har was looked for both in England and India, I managed
to pull myself together sufficiently to write out and despatch the
following telegram:

'KANDAHAR,
'_1st September, 1880_ (6 p.m.).

'Ayub Khan's army was to-day defeated and completely dispersed
with, I hope, comparatively slight loss on our side; his camp was
captured, the two lost guns of E Battery, B Brigade Royal Horse
Artillery were recovered, and several wheeled guns of various
calibre fell to the splendid Infantry of this force; the Cavalry
are still in pursuit. Our casualties are: 22nd Foot, Captain
Straton, killed; 72nd Highlanders, Lieutenant-Colonel Brownlow,
Captain Frome, killed, Captain Murray and Lieutenant Monro,
wounded, 7 men killed, 18 wounded; 92nd Highlanders, Lieutenants
Menzies and Donald Stewart wounded, 11 men killed and 39 wounded;
2nd Gurkhas, Lieutenant-Colonel Battye, and 2nd Sikhs, Major
Slater wounded. It is at present impossible to ascertain the
casualties amongst the Native troops, but I have no reason to
believe they are excessive; full details will be telegraphed
to-morrow. The quite recently murdered remains of Lieutenant
Maclaine, Royal Horse Artillery, were found on the arrival of the
British troops in Ayub Khan's camp. Ayub Khan is supposed to have
fled towards Herat.'

It can easily be imagined with what an intense sense of relief I awoke
on the morning of the 2nd September--the march had ended, Kandahar had
been relieved, Ayub Khan's army had been beaten and dispersed, and
there was an adequate force in southern Afghanistan to prevent further
disturbances.

Amongst the innumerable questions of detail which now confronted me
was the all-important one, and that which caused me greatest anxiety,
of how the large body of troops hastily concentrated at Kandahar, and
for which the produce of the country was quite inadequate, were to be
fed.

No supplies and very little forage were procurable between Quetta and
Kandahar, and in the neighbourhood of the latter place there was now
hardly anything in the shape of food for man or beast to be had for
love or money, the resources of this part of the country having been
quite exhausted. Relief could only be obtained by reducing the number
of mouths to be fed, and with this object I scattered the troops in
different directions, to posts as far distant from each other as
possible, consistent with safety