And there, with a remark from General Roberts that the
headmen of the suburbs are asking permission to pay their re- spects, the curtain drops. Nothing more is known or will be known for some days, for the clansmen have burst into the Kurrum Valley, and communication that way is stopped. The clansmen there know everything passing in the valley, and are at blood-feud with General Roberts, who terrorised them so sharply. Reinforcements are moving up, but we see no evid- ence of Europeans at Ali Khel,—and the tribes will face native troops for ever. It may be necessary to clear the line from the south, and if so, we may hoar first of General Roberts vice Jellalabad and the Khyber. He must, of bourse, go forward, for he can do nothing else, and the Afghans cannot face him ; but he is hampered by want of transport, he must protect his rear, and we note with .uneasiness a rumour, totally unconfirmed, but believed for some hours iu Loudon, that the city of Cabul has been fired. Hardly anything worse could happen, and the story, which in all our campaigns in Asia has, we believe, no precedent, is a most strange one to have been invented. Pessimist views, however, about Indian affairs are rarely correct, and the absence of news is no proof that General Roberts's march has been in any way sus- pended. All that is certain is, that he will get nothing, ex- cept supplies, which the Afghans can refuse. They are not patriotic enough to refuse silver for food, but they are quite patriotic enough to be submissive only till they are out of sight. Then they obey no white man, and kill him, whenever the chance is open.
