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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



"Fifteen years," was the absurd 

 answer. 



"I am a hundred," I rejoined. 



He saw the point, and said hesita- 

 tingly : "Well, perhaps I am something 

 over twenty. My age is written in a 

 book, but the book is lost and it's a long 

 time since I've seen it." 



In spite of Hakim Khan's protesta- 

 tions, we at length set forward, accom- 

 panied by the chief and his two soldiers. 

 When the fort came into sight a mile 

 away we yielded so far as to let him send 

 a man to announce our approach. 



''Tell the commandant," we said, "that 

 we have ridden far and are tired. We 

 can talk business better if he has tea 

 ready on our arrival." 



The soldier dug his heels into his 

 horse's flanks, the beast jumped, and the 

 rider rolled ignominiously to the ground. 

 His awkward way of mounting r.nd the 

 violent flapping of his legs as he once 

 more got under way confirmed our im- 

 pression that he was no cavalryman, and 

 that if it came to shooting on horseback 

 he would be more dangerous to his 

 friends than to us. Nevertheless it was 

 an anxious time as we watched him gal- 

 loping wildly off. At length he reached 

 the castle far away across the plain, and 

 Httle black dots began to come out on 

 the top of the crumbling old pile to look 

 and disappear. Would we be received 

 with tea and peace, or with soldiers and 

 imprisonment? When finally we reached 

 our destination, Hakim Khan led us up 

 past the ruins of an older fort to the 

 main entrance of the once stately castle, 

 a handsome arch now falling to ruins. 



In the doorway stood the command- 

 ant, a genuine old martinet, in an ancient 

 British uniform of blue and gilt. His 

 scraggly beard had been dyed some 

 months before, according to the Persian 

 fashion, but now had grown so much 

 that a rim of newlv grown grav hair 

 intervened between his dark sun-tanned 

 face and the bright red fringe of older 

 hair, giving him a strangely simian as- 

 pect. An armed soldier stood on either 

 side of the chief, while unarmed men 

 lounged here and there. Thev might 



have had guns concealed under their, 

 long woolen cloaks, but there was no 

 sign of armament except the two men 

 beside the commandant, and a stack of 

 four old-fashioned rifles to the right of 

 the doorway. Through the door we 

 caught a glimpse of tumble-down build- 

 ings surrounding a courtyard in the 

 midst of which a single horse was con- 

 spicuously tied. To the left of the arch 

 we gladly noticed an adobe platform 

 spread with rugs, which suggested tea 

 and a peaceful reception. 



We were not left long in doubt, for 

 the commandant sourly motioned to us 

 to take places on the rugs with himself 

 and Hakim Khan, while thirty or more 

 soldiers ranged themselves cross-legged 

 or asquat in a circle roundabout, and it 

 became clear that they had no guns. At 

 first one of the two armed soldiers stood 

 respectfully opposite the chief, but soon 

 sat down, while his comrade, who was 

 supposed to be pacing before the gate- 

 way, often forgot his unaccustomed duty 

 and stopped to listen. We endeavored 

 to ascertain the Afghan attitude as to a 

 certain disputed piece of territory which 

 we really needed to cross for scientific 

 purposes, but the only result was that an 

 old private in the outside circle often 

 took the words out of his superior's 

 mouth, and the Russian official and the 

 commandant kept contradicting one an- 

 other in the "katydid" fashion of "It 

 is." "It isn't." 



By the time tea arrived it became evi- 

 dent that the Afghans were much more 

 afraid of us than we of them. Kafir 

 Kala, their boasted stronghold, was 

 plainly defenseless. One can imagine 

 the scene on the arrival of Hakim 

 Khan's expert horsemen. The com- 

 mandant hears the message in conster- 

 nation and starts awav to put on his 

 faded uniform, but pauses to order tea 

 and to direct that the six rifles be 

 brought out. The four old-fashioned 

 ones are to be stacked by the door ; the 

 two modern ones are to be carried bv 

 the soldiers whose nondescript garments 

 most resemble uniforms. One of the 

 two well-dressed men is to accompany 



