"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............