With the death of the Akhund in 1877 the Ranizais again began to give trouble on our border, and the villagers of Shakot acquired a bad name for harbouring outlaws and disregarding the orders of our frontier officials. This state of things could not be permitted to continue, and on the 13th March, 1878, Colonel R. Campbell left Mardan to punish the men of Shakot, accompanied by the Hazara Mountain Battery, 249 sabres and 428 bayonets of the Corps of Guides, arriving unsuspected, within two miles of Shakot, at 2 a.m. on the 14th. Two companies of infantry were sent to seize a small detached hill commanding the village on the north-west, and when, at daybreak, the remainder of the force advanced, the headmen of Shakot, seeing the hopelessness of resistance, came forward and made an unconditional surrender, no shot having been fired on either side. All our demands were at once agreed to without demur, thirty-three hostages were selected, and no attempt to assist Shakot was made by any of the neighbouring villages, whose headmen now arrived to pay their respects. The troops remained in occupation of the village until 10 a.m., when the retirement commenced, and Mardan was reached the same evening, the men having marched nearly fifty miles in twenty-four hours. In this same year the two sons of the late Akhund endeavoured to preach a _jehad_, but the movement was an utter failure. In 1880 Sherdil Khan died, and the chief political power in Swat passed to Rahmatulla Khan, the chief of Dir, who remained passive when, during the Afghan War, the Mohmand mullahs tried to stir up the tribes of Dir and Swat to attack our communications near Jalalabad. In 1883 a desultory contest was carried on between Mian Gul and the Khan of Dir for supremacy in Swat, but in March 1884 these two came to terms. During the next six years, however, the Swat Valley was greatly disturbed, and its people divided into factions, by the ambitions of Umra Khan of Jandol, of whom more will be said later. Abdul Manan, otherwise Mian Gul, the Akhund’s eldest son, died in 1887, and was succeeded by his brother, Abdul Khalik, and the political trouble was increased by the fact that Mian Gul had left two young sons, who had also supporters. In all these questions the Indian Government did not meddle, but since the easiest way to our outposts in Chitral led by Swat, it was impossible to permit any other Power to acquire an influence over these countries, and by the Durand Mission our claims to include Swat, Dir and Bajaur within our sphere of influence were pressed, and in some degree admitted. [Sidenote: Appearance of Umra Khan]