New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-17

Prince Habib- ulIa Khan. nephew Of the Doxt ,,s
a pretender to the latters Afghan throne C.,s
ner turned his back upon the Dost and oi,..
Habib-ulla Khan. From this date" he saw
for a period Of two and half years I led
life in the saddle. one Of active warfare Ana
continual forlys; SO successful were We thar u
had our advanced posts within twenty miles ..
Kabul ard the Dcst dared not show his nose i;
the " iolc mountain region" by a ruse tba.
captured one of the women Of the Dosts harsm
returning To Kabul from a pilgrimage and Win
her a young girl whom Gardner married n.
was now happy. To be- sure the work he VA,
doing was periious enough. His "forays" ws,s
Of the sort characteristic Of the Oriental trhes
They were none too generously tempered with
mercy. Ultimately his "castello" wa.
stormed in his absence. his wife stabbed hersea,
! to avoid falling into the hands Of the enemy
and his infant murdered But he was
man of strangely enduring qualities. Courageh.
had in abundance. and his isolation amo..
men Of a race wholly different from his own d,s
not weigh on him lie parted sadly but resign.
eddy with Habib-ulla Khan when the pre,s,
sions OF that Prince were at last crushed by In.
Dost he left the of his wife's death and
stocaliy proceeded to eude the long arm a,
Dost Muhammad Khan He describes from mi,
point lNteHSf suicriiSS from cold ana hunger
constant skirmishes with the inimlcal Afghan.
and. at last. temporary peace in the retreat Of
hermit Of the Hindoo- Kush. Near this retreat
it may be noted in passing. he found a remark.
able relic in the shape Of a colossal statue Of
horse. hewn out of the solid rock and nov
fallen prone on it's side. This horse he was told
had once had wings and had brought % Earth
every night the giant lover OF beautiful aueen
.f
cut of his steeds wings and buried hlmse,,
under the mountain. The horse waited un,s
finally il was turned ID stone
Gardner stayed with the hermit long enough
to recover from his wounds. Then ne travelled
on through Badakshan aud into Kahristaar
meeting among the kirgnz with some hosu.
table chiefs. His notes on this period are "a.
pecially interesting for the light they throw o.
native customs. one old bal Of his acgualn,
ance. a chief OF at least sixty-fve years in
vited him 10 witness his marriage 10 a Kirghjz
maiden. Gorgeous preparations were made but
the bride failed to appear. II was discovered
that she and her mother had at the last mo.
ment eloped The father pursued them and
killed them both, with all their followers mum.
bering eleven. girl Of fifteen daughter Of
one Of the head men was then produced and
marriage was duly sOlemnized. Gardner ie.
scribes another odd marriage with an elually
tragic sequel. \ certain Krghiz maiden had
been DetrOthed ana sold to more than one sutton
She was mounted on fleet horse armed With
bow. and raced off pursued by her loyera
Had she escaped them she would have oesa
free Of all engagements. but one Of the pur
suers captured her and they were az once mar.
red. All this occurred under the auspices az
Shah Bahadur Beg. a robber cheftain That
same night he murdered the girls husband
her parents and her brothers and brought, her
to his own camp. In two days she had killed
herself with dagger. Such We're the occur
Fences familiar to Gardner during his sOjourn
| with Shah Bahadur Beg. 4 little quiet vas hIs
| portion when. habited as 4 Mussulmln h
| settled down at Baiaur. devoutiy carrying
| copy Of the Koran suspended around his neck:
| but when he entered the Panjab early in In
| thirtes il seemed IL the excilements Of hs
career had only just begun
In Gardeners time the power Of the Sikh na.
! ton had been we'll consolidated in the PaniaA
! by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. ruler born IN /, 80
| Ranjit Singh's domain lay between the British
and the Afghans, but ii was only from the lat.
ter that he feared offensive operations lie had
observed the efficiency OF troops controlled BY
European officers. and, foreseeing that with such
aids he might dictate To Afghanistan he gath.
cred many Italian and French adventures
about him. drawing them easily into his service
after the close Of the Napoleonic wars Gardres
was invited by Sultan Muhammad Khan.
brother and enemy of his old-tme foe the Dost
and Governor OF Peshawar for Ranjit Singh. b
I -