From this it would appear that the Burmese were totally ignorant of our approach until we were within a day’s march of their stronghold, and then in all probability only by the merest accident. Some woodcutter in the vicinity may have spied us out that morning and, seeing so many laden elephants and armed men, conveyed a very exaggerated report of our strength. On the backs of these pachyderms must be large guns; at all events he fancied he saw them, and reported them. He must any way have piled on the agony, else the enemy would scarcely have evacuated a position already strong by nature, and rendered still more so by art, without striking so much as a blow. Such conduct indeed could only be accounted for on the supposition that they imagined us in possession of large cannon; the range and power of our guns may have been known to some of them, and, having already profited by the lessons of hard experience, they were by no means anxious for further instruction. The evacuation was described as one of the most disorderly, precipitate, _sauve qui peut_ affairs which it is possible to imagine. They melted away on the principle of “The devil take the hindmost,” and they certainly left very little for his satanic majesty. Some allowance must, however, be made for their behaviour. To their intense bewilderment they were about to be attacked in the rear, a direction from which they least expected it; and, while still cogitating over the unwelcome intelligence, they suddenly behold a herd of elephants bearing down upon their stockade as fast as they could be urged along, each teeming with redcoats armed _cap-à-pie_. A belt of forest moreover hid our force till close at hand, when its sudden appearance created a “panic.” All doubt and uncertainty were now at an end, and the sole remaining impediment to the peace of the province had now been removed by a bold strategy, in which were displayed some of the finest qualities of the human mind—true courage, self-reliance, ability to act on one’s own convictions, and far-seeing perspicuity. And yet our Commissioner was still anxious. The finale must have rushed upon him so hurriedly and unexpectedly; the relief from a state of tension to one of an opposite nature was also too abrupt, and the reaction gave him sleepless nights, during which he doubtless reviewed the momentous proceedings of the past three weeks. Extremes meet and produce like effects; and a sudden, unexpected stroke of good fortune will sometimes unhinge us more than an unlooked-for disaster. All this was mere conjecture on my part, for, as I have already mentioned, he never allowed his own troubles to be shared by others.