h India
by cutting the telegraph-wires. I reported that I had ordered
Brigadier-General Charles Gough's brigade to push on from Gandamak as
fast as possible; and I recommended that General Bright should have
more troops sent up to him, to allow of his keeping open the route to
Kabul, and of his reinforcing me should I find it impossible to clear
the country with the force at my disposal. It was a satisfaction to
be able to assure the authorities in these, to me, otherwise painful
telegrams, that there was no cause for anxiety as to the safety of the
troops; that sufficient supplies for men were stored in Sherpur for
nearly four months, and for animals for six weeks; that there
was abundance of firewood, medicines, and hospital comforts, and
sufficient ammunition both for guns and rifles to admit of an active
resistance being carried on for between three and four months.

It was fortunate there was no lack of provisions, for our numbers were
considerably increased by the presence of Wali Mahomed Khan and many
other Sirdars, who begged for shelter in Sherpur, on the plea that
their lives would not be safe were they to return to the city. They
were far from being welcome guests, for I could not trust them;
ostensibly, however, they were our friends, and I could not refuse
their petition. I therefore admitted them, on condition that each
Sirdar should only be accompanied by a specified number of followers.

The stormy occurrences of the 14th were succeeded by a period of
comparative calm, during which the entrenchments were strengthened,
and the heavy guns found in the Kabul arsenal were prepared for
service.

The great drawback to Sherpur, as I have already mentioned, was its
extent and the impossibility of reducing the line of defences owing to
the length of the Bimaru ridge. The cantonment was in the form of a
parallelogram, with the Bimaru heights running along, and protecting,
the northern side. Between this range and the hills, which form the
southern boundary of Kohistan, lay a lake, or rather _jhil_, a barrier
between which and the commanding Bimaru ridge no enemy would dare to
advance.

The massive wall on the south and west faces was twenty feet high,
covered at a distance of thirty feet by a lower wall fifteen feet
high; the southern wall was pierced at intervals of about 700 yards by
gateways, three in number, protected by lofty circular bastions, and
between these and at the four corners were a series of l