Page:The Earl of Auckland.djvu/95

Rh by regular troops. Too late Keane repented him of the infatuation which had brought him thither without his heavy guns. Up the hill before him rose a walled city with a parapet sixty feet above the moat, and only one gate which had not been built up. Mining and escalading seemed alike impossible, and our six- and nine-pounder field guns were of no avail for breaching purposes. Time was precious and provisions were running short. Happily for Keane a traitor from the garrison, a nephew of Dost Muhammad, pointed out the only way to a successful assault, and Keane had just confidence in the courage of his soldiers and the resourcefulness of his engineers. Thompson proposed to blow in the Kábul Gate with powder, and carry the place by a surprise. His plan was accepted with all its hazards, for no other resource seemed open to an army threatened with starvation.

In the early dawn of the 23rd of July an explosion party led by Henry Durand, the eminent soldier-statesman of a later day, crossed the bridge and laid the powder-bags, one by one, below the gate. Durand himself, after more than one failure, set fire to the hose which Sergeant Robertson had helped to lay, and retired unhurt to a safe distance under a brisk fire, which did little harm to any of his comrades. Meanwhile, feint attacks were going on elsewhere, drawing off the garrison's attention from the true point of danger. When the explosion had done its work, some time elapsed before the right signal was sounded for the advance. Dennie's storming column