bowstringed, but
before the sentence could be carried into effect he managed to escape.
His treachery failed in its object, for the greater portion of the flour
and grain which he had supplied now fell into our hands. We also found
from five to six hundred horses in the stables of the fortress, all of
which were in excellent condition, and ranging in value from seventy to
a hundred pounds each.

I entered the fort shortly after it surrendered and at every step
spectacles of the most shocking and revolting nature met the eye. Round
a long twenty pounder, which was planted to the right of the entrance,
lay heaps of dead Affghans, who appeared to have attached the greatest
importance to the service of this piece from the numbers who crowded to
perform the duty whenever our fire killed those engaged in it. The
agonising cries and groans of the wounded wretches who lay stretched at
every side, and who craved drink to sate their burning thirst, struck
those who had not been engaged in the fearful excitement of the scene
with horror and pity, whilst at every turning a horse, wild with the
injuries he had received, was to be met galloping furiously along the
narrow streets, and treading the bodies of the dying and dead under
foot. Advancing through the bazaar, my attention was drawn towards a
venerable looking Affghan, who was seated on the ground with his back
propped against a wall, and whose richly ornamented muslin robes were
stained with blood, which flowed profusely from a wound in his breast. A
fine looking youth of about fourteen years of age was attempting to
stanch it, and I hastened to proffer my assistance. The old man,
however, pushed me back, and would not let me approach him, plainly
indicating by his gestures that he held me and my countrymen in
abhorrence. Whilst standing at a short distance from him, a straggling
ball came whizzing past me, whether intentionally or accidentally I
cannot say, and put an end to his sufferings. Some soldiers, who
afterwards examined the person of this old chief, for such from his
attire I took him to be, discovered amongst other things an extremely
well executed map, on which the whole of the route of our troops from
the point at which we had disembarked to our arrival at Ghuznee was
plainly indicated.

Some of the Affghan women were occasionally to be met turning over the
bodies of the dead, in the hope of being able to discover their
relations or friends, and giving way to th