y, a relief to
himself and his friends from the severe account to which the government
would have been obliged to call him.

Now for the sequel to this story of suffering and slaughter. The
invasion of Afghanistan by the English had been for the purpose of
protecting the Indian frontier. A prince, Shah Soojah, friendly to
England, was placed on the throne. This prince was repudiated by the
Afghan tribes, and to their bitter and savage hostility was due the
result which we have briefly described. It was a result with which the
British authorities were not likely to remain satisfied. The news of the
massacre sent a thrill of horror through the civilized world.
Retribution was the sole thought in British circles in India. A strong
force was at once collected to punish the Afghans and rescue the
prisoners. Under General Pollock it fought its way through the Khyber
Pass and reached Jelalabad. Thence it advanced to Cabul, the soldiers,
infuriated by the sight of the bleaching skeletons that thickly lined
the roadway, assailing the Afghans with a ferocity equal to their own.
Wherever armed Afghans were met death was their portion. Nowhere could
they stand against the maddened English troops. Filled with terror, they
fled for safety to the mountains, the invading force having terribly
revenged their slaughtered countrymen.

It next remained to rescue the prisoners. They had been carried about
from fort to fort, suffering many hardships and discomforts, but not
being otherwise maltreated. They were given up to the British, after the
recapture of Cabul, with the hope that this would satisfy these terrible
avengers. It did so. The fortifications of Cabul were destroyed, and the
British army was withdrawn from the country. England had paid bitterly
for the mistake of occupying it. The bones of a slaughtered army paved
the road that led to the Afghan capital.

_THE ROYAL AND DIAMOND JUBILEES OF QUEEN VICTORIA._

In the year 1887 came a great occasion in the life of England's queen,
that of the fiftieth anniversary of her reign, a year of holiday and
festivity that extended to all quarters of the world, for the broad
girdle of British dominion had during her reign extended to embrace the
globe. India led the way, the rejoicing over the royal jubilee of its
empress extending throughout its vast area, from the snowy passes of the
Himalayas on the north to the tropic shores of Cape Comorin on the
south. Other colonies joined