we were badly off for boots,
and that the 92nd Highlanders had only one hundred greatcoats fit for
wear, which were used by the men on night duties.

On the 25th we marched to Jaldak, seventeen miles, and the same
distance the next day to Tirandaz, where I received a letter from
Lieutenant-General Primrose, informing me that Ayub Khan had raised
the siege on the 23rd, and was entrenching himself at Mazra, beyond
the Baba Wali Kotal, in the valley of the Arghandab.

I awoke on the morning of the 27th feeling very unwell, and soon found
I was in for an attack of fever. The heat during the day was becoming
more and more overpowering as we proceeded south, and I had lately
been feeling somewhat knocked up by it and by exposure to the sun. I
had now to give in for the time being, and was compelled to perform
the march in a doolie, a most ignominious mode of conveyance for a
General on service; but there was no help for it, for I could not sit
a horse.

That day the 3rd Bengal and 3rd Punjab Cavalry marched thirty-four
miles to Robat, in order to establish direct heliographic
communication with Kandahar. The main body halted about half-way, when
I again reported progress as follows:

SHAHR-I-SAFA,
'_27th August, 1880._

'My force arrived here to-day. I received a letter yesterday,
dated 25th, from Colonel St. John. He writes: "The rumours of the
approach of your force have been sufficient to relieve the city
from investment. On Monday night the villages on the east and
south were abandoned by their mixed garrisons of _ghazis_ and
regulars. Yesterday morning Ayub struck his camp, and marched to a
position on the Arghandab, between Baba Wali and Sheikh Chela,
due north of the city, and separated from it by a range of rocky
hills. He has about 4,000 Infantry regulars, six 12-pounders and
two 9-pounders rifled, four 6-pounder smooth-bore batteries, and
one 4-pounder battery, 2,000 sowars, and perhaps twice that number
of _ghazis_, of whom a third have firearms. The Kizilbashes and
Kohistanis in his army, about 1,200 Infantry and 300 Cavalry,
offered to desert and join us directly we made a show of attack.
They are at last aware of Abdur Rahman's succession, but I think
Ayub will remain unmolested until the arrival of the Kabul force,
provided he waits, which is unlikely. He will, I expect, strike
away north into Khakrez, on which line a vigoro