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EX-KING OF AFGHANISTAN

pillaging outlaws overran the south, Ali Ahmed Jhan
found himself at the head of a small force of loyal
Government troops near Jallalabad. His men were
convinced that their wisest course lay in remaining true
to their oaths of allegiance, but they had begun to detect
a growing strangeness in the behaviour of their leader.
Then the dreadful news spread through the ranks. Ali
Ahmed Jhan was usually intoxicated.

The leaders among the rank and file, greatly daring,
suggested a deputation to put before him their sense of
wrong and the insult they felt toward their religion.
Such things could not continue. And a small band of
stalwart men waited upon their leader one night in his
tent, fully prepared to avenge the wrong done to Allah
by the sacrifice of life if the accusation were proved to
be true.

" We have come to search," they said briefly.

46 Search away, then," said Ali Ahmed Jhan, with the
drunkard's bravado.

Under the mattress they found a little covey of bottles.
Breaking the necks off, they smelt. It was alcohol,
though of a strange smell.

Then the Afghan wit came into play. Ali Ahmed Jhan
explained to his questioners, ready to kill him where he
stood.

44 You do not understand," he told them. " You do
not realise the breadth of the proposals for your own
comfort and safety which have been made by His Majesty
the King. You are ignorant men. Therefore you do not
know, probably, the smell nor the appearance of the
wonderful feringhe lotion which cures the sore backs of
your camels. ..."

And he showed the Afghan soldiery the labels on the
the bottles, solemnly translating the maker's name and
address into instructions for the cure of camels.

245