10th
were that he was to march very early the next morning, as Massy with
the Horse Artillery and Cavalry would leave Aushar at 9 a.m., and that
he must join him on the Arghandeh road. Macpherson did not make so
early a start as I had intended; from one cause or another, he said,
he was not able to leave Karez-i-Mir before eight o'clock. On reaching
the Surkh Kotal he observed dense bodies of the enemy hurrying from
the Paghman and Arghandeh directions towards Kila Kazi, and he pushed
on, hoping to be able to deal with them individually before they had
time to concentrate. For the first three miles from the foot of the
pass the view was obstructed by a range of hills, and nothing could be
seen of the Horse Artillery and Cavalry; but soon after 10 a.m. the
booming of guns warned Macpherson that fighting was going on, but he
could not tell whether it was Baker's or Massy's troops which were
engaged. He was, however, not left long in doubt, for Lieutenant
Neville Chamberlain, attached to Macpherson as political officer, and
who had gone on with his advance guard, sent back word that he could
distinguish British Cavalry charging the Afghans, and as Baker had
only Native Cavalry with him, Macpherson knew at once that the action
was being fought by Massy. Suddenly the firing ceased, and he was
informed that the enemy were advancing on Kabul, and that their
vanguard had already reached the belt of orchards and enclosures, on
the further fringe of which the smoke from our guns and the charge of
our Cavalry had been seen.

Macpherson, feeling that something serious had occurred, called on his
men to make a further effort. At 12.30 p.m., less than an hour after
we had begun to retire, he reached the ground where the fight had
taken place. The dead bodies of our officers and men, stripped and
horribly mutilated, proved how fierce had been the struggle, and
the dropping shots which came from the fortified villages in the
neighbourhood and from the ravines, warned the Brigadier-General that
some of the enemy were still in the neighbourhood. But these men, so
bold in the confidence of overwhelming numbers when attacking Massy's
Cavalry, were not prepared to withstand Macpherson's Infantry; after a
brief resistance they broke and fled in confusion, some to Indiki, but
the greater number to the shelter of the hills south of Kila Kazi, to
which place Macpherson followed them, intending to halt there for the
night. This I did not allow