The year 1896 saw the very last of the dacoit Bos. Ten years before, Bo Cho had harried Myingyan and Pagan, the leader of a formidable gang; once, when he met Captain Eyre, he is said to have led seven hundred men. Unlike other Bos, he was neither killed nor captured, nor did he surrender. When his band melted away, and dacoity became too hazardous a sport, he simply disappeared. Either he was dead, or he had plunged into effectual obscurity in the comparatively dense population of the Delta. Actually, he was living as a peaceful cultivator in a village in the middle of the Myingyan district. There he might have spent the rest of his days, perhaps becoming in time a Kyaung-taga, or even a Headman. No one would have dreamt of betraying him even for the price set upon his capture. Did not the munificent offer of Rs. 20,000 fail to tempt any follower of Gaung Gyi?[246] But after a time, apparently weary of a life of inaction, Bo Cho became restless. With two sons, he took to the jungle and began again the old trade of dacoity. Experience of the early years of the pacification was utilized. Mr. W. R. Stone,[247] a newly joined Assistant Commissioner, with a small force of military and civil police, and with selected Burman officers to help him, was told off to catch Bo Cho. He was given full authority under the Village Regulation, and a free hand. The invaluable power of removing to a distance friends and relatives of dacoits was unsparingly exercised. In a few weeks Mr. Stone dispersed the gang and captured Bo Cho and his sons, who were duly hanged in the Myingyan Jail. [Illustration: BO CHO AND HIS SONS.]