city and to their castles in the country, where their double-barrelled rifles brought down the snipes and quails, the elk, the deer, the hare and flying fox, with a precision that elicited many a shout of Allah" and "Bismillah" from the entertainers.

66

The winter of that year also saw our officers skating on the lake of Istaliff, six miles from Cabul -the skates being the work of a Scottish armourer sergeant. Amateur theatricals,* for which Polwhele painted the scenery, were not wanting to add to the wonder of those sequestered Orientals, to whom the doors of the houses were thrown freely open; but with the coming spring, when the field-pea, the yellow briar-rose, the variously tinted asphodels, and the orchards in rich blossom, made all the valley beautiful, came the crowning marvel, when Lieutenant Sinclair of Her Majesty's 13th Light Infantry, an officer who possessed great mechanical skill, constructed and launched on the lake of Istaliff, that which had never before been seen in Afghanistan, a large boat, with masts, sails, and

oars.

* The favourite play was "The Irish Ambassador," and others of the same kind. "On such occasions they changed the titles of the dramatis persona, so as to bring them and the offices of the parties bearing them, down to the level of Afghan comprehension; while Burnes and others skilled in the dialect of the country, translated the speeches as they were uttered."-Sales' Brigade in Afghanistan.

The plaudits of the assembled thousands made the welkin ring.

"Now," they exclaimed, "we see that you are not like the infidel Hindoos that follow you! You are men born and bred like ourselves in a land where God varies the seasons, thus giving vigour to mind and body. Oh, that you had come among us as friends, rather than enemies, for you are fine fellows, one by one, though as a body we hate you!"

And so dark days were coming, for the misrule of the Shah Sujah, the intrigues of the restless Ackbar Khan, and the national distrust of the mountaineers of all foreign, especially Kaffir, intervention, were soon to put an end to this pleasant state of

matters.

On the Chief of the Ghiljees spreading a rumour by letter, that it was the intention of Sir William Macnaghten to seize all the khans of tribes and send them to the Feringhee Queen in London, a dreadful tumult ensued in the city, and ere the cannon could clear the streets, several officers, among whom was Sir Alexander Burnes, were killed in the confusion.

Fast spread the spirit of revolt! The feeble Shah shut himself up in the Bala Hissar on its towering rock; and it was deemed advisable to make terms with the leaders, the chief of whom was Ackbar Khan, whose conduct during the whole of those affairs curiously combined the romantic, aristocratic,

and courteous tones of a half-civilised prince, with the ferocity of an utter barbarian.

A part of the garrison having been detached under Sir Robert Sale to Jellalabad, his brigade had barely entered the terrible and tortuous ravines which lead thereto, ere it was attacked by the mountain hordes, and had to fight its way inch by inch for miles, and by the middle of November, about the time this portion of our story opens, the sixty thousand citizens of Cabul and the tribes of the surrounding country were ripe for insurrection, the fiery elements of discord being fanned by Ackbar Khan in person.

And such was the state of affairs in and around Cabul on that day, when Waller and Denzil, both well-armed as they could not forget the friendly warnings of Taj Mohammed-quitted their quarters in the old fort, to have "tiffin" (i.e. luncheon) with the Trecarrels in the house of the General, who had now been some two months with Elphinstone's army, but without yet obtaining that which he had been promised, command of a brigade, unless one to be chiefly formed of Beloochees from the Shah's little army, under Timour the Shahzadeh, could be considered as such a force, that speedily melted away.

CHAPTER V.

TIFFIN WITH THE TRECARRELS.

SITUATED between the Residency of the Queen's Envoy and the square fort of Kojah Meer, near the high road leading to the city past the base of the Hills of Behmaru, the house of General Trecarrel partook somewhat of the character of a European villa, and had been built about a year before for a wealthy staff officer, who had been transferred to Ceylon almost before it was finished; for so do men change about in an army which is scattered over all the habitable globe.

It was two-storeyed, with a spacious dining-room and another apartment, which Mabel and Rose had made a decided attempt to affect as a drawing-room, with rich draperies and many pretty ornaments and suitable decorations brought up country, or purchased in the great bazaar of Cabul. Punkahs were not required in that temperate climate; but a broad verandah, covered with luxuriant creepers, afforded a sufficient shade for the windows, or to

promenade under on wet days, or in the sunny

summer season.

As in India, the arrivals were announced by a stroke on a gong. A few guests were already assembled in the drawing-room, where the General, more erect in bearing, and a little more emphatic in tone, than when last we saw him, and his daughters looking as bright, as showy and as handsome as ever, received Denzil and Waller with a cordiality that made the heart of the former to beat lightly and happily; for he had already begun to find more than pleasure—a joy, in the society of the charming Rose.

He knew not how far this emotion was reciprocated; but he longed with all the desire of impassioned youth for some conviction, that, at least, he was not without interest in her eyes; and Rose was precisely the kind of girl to keep him long in the dark on that point, and to give him serious doubts, unless it suited her capricious fancy to act otherwise.

He hoped that on this afternoon he might have an opportunity of testing the matter-for learning somewhat of his fate; and felt that a glance he could read, a whispered word, a touch of her hand, would make him happy-oh, so happy!

Polwhele was already there, and looking somewhat weary and excited after his early morning tour