 
 suddenness of the catastrophe, stunned by the ter- 
 rible thunder, and blinded by the lightning. None 
 seemed capable of moving. Will had instinctively 
 covered his eyes with his hands it seemed to him 
 for a moment that his sight was gone. Then the 
 voice of the captain was heard shouting : 
 
 "Helm hard up; out axes and cut away the 
 wreck at once !" 
 
 Those who were least stupefied by the shock 
 sprang in a dazed and stupid way to .obey the 
 order. Will drew out his knife, and feeling rather 
 than seeing what he was doing, tried to assist in 
 cutting away the shrouds of the fallen mast it had 
 gone a few feet above the deck. Presently he 
 seemed, as he worked, to recover from his stupor,
 
 6$ FOR NAME AND FAMti. 
 
 and the power of sight came back to him. Then he 
 saw that the vessel, taken on the broadside by the 
 gale, was lying far over, with several feet of her lee 
 deck under water. 
 
 So furious was the wind that he could not show 
 his head over the weather bulwark. The sea was 
 still smooth, as if the water was flattened by the 
 force of the wind. The stay-sail had been blown 
 into ribbons. In order to get the ship's head off 
 the wind the head of the jib was hauled up a few 
 feet. It happened to be a new and strong one ; 
 and, although it bellied and lashed as if it would 
 tear itself into fragments, it still stood. Again the 
 captain gave an order, and the sail was hauled up to 
 its full height. Still further the vessel heaved over, 
 and Will expected every moment that she would 
 capsize ; then gradually her head paid off, and 
 slowly she righted and flew before the gale. 
 
 " That was a near squeak," Will said. 
 
 " What is zqueak ?" Hans shouted. 
 
 " I mean a close shave," Will replied. 
 
 Hans' blue eyes opened wider than usual. 
 
 " A zhave !" he repeated ; " what are you talking 
 about zhaving?" 
 
 " No, no," Will said laughing, " I mean a narrow 
 escape of being capsized." 
 
 Hans nodded. There was no time for talk, for
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 69 
 
 orders were given for getting preventer stays on 
 the foremast. The jib, having done its work, had 
 been .hauled down the instant the ship paid off, 
 and a small storm-sail set in its place. The men 
 now had time to attend to those who had been 
 struck by lightning: three of them were found to 
 be dead, but the other two, who were stunned 
 and senseless, still lived, and were lifted and car- 
 ried below. 
 
 Serious as the disaster had been, Will felt that the 
 stroke of lightning had saved the ship. The pres- 
 sure of the wind upon two masts and hull had 
 nearly sufficed to capsize her ; had the mainmast 
 stood, he felt that she must have gone over. The 
 sea got up in a few minutes, but being now only in 
 light ballast, the vessel rose easily over them. 
 Four men were at the helm, for the waves soon 
 became so high that the ship yawed dangerously 
 on her course. 
 
 The gale seemed to increase rather than diminish 
 in fury, and the sea, instead of following in regular 
 waves, became a perfect chaos of tossing water, 
 such as Will had never before seen. He understood 
 it, however, when half an hour after the outburst of 
 the gale, he heard one of the men, who had just 
 been relieved at the wheel, say that in that time 
 the ship had already run twice round the compass.
 
 70 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 She was therefore in the very center of the cyclone, 
 and the strangely tossed sea was accounted for. 
 The motion of the ship was extraordinary; some- 
 times she was thrown on one side, sometimes on 
 the other. Mountains of water seemed to rise sud- 
 denly beside her, and tumbled in great green 
 masses over the bulwarks. So wild and sudden 
 were her movements that even the oldest sailors 
 were unable to keep their feet, and all clung on to 
 shrouds or belaying pins. 
 
 Will and Hans had lashed themselves by the 
 slack of a rope to the bulwarks close to each other, 
 and there clung on; sometimes half-drowned by the 
 waves which poured in above them, sometimes torn 
 from their feet by the rush of green water as the 
 ship plunged he^d-foremost into a wave OT shipped 
 one over her poop. 
 
 Presently there was a crash that sounded even 
 above the fury of the gale the foretopmast had 
 gone at the cap. The axes were again called into 
 requisition, for a blow from the floating spar would 
 have instantly stove in the side. While engaged 
 upon this the captain called two of the men with 
 axes aft. These were set to work to chop through 
 the shrouds of the mizzen, and in a minute later the 
 mast snapped asunder on the level of the deck and 
 went over the side with a crash, carrying away sev- 
 eral feet of the bulwark.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 71 
 
 This act was necessitated by the loss of the foretop- 
 mast, as the pressure of the wind upon themizzen 
 would have brought her head up and laid her broad- 
 side to the gale. 
 
 The motion of the vessel was now considerably 
 easier, and there was no longer any difficulty in 
 keeping her dead before the wind. She was now 
 describing much larger circles in her 'course, show- 
 ing that she was farther removed from the center 
 of the cyclone. After five or six hours the extreme 
 violence of the wind somewhat abated, and it seemed 
 to settle down into a heavy gale. 
 
 For two days the vessel ran before it. She had 
 made a good deal of water from the opening of the 
 seams by straining, and the pumps were kept going. 
 They were, they found, able to prevent the water 
 from gaining upon them, and all felt that they 
 should weather the tempest, provided that they 
 were not dashed upon any of the islands, in which 
 this portion of the ocean abounds. 
 
 The crew had had no regular meals since the gale 
 began, for the caboose had been broken up and 
 washed overboard soon after the commencement of 
 the storm, and they had been obliged to be content 
 with biscuits ; there was little to be done on deck, 
 and the watch over, they passed their time in their 
 bunks,
 
 72 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 In the afternoon of the third day of the tempest 
 the cry was raised of "Breakers ahead!" "Will, 
 with his comrades of the watch below, sprang from 
 their berths and hurried on deck. 
 
 Far ahead, as the vessel lifted on the waves, could 
 be seen a gleam of white water. In anticipation of 
 such a danger, a small spar had been erected upon 
 the stump of the mizzen and steadied with strong 
 stays. Sail was now hoisted upon this, and an 
 effort was made to bring the vessel's head to wind. 
 "Watching for a favorable moment between the pas- 
 sages of the heavy seas, the helm was put down 
 and slowly her head came up into the wind. Under 
 such sail the captain had no hope of being able to 
 reach out in the teeth of the gale ; but he hoped to 
 be able to claw off the shore until clear of the land 
 which lay to leeward of him. 
 
 That hope soon vanished. One of the mates was 
 sent to the top of the foremast, and descended with 
 news that as far as could be seen the line of break- 
 ers stretched away, both on her beam and quarter. 
 As the minutes went by the anxious crew could see 
 but too clearly that the ship was drifting down 
 upon the land, and that she must inevitably be 
 wrecked upon it. 
 
 The outlines of the shore could now be seen a 
 forest of tossing trees, behind which high land could
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 73 
 
 be made out through the driving clouds. Orders 
 were now given to prepare to anchor ; but all knew 
 that the chances were slight indeed. The water is, 
 for the most part, deep close alongside the islands of 
 the Eastern Archipelago ; and even were the hold-' 
 ing-ground good, hemp and iron would hardly hold 
 the vessel head to the gale and tremendous sea. 
 
 "When within a quarter of a mile of the breakers 
 the man with the lead proclaimed a depth of ten 
 fathoms. This was better than they had expected. 
 The jib was lowered and her head brought dead to 
 wind. The captain shouted " cut," and in an in- 
 stant the stoppers were severed and two heavy an- 
 chors dropped into the sea. One had a heavy chain- 
 cable, the other hemp, and these were allowed to 
 run out to the bits. The vessel brought up with 
 less shock than could be expected. A wave or two 
 passed under her and still her cable held. 
 
 A gleam of hope began to reign, when a moun- 
 tainous sea was seen approaching ; higher and 
 higher it rose, and just as it reached the ship it 
 curled over and crashed down upon her deck. The 
 cables snapped like pack-thread, and a cry of despair 
 arose from the crew. The captain was calm and 
 collected, and shouted orders for the jib to be again 
 hoisted and the helm put up, so as to run her head- 
 first on to the shore.
 
 74 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 As they neared the line of breakers they could 
 see heads of jagged rocks rising among them, while 
 beyond a belt of smooth water, a quarter of a mile 
 wide, extended to the land. The ship's head was 
 directed toward a point where no rocks appeared 
 above the surface. Every one held their breath, 
 and clinging to the bulwarks awaited the shock. 
 
 The vessel lifted on a great wave just as she came 
 to the line of broken water, and as she settled down 
 struck with a tremendous crash. 
 
 So great was the shock that she broke in two 
 amidships as if she had been made of paper, the 
 portion aft going instantly to pieces, and at once 
 the sea around was covered with fragments of 
 wreck, bales, boxes, and casks. Another great sea 
 followed, filling the now open ship, forcing up the 
 deck, and sweeping everything before it. 
 
 William Gale and Hans had gone as far forward 
 as possible. "Come out to the end of the bowsprit," 
 Will said to Hans, and the two lads crawled out 
 together and sat on the end of the spar. 
 
 The sea beneath them was white as milk with the 
 foam which poured over the reef, but Will thought 
 that they were beyond the rooks. Every sea which 
 struck the wreck added to the disaster, until a larger 
 one than usual struck it and broke it into frag- 
 ments. The lads clung to the spa** as it fell ; it sank
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 75 
 
 deep in the water, but they retained their hold un- 
 til it came to the surface, and Will looked round. 
 They were safely beyond the edge of the reef. The 
 sea was still rough and broken, but it was quiet 
 compared to that beyond the reef. He saw that 
 the fore-mast was floating near, and to it several 
 were clinging. 
 
 In a quarter of an hour the spar floated to land, 
 the boys felt the bottom with their feet, and soon 
 scrambled ashore. A few minutes later the fore- 
 mast also drifted up, and several men clinging to 
 fragments of the wreck were also cast ashore. In 
 all eleven men, including the first mate, were saved.
 
 76 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE CASTAWAYS. 
 
 AFTEB waiting on the shore until all hope that 
 any more of their shipmates survived was at an 
 end, the party, by the mate's orders, detached a sail 
 from a yard that had drifted ashore, and carried it 
 well into the wood, where they were sheltered to 
 some extent from the force of the gale. A stout 
 pole was then cut and lashed between two trees ; 
 the sail was thrown over this and pegged down at 
 both sides. A fire was lit with some difficulty ; 
 then a quantity of ferns and branches of trees were 
 cut: these made a soft and elastic bed, and the 
 whole party slept heavily until the morning. Then 
 they went back to the shore ; it was littered thickly 
 with fragments of wreck, casks, boxes, and other 
 articles : here too were nearly a score of the corpses 
 of their shipmates. The first duty was to dig a 
 long shallow trench in the sand, beyond high-water 
 mark, and in this the bodies of their drowned ctfln- 
 rades were laid. 
 
 The storm was now breaking, glimpses of blue
 
 POR NAME AND FAME. 7 7 
 
 sky were visible overhead, and the wind had greatly 
 abated. The sea upon the reef was, however, as 
 high as ever. Setting to work they hauled a large 
 number of boxes and bales beyond the reach of the 
 waves. One of the casks contained biscuits, and, 
 knocking in the head, they helped themselves to its 
 contents, and sat down to talk over their position. 
 
 I ani not sure," the mate said, " that our poor 
 comrades there" and he nodded toward the grave 
 -have not the best of it. The inhabitants of 
 most of these islands are bloodthirsty pirates, who 
 if they find us will either cut our throats at once or 
 keep us as slaves. Our only hope is that we may 
 not be discovered until we have time to build a 
 boat in which to sail away to Singapore or back to 
 Java. Had we been wrecked further south things 
 would have been more hopeful, for the Papuans are 
 friendly and inoffensive people. These islands here 
 are inhabited by Malays, the most bloodthirsty 
 pirates in the world. However, we must hope that 
 we may not be found before we have finished a 
 boat. My chest is among those which have been 
 washed up, and there are a few tools in it. I 
 always had a fancy for carpentry, and it's hard if 
 in a fortnight we cannot make some sort of craft 
 which will carry us. Indeed, if we content our- 
 selves with a strong framework covered with can- 
 vas we may be ready in four OIL five days."
 
 78 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 The men set cheerfully to work under his direc- 
 tions. In his chest was a hatchet, saw, and chisels. 
 With these, 3 T oung trees of flexible wood were cut 
 down and split ; a keel was laid twenty-five feet in 
 length ; cross-pieces twelve feet long were pegged 
 to this by trenails nails formed of tough and hard 
 wood. The cross-pieces were then bent upward 
 and fastened to the strips which were to form the 
 gunwale. Strengthening pieces were placed along 
 at distances of seven or eight inches apart, and 
 firmly lashed. When the whole was finished after 
 three days' labor the framework of a boat twenty- 
 five feet long, three feet deep, and seven feet in 
 beam stood upon the beach. A barrel of oil had 
 been thrown ashore, and with this the mate in- 
 tended thoroughly to soak the canvas with which 
 the frame was to be covered. The boat would, he 
 calculated, carry the whole of the men with an 
 ample store of food and water for the voyage. 
 
 Upon the morning of the fourth day, as on their 
 way to work the} 7 emerged from the wood upon the 
 open beach, the mate gave a low cry and pointed 
 along the shore. There, between the reef and the 
 island, was a large Malay prahu. The party in- 
 stantly fell back among the trees. The Malays 
 were apparently cruising along the reef to see if the 
 late storm had thrown up the wreckage, which
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 79 
 
 might be useful to them ; and a loud shout pro- 
 claimed their satisfaction as they saw the shore 
 strewn with the remains of the Dutch ship. The 
 prahu was rowed to the shore, and fifty or sixty 
 Malays sprang from the bows on to the sand. 
 
 Scarcely had they done so when a shout from one 
 of them called the attention of the others to the 
 framework of the boat. There was a minute's loud 
 and excited chatter among them. Then they 
 dashed forward to the wood, the deep footsteps in 
 the sand showing plainly enough the direction from 
 which the builders of the boat had come and gone. 
 The latter, as the Malay boat neared the shore, had 
 retired farther into the wood, but from the screen 
 of leaves they were able to see what was going on. 
 As they saw the Malays rush in an excited and 
 yelling throng toward the wood, the little party 
 took to their heels. 
 
 " Scatter," the mate said ; " together, they are 
 sure to overtake us ; singly, we may escape." 
 
 " Let us keep together, Hans," Will said as they 
 dashed along through the wild jungle. Torn by 
 thorns, often thrown down by projecting roots and 
 low creepers, they kept on, their pace at times 
 quickening as shouts and screams told them that 
 some of their comrades had fallen into the hands 
 of the Malays. Presently they came upon the little
 
 80 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 stream which flowed into the sea close to where 
 they had been cast ashore. 
 
 " Let us follow this up," Will said ; " they can 
 track us through the forest, but the water will set 
 them off our scent." 
 
 For a quarter of a mile they followed the course 
 of the stream, stopping breathlessly many times as 
 they heard voices in the wood not far off. Pres- 
 ently Will pointed to a tree rising from a clump of 
 bushes close to the bank. 
 
 " Let us get through those bushes," he said ; " be 
 careful, Hans, not to break a twig as you go ; we 
 can climb that tree ; there are plants with stems 
 like cords winding round it. The top is so thick 
 and bushy that I don't think they can see us there." 
 
 Very carefully they parted the bushes that over- 
 hung the stream, and entered the thicket; then 
 they made their way with great difficulty to the 
 foot of the tree. It was a very large one, with a 
 trunk fully fifteen feet in diameter, rising some 
 forty feet without a branch, then a number of great 
 arms grew out at right angles ; these were covered 
 thickly with parasitic vegetation. Eound the trunk, 
 like a snake embracing its victim, a great climber 
 had wound itself ; its main stem was as thick as a 
 man's arm, and there were dozens of smaller cord- 
 like climbers. Thus the lads had no difficulty in
 
 FOR NAME AND fAMK 81 
 
 climbing to the point where the branches grew out. 
 Above these was a mass of foliage completely 
 covered by the climbers, whose drooping sprays and 
 clusters gave the tree the appearance of a solid 
 mass of verdure. The boys continued to climb 
 until they were nearly at the top of the tree. 
 
 " There !" Will said, wiping away the perspira- 
 tion which streamed from his face, " if they do not 
 track us through the bushes to the very foot of this 
 tree, I defy them to find us." 
 
 For some hours the wood was alive with noises ; 
 the Malays were evidently beating every foot of it, 
 and were determined that none of their victims 
 should escape. Several times parties of men came 
 up the stream searching the banks on both sides ; 
 but, happily, even their sharp eyes did not detect 
 the spot where the boys had entered the bushes, 
 and gradually the noises ceased, and at night a 
 great glare by the seashore told the lads that their 
 enemies had gathered again there, and were con- 
 tinuing by firelight the work of breaking open and 
 examining the treasures which the sea had cast up 
 for them. 
 
 "What do you zay, Will? Zhall we get down 
 and go f urder into wood, or zhall we wait here ?" 
 
 " I think anyhow we had better wait till to-mor- 
 row night," Will answered. " They may search
 
 82 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 again to-morrow, and might come upon our tracks. 
 If they don't find us the} 7 may suppose that they 
 have caught us all, or that we have escaped right 
 into the interior. If they find ho traces of Us they 
 will likely enough set sail before night." 
 
 There was no difficulty in finding a place in 
 which they could sleep, for the cord-like climbers 
 from bough to bough formed natural cradles, in 
 which they lay as securely as if in a hammock on 
 board a ship. In the morning they were woke at 
 daybreak by the cries of the many birds which 
 throng the forests of the Eastern Archipelago. No 
 one approached them during the day, and they 
 doubted not that the Malays were all hard at work 
 on the shore. 
 
 That night there was no reflection of a fire on 
 the beach. In the morning they descended from 
 their perches and made their way carefully, and as 
 noiselessly as possible, through the wood, to a point 
 upon the shore a mile distant from the point where 
 they landed. Going to the edge of the trees they 
 were enabled to take a view along the shore. It 
 was deserted ; the Malay prahu was gone. 
 
 Confident that none of their enemies would have 
 remained behind, they walked boldly along the 
 shore to the spot Avhere the Malays had landed. 
 Every box and barrel had been broken open, and
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 83 
 
 the contents carried away ; planks and beams had 
 been split asunder to obtain the copper bolts and 
 fastenings. The framework of the boat had been 
 destroyed, and every portion of canvas and rope 
 carried away. The lads sat down on the shore. 
 
 " What shall we do next, Hans ?" 
 
 Hans shook his head. 
 
 " Perhaps some of the others may have got away 
 and may join us here to-day or to-morrow. If any 
 are alive they would be certain to come back here 
 when they thought the Malays had left." 
 
 Hans grunted an assent. 
 
 " Anyhow, the first thing to do," Will went on, 
 " is to gather up the pieces of biscuits ; they have 
 wasted lots in breaking open the barrels, and I am 
 famishing." 
 
 Hans rose with alacrity, and they soon were at 
 work collecting pieces of biscuits. 
 
 "Let us gather up all the pieces carefully ; there 
 are a good lot altogether, and we may want them 
 badly, before we have done." 
 
 In half an hour they had collected about thirty 
 pounds of biscuits, and having gone to the stream 
 and taken a drink they made for the spot where 
 their tent had stood. As they expected, they 
 found the canvas was gone. They set to work 
 with their knives, and cutting a number of boughs,
 
 84 FOH NAME AND 
 
 erected a shelter sufficient to shield them from the 
 night air. All day they hoped, but in vain, that 
 some of their comrades would return, and listened 
 eagerly to every sound in the forest, but no call or 
 footstep met their ears. They had no means of 
 lighting a fire, the first having been lit by the mate, 
 who, being a smoker, had had a small tin-box of 
 matches in his pocket. This had fitted closely and 
 kept out the water. 
 
 " "What had we better do if no one comes back ?" 
 Will said as they sat in their little hut. 
 
 "Build anoder boat," Hans answered. 
 
 " But how are we to do that, Hans ? "We might 
 make the framework, but we have no canvas to 
 cover it with ; besides, even if we had, I have no 
 idea of the direction of Singapore, and I doubt if 
 we could find our way back to Java." 
 
 Hans had no further suggestions to offer. 
 
 "I suppose we could live in the forest for some 
 time," Will said. " I read a book called ' Robinson 
 Crusoe,' and a sailor there lived on a desert island 
 for years ; but then he had a gun and all sorts of 
 things. There are plenty of birds, but even if we 
 could make bows and arrows I suppose we should 
 be months before we could shoot straight enough 
 to hit them." 
 
 Several days passed ; the lads found plenty of
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 85 
 
 V 
 
 fruit, but the season was advancing, and Will said 
 one day to Hans : 
 
 " What on earth are we to do when the fruit and 
 biscuits are all finished ?" 
 
 Wandering in the woods they found the bodies 
 of the whole of their companions. All were head- 
 less, the Malays having carried off these coveted 
 trophies. They did not attempt to bury the bodies, 
 for in such a climate decomposition sets in rapidly, 
 and swarms of insects complete the work. In the 
 grass near the hut they found one treasure the 
 mate's ax which had evidently fallen from his belt 
 in his flight, and had been overlooked by the Malays. 
 
 " I tell you what, Hans," Will said one day? 
 " fruit is getting scarcer and scarcer, and there are 
 not more than five or six pounds of biscuits left. 
 I vote that we make through the forest into the 
 interior of the island ; there must be some villages 
 scattered about. If we enter one boldly they may 
 not kill us. I don't know whether they have 
 any respect for the Jaws of hospitality as some 
 savages have ; but even if they did kill us it's better 
 than being starved to death here. It's a chance 
 anyhow. What do you say, Hans?" 
 
 " I don't say noding," Hans answered. " I don't 
 have no obinion at all ; if you dink zat is ze best 
 plan let us do it."
 
 86 , FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 So saying Hans collected the biscuit, tied it up in 
 his handkerchief, and was ready to start at once. 
 
 "There is no hurry, Hans," Will said laughing; 
 " still, if we are to make a start, we may as well go 
 at once." 
 
 Turning their backs upon the sea they struck 
 into the wood. They had never before gone further 
 than a mile from the shore. After an hour's walk- 
 ing they found that the character of the forest was 
 changing : the ground rose rapidly, the thick tan- 
 gled undergrowth disappeared, and they were able 
 to walk briskly forward under the shade of the 
 large trees. The hill became steeper and steeper 
 as they advanced, and Will knew that they were 
 ascending the hill that they had seen from the ship 
 when she was coming toward the shore. Three 
 hours after leaving the coast they were upon its 
 top. The ground was rocky here, and in some 
 places bare of trees. Inland they saw hill rising 
 behind hill, and knew that the island must be a large 
 one. 
 
 "Look, Hans, there is smoke curling up at the 
 foot of that hill over there ; don't you see it? It is 
 very faint, but it is certainly smoke. There must 
 be a house there, and most likely a village. Come 
 on, we shall get there before the sun sets. I 
 don't think it can be more than a mile and a half 
 away."
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 87 
 
 Hans as usual assented, and in about half an hour 
 they arrived at a Malay village. 
 
 The aspect was curious, each hut being built in a 
 tree. At the point where the lower branches start- 
 ed a platform was made ; the tree above this was 
 cut down, and on the platform the hut was erected, 
 access being obtained to it by a ladder. Several ol 
 the inhabitants were walking about ; these, upon 
 seeing the lads, uttered cries of warning, and in- 
 stantly flying to the ladders, which were constructed 
 of light bamboo, climbed to the huts and raised the 
 ladders after them. Then at every door men ap- 
 peared with bent bows and pointed arrows threat- 
 ening the invaders. "Will had cut a green bough, 
 and this he. waved as a token of peace, while Hans 
 threw up his hands to show that he was unarmed. 
 Then they bowed several times almost to the ground, 
 held out their arms with outstretched hands, and 
 finally sat down upon the ground. 
 
 The Malays apparently understood that their 
 visitors came in peace. They held a long conversa- 
 tion among themselves, and at last the ladder of 
 one of the huts, which appeared larger and better 
 finished than the others, was lowered and four 
 men descended. One of these carried a kriss in 
 his hand, his bow was slung behind his back ; the 
 others kept their bows bent in readiness for instant 
 action.
 
 88 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 The chief was a tall and well-built man of about 
 forty years of age. He, like his followers, was 
 dressed only in a loin-cloth ; he had copper bracelet 
 round his wrists. As he approached, the lads rose 
 and bowed deeply ; then Will held out to him the 
 ax, and placing it in his hand motioned to him 
 that it was a present. The chief looked pleased at 
 the gift, placed his hands on Will's shoulder and 
 nodded, and performed the same gesture to Hans ; 
 then he led them toward his hut and motioned to 
 them to sit down at the foot of the tree. 
 
 Curious faces were watching from every hut, and 
 as soon as it was seen that peace was established, 
 the ladders were lowered and a swarm of men, 
 women, and children soon surrounded the \ 7 isitors. 
 At the chiefs order a woman approached them 
 bringing a dish of food. This was composed, the 
 boys found, principally of birds cut up and stewed 
 with some sort of vegetable. The dish was by no 
 means bad, and after living for nearly a fortnight 
 upon biscuit and fruit, they much enjoyed it. 
 
 Presently women brought bundles of dried fern 
 and spread them' at the foot of the tree, and soon 
 after it was dark the boys lay down upon them. 
 It was long, however, before they went to sleep; 
 for the din and chatter in the village continued un 
 til far into the night. The lads guessed that the
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 89 
 
 reason and manner of their coming was warmly 
 debated, and judged by their reception that the 
 prevailing opinions were favorable, and that the 
 visit from the two white men was considered to be 
 a fortunate omen. 
 
 The next day they were again amply supplied 
 with food, and were constantly surrounded by a 
 little group of women and children to whom their 
 white skins appeared a source of constant wonder. 
 Their movements were entirely unchecked, and 
 they were evidently considered in the light of guests 
 rather than prisoners. 
 
 The next night the village retired to rest early. 
 The boys sat talking together for a long time, and 
 then lay down to sleep. Presently Will thought 
 that he heard a noise, and looking up saw in the 
 moonlight a number of savages stealthily approach- 
 ing. They carried w r ith them ladders, and intend- 
 ed, he had no doubt, to surprise the sleeping vil- 
 lagers. They were already close at hand. Will 
 shook Hans, who had already gone off to sleep, and 
 pointed out to him the advancing foes. These were 
 already in the village, and separating, fixed a ladder 
 against each of the huts. So far the boys, who lay 
 in the shadow of the hut, had not been noticed. 
 The Maylays, who belonged to a hostile village, be- 
 gan to climb the ladders, when the lads, grasping
 
 90 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the heavy sticks which they always carried, and 
 springing to their feet with loud shouts, ran to the 
 ladders before the Malays could recover from their 
 astonishment at the approach of the white-faced 
 men rushing upon them. 
 
 Half a dozen of the ladders were upset, the men 
 who had mounted them coming heavily to the 
 ground. Some of these as they rose at once took 
 to their heels ; others, drawing their krisses, rushed 
 at their assailants. But the lads were no longer 
 alone. At the first shout the doors of the huts had 
 opened, and the inhabitants rushed out with their 
 arms, the remaining ladders were instantly over- 
 thrown, and a shower of arrows poured upon their 
 assailants. 
 
 Will and Hans knocked down the foremost of 
 their assailants, and the whole body, foiled in their 
 attempted surprise, discomfited at the appearance 
 of the strange white-faced men, and exposed to the 
 arrows of the defenders, at once darted away, sev- 
 eral of their number having already fallen under 
 the shafts from above. With exultant shouts the 
 warriors of the village poured down their ladders 
 from the huts and took up the pursuit, and soon no 
 one remained in the village save the white lads and 
 the women and children. Toward morning the 
 warriors returned, several of them bringing with
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 91 
 
 them gory heads, showing that their pursuit had not 
 been in vain. 
 
 The village was now the scene of great rejoic- 
 ings ; huge fires were lighted, and a feast held in 
 honor of the victory. The chief solemnly placed 
 the white men one on each side of him, and made 
 them a speech, in which by his bowing and placing 
 his hand on their heads, they judged he was thank- 
 ing them for having preserved their village from 
 massacre. Indeed, it was clear, from the respectful 
 manner of all toward them, that they were regarded 
 in the light of genii who had come specially to pro- 
 tect the village from the assaults of its enemies. 
 
 After the feast was over the chief, after a consul- 
 tation with the rest, pointed to a tree close to that 
 in which his own hut was situated. The whole vil- 
 lage set to work, ladders were fixed against it, and 
 the men ascending hacked away with krisses and 
 stone hatchets at the trunk. Hans, seeing their ob- 
 ject, made signs to the chief to lend him his ax, 
 and ascending to the tree set to work with it, doing 
 in five minutes more work than the whole of the 
 natives employed could have accomplished in an 
 hour. After working for some time he handed the 
 axe to one of the natives, who continued the work. 
 
 The tree was not a large one, the trunk at this 
 point being about eighteen inches in diameter.
 
 92 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Half an hour's work sufficed to cut it through, and 
 the upper part of the tree fell with a crash. In the 
 mean time the women had brought in from the for- 
 est a quantity of bamboos, and with these the men 
 set to work and speedily formed a platform. Upon 
 this a hut was erected, the roof and sides being 
 covered with palm-leaves laid closely together, 
 forming a roof impervious to rain. Two large 
 bundles of fern for beds were then taken up, and 
 the chief ascending solemnly invited the boys to 
 come up and take possession. 
 
 A woman was told off to prepare food for them 
 and attend to their wants, and by nightfall the lads 
 found themselves in a comfortable abode of their 
 own. Pulling up the ladder after the manner of 
 the natives they sat down to chat over their altered 
 prospects. They were now clearly regarded as 
 adopted into the village community, and need have 
 no further fear as to their personal security or 
 means of living. 
 
 " For the time we are safe," Will said ; " but as I 
 don't want to turn Malay and live all my life with 
 no other amusement than keeping my o\vn head on 
 and hunting for those of the enemies of the village, 
 we must think of making our escape somehow, 
 though, at present, I own I don't see how."
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 93 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 THE ATTACK ON THE VILLAGE. 
 
 A DAY or two later a Malay ran at full speed into 
 the village, and said a few words which caused a 
 perfect hubbub of excitement. The men shouted, 
 the women screamed, and, running up the ladders 
 to their tree abodes, began gathering together the 
 various articles of value in their eyes. The chief 
 came up to the boys, and by signs intimated that a 
 large number of hostile natives belonging to several 
 villages were advancing to attack them, and that 
 they must fly into the interior. 
 
 This was very unwelcome news for the lads. 
 Once removed further from the sea the tribe might 
 not improbably take up their abode there, as they 
 would fear to return to the neighborhood of their 
 enemies. This would be fatal to any chance of the 
 lads being taken oif by a passing ship. 
 
 After a few words together they determined to 
 oppose the movement. "Will, in a loud voice and 
 with threatening gestures, intimated that he disap- 
 proved of the plan, and that he and his companion
 
 94 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 would assist them in defending their village. The 
 Malays paused in their preparations. Their faith 
 in their white visitors was very great, and after a 
 few minutes' talk among themselves they intimated 
 to the boys that they would obey their orders. 
 Will at once signed to a few men to stand as guards 
 round the village to warn them of the approaching 
 enemy, and then set the whole of the rest of the 
 population to work cutting sharp-pointed poles, 
 boughs, and thorny bushes. With these a circle 
 was made around the trees upon which the village 
 was built. 
 
 Fortunately the hostile Malays had halted in the 
 forest two or three miles away, intending to make 
 their attack by night ; and as the news of their 
 coming had arrived at noon, the villagers had, 
 before they ceased work late in the evening, erected 
 a formidable hedge round the village. Some of the 
 women had been set to work manufacturing a 
 number of torches, similar to those used by them 
 for lighting their dwellings, but much larger. They 
 were formed of the stringy bark of a tree dipped in 
 the resinous juice obtained from another. Will had 
 one of these fastened to each of the trees nearest to 
 the hedge. They were fixed to the trunks on the 
 outside, so that their flame would throw a light on 
 the whole circle beyond the hedge, while within all 
 would be shadow and darkness.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. % 
 
 It was very late before all preparations were com- 
 pleted. Will then placed a few men as outposts 
 some hundred yards in the forest, in the direction 
 from which the enemy were likely to approach. 
 They were ordered to give the alarm the moment 
 ,they heard a noise, and were then to run in and 
 enter the circle by a small gap, which had been left 
 in the abbatis for the purpose. Many of the men 
 then took their posts, with their bows and arrows, 
 in the trees near the hedge. The others remained 
 on the ground ready to rush to any point assailed. 
 
 For several hours no sound save the calls of the 
 night birds and the occasional distant howls of 
 beasts of prey were heard in the forest ; an * it was 
 not until within an hour of morning the hour gen- 
 erally selected by Malays for an attack, as men 
 sleep at that time the heaviest that a loud yell at 
 one of the outposts told that the enemy were close 
 at hand. 
 
 Two or three minutes later the scouts ran in, and 
 the gap through which they had entered was at 
 once filled up with bushes, which had been piled 
 close at hand for the purpose. Aware that their 
 approach was discovered, the enemy abandoned all 
 further concealment, and advanced with wild yells, 
 intending to strike terror into the defenders of the 
 village. As they advanced the torches were all
 
 NAME AND FAME. 
 
 lighted, and as the assailants came within their 
 circle of light a shower of arrows from the Malays 
 on the ground and in the trees above was poured 
 into them. 
 
 Yells and screams told that the volley had been 
 a successful one ; but, discharging their arrows in 
 turn, the Malays with demoniac yells rushed against 
 the village. The advance, however, was arrested 
 suddenly when they arrived at the abbatis. From 
 behind its shelter so deadly a rain of arrows was 
 poured in that they soon shrank back, and bounded 
 away beyond the circle of light, while taunting 
 shouts rose from its defenders. 
 
 For time they contented themselves by distant 
 shouting, and then with a wild yell charged for- 
 ward again. Several dropped from the fire of 
 arrows from those in the trees and behind the 
 abbatis ; but, discharging their arrows in return, the 
 assailants kept on until they again reached the im- 
 pediment. Here they strove furiously to break 
 through, hacking with their krisses and endeavoring 
 to pull up the stakes with their hands ; but the 
 defenders in the shade behind sent their arrows so 
 fast and thick that the assailants again shrank back 
 and darted away to shelter. 
 
 Throughout the night there was no renewal of 
 the attack, and in the morning not a foe was visible.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 97 
 
 Two or three scouts went out to reconnoiter, but no 
 sooner did they enter the forest than one of them 
 was shot down and the rest sent flying back. 
 
 " I believe the scoundrels are going to try to 
 starve us out," "Will said. "Let us speak to the 
 chief and ask how much provisions they have got." 
 
 After much pantomime Will succeeded in con- 
 veying his meaning to the chief, and the latter at 
 once ordered all the inhabitants to produce their 
 stock of food, This was unexpectedly large, and 
 Will thought that there was sufficient for a fort- 
 night's consumption. He now made signs of drink- 
 ing, but the reply to this was disheartening in the 
 extreme. A few gourds full of water were brought 
 forward, and two or three of the close-woven 
 baskets in which water is often carried in this 
 country : there was, in fact, scarce enough to last 
 the defenders for a day. 
 
 The stream from which the village drew its 
 supply of water was about a couple of hundred 
 yards away ; consequently the villagers fetched up 
 their water as they needed it, and no one thought 
 of keeping a store. Will looked in dismay at the 
 smallness of the supply. 
 
 " If they really intend to starve us out, Hans, we 
 are done for. No doubt they reckon on our water 
 falling short. They would know that it was not 
 likely that there would be a supply here."
 
 98 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 The natives were not slow to recognize the weak 
 point of their defense. One or two of the men, 
 taking water-baskets, were about to go to the 
 stream, but Will made signs to the chief that they 
 must not do this. 
 
 The only hope was that the enemies would draw 
 off ; but if they saw that water was already short, 
 they would be encouraged to continue to beleaguer 
 the place. Will was unable to explain his reasons 
 to the chief, but the latter, seeing how great was the 
 advantage that they had already gained by follow- 
 ing the counsel of their white visitors in the matter 
 of the hedge, acquiesced at once in their wishes. 
 
 Will then ascended to one of the huts, and care- 
 fully reconnoitered the whole ground. There was, 
 he saw, at the end furthest from the stream a slight 
 dip in the land extending into the forest. Beckon- 
 ing the chief to join him, he made signs that at 
 night the warriors should issue silently from the 
 village at this point, and make noiselessly through 
 the wood ; they would then take a wide circuit till 
 they came upon the stream, and would then, work- 
 ing up it, fall upon the enemy in the rear. 
 
 The chief was dubious, but Will made an impera- 
 tive gesture, and the chief in a humble manner 
 agreed to do as he was ordered. The day passed 
 slowly, and before nightfall the supply of water
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 99 
 
 was entirely finished. Once or twice scouts had 
 gone out to see if the enemy were still round the 
 village, but returned each time with the news that 
 they were there. 
 
 The last time, just before nightfall, Will directed 
 two or three of them to take water-buckets, and to 
 go in the direction of the stream ; signing to them, 
 however, to return the moment they saw signs of 
 the enemy. They were soon back ; and, as Will 
 had expected, the sight of the water-buckets showed 
 the enemy that the garrison of the village were 
 badly supplied in that respect, and taunting shouts 
 arose from the woods asking them why they did 
 not go down to drink. 
 
 Will felt certain that the Malays would now draw 
 the greater part of their number down to the side 
 of the stream, and that there would therefore be 
 the more chance of the garrison making their way 
 out at the other end of the village. 
 
 Three hours after it was dark the chief mustered 
 all his men ; they were about forty -five in all. Will 
 signed that each should take with him a water- 
 basket or large gourd, so that, in case they failed in 
 defeating the enemy and breaking up the blockade, 
 they might at least be able to bring a supply of 
 water into the village. Will then, with much dif- 
 ficulty, explained to the chief that the old men,
 
 100 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 boys, and women remaining in the village were, the 
 moment they heard the sound of the attack upon 
 the enemy's rear, to shout and yell their loudest, 
 and to shoot arrows in the direction of the enemy. 
 
 A few sticks had already been pulled up at the 
 point of the hedge through which Will intended to 
 make a sally, and the band now passed noiselessly 
 out. The chief himself led the way, the white boys 
 following behind him. Lying upoa their stomachs 
 they crawled noiselessly along down the little 
 depression, and in ten minutes were well in the 
 wood without having met with an enemy, although 
 they had several times heard voices among the trees 
 near them. They now rose to their feet, and, mak- 
 ing a wide detour, came down, after a quarter of an 
 hour's walk, upon the stream. Here the gourds 
 and baskets were filled ; and then, keeping along by 
 the water side, they continued their march. 
 
 Presently they saw a number of fires, round 
 which many Malays were sitting. They crept 
 noiselessly up until within a few yards, and then 
 .with a yell burst upon the enemy. Numbers were 
 cut down at once, and the rest, appalled by this 
 attack on their rear, and supposing that the inhabit- 
 ants of some other village must have arrived to the 
 assistance of those they were besieging, at once fled 
 m all directions. Those remaining in the village
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 101 
 
 had seconded the attack by wild shouts, so loud and 
 continuous that their besiegers had no reason to 
 suppose that their number had been weakened. 
 
 For a few minutes the pursuit was kept up; then 
 the chief recalled his followers with a shout. The 
 water-baskets, many of which had been thrown 
 down in the attack, were refilled, and the party made 
 their way up to the village, where they were re- 
 ceived with shouts of triumph. 
 
 The panic of the Malays had been in no slight 
 degree caused by the appearance of the two boys, 
 who had purposely stripped to the waist, and had 
 shouted at the top of their voices as, waving the 
 krisses which they had borrowed, they fell upon the 
 foe. 
 
 The idea that white devils were leagued with the 
 enemies against them had excited the superstitious 
 fear of the Malays to the utmost, and when in the 
 morning scouts again sallied from the village, they 
 found that the enemy had entirely gone, the fact 
 that they had not even returned to carry off the 
 effects which had been abandoned in the first panic 
 showing that they had continued their flight, 
 without stopping, to their distant villages. 
 
 The chief, like an able politician, took advantage 
 of tho impression which his white visitors had 
 created, and the same day sent off messengers to
 
 102 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the villages which had combined in the attack 
 against them, saying that the white men, his guests, 
 were very angry ; and that unless peace was made 
 and a solemn promise given that there should be no 
 renewal of the late attempts, they were going to 
 lay a dreadful spell upon the villages. Women and 
 children would be seized by disease and the right 
 arms of the warriors wither up. 
 
 This terrible threat carried consternation into the 
 Malay villages. The women burst into prolonged 
 wailings, and the bravest of the men trembled. The 
 messenger said that the white men had consented to 
 abstain from using their magical powers until the 
 following day, and that the only chance to propitiate 
 them was for deputations from the villages to come 
 in early the next morning with promises of peace 
 and offerings for the offended white men. 
 
 It was not for some time afterward that the lads 
 learned enough of the language to understand what 
 had been done, but they guessed (from the exulta- 
 tion of the chief and the signs which he made that 
 their late enemies would shortly come in, in an atti- 
 tude of humiliation) that he had in some way suc- 
 ceeded in establishing a scare among them. 
 
 On the following morning deputations consisting 
 of six warriors, and women bearing trays with fruit, 
 birds, and other offerings arrived at the village.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 103 
 
 The men were unarmed. At their approach the chief 
 made signs to the boys to take a seat at the foot of 
 the principal tree ; and then, accompanied by his 
 leading warriors, led the deputation with much 
 ceremony before them. The women placed their 
 trays at their feet, and the men addressed them in 
 long speeches and with many signs of submission. 
 The boys played their part well. As soon as they 
 saw what was required of them they signified with 
 an air of much dignity that they accepted the offer- 
 ings, and then went through the ceremony of 
 shaking hands solemnly with each of the warriors. 
 Then they made a speech, in which with much 
 gesticulation they signified to the visitors that a 
 terrible fate would befall them should they again 
 venture to meddle with the village. 
 
 Much awed and impressed the Malays withdrew. 
 The boys made a selection from the baskets of fruit 
 for their own eating, and then signified to the chief 
 that he should divide the rest among the inhabitants 
 of the village. When this was done the boys 
 ascended to their tree and passed the day there 
 quietly, the village in feasting, singing, and re- 
 joicing over their victory. 
 
 "The worst of all this is," Will said to Hans, 
 " that the more they reverence us, and the more use- 
 ful they find us, the more anxious they will be to
 
 104 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 keep us always with them. However, there is one 
 comfort, we are safe as long as we choose to remain 
 here, and that is more than we could have hoped 
 when we first landed from the wreck. It is curious 
 that the Malays, who have no hesitation in attack- 
 ing English ships and murdering their crews, have 
 yet a sort of superstitious dread of us. But I sup- 
 pose it is something the same way as it was in Eng- 
 land in the days of the persecution of old women as 
 witches : they believed that, if left to themselves, 
 they could cast deadly spells, and yet they had no 
 hesitation in putting them to death. I suppose that 
 it is something of the same feeling here."
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 105 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FIGHT WITH THE PKAHUS. 
 
 VEKY frequently, in the days that followed, 
 William Gale and his friend Hans talked over the 
 possibility of effecting an escape, but the difficulties 
 appeared almost invincible. The various, villages 
 which, so far as the boys could understand, were 
 scattered at some distance apart, had little dealings 
 with each other, and indeed were frequently engaged 
 in feuds. The particular people with whom they 
 lived had nothing whatever to do with the sea. 
 They used at least so the boys understood by 
 their signs to fish at one time ; but they had been 
 robbed of their boats and maltreated by some of 
 the cruising tribes who lived in villages on the 
 coast or on creeks and rivers. 
 
 The possibility of escape seemed small indeed. 
 To escape they must get on board a ship, and to do 
 this they must first go out to sea, and this could only 
 be done in a, boat of their own or in one of the 
 piratical prahus. The latter course could not be
 
 106 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 thought of, for the coast pirates were bloodthirsty 
 in the extreme ; and even could they change their 
 residence to one of the sea-side villages, and gain 
 the friendship of the inhabitants, they would be no 
 nearer to their end. For as these go out to attack 
 and not to trade with European ships, there would 
 be no chance of escaping in that way. 
 
 Upon the other hand, they might build a boat of 
 their own ; but they considered it improbable that 
 the Malays would allow them to depart, for they 
 evidently regarded their presence as a prodigy, and 
 revered them as having miraculously arrived at the 
 moment when a great danger threatened the vil- 
 lage ; but, even should they be allowed to build a 
 boat and depart, they knew not whither to go. 
 They knew nothing of navigation, and were ignorant 
 of the geography of the archipelago, and the 
 chances of their striking upon the one or two spots 
 where alone they could land with safety were so 
 small that it would be madness to undertake the 
 voyage. 
 
 For six months they lived quietly in the Malay 
 village. The people instructed them in the use of 
 their blow-guns, in which they are wonderfully 
 skillful, being able to bringdown a bird sitting on a 
 lofty bough of a tree with almost an unerring 
 accuracy. They also taught them to shoot with the
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 107 
 
 bo\v and arrow, and they found that the natives 
 used the roots of various kinds of plants for food. 
 The time did not pass unpleasantly, and had they 
 known that it would last but a few months only, 
 they would have enjoyed it much. 
 
 At last, after much deliberation, they determined 
 that they would, as a step toward escape, construct 
 a little boat under pretense of wanting to fish. Ac- 
 cordingly, one day when out with the chief and two 
 or three of his men in the direction of the sea, they 
 pointed there and signified that they wished to go 
 there, for they had picked up a good many Malay 
 words. The chief shook his head, but they insisted 
 in such an authoritative manner that he gave way 
 and followed them. 
 
 When they reached the shore they made signs 
 that they wanted to construct a boat. Again the 
 chief shook his head vehemently, and enforced his 
 meaning by pointing along shore and going through 
 the action first of rowing, then of fighting, inti- 
 mating that they would certainly be killed, if they 
 ventured out, by the fierce coast tribes. The boys 
 nodded to show that they understood what he wished 
 to say ; but pointing to the water a few yards from 
 shore, went through the action of fishing ; then, bur- 
 dening themselves with imaginary fish, they point- 
 ed to the village and showed that they would supply 
 it with food.
 
 108 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 The Malays talked for some time among them- 
 selves. They had so vast a respect for the white 
 men that they did not like to thwart their wishes. 
 The thought too of a supply of fish, of which they 
 had long been deprived owing to their feuds with 
 some of the coast villages, also operated strongly 
 in favor of their yielding an assent ; and at last the 
 chief made signs that he agreed, and pointing to 
 the village intimated that assistance should be given 
 in building a boat. 
 
 The next day, accordingly, ten or twelve men 
 came down to the shore with them. A tree was 
 felled, the ends were pointed, and the whole formed 
 roughly into the shape of a canoe ; fires were lighted 
 on the top, and by dint of flame and ax a hollow 
 was dug out. The operation lasted three days, the 
 men having brought provisions with them so as to 
 avoid making the journey two and a half hours 
 long to and from the village each day. The boat 
 when finished was but a rough construction, and 
 would have excited the mockery of any of the coast 
 villagers, as they are expert boat-builders ; still, it 
 was amply sufficient for the purpose for which it 
 was intended, namely, for fishing inside the line of 
 reefs. 
 
 It was hea\ T 3 r and paddled slowly, and the lads had 
 a strong suspicion that the Malays had purposely
 
 MR if A ME AKL PA ME. 16& 
 
 made it more clumsy and unsea worthy than need be 
 in order that they should have no temptation to at- 
 tempt a distant journey in it. There was no diffi- 
 culty about lines, the Malays being skilled in mak- 
 ing string and ropes from the fibers of trees. The 
 hooks were more difficult ; but, upon searching very 
 carefully along the shore, the lads found some frag- 
 ments of one of the ship boats, and in these were 
 several copper nails, which, hammered and bent, 
 would serve their purpose well. The lines were 
 ready on the day the canoe was finished, and as soon 
 as she was launched the chief and one of the Malays 
 and the boys took their seats in her. 
 
 The natives paddled her out nearly to the edge of 
 the reef ; four lines, baited with pieces of raw birds 
 flesh, were thrown overboard. A few minutes 
 passed rather anxiously for the lads, who were most 
 desirous that the fishing should be successful so as 
 to afford them an excuse for frequently pursuing it. 
 Then there was a bite, and Hans, who held the 
 line, found that it taxed his strength to haul in the 
 fish which tugged and strained upon it. When it 
 was got into the boat it proved to be some fourteen 
 pounds in weight. By this time two of the other 
 baits had been taken, and in less than an hour they 
 had caught upward of thirty fish, most of them of 
 considerable size.
 
 HO FOR NAME A ND FAME. 
 
 The natives were delighted ; and, paddling to 
 shore, the burden was distributed among the whole 
 party, with the exception of the chief and the two 
 whites. Before starting, a young tree was cut 
 down and chopped into lengths of a few feet each, 
 and on these rollers the canoe was hauled high up 
 the beach. Then the party set out for the village, 
 where their arrival with so large a supply of food 
 occasioned great rejoicing. 
 
 After this th'e boys went down regularly every 
 day to fish. At first three or four of the natives 
 accompanied them, under pretense of carrying back 
 the fish, but really, as they thought, to keep a 
 watch over them. To lessen their hosts' suspicions, 
 sometimes one or other stayed in the village. As 
 time went on the suspicion of the Malays abated. 
 The number of the guard was lessened, and finally, 
 as the men disliked so long a tramp, some of the 
 boys were told off to accompany the white men 
 and assist in bringing back their fish. They were 
 in the habit of starting soon after daybreak, and of 
 not returning till late in the evening, accounting for 
 their long absence by pointing to the sun. 
 
 The fishing was always performed immediately 
 they reached the coast. When they had caught as 
 many as they and the boys could carry, these were 
 placed in a large covered basket, which was sunk
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME . Ill 
 
 in the water close to the shore to keep the fish in 
 good condition until they started. Then they would 
 paddle about within the reef ; or, during the ex- 
 treme heat of the day, lie in the boat, shaded by 
 bunches of palm leaves. 
 
 The Malay boys, who were set on shore after the 
 fishing, were left alone, and amused themselves by 
 bathing, or passed the time asleep under the trees. 
 
 After the first day or two it had struck the boys 
 that it was dangerous to leave the canoe high on 
 the sand, as it would be observed even at a distance 
 by a passing prahu. Consequently, a deep trench 
 had been dug from the sea, far enough up to allow 
 the canoe, when floating in it, to lie below the level 
 of the beach. Before leaving her she was each day 
 roughly covered with seaweed, and might therefore 
 escape observation by any craft passing at a short 
 distance from the shore. 
 
 In their expeditions along the reef the boys dis- 
 covered a passage through it. It was of about 
 double the width of a ship, and of amply sufficient 
 depth to allow a vessel of any size to cross. At all 
 other points, for a distance of a mile or two either 
 way, which was the extent of their excursions, the 
 reef came very near to the surface, its jagged points 
 for the most part showing above it. 
 
 Several months passed, and still no sail which
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 promised a hope of deliverance had shown over the 
 surface of the sea. Scarce a clay passed without 
 their seeing the Malay prahus passing up and down 
 the coast, but these always kept some distan.ce out, 
 and caused no uneasiness to the fishermen. They 
 had during this time completed the hollowing out 
 of the boat, until her sides were extremely thin, 
 and she was so light that she could be paddled at a 
 high rate of speed. 
 
 They were both now expert with the paddle, and 
 felt that if in a light wind a vessel should be seen 
 off the coast, they would be enabled to row out and 
 reach her. It might be, they knew, months or even 
 years before such a ship would be seen. Still, as 
 there were many vessels trading among the islands, 
 at any moment an occurrence might arise. 
 
 One afternoon they had been dozing under their 
 leafy shade, when Will, who first awoke, sat up and 
 uttered a cry. Almost abreast of them, and but a 
 quarter of a mile outside the reef, was a large brig. 
 The wind was light, and with every stitch of canvas 
 set she was making but slow progress through the 
 water. 
 
 Hans leaped up, echoed the cry, and, seizing their 
 paddles, they rowed with all their strength away 
 to the opening through the reef, passed through, 
 and headed for the ship. They now saw what they
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 113 
 
 had not at first observed. At a distance of some 
 three miles astern were five large prahus with their 
 sails set, and the banks of oars rising and falling 
 rapidly. The brig was chased by the pirates. The 
 boys rested on their paddles for a moment. 
 
 " They are more than a match for her, I am 
 afraid," Will said. " What do you say, Hans, shall 
 we go on or not ?" 
 
 Hans made no reply. He was never quick at 
 coming to a decision. 
 
 " We had better go," Will went on. " We can 
 see whether they mean to fight or not." 
 
 The boys were naked to the waist, for the thorns 
 of the forest had long since torn in pieces the shirts 
 which they had on when they landed from the 
 wreck, and their skins were bronzed to a deep 
 copper color. Still they differed in hue from the 
 natives of the island, and the men on board the brig 
 regarded them with some surprise as they ap- 
 proached it. 
 
 " Throw us a rope 1" Will shouted as they neared 
 her. 
 
 There was a cry of surprise from the crew at 
 being addressed in English, but a rope was thrown 
 and the boys sprang on board. They saw at once 
 the ship was an English one. 
 
 "Halloo! where do you spring from ?" asked the 
 captain.
 
 114 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 
 
 "We were shipwrecked here ten months ago," 
 Will said, " and have been living with the natives." 
 
 " At any other time I should have been glad to 
 see you," the captain said ; " but just at present, if 
 you will take my advice, you will get into your 
 canoe and row on shore again. As you see," and 
 he pointed to the prahus, " we are chased ; and al- 
 though I mean to fight to the last, for there is no 
 mercy to be expected from these bloodthirsty 
 scoundrels, I fear the chances are small." 
 
 Will looked round and saw that the six cannon 
 which the brig carried for vessels trading in the 
 Eastern Archipelago are always armed had al- 
 ready been loosened ready for action, and that a 
 group of men were at work mounting a long gun 
 which had just been raised from the hold. Know- 
 ing the number of men that the prahus carried, Will 
 felt that the chance of a successful resistance was 
 slight. 
 
 There were about eighteen men on deck, a num- 
 ber larger than the brig would carry in other 
 seas, but necessary in so dangerous a trading ground 
 as this. The prahus, however, would each carry 
 from eighty to one hundred men, and these attack- 
 ing at once from opposite sides would be likely to 
 bear down all opposition. Suddenly an idea oc- 
 curred to him.
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 115 
 
 " Look, sir, there is a passage through the reef 
 there, with plenty of water and width enough for 
 your ship. I can take her through. There is no 
 other passage for some distance. If you take her 
 inside and lay her across the channel the prahus 
 can only attack on one side, and you can place all 
 your guns and strength there." 
 
 The captain at once saw the advantage of this 
 scheme. 
 
 " Capital !" he exclaimed. " Take the helm at 
 once, my lad. Ease off the sheets, men." 
 
 They were now nearly opposite the entrance, and 
 the light wind was blowing toward the shore. The 
 captain ordered all hands to reduce sail, only keep- 
 ing on enough to give the vessel steerage-way. 
 Two boats were lowered and an anchor and cable 
 passed into each, and as the brig passed through the 
 opening the rest of the sail was lowered. 
 
 The boats rowed to the reef, one on either side, 
 The anchors were firmly fixed into the rock, and 
 one being taken from the head and the other from 
 the stern, the crews set to work at the capstan and 
 speedily had the vessel safely moored, broadside on, 
 across the entrance to the reef. 
 
 The Malay boats were now about a mile astern. 
 They had ceased rowing when they saw the vessel 
 headed for the land, supposing that the captain was
 
 116 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 about to run on shore. When, to their astonish- 
 ment, they saw her pass the reef with safety, they 
 again set to at their work. The guns were now all 
 brought over to the side facing the entrance and 
 were loaded to the muzzle with bullets. A number 
 of shots belonging to the long gun were placed by 
 the bulwarks in readiness to hurl down into the 
 p rah us should they get alongside. 
 
 The sailors, though determined to fight till the 
 last, had, when the boys came on board, been mak- 
 ing their preparations with the silence of despair. 
 They were now in high spirits, for they felt that 
 they could beat off any attempt of the enem} r to at- 
 tack them. When the Malays were abreast of the 
 ship the} 7 ceased rowing and drew close together, 
 and evidently held a consultation. 
 
 The brig at once opened fire with her long gun, 
 and the first shot hulled one of the prahus close to 
 the water's edge. 
 
 "That's right, Tom," the captain said, "stick to 
 the same craft : if you can sink her there is one the 
 less." 
 
 Several more shots were fired, with such effect 
 that the Malays were observed jumping overboard 
 in great numbers and swimming toward the other 
 boats, their own being in a sinking condition. The 
 other four prahus at once turned their heads
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 117 
 
 toward shore, and rowed with full speed toward the 
 ship. 
 
 They knew that the entrance, of whose existence 
 they had been previously unaware, was an exceed- 
 ingly narrow one; and, as they neared the shore, 
 could see by the line of breaking surf that it could 
 at most be wide enough for one to pass at a time. 
 Accordingly, one drew ahead, and discharging the 
 cannon which it carried in its bow, rowed at full 
 speed for the entrance, another following so close 
 behind that its bow almost touched the stern. 
 
 " Train the guns to bear on the center of the 
 channel," the captain said; "let the three bow 
 guns take the first boat, the other three the 
 second. Do you, Tom, work away at the two 
 behind." 
 
 The prahus came along at a great rate, the sweeps 
 churning up the water into foam. The leading 
 boat dashed through the channel, the sweeps grat- 
 ing on the rocks on either side ; her bow was but 
 two yards distant from the side of the ship when the 
 captain gave the word. The three cannon poured 
 their contents into her, sweeping her crowded decks 
 and tearing out her bottom. Great as was her 
 speed, she sank below the water just as her bow 
 touched the side of the ship. Ten seconds later the 
 command was again given, and a broadside as de-
 
 118 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 structive was poured into the second boat. The 
 damage done was somewhat less, and her bow 
 reached the side of the ship. 
 
 A dozen Malays sprang on board as their boat 
 sank under their feet ; but the sailors were ready, 
 and with musket, pistol, and cutlass fell upon them, 
 and either cut down or drove them overboard. The 
 sea around was covered with swimmers, but the 
 ship was too high ou,t of the water for them to 
 attempt to board her, and the Malays at once 
 struck out for the shore, the sailors keeping up the 
 musketry fire upon them until out of range. The 
 other two boats had not followed: the mate had 
 plumped a shot from the long gun full into the bow 
 of the first ; and, seeing the destruction which had 
 fallen upon their leaders, both turned their heads 
 and made for sea, the mate continuing his lire until 
 they were out of range, one shot carrying away the 
 greater part of the oars on one side of the boat pre- 
 viously struck. 
 
 When at a distance of upward of a mile they 
 ceased rowing and for some time lay close together. 
 The men of the injured boat were observed to be 
 stopping the yawning hole in her bows a few inches 
 above the water level ; the other started off at full 
 speed up the coast. It was now evening, and there 
 was scarcely a breath of wind. The men crowded
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 119 
 
 round the lads and thanked them warmly for having 
 been the means of saving them from destruction. 
 
 " I am afraid you are not out of danger yet," 
 Will said as the captain shook him by the hand. 
 " No doubt that boat has gone off with the news, 
 and before morning you will have half a dozen fresh 
 enemies coming down inside the reef to attack 
 you." 
 
 "If we had but a breath of, wind we might do," 
 the captain said. 
 
 " I fear you will have none before morning ; then 
 it generally blows fresh for two or three hours. I 
 don't know how far it is to the village which is the 
 pirates' headquarters, As far as I could make out 
 from the Malays with whom we have been living it 
 is about six hours' walking, but the boats will row 
 twice as fast as a man would walk through the 
 forest. In that case you may be attacked at two 
 or three o'clock in the morning, and you won't get 
 the breeze till after sunrise." 
 
 " Are there any other channels through the reef ?" 
 the captain asked. 
 
 " I do not know," Will replied. "We have never 
 explored it very far either way ; but as I should 
 think from the action of the Malays that they did 
 not know of this, they might not know of any other 
 did it exist."
 
 120 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 " Then," the captain said, " I will warp the brig 
 out through the channel again, and anchor her, 
 stem and stern, across it outside. They will find it 
 as hard to attack us there as they did before. Then,, 
 when the breeze comes, we will slip our cable and 
 run for it. She is a fast sailer, and can, I think, get 
 away from the pirates even with their sails and 
 oars ; besides, by shifting the long gun and two of 
 the others to her stern we can give it them so hot 
 that even if they are the fastest we may sicken 
 them." 
 
 " I do not know, sir," Will said. " They would 
 be likely to hang about you until the breeze drops, 
 and then to attack you on all sides at once. If we 
 could but keep them from coming through the 
 channel in pursuit we should be safe." 
 
 " Ah ! but how on earth are we to do that ?" the 
 captain asked. 
 
 William Gale was silent for a minute or two. 
 
 " Have you plenty of powder on board the ship, 
 sir F 
 
 " Plenty we use it for barter." 
 
 "It seems to me" Will went on "that if, be- 
 fore sailing, you could sink a couple of barrels of 
 powder in the channel, with a fuse to explode them 
 a few minutes after we had left, the Malays would 
 be so astonished at the explosion that they would 
 not venture to pass through."
 
 FOR NA WE AND FAME. ] 21 
 
 "Your idea is a capital one," the captain said 
 warmly ; " but how about a fuse which would burn 
 underwater? What do you think, Tom ; could it 
 be managed ?" 
 
 "I should think so, sir," the ma|;e answered. 
 " Suppose we take one of those empty thirty -gallon 
 beer casks, and fill that up with powder- it will 
 hold ten or twelve of the little barrels ; and then we 
 might bung it up and make a hole in its head. 
 Over the hole we might fix a wine-bottle with the 
 bottom knocked out, and so fastened with tow and 
 oakum that the water won't get in. Then we might 
 shove down, through the mouth of the bottle and 
 through the hole below it into the powder, a long 
 strip of paper dipped in saltpeter to make touch- 
 paper of it. I don't know as a regular fuse would 
 do, as it might go out for want of air ; but there 
 would be plenty to keep touch-paper alight. "We 
 could sling three or four eighteen-pounder shots 
 under the bottom of the cask to make it sink 
 upright. Just before we slip our cables, we might 
 lower it down with the boats, lighting the fuse the 
 last thing, and sticking in the cork. If we don't 
 put too much saltpeter it might burn for some 
 minutes before it reached the powder." 
 
 " It's worth trying, at any rate," the captain said, 
 " but I fear it would not burn long enough. I think
 
 122 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 
 
 that, instead of a bottle, we might jam a piece of 
 iron tube, six or eight feet long, into the head of 
 the cask, and cut a bung to fit it. In that way we 
 could get a good length of fuse." 
 
 This plan was carried out. A large cask was 
 filled with powder, and an iron tube three inches in 
 diameter and six feet long fitted into it, and made 
 water-tight. A long strip of paper, after being 
 dipped in water in which gunpowder had been 
 dissolved, was then dried, rolled. tight, and lowered 
 down the tube until it touched the powder. A 
 bung was cut to fit the top of the tube, a piece of 
 wash-leather being placed over it to insure its being 
 perfectly water-tight ; the top of the fuse was then 
 cut level with the pipe. Several bits of iron were 
 lashed to the lower end of the cask to make it sink 
 upright, and the cask was steadily lowered into a 
 boat lying alongside the ship, in readiness for use. 
 
 The sailors entered into the preparations with the 
 glee of schoolboys, but the machine was not ready 
 until long after the ship had been towed out again 
 through the channel, and moored broadside to it 
 just outside.
 
 'FOR NAME AND FAME. 123 
 
 CHAPTER VIH. 
 
 THE TORPEDO. 
 
 IT was about two o'clock in the morning when 
 the watch awoke the crew with the news that they 
 could hear the distant sound of oars coming along 
 the shore. All took their places in silence. After 
 a time the rowing ceased and all was quiet again. 
 Half an hour passed and then there was a slight 
 sound close alongside, and in the channel they could 
 dimly make out a small boat which was rapidly 
 rowed away into the darkness again ; several mus- 
 ket-shots being fired after it. 
 
 " They have sent on ahead to find if we were 
 lying in the same berth," the captain said. " I ex- 
 pect they will be puzzled when they hear that we 
 are outside and that the entrance is guarded. I 
 should not be surprised if they did not attack be- 
 fore morning. They had such a lesson yesterday 
 that I don't think they will try to force the channel 
 in our teeth again ; but will play the waiting game, 
 sure that they will secure us sooner or later." 
 
 So it turned out. The hours passed slowly on,
 
 124 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 but no sound was heard. Then in the dim morning 
 light a pirate fleet of eight prahus was seen lying at 
 a distance of half a mile within the reef. As the 
 day broke, the breeze sprang up, the sails were 
 hoisted, and the captain prepared to slip his cables. 
 A similar preparation could, through the glasses, be 
 observed on board the Malay fleet. 
 
 " That will do very well," the captain said. 
 " Those fellows will be along in about eight or ten 
 minutes after we have started, and the fuse, accord- 
 ing to the experiments we made as to its rate of 
 burning, will last about seven. Now, quick, lads, 
 into the boat. Torn, you take charge of the sink- 
 ing." 
 
 In another minute the boat was rowed to the 
 channel and the cask lowered over the side. It was 
 held there for a minute while the mate struck a 
 light and applied it to the touch-paper. Then he 
 pressed the bung firmly into the top of the tube, 
 the lashings of the cask were cut, and the boat 
 rowed back to the ship. The anchors were already 
 on board, and the brig was getting way on her as 
 the boat rowed alongside. The men jumped CTI 
 board and the boat was suffered to tow behind, 
 while all hands set the whole of the sails. The 
 vessel was soon running briskly before the land- 
 breeze.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 125 
 
 The pirate fleet was instantly in motion. Every 
 eye in the ship was directed toward them. 
 
 " They will be there in less than ten minutes from 
 the moment I lowered the cask," the mate said, 
 looking at his watch. 
 
 " Not much," the captain said ; " they are rowing 
 fast now, but the trees keep off the wind and their 
 sails do not help them. They were a minute or two 
 behind us in starting." 
 
 It was just eight minutes from the time when the 
 cask had been lowered, that the first of the Malay 
 boats rowed out through the channel. 
 
 " I hope nothing has gone wrong," the mate 
 growled. 
 
 "I am not afraid of that, though we may be 
 wrong a minute or two as to the length of the 
 fuse." 
 
 Another boat followed the first ; the third was in 
 mid-channel, when suddenly she seemed to rise bodily 
 in the air, and then to fall into pieces. A mighty 
 column of water, a hundred feet high, rose into the 
 air, mingled with fragments of wood and human 
 bodies. A deep, low report was heard, and the 
 brig shook as if she had come into collision with 
 some floating body. 
 
 Although they were nearly a mile away, the yell 
 of astonishment and fright of the Malays reached
 
 126 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the ship. The prahus still inside the reef were seen 
 to turn round and row away along the coast at the 
 top of their speed ; while those which had passed 
 the channel, after rowing wildly for some distance, 
 lay on their oars, the crews apparently stupefied at 
 what had taken place. The craft which had been 
 injured the day before still lay seaward on watch, 
 but now turned her head and rowed toward the 
 shore to join her consorts. 
 
 The Sea Belle left the coast. The Malays 
 attempted no pursuit, but, so long as they could be 
 seen, remained inactive near the scene of the sudden 
 and, to them, inexplicable catastrophe which had be- 
 fallen their consort. Once fairly freed from all fear 
 of pursuit, the captain invited the two lads into his 
 cabin, and there heard from them an account of all 
 the adventures through which they had passed. 
 "When they had finished he questioned them as to 
 their plans. Hans said that he intended to take the 
 first ship bound for Holland. 
 
 " And you 2" he asked Will. 
 
 " I have no particular plan," Will said. " I am 
 in no hurry to return to England, having no rela- 
 tives there. After being so long absent for it is 
 now a year since I sailed from Yarmouth I should 
 not care to 'return and take up my apprenticeship 
 as a fisherman."
 
 FOR NAMfi AND FAtiE. 
 
 " Will you ship regularly on board the Sea 
 Belle ?" the captain asked. 
 
 "Thank you, sir, I think I would rather not 
 decide upon anything until we get to Calcutta. I 
 have 30 in money, 15 of which were given me on 
 board the Dutch ship, and the rest I received as 
 wages for the voyage from England to Java. I 
 carried the money in a belt round my waist, and 
 have kept it ever since. So I need not be in any 
 great hurry to settle upon what I shall do; but 
 certainly, after a regular sea life, I should not like 
 to go back to being a fisherman. I am now past 
 sixteen, and in another three years shall be able to 
 earn more wages." 
 
 " I should have taken you for at least two years 
 older," the captain said ; " you are as big and strong 
 as many lads of eighteen." 
 
 " I have done a good lot of hard work in the last 
 two years," Will said ; " for on board the Dutch 
 ship, although, of course, I was only rated as a boy, 
 I used to do man's work aloft." 
 
 Other people would have been deceived as well as 
 the captain. Hard work and exposure to the air 
 had done much to age the boy. He had been tall 
 and slight for his age when he left the workhouse, 
 and while he had not ceased growing in height, he 
 had widened out considerably ; and had he asserted
 
 128 FOH NAME AND FAME. 
 
 himself to be eighteen years of age, few would have 
 questioned the statement. 
 
 The Sea Belle for some time kept south, touching 
 at some of the islands where a trade was done with 
 the Papuans; then her head was turned north, and 
 after an eventful voyage she reached Calcutta, 
 where the captain had been ordered to fill up with 
 cotton or grain for England. 
 
 The captain at once landed and proceeded to the 
 office of the agent of the firm who owned the Sea 
 Belle. He was shown into that gentleman's private 
 room, where at the time two gentlemen were seated 
 chatting. The agent was personally acquainted 
 with the captain, and asked him to sit down and 
 smoke a cigar. 
 
 " This is Captain Mayhew, of the Sea Belle," he 
 said to his friends. " He has been trading for the last 
 three months down among the islands. These 
 gentlemen, Captain Mayhew, are Major Harrison 
 and Captain Edwards, who have just arrived from 
 China with their regiment in the Euphrates. Has 
 your voyage been a pleasant one, captain ?" 
 
 " Pleasant enough, sir, on the whole ; but we 
 were attacked by the Malay pirates, and I should 
 certainly not be here to tell the tale at present had 
 it not been for the quickness and shrewdness of a 
 lad who had been shipwrecked on the coast."
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 129 
 
 " How is that, May hew ? Tell us all about it." 
 
 Captain Mayhew related the whole story of the 
 fight with the pirates, saying that, unquestionably, 
 had it not been for Will's pointing out the passage 
 through the reef in the first place, and his idea of 
 burying a submarine mine in the second, the Sea 
 Belle would have fallen into the hands of the 
 pirates. 
 
 " But where did the boy spring from ? how on 
 earth came he to be there ?" 
 
 Captain May hew then related the story of 
 "William Gale's adventures as he had them from his 
 own lips. 
 
 "He must be a cool and plucky young fellow, in- 
 deed," Major Harrison exclaimed. " I should like 
 to see him. "What style and type is he, captain ? a 
 rough sort of chap ?" 
 
 " By no means," the captain answered. " He is 
 surprisingly well-mannered. Had I met him else- 
 where, and in gentleman's clothes, I do not think 
 that I should have suspected that he was not what 
 he appeared. His features, too, somehow or other, 
 strike one as being those of a gentleman, which is 
 all the more singular when, as a fact, he told me he 
 had been brought up in a workhouse." 
 
 " In a workhouse !" Major Harrison repeated. 
 "Then I suppose his parents were farm laborers."
 
 130 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 " No," the captain answered ; " he was left at 
 the door on a stormy night by a tramp who was 
 found drowned next morning in a ditch near. He 
 had, when found, a gold trinket of some kind round 
 his neck ; and he tells me that, from that and other 
 circumstances, it was generally supposed by the 
 workhouse authorities that he did not belong to 
 the tramp, but that he had been stolen by her, 
 and that he belonged at least to a respectable 
 family." 
 
 " All this is very interesting," Captain Edwards 
 said. " I should like much to see the boy. Will 
 you come and dine with us this evening on board 
 the Euphrates Mr. Eeynolds here is coming and 
 have the boy sent OD board, say at nine o'clock, 
 when we can have him in and have a chat with 
 him ?" 
 
 Captain Mayhew readily agreed. William was 
 even then waiting outside for him, having landed 
 with him ; and the captain, when he entered the 
 office, had told him to walk about for an hour and 
 amuse himself with the sights of Calcutta and then 
 return and wait for him. He said nothing about 
 his being close at hand, as he did not wish the offi- 
 cers to see him in the rough outfit which had been 
 furnished him on board ship, intending to surprise 
 them by his appearance in decent clothes. Accord-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 131 
 
 ingly, on leaving Mr. Keynolds' office, he took him 
 to one of the numerous shops in the town where 
 clothes of any kind can be procured. 
 
 " ISTow, Will," he said, " I want you to get a suit 
 of shore-going clothes. You can get your sea outfit 
 to-morrow at your leisure ; but I want you to show 
 up well at the mess this evening, and a suit of good 
 clothes will always be useful to you." 
 
 Captain Mayhew had intended to pay for the 
 outfit himself, but this Will would not hear of, and 
 Captain Mayhew was the less reluctant to let the 
 lad have his own way, as he had in the course of 
 the interview with the agent agreed that the lad's 
 services deserved a handsome recognition from the 
 firm, and that the sum of 100 guineas should 
 be given to him at once. The agent felt no doubt 
 that the firm would thoroughly approve of the pay- 
 ment. Twenty pounds were to be given to Hans 
 for his share of the services ; but the two sugges- 
 tions which had saved the Sea Belle had both orig- 
 inated with Will. 
 
 By Captain Mayhew's advice Will purchased a 
 suit of dark-colored tweed, a black tie, and some 
 white shirts and collars. At other shops he bought 
 some boots and a Panama straw hat. Having com- 
 pleted their purchases they walked for some hours 
 about Calcutta, Will being delighted with the va-
 
 132 ffos NAME AND FAME. 
 
 riety of the native costumes and the newness and 
 singularity of everything which met his eye. 
 
 On their return to the ghaut, as the landing-stage 
 is called, they found their various purchases alreadj^ 
 stowed in the Sea Belle's boat, which had about an 
 hour before come to shore to fetch them off. At 
 seven o'clock Captain Mayhew went off to the Eu- 
 phrates, leaving orders that the boat was to bring 
 Will over at nine. At that hour the lad was dressed 
 in his new clothes, which fortunately fitted him 
 well. 
 
 " By jingo, "Will," the first mate said as he entered 
 the cabin, " you look a tip-topper, and no mistake." 
 
 The mate was right ; the lad with his sunburnt 
 face, quiet manner, and easy carriage, looked 
 thoroughly at home in his attire. 
 
 " I don't know who your parents were, but 1 
 would bet a month's pay that the old tramp you 
 were telling us of had nothing to do with it ; for 
 you look every inch a gentleman from head to 
 foot." 
 
 "Will found, on gaining the deck of the Euphrates, 
 that orders had been left by the officer in command 
 that he was to be shown into the saloon cabin upon 
 his giving his name to the sergeant, who came up 
 at the sentry's call. He was at once conducted be- 
 low. For a moment he felt almost bewildered as
 
 FOR NA ME AND FA ME. 133 
 
 he entered ; the size of the cabin, the handsomeness 
 of its fittings, the well-laid table decked with fra- 
 grant flowers, so far surpassed anything he had ever 
 seen or thought of. He was conducted to the head 
 of the table, where Major Harrison, with Mr. Key- 
 nolds on one hand and Captain May hew on the 
 other, sat, near the colonel commanding the regi- 
 ment. 
 
 Captain Mayhew, who had already told the out- 
 line of the story, smiled quietly to himself at the 
 expression of surprise which crossed the faces of the 
 major and Mr. Keynolds, as well as of the other 
 officers sitting near, at the appearance of the lad 
 he introduced to them. The colonel ordered a 
 chair to be placed next to himself, and told the 
 servant to fill a glass of wine for Will, and entered 
 into conversation with him. 
 
 " I think, gentlemen," he said after a minute or 
 two, seeing that the lad did not touch the wine that 
 was poured out for him, " it will be pleasanter on 
 deck ; for it is terribly hot here, and I see that most 
 of you have finished your wine." An adjournment 
 was at once made to the deck. Here cigars were 
 lighted, and the colonel and senior officers taking 
 their places in some of the easy-chairs which were 
 still about, the rest gathered round to hear the 
 story, which Major Harrison had promised them 
 would be an interesting one.
 
 134 FOR NAME AND FAME 
 
 Captain Mayhew first gave his account of the fight 
 between the Sea Belle and the pirates, beginning at 
 the point when, as he was hotly chased and despair- 
 ing of making a successful defense, the canoe with 
 the two lads in it came out to him. Then Will was 
 called upon to explain how he came to be there at 
 that moment. He told briefly how the fishing- 
 smack was sunk, how he had saved himself by cling- 
 ing to the bob-stay of the Dutch Indiaman, and how 
 he had sailed in this vessel to Java, and was on his 
 way in her to China, when wrecked in the cyclone. 
 Here his audience insisted upon his giving them full 
 details ; and he accordingly told them the manner 
 in which he and a few of the crew had escaped ; 
 how, when they were building a boat, they had 
 been attacked by Malays, and all except another 
 lad and himself, who were hiding in a tree were 
 massacred by the pirates ; how they had gone in- 
 land to a village, where, having aided the natives 
 when attacked by a hostile tribe, they had been 
 most kindly received ; how they had finally obtained 
 a canoe and spent their time in fishing in hopes of 
 seeing a passing sail, until the Sea Belle, chased by 
 the Malay pirates, had appeared off the shore. 
 
 There was a genuine murmur of approval from 
 those thickly clustered round as the lad finished his 
 story, and the colonel warmly expressed his ap-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME . 135 
 
 proval of his conduct under such exciting circum- 
 stances. 
 
 " What are you going to do now ?" he asked. 
 
 "I have not made up my mind, sir," the lad said. 
 " I expect that I shall ship in some vessel sailing for 
 England shortly." 
 
 " Major Harrison," the colonel said, " will you 
 and Captain Mayhew come with me to my cabin ? 
 I should like to have a few minutes' private chat 
 with you," he went on, putting his hand on Will's 
 shoulder. A minute or two later the three gentle- 
 men and Will were seated in the private cabin. 
 
 " Look here, my boy," the colonel said ; " I have 
 heard from. Major Harrison what you had told 
 Captain Mayhew concerning your birth ; and cer- 
 tainly your appearance and manner go far to sus- 
 tain the, belief that the tramp who left you was not 
 your mother, and that your parents were of gentle 
 birth. I do not say that a man's birth makes much 
 difference to him ; still, it does go for something, 
 and in nine cases out of ten the difference both, in 
 face and figure is unmistakable. Unless I am very 
 wrong your father was a gentleman. However, 
 that is not to the point : it is your quickness and 
 activity, your coolness in danger, and the adven- 
 tures which you have gone through which interest 
 us in you. ]STow I think it is a pity that a lad who
 
 136 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 has shown that there is so much in him should re- 
 main a sailor before the mast. You have not been 
 so long at sea as to become wedded to it, and to be 
 unable to turn your hands to anything else. Now, 
 what do you say to enlisting ? In the ranks are 
 men of all sorts gentlemen, honest men, and black- 
 guards. The steady respectable man is sure to 
 rise. You can, the captain tells me, read and write 
 well. There is a chance of active service at present, 
 and when there is active service a man who dis- 
 tinguishes himself gets rapid promotion. The regi- 
 ment land to-morrow and go straight through by 
 train to the North. There is trouble in Afghanis 
 tan, and an ultimatum has just been sent to the 
 ameer that if he does not comply with our terms it 
 will be war, and we hope to be there in time for 
 the beginning of it. I can only say, that if you 
 like to join, Major Harrison and myself will keep 
 our eyes upon you, and if you deserve it you may 
 be sure of rapid promotion. You have greatly in. 
 terested me in your story, and I should be very 
 glad to give a helping hand to so deserving a young 
 fellow. It is not usual, certainly, for a regiment to 
 take recruits in India, but I don't suppose that 
 there can be any objection to it." 
 
 " Thank you very much," Will said when the 
 colonel ceased. " I am greatly obliged to you for
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 137 
 
 your kindness. I have never thought about the 
 army, but I am sure that I cannot possibly do bet- 
 ter than accept your kind offer. The only thing, 
 sir, is about my age." 
 
 " Tut, tut !" the colonel interrupted, " I don't want 
 to know anything about your age. When you go 
 up for attestment you will say that you are under 
 nineteen, which will be strictly true. I will give a 
 hint, and no further questions will be asked. 
 Neither I nor any one else know that you are not 
 past eighteen, and in time of war no one is par- 
 ticular as to the age of recruits as long as they are 
 fit to do their duty. You must work hard to pick 
 up enough knowledge of drill to enable you to take 
 your place in the ranks. There is neither parade 
 work nor difficult maneuvering in the face of an 
 enemy, and you can finish up afterward. Are you 
 quite agreed ?" 
 
 " Quite, sir," Will said joyously, " and am indeed 
 obliged to you." 
 
 " Come on board then to-morrow at eight o'clock, 
 and ask for Sergeant Ringwood." 
 
 William Gale left the cabin with a new prospect 
 of life before him. He had of late rather shrunk 
 from the thoijght of again taking his place as a 
 ship-boy ; and the prospect of adventures, to say 
 nothing of the advancement which might befall
 
 138 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 him through the interest taken in him by the 
 colonel, was delightful to him. 
 
 The last words the colonel had said when he left 
 the cabin were : " Say nothing about the work- 
 house, and as little as possible of anything which 
 happened before you were wrecked on the island, 
 in the barrack-room." 
 
 When William and Captain May hew had left the 
 cabin Colonel Shepherd sent for Sergeant King- 
 wood. 
 
 " Sergeant," he said, " a young fellow will come 
 on board to-morrow at eight o'clock to join the 
 regiment as a recruit. Take him at once to the sur- 
 geon and get him passed. I know we shall be able 
 to give him but little drill before we get to the fron- 
 tier ; but do all you can for him and I will make 
 it up to you. He is a smart young fellew, and I 
 have a good deal of interest in him. He was on his 
 way to China and was wrecked among the Malays, 
 and has gone through a good deal. Finding him- 
 self here with nothing to do, and with a prospect 
 of active service on the frontier, he has decided to 
 enlist ; and, as he is a gallant young fellow, I do 
 not wish to balk his fancy." 
 
 The sergeant saluted and took his leave, im- 
 pressed with the idea although the colonel had not 
 said so that the new recruit was a young gentle-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 139 
 
 man who bad joined the service simply for the 
 sake of taking part in the war. 
 
 The next morning Will took leave of his friend 
 Hans, who had the previous day shipped on board 
 a Dutch ship homeward bound, and who was a few 
 hours later to shift his berth to her, after he had 
 been on shore to fit himself out in clothes. Hans 
 was much affected at saying good-by to his com 
 panion, and the two promised to correspond with 
 each other. On bidding farewell to his friend the 
 captain of the Sea Belle, the latter informed Will 
 that Mr. Reynolds had, on behalf of the owners of 
 the Sea Belle, paid 100 to his account into the 
 Bank of Hindustan, and that this or any portion of 
 it would be paid to his order, as the captain had 
 furnished the agent with a slip of paper upon 
 which Will had at his request signed his name. 
 This had, with the money, been deposited at the 
 bank, so that his signature might be recognized 
 and honored. 
 
 On reaching the Euphrates Will was at once 
 taken charge of by Sergeant Ringwood, who took 
 him before the doctor, to whom the colonel had 
 already spoken. The medical examination was 
 satisfactory, the doctor remarking: 
 
 " You are rather slight yet, but you will fill out 
 in time."
 
 140 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 The age was asked, and given as under nineteen, 
 and eighteen was inscribed against him in the books. 
 Then he was taken before the colonel and attested, 
 and was from that moment a member of the regi- 
 ment. A uniform was served out to him, and the 
 usual articles of kit. The sergeant saw that his 
 belts were put on properly and his knapsack packed ; 
 and half an hour afterward he fell in, with his 
 musket on his shoulder, among the troops paraded 
 on the deck of the Euphrates prior to embarka- 
 tion. 
 
 So quickly had it all been managed that Will 
 could hardly believe that he was awake, as, feeling 
 strangely hampered by his belts and accouterments, 
 he descended the accommodation ladder and took 
 his place with bis new comrades on board one of the 
 great native boats and rowed to the shore. 
 
 The regiment was marched direct to the railway 
 station, where the heavy baggage had been sent on 
 the previous day. The men took their places in the 
 long train which stood in readiness, and half an 
 hour later steamed north from Calcutta. 
 
 Hitherto none of his comrades had spoken to 
 "Will. In the bustle of landing all had enough to 
 do to look to themselves, and it was not until he 
 found himself with eight comrades and a corporal 
 in the railway carriage that he \va.$ addressed,
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 141 
 
 " Well, young 'un," one said, " what's yer name, 
 and where do you come from ? Calcutta isn't much 
 of a place for recruiting." 
 
 " I was on my way to China," Will replied, " and 
 got wrecked among the Malays ; then I got picked 
 up by a vessel, and we had some hot fighting. Then 
 I was landed at Calcutta, and seeing nothing much 
 to do, and hearing that there was a chance of a 
 fight with the Afghans, I thought the best thing to 
 do was to enlist. My name is William Gale." 
 
 " I wasn't quite sure that you were an English- 
 man ; you are pretty nigh as dark as them copper- 
 colored niggers here." 
 
 " So would you be," Will laughed, " if you had 
 been living, as I have, for ten months among savages 
 without even a shirt to your back." 
 
 " Tell us all about it," the soldier said. " This is 
 a bit of luck, mates, our having some one who can 
 tell us a tale when we have got such a long journey 
 before us." 
 
 Will made his story as full as he could, and it 
 lasted a long time. When it was finished the men 
 expressed their opinion that he was a good sort ; 
 and Will having handed over to the corporal a 
 sovereign to be expended on drinks by the way, as 
 his footing in the regiment, he became quite a 
 popular character, and soon felt at home in his 
 new position.
 
 142 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 THE ADVANCE INTO AFGHANISTAN. 
 
 THERE was but little talking in the middle of the 
 day in the train, for the heat was excessive. All 
 the men had taken off their coats and sat in their 
 shirt-sleeves. But they were, nevertheless, bathed 
 in perspiration. Late at night the train arrived at 
 Allahabad. Here there was a stop till morning. 
 The men alighted from the train and lay down on 
 their folded blankets, with their knapsacks for 
 pillows, on the platform or in the waiting-rooms. 
 A plentiful supply of water had been prepared for 
 fcheir use at the station, and outside were several 
 water-carriers, and many of the men stripped off 
 their shirts and had water poured over their heads 
 and bodies. 
 
 Will Gale was among these, and greatly refreshed, 
 he enjoyed some fruit and cakes which he purchased 
 from native venders ; and then lying down on a
 
 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 143 
 
 bench in the station was soon asleep. Four days' 
 traveling brought them to the end of the railway. 
 They were ferried across the Attock, and then 
 their real work began. 
 
 Although it was now late in September the heat 
 was still intense. Tents were struck an hour before 
 daybreak, and by eleven o'clock each day the 
 column was at its halting- place. It was, however, 
 hours before the tents and baggage arrived. Many 
 of the draft cattle were very poor, forage was 
 scarce, and the arrangements far from good. The 
 consequence was that great numbers of the oxen 
 broke down and died, and many of the troops were 
 often obliged to sleep in the air owing to the non- 
 arrival of their tents. The defects of the transport 
 were aggravated as the time went on, and the 
 Norfolk Rangers fared much better than some of 
 the troops which followed them. 
 
 The regiment was destined to operate in the 
 Khuram Valley under the command of General 
 Roberts. The advanced column of this division 
 consisted of the Seventh Company of Bengal 
 Sappers, the Twenty-third Bengal Pioneers, a 
 battery of horse artillery, one of Royal Artillery, 
 and two mountain batteries, a squardon of the 
 Tenth Hussars, and the Twelfth Bengal Cavalry. 
 The first brigade of infantry comprised the second
 
 144 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 battalion of the Eighth-Foot, the Twenty-ninth Ben- 
 gal Native Infantry, and the Fifth Punjaub Infantry. 
 The second brigade consisted of the Seventy-second 
 Highlanders, the Twenty-first Native Infantry, the 
 Second Punjaub Infantry, and the Fifth Goorkhas. 
 The place of assembly was Kohat. The Norfolk 
 Rangers were to act as a reserve. 
 
 It was on the 2d of October that the Rangers 
 arrived at Kohat, heartily glad that their march 
 across the sandy plains of the Punjaub was at an 
 end. The other regiments comprising the force 
 poured in rapidly, and on the 9th the general ar- 
 rived and assumed the command. The next day 
 the Punjaub regiments were sent forward to Thull. 
 It was not until the middle of November that the 
 European regiments followed them, and the six 
 weeks were by the Rangers for the most part em- 
 ployed in drill ; for, after their voyage and journey 
 up the country, their commanding officer considered 
 it necessary to work them hard to get them to the 
 highest state of discipline. 
 
 William Gale was worked exceptionally hard, as 
 he had in that short time to learn the manual and 
 platoon exercises, and to pick up enough of drill to 
 enable him to take his place in the ranks. Fortu- 
 nately he carried himself well and required far less 
 drilling than the majority of the recruits. By the
 
 POtt NAME AND FAME. 145 
 
 time that the regiment moved forward he was able 
 to take his place in his company, and had mastered 
 all the movements which were likely to be necessary 
 in the campaign. 
 
 The road between Kohat and Thull runs in a 
 valley between mountains, those on the right being 
 inhabited by the Waziries, a fierce and independent 
 tribe. The regiment which had first marched had 
 exercised every precaution against an attack. The 
 convoys of stores and provisions sent forward had 
 always been accompanied by strong escorts, and 
 orders were issued that officers going forward on 
 duty should not travel without protection. The 
 Waziries, however, contrary to expectation, re- 
 mained quiet, probably waiting to see the turn 
 which matters took ; for had we suffered a repulse 
 they would assuredly have taken part at once 
 against us, and would have aided in massacring 
 fugitives and robbing baggage-wagons. 
 
 The march to Thull occupied five days, which 
 were very pleasant ones to William Gale. His 
 heavy work at drill was now over : he was no 
 longer considered a recruit, but ranked as a soldier. 
 Tbe marches were not long, and for many hours in 
 the afternoon the high hills threw the valley in 
 shade ; and the soldiers, after pitching their tents, 
 were able to stroll about or to lie under the trees in
 
 146 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 which the valley abounded. The regiment reached 
 Thull on the 18th of November, and on the morn- 
 ing of the 21st the column advanced. 
 
 The river, whose bed was five hundred yards wide, 
 was fortunately now low, being reduced to a stream 
 of forty yards wide by three deep. A trestle- 
 bridge had been thrown across it for the use of the 
 infantry. The river was distant a mile and a half 
 from the town. No opposition was expected ; but 
 as a small Afghan garrison was stationed in a fort 
 at Kapizang, a short distance beyond the river, an 
 attempt was to be made to capture it. The Twenty- 
 ninth Punjaub Infantry first crossed the river at the 
 bridge. The Tenth Hussars forded the river and 
 extended in skirmishing order to cut off the retreat 
 of the garrison. "When the} T reached the fort, how- 
 ever, which was a square inclosure with round 
 towers at the corners, it was found that the gar- 
 rison, who had doubtless received warning from 
 spies in Thull, had abandoned the place in the 
 night. 
 
 The cavalry were now sent forward to recon- 
 noiter, the infantry following, and the advanced 
 force halted at Ahmed-I-shama for the night. Not 
 a single habitation was passed during the nine miles, 
 march The road was generally a mere track, six 
 feet wide, passing through tangled brakes of dwarf
 
 FOR NAME AtfD FAME. 147 
 
 palms, intersected by stony gullies except when it 
 ran along the steep bank of the river. 
 
 The following day the rest of the first brigade 
 marched up to Ahmed-I-shama, while the advanced 
 force under Colonel Gordon moved on to Hazir-pir. 
 The Rangers were with the first brigade, but not 
 with the advanced party. This was composed 
 wholly of native troops, consisting of the pioneer 
 regiments and the sappers and miners ; these had 
 hard work, for the road, which was fifteen miles in 
 length, was scarcely passable for wheeled carriages, 
 and the guns could not be taken along until the 
 boulders and blocks of stone which strewed the 
 way were removed or blasted into pieces. 
 
 On the 23d the Eangers, with the horse artillery 
 battery and two native regiments, marched toward 
 Hazir-pir ; but the difficulties of the road were so 
 great that they had to camp for the night four 
 miles short of that place. General Roberts and the 
 headquarters went forward the same day. 
 
 As the general passed along the road the head 
 men of all the villages near came and paid their 
 respects, and the villagers lined the roads as the 
 troops passed, offering fowls, eggs, milk, and dried 
 fruit for sale. As William Gale had brought a 
 supply of money with him, he was able to indulge 
 in all those luxuries ; and, indeed, as the men had
 
 148 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 had few opportunities of spending money at Thullj 
 all were well supplied with cash. The halt at 
 Hazir-pir was then a very pleasant one. Supplies 
 of grass, fuel, and provisions were brought in in con- 
 siderable quantities there ; but much difficulty arose 
 in settling the terms of purchase, as coin was almost 
 unknown in the valley, and therefore there was no 
 established price ; one native being ready to sell for 
 a few coppers articles for which another demanded 
 as many pieces of silver. On the hills around a 
 considerable number of sheep were seen grazing, 
 but the natives did not care about selling these, 
 which indeed belonged for the most part, not to the 
 Turis. the tribe which inhabit the valley, but to 
 nomad Ghilzais, who, like the Swiss shepherds, 
 move about with their charges among the moun- 
 tains wherever fodder is to be obtained. Khuram 
 Yalley itself is bare and monotonous. With the ex- 
 ception of fruitt-rees planted round the villages, 
 scarce a tree is to be found; but each village is 
 marked by a huge chunar or oriental plane, be- 
 neath which the villagers rest during the noonday 
 heat. 
 
 But if the valley itself was bare and desolate, the 
 scenery around was lovely. The great range of 
 mountains known as the Safaid-Koh bound the val- 
 ley on the east and north. This range averages
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 149 
 
 fourteen thousand feet high, from which spurs run 
 out at right angles, inclosing narrower valleys with 
 broiling torrents rushing through bowlders. The 
 slopes of these valleys are covered with luxuriant 
 vegetation till the limit of trees is reached at a 
 height of about eleven thousand feet, above which 
 in winter the snow lies thick, while in summer it 
 furnishes the finest pasture to the Ghilzai flocks 
 and herds. 
 
 The valley lands and the lower slopes of the hills 
 are laid out in terraces, and irrigated rice-fields ex- 
 tend near the rivers. Valley and hill are alike cov- 
 ered with stones and bowlders, Afghanistan being 
 probably the most stony country in the world. 
 
 On the 24th the headquarters with the cav- 
 alry and two regiments moved forward ten miles 
 and encamped at the south end of the Darwazi 
 Pass, the road leading to open broad valleys cov- 
 ered with dwarf palrns and wholly uncultivated. 
 On the 25th the advanced force crossed the pass, 
 which was a gentle slope and offered no great 
 difficulty, and at night encamped at the Khuram 
 fort, which had been evacuated by the enemy. 
 The buildings, which would have been useful for the 
 troops, had, however, been wrecked by the Turis, 
 who have a deadly hate for the Afghans, their mas- 
 ters, and who were also animated in their work of
 
 150 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 destruction by a desire to obtain wood, which is ex- 
 ceedingly scarce there. 
 
 At Khuram there are two forts, the one one 
 hundred and twenty yards and the other one hun- 
 dred yards square. Inside these were quarters for 
 the governor and huts for the garrison and officers, 
 and in the smaller forts were stables for the cav- 
 alry forces. This place was made the headquarters 
 of the forces in the Khuram Valley. The general 
 now rode on with two squadrons of the Twelfth 
 Bengal Cavalry to reconnoiter in the direction of 
 the Peiwar Khotal, toward which the enemy were 
 supposed to be retreating, and where they were ex- 
 pected to make a stand. As they approached the 
 village of Peiwar two villages were seen in flames, 
 and news was brought in that three Afghan regi- 
 ments, with twelve guns, had lately passed through. 
 
 The natives reported that they were incumbered 
 by their guns, and that forced labor was procured 
 for the purpose of removing them. Later on a 
 rumor came that the twelve guns were stuck in the 
 ravine at the foot of the khotal or pass. 
 
 With but a small force of cavalry at his command 
 the general could do nothing, and so returned to 
 Khuram and determined to hurry up the troops 
 faster than he had intended so as to capture the 
 guns reported as was afterward proved falsely
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 151 
 
 to have been left behind by the Afghans. The sick 
 and all superfluous baggage were left behind at 
 Khuram, and on the 28th the troops moved at day- 
 break, the two brigades marching in parallel col- 
 umns. 
 
 The cold was now severe at night, although it was 
 hot in the daytime. It had been intended to halt at 
 Halid-Kitta, four miles from the khotal ; but the 
 intelligence arriving that the ameer's troops had 
 abandoned their guns and were in disorderly re- 
 treat, decided the general to push forward at once 
 to the Peiwar Khotal, seven miles further, instead 
 of waiting and giving the enemy time to strengthen 
 their position. A mile from the foot of the actual 
 ascent of the Khotal lies the village of Turrai, two 
 miles and a half beyond Peiwar. Turrai is situated 
 in a valley, the ground at whose entrance is very 
 much broken up by the shoulders and spurs of the 
 hill. The left column the Fifth and Twenty-ninth 
 Punjaub in advance, with the second battalion of 
 the Eighth and the Twenty-third Pioneers, the 
 Rangers, and two guns of the No. 1 mountain 
 battery in support were sent to the left with in- 
 structions to turn a ridge forming the south bound- 
 ary of the valley, and to seize the village of Turrai. 
 They were also to follow up closely any body of re- 
 treating Afghan troops that they might come
 
 152 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 across. The light brigade were to march up the 
 regular road to the Peiwar, thus supporting the at- 
 tack of the left brigade. 
 
 The left brigade followed out its orders, except 
 that the regiment in support did not go round the 
 southern side of the spur, but kept to the north. 
 No enemy was seen on the south side of the spur, so 
 when a track leading across to Turrai was reached 
 the troops moved down toward the village, the 
 regiments in support advancing at the foot of the 
 open on the north side. The mountain path that 
 the advanced troops were now filing down did not 
 lead directly to the village, but fell into the valley 
 ahead of it at a point where it widens out into what 
 was known as the " punch-bowl valley " at the foot 
 of the Peiwar Khotal. 
 
 As soon as the head of the column reached this 
 spot they came in sight of the Afghans, who showed 
 themselves in great numbers on the crest of the 
 mountain far above their heads. As the troops had 
 no orders to attack so formidable a position, they 
 fell back toward Turrai, which was about a quarter 
 of a mile to the rear. At the sight of this move- 
 ment the Afghans swarmed down a spur of the hill 
 and commenced an attack on the regiments that 
 were moving toward the village. The Twenty-ninth 
 Punjaubees climbed the hill, and a sharp skirmish
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 153 
 
 at once ensued, the two mounted guns coming 
 into action. 
 
 While this was going on, the main body of the 
 troops arrived at Turrai. The advanced troops 
 were recalled and the Fifth Goorkhas were advanced 
 to cover the movement. As it was now seen that 
 the story of the abandonment of the guns was false, 
 orders were given to pile arms in the village and to 
 encamp there. This step was an imprudent one, as 
 the Afghans speedily showed. "While our men were 
 sitting or lying upon the ground waiting for the 
 baggage to arrive the Afghans brought up a moun- 
 tain-gun from the main ridge, about three-quarters 
 of a mile distant, to the point of the spur overlook- 
 ing the village of Turrai, and opened fire at seven- 
 teen hundred yards range. 
 
 The astonishment of the troops when the first 
 shell fell among them was great. Every one jumped 
 to his feet and seized his rifle, and the guns of the 
 Royal Horse Artillery were brought at once into 
 action. It was four o'clock in the afternoon when 
 the Afghans opened fire. Had they waited for a 
 few hours, brought up another gun or two, and 
 made a night attack immediately after opening fire, 
 it is morally certain that the imprudence of camp- 
 ing in such a position would have been punished by 
 a disaster which might have vied with that of
 
 154 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Isandula. Huddled together in a small village sur- 
 rounded by scrub, and impeded as the troops would 
 have been by the baggage animals and native fol- 
 lowers rushing in terror in all directions, our men 
 would have been taken at an immense disadvantage. 
 Fortunate was it that the enemy opened fire before 
 the darkness set in. The troops were at once or- 
 dered to fall back a mile and a half and to pitch on 
 fresh ground. 
 
 - There was much confusion in the retreat, as the 
 road in the rear was crowded with the baggage 
 animals. The spot chosen for the camp was a rough 
 one, for the ground was covered with scrub and a 
 scattered growth of hill oak and thorny bushes, and 
 was broken by the remains of some ancient terraces, 
 but as the jungle and broken ground extended for 
 three and a half miles, there was nothing for it but 
 to take up the best position possible under the cir- 
 cumstances. The troops bivouacked on the ridge 
 of a ravine with steep banks which formed a line of 
 defense in front of the camp, while the view in 
 every other direction was obscured by trees. The 
 regiments passed a wretched night on the rough 
 ground. Most of them were unable to find their 
 baggage, which was wandering in the scrub in the 
 dark, and the greater part of the troops lay down 
 on the bare ground and went supperless to sleep 
 after their fatiguing march of twenty -one miles.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 155 
 
 In the morning both men and cattle were greatly 
 exhausted by their long marches and almost sleep- 
 less nights, and General Roberts determined to 
 wait for a day or two to reconnoiter the formidable 
 position of the enemy before undertaking its attack. 
 The camp was shifted to a more secure site, the 
 brushwood and trees were cleared away, the tents 
 pitched, and the troops were again comfortable. 
 
 A reconnaissance was made by Colonel Perkins, 
 commanding the Royal Engineers, with two com- 
 panies of the pioneers. He ascertained that a deep 
 ravine lay between the ridge on which they were 
 encamped and the khotal itself, and that it was im- 
 possible to direct an attack on that side. Major Col- 
 lett also, with two companies of the Twenty-third, 
 proceeded to reconnoiter the route known as the 
 Spingawi or Cow Pass. This, instead of going 
 straight up the hill in front, wound round its foot 
 to the right of the vallev. 
 
 m 
 
 Ascending the mountain at a point some three or 
 four miles to the east of the Peiwar Khotal, the 
 reconnaissance reached the summit of a ridge about 
 five miles distant from the camp and overlooking 
 the Spingawi Khotal. It was ascertained that the 
 road up the pass seemed easy and practicable for 
 all arms, that the top of the pass appeared to be on 
 the same ridge as the Peiwar Khotal and that a
 
 156 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 force working from it toward the Peiwar would 
 pass over a series of dominating positions. It did 
 not appear to Major Collett that the enemy held 
 the Peiwar Khotal in force, although there was a 
 gun on a commanding knoll on the south, and there 
 seemed to be one at the top of the pass. The road 
 from the village of Peiwar to the top of the 
 Spingawi Pass seemed perfectly easy for troops of 
 all arms. 
 
 The next two days were spent in clearing the 
 camp, and so far as possible improving its military 
 position ; but it was still surrounded by thick oak 
 jungle, which would have afforded cover for an 
 enemy making a sudden attack. A further recon- 
 naissance was made of the Spingawi Pass, and as the 
 examination confirmed Major Collett's report it was 
 determined to attack by it. Orders were issued on 
 the 1st of December for a march that night. The 
 regiments which were to form the main attack by 
 the Spingawi plateau route were the Twenty-ninth 
 Punjaub Infantry and <-he Fifth Goorkhas, com- 
 manded by Colonel Gordon in advance ; these were 
 to be followed by the mountain battery, a wing of 
 the Seventy-second Highlanders, a company of the 
 Eangers, the Second Punjaubees, and the Twenty- 
 third Pioneers, under Brigadier-General Thel well. 
 Four guns on elephants were to proceed with the
 
 FOR JSTA AftD FAME. 15? 
 
 column. The Fifth Punjaub Infantry, the Eighth 
 Eegiment, two guns Royal Horse Artillery, three 
 guns Royal Artillery, and the Fifth Bengal Cav- 
 alry, the whole under the command of Brigadier- 
 General Cobbe, were to make an attack on the Pei- 
 war Khotal direct. 
 
 The rest of the force was to remain to guard the 
 camp, and in order to convince the enemy that a 
 front attack upon the Pei war Khotal was intended, 
 a party of pioneers with an engineer officer, and a 
 covering party of the Eighth Regiment, were to con- 
 struct a battery near the village of Turrai. Fre- 
 quent reconnoitering parties had also been sent out 
 in this direction, and so well was the secret of the 
 general's intention to attack by the Spingawi Khotal 
 kept that every one in camp who had not been let 
 into the secret was confident that the Peiwar- 
 Khotal would be stormed on the morrow. The 
 enemy, although those in camp were ignorant of 
 the fact, were re enforced on the 1st by four regi- 
 ments of infantry with a mountain battery, and on 
 their side were meditating an attack upon the British 
 camp. 
 
 The regiments which had freshly arrived were, 
 however, fatigued by their long march, and the 
 assault on our camp was postponed until the next 
 day, and the chance of its coming off was therefore
 
 158 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 lost forever. To William Gale's great satisfaction 
 a company of the Rangers, that to which he had 
 been posted, was the one selected by the colonel to 
 accompany the column marching up the pass. He 
 did not indeed know that this was the route by 
 which they were to advance, but he was pleased at 
 not being left behind with the regiment in charge 
 of the camp. 
 
 " Well, young 'un," a corporal said to him that 
 evening, " we are going to be under tire at last, and 
 a nice climb we shall have of it ; it puts one out of 
 breath to look at that steep road running up the 
 hill, and when it comes to fighting one's way up it, 
 with cannon and Afghans on the top, we shall find 
 it hard work." 
 
 " I expect," William answered, " that we shan't 
 go up it at any extraordinary pace ; if we skirmish 
 up, as I expect we shall, from rock to rock, we shall 
 have plenty of time to get our wind at each halt. 
 We are not to take our knapsacks, so we shall fight 
 light, and we have not much extra weight to carry. 
 What with the heat and what with the long marches, 
 I should think I must have lost a stone in weight 
 since we landed in Calcutta." 
 
 " I don't think you have lost weight at all," the 
 corporal said ; " it seems to me that you have grown 
 and widened out in the two months ; and only yes-
 
 FOR NAME AND PAM& 15$ 
 
 terday, when I was sizing the company, I had to 
 move you two men higher ; for a young 'un you 
 stand the fatigues well." 
 
 "I am all right," Will said, "except that I have 
 got some frightful blisters on my feet. I was not 
 going to say anything about it, because I should 
 have been kept in hospital and left behind at 
 Khuram, but I have hardly known how to march 
 the last few days. I don't think I could possibly 
 have managed it if I had not adopted the native 
 dodge of wearing putties, which I have greased well 
 on the inside, and wear instead of stockings." 
 
 Putties, it may be said, are slips of woolen cloth 
 about two and a half yards long and three inches 
 wide, with a tape sewn into one end. They are 
 wound round and round the leg, from the ankle to 
 below the knee, and secured by the end being tied 
 with the tape. Nearly every one. officers and men, 
 wore them through the campaign. For a long 
 march there could be no doubt that these bandages, 
 wound round the foot instead of stockings, are very 
 preferable, as they obviate the liability to foot-sores. 
 Even with well-made boots all pedestrians may at 
 times suffer from sore feet, but the liability is im- 
 mensely increased when, as in the case of the British 
 soldier, the boots are coarse, roughly sewn, and fre- 
 quently ill-fitted.
 
 160 FOR NAME AttD 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PEIWAK KHOTAL. 
 
 AT ten o'clock at night on the 1st of December 
 the troops detailed for the attack mustered in the 
 camp. The assembly took place without sound of 
 bugle, and even the necessary words of command 
 were given in a low tone. Through the still night 
 air the Afghans on the hills, little more than two 
 miles away, would have heard the stir. It was a 
 very dark night although the stars shone clear. 
 
 "Where can we be going?" William Gale asked 
 the soldier next to him. " We are going right away 
 from the pass instead of toward it." 
 
 " So we are !" the soldier replied. " Blessed if 
 I know what we are up to, and it's so precious dark 
 that I can scarcely see the file before me. I hope 
 we ain't going to fight in the dark, anyhow. What 
 would be the good oS being a marksman when you 
 cannot see the end of your own rifle, let alone the 
 man you are firing at ?"
 
 FOR NAM& AND FAME. 161 
 
 " Oh ! we can't be going to attack in the dark," 
 Will said. "I expect we have got a long march 
 before us, and are going to work round somehow 
 and take them in rear." 
 
 " "Well, I hope whoever is acting as guide can see 
 better in the darkness than I can, else we are safe 
 to lose our way, and may find ourselves anywhere 
 in the morning. Confound it !" The exclamation 
 was elicited by the speaker stumbling over a bowlder 
 and nearly going on to his head. 
 
 " Silence in the ranks there !" an officer said close 
 
 by- 
 
 Each regiment was followed by its ammunition 
 mules and hospital doolies, the latter being covered 
 stretchers or palkies carried by natives ; besides 
 these were dandies or chairs slung upon mules. 
 This greatly added to the difficulty of a night 
 march ; for even in the daytime the presence of 
 baggage animals in a column upon a narrow road 
 greatly hinders the troops, and at night the delays 
 occasioned by them are naturally very much greater. 
 For the first three and a half miles the column 
 marched away from the enemy upon the khotal, 
 and the surprise of the soldiers increased at every 
 step they took. 
 
 M, the end of that time they arrived at the vil- 
 lage of Peiwar. Here they turned to the left, and
 
 162 FOR NAMfi AND FAME. 
 
 after crossing several ravines and stony water- 
 courses arrived on a cultivated terrace and kept 
 along this till they reached a very stiff nullah 
 twenty feet deep. The night was bitterly cold, the 
 bank of the nullah was extremely slippery, and the 
 boulders in the water-course below coated with ice ; 
 the difficulty of getting the loaded animals across in 
 the darkness was therefore very great. The pas- 
 sage of the various water-courses caused great 
 delays, and it was difficult to keep the column to- 
 gether in the dark. At each passage the rear was 
 immensely delayed while the leading troops were 
 passing, and these again had to be halted while 
 those behind them struggled over the difficulties. 
 
 The men suffered much from cold, as the pace 
 was so slow that they could not warm themselves, 
 and the mounted officers specially suffered in their 
 hands and feet. At midnight the ravine leading 
 up to the Spingawi Pass was reached ; but so dark 
 was it that the Second Punjaubees, separated by a 
 few yards from the regiment in front of them, 
 marched straight on instead of turning up it ; and 
 the Twenty-second Pioneers and the four artillery 
 guns carried on elephants, being behind them, 
 naturally went astray also. 
 
 Brigadier-General Thelwell, who commanded the 
 column, was at the head of his brigade, and was for
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 163 
 
 some time unaware of the absence of two of his 
 regiments ; but after halting and finding that they 
 did not come up, sent back a mounted officer, who, 
 after a two-mile ride, came up with the missing 
 troops and guided them back to the point where 
 they had left the route. 
 
 From the foot of the ravine to the top of the pass 
 is six miles in distance ; and, dark as it was in the 
 open, it was still more so in the ravine shadowed by 
 the steep hills on either side. As the ascent con- 
 tinued the road became worse, the bowlders being 
 larger, and the holes and dried-up pools deeper. 
 The darkness and the prevailing white color of the 
 stones prevented the difference of level being ob- 
 served, and many of the men had heavy falls, as the 
 steep sides of these pools were often from two to 
 four feet deep. 
 
 After marching for a mile and a half up the 
 ravine the report of a rifle was heard in the ranks 
 of the Twenty-ninth Punjaubees, who were leading 
 the column, followed instantly by another dis- 
 charge. Colonel Gordon, commanding the regiment, 
 halted, and he and the general tried in vain to dis- 
 cover who had fired. No one could or would iden- 
 tify them, and this seemed clearly to prove that the 
 rifles had been fired as a signal to the enemy, for 
 they had not been loaded before the column started.
 
 164 FOR NAME AND 
 
 The Punjaubee regiments contained many hill 
 tribesmen men closely connected by ties of blood 
 and religion with the enemy whom they were 
 marching to attack. A non-commissioned officer 
 and several of the men who were just about the 
 spot where the guns had been fired were placed 
 under arrest and sent back. It was afterward found 
 that two of their rifles had been discharged, and 
 the men who fired and their non-commissioned offi- 
 cer were tried by court-martial for treachery, and 
 were hung. 
 
 After these men had been sent back, the Fifth 
 Goorkhas, the company of Eangers, and two com- 
 panies of the Seventy -second, passed the Twenty- 
 third Punjaubees and took their places at the head 
 of the column. In the course of the march a good 
 many other men of the Twenty-third left the col- 
 umn in the dark and made their way back to camp. 
 It turned out afterward that the Afghan sentries at 
 the top of the pass heard the reports and woke up 
 the commander of the post, who, hearing no further 
 cause of alarm, took no action in the matter. 
 
 Had the traitors waited until the column was 
 within a mile of the top of the pass, the Afghans 
 would assuredly have taken the alarm ; but, firing 
 at a distance of four and a half miles, they failed in 
 the desired effect. The advance was resumed up
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 165 
 
 the bed of the stream for another mile and a half. 
 About three in the morning the main water-course 
 was quitted, the road now entering a ravine to the 
 left, up which three miles further on was the sum- 
 mit of the pass. The column continued its weary 
 way up the ravine, slowly stumbling along in the 
 dark. 
 
 One incident occurred in this part of the road 
 showing the necessity in night marching for the 
 regiments to keep close to each other. In one place 
 a fir-covered island lay in the middle of the ravine, 
 the torrent's bed lying on either side of it. When 
 the two companies of the Seventy-second Highland- 
 ers, who had been following close to that of the 
 Rangers, came to the spot they were surprised to 
 find that the troops in front had suddenly vanished. 
 No explanation could be given as to the cause of 
 this disappearance, so the company were halted 
 until the mystery was solved. The leading regi- 
 ment had taken the passage to the right of the 
 island, while the Seventy -second had gone to the 
 left, the separation of the roads being unnoticed in 
 the dark. Had the roads diverged instead of re- 
 uniting, much inconvenience might have been 
 caused by the delay in collecting the separated por- 
 tions of the force. 
 
 At last the foot of the khotal was reached, where
 
 166 WR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the track left the ravine and turned up the spur. 
 The two guides, natives of the country, who had led 
 the head of the column to this point, refused to go 
 any further ; and as the column was now at the 
 point where the fighting might begin, they were 
 allowed to depart. It was about six o'clock when 
 the Goorkhas began to climb the spur. The morn, 
 ing had broken, but it was still dark, and the path 
 was almost invisible in the shadow of the trees. 
 
 The Goorkhas, their rifles loaded now, made their 
 way quietly up the hill. Presently the challenge of 
 the sentry was heard, followed by two shots. It 
 was a relief to the men, after ten hours of weary 
 stumbling along in the cold and darkness, to know 
 that they were at length face to face with their foe. 
 Cold and fatigue were at once forgotten, and with 
 eyes strained through the darkness, and rifles ready 
 for use, every man pressed forward. Fifty yards 
 up the hill, behind the sentry who had fired, was 
 the first stockade of the enemy, formed by several 
 large trees, which had been felled so as to com- 
 pletely block up the road, presenting an obstacle ot 
 about eight feet high to the attacking force. The 
 Afghan pickets lining the stockade poured a volley 
 into the Goorkhas, who, led by Major Fitzhugh and 
 Captain Cook, made a rush at the place. 
 
 For a few minutes there was a fierce fight at the
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 167 
 
 trees ; but as fresh assailants momentarily poured 
 up, the obstruction was scaled, and the Afghans re- 
 tired on a second stockade eighty yards back. Here 
 another stand was made, but the spur being a little 
 wider, the Goorkhas were able to work round, and 
 taking the defense in flank soon drove the Afghans 
 back. Beyond this point the ground was clear cf 
 trees, and the road ran in short zigzags up the steep 
 hill to the breastwork which lined the edge of the 
 top zigzag. 
 
 A mountain gun at this point swept the approach 
 to the position, while the hill at its back was now 
 covered with Afghans, who opened a heavy fire upon 
 the troops as in the dim morning light they issued 
 from the trees. By the time that the Goorkhas and 
 the Rangers had cleared the second stockade the 
 wing of the Seventy-second Highlanders, ascending 
 by the right flank, had made their way up to the front, 
 and the whole now advanced together. As quickly 
 as possible they pushed up the hill under the heavy 
 fire of the enemy. The latter fought well, and a 
 number of them were killed before retiring. At the 
 defense erected at the top of the zigzag so obsti- 
 nately did the Afghans in front hold their ground 
 that their comrades behind were enabled to remove 
 their mountain gun. 
 
 To the right of the enemy's position was a knoll,
 
 168 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 and the Seventy-second at once took possession of 
 this, and two mountain guns were brought up to 
 their assistance. The Afghans were seen in great 
 numbers in the broken ground ahead. The Goor- 
 khas and the little body of Rangers pushed on against 
 them. Presently the enemy gathered and made a rush 
 down upon them, and a desperate hand-to-hand fight 
 took place for a few minutes. The men were scat- 
 tered among the trees, and each fought for himself. 
 William Gale had just reloaded his rifle when he 
 saw Captain Herbert, who commanded his com- 
 pany, fall to the ground, and three Afghans spring 
 forward to finish him. With a bound Will reached 
 the side of the officer. Two of the Afghans had 
 already discharged their pieces, the third leveled 
 and fired. So close was he that the flash almost 
 burned the soldier's face, and he felt a sharp pain as 
 if a hot iron had passed across his cheek. In an 
 instant he shot his assailant dead, and then with 
 bayonet stood at bay as the other two Afghans 
 rushed upon him. They had drawn their tulwars 
 and slashed fiercely at him ; but he kept them off 
 with his bayonet until a Goorkha, running up, cut 
 down one of them with his kookerie, a heavy sword- 
 like knife which the Goorkhas carry, and which 
 they always employ in preference to the bayonet in 
 fighting at close quarters. The remaining Afghan 
 at once took to flight.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 169 
 
 The T \venty-ninth Punjaubees had now come into 
 action, and the Afghans, disheartened at the loss of 
 their position, fell back and withdrew into the 
 woods which cover the plateau. At half-past seven 
 o'clock the whole force, except the elephant guns, 
 had reached the plateau ; and General Roberts was 
 able to flash the news of the successful capture of 
 the enemy's first position to Brigadier-General 
 Cobbe, who was in command of the force which 
 was to operate direct against the Peiwar Khotal. A 
 rest was given the troops after their long march, 
 and at half-past nine they again 'fell in for the at- 
 tack upon the pine-covered slopes in the direction 
 of the Peiwar Khotal. How strong were the enemy 
 who might be lurking there the}' knew not. But it 
 was certain that he would fight obstinately, and in 
 so dense a forest much of the advantage gained by 
 drill and discipline is lost. 
 
 A change was made in the order of the advance. 
 The troops who had before led the advance and had 
 done the fighting were now placed in the rear, and 
 the Twenty-third Pioneers led the way, followed by 
 the Second and Twenty-ninth Punjaubees. The 
 column crossed the plateau without opposition, and 
 began the ascent toward the enemy's position in 
 the woods. Considerable caution was needed, as 
 no one had any knowledge of the country, and all
 
 170 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 were ignorant of the position and numbers of the 
 enemy, who might, for aught they knew, be mass- 
 ing in great numbers for an attack upon the front 
 or one of the flanks. The line of skirmishers en- 
 tered the pine wood near the rocky hillside, and a 
 rolling fire of musketry soon told that they were 
 engaged from end to end of the line. It was slow 
 work, for fallen trees, rocks, and bushes everywhere 
 hampered the advance. Still the skirmishing line, 
 reenforced from behind, pushed forward steadily, 
 and presently cleared the Afghans off the hillside. 
 
 When the troops reached the top they found a 
 valley in front of them, and from the woods on the 
 opposite side so heavy a musketry fire was kept up 
 that it was evident the Afghans intended to make 
 a desperate stand here. The valley, or rather 
 ravine, was a narrow one : fifty yards wide at its 
 foot, and scarce three times as much from brow to 
 brow. The enemy, hidden among the trees, could 
 not be made out except by their continual fire. 
 They did not content themselves, however, with 
 the mere defense of their side of the hill, but from 
 time to time large numbers charged down and tried 
 to force their way up that held by the British. 
 
 Each time, however, when they attempted this 
 the Punjaubees drove them back with slaughter. 
 It was clear that the Afghans were in great num-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 171 
 
 bers, for their line extended for a mile and a half 
 along the hillside. Major Anderson, of the Twenty- 
 third Pioneers, after repulsing one of these attacks, 
 led four companies to the assault of the Afghan 
 position, and drove the enemy back for some little 
 distance ; but Major Anderson fell and the party 
 retired. 
 
 Colonel Curry, who commanded the regiment, 
 again led the men forward, and for a time a hand- 
 to-hand fight took place. For two hours the rifle 
 contest continued without cessation. The storm of 
 bullets was tremendous, but no very great execution 
 was done on either side, both parties tying behind 
 the shelter of trees. So far no advantage had been 
 gained by the British, and General Roberts felt 
 that, with the force under his command, it would 
 be rash to attempt to carry so strong a position held 
 by a greatly superior force. In the mean time the 
 attack upon the Peiwar-Khotal from the valley had 
 commenced. Before daylight Brigadier-General 
 Cobbe, with the Fifth Punjaub Infantry and the 
 Eighth Regiment, left camp, his object being to co- 
 operate with the flank attack. The Eighth Regiment 
 moved directly toward the pass, while the Fifth 
 Punjaubees climbed one of the principal spurs be- 
 tween the Peiwar and Spingawi khotals. 
 
 The ascent was extremely difficult, and it took
 
 172 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the troops six hours to reach the summit. During 
 the last portion of the ascent they came under the 
 fire of the enemy. When near the summit Major 
 Macqueen, of the Fifth Punjaubees, saw through an 
 opening in the pine wood the Afghan camp, with 
 their baggage animals, which were placed for shelter 
 in the glade behind the Peiwar Khotal. Two 
 mountain guns were at once brought up and a fire 
 opened upon the Afghan camp. In a few minutes 
 the tents caught fire, the animals stampeded in all 
 directions, and the enemy in front, seized with a 
 panic, began rapidly to retreat. The Afghan troops 
 facing General Roberts' column, when they found 
 their comrades on their right retreating, began to 
 draw off, and the fire sensibly diminished. 
 
 The movement was accelerated by the four ele- 
 phant guns, which had at length come up, opening 
 fire into the pine wood forest. As the fire slack- 
 ened, a reconnaissance of the hill was made by 
 General Roberts and his staff ; but the result 
 showed that the mountain was so covered with 
 pines and brushwood that it formed an almost im- 
 penetrable barrier to the advance of troops, for the 
 growth was so thick that it was impossible to say 
 in which direction any movement should be made. 
 "The experience gained in the last six hours of hard 
 fighting had shown how difficult it was to keep
 
 FOR NA ME AND PA ME. 1 73 
 
 command over troops scattered along a front of 
 half a mile long in the forest where nothing could 
 be seen beyond a radius of a few yards. 
 
 The general therefore determined to desist from 
 the attempt to force his way direct to the top of the 
 Peiwar Khotal, and to march to his left, and so by 
 menacing the Afghan line of retreat to hasten the 
 movement toward the rear which had evidently 
 begun. The men were therefore brought back to 
 the plateau to the east of the ravine. - 
 
 Here they were halted for a time, and the con- 
 tents of their haversacks furnished them with a 
 meal. At two o'clock they again drew up on the 
 Spingawi plateau. The Second Punjaub Infantry 
 being left on the hill to oppose the Afghans should 
 they again advance in that direction, the rest of the 
 column entered the defile leading into the Hurriab 
 Valle} 7 , far in the rear of the Peiwar Khotal. 
 
 As soon as the enemy, who were still opposing 
 the Second Punjaub Infantry, saw the head of the 
 column enter the defile they were seized with a 
 panic lest their retreat should be cut off, and began 
 to retreat with the greatest haste, as they had to 
 make their way across two mountain ridges before 
 they could pass the spot toward which our troops 
 were moving. The advance of the column, how- 
 ever, was necessarily slow, as the woods and side
 
 174 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 valleys had to be carefully examined lest a flank at- 
 tack should be made upon them. 
 
 In two hours the head of the column emerged 
 from the forest on to the open slopes above the 
 highest cultivated point in the Hurriab Valley. It 
 was now four o'clock. The short December day 
 was drawing to a close ; no enemy were in sight, for 
 their line of retreat was hidden in the bed of the 
 stream a couple of miles further on, and no one 
 knew where they were to be found. The troops 
 were much exhausted with the want of rest and 
 with their heavy work, for they had now been 
 marching and fighting for eighteen hours, and they 
 were glad to receive the order to bivouac, although 
 they had no tents or food, and the cold, as might be 
 expected on a winter day at an elevation of over 
 nine thousand feet above the sea, began to be very 
 severe. 
 
 A number of the nearest trees were felled by the 
 pioneers, and huge fires were soon alight. There 
 was still some uneasiness, as no one knew where 
 the force under General Cobbe was, or whether the 
 attack on the Peiwar Khotal had been successful 
 or not. 
 
 While the Fifth Punjaub Infantry had been mount- 
 ing the spur half-way between the Peiwar and the 
 Spingawi khotals, the Eighth Regiment had moved
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 175 
 
 directly upon the pass. The Afghans, who had ex- 
 pected an attack, had remained under arms until 
 three in the morning, when, hearing no sounds in 
 our camp, they had been dismissed to rest. 
 
 Three guns of the Royal Artillery and two of the 
 Royal Horse Artillery took up their post eight 
 hundred yards in front of our camp, where their 
 fire at the crest of the pass would assist the ad- 
 vance of the Eighth. These, after two hours' march, 
 found themselves at seven in the morning on the 
 last spur, which is separated from the Peiwar Khotal 
 by a deep ravine. When it became daylight a few 
 minutes later the enemy caught sight of our artil- 
 lery in the valley, and at once opened fire. Al' 
 though they had six field-pieces at the top of the 
 hill, only three had been placed in position to com- 
 mand the valley and the ascent, and the mountain 
 battery which had arrived the afternoon before was 
 not brought to the front. 
 
 The three field-pieces and the mountain gun on 
 the spur kept up a continuous fire on our battery of 
 five guns. These were, however, almost beyond 
 their range, and but little damage was done. On 
 our side the fire was chiefly directed against the 
 mountain gun at the end of the spur, and at any 
 bodies of men who showed themselves. 
 
 The artillery duel went on for four hours, and in
 
 176 fon NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the mean time the infantry were engaged sharply 
 with the Afghans. These had taken up their posi- 
 tion in the woods on the other side of the ravine, 
 and kept up a continuous fire upon the Eighth. The 
 distance, however, was too great for much execu- 
 tion on either side, especially as both parties were 
 sheltered in the woods. 
 
 About ten o'clock the Afghans were seen gather- 
 ing in strength, as if to come down across the road 
 leading up to the khotal to attack the Eighth in the 
 rear. A squadron of the Eighteenth Bengal Cavalry 
 charged up the valley, and the enemy retired up the 
 hill again ; and, seeing that they could not cross 
 the road without the chance of being cut up by 
 the cavalry, they did not try to repeat the experi- 
 ment. 
 
 At eleven o'clock Brigadier-General Cobbe was 
 wounded in the leg, and Colonel Barry-Drew suc- 
 ceeded him in the command, receiving the orders 
 which had been given to General Cobbe that the 
 khotal was not to be attacked till there was some 
 evidence that the flank attack had shaken the ene- 
 my's defense in front. 
 
 At twelve o'clock, the guns with the Second Pun- 
 jaub Infantry alarmed the Afghans by their fire upon 
 the camp, and although the Afghan guns in front 
 kept up their fire, the musketry fire decreased con-
 
 FOR NAMJS AND PAMB. \**t 
 
 siderably. Seeing this, Colonel Drew ordered the 
 artillery to be brought up nearer. When, after 
 advancing three hundred yards, they came to a 
 ravine crossing the road, the Afghans, who had 
 come down the hill to meet them, opened a heavy 
 fire ; and the road being narrow, only the leading 
 gun could come into action. However, the two com- 
 panies of the Eighth, which were acting as an escort 
 to the guns, advanced in skirmishing order, and 
 drove the Afghans up the hill. The panic among 
 the Afghans on the plateau having now spread to 
 the troops at the khotal, their fire entirely ceased, 
 and the Eighth Kegiment descended the defile, and 
 began to climb the path to the khotal. Not a 
 hostile shot was fired, and at half-past two they 
 reached the enemy's camp, which they found de- 
 serted.
 
 178 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A PRISONER. 
 
 THE panic which had seized the Afghans when 
 they found their retreat menaced had been thor- 
 ough and complete, and when the Eighth Regiment 
 entered the camp they found that the tents were 
 standing, food had been left ready cooked, and 
 every possession had been abandoned. In the 
 artillery camp the gunners had left their silver- 
 mounted brass helmets and caps, as well as their 
 guns and carriages. A body of friendly Turis had 
 accompanied the column making a demonstration 
 on its flank, and these arriving upon the spot 
 plundered the Afghan camp of everything of the 
 smallest value. 
 
 No one knew what had become of the main body 
 under General Roberts. 
 
 The Bengal cavalry scouted for some distance in 
 advance, but found no signs of the enemy. Strong 
 pickets were set in case the Afghans should rally 
 and return. The tents were brought up from the
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 179 
 
 camp below, fires were lit, and the Eighth encamped 
 for the night. In the morning communication was 
 established between the two camps, and it having 
 been ascertained that the enemy had fled in the 
 greatest disorder toward the Shatur-gardan Pass 
 leading down to Cabul, there was no prospect of 
 further fighting. The Afghans had abandoned all 
 their guns, and even thrown away a great quantity 
 of muskets, in their rapid retreats. Great stores of 
 flour and other provisions were discovered in the 
 various villages and were divided among the 
 troops. 
 
 The winter was now setting in, and the Shatur- 
 gardan Pass might any moment be closed by deep 
 snow ; there was therefore no prospect of a renewal 
 of hostilities before the spring. Preparations were 
 made for hutting a regiment on the top of the 
 khotal. The rest of the force were to winter at 
 Khuram. General Koberts, with an escort of 
 cavalry, rode to the Shatur-gardan Pass, and 
 assured himself that the whole of the Afghan army 
 had fled beyond this point. 
 
 The troops were for some time kept hard at work 
 lowering the captured guns and ammunition down 
 to the valley. A portion of the troops advanced as 
 far as Alikheyl, the principal town of the plateau. 
 The Jajis, the inhabitants of the country, had
 
 ISO FOR NAME AND #A)t:. 
 
 hitherto been extremely hostile ; but, cowed by the 
 defeat of the Afghans, they submitted without 
 resistance. 
 
 On the 12th all the preparations for the return 
 were complete. It was known that there was 
 another pass from Alikheyl into the Khuram Valley 
 by the south : this had never been explored by any 
 European, but General Roberts determined to 
 return by it with a portion of his force, as the pass 
 might be found valuable in future operations. The 
 force detailed for the march through the Sappir 
 defile was composed of the Eighth Goorkhas, a wing 
 of the Seventy-second Highlanders, a company of 
 the Norfolk Rangers, the Twenty-third Punjaub 
 Pioneers, and a mountain battery. 
 
 The country through which the march was to be 
 made was inhabited by the Mongals, a turbulent 
 robber tribe. The column marched at nine in the 
 morning, and after their down march arrived at 
 the village of Sappir at mid-day. The road lay 
 down the Hurriab River till the KhuraiL. River was 
 reached, and then along the right bank, passing 
 through the village of Kermana, after which it 
 turned up a narrow road for two miles, till an open 
 plateau was reached, at the further end of which 
 stood the village of Sappir. It was reported here 
 that the Mongals intended to defend a defile and
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 181 
 
 hill pass two miles further on. The Twenty-third 
 Pioneers were therefore pushed on to occupy the 
 pass and bivouac there ; the remainder of the 
 troops camped in the village. 
 
 No signs of the enemy were seen either by the 
 Twenty-third Pioneers or in the vicinity of the 
 camp. The troops were to march at three in the 
 morning and the tents were struck an hour after 
 midnight. The track up the pass was excessively 
 steep and very difficult for the camels. The cold 
 was bitter, and in places where water had crossed 
 the road there were slippery surfaces of ice, which 
 hindered the camels considerably, and it was past 
 eight o'clock before the rear-guard arrived at the 
 top of the pass. From a commanding position 
 overlooking the defile and surrounding waste of 
 rugged and barren mountains not an enemy could 
 be seen, and it was hoped that the report of the in- 
 tended attack was a false one. The troops now 
 began to descend the defile, which was known as 
 the Manjiar Pass. Troublesome as the ascent had 
 been, the descent was infinitely more so ; and it 
 was with difficulty that the camels could be made 
 to go down the deep and slippery roads. 
 
 The gorge was five miles in length. The track 
 for the first part ran through a deep ravine of per- 
 pendicular walls, which narrowed in places to a few
 
 182 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 yards, overhanging the path until they seemed to 
 meet and form a tunnel, through which it ran. 
 Had an attack been made on the column as it 
 struggled with its difficulties through this portion 
 of the pass the result would have been disastrous ; 
 for it would have been impossible to place troops 
 on the heights to cover the advance. Here and 
 there side ravines broke into the road, in any of 
 which ambushes might have been laid. 
 
 It was not, however, until the difficult part of the 
 road had been passed, and a comparatively open 
 valley reached, that any of the natives were seen. 
 Then a few men were observed on the heights, but 
 as they were supposed to be shepherds no notice 
 was taken of them. Believing that all danger of 
 attack was now over, the general ordered all the 
 troops, with the exception of the baggage-guard, 
 which was composed of the Third Goorkhas, and a 
 few of the Seventy-second Highlanders and Norfolk 
 Rangers, to march forward to the camp, which was 
 to be pitched at a village called Keraiah in the 
 open valley. This, as the result proved, was a very 
 rash move. Before the head of the column had 
 extricated itself from the ravine numbers of the 
 country people were seen collecting in small de- 
 tached parties ; by degrees they closed in, and were 
 soon within fifty yards of the convoy.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME, 183 
 
 Captain Goad, in charge of the baggage, was 
 close to a small guard of Seventy-second High- 
 landers, when suddenly a volley was fired by the 
 Mongals. Captain Goad fell, his thigh-bone broken 
 by a bullet. Sergeant Green, with three privates 
 of the Seventy-second, picked him up, and having 
 placed him under cover of a rock, turned to defend 
 themselves. They were but four men against a 
 large number, but they stood steady ; and, firing 
 with careful aim, and picking off their men each 
 time, they kept the enemy at bay until help arrived. 
 Simultaneously all along the line of the baggage 
 column the Mongals attacked. 
 
 From the heights on both sides a fire was kept 
 up while the more daring swept down in parties 
 upon the rear-guard of Goorkhas commanded by 
 Captain Powell. The baggage-guard all behaved 
 with great steadiness, defending the path on both 
 sides, while the baggage animals continued their 
 way along it. 
 
 William Gale was on duty with the party, and 
 was, like the rest, busy with his rifle; a sergeant 
 next to him was hit in the leg, and Will, laying 
 down his rifle, stopped one of the camels, and as- 
 sisted the wounded man to mount it. The attack 
 of the Mongals became more furious as they saw 
 their anticipated prey escaping them in spite of all
 
 184 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 their efforts ; but their attempts to close were in 
 vain, and the convoy made its way down to the 
 village with the loss of one killed, and two officers 
 and eight men wounded. Captain Powell and 
 Captain Goad both died from the effects of their 
 injuries. 
 
 The enemy's loss must have been considerable, as 
 the fire of the troop was steady and accurate, and 
 the distance small. After a halt for a day or two 
 the column marched to Khuram, where it en- 
 camped. 
 
 Captain Herbert had reported to the colonel the 
 manner in which Private Gale had defended him 
 when wounded and attacked by three Afghans ; the 
 incident, too, had been observed by many of his 
 comrades, and as a reward the young soldier was 
 promoted to the rank of corporal ; and the colonel 
 told him that, had not similar acts of bravery been 
 performed in the hand-to-hand action on the 
 SpingawiKhotal, he would have been mentioned 
 for the Victoria Cross. 
 
 The mountain tops were now deep in snow, but 
 in the valley the temperature was very agreeable, 
 and the troops enjoyed their rest much. This was 
 not, however, to be of long duration. From the 
 lower end of the Khuram Valley runs off another 
 valley known as the Khost. This was an entire-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 185 
 
 ly unknown country to the Europeans, but it was 
 said to be extremely hostile. Parties had come 
 down and carried off cattle ; and at any time a 
 formidable raid might have taken place, and our 
 line of communication been entirely cut. 
 
 The country was ruled by an Afghan governor, 
 who sent in to say that he was willing to hand it 
 over to us. There was, therefore, no expectation 
 that there would be any resistance ; and the expedi- 
 tion was designed rather to overawe the country 
 and to obtain information as to its extent and capa- 
 bilities, than with any idea of permanent occupa- 
 tion. The column consisted of a squadron of the 
 Tenth Hussars, the Fifth Bengal Cavalry, the Twen- 
 ty^first and Twenty -eighth Punjaub Infantry, two 
 mountain batteries, a wing of the Seventy-second 
 Highlanders, and two companies of the Norfolk 
 Rangers. This force marched from Hazir-pir, and 
 halted for the night at Jaji-Midan at the head of 
 the valley leading to the Darwiza Pass, through 
 which the track runs into the Khost Valley. 
 
 At eight o'clock next morning the troops moved 
 forward. The ground was difficult, for the road 
 ran between terraced fields on the side of the 
 ravine, and obliged men and animals to pass in 
 single file ; it was not, therefore, until twelve o'clock 
 that the rear-guard moved out of the camp. Be-
 
 186 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 yond this point the road up the pass was not dif- 
 ficult ; from the summit a wide view was obtained. 
 At the end of the valley, six miles distant, the plain 
 of the Khost country was seen. It was seen that, 
 owing to the slow progress the troops were mak- 
 ing, the baggage-train, consisting of one thousand 
 camels, would not be able to reach the proposed 
 camping-ground at the lower end of the valley be- 
 fore dark ; the general, therefore, ordered it to halt 
 at the top of the pass, where the ground was open. 
 The Twenty-first Punjaubees and a mountain bat- 
 tery were to stay there for its protection, and bring 
 it on next day. The mules with the regimental 
 baggage went on with the troops. 
 
 The column met with no opposition. It halted 
 near the village of Bakh, half a mile from the foot 
 of the hills, where the valley widened into a plain 
 six miles long and four broad. The force encamped 
 here on the 4th, to allow the convoy to come up. 
 The following morning the column marched to the 
 other end of the valley, and the next day the 
 Afghan governor of Matun, the chief place of the 
 Khost, rode in to welcome the general. 
 
 On the 6th of January the force marched to 
 ]\Iatun. They found that this fort was a square- 
 walled inclosure one hundred yards each side, with 
 circular corner bastions. There was a central square
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 187 
 
 inclosure with round towers at its angles. As the 
 fort was approached, its garrison, which consisted 
 of one hundred local militia, were formed up in two 
 lines at a mosque outside the fort. The general, 
 with his staff, rode in, and a long interview took 
 place between him and the governor. The troops 
 encamped outside; in the evening information came 
 in from the villages in the plain that large numbers 
 of the Mongals, who inhabited the hills, were medi- 
 tating an attack. Strong pickets were posted, and 
 the night passed quietly. In the morning large 
 numbers of tribesmen flocked down into the villages 
 and gradually surrounded the camp. At one o'clock 
 the troops fell in. The cavalry were sent out against 
 the enemy in the northwest direction, followed by 
 the Twenty -eighth Punjaubees and No. 2 mounted 
 battery. The Mongals at once fell back to the hills. 
 The squadron of the Tenth Hussars were dis- 
 mounted, and ordered to Jkirmish up a small knoll 
 to the west. From this they drove the enemy, who 
 gathered again on a spur opposite. 
 
 Here they were charged by the Fifth Punjaub 
 Cavalry, and fell back higher up the ridge. The 
 mountain guns and infantry now arrived and speed- 
 ily drove them over the crest. General Eoberts 
 with his staff rode out to watch the skirmish ; and, 
 soon after he had left, the enemy, who occupied the
 
 188 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 village to the northeast, showed in force. Two of 
 the mountain guns opened upon them. On the 
 south they now approached, under the cover of the 
 old Afghan cavalry lines, to within half a mile be- 
 fore being perceived, and also occupied a walled 
 village there. The other two guns in camp shelled 
 the village, and soon drove the enemy out. 
 
 "When the general returned to camp at half-past 
 two he found the attack driven off in all directions, 
 and ordered the Twenty first Punjaubees, the Sev 
 enty-second Highlanders, and the Norfolk Eangers 
 to follow up the enemy to the east and southeast 
 with the mountain guns, and to burn the villages 
 which had sheltered the enemy. The first village 
 was found deserted ; at another, a quarter of a mile 
 behind, the enemy made a stand, but were shelled 
 out, and the plain beyond the Matun River was soon 
 covered with fugitives. Major Stewart, with forty 
 men of the Fifth Punjaub Cavalry who accompanied 
 the column, charged four hundred of them and cut 
 down many, until checked by the heavy fire of 
 matchlock men from the high bank. 
 
 No more fighting took place. The combination 
 of tribes which had attacked the camp were esti- 
 mated at six thousand men. Eighty prisoners were 
 taken. These, two nights afterward, took advan- 
 tage of a night alarm to attempt to escape, and
 
 FOR NAME ANT) FAME. 189 
 
 attacked the guard. The attempt, however, was 
 frustrated, but only after several of the prisoners 
 had been shot down. Some days passed quietly. 
 Reconnaissances were made up the valley. While 
 Waiting here the news of the capture of Canda- 
 har by General Stewart arrived. Parties of en- 
 gineers surveyed the country, and all passed off 
 quietly. 
 
 On the 25th a portion of the force marched back 
 to Hazir-pir. On the 26th of January the general 
 determined to withdraw this force altogether, as no 
 advantage was gained by its retention, and the gar- 
 rison would be constantly exposed to the attacks of 
 the natives, who were already threatening it. The 
 fort was handed over to Sultan Jan, a man of good 
 family, who was appointed to govern the Khost 
 temporarily. He had under him the guard of the 
 former governor, and some fresh natives, being in 
 all three hundred men. The head men of the vil- 
 lages were called together, and these promised to 
 obey his rule. Some, of the chiefs of the Mongals 
 and other neighboring tribes came in ; sheep were 
 given to them, and they were told that, so long as 
 they desisted from interference in the valley, no 
 steps would be taken against them. 
 
 The troops, however, had only made one day's 
 march when a messenger arrived from Sultan Jan,
 
 190 FOR KAME AND 
 
 saying that immediately the troops had marched, the 
 Mongals had come down to attack the fort. A strong 
 party were therefore marched back at once. After 
 destroying the stores and setting fire to the fort 
 they drew off the governor and marched back to 
 camp, the Mongals, although in great force, not 
 venturing to offer any resistance. On the return of 
 the force to the Khuram Valley, a wing of the 
 Norfolk Rangers was sent up to reenforce the 
 troops stationed on the top of the Peiwar Khotal, 
 as the Jajis and Mongals had been gathering 
 in large numbers, and threatening an attack on 
 that post. 
 
 William Gale was with his company stationed at 
 Alikheyl. The enemy abstained from any open 
 attack, but they often harassed the sentries. One 
 night Will was corporal in charge of a picket of 
 eight men posted at a hut hUf a mile from the 
 village. The object of the picket .was to prevent 
 any sudden attack being made upon the company, 
 who were in a small village a quarter of a mile i? 
 the rear where a large quantity of grain was stored. 
 Two men were posted as sentries some hundred 
 yards in advance of the hut. Will had visited the 
 sentry to the right, and finding all was well here 
 moved across to the left. 
 
 "Is everything quiet?" he asked the sentry.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. IQI 
 
 "I don't know, corporal. Two or three times I 
 have thought that I heard noises, and twice I have 
 challenged." 
 
 " What sort of noise ?" 
 
 " Once it seemed to be a crack like a dried stick 
 when some one treads on it. The other time it was 
 as if a stone had been dislodged." 
 
 " I will wait with you," Will said. " Two pairs 
 of ears are better than one." 
 
 Again there was a slight sound heard. 
 
 "I don't like to fire," Will said. "The alarm 
 would spread and the whole camp get under arms. 
 There is something moving, I am convinced, but it 
 may be only a stray bullock. I will go forward 
 and see if I can make it out, and do you stand ready 
 to fire if I am attacked. After doing so fall back 
 on the picket at once. If the enemy are in force, 
 hold the hut to the last. In ten minutes you will 
 have help from the village behind." 
 
 Holding his rifle advanced, in readiness to fire, 
 William Gale made his way forward cautiously to- 
 ward the spot whence the noise seemed to proceed. 
 When he was some forty yards in advance of the 
 sentry a number of figures rose suddenly from some 
 bushes and fired. 
 
 Will fired, and saw the man at whom he aimed 
 go down; but at the same instant three or four
 
 192 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 guns were discharged, and he fell to the ground 
 shot through the leg. There was a rush of men to- 
 ward him. A tulwar was waved and fell with a 
 crushing blow on his shoulder, and he became in- 
 sensible. When he recovered consciousness he was 
 being carried along, a man holding his arms and 
 another his legs. The pain was excruciating, and 
 he fainted again, after hearing, during his brief 
 period of consciousness, a sharp f usilade of musketry, 
 which told him that his comrades were defending 
 the hut against the enemy. When again he came 
 to his senses it was daylight. He was lying in a 
 small room, and an old woman was applying band- 
 ages to the sword-cut on his shoulder. Although 
 he did not know it, he was ten miles from the spot 
 where the attack had been made. Among those 
 who had taken part in it was the head of a small 
 Jaji village lying behind the hills. 
 
 This chief was a crafty old savage, who had been 
 desirous of remaining neutral in the strife. The de- 
 termination of his people to join in the attack by 
 the tribes had forced him to consent to their so do- 
 ing. Before starting he had, however, made them 
 swear that any wounded men who fell into their 
 hands should not, in accordance with the Afghan 
 custom, be instantly dispatched, but should be 
 brought back to the village. His intention was to
 
 FOR NAME AND FA MS!. 193 
 
 have some hostages. If the English repulsed the 
 attack and in the spring again advanced he would 
 be able to prove his good-will to the cause by hand- 
 ing the soldiers whom he had protected over to 
 them. 
 
 Upon the other hand, should the British fall back 
 and the Afghans advance in the spring, he could 
 hand the prisoners over to them, or send them down 
 to Cabul as a proof that his people had fought 
 against the British. He had himself accompanied 
 his men, and seeing after Will had fallen that he 
 was still living, had at once ordered two of his men 
 to carry him off to the village. 
 
 The attack upon the guard-house proved unsuc- 
 cessful ; the six soldiers defended themselves until 
 the company from the village behind came up to 
 the rescue. Several other attacks at various points 
 took place. But the British were on the alert, and 
 the hillsmen, finding that their enemies were not to 
 be taken by surprise, scattered again to the village. 
 The ball had fortunately passed through William 
 Gale's leg without either breaking a bone or cutting 
 an artery ; but the wound in the shoulder was more 
 serious, and the effect of the strain upon it in carry- 
 ing him brought on violent inflammation ; fever set 
 in with delirium, and for weeks the lad lay between 
 life and death.
 
 194 FOR NAME AND FAMB. 
 
 The old woman who nursed him was, like most 
 of her country people, skilled in the treatment of 
 wounds. The bandages were kept bathed with 
 water, snow was constantly applied to his head, and 
 a decoction of herbs given him to drink. His good 
 constitution was in his favor, and at last he re- 
 covered his senses, to find himself convalescent, but 
 as weak as an infant. In April the snow melted, 
 and the chief, having by this time found that the 
 English were not likely to advance beyond Ali- 
 kheyl, thought that it would best benefit his interest 
 to send his prisoner down to Cabul. 
 
 The ameer was reported to be about to conclude 
 peace with the British, and the chief thought that 
 he was more likely to receive a reward from him 
 for the care he had bestowed upon the prisoner than 
 from the English. Moreover, it would have been 
 difficult to send him into the English camp through 
 the hostile villages, while no unfavorable comment 
 would be incited by his sending his prisoner down 
 to Cabul. 
 
 "Will Gale was far too weak to perform the 
 journey on foot ; he was therefore placed on a camel. 
 The chief himself and four of his head men accom- 
 panied him as an escort, and a week after the pass 
 was open they started up the valley to the Shatur- 
 gardan, and thence descended- into the Logan 
 Valley below on the way to Cabul.
 
 POM frAME AttD FAMti. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE ADVANCE UP THE KHYBER. 
 
 NOTHING has yet been said of the doings of the 
 other columns, that under General Browne advanc- 
 ing by the Khyber Pass upon Jellalabad, that under 
 General Stewart by the Bolan Pass upon Candahar. 
 General Browne's force had been gathered at the 
 frontier line at the mouth of the pass awaiting the 
 reply of the ameer to the British ultimatum. None 
 having "been received up to the night of the 20th of 
 November, the advance took place in the morning 
 at the same hour at which General Roberts advanced 
 from Thull in the Khuram Yalley. 
 
 The principal defense of the Khyber Pass was the 
 fort Ali-Musjid. This fort stands on a most com- 
 manding position on a rock jutting out from the 
 hillside far into the valley, which its guns com- 
 manded. It was flanked by batteries erected on the 
 hillsides, and was a most formidable position to 
 capture. It was situated about six miles up the 
 valley.
 
 NAME AND FAMfi. 
 
 The force under General Browne was divided 
 into four brigades. The first, under General Mac- 
 pherson, consisted of the fourth battalion of the Rifle 
 Brigade, the Twentieth Bengal Infantry, the Fourth 
 Goorkhas, and a mountain battery. These were 
 ordered to take a mountain road, and, led by a 
 native guide, to make a long circuit, and so to come 
 down into the pass at a village lying a mile or two 
 beyond Ali-Musjid. 
 
 The second brigade, under Colonel Tytler, con- 
 sisting of the first battalion of the Seventeenth 
 Foot, the infantry of the Guides, the First Sikhs, 
 and a mountain battery, were also to take to the 
 hills, and working along on their crests to come 
 down upon the batteries which the Afghans had 
 erected on the hillside opposite to Ali-Musjid. 
 
 The third brigade, consisting of the Eighty-first 
 Eegiment, the Fourteenth Sikhs, and the Twenty- 
 fourth Native Infantry, and the fourth brigade, 
 composed of the Fifty-first Regiment, Sixth Native 
 Infantry, and the Forty-fifth Sikhs, were to advance 
 straight up the valley; with them was a mountain 
 battery, a battery of Horse Artillery, one of Royal 
 Artillery, and a battery of forty-pounders drawn by 
 elephants. 
 
 These brigades marched forward until they 
 reached some rising ground in the valley, whence
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 197 
 
 they could see Ali-Musjid at a distance of a mile 
 and a half in front of them. The enemy at once 
 opened fire. The gunners in the fort had been 
 practicing for some weeks, and bad got the range 
 with great accuracy, and their shot 'and shell fell 
 thick along the slope. The column was therefore 
 marched back behind its crest and there halted; 
 and the men were allowed to fall out and eat their 
 dinners, as it was desired that the flanking columns 
 of Macpherson and Tytler, which had very much 
 further to go, should reach the positions assigned to 
 them before the attack began. 
 
 The artillery, however, took up their position on 
 the crest, and opened fire on the fort. The effect 
 of the light guns was but slight, but the forty- 
 pounders produced considerable effect on the face 
 of the fort. After a halt for some time the troops 
 were ordered to advance. The Forty-fifth Sikhs 
 were first thrown out upon the hillside, and, work- 
 ing their way along on the right of the valley, 
 opened a heavy musketry fire against the Afghans 
 in the batteries there. Presently the Fifty-first and 
 Sixth Native Infantry joined them ; while the 
 Eighty -first, the Twenty-fourth, and Fourteenth 
 Sikhs worked along on the left. 
 
 The scene was one of the most picturesque ever 
 witnessed in warfare. From the fortress standing
 
 198 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 on the perpendicular rock in the center of the valley 
 the flashes of the great guns came fast and steadily, 
 while the edges of the rock and fort were fringed 
 with tiny puffs of musketry. From the rising 
 ground in the valley the smoke of the British guns 
 rose up in the still air as, steadily and* fast, they 
 replied to the fire of the fort. Both sides of the 
 steep hill slopes were lined with British infantry, 
 the quick flash of the rifles spurting out from every 
 rock and bush ; while continuous lines of light 
 smoke rose from the Afghan intrenchments which 
 faced them. Gradually the British skirmishers 
 advanced until they were close to the Afghan in- 
 trenchments on the hillsides abreast of the fort. 
 
 So far there was no sign that Macpherson's 
 brigade had reached the post assigned to it high up 
 on the hill, or that Tytler had worked round to the 
 village in the enemy's rear. Some attacks which 
 were made upon the Afghans were repulsed with 
 loss. Major Birch and Lieutenant Fitzgerald were 
 killed and Captain Maclean wounded, and between 
 thirty and forty of the rank and file were killed or 
 wounded. As the fort and its defenses could not 
 have been carried by direct attack without immense 
 loss of life, it was determined to cease operations 
 until morning in order to give the flanking columns 
 time to reach the positions assigned to them ; a
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 199 
 
 wing of a regiment from each brigade \vas ordered 
 to remain on the hillside facing the Afghan in- 
 trenchments ; the rest of the troops fell back a 
 short distance and lay down as they were for the 
 night. 
 
 In the mean time the brigades of Macpherson and 
 Tytler had encountered enormous difficulties on the 
 line of march. The roads they had taken were 
 mere tracks, and there were many places where it 
 was almost impossible to get the mountain guns 
 along. From daybreak until late at night the 
 troops labored unceasingly. They knew by the 
 dull roar echoed and reechoed among the moun- 
 tains that their comrades below were engaged ; and 
 the thought that a failure might ensue, owing to 
 their absence from the contest, nerved them to con- 
 tinued exertions. 
 
 Late at night Macpherson with his brigade ar- 
 rived on the top of the hill facing Ali-Musjid, and 
 Tytler with his column came down into the Khyber 
 Valley in rear of the fort. But, though unopposed, 
 their march had not been unnoticed, and late in the 
 evening the news reached the Afghans that the 
 British were marching down into the valley behind 
 them. A wild panic instantly seized them. Clothes, 
 ammunition, guns, everything that could impede 
 their flight, were thrown away, and the garrison of
 
 200 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Ali-Musjid and the Afghans in the hillside intrench- 
 raents fled, a herd of frightened fugitives, up the 
 valley. 
 
 Hasty as was their retreat they were not in time. 
 Tytler with his column debouched into the valley 
 before they had passed the spot where the moun- 
 tain path descended into it, and large numbers were 
 taken prisoners. As at the Peiwar Khotal, the Af- 
 ghans proved themselves capable of defending a 
 strong 1 position valiantly, but were converted into 
 a mob of panic-stricken fugitives by their line of 
 retreat being threatened. 
 
 A European army under like circumstances would 
 have fallen back in good order. Their force was 
 amply sufficient to have swept aside the little col- 
 umn which barred their retreat, and they would 
 have occupied a fresh position further to the rear 
 and renewed the conflict. Not so the Afghans. 
 The capture of Ali-Musjid brought with it the entire 
 demoralization of the Afghan army, which a few 
 hours before had been fully confident in its power 
 to repulse any attack which might be made upon it. 
 
 The British continued their advance, passed 
 through the Khyber Pass, and entered the broad 
 valley near whose head stands the town of Jellala- 
 bad. Beyond a few shots fired at them by tribes- 
 men high up on the mountain side they experienced
 
 FOR NA ME AND FA ME. 201 
 
 no opposition whatever, and a week after the fight 
 in the Khyber entered Jellalabad and encamped 
 around it. Further than this it was not intended 
 to go for the present. Winter was now close at 
 hand. Between Jellalabad and Cabul were a series 
 of most difficult passes ; an army advancing up 
 them would have immense difficulty to encounter, 
 and might find itself cut off from India by the snows. 
 
 In the Jellalabad Valley the weather is mild, large 
 stores of provisions were obtainable, and here it was 
 determined to remain through the winter, and to 
 recommence the campaign in the spring with the 
 advantage of the Khyber Pass, one of the keys of 
 Afghanistan, being in our hands. But a clay or 
 two after reaching Jellalabad, having defeated and 
 dispersed one of the two Afghan armies, the news 
 arrived of the capture of the PeiwarKhotal, the 
 second key of Afghanistan, and the utter rout of 
 the army defending it. Thus, in little more than a 
 week after the commencement of the campaign, 
 Sheer-Ali, the ameer, saw the entire overthrow of 
 the army which he had for so many years been oc- 
 cupied in organizing and training. 
 
 The positions which he had deemed impregnable 
 had both been taken after a single day's fighting, 
 and his capital lay virtually at the mercy of his con- 
 querors. In one short week his hopes and plans had
 
 j>02 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 
 
 been scattered to the winds. Sheer-Ali was not 
 wholly to be blamed. He had for many years re- 
 ceived an annual present of money and arms from 
 the British government; but upon the other hand 
 he saw Kussia marching with giant steps toward 
 his northern frontier, and contrasting the energy 
 and enterprise of the great northern power with the 
 inactivity which he may have supposed to prevail 
 among the men who governed England, he became 
 more and more anxious, and asked the English def- 
 initely to state whether he could rely upon them 
 for assistance should he be attacked by the Russians. 
 
 He received a reply from the Duke of Argyle, the 
 British minister for India, of a doubtful nature, 
 couched in terms which seem to have aroused his 
 resentment. From this moment there can be no 
 doubt that the ameer's course was decided upon. 
 He was between the hammer and the anvil, and as 
 he could obtain no guarantee of assistance from 
 England he determined to throw himself into the 
 arms of Russia. 
 
 Letters were exchanged between him and General 
 Kaufmann, the Russian viceroy in Turkestan, and 
 the latter gave him the warmest promises of support 
 if he would ally himself with Russia. 
 
 Although he had for years declined to accept a 
 British resident at Cabul or to allow Englishmen to
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 203 
 
 enter the country, he now, believing in the power 
 and willingness of Russia to help, received the visit 
 of a Russian general and staff at Cabul. 
 
 Unfortunately for the ameer the government of 
 England had now changed hands, and the ministry 
 at once sent to Sheer-Ali to demand that he should 
 receive a British resident. It was late in the year, 
 and the ameer, acting no doubt on the advice of his 
 Russian friends, sought to gain time by evasive 
 answers. The British government, who saw through 
 the ruse, ordered the envoy to advance with a strong 
 escort. This obliged the ameer to come to a final 
 decision, and the die was cast by the escort being 
 stopped by force on its arrival at Ali-Musjid. 
 
 There is no doubt that the ameer and his friends 
 calculated that it was already too late in the season 
 for the English to gather a sufficient force on the 
 frontier to force the passes held by the Afghan 
 army before the snows. The promptness of action 
 of the English government, the valor of their troops, 
 and the unusually late setting in of the winter com- 
 bined to overthrow the ameer's plans. Had the 
 campaign been delayed till the spring there can be 
 little doubt that the British in their advance would 
 have found themselves opposed, if not by a Russian 
 army, at least by an army led and officered by Rus- 
 sians, with Russian engineers and artillerymen.
 
 204 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 The promptness of their advance and the capture of 
 the passes and the dispersion of the Afghan armies 
 within a week of the opening of the campaign 
 altogether altered this position. 
 
 Sheer-Ali found himself a king without an army. 
 The plains of Cabul were thronged with the panic- 
 stricken fugitives from the Khyber and Peiwar, and 
 Sheer-Ali started at night from his capital with his 
 Russian friends and made for the north, sending 
 letter after letter ahead of him to General Kauf- 
 mann imploring the promised aid of Kussia. The 
 rapid course of events, however, had entirely dis- 
 concerted the Russian plans. 
 
 In the spring a Russian army might have ad- 
 vanced and cooperated with that of the omeer, 
 but the winter had set in, the distance was im- 
 mense, and the Russians unprepared for instant ac- 
 tion. The appeals of the unfortunate prince were 
 responded to with vague generalities. He was no 
 longer a powerful ally, but a broken instrument; 
 and heart-broken with disappointment and failure 
 the unfortunate Sheer-Ali was seized by fever and 
 died in an obscure village almost alone and wholly 
 uncared for. His son Yakoob Khan, who had in 
 his youth proved himself a brave and able soldier, 
 but who having incurred his father's displeasure 
 had been for years confined as a prisoner at Herat,
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 205 
 
 was now liberated and took his place as his father's 
 successor. He saw at once that with a broken and 
 disorganized army he could not hope to resist the 
 advance of the three British armies which, coming 
 from Jellalabad, from the heights of the Shatur- 
 gardan, and from Candahar, would simultaneously 
 advance upon his capital as soon as the snows 
 melted. 
 
 He therefore opened negotiations, and early in 
 May himself descended from Cabul and had an in- 
 terview with General Browne at Gundamuk, when 
 the preliminaries of peace were arranged and 
 signed. The terms insisted upon by the British 
 were not onerous. Yakoob was recognized as the 
 Ameer of Afghanistan ; the annual subsidy paid to 
 his father was to be continued. The Khyber Pass 
 and the Khuram Valley as far as the Peiwar Khotal 
 were to remain in the hands of the British, and a 
 British minister was to be stationed at Cabul. 
 "NV lien peace had been signed the greater portion of 
 the British army retired to India, and the Khuram 
 column, leaving two or three regiments in that 
 valley, also fell back. 
 
 While the first and second divisions had been 
 gaining victories in the Khyber and Khuram val- 
 leys, the column under General Stewart had met 
 with difficulties of another kind.
 
 206 FOB NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Between the Indus and the foot of the range of 
 mountains through which the Bolan Pass leads to 
 the lofty plateau land above, a great waste of sand 
 stretches. In the wet season this tract of country 
 is overflowed by the Indus; in the dry season it is a 
 parched and bare desert with its wells few and far 
 apart. There were great difficulties met with in 
 crossing this inhospitable plain, and the losses 
 among the baggage animals were great ; but the 
 labors up to this point were as nothing to those 
 which had to be undergone on the way up the Bolan 
 Pass. 
 
 This pass, whose ascent occupies three days, is in 
 fact the mere bed of a stream, covered deeply with 
 bowlders and stones of all sizes, in which the basr- 
 
 f O 
 
 gage and artillery horses sank fetlock deep. The 
 difficulties encountered were enormous, and vast 
 numbers of camels, horses, and bullocks died by 
 the way. Even with a double complement of 
 horses it was almost impossible to drag the guns up 
 the deep shingly pass, and great delays were ex- 
 perienced before the force intended for operations 
 against Candahar were assembled at Quettah. So 
 far the advance had taken place through British 
 territory, as Quettah has long been occupied by us. 
 When the advance began it was rapid. No 
 opposition was experienced by the way until the
 
 FOR NA ME AND FA ME. 20? 
 
 column arrived within a few hours' march of 
 Candahar, and then the enemy's attack was feeble 
 and easily repulsed. On the 9th of January Gen- 
 eral Stewart entered the city. 
 
 Candahar, though not the capital, is the chief 
 town of Afghanistan ; it stands in a slightly un- 
 dulating plain, and was at one time a city of 
 great importance and wealth. Its position is the 
 most important in Afghanistan. It bars the road. to 
 an enemy advancing from the north through Herat, 
 and threatens the flank and rear of one advancing 
 against India through Cabul. 
 
 The country around is extremely fertile, and 
 were irrigation properly used and a railway con- 
 structed to India, Candahar and the surrounding 
 country would again become one of the gardens of 
 the world. The authorities of the city made their 
 submission as the column approached it, and the 
 army settled down to quiet occupation, broken 
 only by isolated attacks upon individual soldiers by 
 fanatical Ghazis. \ 
 
 When peace was concluded one of the conditions 
 distinctly insisted upon by the British general and 
 agreed to by the ameer was that Candahar should 
 remain in our possession. The alleged advantage 
 thus gained, and the territory thus acquired, were 
 afterward abandoned by the British government
 
 208 FOR NAME AND FAME!. 
 
 succeeding that which had so vigorously carried out 
 the war. The occupation of Candahar by the 
 British had been insisted on at first, on the ground 
 that if Russia should make an advance against 
 India the British nation would have ample cause to 
 rue the cession of Candahar, for it was declared 
 that with this city strongly fortified and surrounded 
 by outlying Avorks ten thousand British troops there 
 could arrest the progress of an invading army how- 
 ever large, until England had had full time to put 
 forth all her strength and to assemble an army 
 amply sufficient to secure the safety of the most 
 valuable of our possessions the empire of India. 
 
 It was said that whatever allies Russia might 
 have prepared for herself by intrigues among the 
 princes of India, these would not think of moving 
 so long as they knew that the fortress of Candahar 
 remained as a British bulwark against an invading 
 force. It was represented that so long as this 
 place held out England would be able to devote her 
 whole force toward repelling the foreign invader, 
 instead of being obliged simultaneously to oppose 
 him and to put down a formidable rising in India 
 itself. It was, however, not the universal opinion 
 that the best policy of England was to occupy this 
 territory by an armed force, and subsequent events, 
 with the change of government in England, led to 
 a different determination-.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE MASSACRE AT CABUL. 
 
 AT each village through which William Gale and 
 his escort passed the inhabitants turned out and 
 hooted and yelled at the prisoner, arid it was with 
 the greatest difficulty that the chief protected him 
 from personal violence. William himself was scarce 
 conscious of what was passing. The swinging 
 action of the camel added to his great weakness, 
 and he would not have been able to keep his seat 
 on its back had not his captors fastened him with 
 ropes to the saddle. Although the snow had only 
 just melted on the Shatur-gardan Pass, in the 
 valleys below the heat of the sun was already 
 great, and often as it poured down upon him he 
 lapsed into a state of semi-consciousness and drowsily 
 fancied that he was again in his canoe tossing on 
 the tiny waves in the shelter of the reef. 
 
 On the sixth day after the start a shout from his 
 guard aroused him as they emerged from a steep 
 ascent among some hills. Before him an undulating
 
 210 FOR NA ME AND FA ME. 
 
 ground dotted with villages stretched for three or 
 four miles. At the foot of some steep hills to the 
 left of a wide valley was a large walled town which 
 he knew to be Cabul. 
 
 On the hillside above it was a strong building, 
 "half fort, half palace. This was the Bala-Hissar, 
 the abode of the ameer, and the fortress of Cabul. 
 In addition to the king's residence it contained bar- 
 racks, store-houses, magazines, and many residences. 
 Toward this the cavalcade made its way. 
 
 They halted two miles from the town, and the 
 chief sent his son forward to the ameer to inform 
 him that he had brought in an English prisoner, 
 and to request that an escort might be sent out lest 
 he should be killed by the people on approaching 
 the town. An hour after the man had left, a troop 
 of cavalry sallied out from the gate of the Bala- 
 Hissar and rode rapidly to the spot where the party 
 had halted. Surrounding the camel on which 
 William Gale . was mounted, they conducted it to 
 the fortress. 
 
 When he was lifted down from his camel Will 
 was unable to stand. Fever had set in again, and 
 he was conveyed to an apartment in a house near 
 the royal residence. The ameer was already 
 negotiating with the British, and orders were con- 
 sequently given that the prisoner should receive
 
 FOR NA MB AND FA ME. 211 
 
 every attention. The king's own doctor was or- 
 dered to attend him, and two attendants were told 
 off to take charge of him. The old chief received a 
 recompense for the care which he had taken of the 
 prisoner, which fully answered to his expectations, 
 and he returned home well satisfied with the suc- 
 cess of his policy. 
 
 For weeks Will lay between life and death, and 
 he was a mere skeleton when, two months after his 
 arrival, he was able for the first time to sit up at the 
 window and look across the valley. Very gradually 
 he recovered strength. He was well supplied with 
 food, and especially enjoyed the delicious fruits for 
 which Cabul is celebrated. His attendants were 
 an old man and his son, the latter a lad of some fif- 
 teen years of age. The father did his duty because 
 ordered to do so. but his scowling face often showed 
 the hatred which he felt of the Kaffir. The lad, 
 however, took kindly to his patient. He it was who 
 for hours together would, while "Will was at his 
 worst, sit by his bedside constantly changing the 
 wet cloths wrapped round his head, and sometimes 
 squeezing a few drops of the refreshing juice of some 
 fruit between his parched lips ; and as his patient 
 turned the corner and became slowly convalescent 
 his pleasure over the life he had saved by his care 
 was very great.
 
 212 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Like most soldiers in the expeditionary force, 
 Will had picked up a few words of Afghan, and had 
 greatly increased his stock during the time he lay 
 in the hut in the mountains. Alone now all day 
 with the boy, with nothing to do but to look out on 
 the town below and the wide valley beyond, he 
 made rapid progress, and was, by the time he was 
 strong enough to walk alone across the room, able 
 to hold some sort of conversation with his friend ; 
 for so he had come to regard his devoted attendant. 
 One morning the boy came into the room in a state 
 of great excitement. 
 
 " English officers are coming," he said, " with 
 soldiers." 
 
 " But I thought it was peace," Will exclaimed, de- 
 lighted ; " you told me peace had been signed at 
 Gundamuk two months ago." 
 
 " Yes, it is peace," the boy said ; " the officers are 
 coming in friendship to be here with the ameer." 
 
 Will was greatly moved at the news. When he 
 had heard, six weeks before, that peace was signed 
 he had begun to hope that some day or other he 
 should again be able to return to India, but the 
 news that some of his countrymen were close at 
 hand almost overcame him. The next day, which 
 was the 24th of July although Will had lost all 
 account of time he saw vast numbers of people out
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 213 
 
 on the plain, and presently far away he beheld a 
 large body of horsemen. These, the lad told him, 
 were the ameer and his body-guard accompanied 
 by the English officers. 
 
 Cannon were fired in salute, and the garrison of 
 the Bala-Hissar stood to their arms, and presently 
 Will saw a cavalcade riding up from the gate of the 
 fortress. First came some Afghan cavalry, then 
 rode a tall and stately man whom the boy told him 
 was the ameer. But Will had no eyes for him ; all 
 his thoughts were centered on the white officer who 
 rode beside him, Major Sir Lewis Cavagnari, the 
 English envoy. Behind, among the chiefs of the 
 ameer's suit, rode two or three other English 
 officers, and then came a detachment of some 
 twenty-five cavalry and fifty infantry of the Guides, 
 a frontier force consisting of picked men. 
 
 As they passed near his window Will stood up 
 with his hand to his forehead in salute. Major 
 Cavagnari looked up in surprise and spoke to the 
 ameer. -The latter said a few words in reply, and 
 then the cavalcade rode on to the palace. Ten 
 minutes later two of the ameer's attendants entered 
 and told Will to follow them. 
 
 He had that morning, for the first time since his 
 arrival in Cabul, put on his uniform. He was still 
 very weak, but, leaning one hand upon his attend-
 
 214 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 ant's shoulder, he followed the messengers. He 
 was conducted to a large room in the palace, where 
 the ameer and his adviser and the British officers 
 were sitting. 
 
 " "Well, my lad," Major Cavagnari said kindly, " I 
 hear you have had a bad time of it. The ameer 
 tells me that you were taken prisoner near the AJi- 
 kheyl, that you were badly wounded, and that after 
 the snow melted you were brought down here. He 
 says he gave orders that everything should be done 
 for you, but that you have been very ill ever 
 since." 
 
 ' I have been treated very kindly, sir," Will said, 
 "and I am now getting round. I owe my life 
 chiefly to the care and attention of the lad here, 
 who has watched over me like a brother." 
 
 Will's words were translated to the ameer, who 
 expressed his satisfaction, and ordered a purse of 
 money to be given to the boy in testimony of his 
 approval of the care he had taken of his patient. As 
 Major Cavagnari saw that the young soldier was 
 almost too weak to stand he at once told him to re- 
 tire to his room, adding kindly : 
 
 " I will ask the ameer to assign you quarters in 
 the same house with us ; we will soon bring you 
 round and make you strong and well again." 
 The same evening Will was carried over for the
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 215 
 
 fatigue he had undergone had been almost too 
 much for him 'to the large house assigned to 
 Major Cavagnari, his officers and escort. It was 
 built of wood, surrounded by a court-yard and wall. 
 A room was assigned to Will on the same floor as 
 that occupied by the officers. The Afghan lad had 
 received orders to accompany his patient and re- 
 main with him as long as he stayed in Cabul. 
 
 Will's progress toward recovery was now rapid. 
 He had no longer any cause for anxiety. He was 
 carefully attended to by Dr. Kelly, the surgeon of 
 the Guides, who had accompanied the mission as 
 medical officer. Lieutenant Hamilton commanded 
 the escort, and Sir Lewis Cavagnari was accom- 
 panied by Mr. William Jenkyns, of the Indian 
 Civil Service, as his secretary. The care of Dr. 
 Kelly and the influence of quinine and tonics quick- 
 ly added to Will's strength, but his best medicine 
 was the sound of English voices and the kindness 
 which was shown to him. 
 
 In a fortnight he was able to get about as usual, 
 and the doctor said that in another month he would 
 be as strong as ever. For two or three weeks after 
 Major Cavagnari's arrival in Cabul all went well ; 
 and it appeared as if the forebodings of those who 
 had predicted trouble and danger to the little body 
 who had gone up, as it were, into the lion's den,
 
 216 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 were likely to be falsified. That the mission was 
 not without danger the authorities and Major Cava- 
 gnari himself were well aware ; but it was im- 
 portant that the provision in the treaty of Gun- 
 damuk by which England secured the right of 
 maintaining a resident at Cabul should be put into 
 operation ; besides, the ameer had himself given the 
 invitation to Major Cavagnari, and had pressed the 
 point warmly, giving the most solemn promises of 
 protection. At any rate, for the first two weeks the 
 soldiers of the escort moved freely in the city with- 
 out molestation or insult, and it appeared as if the 
 population of Cabul were content with the terms of 
 peace, which indeed imposed no burdens whatever 
 upon them, and was supposed to have inflicted no 
 humiliation on their national pride. 
 
 On the 5th of August several regiments marched 
 in from Herat. These troops, which were con- 
 sidered the flower of the Afghan army, had, in 
 consequence of the distance of Herat from the seat 
 of war, taken no part whatever in the struggle. 
 Upon the very day after their arrival they scattered 
 through the town, and were loud in their expression 
 of hostility to the terms of peace. Had they been 
 there, they said, the Kaffirs would have been easily 
 defeated. Why should peace have been made at 
 the very first reverse, and before the best fighting 
 men had come to the front 2
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 217 
 
 That evening "Will Gale's young attendant came 
 to him in his room looking very serious. 
 
 "What is the matter, Yossouf ?" 
 
 The lad shook his head. " Trouble is coming," 
 he said. " The Heratee men are stirring up the 
 people, and the Bud mashes are threatening that 
 they will kill the English." 
 
 " But the ameer has promised his protection," 
 Will said ; " he has sworn a solemn oath to stand 
 by them." 
 
 " Yakoob Khan is weak," the boy said ; " he was 
 a great warrior once, but he has been in prison for 
 many years and he is no longer firm and strong. 
 Some of the men round him are bad advisers. 
 Yakoob Khan is no better than a reed to lean 
 upon." 
 
 The next day there were riots in the town. The 
 Heratee men taunted the people of Cabul with 
 cowardice, and the excitement spread in the city. 
 The soldiers of the escort could no longer stroll 
 quietly through the bazaars, but were hooted at and 
 abused, although of the same religion and race as 
 the people around them for the Guide regiments 
 were recruited from Pathans and other border 
 tribes. Day after day the position became more 
 threatening. The men of the escort were ordered 
 no longer to go clown into the town, where their 
 presence was the occasion of tumults.
 
 218 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 
 
 A native officer of one of our cavalry regiments 
 who was spending his furlough at a village near 
 Cabul came into the Bala-Hissar and told Major 
 Cavagnari that he feared, from rumors that reached 
 him, that the Heratee regiments would break into 
 mutiny and attack the embassy. The officer, who 
 was a man of immense courage and coolness, replied 
 quietly : 
 
 "If they do, they can but kill the three or four 
 of us here, and our deaths will be revenged." 
 
 He, however, made representations to the ameer 
 as to the threatening behavior of the Heratee 
 troops ; but Yakoob assured him that he could rely 
 thoroughly upon his protection, and that even 
 should the Heratee troops break out in mutiny he 
 would at once suppress the movement with the 
 Cabul regiments. Yossouf became daily more anx- 
 ious. Going into the town to buy fruits and other 
 necessaries he heard more of what was going on 
 than could the members of the embassy. 
 
 "Things are very bad," he said over and over 
 again. " It would be better for you all to go away. 
 Why does your officer stop here to be killed ?" 
 
 " It is his duty to stay at his post," Will said. 
 " He has been sent here by the commander-in-chief. 
 He is like a soldier on outpost duty, he cannot desert 
 his post because he sees danger approaching ; but I
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 219 
 
 wish with all ray^ heart that an order would come 
 for his recall, not only because of the danger, but 
 because I am longing to be back again with my 
 regiment ; and although I am strong enough to ride 
 down to the Punjaub now, I cannot go except with 
 Sir Lewis and his escort. Although it is peace a 
 single Englishman could not travel down to Jellala- 
 bad through the passes." 
 
 Will had from the first week after the arrival of 
 the mission fallen into the position of an orderly- 
 room sergeant. His duties were little more than 
 nominal, but he acted as assistant to Mr. Jenkyns, 
 and made copies and duplicates of reports and other 
 documents which were from time to time sent down 
 to Jellalabad. Being the only Englishman there 
 with the exception of the four officers, these greatly 
 relaxed the usual distance prevailing between an 
 officer and a corporal, and treated him as a civilian 
 clerk when in office, and with a pleasant cordiality 
 at other times. Except, indeed, that he messed 
 alone and kept in his own room of an evening, he 
 might have been one of the party. Each day he 
 reported to Sir Lewis the rumors which Yossouf 
 had gathered in the town. In his reports to head- 
 quarters Major Cavagnari stated that trouble had 
 arisen from the conduct of the Heratee troops, but 
 he scarcely made enough of the real danger which
 
 220 _ FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 threatened the little party. Had he done so, the 
 embassy would probably have been recalled. 
 
 " What have you got there, Yossouf ?" Will asked 
 one day when his follower returned with a larger 
 bundle than usual. 
 
 " I have brought the uniform of an Afghan sol- 
 dier," the boy replied, " which 1 have purchased 
 from the bazaar ; it is for you. I am sure that soon 
 you will be attacked. The English are brave, but 
 there are only four of them. Their soldiers will 
 fight, but what can they do against an army ? 
 When the time comes you must dress yourself in 
 these clothes and I will try to conceal you." 
 
 " But I cannot do that, Yossouf," Will said. " It 
 is very good of you to try and aid me to escape ; 
 but I am a soldier, and must share the fortunes of 
 my officers whatever they ma}'' be. If they fight I 
 shall fight. If they are killed I must be killed too. 
 I cannot run away and hide myself when the dan- 
 ger comes." 
 
 The lad hung his head. 
 
 " Then Yossouf will die too," he said quietly ; " he 
 will not leave his white friend." 
 
 " No, no, Yossouf," Will said warmly ; " you have 
 nothing to do with the business. Why should you 
 involve yourself in our fate ? You can do me no 
 good by sacrificing your life."
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 221 
 
 Yossouf shook his head. 
 
 " If," he said presently, " the time comes, and you 
 see that it is of no use any longer to fight, and that 
 all is lost, would you try to escape then ?" 
 
 " Yes," Will said, " certainly I would. When all 
 hope of further resistance is gone, and fighting is 
 useless, my duty would be at an end, and if I could 
 manage to escape then I should be justified in try- 
 ing to save my life." 
 
 Yossouf looked relieved. " Yery well," he said, 
 " then at the last I will try and save you." 
 
 " Still, Yossouf," Will said, " we must hope that 
 it is not coming to that. The ameer has sworn to 
 protect us, and he can do so. The Bala-Hissar is 
 strong, and he can easily hold it with one or two of 
 
 / 
 
 his Cabul regiments against the Heratee men. He 
 has three or four of these regiments here. He can- 
 not be so false to his oath as to allow his guests to 
 be massacred." 
 
 Yossouf made a gesture which expressed his utter 
 disbelief in the ameer, and then again went about 
 his duties. On the 2d of September, on his re- 
 turn from the town, he reported that there was 
 great excitement among the people, and that he be- 
 lieved that the night would not pass oif without 
 trouble. Major Cavagnari, to whom Will reported 
 the news, sent in a message to the ameer, whose
 
 222 FORNAMKAND FAME. 
 
 palace was within two or three hundred yards, and 
 begged him to take measures to secure the Bala- 
 Ilissar against any attack by the Heratees. 
 
 The members of the escort available for the de- 
 fense of the residency were but about fifty men. 
 Most of the cavalry were away; some were down 
 the pass with dispatches; the rest were stationed a 
 short distance off in the plain, as forage was diffi- 
 cult to obtain in the fort. The ameer returned a 
 curt message to Major Cavagnari, saying that there 
 was no cause for uneasiness. The latter, however, 
 doubled the sentries at the gate of the little in- 
 closure. 
 
 Just as the officers were about to retire to rest 
 Yossouf, who had a short time before gone out 
 again, telling Will that he would bring back news 
 of what was going on, ran in. 
 
 " The Heratees are coming," he said. " The gates 
 of the fort have been left open: The Cabul men 
 are all in their barracks. They are pouring in at 
 the gates ; do you not hear them?" 
 
 William Gale ran to the window, and could hear 
 a loud and confused noise of yelling and shouting. 
 He ran in to the envoy's room and warned him that 
 the Heratees were at hand. Without the loss of a 
 moment's time Lieutenant Hamilton got his men 
 under arms, and posted them at the upper windows
 
 FOR NAME A$D PAWS:. m 
 
 of the house, where their fire would command the 
 approaches to the gate. Quickly as this was done 
 the Afghans were close at hand by the time that 
 each man was at his post, and instantly opened a 
 scattering fire at the residency, shouting to the sol- 
 diers to come out and join them, and to bring out 
 the Kaffir officers to be killed. The Pathans were, 
 however, true to their salt, and in reply opened a 
 steady fire upon the mass of the enemy. With 
 wild yells the Afghans rushed at the gate, but so 
 steadily and rapidly did the defenders shoot from 
 the upper windows and loop-holes cut in the gate 
 that the assailants were forced to fall back. 
 
 " That's right, my lads," Major Cavagnari said 
 cheerfully to his men ; " we can hold the place for 
 some time, and the ameer will bring the Cabul 
 regiments down in no time and sweep away these 
 rascals." 
 
 The Afghans, now some thousands strong, as- 
 sisted by all the Budmashes and turbulent portion 
 of the population of Cabul, surrounded the house 
 on all sides, and kept up a heavy and incessant fire, 
 which was coolly and steadily returned by the 
 Guides. After an hour's fighting there was a sud- 
 den roar above the rattle of musketry, followed by 
 another and another. Simultaneously came the 
 crash of shells. One burst in the house, another
 
 224 FOR NAME AND 
 
 tore through the gate. Still there was no sign of 
 the Cabul regiments. 
 
 Eight or ten guns were brought to play on the 
 little garrison. The gate was broken down, and 
 nearly half the force of the house Avere already 
 killed or wounded by the musketry and shell fire. 
 Still they continued the defense. Over and over 
 again the Afghans swarmed up close to the gate, 
 only to fall back again before the steady fire of the 
 Snider rifles of the Guides. Major Cavagnari went 
 from room to room encouraging the men, while the 
 other officers and "Will Gale, taking rifles which 
 had fallen from the hands of men no longer able to 
 use them, set an example of cool and steady firing 
 to their men. 
 
 For four hours the unequal contest continued ; 
 then a cry arose from the men that the house was 
 on fire. 
 
 It was but too true. A shell had exploded in the 
 lower part of the house and had ignited the wood- 
 work, and the fire had already obtained so firm a 
 hold that it was impossible to extinguish it. A few 
 of the men continued their fire from the windows 
 to the last, while the rest carried their wounded 
 comrades out into the court-yard. As the flames 
 shot out from the lower windows the } 7 ells of the 
 Afghans rose higher and higher, and a fearful storm
 
 FOR NAMB AND FAME. 225 
 
 of lead and iron swept down upon the little band, 
 who were now plainly visible in the light of the 
 flames. Even now the enemy did not dare, although 
 numbering hundreds to one, to come too close upon 
 them, though they flocked up close to the gate. 
 
 "Now, lads!" Major Cavagnari exclaimed, "let 
 us rush out and die fighting hand to hand ; better 
 that than to be shot down defenseless here." 
 
 Thus saying he led the way, and charged out 
 upon the crowded foe. There were but Lieutenant 
 Hamilton and eight men to follow him; all the rest 
 had fallen. Dr. Kelly had been shot in the house 
 while dressing the wound of one of the soldiers. 
 Mr. Jenkyns had fallen outside. Will Gale had 
 twice been wounded, but was still on his feet, and, 
 grasping his musket, he rushed forward with his 
 comrades. A figure sprang out just as he reached 
 the gate, and with a sudden rush carried him along 
 for some paces. Then he stumbled over a fragment 
 of the wall, and fell just at the corner of the gate, 
 which had swung inward when burst open by the 
 enemy's shell. Confused and bewildered, he strug- 
 gled to regain his feet. 
 
 " Keep quiet, master !" Yossouf's voice said in his 
 ear. " It is your only chance of safety." 
 
 So saying he dragged Will into the narrow space 
 between the gate and the wall ; then as he rose to
 
 226 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 his feet he wrapped round him a loose Afghan 
 cloak, and pressed a black sheepskin cap far down 
 over his face. In a minute there was the sound of 
 a fierce struggle without. The shots of the revolv- 
 ers of the two English officers rang out in quick 
 succession, mingled with the loud report of the Af- 
 ghan muskets. The savage yells rose high and 
 triumphant. The last of the gallant band who had 
 for hours defended the embassy had fallen. Then 
 there was a rush through the gate as the Afghans 
 swarmed into the court-yard, till the space around 
 the burning house was well-nigh full. 
 
 Unperceived, Will Gale and Yossouf stepped from 
 behind the gate and joined the throng, and at once 
 made their way into the stables, where several of 
 the Budmashes were already engaged in their work 
 of plunder. Yossouf caught up three or four horse- 
 rugs and made them into a loose bundle, and signed 
 to Will to do the same. The young soldier did so, 
 and lifted them on his shoulder so as to partly hide 
 his face. Then he followed Yossouf into the court- 
 yard again. 
 
 Already there was a stream of men with saddles, 
 rugs, muskets, and other plunder making their way 
 out, while others were still thronging in. Joining 
 the former, Will and his guide were soon outside 
 the mclosure. At any other time his disguise would
 
 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 
 
 have been noticed at once, but in the crowd his legs 
 were hidden, and all were too intent upon plunder 
 and too excited at their success to notice him. 
 
 Once outside the wall he was comparatively safe ; 
 the light thrown over the court-yard by the blazing 
 house made the darkness beyond all the more com- 
 plete. Keeping carefully in shadow, Yossouf led 
 him along to a clump of bushes in a garden a hun- 
 dred yards from the house. Stooping here he pulled 
 out a bundle. 
 
 " Here," he said, " is the uniform. Put it on 
 quickly !" 
 
 It was but the work of a minute for Will to attire 
 himself in the uniform of the Afghan soldier. He 
 had still retained the musket which he had in his 
 hand when Yossouf had leaped upon him, and as he 
 now went on with his guide he had no fear what- 
 ever of being detected. He still carried the bundle 
 of rugs on his shoulder. As they walked round 
 toward the lower gate of the Bala-Hissar they met 
 numbers of villagers and townspeople thronging in. 
 These had waited to hear the issue of the attack 
 before leaving their homes ; but now that the arrival 
 of the plunderers from the residency and the cessa- 
 tion of the fire told of the successful termination of 
 the assault, they flocked up to join in the rejoicings 
 over the annihilation of the Kaffirs.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE ADVANCE UPON CABUL. 
 
 THROUGHOUT the long hours of the night of the 
 2d of September, while the roll of musketry and the 
 roar of cannon had gone on without a momentV 
 pause just outside the walls of his palace, Yakoob 
 Khan had made no movement whatever to protect 
 his guests or fulfill his own solemn promises. Silent 
 and sullen he had sat in his council-chamber. 
 
 The disgrace of a broken promise is not one 
 which weighs heavily upon an Afghan's mind, and 
 it is not probable that the thought of his tarnished 
 honor troubled him in the slightest degree ; but he 
 knew that the massacre which was being perpetrat- 
 ed at his door would be avenged, and that the 
 English troops which had so easily beaten the 
 army which his father had spent so many years in 
 preparing would be set in movement against Cabul 
 the moment the news reached India. He cannot 
 but have dreaded the consequences. But he ap- 
 parently feared even more to incur the hostility
 
 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 229 
 
 of the Heratee regiments by interfering to save 
 their victims. 
 
 Again and again during the night his wisest 
 councilors besought him to call upon the loyal 
 Cabullee regiments to act against the Ileratees, but 
 in vain. It is doubtful whether Yakoob was pre- 
 viously informed of the intended massacre, but 
 there is strong reason to believe that he was so ; 
 the proofs, however, were not clear and definite. 
 His conduct cost him his throne, and condemned 
 him to remain to the end of his life a dishonored 
 pensioner and semi-prisoner in India. 
 
 Many eager questions were asked of Will and his 
 companion as they made their \vay down to the 
 gate of the Bala-Hissar. Yossouf took upon him- 
 self to answer them, and they passed through the 
 gate without the slightest suspicion. 
 
 " Which way now ?" 
 
 " I think it will be safest to go into the city. We 
 might lie hid for a few days in some deserted hut, 
 but sooner or later our presence there would excite 
 comment. It will be best, I think, to go into the 
 city. In the quarters of the Parsee merchants 
 there are assuredly some who would give you shel- 
 ter. Domajee, who was the contractor for the 
 supply of the mission, would, I should think, be 
 best to go to. There is little danger, for norie will
 
 230 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 suspect your presence there ; his servants are all 
 Hindoos." 
 
 " That is the best place, Yossouf. I have been 
 down several times to Domajee, and he is certainly 
 devoted to the English ; we can but try him." 
 
 The first dawn of morning was breaking when 
 Will and his faithful friend arrived at the door of 
 the Parsee trader in the Hindoo quarter of Cabul. 
 The doors were fastened and barred, for it was im- 
 possible to say whether the attack upon the mis- 
 sion which had been heard going on all night might 
 not be followed by a fanatic outbreak against the 
 Hindoo and Parsee traders in the Hindoo quarter ; 
 therefore there was little sleep that night. Yossouf 
 knocked gently at the door. 
 
 " Who is there 2" a voice at once inquired from 
 within. 
 
 " I come on urgent business with Domajee," Yos- 
 souf replied ; " open quickly, there are but two of us 
 here." 
 
 There was a slight pause, and then the door was 
 opened, and closed immediately the two visitors had 
 entered. A light was burning in the large anteroom 
 as they entered it, and several Hindoos who had 
 been lying wrapped up in cloths on the floor rose to 
 their feet to inspect the new-comers. A moment 
 later the trader himself came down the stairs from 
 an apartment above.
 
 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 231 
 
 " What is it ?" he asked. He did not pause for an 
 answer. The light from the lamp he carried fell 
 upon "Will's face, now white as a sheet from loss of 
 blood. "With the one word, " Follow," the Parsee 
 turned on his heel and led the way upstairs. 
 
 " Has the mission been captured ?" he asked as 
 they entered an empty room. 
 
 " Yes," Will replied, " and I believe that I am the 
 only survivor." 
 
 The fatigue of climbing the stairs completed the 
 work caused by prolonged excitement and loss of 
 blood ; and as he spoke he tottered and would have 
 fallen had not Yossouf seized him, and with the 
 assistance of the Parsee laid him on a couch. 
 
 In a few words Yossouf informed the trader of 
 what had happened, and satisfied him that no sus- 
 picion could arise of the presence of one of the Brit- 
 ish in his house. As the residency had been burned 
 down, and the bodies of those who had fallen with 
 it consumed, no one would suspect that one of the 
 five Englishmen there had effected his escape, and 
 it would be supposed that Will's body, like that of 
 Dr. Kelly, had been consumed in the flames. 
 
 The Parsee was sure that Cabul would soon be 
 reoccupied by the British, and putting aside his 
 loyalty to them he felt that his concealment of an 
 English survivor of the massacre would be greatly
 
 232 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 to his advantage, and would secure for him the cus- 
 tom of the English upon their arrival at the town. 
 He first descended the stairs, and warned his Hin- 
 doo followers on no account whatever to breathe a 
 word of the entry of strangers there. Then he 
 again returned to the room, where Yossouf was 
 sprinkling water on Will's face, and was endeavor- 
 ing to recover him to consciousness. 
 
 " There is blood on the couch," the trader said ; 
 " he is wounded, and is suffering from its loss. See ! 
 the sleeve of his coat is soaked with blood, but I see 
 no mark on the cloth." 
 
 " No," Yossouf replied ; " he has put on that uni- 
 form since the fight." 
 
 "Go downstairs," the trader said ; "my wife and 
 daughter will see to him." 
 
 As soon as Yossouf left the room Domajee's wife 
 and daughter entered with many exclamations of 
 surprise and alarm. They were at once silenced by 
 the trader, who bid them cut off the wounded man's 
 uniform and stanch his wounds. Will had been hit 
 in two places. One ball had passed through the 
 left arm, fortunately without injuring the bone ; the 
 other had struck him in the side, had run round his 
 ribs and gone out behind, inflicting an ugly looking 
 but not serious wound its course being marked 
 by a blue line on the flesh behind the two holes of
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 233 
 
 entry and exit. The wounds were washed and 
 bound up, some cordial was poured between his lips, 
 and ere long he opened his eyes and looked round 
 in bewilderment. 
 
 " You are safe and among friends," the Parsee 
 said. " Drink a little more of the cordial, and then 
 go off quietly to sleep. You need have no fear of 
 being discovered, and your friends will be here ere 
 long." 
 
 Four of the Hindoo servants now, at the order of 
 the trader, came upstairs, and, lifting the couch, 
 carried "Will to a cool and airy chamber in the 
 upper story of the house. Here a soft bed of rugs 
 and mattresses was prepared, and Will was soon in 
 a quiet sleep, with Yossouf watching by his side. 
 
 It was but twenty-four hours after the massacre 
 that a well-mounted native from Cabul brought the 
 news over the Shatur-gardan Pass into the Khuram 
 Valley ; thence it was telegraphed to Simla, and in 
 a few hours all India rang with it. Not an instant 
 was lost in making preparations for avenging the 
 murder of the British mission. On the same day 
 orders were sent to Brigadier-General Massy, at that 
 time commanding the field force in the Khuram 
 Valley, to move the Twenty-third Punjaub Pioneers, 
 the Fifth Goorkhas, and a mountain battery to the 
 crest of the Shatur-gardan Pass, and to intrench 
 themselves there.
 
 234 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 A day or two later the Seventy-second Highland- 
 ers and the Fifth Punjaub Infantry ascended the 
 Peiwar Khotal to Alikheyl, to secure the road 
 between the khotal and the pass. The Seventy- 
 second then moved forward and joined the 
 Twenty-third Pioneers and Fifth Goorkhas on the 
 Shatur-gardan, and on the 13th General Baker ar- 
 rived there and took the command ; but some time 
 was needed before the advance could commence. 
 As is usual with the British, the great transport 
 train which had with such pains been collected and 
 organized for the war, had been dispersed immedi- 
 ately peace was signed, and the whole work had 
 no\v to be recommenced. 
 
 Vast numbers of animals had been used up during 
 the campaign, and there was the greatest difficulty 
 in obtaining the minimum number which was re- 
 quired before the troops could move. At last Gen- 
 eral Roberts managed to collect in the Punjaub 
 two thousand mules and seven hundred camels and 
 bullocks. The tribes in the Khruam Valley, too, 
 who had been kindly treated and were well satis- 
 fied with the change of masters, furnished many 
 animals for the transport of stores as far as the 
 Shatur-gardan. 
 
 The news had thrown the Gilgis and other tribes 
 among the mountains beyond the Peiwar Khotal
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 235 
 
 into a state of ferment, and several determined at- 
 tacks were made by them upon convoys on their 
 way up to the head of the pass. These, however, 
 were always successfully repulsed by the baggage 
 guards with considerable loss to the assailants, and 
 on the 26th September, three weeks from the date 
 of the massacre, General Koberts joined the troops 
 at Alikheyl and moved forward to the Shatur- 
 Gardan. 
 
 Daring this time two or three letters had been 
 received from the ameer, who wrote to General 
 Eoberts deprecating any advance of the British 
 troops, and saying that he was trying to restore 
 order, to put down the mutinous Heratee troops, 
 and to punish them for their conduct. 
 
 As, however, the details which had been received 
 of the massacre showed that the ameer had be- 
 haved in a most suspicious if not in a most treach - 
 erous manner at the time of the massacre, and that 
 if he possessed any authority whatever over the 
 troops he had not attempted to exercise it, no at- 
 tention was paid to his letters. 
 
 The advanced party of the invading force moved 
 down from the Shatur-gardan Pass. It consisted 
 of the Twelfth and Fourteenth Bengal Cavalry, 
 two guns of the Royal Horse Artillery, two com- 
 panies of the Seventy-second Highlanders, and the
 
 236 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Fifth Punjaub Native Infantry. The road was 
 found to be extremely steep and difficult, and much 
 labor was necessary before it could be made prac- 
 ticable for guns and wheeled carriages. No enemy 
 was encountered, and the little force encamped 
 at night in the Logan Valley, over which the cavalry 
 skirmished far ahead, but found no foes awaiting 
 them. 
 
 On the following day they made another march 
 forward, the brigades of Generals Baker and Mac- 
 pherson descending from the pass into the valley. 
 The advance force halted at Zerghun-Shah, and 
 soon after they had done so some of the cavalry 
 rode in with the surprising news that the ameer 
 was close at hand. 
 
 Half an hour later Yakoob Khan, attended by 
 some of his principal nobles, rode into camp. He 
 was received with the honor due to his rank, but 
 personally General Roberts greeted him with great 
 coldness. The ameer stated that he came into 
 camp because he could not control the soldiery of 
 Cabul, and that therefore he had left the place and 
 come in to show his friendship for the English. 
 
 Whatever may have been the motives for his 
 coming, they were never fully explained ; circum- 
 stances which afterward occurred strongly con- 
 firmed the suspicion that he meditated treachery.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 237 
 
 He was treated honorably ; but the guard of honor 
 which was assigned to him was in fact a guard 
 over him, and from that time he was virtually a 
 prisoner. 
 
 General Eoberts declined altogether to discuss 
 with him the events of the massacre of Cabul, say- 
 ing that this was a matter which could not now be 
 entered into, but would be fully investigated on the 
 arrival at the Afghan capital. The following da} r 
 the brigades of Generals Baker and Macpherson 
 joined the advance at Zerghun-Shah. 
 
 The amount of transport available was only suffi- 
 cient for half the baggage of the army, and it was 
 necessary, therefore, to moved forward in two 
 divisions the one advancing a day's march, and 
 then halting while the animals went back to bring 
 up the baggage of the second division on the follow- 
 ing day. 
 
 A proclamation was now issued by the gen- 
 eral and sent forward among the people of the 
 valley, saying that the object of the expedition 
 was only to punish those concerned in the massacre 
 at Cabul, and that all loyal subjects of the ameer 
 would be well treated. On the 3d of October 
 Macpherson's brigade, with the cavalry, reached 
 Suffed-Sang. Here they halted while the baggage 
 animals went back to bring up General Baker's 
 brigade.
 
 238 VOll NAME AND FAME. 
 
 The attitude of the people of the valley had now 
 become very threatening. Great numbers of hill- 
 tribemen had come down, and on this day an at- 
 tack was made upon the rear-guard, but was beaten 
 off with loss. That the natives were bitterly hostile 
 was undoubted, but they were for the most part 
 waiting to see the result of the approaching fight. 
 The Heratee and Cabul regiments were confident 
 that they would defeat the approaching column. 
 They had a great advantage in numbers, had been 
 drilled in European fashion, were armed with 
 Enfields, and had an enormous park of artillery at 
 their disposal. They were able to choose their own 
 fighting ground, and had selected a spot which 
 gave them an immense advantage. They were 
 therefore confident of victory. 
 
 Had the British troops been beaten the inhabit- 
 ants of the Logan Valley were prepared to rise to 
 a man. The Ghilzais and other hill tribes would 
 have swept down upon the line of retreat, and few 
 if any of the British force would have returned to 
 tell the tale. 
 
 The next day Baker's division had the post of 
 honor, and made a short march to Chaurasia. 
 Beyond this village the enemy had taken up their 
 position. Three miles beyond the village the 
 valley ends, a mass of hills shutting it in, with only
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 239 
 
 a narrow defile leading through them to the plain 
 of Cabul beyond. 
 
 Upon both sides of the defile the enemy had 
 placed guns in position and lined the whole circle 
 of the hills commanding the approach to it. Moun- 
 taineers from their birth, they believed that 
 although the British infantry might possess a supe- 
 riority in the plain, they could be no match for them 
 on the steep hillside ; and they no doubt thought 
 that no attempt would be made to storm so strong 
 a position, but that the British column would march 
 straight up the valley into the defile, where they 
 would be helplessly slaughtered by the guns and 
 matchlock men on the heights. Judging from their 
 own tactics they had reason for the belief that their 
 position was an impregnable one. 
 
 In their hill fights the Afghans never come to 
 close quarters. Posted behind rocks and huge 
 bowlders, the opposing sides keep up a distant mus- 
 ketry duel, lasting sometimes for days, until one 
 side or the other becomes disheartened with its 
 losses or has exhausted its ammunition. Then it 
 falls back, and the other claims the victory. The 
 idea that English soldiers would, under a heavy fire 
 from their concealed force, steadily climb up the 
 broken mountain side and come to close quarters, 
 probably never entered into their calculations.
 
 240 FOR NAME AND FAM&. 
 
 At daybreak on the 6th a working party were 
 sent forward to improve the road toward the defile. 
 But they had scarcely started when the cavalry 
 patrol in advance rode in and announced that the 
 enemy were in great strength on the hills, and had 
 guns in position to command the road. 
 
 General Roberts had now a choice of two courses 
 he could either attack the whole Afghan force 
 with the one division at hand, or he could wait un- 
 til joined by Macpherson's brigate next morning. 
 The feat of carrying such a position in face of an 
 immensely superior force with only half of his little 
 command was a very serious one ; but upon the 
 other hand every hour added to the number of hill 
 men who swarmed upon the flanks of the army just 
 be} 7 ond musket range. A delay of twenty -four 
 hours would bring the whole fighting force of the 
 tribesmen iirto the valley, and while attacking the 
 enemy's position in the front he would be liable to 
 an assault upon his rear by them. 
 
 Confident in the valor of his soldiers he chose 
 the first alternative, and at eleven o'clock his little 
 force marched out from the camp to attack the 
 Afghan army. 
 
 By this time the enemy's position had been recon 
 noitered, and it was found to be too strong for a 
 direct attack. It was therefore resolved to ascend
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 241 
 
 the hills on both flanks and so to drive their defend- 
 ers back beyond the defile. This in any case would 
 have been the best mode of assault, but against 
 serai-savage enemies flank attacks are peculiarly 
 effective. Having prepared for an assault in one 
 direction, they are disconcerted and disheartened 
 by finding themselves attacked in a different man- 
 ner, and the fear of a flank being turned and the 
 line of retreat thereby menaced will generally 
 suffice to cause a rapid retreat. 
 
 General Baker himself took the command of the 
 left attack. His force consisted of four guns of No. 
 2 Mountain Battery, two Gatling guns, the 
 Seventh company of Sappers and Miners, a wing of 
 the Seventy-second Highlanders, six companies of 
 the Fifth Goorkhas, two hundred men of the Fifth 
 Punjaub Infantry, and four hundred and fifty of 
 the Twenty-third Pioneers. This was the main 
 column of attack. The left column, under the com- 
 mand of Major "White, of the Seventy -second High- 
 landers, consisted of a wing of that regiment, one 
 hundred men of the Twenty-third Pioneers, three 
 guns of the Royal Artillery, and two squadrons of 
 cavalry. This attack was intended only as a feint, 
 and to distract the attention of the Afghans from 
 the main attack. A strong reserve was left in 
 Chaurasia to guard the baggage and to overhaul 
 the tribesmea.
 
 242 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 As General Baker's column reached the foot of 
 the hills the Twenty-third, who led the advance, 
 thrown out in skirmishing line, began to climb the 
 ascent. The enemy were armed with Sniders and 
 Enfields, and their fire was rapid and continuous ; 
 fortunately it was by no means accurate, and our 
 losses were small. 
 
 The Afghans in their hill fighting are accustomed 
 to fire very slowly and deliberately, taking steady 
 aim with their guns resting on the rocks, and so 
 fighting they are excellent shots. It is probable, 
 however, that the steady advance of our men to- 
 ward them flurried and disconcerted them, and that 
 they thought more of firing quickly than of taking 
 a correct aim. The Seventy- second pressing up the 
 hill were assisted by the fire of the mountain guns 
 and Gatlings, and by that of the Pun jaubees in their 
 rear. Gradually the upper slopes of the hills were 
 gained, and the British troops pressing forward 
 drove the Afghans back along the crest. Several 
 times they made obstinate stands, holding their 
 ground until the Seventy-second were close to them. 
 
 These, however, would not be denied. The mas- 
 sacre of the mission at Cabul had infuriated the 
 soldiers, and each man was animated with a stern 
 determination to avenge our murdered countrymen. 
 For an hour and a half the fight continued, and
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 343 
 
 then the Afghans abandoned the ridge and fled in 
 confusion. They rallied upon some low hills six 
 hundred yards from the rear, but the mountain guns 
 and Gatlings opened upon them, and the whole line 
 advancing to the attack, the enemy fell back. Ma- 
 jor "White's column had been doing excellent serv- 
 ice on the right. Although the attack had been 
 intended only as a feint, it was pushed forward so 
 vigorously that it met with a success equal to that 
 which had attended the main column on the left. 
 The enemy were driven off the hills on the right of 
 the defile. Twenty guns were captured, and the 
 direct road cleared of the enemy. 
 
 Unfortunately, our cavalry was in the rear. The 
 road through the pass was difficult, and before they 
 could get through into the plain on the other sicle the 
 masses of Afghans had fallen back into the strong 
 villages scattered over it, and could not be attacked 
 by cavalry alone. The enemy had from nine thou- 
 sand to ten thousand men upon the ridge, including 
 thirteen regiments of regular troops. They left 
 three hundred dead upon the field, and besides these 
 carried off large- numbers of killed and wounded 
 during the fight. Upon our side only twenty were 
 killed and sixty-seven wounded. 
 
 Had General Eoberts had his whole force with 
 him, he could after capturing the hills have at once
 
 044 fOn NAME ANT) 
 
 pushed forward and have attacked the enemy on 
 the plain, and the Afghans, disheartened and panic- 
 stricken, would have been completely crushed. 
 With so small a force in hand, and the possibility 
 of a serious attack by the tribes on his rear, Gen- 
 eral Roberts did not think it prudent to advance 
 further, and the regiments which had taken the 
 principal part in the massacre of Cabul marched 
 away unmolested. 
 
 Enormously superior as they still were in num- 
 bers they had no thought of further resistance. 
 The capture of positions which they deemed im- 
 pregnable by a force so inferior in number to their 
 own had utterly disheartened them, and the 
 Heratee regiments, which but the day before had 
 been so proudly confident of their ability to exter- 
 minate the Kaffirs, were now utterly demoralized 
 and panic-stricken. In the night the whole of the 
 Afghan troops scattered and fled. Our cavalry, 
 under General Massy, swept along the plain of 
 Cabul, and, skirting the town, kept on as far as the 
 ameer's great intrenched camp at Sherpur, three 
 miles further along the valley. Here seventy-five 
 guns were captured. 
 
 In the morning Macpherson arrived. General 
 Roberts now advanced with his whole force of 
 infantry and found that he had no longer a foe
 
 ffOR NAME AND FAME. 345 
 
 before him. The Afghan army had disappeared. 
 There \vas no longer any occasion for haste, and 
 the column halted until all the baggage had been 
 brought up through the difficult defile. The total 
 defeat of the Afghan army had overawed the 
 tribesmen, and these at once retired to their hills 
 again. 
 
 The villagers, however, were bitterly hostile, and 
 seized every opportunity of firing at small bodies of 
 troops on cavalry patrols. This continued for some 
 time, and General Roberts at last was obliged to 
 punish it with severity, and in such cases all found 
 with arms in their hands were at once shot. On 
 the llth of October Sir Frederick Roberts and his 
 staff with a cavalry escort rode into the Bala- 
 Hissar, and the next morning the British troops 
 inarched into the fort. The gates of Cabul stood 
 open, and a column was marched through the town 
 and formal possession taken of it. 
 
 During the first five weeks which elapsed after 
 the massacre of the mission William Gale remained 
 almost prostrate in the house of the friendly Parsee 
 trader. He had barely recovered his strength after 
 his prolonged illness when the attack was made, 
 and the events of that night, and the great loss of 
 blood which he had suffered, had reduced his 
 strength to that of an infant. Under the care of
 
 46 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the Parsee and his family, however, he slowly but 
 steadily regained strength. For the first mont.h 
 but little news from without reached him ; then a 
 report came that the British had assembled in con- 
 siderable force on the crest of the Shatur-gardan, 
 and were going to move on Cabul from that direc- 
 tion. Then day by day the tidings came in of the 
 advance of the force. 
 
 It was reported generally that the ameer had 
 gone out to meet them, with the intention of 
 leaving them when the decisive moment arrived 
 and taking command of the tribesmen, who would 
 fall upon and annihilate them. On the 6th the 
 town was unusually quiet, and Will heard that the 
 Afghan army had moved out to occupy the hills 
 commanding the approach through the defile, and 
 that with the aid of the tribesmen the British army 
 was to be exterminated there.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 247 
 
 CHAPTER XV, 
 
 THE FIGHTIXG ROUND CABUL. 
 
 ALL day long on the 6th of October William 
 Gale sat at an open window in the upper story of 
 the Parsee's house facing west, and listened to the 
 distant roar of the battle, while all Cabul was in a 
 state of wild excitement in the sure anticipation of 
 victory. Will felt equally confident as to the result 
 of the battle. He knew that, well led, a British 
 force could be trusted to carry any position held by 
 the Afghans, and he fejt sure that even should he 
 fail to carry it by direct attack the English general 
 would sooner or later succeed in turning it by flank 
 movements. 
 
 About two o'clock in the afternoon William 
 noticed a change in the character of the sounds in 
 the town. In the Hindoo quarter all had been 
 quiet, for the inhabitants greatly feared that, in a 
 burst of fanaticism following a victory achieved 
 over the British, the Afghans might sack the 
 Hindoo quarter and murder its inhabitants.
 
 248 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Yossouf, however, had been all the morning out in 
 the town, and had from time to time brought in a 
 report of the rumors current there. 
 
 At first it was said that the British were being 
 utterly routed, that they were being exterminated 
 by the Afghan fire, that the hill-tribes were sweep- 
 ing down upon their rear, and that not a man would 
 escape. Presently the reports became more con- 
 tradictor}^. The firing was still heard, but it was 
 no longer one continuous roll. Some said that the 
 British were annihilated ; others that, repulsed in 
 their attack, they had fallen back to their camp ; 
 but soon after two o'clock Yossouf rushed up t? 
 William's room with the news that the Afghans had 
 been driven from the heights, and that the British 
 were in possession of these and of the defile through 
 them. Yossouf had throughout the morning been 
 swayed by conflicting emotions and wishes. At 
 one moment he hoped that his countrymen might 
 conquer ; then the fear that after victory the Hin- 
 doo quarter might be sacked and his English friend 
 discovered and killed, overpowered his feeling of 
 patriotism. 
 
 It must be remembered that Afghanistan has for 
 centuries been rather a geographical expression than 
 a country. Its population is composed of a great 
 number of tribes without any common feelings or
 
 FOR NAME AND FA MB. 249 
 
 interest, and often engaged in desperate wars and 
 conflicts with each other. The two leading tribes, 
 the Ghilzais and Durances, had long struggled for 
 ascendency in the cultivated portion of the coun- 
 try. For a long period the Ghilzais had had the 
 supremacy, but the Durances were now lords of the 
 country. 
 
 The mountain tribes for the most part held them- 
 selves entirely independent, and although in time 
 they gave a nominal allegiance to the Ameer of Ca- 
 bul, yet,, as had been shown in the Khuram Valley, 
 they hated their native masters with an animosity 
 far exceeding that which they felt toward the Brit- 
 ish. That throughout the war the tribesmen were 
 ready when they saw an opportunity to attack Eng- 
 lish convoys and small columns is true, but they were 
 animated by a love of plunder rather than of coun- 
 try ; and over a considerable area of Afghanistan, 
 notably at Candahar, the people in general would 
 have infinitely preferred the mild and just rule of 
 the English to the military tyranny of Cabul. 
 
 Thus Yossouf had grown up without understand- 
 ing the meaning of the feeling which we call pa- 
 triotism. He had, it is true, been taught to hate the 
 unbelievers, but this feeling had disappeared on his 
 acquaintance with Will Gale, and he now ranked 
 the safety and happiness of his friend far before any 
 national consideration.
 
 250 MR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 How weak is the feeling of patriotism among the 
 Afghans is shown by the fact that most of the Brit- 
 ish frontier troops consist of Afghan hill men, who 
 are always ready, when called upon, to fight des- 
 perately against their countrymen and co-religion- 
 ists. Examples of treachery, such as that exhibited 
 by the two Pathans who fired their guns to warn 
 their countrymen of the British advance up the 
 Spingwai Pass, are almost unknown. 
 
 It was, then, with a feeling of joy that Yossouf 
 related to his English friends the news of the defeat 
 of the Afghan army. Throughout the Hindoo 
 quarter there was deep but suppressed gladness at 
 the news of the British victory, and this increased 
 when, as the night went on, it was known that the 
 Afghan army was totally dispersed, that the troops 
 remaining in Cabul had fled, and that the city was 
 virtually open for the entrance of the English. 
 
 When, on the 12th, with bands playing and colors 
 displayed, the British troops marched through 
 Cabul, Will would fain have gone out and joined 
 his countrymen. But the Parsee pointed out to 
 him that this would draw the attention of the 
 Afghans to the fact that he had been concealed by 
 him, and that in case at any time the British should 
 evacuate Cabul and return to India he would be a 
 marked man for the vengeance of the Afghans,
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 25 1 
 
 Will, therefore, wrapped up in a long cloak and ac- 
 companied by Yossouf and the Parsee, left the 
 house after dark, and proceeding to the gate walked 
 out to the Bala-Hissar. 
 
 Explaining who he was, Will was soon passed 
 through the sentries which had been set at night- 
 fall, and w r as conducted to the quarters of the 
 general. The latter was greatly surprised when he 
 was told that an English soldier who had been 
 present at the attack upon the mission wished to 
 speak to him, and at once ordered Will to be 
 brought before him. Great was his surprise when 
 he learned from the young soldier that he had 
 fought under him at the taking of Peiwar Khotal, 
 and having been made prisoner near Alikheyl had 
 been brought to Cabin, and had joined the party of 
 Sir Lewis Cavagnari on its arrival at that city. 
 Still more that, having been in the residency when 
 the attack upon it was commenced by the Heratee 
 soldiery, he had managed to escape from the mas- 
 sacre of that night. 
 
 After having first heard a complete outline of 
 Will's story the general called in several of his staff, 
 who had just finished dinner, and then requested 
 Will to give a full and detailed description of his 
 adventures. After he had concluded, Yossouf and 
 the Parsee were called in, and the general warmly
 
 252 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 expressed his gratification at the kindness that they 
 had shown to a wounded English soldier at the risk 
 of their lives. 
 
 He ordered that a handsome present should be 
 made to Yossouf, and told the Parsee to call again 
 in the morning, when the quartermaster-general 
 would be told to arrange with him for the supply 
 of such articles as the country afforded for the use 
 of the troops. 
 
 " Your regiment," he said to Will, " is at present 
 at Jellalabad ; whether it will come up here I do 
 not yet know, but in the mean time you will be 
 promoted to the rank of sergeant, which is the 
 least we can do after what you have gone through, 
 and you will take your place with my staff orderly 
 sergeants." 
 
 He then sent for one of the sergeants and gave 
 Will into his charge, telling him he would speak 
 further with him when he had arranged the press- 
 ing business which the occupation of Cabul en- 
 tailed upon him. 
 
 Yossouf remained with Will, being at his urgent 
 request placed upon the roll as a native follower, of 
 whom a considerable number accompany each regi- 
 ment in India. His duties were but nominal, for 
 when Will's story was \vell known Yossouf became 
 a most popular character among the sergeants of
 
 #0 H NAME A ND FA ME. 253 
 
 the staff. The money which he had received, in the 
 first place from the ameer and now from General 
 Roberts, would secure his future. In Afghanistan 
 animals are cheap, and the owner of a small herd of 
 oxen, sheep, or even goats is regarded by his neigh- 
 bors as a wealthy man. Therefore Yossouf would, 
 on the departure of the British, be able to settle 
 down in a ]5fcsition of comparative affluence. 
 
 Two days later General Roberts, being one even- 
 ing disengaged, sent for William Gale. He had 
 been much struck with the bearing and manner of 
 the young soldier, and now requested him to give 
 him a full history of his antecedents. 
 
 " You have had a curious and eventful history," 
 he said when the young sergeant had finished, " and 
 appear to have conducted yourself with great dis- 
 cretion, readiness, and courage. From what you 
 tell me of your conversation with Colonel Shepherd 
 I have no doubt that he formed the same impres- 
 sion that I do from your manner and appearance, 
 that you are of a respectable if not of good family, 
 and I trust that you will some day discover a clew 
 to your parents. It seems to me that had the 
 authorities of the place where you were left prop- 
 erly bestirred themselves they ought to have been 
 able to find out who you are. However, that is not 
 to the point now. It is sufficient for me that from
 
 254 FOR NAME AND FAM& 
 
 your manner and address you would not be out of 
 place in any position. I shall, of course, report the 
 fact of your having fought by Major Cavagnari's 
 side in the attack upon him here, and shall strongly 
 recommend that a commission be granted you. I 
 am sure that from your conduct hitherto you will 
 never do discredit to any position in which you may 
 findy ourself. Say nothing to your fello \v-sergeants 
 of what I have told you. It is possible, although 
 not probable, that my recommendation may not be 
 acted upon, and at any rate some months must elapse 
 before an answer can be received." 
 
 William Gale returned to his quarters in a state of 
 extreme delight. The communication which General 
 Roberts had made to him was altogether beyond 
 his hopes, lie had indeed from the very day that 
 he enlisted often hoped that some time or other he 
 might win for himself a commission, and take his 
 place in the rank to which he had from his child- 
 hood believed that he was by birth entitled. The 
 words and manner of his colonel had encouraged 
 this hope, but he had never dreamed that his pro- 
 motion might be attained so soon. It was but a 
 year since he had enlisted, and five was the very 
 earliest at which he had even dreamed that a com- 
 mission might possibly be gained. 
 
 The next day he had been sent from the orderly
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 255 
 
 room with a note to the colonel of the Sixty- 
 seventh, which was the regiment now in quarters in 
 the Bala-Hissar, the rest of the force being en- 
 camped in the plain below. As he was walking 
 across the open he was suddenly hurled to the 
 ground with tremendous violence, and at the same 
 moment a roar as loud as that of thunder sounded 
 in his ears. Bewildered and half-stunned be rose 
 to his feet, while showers of stones, beams, and 
 other debris fell around him. 
 
 One of the gunpowder magazines had exploded. 
 It had been known that very large quantities of 
 powder were stored in various buildings at the Bala- 
 Hissar, and at the moment of the explosion a body 
 of engineers under Captain Shafto were examining 
 the buildings in which it was stored, and making 
 preparation for the removal of the powder. Singu- 
 larly enough no soldiers of the Sixty-seventh were 
 killed, but of the Goorkhas who were on guard at 
 the arsenal at the time twelve were killed and 
 seven wounded. Shafto was unfortunately killed. 
 The Sixty-seventh were at once called out and set 
 to work to extinguish the flames which had been 
 kindled by the explosion, great damage being done. 
 The southern wall of the arsenal had been blown 
 down and several buildings set on fire. Explosion 
 followed explosion, and the work of extinguishing
 
 256 FOR NAME AND FAME!. 
 
 the flames was an extremely dangerous one. Iri 
 the afternoon another magazine blew up; fortu- 
 nately no troops were in its neighborhood at the 
 time, but four Afghans were killed and several sol- 
 diers hurt at a distance of three or four hundred 
 yards from the spot. 
 
 Although it was never proved, it was strongly 
 believed that these explosions were caused by the 
 Afghans, and as large quantities of powder still re- 
 mained in the Bala-Hissar, it was determined that 
 for the present the place should be evacuated. The 
 general, therefore, with his staff and the regiment in 
 garrison left the place and joined the camp in the 
 plain. 
 
 The little force at Cabul was now isolated. 
 Troops were slowly coming up the Khyber Pass 
 to Jellalabad, where a division was to be formed, 
 destined in the spring to join the force at Cabul 
 should it be necessary to carry on further opera- 
 tions. 
 
 Between Cabul and the Shatur-gardan the na- 
 tives were in a restless and excited state. Two 
 attacks by three thousand men had been made on 
 the garrison holding the crest of the latter position, 
 three hundred in number. These bravely sallied 
 out, attacked the enemy in the open, and killed 
 large numbers of them. Still great numbers of the
 
 FOE NAME AND FAMti. . 257 
 
 tribesmen were gathered round, and General Gough, 
 with the Fifth Punjaubee Cavalry, the Fifth Pun- 
 jaubee Infantry, and four guns, was therefore sent 
 from Cabul to bring down from the Shatur-gardan 
 the garrison and all the stores accumulated there. 
 The pass, which would shortly be closed by snow, 
 was then to be deserted. 
 
 Several executions now took place at Cabul of 
 men who were proved to have shared in the attack 
 on the embassy. Some of the leading men of the 
 place, who had instigated the troops to the attack, 
 were among those executed. Many of the villagers 
 were also hanged for shooting at detached bodies of 
 our troops. A proclamation had been issued by the 
 general on his first arrival, warning the people that 
 any attempt against our authority would be severely 
 punished, forbidding the carrying of weapons within 
 the streets of Cabul, or within a distance of five 
 miles of the city gates, and offering a reward for all 
 arms belonging to the Afghan troops, which should 
 be given up, and for the surrender of any person, 
 whether soldier or civilian, concerned in the attack 
 on the embassy. 
 
 The position of the British force at Cabul was 
 that of a body holding only the ground they occu- 
 pied in the midst of a bitterly hostile country. 
 
 The ameer was powerless, and indeed his good*
 
 258 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 will was more than doubtful. He had from his 
 arrival in the camp been regarded as a prisoner, 
 although treated with courtesy ; and after the battle 
 of Chaurasia, feeling his own impotence, and being 
 viewed with hostility by both parties, he resigned 
 his position as ameer, and asked to be sent to India, 
 which was done. The abdication of the ameer 
 really took place on the day the troops entered 
 Cabul, but it was not publicly known until the end 
 of the month, as nothing could be done on the sub- 
 ject until his desire was communicated to the 
 Indian authorities and their views concerning it 
 ascertained. 
 
 From the moment of his arrival at Cabul General 
 Roberts had set to work to prepare for the winter. 
 He would for four or five months be entirely cut 
 otf, and would have to rely upon himself alone. 
 He had before him the terrible catastrophe which 
 had on the same ground befallen General Elphin- 
 stone's army, and knew that it was possible, and in- 
 deed probable, that, with the memory of that 
 success before them, the Afghans would unite in 
 another great effort to annihilate the little force 
 shut up in the heart of their country. 
 
 Fortunately he had in the ameer's barracks at 
 Sherpur a position which he was confident he could 
 hold against any attacks that could be made upon
 
 FOR NA ME AND FA MB. 259 
 
 him. These extensive barracks had been erected 
 by Sheer-Ali for the use of his cavalry, but had 
 never been used. They consisted of a large square, 
 three sides of which were surrounded by a lofty 
 wall, an isolated and rocky steep hill rising at the 
 back and closing the fourth side. The buildings 
 were amply large enough to contain the whole of 
 General Roberts' force, and there was abundant 
 room for the stores, baggage animals, and wagons ; 
 the only fault was, indeed, that the extent of wall 
 to be defended was too long for the force at his 
 disposal. Round two sides the outer wall was com- 
 plete, but on the third it had not been taken to its 
 full height, nor had it been continued so as to join 
 the hill behind it. 
 
 Great efforts were made to bring in sufficient 
 provisions and forage for the winter, and expeditions 
 were made up the Logan, Maidan, and other valleys 
 for the purpose. Winter was fast setting in. 
 Snow had begun to fall upon the hills, and ice 
 formed on the pools every night. The natives of 
 the valleys near were ready enough to sell their 
 grain, straw, and fuel, but few supplies came in 
 from a distance, as armed bands stopped all supplies 
 on their way. However, a sufficient amount of 
 food and fuel was obtained and stored in Sherpur. 
 Grain, too, was procured for the winter, and the
 
 260 FOR NAME AND FAM8. 
 
 only article of which the supply was insufficient 
 was chopped straw, of which a very large quantity 
 was required. 
 
 The attitude of the natives grew daily more hos- 
 tile. Their priests were preaching a revolt to the 
 death, and recalling to the people how their fathers 
 had annihilated a British force thirty years before. 
 Urged alike by fanaticism and a desire for plunder, 
 the natives over the whole country were seething 
 with excitement, and General Roberts saw that a 
 crisis was approaching. 
 
 The Afghans could assemble at least one hundred 
 thousand men, and among these would be included 
 all the troops of the ameer's disbanded armies, 
 armed with weapons equal to our own, and burn- 
 ing to revenge the defeats which had been inflicted 
 upon them. To oppose them the English general 
 had less than six thousand men. But though pre- 
 pared for trouble, the storm, when it came, burst 
 suddenly upon the English. The enemy were 
 known to be collecting in great numbers in the 
 Maidan Valley, and two columns were sent out to 
 attack them. One was commanded by Macpherson, 
 the other by Baker. Although they were to strike 
 simultaneously at the enemy, their route of march 
 lay up different valleys, with a lofty mountain 
 range between them, so they could in no way co-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 261 
 
 operate with each other. After they had started 
 General Massy was directed to move out with a 
 small force of cavalry and a battery of horse ar- 
 tillery, and cooperate with General Macpherson. 
 
 An hour after the cavalry had started General 
 Roberts himself rode out. He was accompanied by 
 his usual escort, and by two mounted orderly ser- 
 geants. One of these was William Gale. They 
 had only proceeded a short distance when they 
 heard some distance ahead of them the guns of the 
 Royal Horse Artillery with Massy at work, and the 
 general at once rode forward at a gallop. 
 
 General Macpherson had found Mahomed Jan, 
 one of the principal leaders of the Afghans, with 
 ten thousand men near Chardeh. 
 
 A fight ensued. The guns shelled the enemy, 
 but the water-courses prevented the cavalry with 
 Macpherson acting, and Mahomed Jan, moving 
 across the hills, placed himself between Macpher- 
 son and Cabul. Shortly afterward General Massy, 
 who had with him three troops of the Ninth Lan- 
 cers and forty-four men of the Fourteenth Bengal 
 Lancers, with four guns under Major Smith-Wynd- 
 ham, came in sight of a portion of Mahomed Jan's 
 force. 
 
 It was clear that these had in some way inter- 
 posed themselves between the little force and Mac-
 
 262 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 pherson's column, and Massy supposed that they 
 were a party of fugitives flying before the force of 
 Macpherson or Baker. As they came streaming 
 down the hill he got his guns into action. After a 
 few shells had been fired, the enemy advanced in 
 full force. Four thousand men were extended in 
 the shape of a crescent, advancing in fairly good 
 order, while behind was an irregular mob of some 
 six thousand men. 
 
 The- ground upon which General Massy found 
 himself at this time was singularly unfitted for the 
 action of artillery. It was cut up by deep water- 
 courses, and anything like rapidity of movement 
 was impossible. It would have been prudent had 
 Massy, when he saw how large was the force op- 
 posed to him, at once retired until he came to 
 ground where his guns could be rapidly maneuvered ; 
 but relying upon the effect of the shell, he remained 
 in the position in which he had first discovered the 
 enemy. The shell pitched rapidly into the thick of 
 the Afghans, but no effect was produced in check- 
 ing their advance. They did not waver for a mo 
 ment, but came steadily on. The enemy's bullets 
 were now dropping fast among the cavalry and 
 guns. Thirty of the Ninth Lancers were dismount- 
 ed and opened fire with their Martini carbines, but 
 the enemy were too numerous to be checked by so 
 small a body of men.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 263 
 
 At this moment Sir Frederick Roberts arrived 
 upon the spot. The position was serious, and to 
 retire the guns in safety it was absolutely necessary 
 to check the advance of the enemy. General Rob- 
 erts therefore ordered Massy to send his cavalry at 
 the enemy. Colonel Cleland led a squadron of the 
 Ninth full at the advancing mass, the Bengal Lan 
 cers following, while. Captain Gough with his troop 
 of the Ninth charged the enemy's left flank ; but 
 even the charge at Balaclava was scarcely more 
 desperate than this. Two hundred and twenty 
 men, however gallant, could not be expected to 
 conquer ten thousand. The three bodies of cavalry 
 charged at full speed into the midst of the enemy's 
 infantry, who received them with a terrible fire 
 which killed many horses and men. The impetus 
 of the charge bore down the leading ranks of the 
 Afghans, and the cavalry tore their way through 
 the mass until their progress was blocked by sheer 
 weight of numbers. 
 
 A desperate melee took place, the troopers fight- 
 ing with their sabers, the Afghans with knives and 
 clubbed muskets. Many of the soldiers were struck 
 from their horses, some were dragged to their feet 
 again by their comrades, others were killed upon 
 the ground. The chaplain of the force, the Rev. 
 Mr. Adams, had accompanied the troopers in the
 
 264. FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 charge, and seeing a man jammed under a fallen 
 horse he leaped from his saddle and extricated him, 
 and brought him off in spite of the attack of several 
 Afghans. For this act of bravery he received the 
 Yictoria Cross, being the first chaplain in the army 
 who had ever obtained that decoration. 
 
 When the dust raised by the charging squadrons 
 had subsided it was seen that the enemy were still 
 advancing. The Lancers had fallen back, and as 
 the men galloped in they rallied behind Captain 
 Gough's troop, which had kept best together, and 
 had formed up again between the guns and the 
 enemy. Lieutenants Hersee and Ricardo and six- 
 teen of their men had been left dead upon the 
 ground. Colonel Cleland, Lieutenant Mackenzie, 
 and seven of the troopers were wounded. 
 
 A second charge was ordered, but this time it 
 was not pushed home, as a wide water-course 
 checked the advance. Under cover of the first 
 cavalry charge Major Smith-Wyndham had ordered 
 two of the guns to be taken off, and as he now fell 
 back with the other two one of them stuck in the 
 water-course. The greatest efforts were made with 
 the horses which still remained uninjured to get the 
 gun out, but the enemy were pressing close on. 
 Lieutenant Hardy was killed by a shot through the 
 head, and the gun was abandoned. The other three
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 265 
 
 guns were retired four hundred or five hundred 
 yards further, but here they became hopelessly 
 bogged in a channel deeper than any that had 
 hitherto been met with. They were spiked and left 
 in the water, and the drivers and gunners moved 
 off with the cavalry just as the enemy poured down 
 upon them. 
 
 Seeing the danger of the situation and the large 
 force of the enemy, General Roberts had, on his 
 first arrival, sent off a trooper at full gallop to 
 General Gough, who commanded at Sherpur, 
 ordering him to send out two hundred men of the 
 Seventy-second Highlanders at the double to hold 
 the gorge leading direct from the scene of conflict 
 to Cabul. There was but a very small garrison of 
 British troops in the city, and had the enemy made 
 their way there the townspeople would have risen 
 and a serious disaster taken place. After leaving 
 the guns behind them the cavalry retired steadily 
 toward the village at the head of the gorge, keep- 
 ing up a hot fire with their carbines on the enemy 
 who pressed upon them. 
 
 "Ride back, Sergeant Gale," the general said, 
 " and meet the Seventy-second. Hurry them up at 
 full speed every minute is precious." 
 
 "William Gale rode back at full speed. Until a 
 fortnight before he had never been on a horse, but
 
 266 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 the animal which he rode was well trained and 
 steady, and hitherto he had had no difficulty in 
 keeping his seat as he trotted along with the escort. 
 It was a different thing now, for the ground was 
 rough and the horse going at a full gallop, and he 
 clung on to the pommel of the saddle to steady 
 himself. As he passed through the village he saw 
 the Highlanders coming along at a trot half a mile 
 further on, and was soon beside Colonel Brownlow, 
 who commanded them. 
 
 "The enemy are pressing the cavalry back, sir," 
 he said as with difficulty he pulled up his horse. 
 "The general desires you to use the greatest pos- 
 sible speed, as every moment is precious." 
 
 Panting and out of breath as the Highlanders 
 were they responded to Colonel Brownlow's shout, 
 and rushing forward almost at racing speed reached 
 the village while the Afghans were still one hun- 
 dred yards beyond it. They instantly opened such 
 a fire upon the enemy that the latter ceased their 
 advance and soon fell back, and Cabul was for the 
 moment safe.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 THE FIGHT IX THE PASS. 
 
 THE Afghan force, after half an hour's effort to 
 carry the village held by the Highlanders, moved 
 off to their left, and working along the hills took 
 poston the heights beyond the Bala-Hissar. In the 
 mean time General Macpherson, having dispersed a 
 strong body of the enemy up the valley, marched 
 back toward Cabul, and coming across the scene of 
 the late action brought in the bodies of the dead 
 officers. The guns had already been carried off, 
 for as the enemy advanced Colonel Macgregor, col- 
 lecting a handful of lancers and artillerymen, 
 worked round to their rear, and, dispersing a small 
 body of the enemy who had lingered at a village 
 near the guns, succeeded in extricating the cannon 
 from the swamp and carried them off to Sherpur. 
 
 From the signal-post established above the Bala- 
 Hissar an order was flashed to General Baker, who 
 was many miles away, to inform him of what had 
 occurred, and to order him to march back with all 
 speed. Late that evening he arrived with his
 
 2<J5 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 column, and the British force was again united. 
 The next day five hundred and sixty men of Mac- 
 pherson's brigade, composed of portions of the 
 Sixty-seventh, the Seventy-second, the Third Sikhs, 
 and Fifth Goorkhas, \vere sent out to attack the 
 enemy, who had established themselves upon a lofty 
 peak south of Cabul. 
 
 The Afghans occupied the crest in strength, and 
 hidden behind the hill had five thousand or six 
 thousand men lying in wait to attack the assailing 
 party in the rear as they pressed upward. The 
 position was, however, too strong to be carried. 
 After several hours of fighting the little British 
 force had driven the Afghans from the lower part 
 of the hill, but were unable to mount toward the 
 crest, for ammunition was running short, and the 
 enemy were too strongly posted. General Koberts 
 therefore ordered Macpherson to hold the ground 
 which he had gained until next morning, when 
 more troops would be sent. At eight o'clock in the 
 morning, accordingly, General Baker moved out 
 from Sherpur with a strong force and attacked the 
 enemy's position in flank, while Macpherson con- 
 tinued his advance in front. The Afghans fought 
 desperately, and clung to their position until the 
 British were close up, when a desperate hand-to- 
 hand struggle took place, and the British became 
 masters of the position.
 
 FOR NA MB AND FAME. 269 
 
 While the fighting had been going on great 
 masses of the enemy had come down from the end 
 of the valley and threatened the road between 
 Sherpur and Cabul. The Ninth Lancers made a mag- 
 nificent charge among them, broke them, and drove 
 them back. Several other brilliant charges were 
 made, and the plain was kept clear of the enemy. 
 Captain Butson, however, who commanded, was 
 killed, and two other officers wounded. With each 
 hour that passed the position grew more serious, as 
 immense bodies of the enemy were seen advancing 
 from all sides. The city was now in open revolt, 
 and the small garrison there with difficulty held 
 their own. One more effort was made to drive the 
 enemy off the hills. 
 
 Early on the 15th General Baker, with twelve 
 hundred infantry and eight guns, left the canton- 
 ment. After very severe fighting the enemy were 
 driven from their lowest positions, but as Baker 
 advanced a body of from fifteen thousand to twenty 
 thousand of the enemy marched out across the 
 plain toward the position just captured. Steadily 
 they advanced, and the shells which our mountain 
 guns sent among them, and the volleys poured 
 down from the face of the hill, did not suffice to 
 check them in the slightest. Reassured by their 
 own enormous numbers, and feeling that success
 
 2 70 &OR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 was in their grasp, they pressed forward and 
 desperate fighting took place. 
 
 A position held by the Fifth Punjaub Infantry 
 was carried by their attack and two guns were lost, 
 but the rest of the positions were maintained. 
 Seeing that it was impossible to hold the Bala- 
 Hissar and Cabul in the face of the hordes opposed 
 to him, which were estimated by the general him- 
 self as numbering eighty thousand men, but which 
 the Afghans themselves afterward acknowledged 
 were between one hundred thousand and one hun- 
 dred and twenty thousand, General Roberts deter- 
 mined to concentrate his troops at Sherpur. Baker 
 was ordered to maintain the position he held at all 
 costs until the troops from the Bala-Hissar were 
 withdrawn. This he did ; and although as he fell 
 back the Afghan hordes swarmed round him, he 
 fought his way back to Sherpur, and by nightfall 
 all the British force were safely gathered in the 
 cantonments there. 
 
 Two days previously General Eoberts had tele- 
 graphed for the regiments most advanced in the 
 passes below to come forward ; they arrived on the 
 morning of the 16th, and the general had no 
 longer any anxiety as to his ability to hold the can- 
 tonments for months, if necessary, against the at- 
 tacks of the Afghans. "Had these attacked on the
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 271 
 
 morning following what was virtually a victory, 
 while still flushed with triumph and excitement, it 
 would have needed all the efforts of the English to 
 hold their position against so formidable an attack. 
 The Afghans, however, contented themselves with 
 occupying several walled villages near the canton- 
 ment and keeping up an incessant fire upon it. 
 
 Meanwhile their main body indulged in wild ex- 
 cesses in Cabul, sacking the Hindoo quarter and 
 plundering all the shops without much distinction 
 of nationality. Thus three days elapsed, the British 
 making the most of the time afforded them by 
 strengthening the weak points of their defenses. 
 Lines of wagons were placed in the gap between 
 the unfinished wall and the foot of the hill. Wires 
 were stretched in all directions and chevaux-de-frise 
 erected beyond. 
 
 On the 18th the enemy came down in force, and 
 for some hours a tremendous musketry fire was 
 kept up at the position ; but the fire of the mus- 
 ketry and guns from the walls was so hot that they 
 did not venture upon an attack. The following day 
 General Baker sallied out and attacked a fortified 
 post a few hundred yards from the wall. From this 
 place the enemy had greatly annoyed the garrison, 
 After some severe fighting the Afghans were driven 
 out and the place blown up.
 
 272 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 On the evening of the 22d the general received 
 news that the Afghans, having prepared a great 
 number of ladders for the assault, intended to at- 
 tack that night. There had been several similar 
 warnings, but this time the news proved correct. 
 A signal fire was lit upon one of the heights at four 
 in the morning, and at five o'clock the plain was 
 covered with the enemy. Quietly they crept up in 
 the darkness toward the walls, and at six o'clock a 
 prodigious shouting was heard, and from the vil- 
 lages, orchards, and inclosed ground upon all sides 
 the enemy dashed forward to the assault. 
 
 As they approached they opened fire on all sides, 
 pressing chiefly toward the weak point near the 
 foot of the hills. But tremendous as was the roar 
 of the Afghan fire, it was drowned by the roll of 
 musketry which broke from the whole circuit of 
 the walls where the British troops, rifle in hand, 
 had been lying for three hours waiting the attack. 
 
 So terrible was the storm of lead that swept the 
 plain that the Afghans paused in their advance. 
 For two hours they remained around the walls, 
 yelling, shouting, and firing heavily ; but all the 
 efforts of their leaders could not induce them to 
 rise from the ground and hazard a charge. Many 
 dropped within eighty or ninety yards of the wall, 
 but beyond that the bravest dared not advance.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 2?3 
 
 "When morning broke, the welcome news was 
 brought down from the outlook on the top of the 
 hill that far across the plain could be seen the tents 
 of the force of General Gough, who was coming up 
 through the passes to the relief of the garrison. 
 The news had reached the assailants. Considerable 
 bodies of the enemy were observed moving out 
 from Cabul, as if with the intention of attacking 
 the relieving force. The assailants of the British 
 position, finding their inability to produce the 
 smallest impression, were now beginning to waver, 
 and General Gough ordered the cavalry and horse 
 artillery to go out by the road which led through a 
 gorge in a hill behind, and to sweep round and 
 take them in the rear. This they did with immense 
 success. At the moment that they fell upon the 
 enemy the British infantry sallied out from the 
 cantonment and attacked them in front. A panic 
 seized the Afghans ; in a few minutes the whole 
 plain was covered with flying fugitives, among 
 whom our cavalry swept backward and forward, 
 cutting them up in all directions, while the fire of 
 our infantry and of the guns on the walls searched 
 them through and though whenever they attempted 
 to gather in a knot and make a stand. 
 
 By nightfall the whole of the Afghans had either 
 fled to the hills or were driven into Cabul. Upon
 
 2?4 FOR NAME AND 
 
 the following day General Gough's force marched 
 in; but before their arrival it was found that the 
 enemy had again evacuated the city, and the British 
 were, as before, masters of the position. 
 
 After the decisive defeat which had been inflicted 
 upon them, and the dispersion of the great force 
 which had gathered coniident of victory, there was 
 little fear of any further attempt on the part of the 
 enemy. They had brought their whole force into 
 the field, and as this was defeated and dispersed 
 before the arrival of General Gough with his re- 
 enforcements it was evident that success could not 
 be hoped for against the united strength of the 
 English. 
 
 The time passed quietly now. The Bala-Hissar 
 and Cabul were reoccupied, and as the natives were 
 cowed by the crushing defeat they had experienced, 
 there w T as no longer any repetition of the insolent 
 and defiant manner which they had before mani- 
 fested. 
 
 On the 3d of January a message was brought to 
 the orderly room that the general wished to see 
 Sergeant Gale. Upon his presenting himself at the 
 general's quarters Sir Frederick Roberts, to his sur- 
 prise, at once advanced and shook him warmly by 
 the hand. 
 
 " Mr. Gale,'' he said, " I am very happy to inform
 
 FOR NAME AND FAAffi. 276 
 
 you that the Horse Guards have acted upon my 
 recommendation, seconded by that which was sent 
 in by your colonel, who wrote at once upon receiv- 
 ing a notification from me of the step I had taken, 
 saying that you had distinguished yourself very 
 highly in the attack upon the Peiwar Khotal, and 
 that he was convinced that you would make in all 
 respects an excellent officer. With my dispatches 
 that have just come in I have received a notification 
 that my request has been attended to, together with 
 a copy of the Gazette, in which you are appointed 
 to the Sixt}r-sixth Regiment. I have to congratu- 
 late you, sir ; you are now an officer, and will, I am, 
 quite sure, do every credit to my recommendation." 
 
 The young soldier was for a moment too moved 
 at the tidings to speak coherently, but he mur- 
 mured his thanks to the general for his kindness. 
 
 "Do not say anything about that," the general 
 said heartily ; " it is a pleasure to me to have been 
 able to advance a promising young soldier. I am 
 only sorry that you are not gazetted to a regiment 
 in my own division. The Sixty-sixth are at Canda- 
 har, and unfortunately they will not, I understand, 
 form part of a column with which General Stuart 
 will advance in the spring up the valley through 
 Ghuzni to this place. Had it been so it would have 
 been best for you to wait their arrival here; but as
 
 276 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 it is you had better go down the pass to India and 
 work round and join your regiment. It is a long 
 road, but it is always best for a young officer to be 
 with his regiment, especially when in the field, and it 
 is possible that they may have their share of fighting 
 round Candahar. And now there is one thing 
 more. You will have to get an outfit, and there 
 will be the expense of your travel until you join 
 your regiment. There will be no difficulty about 
 an outfit. This you can procure easily on the sale 
 of some officer's effects. By the by, poor young 
 Thompson, who died }^esterday, was about your 
 size, and you had better bid a lump sum for the 
 whole of his kit. I shall be happy to be your 
 banker for that and the needful sum for your trav- 
 eling expenses. When you join your regiment you 
 will, of course, be able to draw your pay from the 
 date on which you were gazetted." 
 
 Will thanked the general very heartily for his 
 offer, but said that he had 100 standing at his ac- 
 count at the Bank of Hindostan, which had been 
 presented to him b}^ the owners of the vessel in 
 which he arrived there, and that this would be more 
 than sufficient for all his needs if the general would 
 kindly authorize the staff paymaster to cash his 
 drafts upon the bank. 
 
 This request was at once granted. The payraas-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 277 
 
 ter of Lieutenant Thompson's regiment estimated 
 that the effects of the young officer would sell at 
 auction for about 20, and this sum "William Gale 
 gladly paid, thereby obtaining a complete outfit of 
 regimental and civilian clothes and under linen of 
 all descriptions. Another 30 bought him a horse 
 and saddlery ; while for 5 he obtained a rough 
 pony for the use of Yossouf, who steadily refused 
 to leave him, although Will pointed out to him that, 
 glad as he should be to have him with him, it would 
 be far more to his advantage to remain among his 
 people at Cabul, where he had means of settling 
 comfortably. 
 
 Upon the following day, having obtained his new 
 uniform, which he found required no alteration to 
 fit him fairly, Wiljiam Gale dined with General 
 Roberts, who had kindly invited him in order to 
 introduce him in his new position to the officers of 
 his staff. He was obliged to remain three or four 
 days longer at Sherpur until a strong escort with 
 sick was going down through the passes to Jellala- 
 bad. His baggage was stowed upon a camel, and 
 after a kind adieu from General Eoberts, and a 
 very cordial one from the staff sergeants, among 
 whom he had worked for three months, he started 
 with the convoy for the lower valleys. The escort 
 consisted of a hundred men of the infantry of the
 
 278 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Guides. The way down the pass was difficult, but 
 no snow had fallen for three weeks, and the roads 
 were fairly beaten down by passing parties. Still 
 their progress was slow, and late on the afternoon 
 of the second day after starting they were still four 
 miles from the fort of Jugdulluk, which was held 
 by a British force, and where they were to halt for 
 the night. 
 
 The Guides were on the alert. A party of four 
 men were two hundred yards ahead of the little 
 column, which was commanded by Captain Edwards. 
 Presently a shot rang out from the front followed 
 by a scattered discharge. William Gale was at the 
 moment riding by the side of Captain Edwards ; he 
 had already placed himself under that officer's 
 orders in case of any emergency. 
 
 " Mr. Gale," Captain Edwards said, " will you 
 ride forward at once with six men to the advanced 
 party ? When you get there take such measures as 
 you may think fit, and send me back word as to the 
 strength and position of the enemy." 
 
 With six of the Guides Will at once rode forward, 
 while Captain Edwards halted until the little 
 column was gathered closely together, the camels 
 and dhoolies with sick men in the center, the sol- 
 diers in readiness for action around them. A sol- 
 dier now ran up with a slip of paper upon which
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 279 
 
 "Will had scribbled in pencil : " The enemy are ap- 
 parently in considerable force. The defile opens 
 here. They are disposed among rocks and bowlders 
 on either side." 
 
 Will on arriving at the advanced party had 
 found at once that the force of the enemy was too 
 strong for him to attempt to move forward at pres- 
 ent. He had posted the men behind bowlders by 
 the wayside, ordering them to pick off any man 
 that showed himself, and they were soon engaged 
 in a sharp musketry skirmish with the enemy. 
 One of their number had fallen at the first dis- 
 charge, and "Will, taking his rifle, used it with effect 
 until the head of the convoy arrived. 
 
 It was now fast becoming dark, and the flashes 
 of the enemy's fire from behind the rocks showed 
 how numerous were the assailants. 
 
 " There must be a couple of thousands of the 
 scoundrels," Will said to Captain Edwards as the 
 latter came up to ascertain the state of affairs. 
 " Hampered with the convoy, the position is an 
 awkward one. It is fortunate they attacked where 
 they did, for we can hold our own here ; while, if 
 they had waited till we got fairly down into this 
 comparatively open valley and then attacked us on 
 both flanks, it would have been very awkward. We 
 must try and clear them out ; we cannot stop here
 
 280 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 all night. It is freezing very sharp now, and the 
 cold will be intense in an hour or two." 
 
 "I will take thirty men," Captain Edwards said, 
 "and skirmish along among the rocks on the left. 
 Do you take as many more, and move along the 
 right of the path. The remaining forty shall stay 
 here under my sergeant to guard the convoy from 
 an attack in rear in case any of the enemy should 
 come down the defile behind us." 
 
 The fight soon became exceedingly hot. Making 
 their way along the rocks on either side of the path, 
 the Guides slowly drove the enemy before them. 
 It was hard work, however, for the tribesmen fought 
 steadily, and as those in front fell back upon those 
 lower down the valley their resistance became every 
 moment more obstinate. Eight of Will's party had 
 already fallen ; but although, sword in hand, he was 
 leading them, encouraging them with voice and 
 gesture, not a bullet had as yet struck him. Pres- 
 ently Captain Edwards, having crossed the valley, 
 stood by his side. 
 
 " We are at a standstill," he said. " Nine of ray 
 men are killed or wounded already, and the fellows 
 are as thick as peas. I am afraid we shall never be 
 able to force our way through. There," he ex- 
 claimed, as a sound of firing was heard in the rear, 
 " they have come down on the convoy from behind.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 281 
 
 We had better, I think, fall back a bit, and take 
 post near the mouth of the defile. We must defend 
 ourselves as best we can till morning." 
 
 The movement was steadily executed, the wound- 
 ed men being carried with them as they retired. 
 The tribesmen advanced as they fell back, not ven- 
 turing to press them, however, for the rear-guard 
 kept their faces toward them, and any who ventured 
 to show themselves instantly paid the penalty of 
 their rashness. For an hour the fight went on. It 
 was night now, and dark as pitch in the deep valley 
 in which the fight was going on, the position of the 
 combatants being only indicated by the flickering 
 flashes of the muskets. The Afghans were gradu- 
 ally creeping nearer, as the Guides could see by the 
 flashes. 
 
 " If the fellows only make a determined rush at 
 us," Captain Edwards said to Will, " it will go hard 
 with us. Fortunately they are as much in the dark 
 as we are, and will find it difficult to gather for a 
 rush." 
 
 " I think we may hold out till morning, but by 
 that time news that we are blockaded here will 
 spread throughout the hills, and we may have ten 
 thousand of them down on us. I think, if you will 
 give me leave, the best plan will be for me to try 
 and make my way down to Jugdulluk to bring up 
 help from there."
 
 282 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 "You would never get through," Captain Ed- 
 wards advised. " It is a brave offer, Gale, but could 
 not be done." 
 
 " I think it might be done," Will said. " It is as 
 dark as pitch. I will take my lad with me, and 
 will borrow a native cap and cloak from one of the 
 bearers there are some Afghans among them. I 
 will take off my patrol jacket and leave it behind 
 me, and my boots. We will crawl along in the 
 dark. If, as is likely enough, we stumble against 
 some of them, we will say we are wounded and are 
 making our way to the rear. They cannot see us 
 in the dark, and my Afghan will pass muster, and 
 Yossouf will certainly not be suspected. If I am 
 discovered and killed he will go forward and de- 
 liver the message." 
 
 The plan seemed to offer every possibility of suc- 
 cess, and Captain Edwards, seeing how serious the 
 position was, consented to allow Will to attempt it. 
 
 A few words to Yossouf sufficed to inform him of 
 the task Will was about to undertake, and he '*.;, 
 once agreed to share the danger. A rough sheep- 
 skin cap was obtained for Will from one of the 
 camel men. His tunic was thrown off, and a posteen 
 or Afghan sheepskin coat was put on in its place. 
 He took a long matchlock which the camel man 
 carried slung over bis shoulders, took off his boots.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 283 
 
 and thrust a pair of loose Afghan shoes into his 
 belt. Yossouf needed no preparations beyond bor- 
 rowing a matchlock. Wringing Captain Edwards' 
 hand, Will stooped on his hands and knees, and, 
 with Yossouf a pace or two ahead, began to crawl 
 down the path. 
 
 Before starting the orders had been sent round 
 to the soldiers to fire at the rocks on either side of 
 the path, but on no account to fire down the road 
 itself. As he expected, Will found this clear of 
 Afghans for a considerable distance. A heavy fire 
 had, previous to their starting, been directed down 
 this path to prevent the Afghans from gathering 
 there in the darkness preparatory to making a rush. 
 They came across several dead bodies, but the 
 enemy were all behind rocks on one side or other of 
 the road. 
 
 When they had crawled a hundred yards they 
 were past the front line, from which the Afghans 
 were keeping up a heavy fire ; but Will knew that 
 from their numbers they must extend far back down 
 the valley, and indeed from almost every rock the 
 flashes of the matchlocks blazed out as the lurking 
 tribesmen fired in the direction of the mouth of the 
 defile. They were nearly a quarter of a mile down 
 when an Afghan, who had been crouching behind a 
 rock close to the path, advanced into the road to 
 fire, when he stumbled against Yossouf.
 
 284 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 "What are you doing?" he exclaimed. 
 
 " We are both wounded by the Kaffirs," Yossouf 
 answered, " and are making our way back to bind 
 up our wounds. I think my arm is broken, but I 
 mean to come back again to have a few more shots 
 at the infidels." 
 
 " Good !" the Afghan replied. " How goes it in 
 front ?" 
 
 "Their fire is lessening," Yossouf said. "We 
 must have killed many. We shall finish with them 
 in the morning if not before." 
 
 The Afghan fired, and then retired behind his 
 rock to load again, w r hile Will and Yossouf con- 
 tinued their way. A few hundred yards further 
 they rose to their feet. Will slipped on the Afghan 
 shoes, and they then proceeded at a rapid pace 
 down the pass. Several times they withdrew from 
 the road and hid beside it as they met parties of 
 tribesmen hurrying up to join in the attack, but in 
 an hour after starting they heard the welcome 
 challenge of the sentry at Jugdulluk. Saying who 
 he was, Will was at once passed forward into the 
 fort and taken to the quarters of the officer in com- 
 mand. 
 
 " I am Lieutenant Gale, of the Sixty-sixth," Will 
 said, " and was on my way down the pass with the 
 convoy of wounded and one hundred men of the
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 285 
 
 Guides under Captain Edwards. They have been 
 attacked at the lower end of the defile, some four 
 miles above, by a very strong body of tribesmen. 
 They are attacked front and rear. I have made my 
 way through to ask you if you can dispatch a force 
 to their rescue. Were the tribesmen attacked in 
 their rear now they might be scattered easily 
 enough, but they are assembling very fast, and in 
 the morning it will be a difficult matter to reach 
 them." 
 
 " "We have fancied," the officer said, " for the 
 last two hours that we heard distant firing, but we 
 could not be sure, for any noise echoes so in these 
 mountains. I will set out at once with you with as 
 many men as I can spare."
 
 286 fOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 AT CANDAHAR. 
 
 THE garrison of Jugdulluk consisted only of two 
 hundred and twenty Sikhs. The officer in com- 
 mand left seventy of these in charge of one of his 
 subalterns, with the injunction to exercise the most 
 extreme vigilance in his absence. Then with one 
 hundred and fifty men, a subaltern, and Will Gale 
 he started up the path to effect the rescue of the 
 beleaguered convoy. The road wound and turned 
 frequently among the spurs of the lofty hills which 
 had cut off the sound of firing from the garrison, 
 and only a faint and distant murmur was audible 
 when they started. After marching two miles, 
 however, the rattle of the musketry became clear 
 and distinct. Upon the way the officer in command 
 learned from Will the exact position of things in 
 front and the situation of the Afghans. 
 
 When within half a mile of the scene of action 
 fifty men were thrown out on either side of the 
 road, while the other fifty advaaced very slowly
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 
 
 along the center. The orders to the flankers were 
 to search among the rocks as they advanced, and to 
 
 O a' ' 
 
 bayonet or shoot every Afghan they found among 
 them. It was not long before they came upon the 
 eneni}'. Then the rifles cracked out, and the wild 
 shouts of the Afghans betokened their astonishment 
 at being thus unexpectedly assailed in rear. 
 
 Numerous as they were they offered but a slight 
 resistance. Their one thought was to effect their 
 escape ; and they hurried rapidly away as the relief 
 advanced, climbing the steep sides of the valley by 
 paths only known to themselves, and then from the 
 hillside far above opening a scattered fire at random, 
 down into the valley. 
 
 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 be- 
 hind 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
 
 288 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 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 volun- 
 teered to walk down to the fort and to give up 
 their places to those of the wounded men w r ho were 
 unable to walk, and in a few minutes the convoy 
 moved forward. 
 
 The fifty men of the relieving party placed them- 
 selves in their near; 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.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 289 
 
 " 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 val- 
 ley, 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 
 Kangers, 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
 
 290 &0& NAME AND FAME. 
 
 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." 
 
 " Not at all, my boy, not at all ; it was General 
 Roberts himself who recommended you for your 
 commission, anfl I was only too glad to back up his 
 recommendation to the best of my power. We all 
 thought you were^one when you were reported as 
 missing at Alikheyl, and we heard from the sentry 
 that, having gone forward to investigate the origin 
 of a noise he had reported to you, you were sud- 
 denly fired upon, and that he saw no more of you 
 as he ran back to the picket. I was glad indeed 
 when the report was received from poor Cavagnari 
 that upon his arrival at Cabul he had found you. 
 there just recovering from your wounds. Then, of 
 course, we gave you up again when we heard of the 
 massacre of the mission ; and it seemed like a
 
 Pott NAME AND FAMHI. 291 
 
 resurrection from the dead when I got a letter from 
 Roberts saying you were found again, and that he 
 was recommending you for a commission. I see by 
 the Gazette you are appointed to the Sixty-sixth, 
 and we were expecting to see you on your way 
 down. Had you any difficulty in getting through 
 the passes ?" 
 
 " The convoy was attacked, sir, by the tribesmen 
 when near Jugdulluk, but the garrison came out to 
 our rescue and we got through safely. But we had 
 thirty men killed or wounded." 
 
 " A smart affair !" the colonel said. " And now 
 of course you will take up your quarters with us 
 for a day or two before you go on. The officers 
 will all be glad to see you, and you will be able to 
 
 / * / 
 
 tell us all about the attack on the mission and the 
 recent fighting. Roberts has been having some hot 
 work there. We have been grumbling horribly at 
 our bad luck. We thought at the time we were 
 fortunate at being sent back to India when peace 
 was signed, instead of being kept in the Khuram 
 Valley. But the consequence has been that we 
 have been out of it all. However, we must look 
 upon you as our representative." 
 
 Will hesitated about staying, but the colonel 
 overruled his objection, saying that as there would 
 be no fighting until the spring there could be no
 
 292 FOR NAME A ND FAME. 
 
 particular hurry for him to join his regiment. A 
 spare room was placed at his disposal in the 
 colonel's quarters, and "Will was soon made at home. 
 The officers flocked in upon hearing of his arrival, 
 and all congratulated him most warmly upon his 
 promotion. An hour later a mounted orderly rode 
 up to the colonel's quarters. 
 
 " Is Lieutenant Gale here ?" he asked. "Will went 
 forward. 
 
 " A. note from the general," the orderly said, 
 handing it to him ; "also one for Colonel Shepherd." 
 "Will's note was simply an invitation to dine that 
 evening with the general. The colonel's letter was 
 as follows : 
 
 " DEAR COLONEL SHEPHERD : As Lieutenant Gale 
 was promoted from your regiment 1 think it is 
 likely that he has found his way to you. 1 have 
 written to ask him to dinner; please spare him to 
 me. I hope you will do me the pleasure of accom- 
 panying him. He has performed a most gallant 
 action, and I have just had the pleasure of 
 writing a dispatch recommending him for the 
 Y.C." 
 
 "Will and the colonel at once wrote notes accept- 
 ing the invitation. "When these had been sent out 
 to the orderly the colonel read aloud to the officers 
 present the note he had received from the general. 
 
 " Now," he said, turning to Will, " what is that
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 293 
 
 you have been doing? You told us the convoy had 
 been attacked and sharply pressed, but you said 
 nothing of your share in the affair. What was it?" 
 
 " It was simple enough, sir," Will answered, col- 
 oring hotly. "We were surrounded just at the 
 mouth of the defile. The enemy held the valley in 
 front in great force, and another party were press- 
 ing on our rear. Things looked awkward, and so I 
 volunteered with my faithful Afghan boy to get 
 through the fellows in front and make my way 
 down to Jugdulluk, which was four miles away, to 
 bring the garrison up on their rear. It was simple 
 enough, and in fact there was less danger than in 
 remaining with the convoy to be popped at by the 
 Afghans. The night was very dark, and down in 
 the bottom one could hardly see one's hand. -The 
 Afghans had been cleared pretty well off the road 
 by our fire, so there was no difficulty whatever in 
 making our way down. We were, in fact, only 
 questioned once ; and my boy's statement, that we 
 were wounded and were going to the rear, was ac- 
 cepted at once." 
 
 " The fact that you succeeded," the colonel said, 
 " does not detract from the pluck required to at- 
 tempt such an adventure. To my mind there is 
 more courage required in venturing alone through 
 the midst of the Afghans at night than there would
 
 294 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 be in charging any number of them in hot blood in 
 the light. You have earned the Y. C. well, Gale, 
 and I am sure we all feel proud of you, though you 
 do not belong to us now." 
 
 There was a chorus of approval from the officers 
 around. 
 
 ' I don't belong to you now, sir, but," Will said 
 earnestly, " I shall always feel, whatever regiment 
 I may be with, that the Norfolk Rangers are my 
 corps. It is the kindness which was shown me here 
 which has put me in the way of rising, and I shall 
 never forget it." 
 
 It was now time to dress for dinner, and Will for 
 the first time arrayed himself in full-dress uniform. 
 The buttons and facings he would of course get al- 
 tered when he joined the regiment. The general 
 received Gale with great kindness. He had a large 
 party to dinner; among them was Captain Ed- 
 wards ; and after the table was cleared the latter, 
 at the general's request, gave a full account of the 
 attack upon the convoy, and Will was then called 
 upon to relate the part which he had taken in it, 
 which he did very modestly and quietly. 
 
 For two days longer he stopped at Jellalabad, 
 and then with a hearty farewell to the officers of 
 the Rangers he started down the pass. He again 
 journeyed with a convoy; for although the tribes
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME 295 
 
 below Jellalabad were cowed into submission, many 
 attacks were made by the mountaineers upon small 
 parties going up or down the passes, and stringent 
 orders had been issued that no officer should go 
 down except when accompanied by an escort. 
 
 After a week's traveling Will arrived with Yos- 
 souf at Peshawur, then he rode by easy stages until 
 he reached the Indus, where, taking his place on a 
 steamer, he traveled down the river to Sukkur, 
 where he disembarked and started for the weary 
 march across the desert to the foot of the Bolan. 
 
 Along the road large numbers of coolies were at 
 work constructing a line of railway which was now 
 almost complete to the foot of the pass. It did not 
 ascend this, but turning to the right wound up the 
 hills to the plateau. It was intended to be taken 
 on to Candahar, and its completion would have 
 been .an immense boon both to that city and to 
 India, as it would have opened a great trade to the 
 north, and have enabled the inhabitants of the fer- 
 tile plain around Candahar to send their corn, fruit, 
 and other products down to India. Unhappily, 
 with the subsequent abandonment of Candahar the 
 formation of the railway was stopped, and the whole 
 allowed to go to ruin. The work has, however, been 
 recently taken in hand again. 
 
 Will and his follower ascended the Bolan, stopped
 
 296 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 a day or two at Quettah to rest their horses, and 
 then proceeded on through the fertile plains of 
 Pisheen and over the Kojak Pass, and thence on 
 to Candahar. Here Will joined his new regiment 
 and was well received by its officers. 
 
 In every regiment in the service an officer risen 
 from the ranks is invariably received with special 
 courtesy and kindness. Every endeavor is made to 
 place him at his ease in his new position. This 
 is specially so when, as in "Will's case, the promo- 
 tion has been earned by distinguished services in the 
 field. 
 
 In most instances officers promoted from the rank 
 of sergeant are a good deal older than the young 
 lieutenants among whom they find themselves. 
 Being often married men, and having nothing but 
 their pay to depend upon, they find themselves, 
 therefore, unable to take much part in the pleasures 
 and gayeties of the regiment. 
 
 In India, however, as the rate of pay is much 
 higher, an unmarried officer can live very comfort- 
 ably on his pay ; and as in the field the expenses 
 are far less than when a regiment is in cantonments 
 at a large station, where there is much gayety, Will 
 found that he was able to live very comfortably on 
 his pay in the same style as that of his comrades. 
 They on their part were pleased to find in Will a
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 297 
 
 young fellow of the same age as the other junior 
 lieutenants, and withal a pleasant, gentlemanly 
 young man. The fact, too, that he had seen so 
 much service, had gone through stirring adventures, 
 and had fought by the side of Cavagnari in the Bala- 
 Hissar, made him quite a hero among them, and 
 Will was soon thoroughly one of themselves. When 
 it was known that the regiment was likely to re- 
 main at Candahar for some time many luxuries had 
 been brought up from India, together with means 
 of passing away the time, such as the necessary ap- 
 pliances for cricket, racket, and other games. 
 
 Among these too were several boxes of books, 
 and Will, who had at first a little amused his com- 
 rades by his absolute ignorance of cricket, but who 
 soon became a promising recruit at that game, 
 steadily devoted three hours a day to reading in 
 order to improve his mind, and to obtain a knowl- 
 edge of the various matters which were topics of 
 conversation among his comrades. Above all, he 
 diligently studied the newspapers, great parcels of 
 which arrived every week, in order to obtain some 
 knowledge of the political state of affairs in Eng- 
 land, the position of parties, and the various matters 
 occupying public attention. 
 
 He had at first found his ignorance of these mat- 
 ters a great drawback to him in general conversa-
 
 298 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 tion ; but he discovered that newspapers rather 
 than books are useful in enabling a man to mix 
 with his fellows in social talk, and that the current 
 events of the day form ninety-nine-hundredths of 
 the subjects of conversation. The fact that all his 
 messmates had been thoroughly posted in the his- 
 tory of Rome and Greece, that they could read 
 these languages almost as well as English, that they 
 had been coached in high mathematics, and had a 
 knowledge of French and German, gave them, Will 
 found, very little advantage in general conversa- 
 tion ; and he was surprised to discover how entirely 
 useless from a practical point of view is much of 
 the instruction which must be mastered by young 
 men before obtaining a commission. 
 
 Many times, when talking with the young officers 
 with whom he was most intimate, he inquired of 
 them what good they found the learning they had 
 obtained during their many years of schooling, and 
 was surprised at the universal reply, " No good 
 whatever !" He found, however, that some of the 
 more thoughtful of them admitted that they had 
 gained increased powers of thought and reasoning 
 from their training. 
 
 "That is the good of education, Gale," Captain 
 Fletcher, who commanded Will's company, said to 
 him one day. "A certain time must be spent upon
 
 FOR NA ME AND FA ME. 299 
 
 education, and the course of study is intended to 
 strengthen and improve the mental powers. As far 
 as soldiers are concerned, it would certainly be of 
 more practical use if the time we spent at school on 
 Greek and mathematics had been expended in ac- 
 quiring three or four European and Indian lan- 
 guages. But, you see, boys educated at the same 
 school must all work together and study the same 
 books, whatever the profession for which they are 
 intended. Our practical, that is, our professional, 
 education only begins when we go to Woolwich or 
 Sandhurst. Perhaps some day a different system 
 will be employed. There will be special schools 
 for lads intended for various professions and careers. 
 Till that is done we must all work upon a common 
 basis, which has at least the advantage of forming 
 the mind for the after-work of acquiring the special 
 branches of knowledge required by us in the careers 
 we may adopt. If you ask my advice I should not 
 at your time of life dream of setting to to learn the 
 dead languages or to study mathematics. Read the 
 histories of Home and Greece, and study that of 
 your own country. Read books of travel and the 
 biographies of great men, and keep yourself well 
 posted, as you are doing, in current public events. 
 You will then find yourself able to take part on 
 equal terms in any conversation which may be going
 
 300 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 on. You will indeed be considered by strangers an 
 exceptionally well -in formed young fellow, and you 
 may pass through life without any person having a 
 suspicion that Latin, Greek, and mathematics, the 
 cardinal points of an ordinary education, are wholly 
 unknown to you/' 
 
 "Will was cheered by the advice, and henceforth 
 directed his studies only in the direction which 
 Captain Fletcher had indicated. At the beginning 
 of April a large diminution had taken place in the 
 force stationed at Candahar, as General Sir Donald 
 Stewart marched with the greater portion of the 
 force for Cabul. The route led through a country 
 which was the stronghold of the fanatical party, 
 the important town of Ghuzni containing the most 
 fanatical population in all Afghanistan. This had 
 been the center whence the attacks on General 
 .Roberts had been organized, and it was deemed 
 necessary to march a strong force through the 
 country to overawe the tribesmen and break up 
 their organization. 
 
 The march was uneventful as far as Shahjui, the 
 limit of the Candahar province. At this point the 
 Taraki country begins. The Mollahs here had been 
 actively preaching a holy war, and several thousand 
 men were reported as having collected. The vil- 
 lages were found to be deserted, and everything 
 betokened an active opposition to the advance.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 301 
 
 When the head of the column arrived at Ahmed 
 khel a body of the enemy, estimated at from twelve 
 thousand to fifteen thousand, were seen clustered 
 on a semicircle of hills beyond the village. The 
 baggage of the column stretched far along the 
 road, and it was all-important to prevent the enemy 
 from falling upon this long line. General Stewart 
 therefore determined to attack them. 
 
 The two batteries of artillery opened fire upon 
 the enemy, who at once in reply rushed down to the 
 assault. The charge was led by some three thou- 
 sand or four thousand Ghsizis, as they were called, 
 fanatics who had sworn to give their lives in carry- 
 ing out their object of exterminating the hated 
 infidel. Some of these men were armed with rifles 
 and matchlocks, some with heavy swords, knives, 
 and pistols ; others again with pikes made of 
 bayonets or pieces of sharpened iron fastened upon 
 long sticks. Some were on foot and some on 
 horseback. 
 
 With wild yells the mass rushed down upon our 
 troops, and so sudden and unexpected was the at- 
 tack, so swiftly did they cross the four hundred or 
 live hundred yards of intervening ground, that they 
 cnme upon the British before preparation could be 
 ruiile for their reception. At the moment when 
 i..; v charged, some of the cavalry were moving
 
 302 FOR NAME AND FAME, 
 
 across in front of the infantry, and these, before 
 they could be got into a line for a charge, were 
 surrounded by the enemy. In an instant they were 
 lost to sight in the cloud of dust and smoke. It 
 was a hand-to-hand struggle, and in the confusion a 
 troop charged to the right in rear of the main line 
 of the infantry and burst into the midst of the 
 Nineteenth Punjaub Infantrj r , who were in reserve 
 in rear of the position occupied by the general and 
 his staff. In a moment all was confusion. 
 
 The ammunition mules were stampeded, riderless 
 horses dashed hither and thither, and close behind 
 the cavalry the Ghazis with a furious rush dashed 
 in among the broken infantry. Upon the left flank, 
 too, the Ghazis swept round in the rear of our in- 
 fantry line, and for a time it seemed as if the whole 
 British formation was broken up, in which case the 
 numbers of their foes must have prevailed. Colonel 
 Lister, Y.C., however, who commanded the Third 
 Goorkhas, threw his men rapidly into company 
 squares, and poured a tremendous fire into the 
 fanatics. 
 
 All along the line the attack raged, and so hur- 
 riedly had the battle commenced that many of the 
 men had not even fixed bayonets. Desperate was 
 the hand-to-hand fighting, and valor more conspicu- 
 ous than that of the Ghazis was never shown. Furi-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 303 
 
 ously they threw themselves upon the line of their 
 opponents, clutching their muskets and trying to 
 wrench them from their hands, while they strove to 
 cut down their holders. 
 
 Many of them threw themselves upon the fixed 
 bayonets and died in the endeavor to cut down the 
 soldiers with their swords, but the three regiments 
 which formed the line one British (the Fifty- 
 ninth), one Goorkhas, and one Sikhs alike held 
 their own and poured rolling volleys into the ranks 
 of the enemy. 
 
 Desperately the Ghazis strove to capture the 
 guns, which were firing case and shrapnel into 
 them at a distance of thirty yards, mowing them 
 down in hundreds. Not even would this terrible 
 slaughter have checked them had not the Second 
 Punjaub Cavalry most gallantly charged them 
 again and again. The general, surrounded by his 
 escort, was in the midst of the fight, the enemy 
 having burst in between the guns and the Fifty- 
 ninth Foot, and officers and troopers had alike to 
 fight for their lives, several of the escort being 
 killed and wounded. At last, however, the Ghazis 
 fell back from the terrible fire. 
 
 The First Punjaub Cavalry coming up from the 
 rear joined the Second in a hot pursuit ; and our 
 native allies, the Hazaras, seeing the Afghans in re-
 
 304 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 treat, also rushed out after them, and the rout of 
 the enemy was complete. The fighting had lasted 
 about an hour, and the enemy left over a thousand 
 dead on the field, besides the bodies which had been 
 carried off. Their wounded, of course, were far 
 more numerous. 
 
 Ghuzni surrendered without opposition when the 
 column reached it, the fighting men having been 
 engaged in the battle of Ahmed-khel, and having 
 had enough of hostilities. On the 23d of April a 
 force under Brigadier-General Palliser advanced 
 against a large body of natives who had assembled 
 near the village of Ghalez, again led by the Ghazis. 
 These rushed to the attack with a courage and 
 desperation equal to that shown by the fanatics in 
 the previous battle. Our men, however, were this 
 time prepared, and were able to inflict very heavy 
 losses upon the enemy without allowing them to 
 get to close quarters. 
 
 This was the end of the Afghan resistance. Gen- 
 eral Stewart moved on to Cabul without further 
 fighting, and effected a junction there with the 
 force under General Koberts.
 
 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 305 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 ON THE HELMTJND. 
 
 WITH the junction of the forces .of Generals 
 Stewart and Koberts, what may be called the second 
 period of the Afghan war came to an end. All 
 opposition had ceased, and it appeared probable 
 that there would be no more fighting. Abdul- 
 Rahman, a prince of the royal house who, after for 
 some time fighting against Sheer Ali, had been 
 defeated and obliged to fly the country, had for a 
 long time been a resident among the Russians. 
 
 Upon the abdication of Yakoob be had crossed 
 the frontier and had entered at the north of Afghan- 
 istan, assuming the title of ameer. He had been 
 well received in that part of the country, and as no 
 other competitor for the throne appeared to have 
 chances equal to his, and as the British government 
 were most anxious to withdraw their forces from 
 the country, his authority was recognized by us. 
 Negotiations were opened with him, and it was 
 arranged that as he approached Cabul the British 
 force would retire.
 
 306 FOR NAME AND FAMtf. 
 
 The summer had passed not unpleasantly at Can- 
 dahar : the country was peaceful, cricket-matches 
 were got up between the various regiments, and 
 horse-races established. Candahar was governed 
 by a protege of the British named "Wali Shere All. 
 He had organized a native army to support his 
 authority upon our withdrawal. The only circum- 
 stances which occurred to mar the pleasing time 
 were isolated attacks upon British officers and men 
 by Ghazis. 
 
 These attacks were sometimes made in broad 
 daylight in the streets of Candahar, where the 
 escape of those who prepetrated them was impossi- 
 ble; these fanatics regarding their own life with 
 indifference, so that they could but kill one or more 
 of the British before being cut down. 
 
 One day as William Gale was walking in the 
 principal street of Candahar at a short distance 
 behind Colonel Eipon, an Indian official of very 
 long standing' and experience who had come up on 
 a special mission to arrange with the wali the de- 
 tails of the civil government of the province, he saw 
 three Afghans who were loitering in the road draw 
 their long tulwars and dash upon that officer. The 
 first who reached him delivered a sweeping blow, 
 which the colonel, taken by surprise, partly received 
 on his uplifted arm, but was struck to the ground.
 
 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 30? 
 
 Another of the Ghazis raised his s \vord ; but before 
 it could fall Will Gale, who saw at once that he 
 was too far behind to interpose between the assail 
 ant and the victim, drew his revolver from his belt, 
 and, taking a hasty aim, fired. The shot was an 
 accurate one, the bullet striking the Afghan on the 
 forehead just as he was about to strike. He fell 
 forward on the colonel, receiving as he did so a 
 tremendous blow which the third Ghazi was aiming 
 at the prostrate man. 
 
 Before the blow could be repeated Will had 
 bounded forward and, sword in one hand and 
 revolver in the other, faced the two Afghans. An- 
 other shot freed him of one of his assailants just as 
 the other, rushing recklessly forward, aimed a blow 
 at him which he was not quick enough to parry. 
 His right arm fell to his side; but in an instant he 
 threw himself upon his foe, and the two fell heavily 
 to the ground, the Afghan striving desperately to 
 shorten his sword so as to use the point, while Will 
 strove to liberate his left arm, which was under the 
 man, and so use his revolver, which he still grasped. 
 
 At this moment some soldiers of the Sixty-sixth 
 ran up, and one of them with his bayonet, which 
 since these attacks began were always carried at 
 the belt, brought the conflict to a conclusion by 
 running it through and through the Ghazi's body.
 
 308 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Will soon rose to his feet. Colonel Ripon had 
 already freed himself from the body of the dead 
 Ghazi and had struggled to his feet, the blood 
 streaming from his head and arm. 
 
 "I have to thank you for my life, sir," he said 
 warmly. " Had your aid come but two seconds less 
 promptly they would have finished me. But I fear 
 you are severely wounded." 
 
 " Oh, no !" Will answered ; " it is only a flesh 
 wound from my ^shoulder to my elbow. Luckily 
 my sword partly caught the blow. I was aiming 
 at the other fellow, and had not time to parry 
 fairly. I shall be none the worse for it in a 
 week's time. My wound is less severe than yours, 
 sir." 
 
 " We are both bleeding pretty freely," the colonel 
 said. " My quarters are close at hand, and as the 
 principal medical officer lives in the same house, you 
 cannot do better than come in with me." 
 
 In a few minutes their wounds were bandaged, 
 the doctor saying that no serious harm had been 
 done in either case, but that care and quiet lest 
 fever should supervene would be necessary for a 
 week or two. As the house was much more airy 
 and commodious than that in which Will was quar- 
 tered, the colonel begged him so strongly to move 
 his quarters thither until able to return to duty
 
 FOR NAME AND HAME. 309 
 
 that Will agreed to do so, and was soon installed, 
 with Yossouf in attendance, in the colonel's quar- 
 ters. 
 
 He was greatly pleased with the old officer, 
 whose manner was most kind and courteous, and 
 who from his long experience in India was full of 
 anecdotes and information concerning the country. 
 Ten days after the struggle the doctor told them 
 that there was no longer any occasion for his 
 services. 
 
 Their wounds were healing favorably and all fear 
 of fever had passed. At the same time it would 
 still be some time before either could take their 
 arms from slings. The following day, in honor of 
 his convalescence, Colonel Ripon invited several 
 friends to dinner, among them General Burrows 
 and Colonel Galbraith, of the Sixty-sixth. All had 
 of course heard the details of the attack on Colonel 
 Ripon, and Will was congratulated warmly upon 
 the promptness that he had showed. 
 
 " Do you know, colonel," General Burrows said 
 as they were smoking their cigars after dinner, 
 "there is a wonderful likeness between you and 
 Lieutenant Gale. I should have taken you for 
 father and son anywhere." 
 
 The other officers agreed with the remark. The 
 likeness was certainly strong. Both were men of
 
 310 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 six feet in height. The coloneFs hair and mus- 
 tache were grizzled, and his face bronzed with the 
 sun of many Indian summers ; he was thin and spare 
 of habit, but his shoulders were broad, and it was 
 evident that in his youth he must have possessed 
 much of the muscular strength which was apparent 
 in Will's more rounded limbs. But it was in their 
 eyes that there was the greatest similarity. Both 
 were gray and of nearly the same shade ; both had 
 a simple, straightforward, and kindly expression; 
 both were shaded by straight and rather heavy eye- 
 brows. The men looked at each other. 
 
 " I suppose he is like me," Colonel Kipon said ; 
 " still more like, I fancy, what I remember myself 
 at his age ; but curiously enough he has ever since 
 I met him been recalling some one else to my mind ;" 
 and a shade passed over his face. 
 
 Seeing that Colonel Ripon was not disposed to 
 talk further on the subject, a fresh topic of conver- 
 sation was started. There was news that Ayoub 
 Khan, the brother of Yakoob, who was governor at 
 Herat, was marching south at the head of a large 
 force with the intention of opposing Abdul-Rahman 
 and again reseating Yakoob on the throne. He had 
 also preached a holy war against the British. 
 
 " I fear that the trouble is serious," General Bur- 
 rows said. " The troops Ayoub is bringing with
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 311 
 
 him have not yet met us in the field. The popula- 
 tion on the road is wild and fanatical in the ex- 
 treme, and will no doubt join him to a man. On 
 the other hand, the troops of the wali are not tc 
 be depended upon, and the brunt of the fighting is 
 sure to fall upon us." 
 
 Three days later the order was issued by General 
 Primrose that the Sixty-sixth Eegiment, the Bom- 
 bay Grenadiers, and Jacob's Rifles, together with 
 the Third Scinde Horse and Third Bombay Cavalry 
 with a battery of artillery, were to move out with 
 the wali's army toward Girishk, on the river Hel- 
 mund, which formed the boundary between the 
 province of Candahar and that of Herat. 
 
 After the long period of inactivity at Candahar, 
 Will was delighted at the thought of taking part in 
 an expedition with his regiment ; but when they 
 reached the Helmund, life was for some time ex- 
 ceedingly monotonous. The news of Ayoub's ad- 
 vance greatly excited the population, who had been 
 further worked up by agents widely distributed 
 through the country, and by the exhortations of 
 the Mollahs and Ghazis ; consequently rambling at 
 any distance from the camp was forbidden, and the 
 shooting parties, which had been one of the great 
 resources of their life at Candahar, were peremp- 
 torily put an end to.
 
 312 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Colonel Ripon had accompanied the force as the 
 waifs adviser. Both he and Will had recovered 
 completely from their wounds. When the regiment 
 first marched, indeed, the surgeon had strongly 
 recommended Will to remain behind until his wound 
 had completely healed, but the young officer had so 
 strongly begged to be allowed to accompany the 
 regiment that the surgeon had consented. 
 
 His colonel had for a time relieved him from all 
 duty and he rode in rear of the regiment, but with- 
 in a fortnight of their arrival at the Helmund he 
 was able to lay aside his sling and to take his turn 
 of regular duty. The officers did all that they 
 could to make existence tolerable on the sandy 
 shores of the Helmund; they got up foot-races and 
 athletic sports for the men, played cricket on the 
 sands, and indulged in a bath twice a day in the 
 river. 
 
 Will often spent the evening in Colonel Ripon's 
 tent. A warm friendship had arisen between the 
 two officers, and each da} r seemed to bring them 
 closer together. All this time Ayoub's army was 
 known to be approaching. It had been delayed by 
 want of transport and by the difficult nature of the 
 country over which it had to pass. The guns, too, 
 of which it was reported to have a large number, 
 had greatly hampered it ; but by the second week
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 313 
 
 in July it was near at hand. For some time the 
 wall's troops had been showing signs of insubor- 
 dination, and little doubt was entertained that they 
 had been tampered with by Ayoub's emissaries. 
 
 The question of disarming them was several 
 times discussed, but the wali maintained his faith 
 that they would remain true to their salt ; and the 
 British force was so small that it was deemed 
 imprudent to take any step to diminish their 
 strength by dispensing with the services of a strong 
 body of men who might after all be faithful at 
 the critical moment. Moreover, it was doubtful 
 whether they would submit to be disarmed by a 
 force so inferior to their own. Should the attempt 
 to disarm them succeed, they must either be escorted 
 back to Candahar by a strong detachment of the 
 British or be permitted to disperse, in which case 
 they would assuredly swell the advancing army of 
 Ayoub. 
 
 One day Will arranged to start the next morning 
 at daybreak for a day's shooting with four other 
 young officers Hammond and Fortescue, of Jacob's 
 Rifles, and Plater and Lowther, of the Grenadiers. 
 The country round the camp had been already shot 
 over, so they were to go some miles out. Will's 
 colonel, in giving him leave off parade for the day, 
 had asked him to endeavor to ascertain at any vil-
 
 314 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 lage he might enter the state of the feeling of the 
 natives respecting Ayoub, and their disposition to- 
 ward the British,._points on which a deplorable 
 ignorance existed in the cainp. 
 
 The party started before daybreak, putting their 
 wiry little tats, or native ponies, into a gallop so as 
 to reach the spot, eight miles distant, where they 
 were to begin to shoot, as early as possible, so as to 
 get two or three hours' sport before the heat of the 
 day really set in. After an hour's ride they over- 
 took their servants, who had gone on ahead with 
 the guns and luncheon. The sun was but just 
 above the horizon and the morning air was cool 
 and pleasant. 
 
 Dismounting, they handed over the ponies to the 
 servants, and taking the guns and ammunition set 
 out on foot. The servants were to go on with the 
 ponies and lunch to a village in the hills four miles 
 distant, and to get tiffin ready by eleven o'clock. 
 
 The young officers set out on foot, keeping a 
 short distance apart. Two of their servants accom- 
 panied them to carry the game ; the other three 
 went with the two syces who looked after the 
 ponies. The ground was broken and stony, and 
 altogether uncultivated except in the neighborhood 
 of the villages. They had better sport than they 
 expected, for hares darted out in numbers from be-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 315 
 
 hind the rocks. Some of these were bowled over, 
 while others escaped, and there was much banter- 
 ing and laughter among the young men, none of 
 whom were first-class shots. 
 
 As the sun rose higher the game became more 
 scarce, and by ten o'clock the party turned their 
 faces toward the village where they were to lunch, 
 and which lay, they calculated, a mile or two away 
 on their right. The sun was now blazing down 
 upon them, and th'ey were glad indeed when they 
 came in sight of the village, which was not per- 
 ceived until they were close to it, as it lay in a deep 
 and rocky valley. 
 
 Yossouf met them as they entered the village. 
 
 " Well, Yossouf, where have you laid the tiffin?" 
 
 " I have spread it, sahib, on a level piece of ground 
 in the shade of the- chiefs house. He did not seem 
 disposed to be civil, and indeed I thought that it 
 would be more pleasant out of doors in the shade 
 than inside." 
 
 " Much more pleasant, Yossouf ; and these forts, 
 as they call them, are generally stuffy places with 
 small windows. What is the feeling of the people 
 here ?" 
 
 " They are looking forward to Ayoub's coming, 
 sir, when they say a holy war will be preached and 
 every man will rise against the infidels. When
 
 316 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 they found I was a countryman they talked freely 
 enough before me, especially as I led them to be- 
 lieve that I had been taken prisoner at Cabul and 
 forced to accompany you as a sort of slave. I 
 should recommend that as soon as tiffin is over you 
 should start for the camp, for I don't think it is 
 quite safe here." 
 
 " They would never think of attacking us, Yos- 
 souf, with our force within an easy day's march." 
 
 " I don't know, sir," Yossouf said doubtfully. 
 " They say that the wall's men are all with them, 
 and that these alone are quite sufficient to eat up 
 the three British regiments." 
 
 " They will find out their mistake if they try it. 
 However, Yossouf, I will let the others know what 
 you think." 
 
 By this time they had arrived at the spot where 
 the lunch was laid out, and very tempting it looked 
 to hungry men. 
 
 A great dish of curry made with some fowls pur- 
 chased in the village was the principal dish ; but 
 there were some fish which Yossouf had caught in 
 the Helmund on the previous day, a roast of young 
 kid, and several dishes of fresh fruit. A large ves- 
 sel of porous clay containing the drinking-water 
 stood close by, and the necks of some bottles *of 
 claret peeped out from a tub full of water, while a,
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 31 7 
 
 pitcher of cold tea was ready for those who pre- 
 ferred it. The young men set to with a vigorous 
 appetite, and when the meal was over pipes and 
 cigars were lighted, and they prepared to enjoy a 
 rest until the heat of the day was past. Will now 
 told them what Yossouf had said. 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, Gale !" Hammond said. " Your 
 boy is an Afghan, and these fellows are always 
 dreaming about treachery. They are scowling, 
 sulky-looking brutes," he said, looking at a group 
 of natives who stood watching them with lowering 
 eyes, " and of course they hate us as infidel dogs ; 
 but as to attacking us, it's all nonsense." 
 
 " Well, you know, Hammond, these Ghazis do 
 attack us in all sorts of places, as I have found to 
 my cost, and these villages abound with these 
 fanatics." 
 
 " Oh, yes," Fortescue said lazily, " of course they 
 do ; but we have got our revolvers handy, and our 
 guns are within reach of our hands. We should 
 make precious short work of any Ghazis who were 
 to run amuck among us. Well, I for one don't 
 mean to move till it gets a bit cooler. If these fel- 
 lows want to attack us they have got the chance 
 now, and there is no more reason they should do it 
 three hours hence than when we are having our 
 breakfast quietly."
 
 318 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MAIWAND. 
 
 THE servants were squatting in a circle near their 
 masters and enjoying their share of the breakfast. 
 The two syces were Beloochees, the others were 
 men from the Deccan, the regiment having been 
 stationed at Poona before going up into Afghanis- 
 tan. Of these the syces alone understood the 
 Afghan language. 
 
 After the men had finished their meal Tossouf 
 strolled away by himself into the village. When 
 he returned Will saw that he wished to speak to 
 him, so rising carelessly from the ground he walked 
 to the ponies, which were tied up near, and called 
 Yossouf as if to give him some instructions respect- 
 ing them. 
 
 " Well, Yossouf, what is it ? Have you learned 
 anything ?" 
 
 "No, sir, nothing. But the people no longer 
 speak to me freely. They must have guessed when 
 they saw me speaking to you that I was warning 
 you ; but I don't think things are right. The chil-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 dren are all in the houses instead of playing about 
 in the street. A fe\v of the women are standing at 
 their doors, but most of them are inside too." 
 
 " But if the men are thinking of attacking us 
 why shouldn't they do so at once ?" 
 
 " There are not above twenty or thirty men 
 here, sahib. They may not think they are strong 
 enough. Perhaps they have sent to some of the 
 villages for help." 
 
 " Likely enough, Yossouf, I did not think of that. 
 Do you go up above the village and have a good 
 look round. I will try and persuade my friends to 
 be moving." 
 
 Yossouf moved off at once, and Will stood for a 
 minute or two thinking what was the best to do. 
 The position was not pleasant. Yossouf 's suspicions 
 might be altogether unfounded, but Will had 
 found him to be so uniformly right on former 
 occasions that he did not like to neglect his advice 
 now. After a little further thought he joined his 
 companions. 
 
 " Come," he said, " we had really better be mov- 
 ing. I believe we are in real danger." 
 
 The earnestness with which he spoke roused 
 the others, who were all lying at full length on the 
 ground. 
 
 " But as we said before, Gale," Fortescue urged,
 
 320 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 " why shouldn't they now attack us if they wanted 
 to ? "We have been here more than an hour." 
 
 " Perhaps they may think we shall all take a nap 
 after our tiffin," Will replied ; " perhaps, as Yossouf 
 thinks, they have sent off to some other villages for 
 assistance. He has gone up the hillside to look out. 
 Anyhow, I can assure you, I think we had better 
 be moving." 
 
 "It is beastly hot," Hammond said, getting up 
 and stretching himself ; " but as you are so earnest 
 about it, Gale, perhaps we had better make a move. 
 As you say you know no end more of these fellows 
 than we do, and you certainly ain't a fellow to get 
 into a funk about nothing. Come on, boys, we had 
 better do as Gale tells us." 
 
 " That's right," Will said cheerfully. ' ' And look 
 here, if we get away from here without any dis- 
 turbance and find it all right, we can halt again at 
 the first shady place we come to, arid stop there for 
 two or three hours till it gets cool. 
 
 " "Wait a moment," he went on as Hammond was 
 about to order the ponies to be saddled. " Just let 
 us settle what we had best do should they attack 
 us, which, if they mean it, they will do when they 
 see we are moving off. I have been thinking it 
 over. We have all got bullets in our pockets to 
 drop into our guns over the shot in case of neces-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 321 
 
 sity. But these smooth-bore fowling-pieces are of 
 no good except at close quarters, while the Afghan 
 matchlocks will carry straight a long way ; there- 
 fore if we had to make a running fight of it we 
 should get the worst of it, for these fellows could 
 keep up with us easily ; besides, there are the serv- 
 ants ; therefore if a shot is fired, my advice is that 
 we should make a dash at the chiefs house. Seize 
 that, and hold it." 
 
 " Yes, that would be a good plan," Fortescue said, 
 for they were all sobered now by Will's gravity, 
 and convinced that there must be good grounds for 
 his belief in danger. 
 
 " Look here, Gale, we are all senior to you in the 
 date of our commissions, but you have seen no end 
 of service and adventure, therefore I vote that you 
 shall be commanding officer until we get back to 
 camp." 
 
 The others willingly agreed. 
 
 " Very well," Will said ; " I will do my best. 
 Hammond, will you tell your servant to get ready 
 for a start at once ? Speak to him quietly and care- 
 lessly. Then, as the men move up more toward the 
 ponies, tell them in Hindustanee to go about their 
 work quietly, but in case of any trouble with the 
 Afghans to out with their swords and join us in a 
 rush at the chiefs house."
 
 FOR NAME AND 
 
 Hammond carried out his instructions. The two 
 Beloochees were not taken by surprise, for they as 
 well as Yossouf had been feeling uneasy at the dis- 
 appearance of all women and children from the 
 scene. The other men looked startled, but they 
 were stout fellows, and as all the native servants 
 were armed with swords to enable them to resist 
 sudden attacks by the country people, and as they 
 had unbounded faith in their masters, they went 
 about the work of packing up the plates and dishes 
 and preparing for a start quietly enough. 
 
 As the syces began to put the saddles on the tats 
 the Afghans spoke quickly and angrily together. 
 Two or three minutes later Yossouf arrived. He 
 had evidently been running, for his breath came 
 quick, but he now walked forward in a leisurely 
 way. 
 
 a Two large parties are coming, master, one 
 down the valley and the other across the hills. 
 They have got flags with them, and I am sure they 
 are going to attack us." 
 
 Just at this moment an Afghan lad joined his 
 seniors and spoke rapidly to them. "Will judged at 
 once that he also had been placed on the watch. 
 The chief of the village, accompanied by two or 
 three of his men, now stepped forward. 
 
 " Ask the sahibs." he said to Yossouf. " why they
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 323 
 
 are in such a hurry, why they want to start in the 
 heat of the day ; they had better wait till it is 
 cooler." 
 
 "Will did not wait for Yossoufs translation, but 
 answered direct : 
 
 " We have duties at the camp and must return at 
 once." 
 
 The chief was surprised that one of the young 
 officers should speak his tongue so fluently. 
 
 " It looks as if you were not pleased with the 
 hospitality of our village," he said, " that you should 
 hurry away so quickly." 
 
 "We are content with it so far, but we must be 
 off now. Bring up the ponies quickly," he said to 
 Yossouf. " Never mind those things, there is not a 
 moment to be lost." 
 
 Yossouf and the servants brought up the ponies. 
 The chief laid his hand on one of the bridles and 
 drew a pistol. 
 
 " Kaffir dogs," he said, " you shall not leave us at 
 all." 
 
 Will's hand was already on his revolver, and be- 
 fore the chief could level his pistol he fired and the 
 Afghan fell dead. 
 
 There was a shout of rage from the others, and 
 their long matchlocks were leveled. It was well 
 the party were prepared, or all might have been
 
 324 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 shot down at once ; but the instant Will fired, his 
 friends raised their double-barreled guns to their 
 shoulders and let fly the contents among the 
 Afghans, who, thrown into confusion by the sudden 
 and unexpected attack, fired wildly, several of them 
 dropping from the effects of the shot. 
 
 " Now," Will shouted, " to the house every one of 
 you!" 
 
 There was a rush, and before the Afghans knew 
 what had happened the little party had burst 
 through those standing at the door of the house, 
 and had barred and bolted it within. There were 
 but two men inside, and these running upstairs 
 leaped from the windows. A wild screaming was 
 heard from the women and children. 
 
 " Yossouf, tell these women that we don't want 
 to hurt them, but that they must be silent and 
 keep the children quiet. We have got enough to 
 think about without this frightful row inside. 
 Then when you have got them quiet put them all 
 in one room together upstairs, and keep guard at 
 the door. See that none of them leave the room, 
 for they might steal down and open the door to 
 admit their friends while we are busy. What! 
 Fortescue, are you hit ?" 
 
 " I am done for !" the young officer replied faint- 
 ly; "one of their bullets has gone through my
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 325 
 
 body ; but never mind me now." As he spoke he 
 tottered and would have fallen had not the others 
 supported him and gently laid him down on a heap 
 of skins which served as an Afghan bed. Then 
 leaving his servant to attend to him for a minute, 
 the others ran upstairs to see what was going on 
 without. 
 
 " Be careful !" Will exclaimed ; " don't show a 
 head above the roof or at a loop-hole or you will 
 get a bullet in your brain to a certainty. Stand 
 well back so that they can't see you." 
 
 Already a pattering fire of musketry had broken 
 out round the house, but not an Afghan was to 
 be seen, every man having taken his position in 
 shelter. 
 
 " There is nothing to do at present," "Will said. 
 " When the other parties arrive they may make an 
 attack, but I don't think they will do so till night. 
 Hammond, you had better go down to Fortescue at 
 present. One of the syces can take Yossouf's place 
 on guard over the women, and he can help you. 
 The lad is a good nurse ; but I fear there is nothing 
 to be done for the poor fellow." 
 
 A few minutes later a wild outburst of shouts and 
 yells, and a great firing of guns, announced that the 
 other parties had arrived, and the cracking fire of 
 the matchlocks around the fort became incessant.
 
 326 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 The defenders did not attempt to return it; it 
 would only have been throwing away lives uselessly 
 to approach any of the loop-holes. In a quarter of 
 an hour Hammond rejoined his companions. 
 
 "He is gone, poor fellow !" he said ; " he never 
 spoke again. The bullet went close to the heart. I 
 think he has bled to death internally. I have 
 handed his revolver to one of the syces, and his 
 gun to the other. Your man Yossouf has a re- 
 volver." 
 
 " What on earth are we to do now, Gale?" Plater 
 asked. " You have been right thus far, and if it 
 hadn't been for you putting us up to make a rush 
 here we should have been done for long ago ; but 
 we are not much better off ; for here we are cooped 
 up, and the betting is a hundred to one against our 
 being rescued in time. No one will know where to 
 look for us, and though we may beat them off two 
 or three times, in the end it is likely to go hard with 
 us." 
 
 " Couldn't we send a messenger with the news of 
 the fix we are in ?" Lowther asked ; " though T 
 don't see how any one is to get through." 
 
 " That's what I have been thinking about evei 
 since I first planned coming here," Will said ; " but 
 I am sure no one could get through. The Afghans 
 know the importance of it, and when it gets dark
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 327 
 
 they will be so thick round the place that a mouse 
 couldn't make its way through them unobserved." 
 
 The situation was gloomy enough ; but there was 
 no lack of good spirits among the young officers, 
 the danger causing their blood to course rapidly 
 through their veins. 
 
 Will sat on the floor apart from the others. 
 They had made him their commanding officer, and 
 the responsibility of thinking for them devolved 
 upon his shoulders. Suddenly a thought struck 
 him, and he leaped to his feet with a shout. " I've 
 got it !" 
 
 " You will 'get it if you don't mind," Hammond 
 said dryly as a bullet passed through one of the 
 loop-holes and struck the wall an inch ortwo from 
 Will's head. But what is it ?" 
 
 " When it gets quite dusk we will call a parley 
 and tell them we don't want to keep the women 
 here ; they are only in our wayand eat up the food, 
 so we will open the door and let them go." 
 
 " But what will you do that for, Gale ? You were 
 saying a short time ago that the women could be 
 kept as hostages." 
 
 " So they might, Hammond ; but it will be more 
 useful to us to let them go. There arc seven women 
 here. Six of them shall go out, and with them, in 
 the clothes of the seventh, Yossouf,"
 
 328 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 " Capital ! capital !" the others exclaimed. "Don't 
 you think they will notice him ?" 
 
 "No," Will said ; " we won't do it till dusk, and 
 some of these women are as tall as he is. They 
 will hurry them away as quickly as possible so as 
 to recommence the attack, and wrapped up as these 
 Afghan women are no one could see the difference. 
 Once fairly away we can trust Yossouf for finding 
 an opportunity of slipping away and bringing us 
 help." 
 
 Will now laid the plan before Yossouf, who at 
 once agreed to attempt it. 
 
 The day passed slowly, the fire of the enemy 
 being kept up without intermission. 
 
 " Now," Will said at last, " it is getting dark 
 enough, let us put the plan into operation. In the 
 first place the women must be separated, and taken 
 into separate rooms, the one Yossouf has fixed upon 
 as nearest his height into a room by herself. Then 
 Yossouf must tell the old mother of the chief that 
 they are to be released, and that she must show her- 
 self on the roof and make them stop firing till they 
 have gone out. While she is doing that he can slip 
 down and dress himself in the robes of the woman. 
 She must be gagged to prevent her screaming or 
 making a row as her companions go out." 
 
 Greatly surprised was the old woman at being
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 329 
 
 told that she was to be released. These Kaffirs must 
 be mad, she thought, to give up their hostages. 
 However, she at once proceeded to carry the orders 
 into effect. 
 
 Before raising her head above the roof she uttered 
 a loud quavering cry, the cry of welcome of the 
 Afghan women. The firing without instantly 
 ceased. Again raising the cry, she stepped out on 
 to the roof and shouted that the English did not 
 want to keep the women, and that the door would 
 be open for them to come out, providing the 
 Afghans promised that no attempt to enter should 
 be made, and that none should move from their 
 present places until the women had fairly left. 
 
 There was a shout of surprise and satisfaction, 
 and one of the chiefs rose to his feet and gave the 
 promise in the name of his companions. 
 
 "How many are there of you ?" he asked. 
 
 " Seven," the woman answered. 
 
 " Are the children to come ?" 
 
 " We may take away the babies, but the three 
 boys are to remain behind." 
 
 Five minutes later the door of the fort opened, and 
 seven figures came out. Not a shot was heard 
 until they had passed down the street of the village, 
 and had entered a house at the further end; then the 
 rapid fire commenced again. Twice during the even-
 
 330 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 ing did the Afghans attempt to storm the little fort, 
 but were each time repulsed with loss, the fire of 
 the five double-barreled guns, loaded with shot and 
 bullets, and of the revolvers, proving too much for 
 them. The second attack was made about eleven. 
 
 A quarter of an hour later wild shouts were 
 heard outside ; there was an instant cessation of the 
 enemy's fire, and then in the silence the deep 
 thundering sound of galloping horses was heard. 
 
 " Hurrah !" Will shouted ; " here they are." 
 
 A minute later the Third Bombay Cavalry dashed 
 up to the fort. The door was thrown open and the 
 little garrison ran out. 
 
 "All safe?" the officer in command asked. 
 
 "All safe, except Fortescue, who w r as killed at the 
 first attack." 
 
 " So we heard from your boy," the officer said ; 
 " he has ridden back with us as guide. Now, lads, 
 dismount and clear the village. Shoot every man 
 you find, turn the women out of the houses, and 
 then set them on fire. Don't waste any time over 
 it, for the rascals are swarming round the place. 
 Captain Lawson, you take your troop and dismount 
 it as skirmishers round the place, and keep them off 
 till we have done here. Here, you four men who 
 brought the powder kegs, carry them inside this 
 fort. We are going to blow it up to give them a 
 lesson."
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 331 
 
 Ten minutes later the cavalry were again in their _ 
 saddles. Spare horses had been brought for the 
 four officers, and the servants mounted the tats, 
 which would be able to keep up with the cavalry. 
 The flames were already bursting out brightly from 
 the houses. 
 
 The yells of the Afghans rose high, and their 
 bullets flew thickly over the village, but they kept 
 at a respectful distance. The officer in command 
 gave the word and the party set off at a trot. 
 
 Before they had left the village a deep roar was 
 heard, and they knew that the Afghan fort was de- 
 stroyed. Two hours later they arrived safely in 
 camp, where the four rescued officers were warmly 
 congratulated on their narrow escape by their 
 friends. 
 
 On the 14th of July the conspiracy among the 
 wali's troops came to a head. They openly muti- 
 nied and marched out with their cannon and arms 
 from the camp. This was situated at a short dis- 
 tance from that of the British, and Colonel Ripon 
 was the first to gallop in with the news. 
 
 Unfortunately the British commander was not a 
 man endowed with promptness of decision, and no 
 steps were taken until the mutineers had proceeded 
 a considerable distance ; then the cavalry and artil- 
 lery were dispatched in pursuit. Had the order
 
 332 FOR NA ME AND FAME. 
 
 been given at once there can be no doubt that the 
 wall's force would have been completely cut up, 
 and those who escaped would have arrived a mere 
 horde of fugitives, for the most part without arms, 
 at Ayoub's camp. 
 
 Late as was the pursuit it was not ineffectual. 
 Six British guns opened fire upon the wall's artil- 
 lery, which was in rear of the retreating column, 
 with such effect that the gunners were seized with 
 a panic, and cutting the traces fled for their lives. 
 A good many were cut down by the British cavalry, 
 and the six guns deserted by them were brought 
 into camp. 
 
 Colonel Burrows' little force now stood alone, for 
 he had with him but fifteen hundred infantry, five 
 hundred cavalry, and six of his own guns besides 
 those taken from the mutineers a force altogether 
 disproportioned to that with which Ayoub was ad- 
 vancing, swelled as it was by the accession of the 
 wall's army. A message was sent to General Prim- 
 rose at Candahar asking for reinforcements ; but 
 that officer, although he had a considerable force at 
 his disposal, declined to dispatch any reenforce- 
 ments whatever. News now arrived that A\ 7 oub, 
 instead of march ing direct upon Girishk, had crossed 
 the Helmund higher up and was moving across the 
 country by a line parallel with the road from Can-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME 333 
 
 dahar to Girishk. By this movement he would 
 have the option of placing himself either between 
 Colonel Burrows' force and Candahar, of marching 
 direct upon the latter city, or of keeping to the 
 north and coming down upon the road between 
 Candahar and Shahpur, and then marching direct 
 for Cabul. Under these circumstances General 
 Burrows determined to fall back at once to a spot 
 where he might oppose Ayoub's advancing force. 
 Accordingly the brigade marched from the Hel- 
 mund to a village called Khusk-I-Nakhud and there 
 encamped. General Nuttal with the cavalry made 
 reconnaissances in the direction of the enemy. 
 
 The people of the country held altogether aloof, 
 and no accurate information was obtained as to the 
 strength of Ayoub's army, which was believed by 
 General Burrows to be very much smaller than it 
 really was. Early in the morning of the 26th it 
 was known that Ayoub was marching upon 
 Mai wand, a village further to the north, and at 
 half-past six the troops moved out to intercept him. 
 
 It was at this time believed that it was only the 
 enemy's cavalry with whom we should have to deal. 
 Upon arriving near Maiwand, however, news was 
 brought in by spies that the whole of the enemy 
 were at hand. The force was at once halted in a 
 position singularly ill adapted for a fighting ground.
 
 334 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Deep ravines ran both to the right and to the left 
 of the ground occupied by the British. By these 
 the enemy could advance under shelter until within 
 a short distance. On either side were ranges of 
 
 O 
 
 hills completely commanding the position. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine a more unsuitable posi- 
 tion than that which General Burrows prepared to 
 hold with a mere handful of troops against an 
 enormously superior force. What was the total 
 strength of Ayoub's army was never exactly known, 
 as it was swollen by enormous numbers of Ghazis 
 and tribesmen from the villages. These were in 
 fact far more formidable opponents than the regular 
 Afghan troops, as their tremendous rushes, and in- 
 difference to the loss inflicted upon them, were 
 trving; in the extreme for even the best-trained 
 
 * o 
 
 troops to withstand. 
 
 The morning was thick and but little could be 
 seen of Ayoub's army. His cavalry, indeed, were 
 found to be moving about in large masses, but 
 these fell back at our advance. Lieutenant Mac- 
 lean, with two horse-artillery guns and a small 
 cavalry escort, galloped out on the extreme left and 
 opened fire on the Afghan cavalry. His infantry 
 at once appeared in force swarming down toward 
 the guns, and these were withdrawn to a position 
 nearer to our line.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME 335 
 
 The British infantry were formed in the follow- 
 ing order : The Sixty-sixth were on the right, the 
 Bombay Grenadiers in the center, and Jacob's Rifles 
 on the left. Two guns were placed in position to 
 support the Sixty-sixth on the right ; the remaining 
 four British guns, and the six smooth-bore guns 
 captured from the wali's mutineers, were placed 
 between the Grenadiers and Jacob's Rifles. The 
 Third Scinde Horse and Third Bombay Light Cav- 
 alry were formed in the rear of the line. 
 
 As the enemy advanced, our guns opened a heavy 
 fire upon them, but it was full} 7 an hour before their 
 artillery replied. Then thirty guns were unmasked 
 and opened fire upon the British line. Undercover 
 of this heavy fire swarms of the enemy's irregulars 
 advanced toward our position. "When within six 
 hundred or seven hundred yards of the Sixty-sixth 
 the British opened with their Martini rifles, and the 
 shower of lead at such an unexpected distance 
 checked the advance of the enemy. 
 
 For some time the artillery duel continued, but 
 the eriemy's guns were then moved on to the hills 
 on either side of the British position, and a terrible 
 cross-fire was opened from both flanks. At about 
 two o'clock the smooth-bore guns began to get short 
 of ammunition. Only sixty rounds had been cap- 
 tured with them, and there being no reserve of
 
 336 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 ammunition fitting them, they ceased fire. The 
 position now became most serious. From the ravines 
 on either side the Ghazis swarmed up in vast num- 
 bers. The artillery thundered from the heights 
 upon our troops. Some of their batteries were brought 
 up to within very short distances ; and great num- 
 bers of the enemy, keeping along the ravines shel- 
 tered from our fire, came up in the rear and seized 
 the villages there. The companies of Jacob's Eifles 
 on the left, after resisting for some time the furious 
 attacks of the Ghazis, began to waver. The ene- 
 my's cavalry swept down in heavy masses, while 
 our cavalry, for some reason which Las never been 
 explained, remained inactive. The general has 
 stated that he ordered them to charge, but that 
 they would not do so ; the cavalry affirm that they 
 never received orders. Anyhow, at this critical 
 moment the Third Scinde Horse and the Third 
 Bombay Cavalry remained inactive. The confusion 
 amid Jacob's Rifles rapidly grew in spite of the ef- 
 forts of the officers to rally them. The Ghazis 
 swept down upon them and the Rifles broke in con- 
 fusion and rushed among the Bombay Grenadiers, 
 "who, hitherto fighting steadily, also fell into confu- 
 sion as the Rifles and Ghazis burst into their ranks. 
 " This is hot work," Will Gale said to his captain 
 when the enemy's guns on the heights on either side
 
 FOR NAME AND FA MB. 33? 
 
 began to play on the line of the Sixty-sixth with 
 their flank fire. 
 
 "It is, indeed," the officer answered, "and the 
 fire of the enemy from the edge of that ravine is 
 very trying. I wish to Heaven the general would 
 move us further back ; he has made a hideous mis- 
 take in fighting on such ground as this." 
 
 " It would be difficult to withdraw now," Will 
 said. " It would shake the confidence of the men. 
 I think myself that we ought to advance and drive 
 the enemy before us till we take up some really de- 
 fensible position ; but I doubt if the Afghans would 
 wait for that. In all our history a British charge 
 against an Indian enemy has always been success- 
 ful, no matter how great the odds." 
 
 " It is a bad lookout," the captain said as a shell 
 burst close by him, killing and wounding five or six 
 men. " It is quite evident that if we stay where we 
 are we must in time be annihilated. Our fellows 
 will stand, no doubt ; they are English soldiers and 
 well officered. But how can one expect the two 
 Indian .regiments, with only three or four white 
 officers each, to remain steady under such a fire as 
 this and with these desperate charges of Ghazis 
 upon them ?" 
 
 Very steadily the Sixty-sixth held their ground 
 in spite of a flanking fire of artillery and musketry.
 
 338 Wli NA ME AND FA ME. 
 
 Every time the enemy gathered at the edge of the 
 ravine for a rush the heavy fire of the company on 
 the flank, which was wheeled back at a right angle 
 to the line so as to face them, drove them back to 
 shelter again. The regiment had suffered very 
 heavily, still the officers felt that they could endure 
 till nightfall. Of victory there was now no idea ; 
 for to conquer, men must act, and here they were 
 only called upon to suffer. Presently a wild tumult 
 was heard to the left, and then the men of the scat- 
 tered native regiments burst in a tumultuous mass 
 into the ranks of the Sixty-sixth. 
 
 "Steady, men, steady !" shouted the officers. 
 
 But it was of no avail. All was in hopeless con- 
 fusion. The artillery fired until the Ghazis were 
 within a few yards of them ; then they hastily lim- 
 bered up and fell back. But the Ghazis were too 
 close at hand, and two of the guns were lost. Even 
 now had the cavalry charged upon the Afghans 
 time would have been given to the broken infantry 
 to form again into a solid mass and to draw off from 
 the field in good order. But the cavalry remained 
 inactive. Both these regiments had a record of 
 good service in the field, but their conduct on this 
 occasion was little short of disgraceful. Among the 
 infantry all order was lost, and, mixed up in a con- 
 fnsed mass hemmed in on all sides by the enemy,
 
 AME AND FA ME. 339 
 
 they fell back, each man fighting for himself, upon 
 the village behind. Here in the walled inclosures 
 the Sixty-sixth and the Grenadiers rallied and 
 fought nobly. Each house was used as a fortress 
 and only carried after a desperate struggle. Here 
 Colonel Galbraith and nine other officers of the 
 Sixty -sixth were killed, and the greater portion of 
 the regiment shared their fate. 
 
 Some bodies of the troops entirely cut off from 
 the rest in their retreat stood their ground in the 
 open and fought desperately to the end. surround- 
 ing themselves ere they died with a ring of slaugh- 
 tered enemies. So desperate was the defense in 
 some cases that, outnumbering them fifty to one, 
 the enemy never dared to come to close quarters 
 with the gallant band, which kept up a rain of fire 
 on them till the last man had fallen. So long and 
 stoutly was the village defended that the great 
 majority of the broken fugitives had time to pass 
 out behind. General Burrows, who had done his 
 best to stem the rout, drew off the shattered re- 
 mains and fell back with them in fair order. 
 
 Will Gale's company was in the right flank of the 
 regiment, and therefore furthest from the point 
 where the line was broken by the rush of the native 
 troops. Seeing what was taking place, the captain 
 formed his men into company square and fell back
 
 340 FOR NAME A ND FAME. 
 
 to the village in fair order. The company then 
 threw itself into a house with a walled garden to 
 the right of the village, and its steady fire in no 
 slight degree helped to keep back the Afghans and 
 cover the retreat. This they did until General 
 Burrows himself rode up and ordered them to fall 
 in. 
 
 " Your company has done good service, sir," he 
 said to Captain Fletcher, " and it is for you now to 
 cover the retreat." 
 
 Slowly and in good order the company fell back, 
 and joining the troops who still retained their for- 
 mation retired slowly, facing about and pouring 
 volley after volley into the Afghans as they came 
 out through the village. For two miles the enemy 
 pressed closely upon them ; but their loss had 
 already been immense and all desired to join in the 
 plundering of the British carnp, therefore the pur- 
 suit slackened, and three miles from the village the 
 rear-guard were ordered to the main body at quick 
 march.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 341 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CANDAHAR. 
 
 " THANK God that is over," Captain Fletcher said 
 as he lifted his cap and wiped the perspiration from 
 his forehead, " but the regiment is almost annihi- 
 lated." 
 
 " I fear the worst is yet to come," Will said. 
 'We are fifty miles from Candahar, and when we 
 came out we had to carry water with us, for 
 there was none to be found on the way. We have 
 a fearful march before us. What on earth has be- 
 come of the cavalry ? They have done nothing to 
 cover the retreat." 
 
 " They have ridden on ahead," the captain said 
 bitterly, " without having drawn a sword in this 
 day's light, and will ride into Candahar to-morrow 
 morning without losing a man, save the few who 
 were knocked over by the artillery." 
 
 Presently an' officer rode up. 
 
 " Ah I Gale," he exclaimed, " thank God you are
 
 342 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 safe. I rode back to see." And Colonel Eipon 
 shook hands warmly with the young officer. 
 
 " I am glad to see that you are safe, sir," Will 
 answered. " This has been a terrible day." 
 
 "It has, indeed," the colonel said mournfully, 
 " terrible ! There has been nothing like it since the 
 retreat from Cabul in 1848. And how many of 
 these poor fellows will reach Candahar God only 
 knows! The water-bottles were emptied hours 
 ago. The men are already exhausted with the long 
 day's work and parched with thirst, and we have 
 fifty miles' tramp before us. Have you an} r 
 wounded men here with you ?" 
 
 " Several, sir, some of them badly hurt." 
 
 " Put one of the worst on my horse," Colonel 
 Ripon said, dismounting; "and push on briskly, 
 lads. There are some carts ahead. "We will turn 
 out the stores and put the wounded in. You had 
 better let the men throw away their knapsacks and 
 all useless incumbrances," he said to Captain 
 Fletcher. " You will have to march and perhaps 
 fight all night, and must husband your strength." 
 
 Steadily the rear-guard followed the broken 
 column. It consisted of men of the Sixty-sixth and 
 Grenadiers mingled together, and well did they 
 curry out their arduous duties. A portion were 
 thrown out on each flank, while the rest kept to
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 343 
 
 the road. This was strewn with arras and ac- 
 couterments of all kinds. The men's hearts were 
 wrung to the core by the sight of the number of 
 wounded who had dropped by the roadside, and 
 who implored them as they passed not to leave 
 them to be murdered by the enemy. Many of them 
 were lifted and placed in carts, everything else 
 being turned out to make way for them, but many 
 had to be left behind, for it would be impossible to 
 carry them on such a march. Slowly the long 
 night passed. All along the line ahead a scattered 
 fire of musketry could be heard as the villagers 
 shot down the fugitives who in hopes of finding 
 water straggled from the road. Sometimes sharp 
 volleys rang out as the troops stood at bay and 
 drove back the natives when they pressed upon 
 them. Several times the rear-guard were hotly 
 engaged as the Afghans, furious at seeing their prey 
 slipping from their fingers, mustered and fell upon 
 them ; but each time they were repulsed and the 
 column held on its way. Will was in command of 
 a mixed band of some forty men which moved to 
 the right of the road. Colonel Kipon kept by his 
 side, but few words were spoken through the long 
 night. 
 
 The men were half-mad with thirst, and had 
 there been water near nothing could have restrained
 
 344 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 them from rushing to it ; but they knew that none 
 could be obtained until they reached Candahar. 
 Many, in utter despair at the distance before them, 
 threw themselves down on the ground to die. But 
 the others kept on, stumbling and staggering as 
 they marched stupid and half-blind, rallying only 
 when the order came to turn and repulse the 
 enemy. 
 
 Two or three times in the night the rear-guard 
 halted for a few minutes and the men threw them- 
 selves down on the sand, where they picked the 
 scattered herbage within their reach and chewed it 
 to quench their burning thirst. Daylight was a 
 welcome relief. They knew indeed that with the 
 rising of the sun their torments would grow still 
 greater; but the change from the long, dreary 
 darkness cheered them, and they could now see 
 from the nature of the country that they were 
 within fifteen miles of Candahar. They marched 
 on for two more hours, and then the officer in 
 command of the little body saw that they could do 
 no more. 
 
 lie therefore led them to a village on rising 
 ground a short distance from the road and halted 
 them there. The exhausted men threw themselves 
 down in the shade of the houses. They had the 
 long day yet to pass and their thirst seemed unen-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 345 
 
 durable ; still the halt was welcome, for there was 
 not a man but felt that his strength was at an end 
 and that it would have been an impossibility to 
 reach the city. 
 
 Captain Fletcher picked out a few of the least 
 exhausted men and placed them in the outskirts of 
 the village to call the rest to arms in case the 
 Afghans, numbers of whom were hovering round, 
 should venture upon an attack. For the first hour 
 after reaching the village not a man moved from 
 the spot where he had thrown himself down. The 
 officers had searched the houses, and found some 
 jars of water. These they carried round and doled 
 out a few mouthfuls to each man. Small though 
 the amount was, the relief afforded was immense ; 
 and as soon as their first exhaustion had subsided 
 the men scattered through the gardens plucking the 
 vine leaves and chewing them, and fortunately dis- 
 covering a few gourds, which were cut up into 
 small fragments and divided. 
 
 The day wore on, and at one o'clock there was a 
 shout of joy, for a body of cavalry were seen ap- 
 proaching at a rapid trot from the town. Soon they 
 rode up, and proved to be a regiment which had 
 been dispatched from the town for the relief of the 
 stragglers. At daybreak the cavalry, riding in 
 many miles ahead of the infantry, brought the
 
 346 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 news to the city of the defeat, and something very 
 like a panic at first ensued. 
 
 It was some time before anything was done to 
 
 */ o 
 
 succor the exhausted fugitives who were pressing 
 forward to the city. But at last a force was sent 
 out with wagons and bullocks with water-skins, and 
 thus hundreds of lives which would otherwise have 
 been sacrificed were saved. The cavalry had come 
 out with full water-bottles, and relief was soon, 
 afforded to the worn-out rear-guard, who at once 
 fell into rank and resumed their march toward 
 Candahar, the cavalry, who had brought a few 
 light carts with them, pursuing their journey for 
 some distance further to succor and collect those 
 who had fallen on the road. 
 
 The sun was just setting as the rear-guard of Gen- 
 eral Burrows' brigade reached Candahar, after hav- 
 ing marched since the previous morning sixty miles 
 without food, and with only a few mouthfuls of 
 water, and having iought for nearly twenty-four 
 hours of that time. Every preparation was made 
 in the city for the expected attack. The defenses 
 were strengthened, the lower portion of the popu- 
 lace, who would be likely to declare against them, 
 were turned out of the town, and provisions were 
 collected from the country round. Fortunately 
 ample time was afforded them for these prep
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME, 347 
 
 arations. Ayoub's army had been to a great extent 
 demoralized by the tremendous losses which it had 
 sustained in the defeat of this handful of British 
 troops, and some da} r s elapsed before it moved for- 
 ward from Maiwand. Then by easy marches it ap- 
 proached Candahar, and took up its position in the 
 plain north of the city. 
 
 Just as the rear-guard of General Burrows' force 
 were starting from their halting-place foi- their last 
 march into the city, Will Gale was delighted at 
 seeing Yossouf approaching. He had not seen him 
 since the regiment marched out from Kusk-I- 
 Nakhud. The young Afghan had remained with 
 the other followers in the village behind Maiwand 
 during the battle, when, while the resistance of 
 the British was still continuing, the Afghans had 
 worked round by the ravines and entered the vil- 
 lage. 
 
 Yossouf had been obliged to join in the retreat, 
 which was at once commenced by the baggage 
 train. Full of anxiety for the fate of his master, he 
 had hurried forward at his best speed to Candahar, 
 reaching the city only an hour or two after the 
 arrival of the cavalry. In spite of the distance he 
 had already performed he did not delay for an 
 instant, but set out again with some provisions, and 
 a bottle of wine and we of water hidden away in
 
 348 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 his dress. He had resolved to push forward at all 
 hazards until he had either joined his master, wheth- 
 er on his retreat or as a prisoner in Ayoub's army, or 
 had discovered his body on the field of battle, and 
 given him burial. 
 
 Passing through the throng of fugitives, and 
 questioning any of the men of the Sixty-sixth he 
 met, he made his way forward. He had learned 
 that "Will's company had withdrawn in a body from, 
 the battle-field to the village, but further than this 
 none of the fugitives could tell him ; and his delight 
 was exuberant when he saw Will marching along 
 with his company. 
 
 The little supply which he had brought was at 
 once served out among the men who most needed 
 it, and Will, who had been in a state of great un- 
 easiness concerning the safety of his faithful fol- 
 lower, was greatly cheered by finding him alive and 
 unhurt. 
 
 The news of the defeat of Maiwand produced an 
 immense sensation in India, and measures were at 
 once taken for the relief of Candahar. A strong 
 division was ordered to march from Cabul through 
 Ghuzni, while General Phayre, who commanded 
 the force at Quettah, was also ordered to advance 
 to the assistance of the garrison. General Phayre, 
 however, although comparatively close to Candahar,
 
 FOB NAME AND FAME. 349 
 
 was unable to advance for some time. The same 
 miserable economy which had dispersed the trans- 
 port train after the signature of the treaty of Gun- 
 damuk, and had so delayed the advance of General 
 Roberts toward Cabul after the massacre of the 
 mission, again paralyzed the action of the British 
 troops, the whole of the transport train, collected at 
 so much cost and difficulty, having been dismissed 
 to their homes as soon as the negotiations with 
 Abdul-Rahman held out a prospect of peace 
 
 Many weeks elapsed before a sufficient number of 
 baggage animals could be collected to enable Gen- 
 eral Phayre to advance with his relieving column. 
 In Candahar things passed quietly. The enemy 
 from time to time fired shot and shell into the city 
 from distant positions ; but believing that no relief 
 could reach the garrison before the supplies of food 
 were exhausted, and that it must therefore yield to 
 hunger, Ayoub's army contented themselves by 
 watching the city from a distance, and by keeping 
 a cordon of troops round its walls to prevent the 
 country people from bringing in provisions. 
 
 Detached bodies, indeed, often crept up near the 
 walls and kept up a musketry fire at any troops 
 showing themselves there. But no attempts were 
 made to batter down the walls or to make anything 
 like a resolute assault. Ayoub's army had indeed
 
 350 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 greatly lost heart. If fifteen hundred British sol- 
 diers, attacked under circumstances of the greatest 
 disadvantage, had killed six thousand or seven 
 thousand of their assailants, what might not be the 
 slaughter which a greatly superior force would in- 
 flict when sheltered behind stone walls? 
 
 From one village, situate half a mile from the 
 eastern gate of the city, so constant and harassing a 
 fire was maintained by the enemy that General 
 Primrose resolved to make a sortie to capture it. 
 The affair was, however, badly planned, and re- 
 sulted in failure. The Afghans, sheltered in the 
 strongly built houses, kept up so severe a fire upon 
 the assailants that these were obliged to fall back 
 with a considerable loss. 
 
 After that no further sorties were attempted, and 
 the city remained in quiet until the relieving 
 columns were close at hand. 
 
 The force selected to march from Cabul to the 
 relief of Candahar under the command of General 
 Roberts consisted of the Ninety-second Highland- 
 ers, Twenty-third Pioneers, Twenty-fourth and 
 Twenty-fifth Punjaub Infantry, the Second, Fourth, 
 and Fifth Goorkhas, the Seventy-second Highland- 
 ers, second battalion of the Sixtieth, the Norfolk 
 Rangers, the Second, Third, and Fifteenth Sikhs. 
 There were three batteries of artillery and four
 
 NAME AND FAME. 351 
 
 cavalry regiments, the Ninth Lancers, the Third 
 Bengal Cavalry, the Third Punjaub Cavalry, and 
 the Central India Horse. This gave a total of 
 about ten thousand fighting men. There were, in 
 addition, eight thousand followers to feed, seven, 
 thousand horses, and some eight thousand transport 
 and artillery mules and ponies. 
 
 The ameer did his best to assist the force, which 
 was indeed going to fight his battle as well as their 
 own. The question was whether so large a force 
 would be able to subsist on the road, and in order 
 to assist them to do so he sent orders to all the 
 tribes along the line of march to aid the column in 
 every way. In consequence, no difficulties were 
 met with, and scarce a shot was fired on the way 
 down. In seven days after starting Ghuzni was 
 reached, and in fifteen Khelat-I-Ghilzai, where 
 Colonel Tanner with a small garrison had been 
 besieged by the local tribes since the advance of 
 Ayoub. Khelat-I-Ghilzai stood near the lower end 
 of the valley down which the column was advancing, 
 and was but three days' march from Candahar. 
 
 From the day of their leaving Cabul to their ar- 
 rival at Khelat-I-Ghilzai the troops had inarched a 
 distance of fifteen miles a day not an extraordinary 
 distance for a single regiment to perform, but a 
 wonderful feat fora force containing some eighteen
 
 352 FOH NAME AND FAME. 
 
 thousand persons and nine thousand baggage ani- 
 mals marching through mountains and valleys. As 
 the relieving force approached Candahar Ayoub 
 drew off his troops from around the city, and took 
 up a strong position on some hills a few miles to 
 the north. On the 27th of August Roberts' cavalry 
 were near enough to establish heliographic commu- 
 nication with the town, and on the 31st the column 
 entered Candahar. 
 
 During the siege the duties of the garrison had 
 been heavy. A strong force was always held ready 
 to get under arms instantly in case of an attack by 
 the enemy. The number of sentries on the walls, 
 magazines, and lower important points was large. 
 The town had to be kept in order and the inhabit- 
 ants strictly watched. House-to-house requisitions 
 were made for provisions, and the greatest economy 
 was used in the distribution of these, as the garrison 
 had no means of knowing how long a time might 
 elapse before any could arriv 7 e. The death of ten 
 officers of the Sixty-sixth, all of senior standing to 
 himself, had placed Will Gale at the top of the list 
 of lieutenants, and as several officers were disabled 
 by wounds he was now performing captain's duty, 
 and was in charge of a company. There were, in- 
 deed, but three companies now in the Sixty-sixth 
 Regiment, so great having been the loss that the
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 353 
 
 whole of the survivors now made up but this num- 
 ber. 
 
 Among the other duties of the troops was that 
 of protecting the many houses which had been left 
 vacant by the hasty retirement of many of the na- 
 tive merchants and traders at the approach of 
 Ayoub's force. Colonel Primrose, anxious to lessen 
 the number of mouths to be fed, encouraged the 
 exodus, promising to take charge of all property 
 left behind. This duty proved a troublesome one, 
 as the lower class, which still remained in the city, 
 were constantly endeavoring to break into and loot 
 the houses thus left vacant by their proprietors. In 
 order to protect these as much as possible many of 
 the officers were directed to move from their quar- 
 ters in the barracks and take up their residence in 
 them, an order which was gladly obeyed, as the 
 exchange from hot, confined quarters to the roomy 
 dwellings of the merchants was a very pleasant one. 
 Will Gale was one of those who so moved, and with 
 Yossouf and two native followers had been quar- 
 tered in the house of a wealthy silk merchant. 
 
 One night he was aroused from sleep by Yossouf. 
 
 " Sahib !" the latter whispered, " I hear people 
 moving below. I think there are thieves in the 
 house." 
 
 "Will rose noiselessly, slipped on his trousers and 
 shoes, and taking up a revolver in one hand and a
 
 354 fOtt NAME AMD FAME. 
 
 sword in another stole downstairs, followed by 
 Yossouf with his long Afghan knife in his hand. 
 The door of the warehouse was open, and within it 
 Will saw, by the faint light of a lamp which one of 
 them carried, four Afghan ruffians engaged in mak- 
 ing up silks into large bundles in readiness to carry 
 off. His approach was unnoticed, and on reaching 
 the door he leveled his pistol and shouted to the 
 Afghans to surrender as his prisoners. In reply 
 they dropped the lamp, and made a sudden rush at 
 him. He tired his pistol hastily in the darkness, 
 but in an instant the Afghans were upon him. The 
 first man he cut down, but he was knocked over by 
 the rush of the others. Two fell upon him, but Yos- 
 souf bounded upon them like a tiger and buried his 
 knife to the hilt in their backs in quick succession. 
 The last of the party, without staying to see what 
 was the fate of his friends, at once took to his heels, 
 and rushing to the door leading to the street made 
 his escape. Yossouf raised Will to his feet. 
 
 "Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously. 
 
 "Nothing to speak of," Will replied. "I am a 
 bit shaken and bruised by the fall. Those fellows 
 in the darkness were upon me before I could see 
 them. Thanks to you, I have escaped without hurt, 
 Yossouf, and had it not been for your aid they 
 would assuredly have made an end of me. My
 
 FOH NAMW AtfD FAME. 355 
 
 pistol had fallen from my hand as they knocked me 
 down, and on the ground I could not have defended 
 myself with my sword for an instant. Once more, 
 Yossouf, I owe my life to you." 
 
 So many attempts similar to that made upon the 
 house occupied by Will Gale took place that sen- 
 tries were posted at ten o'clock at night at the en- 
 trances to the various streets in which the houses 
 left deserted by the native traders were situated, 
 and orders were given that no natives should be out 
 of their houses after that hour unless provided with 
 a pass signed by the commandant of the city. Sev- 
 eral messengers were from time to time sent out to 
 endeavor to get through the enemy's lines and to 
 carry to General Phayre the news of what was 
 going on in the city. A few of these succeeded in 
 getting through, but none returned, so that until 
 the signal-lights were seen flashing from the distant 
 hills in the direction of Khelat-I-Ghilzai the garri- 
 son were unaware of the steps which were being 
 taken for their rescue. Even had unforeseen ob- 
 stacles prevented the advent of either of the reliev- 
 ing columns, it is probable that the garrison of 
 Candahar would finally have freed itself. Colonel 
 Primrose had at his disposal a force more than 
 double that which had fought at Mai wand, and had 
 the British advanced into the plain and offered bat
 
 356 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 tie to Ayoub on a fair fighting ground they should 
 without difficulty have defeated his army, whose 
 long delays and hesitation showed how immensely 
 their morale had been affected by the previous bat- 
 tle. Thus it was that Sale, after sustaining a long 
 siege in Jellalabad, finally sallied out and com- 
 pletely defeated the besieging army before the ar- 
 rival of the force marching to his relief. 
 
 The Candahar force was not commanded by a 
 Sale ; but had it been given a chance to retrieve 
 Maiwand, there can be little doubt of what the 
 issue would have been. Over and over again the 
 subject was discussed at the messes of the various 
 regiments, and immense indignation was felt at the 
 force being kept cooped up in Candahar when the 
 history of India recorded scores of examples of vic- 
 tories won by British troops against greater odds 
 than those now opposed to them. 
 
 It must be said, however, that the native portion 
 of the army in Candahar was of very inferior 
 fighting quality to that which operated in Eastern 
 Afghanistan. Those regiments were for the most 
 part either Goorkhas, Sikhs, or Punjaubees, than 
 whom no braver men exist. The Goorkhas are 
 small, active men, mountaineers by birth, and to 
 whom war is a passion. The Sikhs and Punjaubees, 
 upon the contrary, are tall, stately men, proud of
 
 FOR NA WE AND FAME. ' 357 
 
 the historical fighting powers of their race. They 
 had fought with extreme bravery against the 
 English, but once conquered they became true and 
 faithful subjects of the English crown, and it 
 was their fidelity and bravery which saved Eng- 
 land in the dark days of the mutiny. The Bombay 
 troops, upon the other hand, were drawn from 
 races which had long ceased to be warlike. They 
 possessed none of the dash and fire of the hardier 
 troops ; their organization was and still is defect- 
 ive ; and the system of officering them was radically 
 bad. The contrast between the two was strongly 
 shown in the conduct of the Sikh and Goorkha 
 regiments with General Stewart when attacked by 
 the sudden rush of the Ghazis at Ahmed-khel, and 
 that of the Bombay Grenadiers and Jacob's Foot 
 under precisely similar circumstances at Maiwand. 
 There is no doubt, however, that the main reason 
 why General Primrose did not sally out and give 
 battle on the plain of Candahar was that in case of 
 defeat the populace 01 the city would assuredly 
 have closed their gates against the army, "and that 
 nothing would have remained but a disastrous re- 
 treat across the Kojak Pass, a retreat of which 
 very few would ever have survived to tell. Their 
 enforced idleness in Candahar made the time pass 
 slowly and heavily, and it was with, the greatest
 
 358 
 
 joy that the garrison hailed the entry of the 
 columns of General Roberts. 
 
 Upon his arrival the general lost no time in 
 reconnoitering the position of the enemy. 
 
 It was well chosen for defense. His army was 
 encamped behind the range of hills known as the 
 Baba-Wali Hills. A road ran direct over these 
 hills, and here a strong force was stationed sup- 
 ported by artillery in position. The last hill of the 
 range on the southwest was known as the Pir- 
 Paimal Hill, and by turning this the camp of 
 Ayoub's army would be taken in flank and the 
 defenses in front rendered useless. The recon- 
 naissance which was made by the cavalry, sup- 
 ported by the Fifteenth Sikhs, advanced close to 
 the central hill. The enemy unmasked five guns 
 and opened upon them, and the Afghans poured 
 down to the attack. 
 
 There was, however, no intention on the part of 
 the British commander of bringing on a battle, and 
 the troops accordingly fell back in good order to 
 the main body. A mile and a half from the city 
 stood a low ridge of rock called the Picket Hill, in 
 the line by which the column would have to move 
 to turn the Pir-Paimal Hill, and this was at once 
 seized. A number of Ghazis stationed here fought,
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 359 
 
 as usual, desperately, but the Fourth Goorkhas re- 
 pulsed their charge and cleared the ridge of the 
 enemy. The general determined to attack the en- 
 emy's position with his whole force on the follow- 
 ing day.
 
 360 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CANDAHAR. 
 
 THE plan of action upon which General Roberts 
 determined was simple. The first and second 
 brigades were to advance abreast, the third to fol- 
 low in support. As the Sixty-sixth were to take no 
 part in the fight, Will Gale obtained leave to ride 
 out with General Weatherby with the third divi- 
 sion. The enemy were well aware of the weak point 
 of the position which they occupied, and they had 
 mustered thickly in the plain, in which were several 
 villages, with canals cutting up the ground in all 
 directions, and abounding with hedges, ditches, and 
 inclosures ; altogether a very strongly defensible 
 position. 
 
 It was at ten o'clock on the 1st of September that 
 the British force advanced. The first division on 
 the right advanced against the large walled village 
 of Guiidi, which was strongly held by the enemy. 
 Against this General JVIacpherson sent the Ninety- 
 second and the Second Goorkhas, and stubbornly 
 as the enemy fought the place was carried by the
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 361 
 
 bayonet. On the line taken by the second division 
 under General Baker, three villages had successively 
 to be carried, Abasabad, Kaghanary, and Gundigan. 
 The Seventy-second Highlanders and the Second 
 Sikhs advanced to the attack of these. The resist- 
 ance of the Afghans was stubborn in the extreme, 
 but they were driven out. The fighting line of the 
 two divisions kept abreast, and for two miles had 
 to fight every inch of their way from wall to wall, 
 from garden to garden, and here and there from 
 house to house, and from lane to lane. 
 
 Once or twice the attack was checked for a few 
 minutes by the desperate resistance of the Afghans 
 at the crossing-places of canals and in walled in- 
 closures; and again and again the Ghazis rushed 
 down upon the troops. The Third Sikhs and the 
 Fifth Goorkhas joined the fighting line, and step 
 by step the ground was won until the base of the 
 hill was turned and the attacking force saw in front 
 of them the great camp of Ayoub's troops. Up to 
 "this point the enemy had fought with the greatest 
 bravery, but a sudden panic seized them now they 
 saw that their line of retreat was threatened by our 
 cavalry, for an Afghan always loses heart under 
 such circumstances. As if by magic the defense 
 ceased, and the enemy, horse and foot, abandon- 
 ing their guns and throwing away their arms,
 
 362 FOR NA ME AND FA ME. 
 
 fled up the Argandab Valley. Everything was 
 abandoned. 
 
 There was nothing more for the infantry to do 
 but to sack Ayoub's camp and to park the captive 
 guns, thirty in number. The amount of stores and 
 miscellaneous articles in the camp was enormous 
 arms, ammunition, commissariat and ordnance 
 stores, helmets, bullock huts crammed with native 
 wearing apparel, writing materials, Korans, Eng- 
 lish tinned meats, fruit, and money. Here, in fact, 
 was all the baggage which the army had brought 
 from Herat, together with all the spoil which they 
 had captured at Maiwand. 
 
 The cavalry took up the pursuit. Unfortunately 
 they had met with great difficulties in advancing 
 through the broken country in rear of the infantry. 
 Had they been close at hand when the latter 
 fought their way into Ayoub's camp, very few of 
 the fugitives would have escaped. As it was, they did 
 good service in following up the rout, and driving 
 the enemy, a dispersed and broken crowd, into the 
 hills. To the fury of the men, they found in Ayoub's 
 camp the body of Lieutenant Maclame, who had 
 been taken prisoner at Mai wand, and who was bar- 
 barously murdered a few minutes before the arrival 
 of the English troops. The battle cost the lives of 
 three officers : Lieutenant-Colonel Brownlow, com-
 
 FOR NAME AND FA ME. 363 
 
 manding the Seventy -second Highlanders ; Captain 
 Frome, of the same regiment ; and Captain Straton, 
 second battalion of the Twenty-second. Eleven 
 officers were wounded, forty-six men were killed 
 and two hundred and two wounded. 
 
 The enemy left twelve hundred dead on the field. 
 Ayoub's regular regiments scarcely fired a shot, and 
 the British advance had been opposed entirely by 
 the irregulars and Ghazis, the regular regiments hav- 
 ing been drawn up behind the Pir-Paimal Pass, by 
 which they expected our main attack to be made, 
 a delusion which was kept up by our heavy fire 
 from early morning upon the Afghan guns on the 
 summit of the pass. When our troops appeared 
 round the corner of the spur upon their flank 
 they lost heart at once, and for the most part, 
 throwing away their arms, joined the body of 
 fugitives. 
 
 " It would have been hard work, sir," Will Gale 
 said to Colonel Ripon as they rode forward in rear 
 of the fighting brigade, " to have taken this posi- 
 tion with the Candahar force alone." 
 
 " It could not have been done," Colonel Kipon 
 replied ; " but no one would have dreamed of at- 
 tempting it. The Afghans say that the force which 
 Roberts brought down from Cabul was so large 
 that they stood on the defensive, but they would
 
 364 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 have ventured to attack us bad we sallied out and 
 offered battle on the level plain round the city. 
 Then I have no doubt we could have beaten them. 
 However, all is \vell that ends well. Roberts has 
 come up in time, and has completely defeated the 
 enemy ; still it would have been more satisfactory 
 had we retrieved Maiwand by thrashing him single- 
 handed. "Well, I suppose this is the end of the 
 Afghan war. We have beaten Ayoub, I hope so 
 effectually that Abdul-Rahman will have no diffi- 
 culty in dealing with him in future ; and if he really 
 means the professions of friendship which he has 
 made us, we may hope for peace for some time. 
 Probably the next time we have to fight in this 
 country it will be against the Russians and Afghans 
 united. There are men in England who persist in 
 shutting their eyes to the certain consequences of 
 the Russian advance toward the northern frontier 
 of Afghanistan ; but the time will come when Eng- 
 land will have to rue bitterly the infatuation and 
 folly of her rulers. "When that day arrives, she will 
 have to make such an effort to hold her own as she 
 has never had to do since the days when she stood 
 alone in arms against Europe." 
 
 Upon the following day Will paid a visit to his 
 friends in the Rangers. 
 
 " So you got through Maiwand safely !" the colo-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 365 
 
 nel said. " Upon my word I begin to think that 
 you have a charmed life. I hear one of your cap- 
 tains died last night. That gives you your step, 
 does it not ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " You are the luckiest young dog I ever heard of. 
 You got your commission within a year of enlist- 
 ing; and now by an extraordinary fatality your 
 regiment is almost annihilated, and you mount up 
 by death steps to a captain's rank nine months 
 after the date of your gazette. In any other regi- 
 ment in the service you would have been lucky if 
 you had got three or four steps by this time." 
 
 " I am fortunate indeed, sir," Will said. " I can 
 scarcely believe it myself." 
 
 "Ah! whom do I see here?" the colonel ex- 
 claimed as a mounted officer rode through the 
 camp. " My old friend Ripon ! Ah ! Ripon, how 
 are you ?" 
 
 The colonel reined in his horse, and the two offi- 
 cers, who had not met for some years, entered into 
 a warm conversation, while Will strolled away to 
 talk to some of the younger officers, who congratu- 
 lated him most heartily on the luck which had in a 
 few months taken him over their heads. 
 
 In the afternoon Will received a note from Colo- 
 nel Ripon asking him to dine with him, as Colonel
 
 366 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 Shepherd was going to do so. Will replied that he 
 would gladly dine, but must be excused for a time 
 afterward, as he was on duty and would have to go 
 the rounds in the evening. There were three or 
 four other officers at dinner, as Colonel Ripon had 
 many friends in the relieving column. "When din- 
 ner was over, "Will made his excuses and left, prom- 
 ising to look in again in a couple of hours when he 
 had finished his rounds. Soon afterward the other 
 young officers left; Colonel Shepherd only remained. 
 
 " That is a singularly fine young fellow young 
 Gale, I mean," Colonel Shepherd said, "and a 
 singularly fortunate one. I feel quite proud of him. 
 It was upon my advice that he enlisted ; but if any 
 one had told me at the time that he would be a cap- 
 tain in two years I should have said that it was ab- 
 solutely impossible." 
 
 " Yes," Colonel Ripon replied, " his luck has been, 
 marvelous ; but if ever a fellow deserved it, he did. 
 I have a very warm liking, I may say an affection, 
 for him. He saved my life when I was attacked by 
 some Ghazis here, and must have been killed had it 
 not been for his promptness and coolness. He was 
 wounded too, and we were nursed together here. 
 Since then I have seen a great deal of him, and the 
 more I see him the more I like him. Do you know 
 anything of him previous to the time of his enlist-
 
 FOR NAME AND FAM3. 
 
 ing ? You told me he joined your regiment on the 
 day when it arrived at Calcutta. I know nothing 
 of his history before that. The subject never hap- 
 pened to occur in conversation, and it was one upon 
 which I naturally should have felt a delicacy in ask- 
 ing any questions, though I have sometimes won- 
 dered in my own mind how he came to be penniless 
 in Calcutta, as I suppose he must have been to have 
 enlisted. Did you happen to hear anything about 
 it?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed," Colonel Shepherd answered. 
 " Curiously enough he was by no means penniless, 
 as he had just received 100 reward for the services 
 he had rendered in preventing a ship from being 
 captured by the Malays. I happened to meet its 
 captain on shore the day I landed, and heard from 
 him the story of the affair, which was as follows, as 
 nearly as I can recollect." 
 
 Colonel Shepherd then related to his friend the 
 story of the manner in which the brig, when chased 
 by Malays, was saved by being brought into the 
 reef by Will. " Katurally," he went on, " I was 
 greatly interested in the story, and expressing a 
 wish to see the young fellow, he was brought off 
 that evening after mess to the Euphrates, and told 
 us how he had been wrecked on the island in a 
 Dutch ship, from which only he and a companion.
 
 368 
 
 were saved. I was so struck with his conduct, and 
 I may say by his appearance and manner, that I 
 took him aside into my own cabin and learned from 
 him the full particulars of his story. I don't think 
 any one else knows it, for when he expressed his 
 willingness to take my advice and enlist I told him 
 that he had better say nothing about his past. His 
 manner was so good that I thought he would pass 
 well as some gentleman's son who had got into a 
 scrape, and as I hoped that the time might come 
 when he might step upward, it was perhaps better 
 that it should not be known what was his origin." 
 
 " But what was his origin, Shepherd ? I confess 
 3 7 ou surprise me. for I have ahvays had an idea that 
 he was a man of good family, although in some 
 strange way his education had been neglected, for 
 in fact he told me one day that he was absolutely 
 ignorant of Latin." 
 
 "Well, Bipon, as you are a friend of the young 
 fellow, and I know it will go no further, I will tell 
 you the facts of the case. He was brought up in a 
 workhouse, was apprenticed to a Yarmouth smack- 
 rnan, and the boat being run down in a gale by a 
 Dutch troop-ship, to which he managed to cling as 
 the smack sank, he was carried in her to Java. 
 On her voyage thence to China he was wrecked on 
 the island I spoke of."
 
 FOR NAME ANT) FA UK. 3fc9 
 
 " You astound me,'' Colonel Ripon said, " abso- 
 lutely astound me. I could have sworn that he was a 
 gentleman by birth. Not, mind you, that I like or 
 esteem him one iota the less for what you tell me. 
 Indeed, on the contrary, for there is all the more 
 merit in his having made his way alone. Still you 
 astonish me. They tell me," he said with a smile, 
 " that he is wonderfully like me ; but strangely 
 enough he reminds me rather of my wife. You re- 
 member her, Shepherd, for you were stationed at 
 Meerut at the time I married her there ?" 
 
 Colonel Shepherd nodded, and for a few minutes 
 the two friends sat silent, thinking over the memo- 
 ries which the words had evoked. 
 
 " Strange, is it not," Colonel Ripon went on, 
 arousing himself, " that the child of some pauper 
 parents should have a resemblance, however dis- 
 tant, to me and my wife ?" 
 
 " Curiously enough," Colonel Shepherd said, " the 
 boy was not born of pauper parents ; he was left at 
 the door of the workhouse at Ely by a tramp, whose 
 body was found next morning in one of the ditches. 
 It was a stormy night, and she had no doubt lost 
 her way after leaving the child. That was why 
 they called him William Gale. Why, what is the 
 matter, Ripon ? Good heavens, are you ill ?" 
 
 Colonel Shepherd's surprise was natural. The
 
 370 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 old officer sat rigid in his chair with his eyes open 
 and staring at his friend, and yet apparently without 
 seeing him. The color in his face had faded away, 
 and even through the deep bronze of the Indian sun 
 its pallor was visible. Colonel Shepherd rose in 
 great alarm and was about to call for assistance, 
 when his friend, with a slight motion of his hand, 
 motioned to him to abstain. 
 
 " How old is he ?" came presently in a strange 
 tone from his lips. 
 
 " How old is who ?" Colonel Shepherd asked in 
 surprise. " Oh, you mean Gale ! He is not nine- 
 teen yet, though he looks four or five years older. 
 He was under seventeen when he enlisted, and I 
 rather strained a point to get him in by hinting 
 that, when he was asked his age, he had better say 
 under nineteen. So he was entered as eighteen, 
 but I know he was more than a year younger than 
 that. But what has that to do with it, my dear old 
 friend ? What is the matter with you ?" 
 
 " I believe, Shepherd," Colonel Ripon said solemn- 
 ly, " that he is my son." 
 
 " Your son !" his comrade exclaimed, astonished. 
 
 " Yes, I believe he is my son." 
 
 " But how on earth can that be ?" his friend 
 asked. "Are you sure that you know what you 
 are saying ? Is your head quite clear, old friend ?"
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 371 
 
 " My head is clear enough," the colonel replied, 
 " although I felt stunned at first. Did you never 
 hear of ray having lost my child ?" 
 
 " No, indeed," Colonel Shepherd replied, more 
 and more surprised. For he had at first supposed 
 that some sudden access of fever or delirium had 
 seized his friend. " You will remember that a week 
 or two after you were married my regiment was 
 moved up to the north, and we remained three 
 years longer in India. When I got back to England 
 I heard that you had lost your wife a short time 
 before and had returned. I remember our ships 
 crossed on the way. When we met again the con- 
 versation never turned on the past." 
 
 "I will tell you the story," the colonel said, 
 " and you will see that at any rate the boy may be 
 my son, and that being so the double likeness 
 proves to me incontestably that he is. I had, as 
 you know, been ill before I left India. I had not 
 been home for fifteen years, and got two years' 
 leave. As you may know, I had a good fortune 
 irrespective of the service, and I took a place called 
 Holmwood Park, near Dawlish, and as I had 
 thought of retiring at the end of my leave I was 
 put on the commission of the peace. My boy was 
 born a few months after I got home. Soon after I 
 took the place some gypsy fellows broke into the
 
 372 f()R NAME A ND FAMK. 
 
 poultry-yard and stole some valuable chickens 
 which were great pets of my wife. I chased them, 
 and finally brought home the guilt of the theft to 
 one of the men in whose tent a lot of their feathers 
 were found. He had been previously convicted, 
 and was sentenced to a term of penal servitude. 
 Before the trial his wife, also a gypsy, called upon 
 me and begged me not to appear against her hus- 
 band. This of course was out of the question, as he 
 had already been sent to trial. When she found 
 that her entreaties were useless, she in the most 
 vindictive tone told me that I should repent it, and 
 she certainly spoke as if she meant it. I heard 
 nothing more of the matter until the boy was six- 
 teen months old ; then he disappeared ; he was 
 stolen from the garden. A clew was left, evidently 
 that I might know from whom the blow came. 
 The gypsy had been convicted partly on the evi- 
 dence of the feathers, but principally from the fact 
 that the boot which he had on had half the iron on 
 the heel broken off. and this tallied exactlv with 
 
 / 
 
 some marks in my fowl-house. An hour after the 
 child was gone we found in the center of the drive 
 in the park a boot, conspicuously placed there to 
 catch the eye, and this boot I recognized by the 
 broken iron as that which had transported the 
 gypsy. That the woman had stolen the child I
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 3;$ 
 
 had not the least doubt ; but neither of her nor it 
 could I ever gain the slightest clew. I advertised 
 in every paper in the kingdom. I offered a reward 
 of 1,000, and I believe the police searched every 
 gypsy encampment in England, but without suc- 
 cess. My wife had never been strong, and from 
 that day she gradually sank. As long as there was 
 hope she kept up for a time. I hoped all would go 
 well, but three months afterward she faded rapid- 
 ly, and ere six months had passed from the loss of 
 the child I buried her and came straight out to 
 India. I went home once for two or three months 
 upon business connected with my property there 
 some seven years since. That was when we last 
 met, you know, at the club. With that exception I 
 have remained here ever since." 
 
 " The trouble will be, I fear," Colonel Shepherd 
 said, " for you to identify him. That vindictive 
 gypsy woman who stole your child is not likely to 
 have left any marks on its clothing by which it 
 might be identified at any future time and her re- 
 venge on you frustrated." 
 
 " Thank God !" the colonel said earnestly, " if it 
 be my son he bears a mark by which I shall know 
 him. That was one of his poor mother's greatest 
 comforts. The child was born with an ugly blood- 
 mark on its neck. It used to bother my wife a good
 
 374 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 deal, and she consulted several surgeons whether it 
 could not be removed, but they all said no, not with- 
 out completely cutting out the flesh ; and this, of 
 course, was not to be thought of. After the child 
 was lost I remember, as well as if it had been spoken 
 to-day, my wife saying, 'How strange are God's 
 ways ! I was foolish enough to fret over that mark 
 on the darling's neck, and now the thought of it is 
 my greatest comfort ; and if it shall be God's will 
 that years shall pass away before we find him, there 
 is a sign by which we shall always know him. No 
 other child can be palmed off upon us as our own. 
 When we find Tom we shall know him, however 
 changed he may be.' Listen, Shepherd ! that is his 
 step on the stairs. May God grant that he prove 
 to be my son !" 
 
 "Be calm, old friend," Colonel Shepherd said. 
 " I will speak to him." 
 
 The door opened and "Will entered. 
 
 " I am glad you have not gone, colonel I was 
 afraid you might have left, for I have been longer 
 than I expected. I just heard the news that the 
 Sixty-sixth are in orders this evening to march the 
 day after to-morrow fcr Kurrachee to sail for Eng- 
 land, where we are to be' reorganized again." 
 
 " Gale, I am going to ask you a rather curious 
 thing. Will you do it without asking why ?" Colo- 
 nel Shepherd said quietly.
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 375 
 
 " Certainly, colonel, if it is in ray power," "Will 
 said, somewhat surprised. 
 
 " Will you take off your patrol jacket, open your 
 shirt, and turn it well down at the neck ?" 
 
 For a moment Will looked astounded at this re- 
 quest. He saw by the tone in which it was made 
 that it was seriously uttered, and without hesitation 
 he began to unhook his patrol jacket. As he did 
 so his eye fell upon Colonel Kipon's face, and the 
 intense anxiety and emotion that it expressed caused 
 him to pause for a moment. Something extraordi- 
 nary hung on what he had been asked to do. All 
 sorts of strange thoughts flashed through his brain. 
 Hundreds of times in his life he had said to himself 
 that if ever he discovered his parents it would be 
 by means of this mark upon his neck which he was 
 now asked to expose. The many remarks which 
 had been made of his likeness to Colonel Bipon 
 flashed across his mind, and it was with an emotion 
 scarcely inferior to that of the old officer that he 
 opened his shirt and turned down the collar. The 
 sight was conclusive. Colonel Kipon held out his 
 arms with a cry of 
 
 " My son ! my son !" 
 
 Bewildered and delighted, Will felt himselt 
 pressed to the heart of the man whom he liked and 
 esteemed beyond all others.
 
 3?6 FOR yA.VE AXD FAME. 
 
 With a word of the heartiest congratulation Col- 
 onel Shepherd left the father and son together to 
 exchange confidences and to tell to each other 
 their respective stories and to realize the great hap- 
 piness which had befallen them both. Their de- 
 light was without a single cloud, save that which 
 passed for a moment through Colonel Kipon's mind 
 as he thought how his wife would have rejoiced had 
 she lived to see that day. 
 
 His joy was in some respects even greater than 
 that of his son. The latter had always pictured to 
 himself that if he ever discovered his father he 
 should find him all that was good ; but the colonel 
 had for many years not only given up all hope of 
 ever finding his son, but almost every desire to do so. 
 He had thought that if still alive he must be a 
 gypsy vagabond, a poacher, a liar, a thief, like 
 those among whom he would have been brought 
 up. From such a discovery no happiness could be 
 looked for only annoyance, humiliation, and trou- 
 ble. To find his son, then, all that he could wish 
 for a gentleman, a most promising young officer, 
 the man, indeed, to whom he had been so specially at- 
 tracted was a joy altogether unhoped and unlocked 
 for. Morning bad broken before the newly united 
 father and son had done their long and happ\ 7 talk, 
 and they separated only to take a bath to prepare 
 them for the day's work.
 
 FOB JiAJfE A51) FAME. 377 
 
 The astonishment of every one was unbounded 
 when Colonel Ripon announced on the following 
 morning that in Captain Gale, of the Sixty -sixth, 
 wh< inown had risen from f ne ranks, he had 
 
 discovered a son that had been stolen from him as a 
 child. Xo oae entertained a doubt for an instant 
 that any mistake had arisen, for the likeness be- 
 ^e two men as they strode down the street 
 together on their way to General Roberts' quarters 
 was so marked that now that men knew the rela- 
 tionship none doubted for a moment that they 
 were indeed father and son. 
 
 The warmest congratulations poured in upon 
 a from i and from none more heartily 
 
 than from the general, who was more than ever 
 pleased that he had been the means of Will's ob- 
 ommission from the ranks. The same 
 day Colonel Ripon sent off. by a mounted nwrnnm 
 ger car: _ -patches, a telegram to be seat from 
 the nearest station of the flying line, winch the en- 
 gineers advancing with jnel Phavres force had 
 already carried as far as the Kojak Pass, to the 
 government of India, asking leave to go home at 
 one e most urgent and pressing: family bast- 
 
 ness. 
 
 Yossoufs grief when he heard th 
 was . E _ .and was very grea:.
 
 3?8 FOR NAME AND FAME, 
 
 first he begged that he might accompany him ; but 
 Will pointed out that, much as he would like to 
 have him with him, his position in England would 
 be an uncomfortable one. He would meet with no 
 one with whom he could converse, and would after 
 a time long for his own country again. Yossouf 
 }nelded to his reasoning, and the picture which Will 
 drew of his own loneliness when in Cabul separated 
 from all his own people aided greatly in enforcing 
 his arguments on his mind. He said, however, that 
 at any rate he would not return to Afghanistan at 
 present. 
 
 " It will be long," he said, " before things settle 
 down there, and it will be useless for me to put my 
 money into a herd which might be driven off by 
 plunderers the next week. Besides, at present the 
 feeling against the English will be strong, so many 
 have lost men of their family in the fighting. If I 
 returned I should be a marked man. It is known 
 that I threw in my lot with the English, and it will 
 be cast in my teeth even if no worse came of it. 
 No, I will enlist in the Guides ; I shall be at home 
 with them, for most of them belong to the Afghan 
 tribes. I am young yet, not fully a man, and I have 
 my life before me. Some day, perhaps, if things 
 are quiet and prosperous at home,.I will go back and 
 end my days there."
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME 379 
 
 So it was arranged. One of the officers of the 
 Guides had accompanied General Roberts as inter- 
 preter, and Will handed over Yossouf to him, telling 
 him how well the lad had served him. The officer 
 promised to enroll him in the corps as soon as he 
 rejoined it, and also that he would not fail to report 
 his conduct to the colonel and to obtain his promo 
 tion to the rank of a native officer as soon as pos- 
 sible. From Will Yossouf would accept nothing 
 except his revolver as a keepsake, but Colonel Ripon 
 insisted upon his taking from him a present which 
 would make him a rich man when he chose to return 
 to his native country.
 
 380 FOB XAME AXD FAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 AT HOME AT LAST. 
 
 THE next day Colonel Ripon started with the 
 xtb, and at the end of the first day's march 
 met a messenger, who, among other dispatches, 
 carried a telegram granting him at once the leave 
 he asked for, and which indeed had been due had 
 he asked for it man}' years before. His intention 
 was to accompany the Sixty-sixth to Kurrachee and 
 to sail with it to England. This intention was 
 carried out, and the remnant of the regiment safely 
 reached England. 
 
 One of Colonel Ripon's first steps was to accom- 
 pany Will, or, as he ought now to be called, Tom, 
 to the Horse Guards, and to procure an insertion in 
 the Gazette stating that Captain William Gale, of 
 the ,ld henceforth be known by his 
 
 true and proper name of Thomas Ripon. The 
 colonel purchased a fine estate in Somersetshire, 
 and retiring from the service settled down there. 
 There was a considerable discussion between father 
 and son as to whether the latter should remain in
 
 MR NAME Ayi> FAME. 381 
 
 the army. Colonel Ripon was unwilling that his 
 son should relinquish a profession of which he was 
 fond, and in which, from his early promotion, he 
 had every chance of obtaining high rank and honor ; 
 but Tom, who saw how great a pleasure his society 
 was to his father, and how lonely the tatter's life 
 would be without him, was resolute in his determi- 
 nation to quit the service. He had already, as he 
 said, passed through a far greater share of adven- 
 ture than usually falls to one man's lot, and the 
 colonel's property was so large that there was not 
 the slightest occasion for him to continue in the 
 service. 
 
 Xot long after his return to England Will paid a 
 visit to Ely workhouse. He was accompanied by 
 the colonel, and the two men walked together up to 
 the gate of the workhouse. He rang at the bell, 
 and a woman opened the door. She courtesied at 
 seeing two tall, soldier-like gentlemen before her. 
 
 %% Your name is Mrs. Dickson, I think T' the 
 younger said. The woman gave a violent start and 
 gazed earnestly at him. 
 
 " It is "Will Gale 1" she exclaimed, drawing back 
 a step. " They said you were dead years ago." 
 
 Xo, I am very much alive, Mrs. Dickson, and 
 glad, most glad, to see an old friend again." 
 
 " Good Lord !" the woman exclaimed, " it is the
 
 382 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 boy himself, sure enough ;" and for a moment she 
 seemed as if she would have rushed into his arms, 
 and then she drew back, abashed at his appearance. 
 Tom, however, held out his arms, and the woman 
 fell sobbing into them. 
 
 " Why, you did not think so badly of me," he 
 said, " as to think that I should forget the woman 
 who was a mother to me. Father, 1 ' he said " for 
 I have found my real father, Mrs. Dickson, as you 
 always said I should some day it is to this good 
 woman that I owe what I am. But for her I might 
 now be a laboring man ; but it is to her kindness, to. 
 her good advice, to her lessons, that I owe every- 
 thing. It was she who taught me that I should so 
 behave that if my parents ever found me they 
 should have no cause to be ashamed of me. She 
 was indeed as a mother to me, and this lodge was my 
 home rather than the workhouse inside. Ah ! and 
 here is Sam !" 
 
 Sam Dickson, coming out at this moment, stood 
 in open-mouthed astonishment at seeing his wife 
 standing with her hand in that of a gentleman. 
 
 " Oh, Sam ! who do you think this is ?" Sam made 
 no reply, but stared at Tom with all his eyes. 
 
 "If it warn't that he be drowned and dead long 
 ago," he said at last, " I should say it was Will 
 Gale growed up and got to be a gentleman. I
 
 FOR NAME AND FAME. 383 
 
 shouldn't ha' knowed him at first, but when he 
 smiles I don't think as how I can be far wrong." 
 
 " You are right, Sam. I am the boy you and 
 your wife were so kind to from the time you picked 
 him up just where we are standing, and whom you 
 last handed over to go aboard a smack at Yarmouth. 
 She was, as you have heard, run down in the North 
 Sea, but I was saved in the ship which ran over her 
 and was taken out to the East. There, after being 
 wrecked again, and going through lots of adven- 
 tures, I went to India, enlisted there, and fought 
 through the Afghan war. I am a captain now, and 
 my name is no longer Will Gale, but Tom Ripon, 
 for I have found my real father, this gentleman, 
 Colonel Ripon." 
 
 " Who feels," Colonel Ripon went on, " how much 
 he and his son owe to your kindness and that of 
 your good wife here, and who, as you will find, is 
 not ungrateful. I have just bought an estate down 
 in Somersetshire, and I mean to install you and 
 your wife in a pretty lodge at the gates, with 
 enough to live upon comfortably to the end of your 
 lives." 
 
 Mrs. Dickson cried with joy as Colonel Ripon en- 
 tered into details of what he intended to do for 
 them, and Sam, although, as was his way, much 
 less demonstrative in his gladness, was yet greatly
 
 384 FOR NAME AND FAME. 
 
 delighted. There was a good garden to the lodge ; 
 they were to have the keep of a cow, and thirty 
 shillings per week as long as they lived. Before 
 the colonel left, Sam Dickson's resignation of his 
 post was handed in to the master. 
 
 The colonel told them that at the end of the 
 month, when Sam's notice would expire, they were 
 to sell off what furniture they had, as it would cost 
 more to convey it so long a distance than it was 
 worth, and he would take care that they should find 
 everything comfortable and ready for occupation 
 at the lodge upon their arrival. Tom called upon 
 the master and matron and schoolmaster, and 
 thanked all for the kindness that they had shown 
 him when a boy ; and Colonel Ripon left a check 
 with the master to be expended in tobacco, tea, and 
 sugar for the aged inmates of the house. 
 
 No words can express the delight of Sam Dick- 
 son and his wife when, a month later, they arrived 
 at their new home. Tom had spared no trouble in 
 seeing that it was comfortably and cozily furnished. 
 The garden had been thoroughly dug up and 
 planted, and Mrs. Dickson could scarcely believe 
 that she was the mistress of so pleasant a home. 
 Tom was forgetful of none of his old friends, and 
 he wrote to an address which Hans, his companion 
 among the Malays, had given him when they sepa-
 
 FOR NAME ANT) FAME. 385 
 
 fated, and forwarded to him a handsome watch as 
 a souvenir of his comrade. 
 
 There is no more to be told. Captain Ripon, still 
 a very young man, is living with his father the 
 colonel. He is one of the most popular men in his 
 county, and there is some talk of his standing for 
 one of its boroughs at the next election, and it is 
 rumored that he is likely, ere long, to bring home a 
 lady who will be the future mistress of Burnham 
 Park. 
 
 He is quite content that he has left the army, 
 though he fidgeted a little while the Egyptian 
 war was going on, and could not help feeling a lit- 
 tle regret that he did not take part in the storming 
 of Tel-el-Kebir. 
 
 TUB BKD.
 
 A. L. BURT'S PUBLICATIONS 
 
 For Young People 
 
 BY POPULAR WRITERS, 
 
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 Bonnie Prince Charlie : A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden. By 
 
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 trations by JOHN SCHONBERG. 12mo, cloth, price $1.00. 
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 largely composed of Scotchmen, and among these was the hero of 
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 GK A. HENTY. With full-page Illustrations by GORDON 
 BROWNE. 12ino, cloth, price $1.00. 
 
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 assisted, bring him safely through all difficulties. 
 
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 only to fall into the hands of the Corsairs. He is successful in 
 getting back to Spain under the protection of a wealthy merchant, 
 and regains his native country after the capture of Cadiz, 
 
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 6 A. L. BUST'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 By Pike and Dyke : A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic. 
 By G. A. HENTY. With full-page Illustrations by MAYNARR 
 BROWN, and 4 Maps. 12ino, cloth, price $1.00. 
 In this story Mr. Henty traces the adventures ami brave deeds 
 of an English boy in the household of the ablest man of his age 
 William the Silent. Edward Martin, the son of an English sea- 
 captain, enters the service of the Prince as a volunteer, and is em- 
 ployed by him in many dangerous and responsible missions, in the 
 discharge of which he passes through the great sieges of the time. 
 He ultimately settles down as Sir Edward Martin. 
 
 " Boys with a turn for historical research will be enchanted with the book, 
 while the rest who only care for adventure. will be students in spite of them 
 selves." St. James 1 Gazette. 
 
 St. George for England : A Tale of Creasy and Poitiers. By 
 Q. A. HENTY. With full-page Illustrations by GORDON 
 BROWNE. 12iuo, cloth, price $1.00. 
 
 No portion of English history is more crowded with great events 
 than that of the reign of Edward III. Cressy and Poitiers; the 
 destruction of the Spanish fleet; the plague of the Black Death; 
 tire Jacquerie rising; these are treated by the author in " St. 
 George for England." The hero of the story, although of good 
 family, begins life as a London apprentice, but after countless ad 
 ventures and perils becomes by valor and good conduct the squire, 
 and at last the trusted friend of the Black Prince. 
 
 " Mr. Henty has developed for himself a type of historical nvel for boys 
 which bids fair to supplement, on their behalf, the historical labors of Sir 
 Walter Scott in the land of fiction." The Standard. 
 
 Captain's Kidd's Gold: The True Story of an Adventurous Sailor 
 Boy. By JAMES FRANKLIN FITTS. 12mo, cloth, price $1.00. 
 There is something fascinating to the average youth in tlie very 
 idea of buried treasure. A vision arises before his eyes of swarthy 
 Portuguese and Spanish rascals, with black beards and gleaming 
 eyes sinister-looking fellows who once on a time haunted th* 
 Spanish Main, sneaking out from some hidden creek in their long, 
 low schooner, of picaroonish rake and sheer, to attack an unsus- 
 pecting trading craft. There were many famous sea rovers in 
 their day, but none more celebrated than Capt. Kidd. Perhaps 
 the most fascinating tale of all is Mr. Fitts' true story of an adven 
 turous American boy, who receives from his dying father an 
 ancient bit of vellum, which the latter obtained in a curious way. 
 The document bears obscure directions purporting to locate a cer 
 tain island in the Bahama group, and a considerable treasure 
 buried there by two of Kidd's crew. The hero of this book, 
 Paul Jones Garry, is an ambitious, persevering lad, of salt-water 
 New England ancestry, and his efforts to reach the island and 
 secure the money form one of the most absorbing tales for our 
 youtk that has coiue from the press.
 
 000 134 727 7 
 
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