sending up 200 of the 72nd Highlanders to reinforce the picquet on the Bala Hissar Heights, rode into cantonments, within the walls of which all is made snug for the night. The reinforcement to the picquet was caused by the belief that Mahomed Jan would attempt to occupy the heights commanding the Bala Hissar and Cabul, and there is no doubt this was his intention. Since seven o’clock the picquet has been assailed on all sides, and even now the circle of fire shows where the 250 British soldiers are holding their own. CHAPTER XVI. Attempt to storm the Takht-i-Shah Peak—Natural Strength of the Position—Heliograms exchanged with General Baker—Failure to take the Peak—Casualties—The New Plan of Attack—The Action of the 13th of December—Storming of the Beni Hissar Ridge by the 92 Highlanders and the Guides—The Cavalry Charges in the Plain—Death of Captain Butson—The Position of Affairs at Nightfall—Reinforcements from Kohistan—The Action of December 14th—Storming of the Asmai Heights—Retreat of the Safis—Captain Vousden’s Charge—Counter-Attack by the Enemy from Indikee—Death of Captain Spens, and Retirement from the Cuncal Hill—Loss of Two Mountain Guns—Withdrawal of all Troops from the Asmai and Sherderwaza Heights—The State of the Sherpur Defences—Total Casualties. SHERPUR, _12th December, midnight_. I left Mahomed Jan and his followers in possession of the hills to the south of the Sherderwaza Heights, with a part of General Macpherson’s brigade on the latter, ready to attack him. To-day a party of 560 men, made up in nearly equal proportions from the 67th Foot, 72nd Highlanders, 3rd Sikhs, and 5th Ghoorkas, aided by two guns of Morgan’s mountain battery, have made that attack, and have established themselves on a lower hill between the Sherderwaza Heights and the high conical peak of Takht-i-Shah, whereon the enemy muster in great force and have sixteen standards flying. This peak is the highest of the clump of mountains south of Cabul and lying between the city and Charasia, and was the point whence Captain Straton tried to heliograph to the Shutargardan in the early days of our occupation. It is cone-shaped, looked at from Sherpur, and on its southern side joins a ridge running southwards above the village of Indikee. The sides facing Cabul are very steep, and covered with huge boulders polished by wind and rain, and of a kind to check any storming party. Perfect cover is afforded to men holding it, and on the summit is a well-built _sungar_ of great thickness, covering a natural cavity in the rocks which has been made bomb-proof by some Afghan engineer, who understood the strength of the point. Fifty men could lie in perfect security behind the _sungar_ or in the hole below it, and could choose their own time for firing at an advancing enemy. Outside the _sungar_, and a little lower down, is a