Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-06-04

MYSTERY OF TWO BEINGS WHO
CROSSED TIE NARRATOR'S PATH.

CROSSED TIE NARRATOR'S PATH.
The Handsome Young Pathan Prisoner
Whose knife Was Stained with Blood
The Young Girl Who Presented Silver
Ring-were the Two Connected?
1t was on the I'd Of january, 1879,
that General Roberts left Hazar PHI
Ziarat to subdue the Khcst district, an
unsophisticated country where the rev
enue had hitherto been collected in cop.
per, and up to this date the semblanct
of the rupee had not been known.
Hazar Pr Ziarat (the shrine Of q
thousand saints-literally old men) was
hardly even a village, and only the day
preceding some six or seven had beer
added to the number of saints, as a
batch Of murderous marauders had been
executed, and dying in the faith, shout
ing the fatmah and acknowledging
nothing but piety in their attempts Oh
infdel l;fe, their corpses had doubtless
rendered their graves sanctified ground,
and so added to the Ziarat-in these
parts a holy grove, generally Of olive,
to fell which j. desecration.
AS the Tenth hussars spread cheerily
into order covering the advance, Their
bright pouch belt buckles(the last glitter
left after even stirrups had been dulled)
sparkling i'll the bright sunlight as they
threaded among tie camel thorn sprin-
kled over tho plain, the writer divcrged
from the advance, having to convoy
with u small escort Cf cavalry and in
fantry long train cf some 800 empty
camels ordered to the advance base to
fill up with supplies My way lay among
hills bordering the right bank Of the
KuTrum river, and / sOCn lost sight OF
the force moving Oh Matoun and fin
ished the days march without any ad-
venture On the Sd Of January the in
cidents befell which l now seek to mar
rate
In a lonely valley party Of my Sikh
infantry brought before me a Pathan
prisoner, saying: Here is a man who
has been caught concealing his aims. II
has been ordered by General Roberts
that all such shall be dispatched. May
we kill him?''
Now, this was d hard saying.
The young man appeared by his head
gear to be a Waziri, not unfriendIy
tribe, which, however, furnished not a
few lawless depredators. His only arm
was the long Afghan knife, necessary
for his own protection perhaps, and il
the cold weather it appeared not unnat-
ural that he should wrap himself in his
thin outer colored scarf, worn somewhat
after the fashion of a plaid. His face
was handsome, open and fearless, but
such was the mien Of all Afghans-often
seen on the most cold bloCded fends.
could not, however, though de-
termined to fulfill the spirit Of instruc-
tions, at once hand him over to the bay
onet, and, saying, "Oh, his knife is only
for harmless use or protection, " I took
it from him and drew it. Itwas thickly
coated with fairly fresh blood.
For moment l could have handed
him over to death, but reason told me
that this was 10 additional evidence of
murder. He might have slain a goat O.
sheep, he might have met an enemy in
fair tight-questions Of course were use
less. Finally, with some misgivings as
to whether l was strictly obeying orders
and amid the scOwls and murmurs of
the Sillhs, who were quite strange to my
command, gave the young man back
his lnife-and sent him Oh his way
He left gracefully and courteously,
showing neither IN his smiling face nor
in his elastic gait one single sign of
guilt or fear, and soon his erect figure
was lost to my view over the brow Of a
low hill
Some hours Of march followed, and
the care Of massing the long, unwieldy
line Of camels III u column On each small
plain, before again filing the next pass,
precaution necessary to enable my rear
guard to be within hail il case Of attack
on 50 tempting and easy prey, fully
absorbed me and drove the preceding III
cident clean from my head
Suddenly l became aware Of a young
Pathan girl running beside my horse
and holding up to me silver ring set
with a turquoise. This seemed to me a
very unusual act from Mussulman
and a Pathan, where seclusion is so
strictly the rule, and had no idea as to
the meaning she wished to convey, my
Pushtoo being unequal to the dialect she
spoke, and indeed scanty enough at all
times. However, seeing that l was
meant to take the ring, I did so, the
girl, about II, showing that she meant
| should take it from her Even then
she made no effort to leave, and so,
imagining perhaps that she wanted mon
ey for some purpose, ! offered her few
rupees, which she refused Petulantly. l
turned to the Hindoo sowGrs who rode
behind me and asked what it all meant,
but they only laughed unpleasantly, as
if to say, ''What can a Mussulmm and
q woman mean except what is contemp-
tible?" 50 that, angry at their scorn and
possible misconceptions, l flung the girl
back her ring and babe her bcgone. She
left, muttering and apparently still anx-
ious to explain, but troop Of horsemen
now appeared Oh the plain, and whirl-
ing their long lances round their heads
cantered shouting toward us The Sikh
infantry closed their files and prepared
to receive them, and / went forward to
reconnoiter them more closely.
They turned out 3 be q friendly 'jir-
gah, III" OF deputation, seeking General
Roberts, but this fresh incident drove
the last again from my thoughts, and
later on l concluded my march without
further befalling
1t was not till weeks after that /
thought Of connecting the act Of the girl
With possible wish to express gratitude
Tor the husband or lover who had such
a narrow escape at my hands. But
never heard any further explanation,
nor did those who knew best the Afghan
character think this Interpretation a
likely one.
suppose l shall never know more of
the two beings who on that day only
literally crossed my path. Serv-
ice Magazine.
WOMAN's WORLD IN PARAGRAPHS.
The Hotel CompIexion-Have These Wom-
en- ANY Souls?
A Awriter in the New York Sun credits
a doctor with making the discovery Of a
"'hotel complexion" among women A
.-I.. I..,I-~l xr,c