h. The soldiers fell in
hundreds. It grew worse as they entered the contracted mountain-pass
through which their road led. Here the ferocious foe swarmed among the
rocks, and poured death from the heights upon the helpless fugitives. It
was impossible to dislodge them. Natural breastworks commanded every
foot of that terrible road. The hardy Afghan mountaineers climbed with
the agility of goats over the hill-sides, occupying hundreds of points
which the soldiers could not reach. It was a carnival of slaughter.
Nothing remained for the helpless fugitives but to push forward with all
speed through that frightful mountain-pass and gain as soon as possible
the open ground beyond.

Few gained it. On the fourth day from Cabul there were but two hundred
and seventy soldiers left. The fifth day found the seventeen thousand
fugitives reduced to five thousand. A day more, and these five thousand
were nearly all slain. Only twenty men remained of the great body of
fugitives which had left Cabul less than a week before. This handful of
survivors was still relentlessly pursued. A barrier detained them for a
deadly interval under the fire of the foe, and eight of the twenty died
in seeking to cross it. The pass was traversed, but the army was gone. A
dozen worn-out fugitives were all that remained alive.

On they struggled towards Jelalabad, death following them still. They
reached the last town on their road; but six of them had fallen. These
six were starving. They had not tasted food for days. Some peasants
offered them bread. They devoured it like famished wolves. But as they
did so the inhabitants of the town seized their arms and assailed them.
Two of them were cut down. The others fled, but were hotly pursued.
Three of the four were overtaken and slain within four miles of
Jelalabad. Dr. Brydon alone remained, and gained the fort alone, the
sole survivor, as he believed and reported, of the seventeen thousand
fugitives. The Afghan chiefs had boasted that they would allow only one
man to live, to warn the British to meddle no more with Afghanistan.
Their boast seemed literally fulfilled. Only one man had traversed in
safety that "valley of the shadow of death."

Fortunately, there were more living than Dr. Brydon was aware of. Akbar
Khan had offered to save the ladies and children if the married and
wounded officers were delivered into his hands. This was done. General
Elphinstone was among the prisoners, and died in captivit