enemy.
Colonel Cleland led a squadron of the 9th full at the advancing
mass, the Bengal Lancers following; while Captain Gough, with his
troop of the 9th, charged the enemy's left flank--but even the
charge of Balaclava was scarcely more desperate than this. Two
hundred and twenty men, however gallant, could not be expected to
conquer 10,000.

The three bodies of cavalry charged, at full speed, into the midst
of the enemy's infantry; who received them with a terrible fire,
which killed many horses and men. The impetus of the charge bore
down the leading ranks of the Afghans, and the cavalry tore their
way through the mass, until their progress was blocked by sheer
weight of numbers. A desperate melee took place--the troopers
fighting with their sabers, the Afghans with knives, and clubbed
muskets. Many of the soldiers were struck from their horses. Some
were dragged to their feet again, by their comrades; others were
killed upon the ground.

The chaplain of the force--the Reverend Mr. Adams--had accompanied
the troopers in the charge and, seeing a man jammed under a fallen
horse, he leaped from his saddle and extricated him; and brought
him off, in spite of the attack of several Afghans. For this act of
bravery he received the Victoria Cross, being the first chaplain in
the army who had ever obtained that decoration.

When the dust raised by the charging squadrons had subsided, it was
seen that the enemy were still advancing. The Lancers had fallen
back and, as the men galloped in, they rallied behind Captain
Gough's troop; which had kept best together, and had formed up
again between the guns and the enemy. Lieutenants Hersee and
Ricardo, and sixteen of their men, had been left dead upon the
ground. Colonel Cleland, Lieutenant Mackenzie, and seven of the
troopers were wounded. A second charge was ordered; but this time
it was not pushed home, as a wide water course checked the advance.

Under cover of the first cavalry charge, Major Smith-Wyndham had
ordered two of the guns to be taken off and, as he now fell back
with the other two, one of them stuck in the water course. The
greatest efforts were made, with the horses which still remained
uninjured, to get the gun out; but the enemy were pressing close
on. Lieutenant Hardy was killed, by a shot through the head, and
the gun was abandoned. The other three guns were retired 400 or 500
yards farther; but here they became hopelessly bogged in a channel,
deeper than