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EX-KING OF AFGHANISTAN

Old Habibullah, the stone-wall Amir, ruled with the
rod of iron that the Afghan understands. Amanullah
allowed his restless mind to stray from the paths of
reality. Inayatullah was a weakling, and no weakling
will ever rule in Kabul. Bacha Sachao, self-named after
the glories of Habibullah, outdid the natural cruelty of
the Afghan in his excesses, while his reign was virtually
over when his shameful caste was discovered.

But in Nadir Shah there is the true Afghan blood,
the courage of the hillman, the wisdom of the diplomat,
and the blind faith of the true follower of Islam, all
combined. Such virtues are necessary in the land where
strange rulers have sat on the throne, and lived to see
their characters tested more severely than falls to the
lot of Western emperors.

The news has gone round the hill-tops and the ravines.
The shepherd's voice rings out in all its resonance to
his neighbour. His voice is floating across the great
distances, and seems to gather strength as it soars
upward in the long wailing cry of the hillmen.

The news goes round. There is a King in Kabul who
is of the Faith, who holds to the laws of the Koran,
who is strong in the religion of the north. He is a
fighting man, and put to death the bandit of the hills,
that one that the fools called Robin Hood. He has
made just laws, so that all men are equal in his sight,
and bids them come to Kabul to make laws for then-
own kind.

They have heard that before. . . . There was Aman-
ullah, riding on the wind of his own ambition. This
same piece of news was transmitted round the ranges of
the hills, and discussed often enough in the samovar
shops. The peasant knew the end of that, how by the
rule of Amanullah his treasures grew to nothing, how
he and his family starved under the pressure of the

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