o
kept up a steady fire upon the cantonments. Upon the 18th the enemy
made an attack upon the place, but this, although hotly kept up, was
repulsed without much difficulty.

On the 19th, General Baker made an assault upon a small fort situate at
a few hundred yards from the cantonment, from which the enemy had
greatly annoyed us. A portion of the place was blown up, the Afghans
being driven from it after severe fighting. Skirmishing went on each
day; but the Afghans could not bring themselves to make another attack
until the night of the 22nd, when 20,000 men advanced to storm the
British position.

The garrison had received warning, and at four in the morning signal
fires were seen burning, and the fire of the enemy's skirmishers began.
The enemy crept quietly up, and at six o'clock, with a shout, the whole
body rushed out from the villages and orchards round the place, and
charged upon the walls. They opened fire with a tremendous roar, but
this was drowned by the roll of musketry which broke out from the whole
circuit of the walls, where the men had been lying for the last three
hours, rifle in hand, awaiting the attack. Some of the enemy pushed
forward to within eighty yards of our rifles, but beyond this even the
bravest could not advance. For a few hours they skirmished round the
place; but finally fell back, and the attack was abandoned.

With the morning came the welcome news that General Gough had reached
the Cabul plain, and the cloud of dust arising in the distance showed
that the enemy had also heard of our reinforcement, and was marching out
to attack him. The garrison of Sherpur at once sallied out and attacked
the Afghans, creating a diversion, and killing large numbers of the
enemy. By nightfall the whole of the Afghans were driven into Cabul.
Upon the following day General Cough's force arrived, and the British
were again masters of the country. The whole of the Afghans engaged in
the attack fled during the night, and the British marched into Cabul
without resistance. This was virtually the end of the fighting at this
point.

The time now passed quietly, and it was not until the month of May that
any serious fighting took place. Then the tribesmen again began to
muster. General Stewart was on his way from Candahar, and the tribes,
feeling that if any hostile movement against us was to be successful it
must be undertaken before the arrival of the reinforcements, assembled
in great number