r cover, with a loud hurrah they rushed
on. Pennycuick and his men were the first to enter. The other
companies eagerly followed, till the whole of the storming column were
within the walls of Khelat.

Onward they struggled manfully towards the citadel. Every inch of
ground was obstinately disputed. The citadel was reached, but there was
here a desperate resistance. Sword in hand, Mehrab Khan and some of his
principal chiefs stood to give battle to their enemies. The Khan
himself fell dead with a musket-ball through his breast. Eight of his
principal sirdars fell beside him. Heaps of dead lay around,--many
fine-looking men,--their shields shot through and broken, swords and
matchlocks scattered about in every direction, telling of the fierce
fight. A small party held out in an inner apartment; there was no
reaching them, except by a narrow passage which admitted but of one at a
time. Three or four attempted it, and were instantly shot dead. The
little band of Beloochees would not trust the British. At length
Lieutenant Loveday was sent up to them alone. It was a critical moment
for him; but they listened to his proposals, and surrendered. And
Khelat was won, the British loss being 138 killed and wounded.

These defeats had a very depressing effect upon the followers of Dost
Mahomed, who, although still at the head of an army of 14,000 men, found
that there was no courage in his faint-hearted followers, and that they
could not be trusted even to be true to himself. His position being
thus hopeless, Dost Mahomed fled from Cabul on the 2nd of August, and
that city was entered in state by Shah Soojah, who then, though for a
short time, was restored to the throne which he had lost thirty years
before.

The army now ceased to be an expeditionary force, and became settled as
an army of occupation. The officers sent for their wives and families,
and for a time English society and English amusements may be said to
have been established in Cabul. Still Shah Soojah was not accepted by
the people, his rule was exacting and cruel, and disaffection was rife
in the country, which was rapidly preparing to rise.

In the meantime, Dost Mahomed was still to be reckoned with. After his
flight from Cabul he and his son Akbar had gone to Bokhara, where for a
time they were in captivity. Escaping thence, they reached Khartoum,
where the Dost's family were under the protection of his brother Jubbar
Khan. Here he found t