Stewart-Mackenzie, who had assumed command of the 9th Lancers on
Cleland being disabled, to make a second charge, which he executed
with the utmost gallantry,[11] but to no purpose; and in the meanwhile
Smyth-Windham had given the order to unhook and spike the guns.

By this time the enemy were within a few hundred yards of Bhagwana,
and the inhabitants had begun to fire at us from the roofs of their
houses. I was endeavouring to help some men out of the ditch, when the
headman of the village rushed at me with his knife, seeing which, a
Mahomedan[12] of the 1st Bengal Cavalry, who was following me on foot,
having just had his horse shot under him, sprang at my assailant, and,
seizing him round the waist, threw him to the bottom of the ditch,
thereby saving my life.[13]

Suddenly the Afghans stayed their advance for a few minutes, thinking,
as I afterwards learnt, that our Infantry were in the village--a
pause which allowed many of our Cavalry who had lost their horses to
escape.[14]

Directly we had got clear of the village the Cavalry reformed, and
retired slowly by alternate squadrons, in a manner which excited my
highest admiration, and reflected the greatest credit on the
soldierly qualities of Stewart-Mackenzie and Neville. From Bhagwana,
Deh-i-Mazang was three miles distant, and it was of vital importance
to keep the enemy back in order to give the Highlanders from Sherpur
time to reach the gorge.

For a time the Afghans continued to press on as before, but after a
while their advance gradually became slower and their numbers somewhat
decreased. This change in Mahomed Jan's tactics, it afterwards turned
out, was caused by Macpherson's advance guard coming into collision
with the rear portion of his army; it was of the greatest advantage
to us, as it enabled the 72nd to arrive in time to bar the enemy's
passage through the gorge. My relief was great when I beheld them,
headed by their eager Commander, Brownlow, doubling through the gap
and occupying the village of Deh-i-Mazang and the heights on either
side. The Cavalry greeted them with hearty cheers, and the volleys
delivered by the Highlanders from the roofs of the houses in the
village soon checked the Afghans, some of whom turned back, while
others made for Indiki and the slopes of the Takht-i-Shah. For a time,
at any rate, their hopes of getting possession of Kabul had been
frustrated.

It will be remembered that the orders I sent to Macpherson on the