Lady Sale rode with
the chiefs. The Ghilzai fire at fifty yards was close and deadly. The men
of the advance fell fast. Lady Sale had a bullet in her arm, and three
more through her dress. But the weight of the hostile fire fell on the
main column, the baggage escort, and the rear-guard. Some of the ladies,
who mostly were on camels which were led with the column, had strange
adventures. On one camel was quite a group. In one of its panniers were
Mrs Boyd and her little son, in the other Mrs Mainwaring, with her own
infant and Mrs Anderson's eldest child. The camel fell, shot. A
Hindustanee trooper took up Mrs Boyd _en croupe_, and carried her through
in safety; another horseman behind whom her son rode, was killed, and the
boy fell into Afghan hands. The Anderson girl shared the same fate. Mrs
Mainwaring, with her baby in her arms, attempted to mount a baggage pony,
but the load upset, and she pursued her way on foot. An Afghan horseman
rode at her, threatened her with his sword, and tried to drag away the
shawl in which she carried her child. She was rescued by a sepoy
grenadier, who shot the Afghan dead, and then conducted the poor lady
along the pass through the dead and dying, through, also, the close fire
which struck down people near to her, almost to the exit of the pass,
when a bullet killed the chivalrous sepoy, and Mrs Mainwaring had to
continue her tramp to the bivouac alone.
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