this emergency Captain Trevor, 5th Cavalry, and his family, who occupied the tower, were safely escorted by some friendly chiefs to the British cantonments, while Captain Mackenzie still defended the fort till he had not a shot to fire, and then he cut his way, with his party, through the enemy to the British lines. The following is his graphic description of his night adventures on this occasion: –
"Before we had proceeded half a mile, the rear missed the advance, upon whom a post of the enemy had begun to fire. All my regulars had crept ahead with the Juzailchees, and I found myself alone with a chuprassee and two suwars,[1] in the midst of a helpless and wailing crowd of women and children. Riding on by myself, along a narrow lane, to try and pick out the road, I found myself suddenly surrounded by a party of Affghans, whom at first I took to be my own Juzailchees, and spoke to them as such. They quickly undeceived me, however, by crying out 'Feringhee ust,' 'Here is an European,' and attacking me with swords and knives. Spurring my horse violently, I wheeled round, cutting from right to left, for I fortunately had my own sword drawn previous to the surprise. My blows, by God's mercy, parried the greater part of theirs, and I was lucky enough to cut off the hand of my most outrageous assailant. In short, after a desperate struggle, during which I received two slight sabre cuts, and a blow on the back of my head from a fellow whose sword turned in his hand, which knocked me half off my horse, I escaped out of the crush, passing unhurt through two volleys of musketry from the whole picket, which by that time had become alarmed and had turned out. They pursued me, but I soon distanced them, crossing several fields at speed, and gaining a road which I perceived led round the western end of the Shah's garden. Proceeding cautiously along, to my horror I perceived my path again blocked up by a dense body of Affghans. Retreat was impossible; so, putting my trust in God, I
- ↑ A messenger and troopers.
