They again advanced on all sides, and attacked the camp, and for four
hours the 72nd, with two guns to assist them, could get but little
advantage of them. Then, unable to withstand the fire of our
breechloaders and the effect of our shell, they fell back to the hills.
Near the villages on the south side Major Stewart with thirty men of the
5th Punjaub Cavalry made a notable charge. A body fully a thousand
strong of the enemy was making from the hills, when, with his handful of
men, he dashed down upon them, scattering them in all directions,
cutting down twenty, and wounding a large number.

When the enemy had retired to the hills, the villages were searched; and
as the inhabitants of these had taken part in the fight, and large
numbers of arms were found concealed there, these were burnt, the
inhabitants being expelled, and those whom their wounds showed to have
taken part in the fight--over 100 in number--brought as prisoners. The
loss on our side was but two killed and eight wounded, showing that the
Afghans, courageous as they are, are contemptible as marksmen.

This brought the fighting to a close. General Roberts, finding his
force too small to hold the Kuram and Khost valleys, evacuated the
latter, and the force went into winter quarters.

This step had already been taken in the Khyber. It had not been
intended from the first to push the advance as far as Cabul before the
winter came on, as the difficulties in the way of so doing would have
been enormous, and the troops would have had great difficulty in
maintaining their position, even should they capture Cabul before the
snow set in. The flight of the Ameer, too, and the accession to power
as his father's representative of Yakoob Khan, his eldest son, who had
for many years been kept by his father as a prisoner, naturally arrested
the course of affairs. It was hoped that Yakoob would at once treat
with us, and that our objects would be attained without further advance.
These anticipations were to some extent verified. Negotiations were
opened, and upon the 3rd of March Yakoob offered to negotiate terms of
peace.

Nothing has been said as yet of the doings of the third column of
invasion under General Stewart, who had taken the command originally
assigned to General Biddulph. The difficulties in the way of advance of
this column were immense. First, a sandy desert almost destitute of
water, extending between the Indus and the foot of the mountai