KHUDAI KHIDMATGARS AND THEIR CHIEF 127
' I like what you are doing. You are very clever (I do-
not know that cunning is not the right word). You are
making my people braver than they are. You are teaching
them to husband their strength. Of course it is good to be
non-violent up to a point. That they will be under your
teaching. Hitler has perfected the technique of attaining
violent ends without the actual use of violence. But you
have bettered even Hitler. You are giving our men train-
Ing In non-violence, in dying without killing, so if ever the
occasion comes for the use of force, they will use it as
never before and certainly more effectively than any other
body of persons. I congratulate you/ I was silent and
I had no heart to write out a reply to disillusion him. I
smiled and became pensive. I like the compliment that
the Pathans would be braver than before (as a result of
and) under my teaching. I do not know an instance of
a person becoming a coward under my Influence. But the
friend's deduction was deadly. If In the last heat the Khu-
dai Khidmatgars prove untrue to the creed they profess to
believe, non-violence was certainly not in their hearts.
The proof will soon come. If they zealously and faithfully
follow the constructive programme, there is no danger
of their fulfilling the prognostication of the critic. But
they will be found among the bravest of men when the
test comes/'