ivered as hostages at the commencement of the retreat,
or who had been taken prisoners; an account of whose release will be
hereafter given.

DEFENCE OF JELLALABAD--OCTOBER 1841 TO APRIL 1842.

Before it was suspected to what extent the insurrection in Afghanistan
would reach, Sir Robert Sale was placed in command of a brigade which
was ordered to return to Hindostan. His road led through the Ghilzye
defiles. Here, for several days, he was attacked by the mountaineers,
but fighting his onward way, he reached Gundamuck. Here he heard of the
outbreak at Cabul. Deeming it important to push on, he left a
considerable portion of his camp equipage at Gundamuck, under charge of
some Afghan levies; but they proved traitors, plundered the baggage, and
set fire to the cantonment. Captain Burn and the other European
officers were pursued by the insurgents, but succeeded in reaching the
British camp.

Sir Robert Sale renewed his march the next morning, but already the
whole armed population of the district was on the alert. The Afghans
crowned each height as soon as our pickets were withdrawn, swarmed like
hornets round the camp, and were repelled only by the most strenuous
efforts. They permitted the advanced guard and the main body to pass
through the town of Futtehabad without interruption. Bodies of them
even came in guise of unarmed suppliants to beg for protection. But no
sooner had the rearguard passed the houses and fort of this town, than a
destructive fire was opened upon it. Captain Broadfoot and his sappers
turned fiercely round more than once, and inflicted vengeance for this
treachery; and Colonel Dennie, in the end, dexterously decoyed the enemy
away from their walls into the open plain, and then the cavalry, under
Captain Oldfield and Lieutenant Mayne, charging among them with headlong
valour, strewed the ground with 150 slain. That night the force
encamped under the walls of Jellalabad, and took possession of it next
morning, the 12th of November. It was a most important object to occupy
this place, in order to establish a post on which the corps at Cabul
might retreat it necessary, and then form a link in the chain of
communication with India. A glance at the map will show the immense
distance which the British forces were from all support, with intricate
passes, lofty mountains, deserts, and broad rivers intervening between
them and India; while on every side swarmed hostile tribes, accustomed
to