Having received intelligence that the enemy, if again defeated, intended to retire towards Turkestan, I directed Brigadier-General Massy, on the morning of the 8th October, to move out with the Cavalry brigade and place himself across their line of retreat.[4] The brigade started at 11 a.m., and, in order to avoid the city and adjacent heights, made a considerable detour by Siah Sang and Sherpur, the new Afghan cantonment.  On reaching the latter place, Massy heliographed to me that he had found it deserted, the magazine blown up, and seventy-five guns[5] abandoned inside the enclosure, and that the enemy were now occupying a ridge[6] which seemed to him to be a prolongation of the Shahr-i-Darwaza range above Kabul; then, continuing his march, he crossed a depression in this ridge called the Nanachi Kotal, and wheeling to his left, and skirting the Asmai heights on the western side, he soon came in sight of the Afghan camp, pitched on the slope of the hills about a mile from Deh-i-Mazang.

Brigadier-General Massy was informed, in reply to his heliogram, that Baker would be despatched at once to drive the enemy from their position and force them to fall back upon the Cavalry, upon which Massy immediately made the arrangements which appeared to him most advisable for blocking, with the limited number of sabres at his disposal, the several roads by which the enemy might attempt to escape.

I could only spare to Baker a very small force (1,044 rifles, two Mountain guns and one Gatling), for Macpherson’s and White’s troops had not yet come up.  He started off without a moment’s delay, and, driving the enemy’s scouts before him, worked his way along the Shahr-i-Darwaza heights to the west; but his progress was very slow, owing to the extreme difficulty of the ground, and the day was far spent before he found himself near enough to the enemy to use his Artillery.  To his delight, Baker perceived that he commanded the Afghan camp and the rear of their main position; but his satisfaction was considerably allayed when he discovered that between him and them lay a deep gorge[7] with precipitous sides, through which ran the Kabul river, and that before he could attack he would have to descend 1,600 feet, and then climb up the opposite side, which was nearly as high and quite as steep.

Anxious as Baker was that there should be no delay in delivering the assault, by the time his dispositions were made it had become too dark to attempt it, and most reluctantly he had to postpone the movement till daybreak the next day.  He had ascertained that the Kabul river was not fordable for Infantry except at a point which was commanded by the enemy’s camp, and was too far from support to warrant piquets being pushed across at night.  Nothing whatever could be seen, but a very slight noise as of stealthy movement in the Afghan camp was heard, and the fear seized Baker that the enemy might escape him.  Soon after 11 p.m., therefore, when the rising moon