ments and in the fore-front of the battle. But Captain Straton's death occurred at a moment when all seemed over, when we had but to count our losses and collect our spoils. When General Ross had joined Macpherson's Brigade, halted in rear of the Pir Paimal Ridge, the shells from our 40-pounders were still coming over the Baba Wali Kotal, endangering the safety of any troops pushing on towards Mazra. It was, of course, all-important to stop this shelling of the Kotal, now virtually in our hands, and the easiest way was to send a party of signallers up the hillside to the right of the Kotal, whence the news of our rapid success could be flashed down below. Captain Straton with two mounted signallers was with the brigade, and he was ordered to establish a station on the ridge above. But as there were a few ghazis lingering about, two companies of the 24th P.N.I. were told off to skirmish well in front of him, and clear the ground. Before they could move off, Captain Straton, a man with no sense of personal danger, rode slowly up the slope with his two signallers. He had not gone more than 50 or 60 yards from Generals Ross and Macpherson when a shot was heard and Captain Straton fell from his horse. A dark figure was then seen to rise from a dip in the ground, fix a bayonet on his rifle and rush forward. The two signallers, men of the 72nd Highlanders, had dismounted by this time, and they fired at 40 yards' distance, bringing the Afghan down. His bayonet had passed through Captain Straton's coat but had not touched the body. The man was bayonetted as he tried to rise. It was discovered that he had already been severely wounded and could not have hoped to escape; he was not clad in the orthodox white of a true ghazi, but had on a sort of blue uniform, which seemed to indicate that he was a regular soldier whose fanaticism had prompted him to shoot the first officer who passed him. The bullet from his rifle had passed through Straton's heart. The decease of Captain Straton is a great loss to the force; the perfect way in which he had controlled the signalling was universally recognized. He never spared himself when hard work had to be done, and the soldiers under him shared his enthusiasm. General Roberts always relied implicitly on him, both on the march and in action, for he knew that if it were possible for heliographing to be done, Captain Straton would have his men in position and his instruments at work. The 22nd Regiment have lost as good Murder of Lieutenant Maclaine. 527 a soldier as ever wore sword, and there is a gap in Sir Frederick Roberts's Staff which he will find hard to fill. The second incident is yet again on different lines, for the murder of Lieutenant Maclaine is full of horror. As Sir Frederick Roberts rode into Ayub's camp word was brought by some native soldiers, belonging to Jacob's Rifles and the 1st Grenadiers, who had been prisoners with Maclaine, that his body was lying near Ayub's tent. Major Euan Smith was sent down to test the truth of the story, and found the sepoys had spoken only too truly. Poor Maclaine, with his throat cut deeply across, was lying some short distance from the tent in which he had been confined, about 40 yards from Ayub's own tent. The story told by the sepoys is that Ayub fled at eleven o'clock with the Cabul sirdars, leaving his prisoners in charge of their guard, with no instructions beyond a verbal order that they were not to be killed. Some hour or more after this the guard rushed into the tents where Maclaine and six other prisoners were kept, and ordered them all out as they were to be killed. One sepoy was shot through the head and Maclaine was seized by several Afghans, who threw him down and cut his throat. He was weak and ill from sickness and bad food, and submitted to his fate without a word. Immediately upon this there was a great shout that the English were upon the camp and the guard fled without touching the five sepoys remaining. The bitterest rage is felt against Ayub, who might, by confiding the officer to the Kizilbash cavalry, easily have ensured his safety. For the future there can be no question of treating with a prince who has thus followed the worst precedents of Afghan history. He is held responsible for Maclaine's assassination just as much as if he had witnessed it, and our only regret is that the sirdar did not fall under the sabres of our cavalry in the pursuit. Maclaine's body was carried into the Citadel and was buried with military honours yesterday morning. The cavalry pursuit resulted in some 400 of the enemy being killed, while our casualties were trifling, only two officers, Lieutenant Baker, of the 3rd Punjab Cavalry, and Lieutenant Chamberlain, of the Central India Horse, being very slightly wounded: the former got a cut on the hand and the latter had his swordarm bruised a little by the point of a tulwar. General Hugh Gough, with the 9th Lancers, 3rd Punjab Cavalry, 3rd Bengal Cavalry, and the Central India Horse, cut off groups of fugitives who had crossed the Argandab and were making for Khakrez; but no large masses of men were encountered. The delay in not being able to cross the Kokaran ford until eleven o'clock, of course militated against the pursuit being of the harassing kind it would otherwise have assumed. Once the river had been forded the cavalry galloped along on three parallel lines, the 9th Lancers forming the reserve. The 3rd Punjab Cavalry killed over seventy men in one charge alone. General Nuttall, with the 3rd Scind Horse and 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry, also pursued during the afternoon, up the Argandab Valley to the east of the river, killing 100 stragglers.* Our losses so far as they have been ascertained were, on August 31st and September 1st, as follows: Six hundred and forty-nine bodies were afterwards buried on the Candahar side of the Pir Paimal Ridge. The enemy's total loss must have been about 1,200 killed, and a large number wounded. British Casualties. 529 This gives a total of killed of all ranks, 46, wounded 202. Two followers were killed and fifteen wounded; twenty horses and three mules were killed; twenty-one horses and three mules wounded. The list of officers killed and wounded is as follows: Officers Killed. Lieutenant-Colonel Brownlow, commanding 72nd Highlanders. Captain Frome, 72nd Highlanders. Captain Straton, 2-22nd Foot, Superintendent Army Signal ling. Officers Wounded. Captain Murray, 72nd Highlanders. Lieutenant and Adjutant Munro, 72nd Highlanders. Lieutenant Menzies, 92nd Highlanders. Lieutenant Stewart, 92nd Highlanders. Major Willock, 3rd Bengal Cavalry. Lieutenant Chamberlain, Central India Horse. Lieutenant-Colonel Battye, commanding 2nd Ghoorkas. Lieutenant Chesney, 23rd Pioneers. The wounds of the last eight officers are not severe. The death of Colonel Brownlow is a terrible loss to the 72nd Highlanders, and indeed to the army generally. Brave to a fault, he was a model of coolness under fire, and always handled his men with judgment and decision. He was marked for future distinction, his tried ability in the field raising him far above his peers. His untimely death will be felt most keenly by his own officers and men, to whom he had greatly endeared himself. M M CHAPTER IV. Candahar during the Siege-Improvement of the Defences-Sketch Map showing the Disposition of the Garrison-The Attitude of the Enemy-Their Plan of AttackDeh-i-Khwaja Village occupied in force by the Afghans-The Sortie of August 16th -Determined Defence of the Village-Retirement of the Troops-Death of General Brooke The Sortie falsely called a "Success". Description of the Afghan Siege Works Engineering Skill shown by the Naib Hafizulla Parallels-The Training of Guns upon the Shikarpur Gate-The Afghan Karez Trenches on the South-Attempt to form Breaching Batteries-Explanation of the Engineering Skill shown. - CANDAHAR CANTONMENTS, 9th September, 1880. SIR FREDERICK ROBERTS's troops were so soon pushed into action after their arrival at Candahar, that the state of the city on the 31st August and the evidence the enemy had left behind of their late uncomfortable closeness to the walls, have been partly forgotten by many of us. When we rode up on the morning of the 31st there was indeed every sign, both within and without the walls, that an enemy had been at the gate. Candahar rises out of the plain quite abruptly; its walls, with their tower-like bastions, obtruding themselves upon one's notice in rather an unsympathetic way. They shut out from view everything that lies within them, except the tomb of Ahmed Shah and the tower of observation in the citadel. No point of 'vantage enables one to examine what the walls may hide; not until the gates are passed does the character of the city disclose itself. It has been too often described for me to venture to sketch its two broad roads bisecting each other at right angles near the centre of the city; its citadel guarded by a deep ditch; its high walls of a breadth sufficient to make breaching a work of great difficulty even to heavy artillery, and its narrow gates, guarded each by flanking towers which stand out on either hand of the doorway as if the mud-work of the walls had been cut through and folded back to admit of entrance being given. It will be sufficient to say that the defences had been strengthened during the siege by such contrivances as are usually employed to check assaults upon |