I pass with relief from the tossing sea of Cause and Theory to the firm
ground of Result and Fact. The rumours and reports which reached the
Malakand of the agitation in Upper Swat and among the surrounding tribes
were fully appreciated by the Pathan Sepoys of the garrison. As July
advanced, several commanding officers were warned by their men, that
great events were impending. Major Deane, the political agent, watched
with great anxiety the daily progress of the fanatical movement. No one
desires to be thought an alarmist, least of all on the frontier where
there is always danger. At length, however, he felt compelled to
officially report the disquieting signs. Warnings were then issued to
the officers in charge of the various posts, and the troops were
practised in taking up alarm stations. By the 23rd of July all had been
informed that the aspect of affairs was threatening, and ordered to
observe every precaution. But to the last everybody doubted that there
would be a rising, nor did any one imagine that even should one occur,
it would lead to more than a skirmish. The natives were friendly and
respectful. The valley smiled in fertile prosperity. It was not strange,
that none could foresee the changes a week would bring, or guess that in
a few days they would be fighting for their lives; that they would carry
fire and sword through the peaceful landscape; that the polo ground
would be the scene of a cavalry charge, or that the cheery barbarians
among whom they had lived quietly for so many months would become
maddened and ferocious savages. Never was transformation of scene more
complete, or more rapid.

And all the while the rumours of coming war grew stronger and stronger.
The bazaars of India, like the London coffee-houses of the last century,
are always full of marvellous tales--the invention of fertile brains. A
single unimportant fact is exaggerated, and distorted, till it becomes