t he needed
money for his boy's education, and thought he might obtain it through
his book. Therefore this lack of a sale was a bitter disappointment to
him.

Just at that time a company of recruits had been raised for service in
Cabul, and in June 1840 Havelock started in charge of them from
Serampore. He had the whole width of India to cross, and at Ferozepore,
on a tributary of the Indus, he joined general Elphinstone, the
successor of Cotton, who was retiring. Why Elphinstone should have been
chosen to conduct a war which the mountainous country was certain to
render difficult is a mystery, and another mystery is why Elphinstone
should have accepted the appointment, as he was so crippled with gout
that he could hardly move. However, there he was, commander-in-chief of
this part of the expedition, and from this unwise choice resulted many
of the calamities which followed.

* * * * *

The general could not travel fast, and it was more than six months
before they reached Cabul. Havelock, now Persian interpreter to
Elphinstone, was much disturbed at the condition of things that they
found on their arrival, and at the folly which had lost us the support
of the native hill tribes, who had hitherto acted as our paid police and
guarded the passes leading into the Punjaub. So when Sale's brigade,
with a native regiment, a small force of cavalry and artillery, and a
few engineers under the famous George Broadfoot, marched eastwards up
the river Cabul, they discovered that the passes had all been blocked by
the mountaineers, who were ready to spring out and attack the English
from all sorts of unsuspected hiding-places.

Now Havelock had not drawn his sword since the end of the Burmese war,
and directly he saw a chance of fighting he had begged to be allowed to
accept the appointment of staff-officer offered him by Sale. This was
given him, and the troops had only gone a few miles from Cabul when the
fighting began, and Sale was severely wounded.

It is impossible to tell all the details of the march, but much of the
burden of it fell on Havelock's shoulders, as Sale could not go about
and see after things himself. Here, as always, he proved himself, as
Kaye the historian says, 'every inch a soldier.' 'Among our good
officers,' wrote Broadfoot at the time, 'first comes captain Havelock.
The whole of them together would not compensate for his loss. He is
brave to admiration, invariably cool,