Once more our troops would have to toil along the stony and boulder-strewn banks of the gloomy Khyber, up and down the awful chasms of the Lundi Khana Kotal, by the mountain clefts and deep defiles of Khoord Cabul, with every prospect of being harassed, perhaps decimated, by thousands of hardy hillmen--the Khyberees, Afreedees, Shinwarris, Mohmonds, Mongols, and Ghilzies. The gallant and active Sir Donald Stewart again seized Candahar; Massey occupied the Shutargardan Pass; Baker took Kushi, and Roberts--whose name is second to none in glory--was soon ready to begin that campaign which all hoped would end in the conquest of the blood-stained Cabul. The Viceroy of India made the greatest efforts to grapple with the new difficulty, and hurry forward the army that was to uphold the power of the fickle Ameer as our nominal ally--for nominal indeed he was--and there was every prospect of his being slain by his insurgent troops, led by Mahmoud Shah and other sirdirs, unless he took to flight, or put himself at their head against us as intruders and unbelievers. 'This devil of an Ameer,' remarked old Colonel Spatterdash, 'is true to the words of Swift--"The two maxims of every great man are always to keep his countenance, and never to keep his word." Three columns were to advance simultaneously, and open communication between Cabul and Peshawur, but we shall confine ourselves briefly to that under Sir Frederick Roberts, which consisted of three batteries of Artillery, a squadron of H.M. 9th Lancers, some Bengal and Punjaub Cavalry, the Gordon and Albany Highlanders, the 67th Regiment, 3rd Sikhs, 23rd Pioneers, and Spatterdash's Punjaubees--making a total of barely eight thousand men. Scarlet, blue, and gold, had for the time been discarded by the cavalry, and, like most of the infantry, they wore _karkee_, or mud-coloured costumes--uniforms they could scarcely be called--with the inevitable tropical helmet, and _putties_ or linen leg bandages. The Scottish infantry, however, retained their tartans, wearing respectively the green Gordon and red Royal Stuart; but the Lancers laid aside their scarlet and white bannerettes. The 19th of September saw our advanced parties reconnoitering close to Kushi, within thirty-five miles of Cabul, where twelve strong battalions with many guns were reported to be in garrison; and on that night the Duke of Albany's Highlanders were suddenly fired into, when all was supposed to be quiet in the vicinity, and a group of officers were chatting and smoking round a wood fire, which was instantly scattered and extinguished that the enemy might have nothing to aim by.