Sikh allies, nor to give much heed to the interested counsels of Afghán refugees. They were also warned with anxious emphasis against the danger of 'disseminating' their troops in a hostile country 'having difficult communication,' and against the further danger of leaving any reserves so weakly composed and so poorly equipped, as to be unable to move promptly and safely forward, whenever required. In the same cautious spirit Lord Ellenborough rejected, as inconsistent with his Afghán policy, Major Rawlinson's 'speculative' scheme for annexing Kandahár to the dominions of Sháh Kámrán, 'that nominal ruler of Herát.'
A copy of this despatch was forwarded to Pollock, who was still waiting for the cavalry and guns of his third brigade; still hoping with Mackeson's aid to win for his troops a quiet passage through the Kháibar; still uncertain how far he oould trust the bulk of his Sepoys, or count upon the co-operation of his Sikh allies. There was much indeed to worry and perplex the quiet cool-headed officer of artillery who, in the words of Sir Herbert Edwardes, 'had fought his guns in two sieges and three great wars, had attracted the notice of a certain Lord Lake, supposed to know something of soldiering, and obtained the the rare distinction in the Company's service of a Companionship of the Bath.' To create a soldierlike force out of spoiled materials, to raise the spirits and win the confidence of soldiers cowed by defeat and ripe for mutiny, to secure the due co-operation of
