FIELD-MARSHAL

LORD ROBERTS

ON HIS

FAVOURITE ARAB CHARGER 'VONOLEL,'

1877-1896.

DECORATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN WITH the Kabul Medal with four Clasps, AND THE KABUL-KANDAHAR STAR.

FROM

A SKETCH BY CHARLEs furse,

MADE FROM AN INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPH.

FORTY-ONE YEARS IN INDIA.

CHAPTER XXXV.

In the autumn of 1863, while we were preparing for the usual winter tour, Sir Hugh Rose, who had accompanied Lord Elgin on a trip through the hills, telegraphed to the Head-Quarters staff to join him at Mian Mir without delay.

The news which greeted us on our arrival was indeed disturbing. Lord Elgin was at Dharmsala in a dying condition, and the Chief had been obliged to leave him and push on to Lahore, in consequence of unsatisfactory reports from Brigadier-General Chamberlain, who was just then commanding an expedition which had been sent into the mountains near Peshawar, and had met with unexpected opposition. The civil authorities on the spot reported that there existed a great deal of excitement all along the border, that the tribes were collecting in large numbers, that emissaries from Kabul had appeared amongst them, and that, unless reinforcements could be sent up at once, the Government would be involved in a war which must inevitably lead to the most serious complications, not only on the frontier, but with Afghanistan.

VOL. II.

33