"It has done good to myself," was the quiet reply.
"How—what do you mean?" inquired Denis.
"I repeated to others a lesson which I need to take home to my own heart,—Love your enemies."
"I will never love nor forgive an Afghan," exclaimed Denis, and he finished the sentence with a muttered curse.
"God helping me, I will," thought Walter. He had found that one of the greatest aids to obeying the Saviour's difficult command, is to try to do good to them that hate you. The youth had that day made his first attempt to shed a gleam of Gospel light upon his cruel oppressors. It cast a glorious radiance upon Walter's own soul,—the pillar which rested over his prison was indeed a pillar of light.
A little later in the day Walter resumed his singing. This time the story of Zaccheus was his theme. Denis stood close by to amuse himself in his dreary bondage by watching the various expressions on the upturned faces below.
"Look there, Walter! there's a beauty, a perfect little houri!"* exclaimed Dermot Denis suddenly, as he caught sight of a child about eight years of age, who, attracted by the music, had come down by some unseen staircase which led to the upper apartments occupied by the family of the chief. The girl was leaning against one of the pillars, half in the shadow of a recess.
* Houris are the beautiful beings who are supposed to wait on believers in Paradise.
"It is Sultána!" cried Walter, who had just finished his chant. The child caught his eye and bounded forward, her face beaming with pleasure at the sight of her Feringhee preserver.
"Ah! here comes good fortune in the shape of an Afghan fairy!" ejaculated Denis. Determined to make the most of it, the Irishman pressed forward in his eagerness to gain the child's attention, half pushing his companion aside that he himself might occupy the foremost place. "Hungry, big hungry," cried Denis, in his imperfect Pushtoo. He pointed to his own mouth, then pointing to his friend, indicated that Walter also was suffering privation. Denis could think of no other Pushtoo at the moment but "kill sheep;" but it seemed to him to express what he desired to say like a telegraphic message.