He had told us to apply to Becher for assistance, but from what we heard of that officer, it did not seem likely he would help us.

Khagan was beyond our border, and the inhabitants were said to be even more fanatical than the rest of the frontier tribes.

The Commissioner, however, had given us leave, and as his Deputy appeared to be the kind of man to create obstacles, we made up our minds to slip away before he returned.
We started on the 21st May, and marched to Habibula-Ki-Ghari.

Here the road bifurcates, one branch leading to Kashmir, the other to Khagan.
We took the latter, and proceeded to Balakot, twelve miles further on, which was then our frontier post.

There we found a small guard of Frontier Police, two of whom we induced to accompany us on our onward journey for the purpose of assisting to look after the baggage and collecting coolies.