After a short exploratory tour to survey Gaggar River down to the Indus in the closing months of 1942 Aurel Stein arrived at Peshawar in March 1943. Here on March 31, he was delighted to learn about the permission to explore Afghanistan - a destination he had dreamt of exploring for more than 4 decades of long wait. His first proposal to explore Afghanistan dated 1901. After making arrangements for the proposed expedition, Stein traveled to Srinagar in mid April 1943. There he stayed with his old friend Dr Ernest Neve of the Christian Missionary Society. The Neve home had a special place in Stein’s life as there he was always a welcome. Leaving it and then returning back to it, from various tours, was nothing new for Stein. As summer was approaching he decided to make the final preparations for the Afghanistan tour from his beloved Mohand Marg. From here he gave to the Government of India the details of his plans, together with request for staff and financial grant.

“It was satisfying to be able to write such a document on the same square yard of earth on Mohand Marg, where forty five years earlier I had written the proposal for my first expedition to Chinese Turkestan.”

(in a letter by Aurel Stein to Helen Allen) Stein Mss, Bodleian Library, Oxford.

As September was coming to end it became cold at the Marg and on September 25, 1943 Stein ordered for a lorry at the foot of his mountain abode to carry his baggage to Srinagar. Descending the Marg slopes he slipped and injured his shoulder while porters, more than 50 in number, kept marching down. After reaching Srinagar, Stein first went to the local hospital to have his shoulder X-rayed. The attending doctor, Macpherson found no fracture. On October 8, 1943 Stein finally landed at the Dragjan house of Dr Ernest Neve . The next day he prepared a codicil of his Will with Neves as witnesses. A day later he went to Srinagar Church in the morning and in the evening made a visit to Mrs Carmichael’ s house. It was she who had given Stein the last of his favourite dogs- Dash VII. On his return from there Stein suffered a fainting bout following which he was put to bed by Dr Neve and given a peg of whiskey. The next morning, October 11, Stein woke up fresh and fit . While he was still having his breakfast with Dr Neve that day, the lorry arrived. He got his baggage, needed for the Afghanistan expedition, loaded in the lorry.

Dr. Norman Macpherson (one of Stein's personal doctors in Srinagar)

Before noon he bade goodbye to other friends at Srinagar and left for Peshawar on way to Kabul from the Neves home for the last time never to return to it. Two weeks later, Aurel Stein died at Kabul on October 26, 1943. But did he have a premonition of his end?

“Our last view of Sir Aurel was when we walked with him down the garden path to the lorry and we bade him farewell. He had been with us for a few days. The night before, he had an attack which gave some anxiety- a sudden attack of faintness necessitating his lying down. After a small whiskey peg, he recovered. He felt it a bad omen for a start on a journey which later he knew would be strenuous. I think he felt doubtful, for, on the path, he mentioned your name and address to me, as executrix.” - Dr Ernest Neve.

(in a letter dated January 14, 1944, by Dr Ernest Neve to Helen Allen.) Stein Mss Bodleian Library, Oxford.