dry of all the news he could tell, the details of which are now too well
known for me to relate. The man had a passport from Surgeon-Major
Robertson, sending him to Killa Drasan, so he was allowed to go. We also
found out from him that there was no enemy between us and Chitral, at
which Stewart swore openly. My spy returned on meeting the Chitral
messenger.

There was no difficulty now in getting a man to go to Chitral, so we
sent off one with a note, saying we should arrive next day by noon, the
20th April.

The news had spread quickly through camp, and the native officers came
round to hear about it. We sent back a post to Mastuj by some Nagar
Levies who had just brought in a post, and then had a good discussion as
to the causes that led to the raising of the siege.

I don't know if any of the other officers felt it, but I know, speaking
for myself, that with the departure of any uncertainty about our arrival
in Chitral in time to save the garrison, a good deal of interest also
departed.

I felt inclined to agree with Stewart, that the enemy had given us a
just cause for complaint by not playing the game. At any rate, they
might have given us a run for our money in front of Chitral, and this
seemed to be the general idea throughout the column, consequently our
opinion of the Chitrali pluck sank considerably.

We marched at 6 A.M. the next morning punctually, and by noon the
advance guard was in the Chitral valley. A halt was ordered to allow the
main body to form up, as the guns had had a bad time getting through the