A few days later the headmen of the Marri tribe handed over the other three men implicated, and at Sibi, on November 2, the three Ghazis, Fakir Kala Khan, Jalamb, and Rahim Ali, atoned for their misdeeds. The sentence was death by hanging followed by public cremation.[1] [1] Compare _Beluchistan Gazette_, October 29, November 5, 1896, and _Civil and Military Gazette_, November 12, 1896. On the return of the troops to Quetta great excitement prevailed when, through the presence of a strong guard at the station, it became known that the promised treasure was on the same train. Of course this was divided amongst the Sepoys only; all those who went to the mountain had a share, with extra money to those {160} who actually took a hand in the fray. It was evening when the train came in, so that it was not till we reached the house that I noticed the blackened helmet, and saw the rent cut by the bullet. When called upon for an explanation, the emotion of that moment took possession of him again: it was the only time that I heard his voice break. Throughout that summer Mr. Curry and the railway engineers had been busy over the new railroad that was to connect Sibi and Quetta via the Bolan Pass. This line is shorter than the Hurnai route by fifty miles, but it had hitherto presented insuperable difficulties to the engineer. Two previous attempts had been made; but the floods rise so high in the gorges and had twice so completely wrecked the permanent way, that this route had been discarded by Sir James Browne, who preferred to tackle the Chupper Rift with his magnificent suspension bridge. But owing to the unreliability of the shifting sands at Mud Gorge it was imperative for military purposes to have an alternative line. The new Bolan-Mushkaf railroad was completed in November 1896. To give the General an opportunity of seeing this triumph of construction, Mr. Curry decided to initiate the new service on the day of our departure from Quetta. The eight months' acting appointment reached its conclusion on November 30, 1896, and the first mail train left Quetta for Sibi on that day at 10 a.m., carrying Gatacre back to resume his substantive appointment at Bombay. {161} CHAPTER XI 1897 THE PLAGUE In the Report issued by the Bombay Plague Committee of 1897 it is shown that 27,597 persons died of that disease between August 8, 1896, and June 30, 1897; while the total mortality from all causes for the same period was 45,886. This is more than one-twentieth of the normal average population given as 850,000.[1] [1] See Chart 3, issued with the _Report on the Bubonic Plague_, by Brigadier-General W. F. Gatacre, C.B., D.S.O., 1897.