AMANULLAH

" And remember," say the old women as they leave,
" remember to keep his face veiled. There is no need to
tell you of the evil eyes of beggars and thieves. . * ."

So the excitement dies down, revived for a short time
when the boy loses his baby teeth. They are thrown
into a mousehole, so that the new teeth may resemble
those of the mice. Charms hang round his neck by now,
and the tiger claw forms the centre of a string of beads.
And eventually he shows his stature, and gives promise
of the fighting man he is destined to be,

The hills are his playground. Round Kabul, the city
fringed with the mountains that have made it invulner-
able to all the hosts which have passed that way to India,
the young Prince ranges the goat-paths and wanders far
and wide in his search for adventure. A fine horseman
at an early age, a youth outstripping his brothers in his
achievements in the field, but quite willing to lag behind
them in the bookish world, he soon grows familiar to the
hillmen who tend their flocks on the heights overlooking
the city.

He is known in the city too, and though always at-
tended by retainers, it is said that he causes them many
fears by his anxiety to elude their vigilance and embark
on his own into the labyrinths of the bazaar. From the
tall counters of the money-changers, whither he would
climb, he throws down money joyfully to the swarming
beggars in the narrow street. He would ape the street
gamin, stealing the sweetmeats from the cookshops, and
when the shopkeepers see the brilliantly-clad little figure
disappear in the crowds, they wag their heads together
and say : " There goes a true Afghan, who can laugh a
little. . . ."

He is already armed at the age. of ten. The rifle
specially made for him fires half-charges, and with
immense pride and arrogance he scours the hills after

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