ertake to see that every station on the line was warned.
He would receive reinforcements from Abbotabad by the afternoon of the
next day; if Bardur and Gilgit, or Yasin as it might be, could delay the
attack till then everything might be safe--unless, indeed, the whole
nexus of hill-tribes rose as one man. In which case there would be the
devil to pay, and he had no advice to give.

Thwaite read and laughed grimly. It was not a question of a day's
delay, but of an hour's, and the hill-tribes, if he judged Marker's
cleverness rightly, would act just as Jackson feared. The business had
begun among the navvies at Bardur and Gilgit and Boonji. In a little
they would have news of real tribal war--Hunzas, Pathans, Chitralis,
Punialis, and Chils, tribes whom England had fought a dozen times before
and knew the mettle of; now would be the time for their innings. Well
supplied with money and arms--this would have been part of Marker's
business--they would be the forerunners of the great army. First savage
war, then scientific annihilation by civilized hands--a sweet prospect
for a peaceful man in the prime of life!

He returned to the fort to find all quiet and in order. It commanded
the north road, but though the eye might weary itself with looking on
the moonlit sandy valley and the opaque blue hills, there was no sight
or sound of men. The stars were burning hard and cold in the vault of
sky, and looking down somewhere on the march of an army. It was now
close on midnight; in five hours dawn would break in the east and the
night of attack would be gone. But death waited between this midnight
hour and the morning. What were Haystoun and the men from Khautmi
doing? Fighting or beyond all fighting? Well, he would soon know. He
was not afraid, but this cursed waiting took the heart out of a man!
And he looked at his watch and found it half-past twelve.

At Yasin there was the most severe fighting. It lasted for three days,
and in effect amounted to a little tribal war. A man called Mackintosh
commanded, and he had the advantage of having regulars with him, Gurkhas
for the most part, who were old campaigners. The place had seemed
unquiet for some days, and certain precautions had been taken, so that
when the rioting broke out at sunset it was easy to get the town under
subjection and prepare for external attack. The Chiling Pass into
Chitral had given trouble of old, but Mackintosh was scarcely prepared
for the systematic assa