The Colonel and the Armenian seemed much disturbed that I had fallen down the nullah, but what the explanation of the bound man was I could not make out: only this, that he was not a thief after my rifles. I went to bed again.
The Next Morning.
In the morning, after breakfast, when every one had cooled down, I heard the explanation. The Colonel, it seems, had stationed the guard. All went quietly for a time until the Armenian, before he turned in, made a round of the sentries. He found one point improperly guarded, and ordered one of the soldiers to move his position. The man refused with a Pushtu oath: and high words followed. In this the soldier was no match for the Armenian, and being exasperated at receiving harder words than he could return, he endeavoured to stab his bayonet into the latter.
Such a line of action not meeting the Armenian’s views as to the eternal fitness of things, he closed with the soldier. His “education” in England had not been without effect, and scorning to use a knife, like a native, he proceeded to punch the soldier’s head. The magnetic effect of a “fight” caused other people to run up, and the thuds and scuffle of the mêlée aroused me.
After the explanation, the unfortunate man, with his hands bound, was brought forward, and the Colonel begged me to pronounce sentence upon him. He said he would carry out any punishment I chose to impose; whether of fine, imprisonment, or death. He offered me his revolver, that I might have the supreme delight of killing the man myself; or, if that did not meet my views, he would himself shoot him at once. All this excessive politeness arose from the fact that I expressed to the Colonel my sense of dissatisfaction that a distinguished foreigner could not travel through his district without being exposed to annoyances of this kind. I asked whether he thought Amîr Sahib would be satisfied with his administrative power. At the mention of His Highness’s name, the Colonel became greatly disturbed in his mind, and desired me to look upon himself as my dog. I said that I was not in need of a dog just then, and that these words did not please me. As for judging the man, I was not a magistrate in the country, how could I take upon myself to judge him. With a damp forehead and a dry tongue he begged me, as a friend to the poor, not to report the matter.
I began gradually to be appeased, to soften the severe aspect of the countenance, and unbend the knitted brow, for, as I have frequently remarked, I am a mild man. The Colonel perceiving his advantage ordered tea to be brought instantly, and waited upon me with both hands. “Slowly by slowly” the threatened storm blew off, and the Colonel, with joy in his heart, accompanied us miles on the journey, telling many yarns and amusing stories, whereat we laughed. We are now great friends—he and I: for had I not stood by him in an hour of trouble, when his heart melted within him, and his interiors were as water!
Riding along we met one of the “running postmen”: a tall, gaunt hillman without an ounce of superfluous fat on him. These men run for a certain number of miles with the sealed leather post satchel, and then pass it on to the next. There are rough sheds by the wayside where each remains till his turn comes. They carry a long bamboo lance tipped and shod with steel, and with a small bell fixed just below the blade. The post for India leaves Kabul on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and that from India arrives on Sundays and Thursdays.
At the stage before Kabul I had received a letter from His Highness directing me to take possession of the house I formerly occupied in the town: to rest for a day; and on the following day to come on to Endekki, when he would receive me.
The Arrival.