ision. At the entreaty of the Envoy, it was determined
to attack them--a force, under Brigadier Shelton, moved out for that
purpose--the advance, under Major Thain, ascended the hill with great
gallantry; "but the enemy resolutely stood their ground at the summit of
the ridge, and unflinchingly received the discharge of our musketry,
which, strange to say, even at the short range of ten or twelve yards,
did little or no execution."

The fire of our guns, however, threw the Affghans into confusion. A
charge of cavalry drove them up the hill, and the infantry advancing,
carried the height, the enemy retreating along the ridge, closely
followed by our troops, and abandoning their guns to us; but, owing to
the misconduct of the troops, only one of them was carried away, the men
refusing to advance to drag off the other, which was therefore spiked by
Lieutenant Eyre, with the aid of one artilleryman.

"This was the last success our arms were destined to
experience. Henceforward it becomes my weary task to relate a
catalogue of errors, disasters, and difficulties, which,
following close upon each other, disgusted our officers,
disheartened our soldiers, and finally sunk us all into
irretrievable ruin, as though Heaven itself, by a combination
of evil circumstances, for its own inscrutable purposes, had
planned our downfall.

"_November 16th_.--The impression made by the enemy by the
action of the 13th was so far salutary, that they did not
venture to annoy us again for several days. Advantage was taken
of this respite to throw magazine supplies from time to time
into the Bala Hissar, a duty which was ably performed by
Lieutenant Walker, with a resalah of irregular horse, under
cover of night. But even in this short interval of comparative
rest, such was the wretched construction of the cantonment,
that the mere ordinary routine of garrison duty, and the
necessity of closely manning our long line of rampart both by
day and night, was a severe trial to the health and patience of
the troops; especially now that the winter began to show
symptoms of unusual severity. There seemed, indeed, every
probability of an early fall of snow, to which all looked
forward with dread, as the harbinger of fresh difficulties and
of augmented suffering.

"These considerations, and the manifest superiority of the Bala