old the native town, which might give trouble on his
flank. This was the most vexatious part of the business. If Marker had
organized the thing, then nothing could be unexpected, and treachery was
sure to be thick around them.

The men came, saluted, and waited in silence. Thwaite sat down at a
table and pulled a sheaf of telegraph forms to pieces. First he wired
to Ladcock at Gilgit, beseeching reinforcements. From Bardur to the
south there is only one choice of ways--by Yasin and Yagistan to the
Indus Valley, or by Gilgit and South Kashmir. Once beyond Gilgit there
was small hope of checking an advance, but in case the shorter way to
the Indus by the Astor Valley was tried there might be hope of a delay.
So he besought Ladcock to post men on the Mazeno Pass if the time was
given him. Then he sent a like message to Yasin, though on the high
passes and the unsettled country there was small chance of the wires
remaining uncut. A force in Yasin might take on the flank any invasion
from Afghanistan and in any case command the Chitral district. Then
came a series of frantic wires at random--to Rawal Pindi, to the Punjabi
centres, to South Kashmir. He had small confidence in these messages.
If the local risings were serious, as he believed them to be, they would
be too late, and in any case they were beyond the country where
strategical points were of advantage against an invader. There remained
the stations on the Indus Valley railway, which must be
the earliest point of attack. The terminus at Boonji was held by a
certain Jackson, a wise man who inspired terror in a mixed force of
irregulars, Afridis, Pathans, Punjabis, Swats, and a dozen other
varieties of tribesmen. To him he sent the most lengthy and urgent
messages, for he held the key of a great telegraphic system with which
he might awake Abbotabad and the Punjab. Then, perspiring with heat and
anxiety, he gave the bundle into the hands of his English servant, and
told off an officer and twenty men to hold the telegraph office. A blue
light was to be lit in the window if the native town should prove
troublesome and reinforcements be needed.

Soon the force of the garrison was assembled in the yard, all but a few
who had been sent on messages to the more isolated houses of the English
residents. Thwaite addressed them briefly: "Men, there's the devil's
own sweet row up the north, and it's moving down to us. This very night
we may have to fight. And, remember, it's no