en of the
escort were ordered no longer to go down into the town, where their
presence was the occasion of tumults. A native officer of one of
our cavalry regiments, who was spending his furlough at a village
near Cabul, came into the Bala-Hissar and told Major Cavagnari that
he feared, from rumors that reached him, that the Heratee regiments
would break into mutiny, and attack the embassy.

The officer, who was a man of immense courage and coolness, replied
quietly:

"If they do, they can but kill the three or four of us here, and
our deaths will be revenged."

He, however, made representations to the Ameer as to the
threatening behavior of the Heratee troops; but Yakoob assured him
that he could rely thoroughly upon his protection, and that--even
should the Heratee troops break out in mutiny--he would at once
suppress the movement, with the Cabul regiments.

Yossouf became daily more anxious. Going into the town, to buy
fruits and other necessaries, he heard more of what was going on
than could the members of the embassy.

"Things are very bad," he said, over and over again. "It would be
better for you all to go away. Why does your officer stop here, to
be killed?"

"It is his duty to stay at his post," Will said. "He has been sent
here by the commander-in-chief. He is like a soldier on outpost
duty. He cannot desert his post, because he sees danger
approaching; but I wish, with all my heart, that an order would
come for his recall; not only because of the danger, but because I
am longing to be back again with my regiment and, although I am
strong enough to ride down to the Punjaub, now, I cannot go except
with Sir Lewis and his escort. Although it is peace, a single
Englishman could not travel down to Jellalabad, through the
passes."

Will had, from the first week after the arrival of the mission,
fallen into the position of an orderly-room sergeant. His duties
were little more than nominal, but he acted as assistant to Mr.
Jenkyns, and made copies and duplicates of reports and other
documents which were, from time to time, sent down to Jellalabad.
Being the only Englishman there, with the exception of the four
officers, these greatly relaxed the usual distance prevailing
between an officer and a corporal; and treated him as a civilian
clerk when in office, and with a pleasant cordiality at other
times. Except, indeed, that he messed alone, and kept in his own
room of an evening, he might have been one of