There were six Europeans in Kabul at the time of the Amir’s death—Mrs. Daly, the lady doctor, Mr. Fleischer, a German (murdered there in 1904), with his wife, child, and nurse, and myself—and the question was discussed as to what should be done in case of a rising, and although we talked the matter over thoroughly, we could see no means of escape from the city or the country, and there seemed nothing to be done to safeguard ourselves but to decide on getting all together in one house as soon as rioting started, provided we had sufficient time to do so, and barricade and defend that as long as possible, for the European residents would be among the first to be attacked, and the guards could not be depended on to fight for the infidel against their own people when once order was overthrown. We knew that, so long as the soldiers remained faithful to the Amir, there would be no rising which could not be easily quelled, but if the soldiers rose against the Amir, then the guards, with the Europeans, would no doubt shoot down the kafirs to begin with, and, in fact, one of the guards threatened a servant of Mrs. Daly’s that as soon as fighting commenced, they would kill the servants of the Europeans first, and the Europeans afterwards. I had obtained a quantity of Martini-Henri cartridges from the workshops for the use of the guard with me in case they were attacked by the people, and at the time of the funeral they were very anxious I should serve these out to them at once; but I preferred waiting to see the course events would take before giving them the means to make themselves dangerous to me, and others with me, in the event of the army revolting, and told them to keep their minds at rest, for the cartridges would be served out in time enough for use when wanted. Undoubtedly the soldiers were ready to revolt, and intended doing so, if any one could be got to lead them, and each regiment expected the others to commence the rising, and were ready to join them when they did so, but there was no combination among them, and no man had sufficient courage to take the lead. The officers of the guards, who came round to my house on the day of the funeral to see that all precautions for safety were taken, and posted some of the guards on the roof whence they could command the neighbouring houses, told me to be ready for any emergency, as from all they heard it was likely enough that I, with many of themselves, would be killed before the night. Also, to prevent any disturbance being precipitated by an attack on the Europeans, the other Europeans and myself were told to keep in the house, and not go into the bazars on any account.