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.
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