joined General Massy, having ridden out from Sherpur to watch the movements of the brigade. The fire from the steadily-advancing line of the enemy was well sustained, and to check their forward movement and cover the retirement of the guns the cavalry were ordered to charge. When General Roberts sent instructions to General Massy to order the Lancers to charge, as the enemy were approaching dangerously near to the guns, Colonel Cleland, with one squadron of the 9th Lancers (126 lances), was directly in face of the Afghan line, with the 44 sowars of the 14th Bengal Lancers in rear, some distance nearer the guns. The other troops of the 9th (44 lances) under Captain Gough, which had been acting as the advance-guard, were away on General Massy’s right flank, watching the Afghans in that direction. When the charge was sounded Colonel Cleland led his squadron straight at the advancing masses, the 14th Bengal Lancers following in his wake, but not close up, as the order to charge had not reached them so quickly. Captain Gough, with his troop of the 9th, seeing his Colonel charging, also took his men into action on the enemy’s left flank. Some 220 men against 10,000 were odds that could scarcely be expected to turn in our favour; but the Lancers had to risk a heavy loss in the hope of saving the guns. The three bodies of men disappeared in a cloud of dust as they headed for the masses of the enemy, and nothing could be seen for a few moments of the fight. Then riderless horses came galloping back, followed by scattered parties of troopers, evidently quite out of hand. They had been received with a terrific fire, which had killed many horses and men, and, upon trying to force their way through the enemy, had been surrounded and their progress blocked by sheer weight of numbers. Men and horses went down in the _mêlée_, and, once down, there was but a faint chance of being rescued. In one or two instances, however, men were dragged from under their dead horses, mounted on others, and got well away out of the ruck.[31] Even among Sir F. Roberts’s party watching the fight, bullets fell thickly, killing three or four horses under their riders and wounding others. When the dust cleared away, it was seen that the cavalry charge had made no impression upon the enemy, who were still advancing steadily across the fields, waving their knives and _tulwars_, and carrying their banners more proudly than ever. Mounted men were galloping about from end to end of their line, directing their movements and keeping them well together. The fire from their Sniders and Enfields was deliberate and well-directed; and though any of our English regiments would with their Martinis have checked them in a few minutes, the broken ranks of the cavalry could not hope to stand against them. The 9th Lancers had suffered terribly in the charge: sixteen of their troopers, with two officers (Lieutenants Hearsey and Ricardo), had been