A representation having been made to Sir John Keane of the wanton and unprovoked attack which had been made upon the prisoner, he immediately ordered him to be liberated. The havildar was interred on the spot where he fell and there were few in the army who pitied or regretted him. CHAPTER IX. Attempt to Assassinate the Shah.--Court Martial on an Affghan Chief.--Visit to the Hospital at Ghuznee.--Hatred of the Affghans towards the Native Troops.--Departure from Ghuznee.--Capture of a Battery and Fatal Accident.--Summary Punishment.--Arrival at Cabul.--Pursuit of Dost Mahommed and Treachery of a Native Chief.--Description of Cabul.--The Balar Hissar.--Mosque of the Emperor Baber.--The Bazaar. A few days after the taking of Ghuznee a tragical scene occurred, which pretty clearly indicated how the tide of popular feeling ran with regard to the restored monarch. There is a poetical superstition that approaching events are often foreshadowed, and the circumstance to which I allude seemed to impress every man's mind at the time with the result that has since happened. The majority of the prisoners who fell into our hands were released on condition of their serving in the Shah's army, but there remained about thirty who refused to accept of their liberty on such terms. They consisted for the most part of the immediate followers of Dost Mahommed's father-in-law, and were devotedly attached to that prince. The Shah, on learning the circumstance ordered them to be brought before him, and expostulated with them on the folly of their conduct. A Chief of haughty bearing stepped from amongst the prisoners, and after overwhelming his Majesty with reproaches, told him that nothing should induce him to enter the service of a man who had brought the horrors of foreign invasion on his country. Then suddenly snatching a dagger from one of the attendants, he rushed with uplifted arm towards the Shah, and would have pierced him to the heart had not one of his Majesty's servants interposed his person, and received the blow intended for his master. The faithful domestic fell dead at the feet of the Shah, and the officers and attendants instantly rushed towards the assassin with drawn swords; but he had already anticipated their intention by plunging the poniard in his breast. The Shah, alarmed and exasperated, ordered the whole of the prisoners to be immediately executed, and in a few minutes their heads were rolling in the dust. This terrible scene created great alarm in the camp, it being at first reported that his Majesty had been assassinated, but the apprehensions to which it gave rise were soon dispelled, by his publicly making his appearance amongst us.