with him. He was careful to say that he had not any
intention of becoming a Christian, but merely desired to read them
because every Muhammadan regarded them with veneration as the word
of God.

The Sermon on the Mount entranced him, and he used to kiss the book
and place it on his head, as Muhammadans do with their Quran. He would
read by the hour, but as I had not much time to devote to him, he used
to betake himself to the room of Taib Khan, and sit there half the day
studying the Scriptures. This could not go on, of course; the people
of the village heard of it, and said that they must have an imam who
was free from the suspicion of heresy; he lost his pupils, and at
last a Synod of the chief Mullahs of Bannu formally excommunicated him.

He then came to live in the mission compound, and spent some happy
months in study, while supporting himself as custodian of the mission
bookshop. Seldom have I seen so remarkable a growth of the Christian
graces in the character of any of our converts as in this man, and
it was a great delight to see him admitted to Christian baptism,
already more mature in Christian character than many who had been
in the visible Church for years. He bore the most scurrilous abuse
with exemplary forbearance, and even when struck, as happened several
times when going through the bazaar, forbore to retaliate, which for
an Afghan is the acme of self-control.

He was a Seyyid--that is, one who claims descent from Muhammad--and
when he came with us to the bazaar preachings, and stood by our side,
the people were furious with him, saying that it was bad enough
that he, a Mullah and a Seyyid, should have become a Christian, but
to parade it there in the bazaar in that shameless way was too much,
and if he did not desist they would certainly kill him. I recommended
him to abstain from accompanying us to the bazaar preachings, because
I feared that the people would indeed put their threat into execution,
but he would not hear of it. He had read, he said, that our Lord said
He would be ashamed of those who were ashamed of Him before the world,
so how could he refrain from showing publicly that he had become a
Christian? He would think it an honour if he could obtain the crown
of martyrdom for the sake of the Saviour in whom he had believed.

One morning he found an Afghan dagger lying outside his door. We
thought perhaps his enemy had come in the night, but had been startled
by the night watchman and