deployed to India, where pay was higher and expenses lower than in the UK. Robertson's father made his uniforms and he economised by drinking water with meals and not smoking, as pipes were not permitted in the mess and he could not afford the cigars which officers were expected to smoke. Robertson supplemented his income by studying with native tutors while others slept during the hot afternoons, qualifying as an interpreter—for which officers received cash grants—in Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Pashto and Punjabi. Promoted to lieutenant on 1 March 1891, he saw his first active service in 1891, distinguishing himself as Railway Transport Officer for the expedition to Kohat. He was appointed an attaché in the Intelligence Branch of the Quartermaster-General's Department at Simla in India on 5 June 1892. There he became a protégé of Sir Henry Brackenbury, the new Military Member of the Viceroy's Council (equivalent to War Minister for India), who had been Director of Military Intelligence in London and was keen to beef up the intelligence branch of the Indian army, including mapping the Northwest Frontier. Robertson spent a year writing a long and detailed "Gazetteer and Military Report on Afghanistan". After five years in India he was granted his first long leave in 1893, only to find that his mother had died before he reached home. In June 1894 he undertook a three-month journey via Gilgit and mountainous north Kashmir, crossing the Darkot Pass at over 15,000 feet to reach the Pamirs Plateau at the foot of the Himalayas, returning to India in August by a westerly route via Chilas and Khagan. On the journey he learned Gurkhali from a Gurkha, later qualifying in this, his sixth Indian language. He was promoted to captain on 3 April 1895. He took part in the Chitral Expedition as Brigade Intelligence Officer to the force which marched through the Malakand Pass, across the Swat River, via Dir to Chitral. He was described by Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Low, the Expedition Commander, as a "very active and intelligent officer of exceptional promise". After the relief of Chitral and installation of Shuja-ul-Mulk as Mehtar, Robertson was engaged in pacification and reconnaissance duties, but was wounded when attacked by his two guides on a narrow mountain path during a reconnaissance. One guide was armed with a shotgun and fired at Robertson but missed. The other guide attacked him with Robertson's own sword (which