e given to some three villages grouped round
a small fort in the centre of the valley, on the 6th January, 1879.
The Afghan Governor, with whom I had been in communication, met me and
arranged to surrender the fort, on condition that his personal safety
should be guaranteed, and that he should be allowed to go either to
Kabul or India, as he might desire.

About half a mile from the fort I halted the column, and taking a
small escort of the 10th Hussars, I rode on with the Governor, who
invited me with my staff into his house. While tea was being handed
round, the Governor (Akram Khan by name) warned me that we should be
attacked, and that he could do nothing to prevent it, having only some
200 local militia and no regular troops. He further said that the
inhabitants of the valley were not directly opposed to the British
Government, and, if left to themselves, would give no trouble; but he
doubted their being able to resist the pressure put upon them by
a large number of tribesmen who had collected from the adjacent
districts, attracted by the smallness of the force, which they
believed 'had been delivered into their hands.'

This intelligence showed me I must be prepared for a scrimmage, so I
ordered the camp to be pitched in the form of a square as compactly as
possible, with the transport animals and impedimenta in the centre,
and strong piquets at the four angles. Cavalry patrols were sent out
as far as the broken and hilly nature of the ground would permit, and
every endeavour was made to ascertain the strength and whereabouts
of the enemy, but to no purpose: the enemy were invisible, and
the patrols reported that they had come across numbers of
peaceable-looking husbandmen, but no one else.

The night passed off quietly, but when advancing day made them
visible, multitudes of tribesmen were descried collecting on the
slopes of the neighbouring hills. Some friendly Natives were sent to
ascertain their intentions, followed by a Cavalry reconnoitring party,
when suddenly a number of camel-drivers and mule-men, who had gone to
the nearest village to procure fodder for their animals, came rushing
back to camp in the wildest terror and excitement, declaring that
the enemy seemed to rise as if by magic out of the ground, and that
several thousands were already in the village. No doubt some of these
were 'the peaceable-looking husbandmen' the patrols had encountered
the previous day. I now became somewhat anxious, not