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Description
William Gale knows nothing of his origins. Apprenticed at 15 to the owner of a fishing smack, he survives shipwrecks and attacks by Malay pirates, finally reaching Calcutta, where he joins up with a British regiment on its way to Afghanistan. His resourcefulness and bravery under fire enable him to survive capture and imprisonment, ambush and attack. He ends up being recommended for the Victoria Cross as a result of his heroics, in defense of a convoy of wounded; and he makes unexpected gains as a result of rescuing Col. Ripon from the assault of three Afghans in the streets of Candahar.
The British and Russians were both zealous to gain representation in the Afghan court in the 1870s. A Russian representative was welcomed to Kabul in 1877 but the British were, at the same time, denied diplomatic access. A British ultimatum was refused and the "Great Game" entered its next phase in the Second Afghan War. Sir Frederick Robert's "Kurram Valley" column, one of the three sent against Kabul, experienced marked success and established General Roberts as the leading British officer in India.
The main character of the story is Will Gale, who was kidnapped by gypsies and raised in a workhouse in England. Shipping aboard a merchant ship, he experiences several adventures among the Malays until ship-wrecked off the Indian coast. Upon arrival in Calcutta, he enlists in the British 66th Regiment leaving to join General Roberts. Showing a natural intelligence and exhibiting uncommon valor, Will rises quickly to the rank of captain. He is wounded and taken prisoner at Peiwar Kotal but escapes to join in the final defeat of Ayoub Khan. In a campaign short on luxury and long on suffering, Will is rewarded in the end with the discovery that his father is Colonel Ripon of his own regiment, and he who was lost is now found.