Page:Kennedy, Robert John - A Journey in Khorassan (1890).djvu/96

 1885, when, with all the odds in his favour, he attacked and defeated a detachment of Afghans during the sittings of the Afghan Boundary Commission, and by so doing nearly embroiled England and Russia in a war. The trophies of this 'victory' are four English field guns, which were captured from the Afghans, and which, still surmounted with a V.R. and the crown, form the principal ornaments of Scobeloff Square, Askabad, and are proudly pointed out to travellers as being 'les canons anglais.'

In the afternoon of the one day which the Prince of Naples spent at Askabad a review and a sham fight, representing on a small scale the storming of Geok Tepe, was held. The troops consisted of two battalions of sharpshooters, some Cossack cavalry, artillery, and Turcoman irregular horse. The point of attack was the Turcoman village of Cashi, about three miles from Askabad. It is a lovely oasis, with trees and water, in the middle of the great Steppe. The most interesting part of the review, to a stranger, was the manœuvering of the Turcoman militia, or native irregular horse. They have only recently been enrolled