irresistible, and drove the Afghans from two
ridges in succession. This feat of arms, which bordered on the
miraculous, served to reveal the feelings of the Ameer in a manner
equally ludicrous and sinister. Sitting in the British camp, he watched
the fight with great eagerness, then with growing concern, until he
finally needed all his oriental composure for the final compliment which
he bestowed on the victor. Later on it transpired that he and his
adherents had laid careful plans for profiting by the defeat of the
venturesome little force, so as to ensure its annihilation[317].

[Footnote 317: Roberts, _op. cit._ vol. ii. pp. 213-224; Hensman, _The
Afghan War of 1878-1880_.]

The brilliant affair at Charasia served to bring out the conspicuous
gallantry of two men, who were later on to win distinction in wider
fields, Major White and Colour-Sergeant Hector Macdonald. White carried
a ridge at the head of a body of 50 Highlanders. When the enemy fled to
a second ridge, he resolved to spare the lives of his men by taking a
rifle and stalking the enemy alone, until he suddenly appeared on their
flank. Believing that his men were at his back, the Afghans turned
and fled.

On October 9 Roberts occupied the Siah Sang ridge, overlooking Cabul,
and on the next day entered the citadel, Bala Hissar, to inspect the
charred and blood-stained ruins of the British Embassy. In the embers of
a fire he and his staff found numbers of human bones. On October 12
Yakub came to the General to announce his intention of resigning the
Ameership, as "he would rather be a grass-cutter in the English camp
than ruler of Afghanistan." On the next day the British force entered
the city itself in triumph, and Roberts put the Ameer's Ministers under
arrest. The citizens were silent but respectful, and manifested their
satisfaction when he proclaimed that only those guilty of the
treacherous attack on the Residency would be punished. Cabul itself was
much more Russian than English. The Afghan officers wore Russian
uniforms, Russian goods were sold in the bazaars, and Russian money was
found in the Treasury. It is evident that the Czar's officials had long
been pushing on their designs, and that further persistency on the part
of England in the antiquated policy of "masterly inactivity" would have
led to Afghanistan becoming a Muscovite satrapy.

The pendulum now swung sharply in favour of India. To that land Roberts
despatched the ex-Ameer on Decem