1 MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH. 463
2 forward movement, but returned, after galloping some fifty yards. At about
3 five o’clock in the evening, Shah Shujd4 ordered Mr. Campbell to attack the
4 enemy, and that officer, by a skillful move, succeeded in carrying all
5 before him, dispersing in succession the battalions of Abdul Samad
6 Khan and the cavalry of Muhammad Akbar Khan and the Kandahér
7 chiefs. But he was ordered to return to the lines for the evening.
8 Early the next morning Dost Muhammad Khan drew up his forces in order
9 of battle. Samandar Khan and Jahan Dad Khan, the Generals of the
10 Shah’s army, moved forward to the attack with twelve thousand horse. Mr.
11 Campbell was sent forward with two battalions, but with no guns or cavalry
12 to support him. The whole of the remaining force was ordered to follow.
13 Anything like order or discipline was quite unknown to the Shah’s troops, the
14 several divisions of his army acting independently of one another. The upshot
15 of the attack was that the Shah’s troops were hemmed in between the high
16 banks of a dry water-course, and fell into confusion. Shah Shujé, from
17 his elephant, ordered Mr. Campbell to “ echapao,” or rush forward to the attack.
18 The latter remonstrated and represented that the circumstances required
19 a bold stand and steady fighting, and that it was no time for breaking the
20 ranks, The Shah, however, was headstrong, and rashly repeated the words
21 “ Chapao! chapao!” but, to the astonishment of all, with the same breath
22 that he urged his troops forward, he gave the order to his makauat to turn
23 his elephant round, which having been done, he fled panic-stricken. Mr.
24 Campbell engaged the enemy for two hours, but was wounded and taken
25 prisoner. Three hundred Hindusténis, who had been in the service of the
26 Hast India Company, made a bold stand, but were overpowered by superior
27 numbers. The triumph of the Barakzais was followed by horrible scenes of
28 slaughter and plunder, and the whole of the artillery and military stores
29 of the fugitives fell into the hands ofthe Afghans. Even the records and cor-
30 respondence of the fugitive Shah fell into the hands of the Kandahdar brothers,
31 who made them over to Dost Muhammad. Among the papers was found a
32 copy ofa treaty between Ranjit Singh and Shah Shujé and some letters bear-
33 ing the seal of Captain Wade. The battle was fought on 1st July1834. Had
34 it not been for the inertness of the Shah and the irresolution and incapacity
35 of his Generals, Samandar Khan and Jahan Déd Khan, the battle would not
36 have terminated so disastrously for him. Mr. Campbell was kept in the house
37 of Mehr Dil Khan, who had his wounds washed and had him treated by
38 a Surgeon. A week after, Dost Muhammad Khan, accompanied by Nawab
39 Jabbar Khan and Mirza Abdul Sami Khan, his minister, paid a visit to
40 Mehr Dil Khan. The Amir treated Mr. Campbell honourably and sent
41 him on an elephant to Kabul, where he put him in command of the artillery
42 on a salary of Rs. 400 a month.
43 The Shah, after his discomfiture at Kandahdr, fled to Farah. Prince
44 Kémrdn, of Herat, sent him handsome presents and a letter offering to
45 send his son, Shahzdd4 Jahangir, with four thousand horse and guns to
46 “assist him in another attempt on Kandahar, but the suspicious Shah fan-
47 cied, though without grounds, that Jahangir would be instructed to seize
48 him, and he fled from Farah to Lash, whence he proceeded across the deserts
49 of Sistén and thence to Kelat in -Beltichistén. Here he was honourably
50 received by Mehrab Khan, the Barohi Chief. Rahm Dil Khan of Kandahar
51 sent word to him to seize the Shah and deliver him up to his men,
52 The Khan, who was assisted in his resolution by his wife Bibi Gul Jén,
53 thought it unworthy of a Beloch Chief to betray the trust which the Shah,
54 in his misfortune, had placed in him, and sent him under proper escort to
55 Zehri, whence His Majesty made his way-to Bdégh in Kachi. Here he
56 Disorder among his
57 troops.
58 He is defeated end
59 put to flight, ist
60 January 1834,
61 The Shah's flight to
62 Farah,
63 And from thence to
64 the deserts of sistan
65 and Kelat.
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