but would be a serious and constant danger. It would be impossible
for him to be always on his guard; there must be times when, through
fatigue or other reasons, he is at the mercy of those among whom he is
dwelling. Besides this, there is nothing which an Afghan covets more,
or to steal which he is more ready to risk his life, than firearms;
and though he might not otherwise wish harm to the missionary, the
possibility of securing a good revolver or gun would be too great a
temptation, even though he had to shed blood to secure it. My plan was,
therefore, to put myself entirely in their hands, and let them see
that I was trusting to their sense of honour and to their traditional
treatment of a guest for my safety.

At the same time, I was rather at pains than otherwise to let them
see that the bluff to which they sometimes resorted had no effect
upon me, and that I was indifferent to their threats and warnings,
which, as often as not, were just a ruse on their part to see how far
they could impose on me. Once, when I was in a trans-border village,
resting a few hours in the heat of the day, some young bloods arrived
who had just come in from a raid, and were still in the excitement
of bloodshed. Some of them thought it would be a good opportunity to
bait the Daktar Sahib, and one of them, holding his loaded revolver
to my chest, said: "Now we are going to shoot you." I replied:
"You will be very great fools if you do, because I am of more use to
you than to myself, and you would as likely as not poison yourselves
with my drugs if I were not there to tell you how to use them." At
this the senior man of the party rebuked them, and offered me a kind
of apology for their rudeness, saying: "They are only young fellows,
and they are excited. Do not mind what they say. We will see that no
harm comes to you." On another occasion I came to a village across
the border rather late at night. There were numerous outlaws in the
village, but the chief under whose protection I placed myself took the
precaution of putting my bed in the centre of six of his retainers,
fully armed, in a circle round me, one or two of whom were to keep
watch in turns. I had had a hard day's work, and was soon sound asleep,
and this was my safety, because I was told in the morning that some
of the more fanatical spirits had wanted to kill me in the night,
but the others said: "See, he has trusted himself entirely to our
protection, and because he trusts