are out of the Ghur-bund narrows,1 we will fall on them suddenly ; let our signal to you be the fire we will light directly we have passed Minar-hill ; do you in reply light one in the citadel, on the old Kushk (kiosk)," now the Treasury, " so that we may be sure you know of our coming. We will come up from our side; you come out from yours ; neglect nothing your hands can find to do!" This having been put into writing, Muhammad Andijdni was sent off.
Riding next dawn from the Langar, we dismounted over against Ushtur-shahr. Early next morning we passed the Ghur-bund narrows, dismounted at Bridge-head, there watered and rested our horses, and at the Mid-day Prayer set forward again. Till we reached the tiltqdwal,2 there was no snow, beyond that, the further we went the deeper the snow. The cold between Zammayakhshl and Minar was such as we had rarely felt in our lives.
We sent on Ahmad the messenger (ydsdwal) and Qara Ahmad yilrunchi^ to say to the begs, " Here we are at the time promised ; be ready ! be bold ! " After crossing Minar-hill4 and dismounting on its skirt, helpless with cold, we lit fires to warm ourselves. It was not time to light the signal-fire ; we just lit these because we were helpless in that mighty cold. Near shoot of dawn we rode on from Minar-hill ; between it and Kabul the snow was up to the horses' knees and had hardened, so off the road to move was difficult. Riding single-file the whole way, we got to Kabul in good time undiscovered.5 Before we were at Bibi Mah-rul (Lady Moon-face), the blaze of fire on the citadel let us know that the begs were looking out.
(/. Attack made on the rebels?)
On reaching Sayyid Qasim's bridge, Sherlm Taghal and the men of the right were sent towards Mulla Baba's bridge, while
1 Babur seems to have left the Ghur-bund valley, perhaps pursuing the Hazaras towards JanglTk, and to have come "by ridge and valley" back into it for Ushturshahr. I have not located Timur Beg's Langar. As has been noted already (q.v. index) the Ghur-bund narrows are at the lower end of the valley ; they have been surmised to be the fissured rampart of an ancient lake.
2 Here this may represent a guard- or toll-house (Index s.n.).
3 As yurim is a patch, the bearer of the sobriquet might be Black Ahmad the repairing-tailor.
4 Second Afghan War, Map of Kabul and its environs.
5 I understand that the arrival undiscovered was a result of riding in single-file and thus shewing no black mass.
