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AMANULLAH

announced by Army Headquarters in India that there
had been a strange accident a few days before this
incident. A Government communique stated that a
British scouting machine, flying over Kabul, had got
into difficulties, and had made a forced landing near the
city. The pilots were safe, and it had been ascertained
that they had gained the shelter of the Legation. Only
after some inquiries was it learnt that they had in fact
landed on the Government flying ground, still in the
possession of Amanullah's troops, and had retired safely
to the Legation, carrying certain instruments from their
machine.

The naive statement was thought likely to hide the
real truth, to the effect that by a simple ruse, and
probably with the consent of Amanullah, a wireless
transmitting instrument and at least one wireless expert
had been introduced into the Kabul Legation.

Meanwhile, things were going from bad to worse with
Amanullah. He had seen two forts, close to Kabul,
surrender to the rebels. Desertions were now common.
The very real fear existed from day to day that Bacha
Sachao would appear at the gates of Kabul and wipe it
free of any vestige of Royal family, modernisation,
foreigners, or indeed any traces of the much-boasted
new regime.

Russians, Germans, French, and Italians realised that
their lives were in perpetual danger. At the same time
they appreciated that, for some unknown reason, the
British Legation offered the greatest shelter from the
terror both within and without the gates of Kabul.
Many of them applied for, and were offered, accommoda-
tion in that great white house on the outskirts of the
city, over which flew the Union Jack.

Although in considerable danger, two Englishmen
attached to the Legation made their way outside the

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