ments of all kinds. The men's hearts were wrung to
the core, by the sight of the number of wounded who had dropped by
the roadside; and who implored them, as they passed, not to leave
them to be murdered by the enemy. Many of them were lifted and
placed in carts--everything else being turned out, to make way for
them--but many had to be left behind; for it would be impossible to
carry them, on such a march.

Slowly the long night passed. All along the line ahead, a scattered
fire of musketry could be heard; as the villagers shot down the
fugitives who, in hopes of finding water, straggled from the road.
Sometimes sharp volleys rang out, as the troops stood at bay, and
drove back the natives, when they pressed upon them. Several times
the rear guard were hotly engaged as the Afghans--furious at seeing
their prey slipping from their fingers--mustered and fell upon
them; but each time they were repulsed, and the column held on its
way.

Will was in command of a mixed band, of some forty men, which moved
to the right of the road. Colonel Ripon kept by his side, but few
words were spoken, through the long night. The men were half mad
with thirst and, had there been water near, nothing could have
restrained them from rushing to it; but they knew that none could
be obtained, until they reached Candahar. Many, in utter despair at
the distance before them, threw themselves down on the ground to
die. But the others kept on--stumbling and staggering as they
marched, stupid and half blind--rallying only when the order came
to turn, and repulse the enemy.

Two or three times in the night the rear guard halted, for a few
minutes; and the men threw themselves down on the sand, where they
picked the scattered herbage within their reach, and chewed it to
quench their burning thirst.

Daylight was a welcome relief. They knew indeed that, with the
rising of the sun, their torments would grow still greater; but the
change from the long dreary darkness cheered them; and they could
now see, from the nature of the country, that they were within
fifteen miles of Candahar. They marched on for two more hours, and
then the officer in command of the little body saw that they could
do no more.

He therefore led them to a village on rising ground, a short distance
from the road, and halted them there. The exhausted men threw themselves
down in the shade of the houses. They had the long day yet to pass, and
their thirst seemed unendurable; st