CHAPTER VI

THE EUROPEAN TRIP—FAREWELL TO A KING—A QUEEN
UNVEILS—LONDON REJOICES—A DEFIANCE OF TRADITION

TTN the summer of 1927, a strange rumour fled
II round the wineshops of Kabul. It was to the
•*- effect that King AmanuUah was going to Europe.

The full sensation of that whisper is difficult to realise
without a knowledge of the past traditions of the Afghan.
It is true that certain well-born young men of the
highest families of Kabul and Kandahar had been sent
during the past few years to the military colleges of
France and Germany. Nadir Khan himself, the
Comniander-in-Chief of the Afghan Army, had learned
his military lore in France. Others had been to the
universities and the colleges of science. There were
several promising young Afghan students in Moscow and
Queen Souriya's brother was at Exeter College, Oxford.

These, however, were different. They were travelling
for their own advantage, and no doubt could bring back
their knowledge for the benefit of their country, though,
to be truthful, the older Kabulis thought they proved
a devil of a nuisance with their new-fangled ideas.

The rumour grew. The great whispering gallery of
Kabul was never silent. As it travelled, the whisper
prospered, both in picturesqueness and certainty. The
streets were agog with it. It was the sole topic in the
samovar shops. It hurried out of Kabul on the lips of
travellers, and penetrated in all its incredible and
fearful truth into the remote villages of the hills. The
King was going away to Europe.

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