The _jehad_ of which he had been the chief
instigator had certainly attained unexampled dimensions, and although it
was not in the nature of things that every Afghan who carried arms should
be inspired with religious fanaticism to such a pitch as to be utterly
reckless of his life, swarms of fierce ghazees made formidable the levies
which Mahomed Jan commanded.
On the 17th and 18th the Afghans made ostentatious demonstrations against
Sherpur, but those were never formidable, although they made themselves
troublesome with some perseverance during the daytime, consistently
refraining from night attacks, which was remarkable since ordinarily they
are much addicted to the _chapao_. There never was any investment of
Sherpur, or indeed any approximation to investment. Cavalry
reconnaissances constantly went out, and piquets and videttes were
habitually on external duty; infantry detachments sallied forth whenever
occasion demanded to dislodge the assailants from points occupied by them
in inconvenient proximity to the defences. The Afghan offensive was not
dangerous, but annoying and wearying. It was indeed pushed with some
resolution on the 18th, when several thousand men poured out of the city,
and skirmished forward under cover of the gardens and enclosures on the
plain between Cabul and Sherpur, in the direction of the southern front
and the south-western bastions.
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