After a time it was found possible partially {86} to replace the soldiers by specially recruited armed military police, who were thickly distributed in all the disturbed districts; and gradually the more peaceable inhabitants realised that every time a military raid was organised there would be a smaller number of thieves and robbers left in the land. When the bulk of Sir George White's expeditionary force was withdrawn, Brigadier-General George Wolseley, who had been commanding the Mandalay Brigade, assumed the command of the permanent garrison. It was as his substitute that Gatacre held the post from October 1889 to October 1890, with a few weeks' interval in the spring. Gatacre had been nearly four years in the same office on the Headquarter Staff, and his letters show that after the departure of General Chapman in April 1889 he was anxiously watching for some new opening for himself. The change to an independent command was very welcome, and not less so was the change from the social life of Headquarters to the wild simplicity of Upper Burma. The military direction of such a vast and unsettled province would provide scope for administration and opportunity for personal exertion--would, in short, afford all the arduous duties in which Gatacre found his delight. [Sidenote: Fort Dufferin] The ancient citadel of Mandalay is now called Fort Dufferin. It consists of a vast quadrilateral enclosure, in the centre of which stands the palace, surrounded by gardens and a high teak-wood stockade. The walls are 10 ft. thick {87} and 29 ft. high; each side of the square is a mile and a quarter in length; at regular intervals there are gates leading to bridges over a moat that is more than 200 ft. wide. Along the walls are numerous picturesque watch-houses with little seven-roofed pagodas over each gate. These buildings provided quarters and offices for both the civil and military departments. Sir Charles Crosthwaite, who was Chief Commissioner of Burma when Gatacre took up the command, writes: "I lived in one of the pagoda erections over a gate in the Mandalay wall, and there was a long flight of steps leading up to my rooms. I can see Sir William now flying up the steps and rushing down them, after he had seen me, and vaulting on to his horse. He was indefatigable."[4] [4] August 18, 1909. The reception rooms in the palace itself were fitted up as a club for the officers of the garrison. Some men were playing whist there one evening in November 1889, when Gatacre came in, and going up to one of the players asked him if he knew anything about transport. The officer, busy with his cards, replied "Not a damn!" which elicited the unexpected response: "Will you be my transport officer?" When the hand was finished the subaltern turned round, and for the first time perceived who was speaking to him. "I am afraid you are chaffing me, sir." {88}