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EX-KING OF AFGHANISTAN

thousand good wishes in their ears, the exhausted bride-
groom and his bride leave the celebrations.

Amanullah goes back to his troops, and flings himself
yet more vigorously into the uphill task of creating an
efficient and disciplined army* He is now taking long
trips into the outermost regions of his land. He is bolder
and even more outspoken. The fame of his feats of arms
and horsemanship spread to every village in Afghanistan*
He is superb, foolhardy, contemptuous of danger.

Two years after the wedding his wife dies giving birth
to Shahzadajan Hidayatullah Khan, and the rifles of the
hillmen speak that night over the valleys in celebration
of new life, unaware that there has that day died a woman
who might have saved Afghanistan from a further period
of rapine, torture, and wholesale slaughter.

It can be surmised that in due time Amanullah re-
covers from the shock of his first wife's death. The son
lives, and bids fair to become such an one as his father.
Amanullah is twenty-three, and becoming a power in the
land. He has won many of the rifle competitions. He
has scored continual successes on the race-course* He
has exhausted the finest fighting men of the land in long
forays over the hills after game. His house is hung with
the most precious spoils of the chase. Fabulous stories
are told of his horsemanship, of his strength in the
wrestling bouts, and of his skill with the revolver*

Even in the house of his father he commands respect.
His eldest brother, Inayatullah, is a jovial, pleasure-
loving soul, and has little liking for the competitive fields
of sports and assaults at arms. He is the bookish* elder
brother to the life, and is inclined to smile in a superior
way at the enthusiasm of his young brother. He

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