d through the pass and was captured by Jenkins and his men.
Next came a squadron of cavalry, and these bold fellows determined to
make a dash for liberty. Scattering therefore and riding at a break-neck
gallop many got through, though many lay dead and wounded on the ground;
and then, out of the cloud of dust and smoke might be seen, calmly
riding at a foot's pace, a solitary trooper. A perfect hailstorm of
bullets was falling about him, not the tiny bullets we now use, but
great one ounce Snyder bullets, such as would knock over an elephant;
but though nearly eight hundred rifles were in action, the serene
horseman appeared not the least discomposed, and except for a defiant
wave of his sword he rode quietly on.

Then Jenkins, struck with the admiration of one brave man for another,
sounded the _cease fire_; and in the dead stillness that followed the
Colonel's orderly shouted down to the horseman to ask him who he was,
and why he thus courted death. "Oh, brother," shouted the orderly, "who
art thou and whence comest and whither goest?" "I am Bahaud-din Khan,"
replied the horseman, "and I come from Ali Musjid, which the Feringhis
have taken, and I follow those sons of pigs, the Kasilbash Horse, who
you saw pass in such a hurry just now."

"The Sahib says," shouted the orderly, "that surely you must be mad
thus to walk your horse through a heavy fire like that."

"Not mad, tell the Sahib," replied the Afghan, "but fearing no man; and
I shook my sword at you, and your hundreds of rifles, to show that I
cared not that much for you."

"By Jove, he's a brave fellow!" said Jenkins; "tell him to come up and
have a talk with me."

"By all means," was the cheery reply; and dismounting quietly, the man
tied his horse to a bush, slipped his sword into its scabbard, and
strolled up the hill.

"Well, now tell me all about yourself," was Jenkins's greeting.

"There is nothing much to tell. I live in Kabul and belong to the
Kasilbash Horse, and my father was a soldier before me. But he was a
brave fellow like myself; we are no mis-begotten apes, like those sons
of perdition who fled just now. They are all cowards and runaways, and
no fit company for a warrior."

Jenkins liked the look of the man, and his courage was beyond doubt, so
he said cordially: "You're a fine fellow and I like you. Will you take
on with the Guides?"

"Yes, I will," said the free-lance without a moment's hesitation.

So there and then, on the field