FRIDAY, 23rd APRIL.--Being, for the present, the next senior officer to General Primrose, I exercise the command of all the troops at Kandahar, and all local arrangements and details are in my hands, as General Primrose commands the whole force, the senior officer at each place having the local command. When General Burrows arrives the command here devolves, by virtue of his seniority, on him, and I fall back on my brigade command, which I hold now in conjunction with the large command. The troops here form a nice little force, and consist of-- 3 Batteries of artillery. 2 Native cavalry regiments. 2 British infantry regiments. 3 Native infantry regiments. And sappers and miners. And though the command entails plenty of work and responsibility, I like it, and wish I could keep it while I am here. The first thing, of course, was to ascertain the positions held by various regiments, their weak points, &c., and so I spent the afternoon in riding round and making myself acquainted with everything as far as I could, so that in case of a row at night, I should be ready to decide on what might be necessary to do. I moved into my quarters in the cantonments, and obtained permission for Capt. Law, of the artillery, to act as my Brigade-Major, as the officer who is to hold the appointment permanently has not yet arrived. Capt. Law is a smart good officer, and I am very glad to have him as my staff officer. [Sidenote: Force ordered into the Arghesan valley.] SATURDAY, 24th APRIL.--This afternoon I was greatly delighted to receive orders to hold in readiness a small force to proceed into the Arghesan valley, to disperse a considerable gathering of the enemy who were reported to be there. I was to go in command, so I had a double interest in the matter, and lost no time in seeing that everything was prepared, and that we should be fully supplied with all the necessary appliances for entrenching, road and bridge making, blowing up the enemy's forts, &c. We were not to start till Monday, and then only if the enemy did not agree to disperse and submit to the Governor of Kandahar, which they had been called on to do. I am sorry to say that hearing of our preparations they gave in at once, and eventually my little expedition was countermanded, which was a great disappointment to everyone. During the evening we had a little excitement, as an Afghan tried to steal and run away with the rifle of one of the native soldiers, which he had put down on the ground for a minute. The soldier gave the alarm, and 4 men of the nearest guard turned out and, after an exciting chase of about 3 miles, they came up within 400 yards of the thief, who immediately fired at them, but they returned his fire with good effect, and killed him at the 2nd shot, recovering the rifle and the remainder of the ammunition.