ometimes in white, who used to dance him up and down on their
knees. His brain was in a whirl; recollection came to him like the dim
remembrance of things seen in dreams. These were people of his
blood--and he was a stranger among them.

He rode on dizzily, and entering the Kabul gate, found himself in a wide
street, thronged with folk of every race of the borderland. The size of
the place staggered him; Shagpur was a kennel compared with it. How
could he find his way about this huge town? And among so many people,
what place could there be for him? He knew not which way to turn, and as
for seeking an interview with the great sahib, Jan Larrens, of whom he
had heard, his heart sank at the mere thought of it. The speech he heard
around him was not his speech; he began to fear lest he should be unable
to make the least of his wants understood. But catching sight by and by
of a man in the chogah of the hill-men, he rode up to him eagerly, and
asked him where he might find a serai in which to stable his horse. To
his joy the man answered in his own tongue.

"You are a stranger. Whence do you come?"

"From Shagpur, in the hills."

"Hai! the village of Rahmut Khan."

"I am his son. Where is he?"

"That Allah knows. He is gone from here. The foolish one! He is even as
the ass that tried to get horns and lost his ears. Why was he so
foolish?"

"But tell me, where is he gone? 'Twas told us in Shagpur that the
Feringhis had put him in prison for five years. Where is the prison?"

"Did I not say that Allah knows? He was taken from this prison and sent
to some other. He is not my chief: why should I trouble about him? And
if you have come to see him, your journey is vain. Go back to Shagpur;
in five years you will see him again, if Allah wills."

"Show me a place where I may stable my horse, and then I will go and see
the Feringhi Jan Larrens; perhaps he will tell me that which I wish to
know."

"A stone will not become soft, nor Jan Larrens a friend. But you are a
bold youth, that is certain. And that is a good horse of yours; have a
care lest it be stolen. If a stranger may give counsel, I say stable him
not, but keep him always with you--though to be sure you cannot ride
into the room where Jan Larrens is. Wah! no matter; leave the beast with
the sentry at the door; he will keep him safe."

"Then tell me where this Jan Larrens is to be found. I would see him at
once."

"And there is little time to lose, for when t