Nott's officers, as the Candahar column
was nearing Cabul, had more than once urged him to detach a brigade in
the direction of Bamian in the hope of effecting a rescue of the
prisoners, but he had steadily refused, leaning obstinately on the
absence from the instructions sent him by Government of any permission to
engage in the enterprise of attempting their release. He was not less
brusque in the intimation of his declinature when Pollock gave him the
opportunity to send a force in support of Sir Richmond Shakespear, whom,
with a detachment of Kuzzilbash horse, Pollock had already despatched on
the mission of attempting the liberation of the prisoners. The narrow old
soldier argued doggedly that Government 'had thrown the prisoners
overboard.' Why, then, should he concern himself with their rescue? If
his superior officer should give him a firm order, of course he would
obey, but he would obey under protest. Pollock disdained to impose so
enviable a duty on a recalcitrant man, and committed to Sale the
honourable and welcome service--all the more welcome to that officer
because his wife and daughter were among the captives. At the head of his
Jellalabad brigade, he was to push forward by forced marches on the track
of Shakespear and his horsemen.
The strange and bitter experiences of the captives, from that miserable
January Sabbath day on which they passed under the 'protection' of Akbar
Khan until the mid-September noon when Shakespear galloped into their
midst, are recorded in full and interesting detail in Lady Sale's
journal, in Vincent Eyre's _Captivity_, and in Colin Mackenzie's
biography published under the title of _Storms and Sunshine of a
Soldier's Life_.
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