When we reached the main column, which was now agog with curiosity, I once again combed out our prisoners, retaining some forty-three and letting the others go. It must be remembered that we were desperately short of food ourselves and I did not want a single unnecessary mouth to feed.
But I was not going back to Khwash without a supply of fodder for our animals. I, therefore, told Jiand that as he had burned the bhusa I had bought, and had refused his own at the generous price offered, I should now take his without payment.
So we made a détour by way of Kamalabad, where my men immediately started hunting for straw and wheat. We eventually found that the latter had been carefully hidden by Jiand, and in a highly ingenious way. The wheat had been put into sacks, and buried in the sand dunes. The sand had then been carefully smoothed over, leaving nothing to show that it had been disturbed.
But, before our search, I asked the Sarhad-dar, "How on earth will the men find the sacks?" fearful lest, after all, Jiand had foiled me.
"They know how to find it," he replied. "Give them the order to search for it and you'll see what they'll do. They know the trick well enough."
Accordingly, orders were issued to search for, and carry off, all the sacks of wheat and all bhusa that could be found.
In an instant they were at work amongst the sand dunes, prodding in the sand with their cleaning rods. Every now and again a man would shout "Here!" and after a few minutes' digging a sack would be dragged to light.
It was immensely interesting to watch this unearthing of plunder, and after a while I called "Give me a cleaning rod and let me try."