Pcshawur and the Khyber Pass 69 



he had warned us repeatedly of the advance of 

 Russia, but that no attention had been paid to his 

 warnings, owing to the strife of parties in England, 

 and to the excessive caution of the British Government ? 

 To return to our drive. We passed the spot 

 where Sir Havelock Allen rode off the road and 

 was shot, and at last arrived at Ali Musjid Fort, 

 which the Afridis had sacked. Below its ruins and 

 well down in the hollow of the hills lay General Hart's 

 brigade an unwonted sight in the Khyber Pass. 



Whose are the khaki tents that crowd the way, 

 Where all was waste and silent yesterday? 

 This City of War, which in a few short hours 

 Hath sprung up here? 



We began to hear the hum of the camp and sounds 

 of life from the little bazaar which had already 

 grown up among the camp-followers. 



General Hart met us, and apologising for the 

 roughness of everything, took us past the Post Office 

 tent and the officers' mess into his own quarters. 

 Who would look for luxuries in a camp on active 

 service ? But it was quite a luxurious lunch which 

 we sat down to later on, each lady shedding the 

 light of her countenance at a separate table, the first 

 womenkind who had been seen since the force started 

 on its expedition. 



We sat on big square sacks of gram (corn), and 

 of course a good many things, such as wine-glasses and 

 salt-cellars, were non-existent ; but we had a most 



