Page:The Earl of Auckland.djvu/69

Rh The great assault of the 24th of June was delivered at five different points, from four of which the assailants were repulsed with comparative ease. The fifth was all but carried, when Pottinger dragged the Wazír Yár Muhammad to the scene of danger. The Afghán, who was no coward, rushed among his flying soldiers, and with blows and menaces drove them back to the breach. For the third and last time the assailants were beaten back with heavy slaughter, and the siege thenceforth was turned into a blockade, in the course of which both the garrison and their besiegers suffered greatly from lack of food. Within Herát the sufferings of the people were intensified by the extortions of Yár Muhammad and the plundering practices of his ill-paid troops. Meanwhile some hundreds of Bombay Sepoys had been landed at Karák, an island in the Persian Gulf, before the end of June, 'with a view to the maintenance of our interests in Persia.' A squadron of the Indian Navy lay off the island. Had this movement been ordered a twelvemonth earlier, it is probable that the Sháh would have refrained from attacking Herát. As it was, the small demonstration was magnified by rumour into the advance of a large fleet and army for the purpose of making war upon the Sháh. In the wake of this rumour McNeill sent Colonel Stoddart to the Persian camp with a message which the Sháh could not misunderstand. 'The fact is,' said the King to Stoddart, 'if I don't leave Herát, there will be war?' 'All depends upon your Majesty's answer,' was Stoddart's reply. Two days later