“He was an unbeliever,” King answered modestly, and the other nodded again with friendly understanding.
“What about the man yonder, then?” the Pathan asked. “What will you have of him?”
“Look! See! Tell me truly what his name is!”
The Pathan got up and strode forward to stand on the box, kicking aside the elbows that leaned on it and laughing when the owners cursed him. He stood on it and stared for five minutes, counting deliberately three times over, striking a finger on the palm of his hand to check himself.
“Bull-with-a-beard!” he announced at last, dropping back into place beside King. “Muhammad Anim. The mullah Muhammad Anim.”
“An Afghan?” King asked.
“He says he is an Afghan. But unless he lies he is from Ishtamboul (Constantinople).”
Itching to ask more questions, King sat still and held his peace. The direr the need of information in the “Hills,” and in all the East for that matter, the greater the wisdom, as a rule, of seeming uninquisitive. And wisdom was rewarded now, for the Pathan, who would have dried up under eager questioning, grew talkative. Civility and volubility are sometimes one, and not always only among the civilized. King--the hakim Kurram Khan--blinked mildly behind his spectacles and looked like one to whom a savage might safely ease his mind.
“He bade me go to Sikaram where my village is and bring him a hundred men for his lashkar. He says he has her special favor. Wait and watch, I say!
“Has he money?” asked King, apparently drawing a bow at a venture for conversation's sake. But there is an art in asking artless questions.