bacha-i-saqao suddenly retires with his troops to the mountains, and the king considers himself out of danger; the queen has already made her escape to kandahar. his last act in the year is to reward his troops at kabul with two months' pay and to increase the pay of his bodyguard from 14 to 20 rupees a month. when the new year opens, the king is still retaining a precarious hold upon the throne at kabul. on the east the shinwari and other tribes are at jalalabad debating whether to advance on kabul or not. for the moment they are parleying with the king's brother-in-law and minister, ali ahmad jan, whose forces, however, are quite insufficient to keep them in check. from the north, kabul is threatened by bacha-i-saqao and his army; though they were beaten off they are still encamped in force about twenty miles (30 km) away.