Notwithstanding the murder, negotiations were re-opened. In January, 1842, the British forces began to retreat from Cabul, followed by Akbar Khan and a large army of Afghans. More money was demanded, and more hostages were surrendered, including British ladies and children. Then followed treacheries and massacres. The British army, numbering four thousand troops and twelve thousand camp-followers, entered the Khyber Pass beneath a heavy fall of snow. The hill tribes crowned the precipitous heights on either side, and poured a murderous fire on the retreating masses, whilst the soldiers of Akbar Khan joined in the horrible work of murder and plunder. The whole of the surviving force perished in the Khyber Pass with the exception of a surgeon named Brydon, who escaped on a pony to Jellalabad, and lived to tell the tale for more than thirty years afterwards. [Sidenote: Eldred Pottinger.] One British officer appears to have kept his head amidst all these bewildering disasters. This was Captain Eldred Pottinger, a man who knew how to lead Asiatics, and how to control them. He was inside Herat throughout the siege, and by sheer pluck and fertility of resources kept the enemy at bay until the siege was raised. He was one of the hostages made over to Akbar Khan, and was sent with the others to a fortress in the northern mountains. There he bribed the Afghan commandant with a written promise of a future ransom. He hoisted the British flag over the fortress, took possession of the surrounding country, collected the revenue, called in supplies, and kept up the spirits of ladies and children amidst the general depression and humiliation. Eventually the prisoners were delivered from their enemies and restored to their families and friends; but Eldred Pottinger died and was forgotten. [Sidenote: Lord Ellenborough, 1842-44.] §3. Before the tidings of disaster reached England, Lord Ellenborough was appointed Governor-General of India, in succession to Lord Auckland. In February, 1842, he touched at Madras, and heard of the destruction of the British army in the Khyber Pass. Meanwhile an avenging army, under the command of General Pollock, was marching to the relief of Sale, who was closely besieged at Jellalabad by an Afghan army under Akbar Khan. The British garrison at Jellalabad had defended the place with the utmost resolution, and before the arrival of General Pollock, Akbar Khan had been compelled to raise the siege. [Sidenote: Candahar.] Up to this time nothing was known of General Nott at Candahar. The fact was that he and Major Rawlinson were holding out against overwhelming odds, as Elphinstone and Macnaghten ought to have done at Cabul. History teaches that such a surrender as that of Macnaghten to Akbar Khan too often means "massacre." It meant "massacre" at Patna, in the days of Mir Kasim, and during the sepoy mutiny of 1857 it bore the same meaning at Jhansi and Cawnpore. [Sidenote: Close of the Afghan war, 1842.]