The enemy failed to meet Massy and fled in the night, abandoning their camp and twelve pieces of cannon; and under Massy and Colonel Gough the cavalry went in pursuit, through that difficult ground which lies in the vicinity of Cabul, and is encumbered by isolated forts like that of Mahmoud Shah, and loopholed garden and orchard walls, all affording sure cover for skirmishers. To keep as far as possible from these the cavalry rode by the way of the Siah Sung, or Black Rock. As they proceeded, on their left rose the grand and picturesque masses of the Bala Hissar, towers joined by curtains rising above each other in succession, round, square, and octagon, all crenelated, and glowing in the red radiance of the morning sun, where not sunk in shadow. Loftily these masses rose above even the smoke of the great city, the background of all being the ridgy crest of the Tukt-i-Shah, or Emperor's seat, and the great rocks of Asmai, on which hordes of the enemy were gathered. The heights there are precipitous, a thousand feet above the valley of Cabul, and there the dark figures of the Afghans, with their arms glittering in the sunshine, could be seen, clustering thick as a swarm of bees against the grey granite of the cliffs, up the eastern flank of which our infantry, with the Highlanders as usual in the van, were now creeping with some light mountain guns. When the shells of the latter began to explode among the Afghans they raised yells of derision, waved their standards, and danced like madmen; and, heavy though the cannonade, they manifested no design of abandoning the heights of Asmai. Leaving two squadrons of the 12th and 14th Bengal Regiments to watch their movements, General Baker led the rest of the cavalry brigade into the plain of Chardeh--where a clear and beautiful stream flows--and then the horses were watered, while the din of cannon and musketry showed that the attack and defence of Asmai were proceeding. Baker now rode on to watch a camp that had been formed at a village round Deh Muzang, _en route_ to which his native guides abandoned him, but were overtaken and shot on the spot. The whole district was now encumbered by half-dispersed hordes of the enemy, which, as the cavalry overtook them, resisted more or less, and after the sun set the duty became full of peril in unknown ground. Thus, when darkness fell, many of the dragoons went astray; some fell into ambuscades, and several were killed or wounded before the villages in the Plain of Chardeh, where they were to bivouac for the night, were reached. Among the latter who suffered was Wodrow's reckless and light-hearted comrade, Toby Chace, whom, when Leslie Colville came up with Baker's staff, he found dying of a dreadful tulwar wound, inflicted in combat against great odds after his horse had been shot under him.