Without any loss of time, Lord Roberts (then Major-General Frederick Sleigh Roberts) started from India with an army to avenge this atrocity. After some stiff fighting, he reached Cabul and deposed the Amir. There were left, however, a number of minor chiefs who continued to stir up trouble. Of these the leading spirit was the ex-Amir’s brother, Ayoub Khan, who inflicted a defeat upon us at the battle of Maiwand and proceeded to invest Candahar. Upon this followed Roberts’ historic march from Cabul to Candahar which won him a baronetcy and a G.C.B. In this descent upon Ayoub Khan he utterly routed the Afghan leader and quieted the country. A new Amir, Abdur Rahman (nephew of Shere Ali) was now installed, with the necessary proviso that Afghanistan should have no foreign relations with any power except the Government of India, and the British army was withdrawn. * * * * * The first V.C. of the campaign was gained by Captain John Cook, of the Bengal Staff Corps, for a singularly gallant rescue of a brother-officer. It was during the month of December 1878, while General Roberts was on his way to Cabul, whither he was escorting Cavagnari’s mission. There had been several encounters with the Afghans, for the latter had shown themselves hostile all along the line of route, and a decisive engagement was fought at the Peiwar Kotal, in the Kuram district. (A “kotal,” it may be explained, is the highest point in a mountain pass.) At this fight a slender column was detached from the main body and sent round to force a position in the Spingawi Kotal, where the enemy had entrenched themselves. The attack was made at night, and although, through the treachery of some Pathans with the column, the alarm was given, the Afghans were driven out. Side by side Highlanders and Ghurkas, who had been good friends ever since they fought together in the Mutiny, charged up the steep rocky hillside, through a forest of pines, and carried one stockade after another. As the enemy broke before them, Major Galbraith, Assistant-Adjutant-General to the force, was suddenly attacked by a powerful Afghan. The major’s revolver missed fire when he aimed, and it is more than probable that he would have been shot down at once had not Captain Cook rushed to his rescue. A blow from his sword having diverted the Afghan’s attention, Cook threw himself bodily upon the man and closed with him. They struggled together thus for some little time, locked in a deadly embrace, the Afghan endeavouring vainly to use his bayonet and the captain his sword. Then, gripping his opponent by the throat, Cook fell with him to the ground, only to have his sword-arm seized by the Afghan’s strong teeth. Another roll over gave the latter a slight advantage, but only for a moment. At this critical juncture a little Ghurka ran up and shot the fellow through the head.