me time I told him that if he
did not return at the expiration of the month, I should conclude that
something was wrong, and go in search of him.

The month passed, and Taib did not appear, so I started for Peshawur,
and thence to Thandkoi, to get news of him. I took as my companion
Azizuddin, an Afghan, who but for his conversion to Christianity
would have been a distinguished Mullah, but now was a simple
mission catechist. It was a long walk of about seventeen miles
from the station to the village, and we were caught in a tropical
thunderstorm. Watercourses that had been all but dry an hour before
were now surging up to our armpits, and could only be forded with
difficulty. We reached the village like drowned rats, and the people
were kind to us and dried our clothes and gave us breakfast; but all
inquiries as to Taib Khan were fruitless, though someone indeed told
us that he had gone to the Akhund of Swat in company with the Khani
Mullah. We had to return to Peshawur after a bootless search.

A fortnight later, while on tour in the Kohat district, news was
brought me that Taib was again in his village. This time I took
a convert from Islam with the very Muhammadan name of Muhammad
Hosein. Though children born of Christian parents are never given names
distinctive of Islam, yet when converts have such names, and are not
desirous of changing them, we do not advocate a change of name, because
we wish them to feel that the change is a spiritual and not a material
one. So Muhammad Hosein and I set off, but resolved to proceed more
warily than in my previous visit; so, instead of going straight into
the village, we sat down by a well outside the neighbouring town of
Zaida, and my companion, leaving me there, went into the town to make
inquiries. Zaida is a larger and more important place than Thandkoi,
and contains many mosques, while the overlord is a well-educated
Muhammadan nobleman, an alumnus of the Peshawur mission school. He
was led to believe that Taib was secreted in one of the mosques there,
but would not be allowed to appear except perhaps at night.

He returned to me at the well, and by this time it had become known
who we were, so there was less hope than ever of Taib being allowed
to show himself. As evening drew on we made as though we would return
to Peshawur, but on reaching the first village on the Peshawur road I
let my friend go on alone, while I returned for a night quest. At the
same time I told hi