sibility never failed to call out his best qualities. It was
not many months before British officers and soldiers, Baluch chiefs and
Sindian peasants owned him as a master--such a master of the arts of war
and peace as had not been seen on the Indus since the days of Alexander
the Great.

First, like a true pupil of Sir John Moore, he set to work thoroughly to
drill his army. He experimented in person with British muskets and
Mar[=a]th[=a] matchlocks, and reassured his soldiers on the superiority
of the former. He experimented with rockets to test their efficiency;
and, with his usual luck in the matter of wounds, he had the calf of
his leg badly torn by one that burst. He would put his hand to any
labour and his life to any risk, if so he might stir the activity of
others and promote the cause. He convinced himself, by studying the
question at first hand, that the Baluch Am[=i]rs, who ruled the country,
were not only aliens but oppressors of the native peasantry, not only
ill-disposed to British policy, but actively plotting with the
hill-tribes beyond the Indus, and at the right moment he struck.

The danger of the situation lay in the great extent of the country, in
the difficulty of marching in such heat amid the sand, and in the
possibility of the Am[=i]rs escaping from his grasp and taking refuge in
fortresses in the heart of the desert, believed to be inaccessible. His
first notable exploit was a march northwards one hundred miles into the
desert to capture Im[=a]mghar; his last, crowning a memorable sixteen
days, was a similar descent upon Omarkot, which lay one hundred miles
eastward beyond M[=i]rpur. These raids involved the organization of a
camel corps, the carrying of water across the desert, and the greatest
hardships for the troops, all of which Charles Napier shared
uncomplainingly in person. Under his leadership British regiments and
Bombay sepoys alike did wonders. Who could complain for himself when he
saw the spare frame of the old general, his health undermined by fever
and watches, his hooked nose and flashing eye turned this way and that,
riding daily at their head, prepared to stint himself of all but the
barest necessaries and to share every peril? He had begun the campaign
in January; the crowning success was won on April 6. Between these dates
he fought two pitched battles at Mi[=a]ni and Dabo, and completely broke
the power of the Am[=i]rs.

Mi[=a]ni (February 17, 1843) was the most gloriou