Page:The Earl of Auckland.djvu/167

Rh the Ghilzais lining the tall cliffs above, all traces of order were to be swept away in one wild helter-skelter of men, horses, guns, and baggage towards the plain beyond. The rear-guard and Eyre's gunners fought like heroes, but were carried off or slain in the general stampede. Akbar and his fellow-chiefs had lost all control over the fierce Ghilzais, who glutted themselves that day with blood and plunder. Next morning Shelton's whole force numbered only about 800 men of all arms. Thousands of camp-followers had fallen by the way, and nearly all the baggage had been plundered. Pottinger, Lawrence, Mackenzie swelled the list of Akbar's hostages; and during this day's halt all the women and children, the married men and the wounded officers were transferred into Akbar's keeping.

The march towards Tazín on the 10th, through the long pass of the Haft Kotal, repeated all the incidents of previous days; the grim courage of our European soldiers, the rush of camp-followers to the front, the despair of the Sepoys, the carnage, and the plunder. Only 250 white men reached Tazín. Not one Sepoy emerged that evening from the pass. Akbar now proposed that the remnant of our troops should lay down their arms, and allow him to escort them to Pesháwar. This offer Elphinstone declined on the plea that he could not with honour abandon his camp-followers to their fate. In view of all that had happened in the past two months, the reference to his honour sounds rather inopportune. A short rest at