tary informed me that the
future of Kuram would be settled when I reached Simla, whither I
was to proceed so soon as I had seen the British Mission across the
frontier.

On the 15th July Major Cavagnari, who had been selected as 'the Envoy
and Plenipotentiary to His Highness the Amir of Kabul,' arrived in
Kuram, accompanied by Mr. William Jenkins, C.I.E., of the Civil
Service, and Lieutenant Hamilton, V.C., Surgeon-Major Kelly, 25
Cavalry and 50 Infantry of the Guides Corps. I, with some fifty
officers who were anxious to do honour to the Envoy and see the
country beyond Kuram, marched with Cavagnari to within five miles of
the crest of the Shutargardan Pass, where we encamped, and my staff
and I dined that evening with the Mission. After dinner I was asked to
propose the health of Cavagnari and those with him, but somehow I did
not feel equal to the task; I was so thoroughly depressed, and my mind
was filled with such gloomy forebodings as to the fate of these fine
fellows, that I could not utter a word. Like many others, I thought
that peace had been signed too quickly, before, in fact, we had
instilled that awe of us into the Afghan nation which would have been
the only reliable guarantee for the safety of the Mission. Had we
shown our strength by marching to Kabul in the first instance, whether
opposed or not, and there dictated the terms of the treaty, there
would have been some assurance for its being adhered to; as it was,
I could not help feeling there was none, and that the chances were
against the Mission ever coming back.

Cavagnari, however, showed no sign of sharing my forebodings; he and
his companions were in the best of spirits; he spoke most hopefully of
the future, and talked of a tour he hoped to make with me in the cold
weather along the northern and western frontiers of Afghanistan. Other
matters of intense interest to us both were discussed, and before
separating for the night it was arranged that Mrs. Cavagnari should
either join him in Kabul the following spring, or come and stay with
my wife and me in Kuram, where I had already laid the foundations of a
house near the beautifully situated village of Shalufzan.

Early next morning the Sirdar, who had been deputed by the Amir to
receive the Mission, came into camp, and soon we all started for the
top of the pass. We had gone about a mile, when we were joined by an
escort of Afghan Cavalry, dressed something like British Dragoons,
with the exce