ordered only in the last extremity, and that we should 'hold on here as long as possible, and throughout the winter, if we can only subsist the troops by any means.' The Envoy, like Micawber, still hopes that 'something may turn up in our favour.' 'Nott, perhaps, may be sending up reinforcements from Kandahár, and as winter is so near, most of the Afgháns will very soon disperse to their own homes[1].'
The question of subsistence had been settled in effect on the 5th of November, when Ensign Warren brought his men out of the beleaguered commissariat fort, just as some troops were mustering in cantonments for his relief. Two attempts to reach him on the day before had been badly repulsed by the fire from Muhammad Sherífs fort and the adjacent Sháh-Bágh, or King's Garden. The anger caused by Warren's reappearance was inflamed by the spectacle of an Afghán rabble swarming into the abandoned post, and carrying off the large stores of wheat, flour, medicines, rum, tents, and clothing — worth at least £40,000 — on which our troops depended for the very means of holding their ground. Two days' supply of food was all that remained to them. By this time Trevor and Mackenzie had been forced by want of water and ammunition to abandon the posts they had held so obstinately for three days. On this day also the enemy's triumph was crowned by the failure of our first attempt to capture Muhammad Sherífs Fort.
Next day, the 6th, the attempt was renewed with
- ↑ Kaye; Afghan Papers, 1843.
