"i am glad to see you, mr. campbell," sir alexander burnes said as the lad entered his tent. "colonel pottinger was asking me only three or four days ago to keep a look-out for you. he had received a letter from his nephew saying that you were going to travel down via candahar, and that he was afraid that you would not manage to get through. i myself received a letter from lieutenant pottinger speaking very highly of services that you had rendered, and i understand that both he and mr. m'neill, our minister in persia, spoke very favourably of you in their despatches to the governor-general. how have you got through?"
"i had very little difficulty, sir, except that i was detained at candahar, and had to effect my escape secretly." and he gave a short account of his journey, and the manner in which he had escaped from candahar and avoided recapture.
"you managed it very cleverly, mr. campbell. i will take you in at once to macnaghten, who is supreme here, for shah soojah is at present little more than a puppet. i have no doubt that he will be very glad to learn what is the feeling throughout the country as to shah soojah. i may tell you in confidence that i am convinced that a terrible blunder has been made in taking up his cause. i was, as you no doubt know, several months at cabul, and i am convinced that dost mahomed was sincere in his desire for our friendship, and that he can support himself against his brothers at candahar, who have, as we know, been intriguing with persia and russia. i have all along urged the indian government to give him warm support and to enter[pg 109] into a firm alliance with him. however, the governor-general and his advisers have taken the other view, and i have only to do my best to carry out their orders, although i have strongly represented my own opinion.
"i do not think that government has any idea of the difficulties to be encountered. so far as fighting goes there is no doubt whatever that the afghans cannot stand against us, but the operation of feeding the troops and animals will be a troublesome one indeed. the heat will increase every day, and even the march up to quettah will present enormous difficulties, as you who have just descended the pass will readily understand; but the great problem will not be how to place shah soojah on the throne but how to maintain him there. i tell you this because macnaghten, who really knows nothing of the matter, is extremely sanguine. i warn you that it will be as well that you should not express any strong opinion against the enterprise. it is determined upon, and will be carried out, and without in any way shaking his opinion you would only set him against you and might seriously injure your own prospects. as it is, he has much to irritate him. there have already been serious troubles with the ameers of scinde, who have been treated in a very high-handed manner instead of being conciliated in every possible way. this alone has vastly added to the difficulty, by rendering it almost impossible to obtain carriage or provisions.
"then he differs greatly from general cotton, who, since his arrival here two days ago, has shown himself an officer who has an immense opinion of his own dignity. as general in command he declines to take any orders, or indeed to listen to any advice, from macnaghten. this is certainly not macnaghten's fault, who, although, as i consider, mistaken in his opinions, is very conciliating in his manner, and would willingly avoid all friction, which can but be disadvantageous[pg 110] to the enterprise on which he has set his heart. cotton's transport is really insufficient for his own army; shah soojah has hardly any transport at all. cotton cares not in the slightest about the shah or the shah's army, and, to say the truth, they are of no great value.
"macnaghten, however, attaches, and reasonably from his point of view, great importance to the fact that shah soojah should appear as arriving to claim his throne as an independent prince with his own army, supported by his allies the british, and not as a mere puppet forced upon the afghans by british bayonets; and he is therefore most anxious that he and his force should occupy as prominent a position as possible. it is as well for me to give you these hints as to the situation before you see macnaghten, and to warn you against speaking to him strongly of any hostile opinions as to shah soojah's chances that you may have gathered on your journey. when a man has an open mind it is well to give him both sides of the case, but when he has pledged his reputation and thrown himself heart and soul into one side of the case it is worse than useless to endeavour to turn him, especially when the die is cast and the day for drawing back is past. if my opinion, gathered from nine months' residence in cabul and almost daily interviews with dost mahomed, has been altogether unheeded, certainly yours, gathered in a passing trip through the country, would have no effect whatever beyond setting him against you."
"thank you, sir, i will be careful; and indeed my opinion would in any case be of little value. i certainly conversed a good deal with the natives on my way from herat to candahar, but at that city i spoke only to persian merchants, and had no intercourse whatever on my way down, except with my guides in the bolan passes."
"well we will call on him now," sir alexander burnes said, taking his cap.
[pg 111]
mr. macnaghten's tent was next to his own, and he at once took angus in with him.
"i have come, mr. macnaghten, to introduce to you mr. angus campbell, who has just come down through candahar from herat. his name was, i know, very favourably mentioned both by lieutenant pottinger and mr. m'neill. he has brought down letters of introduction to me and colonel pottinger."
"i know your name well, sir," macnaghten said. "mr. m'neill told us that you had been in his service, and had gone to herat on a mission to induce shah kamran to hold out to the last, and that when the siege was raised you had started from there with the intention of journeying down through afghanistan into scinde, in hopes of obtaining employment in some capacity where your knowledge of persian and arabic would be of service. i also understand, by lieutenant pottinger's last despatch, that you have learned pushtoo. the governor-general was very favourably impressed with these reports, and authorized me to employ you at once as one of the junior assistants. i should think, sir alexander, that you can employ mr. campbell to greater advantage than i can, as the work of making the arrangements for the advance of the army is in your hands."
"i shall be very glad of an addition to my staff, for as we get on i foresee that the three officers who now assist me will be altogether insufficient; and the high terms in which mr. m'neill and lieutenant pottinger have written about him, and the fact that he has been able to travel about the country unsuspected, shows his fitness for such work."
"you must understand, mr. campbell," macnaghten said, "i cannot guarantee that the position will be a permanent one, as all such appointments in the service must be confirmed by the court of directors; but i shall at once acquaint lord auckland of your arrival here and of your[pg 112] nomination, and i have no doubt that he will himself confirm it so far as this expedition continues, and will strongly recommend the court of directors that your appointment to the service shall be a permanent one, in view of your exceptional knowledge of persian and pushtoo."
"i thank you very much indeed, sir, and will do my best to merit your good opinion."
as angus left the tent with sir alexander burnes he said: "i am indeed obliged to you, sir. i had hoped that i might obtain an appointment of some sort, but i never hoped for one like this. it is the work, too, of all others that i should like, and you may rely on me to carry out your orders to the full extent of my power."
"i have no doubt you will, mr. campbell. i am glad to have one of my officers speak pushtoo, for although both in scinde and afghanistan persian is the language most spoken by the upper classes, it is of no use with the peasants. in the work of digging wells, bargaining for fodder for the horses, and so forth, pushtoo will be very useful, for although it differs from the language of the belooches, it is near enough for them to understand it; and, of course, when we are once through the bolan it is the language of all the countrymen."
"may i ask what dress it will be proper for me to wear?"
"as it is a civil appointment you will not wear uniform, but either the ordinary civilian dress, or, if you like, a dress of oriental character. i generally dress so, and it certainly has its advantages, and favourably predisposes chiefs you may have to visit. a british uniform they understand, but a purely civilian dress is too simple for them, and does not convey any sense of importance."
"very well, sir; i am glad that you have decided so. i have no civilian clothes with me, and should find it very difficult, if not impossible, to get them here."
[pg 113]
"your appointment will be a thousand rupees a month, so long as the campaign lasts; after that it would, of course, depend upon the future employment you might have. if you would like to draw a month's pay in advance you can do so."
"no, thank you, sir; i am fairly provided with money."
"i have four officers employed on similar duty, mr. campbell, i will introduce you to them at once; and you will, of course, mess with our party."
major leech, the chief assistant, was away on duty, but the other three officers were at once sent for. "captain jones, captain arbuthnot, and lieutenant macgregor, i wish to introduce to you mr. campbell, whom i have just appointed as one of my political assistants. he has distinguished himself greatly under lieutenant pottinger throughout the siege of herat, and was previously an assistant to mr. m'neill, our ambassador at the court of persia. he speaks persian, arabic, and pushtoo, and has been specially recommended to the governor-general by mr. m'neill and pottinger. he has now made his way from herat through candahar, and the fact that he has done so safely shows that he knows how to use these languages to advantage."
as lieutenant pottinger's gallant defence of herat was the theme of general admiration throughout india, angus could not have had a better introduction, and he was warmly received by the three officers, who at once took him away with them.
"you will share my tent with me," lieutenant macgregor said. "i am alone at present. you have a horse, of course, and a servant, i suppose?"
"i have a very fair horse, and an excellent servant, who is a young fellow, a persian, the son of a door-keeper at the embassy. he was with me through the siege, and i found him invaluable. he is a strong fellow, and has plenty of[pg 114] courage and shrewdness; i should never have got away out of candahar had it not been for his assistance.
"sir alexander has advised me to get an eastern dress, as i cannot wear uniform; and i must see about that at once, for this persian dress would in any case have been out of place, and my journey down the bolan has ruined it altogether. but in the first place, i shall be obliged if you will tell me where my two horses are to be put up."
"your horse will be picketed with ours in our tents; our servants' horses are in the line behind them. is that your man over there with the two horses? i will send an orderly to tell him to take them over and picket them. now, i suppose you want something to eat? we had tiffin an hour ago, but the servants can get something for you."
"thank you; i will go down into the town. i had something before mounting this morning, and i own i should not care about going into the mess-tent till i have got something to wear a little more respectable than these clothes."
"oh, that is nonsense. besides, you need not go into the mess-tent. i will order them to warm something up at once, and to bring it into my tent. we are all wanting to hear more about herat. the official despatches only give us bare facts."
for the next two hours angus was fully occupied in relating his experiences of the siege to the three officers; after that he went down with azim to the town. there he bought for himself a dress such as would be worn by a native of some rank—a white turban, a blue tunic opening at the breast and showing a white cambric shirt, several white robes, and loose white linen trousers tightened in at the ankle. he bought a good supply of under-linen and a couple of pairs of native riding-boots. for azim he bought clothes appropriate to a retainer of a mohammedan gentleman. as he was unable to procure a camp bed of european make, he[pg 115] bought a native charpoy, which could be taken to pieces and conveniently carried. he had found that his fellow-officers had each three native servants—a butler or body servant, a syce for their riding horses, and a man who looked after and led on the line of march two baggage animals. he had no difficulty in engaging a syce, and let the question of the baggage animals stand over until next day.
azim would, of course, act as his personal servant. the lad, who had during the past year become imbued with the spirit of adventure, was delighted to hear that his master was to accompany the army. he had, during his stay in herat, picked up the language, and could converse in it as fluently as angus himself was able to do; and although he had no pleasant recollections of the journey from candahar, he felt sure that it would be a very different affair when accompanying a british army. he expressed as much to his master, who said:
"i should not make so sure of that, azim. we had no great difficulty in obtaining provisions for ourselves, but it will be a very different thing with an army of thousands of men, with an even larger number of camp followers and five or six thousand camels. except just round one of those little villages, we did not see a blade of grass from the time we left the shawl valley, and how the animals will exist till we get up to quettah i have no idea. once there no doubt we shall do fairly well, but we shall have a very bad time on the journey, unless i am mistaken. if i had the management of affairs, i should send off at once the whole of the camels with a sufficient escort as far as dadur. there they should leave the provisions and forage they took up, and return here to accompany the army with a further supply. no doubt it would cause a month's delay, but it would be better to do that than to lose half our baggage animals and to risk famine for the troops."
[pg 116]
"i believe," captain arbuthnot said when angus joined the others, "that ten days' supply are ready at dadur, and twenty days' supply at quettah."
"certainly there were no supplies at dadur when i came through, but i know nothing about quettah," angus said; "still i think that if any supplies of consequence had been collected there i should have heard about it from the men who guided us through the pass."
"there were no troops there, then?"
"no, not the slightest sign of them, nor did we pass any on the march down from candahar; but of course the khan of khelat may have collected a great force of belooches, and if he did so, he would naturally keep them at khelat until he heard that the army was approaching, as it would be an immense deal of trouble to victual them in the pass."
"i know that mr. macnaghten received news which induced him to believe that a large force would be likely to march down from candahar, and that the attitude of the princes was altogether hostile. it is on account of that news that we are going to advance in two or three days' time, instead of waiting for another three weeks for a larger stock of supplies to be collected. it was but ten days ago that the commissary-general sent off four thousand camels to bring up supplies from the rear. however, they will be useful for the bombay column which is coming up, as it is arranged that we shall collect transport and supplies for them.
"therefore the decision has been taken to march at once, so that we can ascend the pass before the enemy send a sufficient force to hold it against us. no doubt the report that we were not going to leave here for another three weeks has been sent up to candahar. the prince is sure to have agents and spies here. we ought to be at the foot of the bolan before it is known in candahar that we have started.[pg 117] as to khelat, the khan has sent in assurances of his friendship, and i expect he will make himself safe by assuming neutrality; but the belooches are a warlike people, and born plunderers, and his authority is very slight, except in khelat and the district near it. we are sure to have trouble with the mountaineers, but beyond having to protect the convoy strongly, i do not suppose we shall have serious fighting with them. i expect that we shall be sent off to-morrow or next day to khelat and quettah, perhaps one of us may even go to candahar. i know that mr. macnaghten thinks that possibly the princes may not take an active part on dost mahomed's side. everyone knows that they have no great love for their brother; which is not surprising, for he, who is the youngest of the family, has managed to secure the sovereignty. besides, they would see that if they took up arms in his favour the whole brunt of the fighting would fall upon them, for cabul could render them no real assistance. they are very shifty gentlemen, and though they may make a show of force at first, it would probably be only for the purpose of securing advantageous terms for themselves."
"i saw them when i was at candahar," angus said, "and they, or at least one of them, questioned me closely; but supposing me to be a persian just arrived from herat, he naturally said nothing about a british invasion. his great anxiety was to know what the intentions and power of russia and persia were. no doubt the plans that were formed were entirely disconcerted by the shah's retreat from before herat. i saw no signs whatever of any gatherings of the afghans, nor was the subject ever alluded to in the conversations i had with traders at the place where i lodged."
at this moment a native officer came in and said that[pg 118] sir alexander desired to see captains arbuthnot and jones. as they buckled on their swords the latter said: "you have told us about herat, mr. campbell, and this evening i hope you will tell us about your journey down."
when the officers returned angus found that arbuthnot was not mistaken as to the probable work they would have to perform, for he was to accompany major todd the next morning with an escort of cavalry for khelat. they were to see the khan and arrange with him for supplies to be sent to dadur. captain jones was to remain there to see that his promises were carried out, and arbuthnot, unless he learned that a force from candahar had arrived at quettah, was to go on there and see to the collection of grain and cattle.
"a squadron of cavalry is going forward to-morrow morning, campbell. four hundred labourers are going with it, and you are to be in special charge of half of them. of course, they will have eight or ten headmen, but they will want looking after all the same. they are to dig wells at burshoree; the other half, under you, macgregor, are to do the same thing at meerpoor. it is a thousand pities it was not done before, for the army is to begin its advance the day after to-morrow. however, you will gain a couple of days on them, and that is something. if you meet major leech, who is at work improving the roads, you will, of course, report yourself to him, and he will doubtless be able to advise you as to the best place for the wells."
angus heard the news with much satisfaction. in the first place it meant active work, and in the second it would save him from the slow and toilsome march of the army, which would, he felt sure, be accompanied with enormous hardship. the four officers dined together. sir a. burnes was not present, as he was dining with general cotton and mr. macnaghten. after dinner angus related his adven[pg 119]ture at candahar; how he evaded pursuit, and his passage through the pass. he had hardly finished when he was sent for to the general's tent.
"i have just been telling general cotton, mr. campbell," said mr. macnaghten, "that you arrived this morning from candahar. he wishes to learn as much as you can tell him of the state of the pass at present, and of the country between dadur and this place. i told him that i had not been able to find time to question you on these points."
"in the first place," the general said, "what is the state of the bolan?"
"as i only travelled during the night i cannot tell you very much about it. the river is not high, and there is no difficulty whatever on that score. the ground is generally extremely rough, and covered not only with rounded boulders, but by rocks that will prove very trying to the feet of the animals. we bandaged very thickly the hoofs of our horses to deaden the sound, and so saved them from being lamed, which they otherwise would certainly have been. the bandages were of felt, and these were completely cut to pieces the first night. after that we cut up one of the water-skins i had with me, and we covered the felt with the leather, but even this was cut to pieces, and had to be renewed the next night. although this is the general character of the pass, there are places at which, by skirting the foot of the hills at points where the pass opens out—and the hills are not precipitous, although everywhere steep—it is possible for mounted men to go along at a fast walk, the stones being much smaller, and like, i should think, what i have heard of a sea-beach, though i never saw one, at least that i can remember."
"still, there were no insurmountable difficulties, mr. campbell?"
[pg 120]
"no, sir, though there were places where certainly not more than two laden camels could pass abreast."
"well, next as to the country between this place and dadur. we know about it as far as the edge of beloochee desert; what is it beyond that? did you suffer from want of water?"
"no, sir, at the villages where we stopped there was always water; but there were, as far as i saw, but a few small wells, which would seem to me very insufficient for the supply of an army and its train."
"well, we are going to dig more wells," mr. macnaghten said rather impatiently. "if the water will run into three or four wells it would run into fifty. now, about forage?"
"there were small patches of cultivation round each of the villages; at bhag more than elsewhere, as it lies nearer to the foot of the hills; but at meerpoor, burshoree, and rojhan i should not say there were more than twenty or thirty acres of cultivated land. at bhag i was strongly advised to take the road at the foot of the hills to dundeaver down to larkhanna, and from there to follow the indus up to sukkar; but the guides said that i should be more likely to be troubled by the beloochees along that route, and as it was also twice as far i took the straight way here."
"thank you. we will not detain you any longer, mr. campbell, and we are obliged for the information that you have given us."
angus bowed and retired. he felt that mr. macnaghten was vexed that he could not report better upon the chances of obtaining sufficient supplies of forage and water. but he felt that it was clearly better that he should give, in the plainest terms, the true state of affairs, for when, as he was sure would be the case, there was immense suffering of men[pg 121] and animals, the blame would fall upon him if he had given a more hopeful account than the facts warranted.
sir a. burnes sent for him on leaving the general's tent.
"you did quite right in not giving a rose-coloured description of the state of things along the line of march, mr. campbell. of course neither mr. macnaghten nor general cotton liked it. neither of them, in fact, has the slightest idea of the troubles ahead of them, and both were inclined to view me as a pessimist. however, it will not matter to you very greatly whether macnaghten is pleased with you or not, because your reports will be sent in to me. this sort of work will not last very long. i have only undertaken it because major garden, general cotton's quarter-master-general, has been taken ill. major craikie, the adjutant-general, will go forward with me the day after to-morrow to superintend matters generally. i hope by that time to have a thousand more men for well-digging. major leech has gone to sebee to cut a dam there on the river naree, which it is hoped will fill the small water-courses and greatly assist us. i have more fear about forage than water. you can dig wells and cut dams, but you can't get a crop to grow at a day's notice. however, we must hope for the best."
the next morning at three o'clock angus and lieutenant macgregor started with the labourers and an escort of fifty native cavalry.
"i am very glad to be off, campbell," macgregor said. "it has been disheartening work for some time. somehow or other nothing has gone smoothly since we started. of course i am only a sub, but certainly it seems to me that so far there has been an enormous amount of unnecessary friction, and that the chiefs have not gone the right way to work. i don't believe myself in this shah[pg 122] whom we are going to force upon the afghans. dost mahomed is worth a dozen of him, and no one who knows anything of the affairs of afghanistan is able to understand why lord auckland and macnaghten and the rest of them should ever have conceived the idea of supplanting a man who has shown himself really desirous of our alliance and friendship, and who undoubtedly possesses the support of a majority of his countrymen, by one who has never shown any talent, who has no party whatever in afghanistan, and is a member of a discredited and fallen family.
"still, that is their affair; but matters have been complicated by the manner in which the emirs of scinde have been treated. instead of regarding them, as they have always shown themselves, as friendly to us, we have gone out of our way to render them hostile, by the manner in which we have, in absolute contradiction of the terms of their treaty with us, compelled them to furnish carriage, provisions, and money. had they been a conquered country we could not have carried matters with a higher hand. it will be sure to lead to trouble some day, and certainly adds immensely to our difficulties. now, the very fact that, in the days when he was for a short time ruler in afghanistan, soojah advanced all sorts of preposterous claims of suzerainty over a large portion of scinde, was in itself a reason why, if we took the absurd step of placing him on the throne of cabul, we should have advanced from peshawur through jellalabad direct, instead of taking this roundabout journey through scinde. of course there would have been great difficulties in the khyber, and we should have had to encounter fierce opposition from the hill-tribesmen, but that will have to be met in any case. and after installing soojah at cabul, we could have gradually extended his power—or ours, for of course he would be but a puppet in[pg 123] our hands—through ghuznee to candahar. of course you won't hear any talk like this among the officers of the bombay or bengal army. they know and care nothing about the matter. it is just among the men who have been employed here in the north, and who know something about it, that there is any doubt as to the wisdom of the affair. i know burnes considers that the whole thing is a mistake. colonel pottinger, who, as our resident in scinde, knows a great deal about the afghans, says little, but i know that he disapproves of it; and so, i think, do all of us juniors, who have worked either under him, or with burnes, or up in the punjaub, and have, of course, always taken an interest in the affairs of afghanistan, especially since russian influence has become so preponderant in persia. well, we can only hope for the best, and do our best in our own little way. thank goodness, whatever comes of it, we have no responsibility in the affair."
"i really know very little about it," angus said; "but i do know that it will be a terrible business getting the army to quettah, and that directly it was determined to come this way arrangements should have been made to dig sufficient wells to ensure a supply of water at every watering-place, and to collect stores of forage and grain. i really don't see how it is to be done now. from all that i could hear as i came down, there will be a lot of trouble with the beloochees."
the difficulties of the advance had already been felt. great numbers of camels had died between sukkar and shikarpore, and those that accompanied the party of well-diggers were enfeebled, and looked as if they had accomplished a long forced march instead of the strong and fresh animals one would expect to see setting out on such an enterprise. the first halting-place was jagan. the next day they started at the same early hour and proceeded to[pg 124] janeedera. here they had passed beyond the boundary of the scinde ameers, and had entered the territory over which the khan of khelat held nominal authority. at this place there was a small mud fort, outside of which straw had been collected for the use of the cavalry, and to guard this a small party of shah soojah's troops had been posted. these, however, had been attacked and driven off by a beloochee band, and the straw carried away. however, there was sufficient water in the wells for the men and animals.
the next day's march was a long one, but at rojhan a certain amount of forage had been collected, and there was a fair supply of water. the country so far had been barren, with occasional bushes, but beyond rojhan they had nothing but an absolutely flat surface of sand, without a blade of grass or a bush to break the level expanse; across this desert the party toiled on for twenty-seven miles. a little water was carried by the camels, but this supply was soon exhausted, and with parched lips and throats the men plodded on, knowing that until the end of the journey no water could be obtained. scarce a word was spoken during the painful journey. passing over the ground as he came down at a canter, angus had thought but little of it; he had done it in less than four hours, and there was no trouble from the dust. it was very different now. it was fourteen hours from the time of starting before they reached burshoree, the mounted men having to accommodate their pace to that of the labourers, and the dust rose in dense clouds.
a part of the cavalry rode ahead, the rest some half a mile behind the main body of the footmen. but before half the journey was done these began to straggle, and the dust had no time to settle before the horsemen came along. fully half the labourers, indeed, threw themselves down on[pg 125] the sand incapable of going farther, and lay there until the cool evening air revived them, and it was long after midnight before many of them reached burshoree. here a considerable number of wells had already been dug by the party under major leech. the water was muddy, and trickled in but slowly. still it was water, and men and horses drank it eagerly as fast as it could be brought up in buckets and emptied into troughs which had been erected.
although the village—a mere collection of native huts, surrounded by a wall as a protection against the plundering beloochees—offered a most uninviting prospect, angus was well pleased that he had arrived at the end of his journey, and had not, like macgregor, another day's march to perform. the latter started as usual at three o'clock, and an hour later angus, with some difficulty, roused his two hundred weary men and set them to work, promising them that if they laboured hard he would allow them to rest during the heat of the day. cheered by the promise, the labourers set to work under their headmen. each of these had charge of twenty workmen; these were divided into two gangs and worked wells close together. angus had nothing to do save to exercise a sort of general superintendence. the soil became much more firm a few feet below the surface, and as the sides stood satisfactorily it was not necessary to make the wells of any great depth. it was found that four men only could be employed on each, two working in the bottom and the others bringing up the earth with buckets and ropes, consequently, the number of the wells was largely increased. after three days of prodigious toil, water was reached in the majority of the wells, and by the end of the fourth day fifty had been added to those already dug. the liquid, however, oozed in but slowly, and when a well was emptied it was two or three hours before water could again be drawn from it; thus although the amount[pg 126] that could be obtained altogether was considerable, it was still wholly insufficient for the supply of an army. five-and-twenty of the native cavalry were kept constantly on the alert, for parties of plundering beloochees hovered round, and several of the well-diggers who, in spite of orders, ventured to wander some distance away were robbed and killed.
the next morning general thackwell, with a body of cavalry, a small force of infantry, and some irregular horse, rode into the place. he brought with him an order from sir a. burnes for angus to accompany him. the well-diggers were to remain there and continue their work. the general had intended to stop there for two or three days, but finding that no forage could be procured, he started the next morning early and rode through meerpoor to oostar, a distance of twenty-seven miles, where, as had been reported by major leech, there was a small reservoir of water, and a store of straw and grass had been collected. angus stopped for an hour at meerpoor and had a talk with macgregor, whose men had also accomplished a great deal of work, and who bewailed his fate at having to remain there instead of going forward with general thackwell.