rescued from the slavery into which they had been sold. From the tomb of the terrible Sultán Mahmúd, outside the city, Nott carried off the gates which Mahmúd was said to have borne away eight centuries before from the Hindu temple of Somnáth in Gujarát. This strange duty had been laid upon him by Lord Ellenborough, whose theatrical fancy revelled in the prospect of 'avenging Somnáth' by the plunder of an old Muhammadan shrine. The great Sultan's club and shield, which Nott was also to bring away with him, could not be found. It was said by some that Keane had borrowed and forgot to return them, while others believed that they had accompanied Sháh Shujá on his march to Kábul[1].
On the road from Ghazní to Kábul Nott encountered 12,000 Afgháns under his old enemy Shams-ud-dín, strongly posted on the hill-ranges in his front. On the 15th of September this new obstacle was entirely cleared out of Nott's path. 'Our troops,' he wrote to Pollock, 'beat them and dislodged them in gallant style; and their conduct afforded me the greatest satisfaction.' Their war-worn leader was not sorry to give his men and cattle a few days' rest in the bracing Kábul valley, which lay 6,000 feet above the sea. On that very day, the 17th, Pollock requested him to send off a brigade in support of Shakespear. Nott, while ready to obey his superior's order, ventured 'most respectfully to protest against it,' for reasons of undeniable cogency. The duty which he begged to
- ↑ Stoqueler's Life of Sir William Nott; Afghan Papers.
