Page:The Earl of Auckland.djvu/145

 CHAPTER X

The Nemesis of Wrong-doinq

Every hour of impunity for the rioters of the 2nd of November gave new strength and wider purpose to the insurrection, of which that day's outbreak was but a local symptom. Next morning hundreds of armed Afgháns flocked into Kábul from the surrounding villages. Even then the least display of prompt energy on our part might have arrested the progress of armed revolt. That very morning, in swift compliance with a message received the day before, the 37th Sepoys, under Major Griffiths, marched into cantonments from the Khurd Kábul valley, having fought their way through the passes with brilliant success and very trifling loss against frequent attacks from several thousand Ghilzais. The Kazilbásh quarter of the city, peopled by descendants of Nádir Sháh's Persian followers, still held aloof from the rebels, nor had the Bárakzái clansmen, in the absence of Akbar Khán, as yet decided to join the revolt. But this day also wore through without one successful effort to change the face of affairs. Three companies of infantry indeed, with two light guns, under