the ground by an Afghan sabre-cut in the face. After a desperate struggle with his assailant, whose skull he clave, he regained his feet, and the fortress was soon in possession of the British. Ghazni being well provisioned, the army was able to recruit, and after a week's rest the march was resumed and Kabul entered without further opposition on 7 Aug. 1839, Dost Muhammad having fled to Bokhara.
On 23 July 1839 Sale was given the local rank of major-general while serving in Afghanistan. He was made a K.C.B. for his services with the army of the Indus, and the shah bestowed upon him the order of the second class of the Durani Empire. On the break-up of the army of the Indus in October 1839 and the departure of Lord Keane, Major-general Sir Willoughby Cotton took command of the troops in Afghanistan, and Sale was second in command. He spent the winter at Jalalabad, whither Shah Shuja had moved his court, and where Lady Sale and his daughter joined him and accompanied him to Kabul when the shah returned there in the spring of 1840. In spite of the subsidies paid to the hill tribes, the escort was attacked on the way.
In the autumn of 1840 Dost Muhammad was again in the field and raising the whole country against the British. Sale was sent on 24 Sept. to chastise some rebellious chiefs in Kohistan, the hill country north of Kabul, his brigade consisting of the 13th light infantry, the 27th and two companies of the 37th native infantry, Abbott's 9-pounder battery, two of the shah's horse-artillery guns, a 24-pounder howitzer, two mortars, the 2nd Bengal light cavalry, and a regiment of the shah's horse. On 29 Sept. the enemy was found strongly posted in front of the village of Tutandara, six miles north-east of Charikar, their flanks supported by small detached forts. Sale threatened both flanks and attacked the centre in force with complete success. His attack on the fort of Jalgah on 3 Oct. was less successful, but, although the attacking column was at first beaten off with loss, the enemy evacuated the fort in the evening and fled. On 18 Oct. an attack was made on Babu-Kush-Ghar, when the enemy retired. On 19 Oct. Sale was reinforced by the remaining six companies of the 37th native infantry and two 9-pounders, and on the 20th he attacked and captured Kardarrah and Baidak. For the remainder of the month Sale was engaged in minor operations and ineffectual attempts to capture Dost Muhammad, who was then in the Nijrao country.
On 29 Oct. Sale was at Bagh-i-Alam when he heard that Dost Muhammad was in the Kohistan valley. On 2 Nov. he encountered and defeated him near the village of Parwan. In the cavalry charge the British officers covered themselves with glory, but the native troopers fled, and the Afghan horsemen, emboldened by this craven conduct, charged nearly up to the British guns. Broadfoot of the engineers and Dr. Lord, political agent, who accompanied the cavalry, were, with the adjutant, killed, and several of the officers were severely wounded. The British infantry, advancing, recovered the lost ground, and cleared the Parwandara or pass of Parwan, the enemy, completely defeated, flying to the Panjsher valley. Dost Muhammad, seeing the hopelessness of further resistance, went to Kabul and surrendered himself to Sir William Macnaghten. He accompanied Sir Willoughby Cotton to India, leaving Kabul on 12 Nov., when Major-general William George Keith Elphinstone [q. v.] succeeded to the Afghanistan command. Sale returned with his force to Kabul.
Some reductions and alterations were made in the army of occupation, which settled down into the quiet life of cantonments. Many of the married officers had sent for their wives and families, and, wrapt in a false sense of security, were oblivious of the coming storm. On 9 Aug. 1841 Sale's youngest daughter was married at Kabul to Lieutenant J. L. D. Sturt of the engineers. Notwithstanding that the inhabitants of the country manifested their antipathy to Europeans by continual insults and occasional murders; that the shah was daily, by his conduct, alienating his subjects; and that not a single month passed without a punitive expedition, no suspicion of danger influenced the actions of the political and military authorities. At an early stage of the occupation Sale had protested against placing the British troops in cantonments in the position proposed, and had vainly advocated the occupation of the Bala-Hissar, where a British force could have held Kabul against any odds. While contemplating a large reduction in the not over large army of occupation, the government now determined, for the sake of 4,000l. a year, to reduce the subsidies paid to the hill tribes to keep open the passes and refrain from plunder. The Ghilzai sardars were informed of the decision at the beginning of October 1841. The hillmen at once rose and occupied the passes in force, cutting the communications between Kabul and India.
Sale, who was about to proceed with his brigade to India on relief, and with whom Mac-
