During all the events of this most exciting day, by the difference of their rank and duties, Colville had, of course, seen nothing of Robert Wodrow, and feared that his presentiment had been fulfilled, till he heard from one of the staff what the general had recorded in the last paragraph of his despatch--a paragraph that excited utter bewilderment, and joy too, in the hearts of some that were far away, and had heard nothing of the absent one since the terrible catastrophe in the Cabul river:-- 'Corporal Robert Wodrow, of the 10th Hussars (doing duty with the squadron of H.M. 9th Lancers), having carried a message for me, on the spur, through a most disastrous fire, after two aides-de-camp and an orderly officer had fallen wounded successively in attempting this perilous duty, I have the honour to recommend him for a commission in the infantry, and also for the Victoria Cross.' After they had read this, his old parents, as they looked from the manse windows of Kirktoun-Mailler, knew why their kindly parish folk lit that huge bonfire which they then saw blazing on the summit of Craigmhor. With hearts that were very full the kindly old couple stood hand clasped in hand, as when he had first won her girlish love among the 'siller' Birks of Invermay, and, though they were very silent now, their souls were filled with prayer and prayerful thoughts. CHAPTER XV. ENOUGH DONE FOR HONOUR. The morning of the day after the battle of Charasiah saw the cavalry all in their saddles for an early movement. The dead had not been buried as yet, And their executors, the knavish crows, Flew o'er them, impatient for their hour, when about five o'clock, in a cold and bitter wind, Colville was sent with instructions for the Lancers and Bengal cavalry to move off. They did so at a rapid pace, and entering a narrow part of the Sung-i-Navishta pass, pursued a winding and stony road where the deep Logur stream flows between rocks and slabs of granite, and there seized a number of guns and brought them into camp. Though Cabul had been abandoned by the insurrectionary troops, whom the results of Charasiah had stricken with terror, a considerable body of fresh Afghan forces, who had returned from Kohistan, had formed an entrenched position on a high hill which overlooks the Bala Hissar, and to dislodge them was necessary before entering the city; so, with eight squadrons of horse, General Massy swept round it northward to watch the roads that led to Bamian and Kohistan, while General Baker made a direct attack in front. During the events of the day Leslie Colville had been conscious of a blow on his left shoulder, received in a skirmish, and believed it to be inflicted by some soldier in swinging his musket about. But it proved to be a juzail ball, almost spent, and lodged in the flesh, out of which it was cut by Robert Wodrow, who bathed and dressed the wound for him.