wn to make a general attack upon the camp under cover of dusk.

The situation was one of great anxiety. The whole force with me was
not more than 4,000 men and eighteen guns. The treacherous Amir and
his equally treacherous Ministers had, of course, kept the Afghan
Commander fully informed as to the manner in which my troops were
perforce divided; the position of every man and every gun with me was
known; and I feared that, as soon as we were engaged with the enemy,
the opportunity would be taken to attack my weakly-defended camp and
to engage Macpherson's small brigade, encumbered as it was with its
large convoy of stores and ammunition.

The numbers of the enemy were momentarily increasing, so delay would
assuredly make matters worse; the only chance of success, therefore,
was to take the initiative, and attack the Afghan main position at
once. Accordingly, I sent an officer with orders to the troops who
were moving towards the gorge not to commence work, but to take up
a defensive position until my plans were further developed. I sent
another messenger to Macpherson, informing him of my intention to take
immediate action, and telling him to keep a good look-out, and push on
to Charasia with all possible speed, and at the same time I reinforced
him by a squadron of Cavalry.

The Afghan position formed the arc of a circle, extending from the
_sang-i-nawishta_ gorge to the heights above Chardeh. Both sides of
the gorge were occupied by the enemy, as was a semi-detached hill to
the south of it, and sixteen guns were observed in position. The line
they had taken up occupied nearly three miles of country; and their
main position was the ridge, which, close to the gorge, rose 1,000
feet above the plain, running up at its western extremity to a peak
2,200 feet high. Thence the line stretched along the edge of some
lower heights to a rugged hill, the summit of which was about 1,800
feet above Charasia. In front of this formidable position were a
succession of sandy hills, forming a series of easily defensible
posts, and at the foot of these hills ran a bare stony belt, sloping
down to the cultivated land surrounding Charasia and the hamlet of
Khairabad.

My movements and reconnaissances up till now having led the enemy to
believe that I intended to deliver my attack on their left at the
_sang-i-nawishta_, they were seen to be concentrating their forces in
that direction. But this position could only have been carried with