Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-02-16
believers should escape, and he will keep his

st. Clair's heart grew chill within him as he
| listened His worst suspicious were now
| fully confirmed, and the benumbing sense Of
secret treachery (of all things the most alb
| nightmare.
Scarcely knowing what he did, he stepped
forth as If to follow the two conspirators, and
found himself face to face with GuleyaZ her
self.
There she stood in the ghostly twilight
calm and beautiful as ever, but with SOM
bre light in her large dark eyes, such as one
sees in those of the hungry tiger, when, after
a long and weary circuit through the jungle
he sees the deer which he has been tracking
fairly within reach at last.
"Feringhee," she said, taking his hand, "you
showed me kindnes. once, and an Afghan
never forgets either good or evil. Death is
waiting for the English host, and have come
to save you ere it be too late"
at is you, then, who have betrayed usH
said Herbert, with an intensity of scorn which
| no words can convey.
The taunt struck home. In an instant the
| tender, clnging woman sprang up into al
| offended queen.
"Betraved!" echoed she fiercely "Is il
treachery to aid my own race against its enc
| mics? Why did the Feringhees come hthel
to waste our valleys and burn our homes
Why have they taken our own king from us
! and set up in his stead dog unworthy to tic
al AtSl HAN S;tlltalS: DlG woe 10 MN. De
fore the full moon shall have spent her lig ht
the dogs shall lick the blood of every FeriDg
hee in Cabul!"
Herbert shrank back appalled,, so hideously
changed was that beautiful face by the sud
den tempest Of passion. But this movement
of aversion checked her rage in mid-current
! and the warm, womanly heart beneath assert
| ed itself once more.
''Do not be angry with me-" she whispered
pleadingly; mo one shall harm you while
live. Hear me-the English are many and
mighty, but what avails the tigers strength
when he is once in the tolls? Every leave on
yonder hills is an Afghan warrior, every twie
a loaded rifle. Escape if you can; will guide
you out of the city, and bid my friends keep
you safe TIL all is over. Why should you per
ish in vain?''
AS she spoke, there came over her hearers
noble face a smile of grand and commanding
scorn. He drew up his towering figure to its
full height, and met her beseeching eyes un-
tlinchingly as he replied:
~Do you ask me to desert my comrades in
their sorest need, Just that may save my own
life? Thank you-such meanness does not
run in our blood. If we are to die, we will
die like brothers, shoulder to shoulder strik-
ing hard and deep to the last, with the old
English flag flying overhead"
The girl looked at him-a look which
through all the horrors that were to come, he
dering admiration, were all mingled in the
momentary flash of those marvellous eyes.
Then she pressed his hand passionately to
her lips and was gone.
Ha! What was that sudden glare that broke
out over the whole eastern side Of the town
And what could be the meaning Of that dull,
distant roar, like a far-otf sea, swelling ever
louder and louder, till the ear could dis
tinguish the sharp crackle of musketry, the
crush of falling buildings, the clamor of
countless voices, and high over all the terri
bic war shout. Allah Akbar'-God is victor.
ious.
Just at that moment four soldiers torn and
blood-stained, came marching past, carryin g
helpless, CHASTITY, dustsbegrimed figure in
which even st. Clair himself could scarcely
recognize his once gay and dandifed junior
lieutenant.
Its all up, old boy" said the lad, family.
They have fired our quarters and murdered
whole towns up to help them. Nothing for
it but to die game"
Nothing, indeed" muttered Herbert
God have mercy on us alp
The next moment he was fastening at full
speed toward the scene of action.
CHAPTER III--THE VALLEY OF DEATH.
All great historical catastrophes- Armada
wrecks, London pestilences, Saragossa sieges,
M scoW retreats-are wont to prolong the
agony which they infict, and to let fall their
vengeance drop by drop, instead of mercifully
ending all with one crushing blow
So it cared with the ill-fLted invaders of
Caoul The murderer of Sir Alexander
Burnes, the noblest of the countless martyrs
in that disastrous year, was only the first drop
of a coming storm.
Then followed blow upon blow, the rising
OF the whole surrounding country, the de-
struction of the accommodating parties sent
out toolate by the commander in chief; the
capture of the British stores, which left the
troops almost without food, and at length on
the fatal 1st of January, is42, the Growing
madness of the convention of retreat" by
which the whole army gave itself up to its de-
strOyers, accepting the assurance of a safe
passage homeward from the very men who
had sworn the death Of every British soldier
in Cabul
Foremost in every combat was Herbert St.
Clair, recklessly exposing himself to all dan.
gers; for, soldier as he was to his very fingec-
tips, the sight ofan English flag dishonored
and an English army in retreat, bowed him
down with sense of personal disgrace,
| and made him careless of life after such a
humiliation.
But, to the amazement of all who witnessed
his reckless daring, he came out of every
fight as scathless as he had gone into it; and
the conviction gradually forced itself upon
him, with a thrill of min gled bitterness and
delight, that the Afghans had purposely
spared his life, that they had done SO because
he was the man whom their great princes
daughter secretly loved.
Meanwhile the course of events went mex
orably on. On the fifth of January, in the
depths of the terrible Afghan winter, the for.
| lorn army-two- thirds of which were men
| reared amid the burning heat of India-filed
| through the gate of Cabul, wearied, detected,
half-starved, ill-supplied with ammunition
| to commence its long march of death.
"a q TINA nd Abo 81
safety were really to be kept. They passed
the great plain without firing shot or see
| ing the face Of an enemy, and even the most
| experienced officers began to hope that, after
all, their worst approximations might prove
| unfOunded.
they mad to deal. Akbar Khan was not one
to let slip the prey which he had once en-
shared, and the jaws o. death were already
gaping for every man of the Inflated army.
In the gray of gloomy winter morning
they came in sight of the pass of Koord- Ca
bull, through which lay their shortest route
to India. At the first glimpse of the black
tomb-like gorge, shut in by irowning yreci
pieces, oyer which brooded a weird, unearthly
silence, the boldest felt their hearts sink, bu1
it was too late now to draw back. Rank or
rank, with the ghostly mist closing around
them like shroud, the doomed host went
down into the valley Of death.
| Anu then, IN one moment, the tragedy be
gan.
Far and wide the air was rent with the AT
CHAN war-shout, and each rock, each thicket
| each hollow, was one blaze and crackle O
musketry, every bullet telling fatally upor
the helpless mass below.
Surprised and outnnmbered, the English
still stood their ground manfully, and attempt
ed to return the fire, but against ambushet
rAarksmen hundreds of feet overhead, VIVA
could they do? In moment all was one whir
OF fire and smoke and hideous uproar; yell
OF rage, shrieks of agony, savage curses, tn,
shouts % officers, the neighing of frightened
horses, the crash of falling rocks, the groan
OF the wounded and the dying, all min gled il
dismal chorus with the thunder of the battl
blood flowing like water, and death coming
| bllndly, 10 man knew whence or how
Whn mood tc. d,.rnll 4l,n.