sed that the ladies and children should be made over
to his care; and, anxious to save them further suffering, the General
gave his consent to the arrangement, permitting their husbands and the
wounded officers to accompany them.

"Up to this time scarcely one of the ladies had tasted a meal
since leaving Cabul. Some had infants a few days old at the
breast, and were unable to stand without assistance. Others
were so far advanced in pregnancy, that, under ordinary
circumstances, a walk across a drawing-room would have been an
exertion; yet these helpless women, with their young families,
had already been obliged to rough it on the backs of camels,
and on the tops of the baggage yaboos: those who had a horse to
ride, or were capable of sitting on one, were considered
fortunate indeed. Most had been without shelter since quitting
the cantonment--their servants had nearly all deserted or been
killed--and, with the exception of Lady Macnaghten and Mrs
Trevor, they had lost all their baggage, having nothing in the
world left but the clothes on their backs; _those_, in the case
of some of the invalids, consisted of _night dresses_ in which
they had started from Cabul in their litters. Under such
circumstances, a few more hours would probably have seen some
of them stiffening corpses. The offer of Mahomed Akber was
consequently their only chance of preservation. The husbands,
better clothed and hardy, would have infinitely preferred
taking their chance with the troops; but where is the man who
would prefer his own safety, when he thought he could by his
presence assist and console those near and dear to him?

"It is not, therefore, wonderful, that from persons so
circumstanced the General's proposal should have met with
little opposition, although it was a matter of serious doubt
whether the whole were not rushing into the very jaws of death,
by placing themselves at the mercy of a man who had so lately
imbrued his hands in the blood of a British envoy, whom he had
lured to destruction by similar professions of peace and
good-will."

Anticipating an attack, the troops paraded to repel it, and it was now
found that the 44th mustered only 100 files, and the native infantry
regiments about sixty each. "The promises of Mahomed Akber to provide
food and fuel were unfulfilled,