,
and he falls a victim to the blandishments of false friends who seek
his downfall.

So it turned out with Taib Khan: he, like most of the Afghan converts,
would not have shrunk from martyrdom, and, in fact, he had already
undergone great hardships and sufferings for the Gospel's sake. He
was put in joint charge with another Indian Christian of a rather
remote dispensary. The Muhammadans of the place became very friendly,
and pointed out how needless it was for him to forsake his village,
his relations, and the graves of his forefathers just because he wished
to be a Christian; let him be a Christian if he liked--it was no doubt
written in his fate that he should be so--but let him go and live in
his village. With the knowledge that he had acquired of medicine he
could easily earn enough to support himself and his wife and child,
and besides that he could claim the piece of land that was his by
right, if he took the trouble to prove his title to it.

Then followed a spiritual decline. Hypercritical objections to
Christianity, which had never troubled him before, were made into
excuses for returning more and more to his original Muhammadan
position. Finally he went to live in his village, conforming himself
outwardly at least to the Muhammadan standard, though, no doubt,
professing in some respects still to have an attachment to the
Christian religion. Who is to judge? Even through perverts Christian
doctrine continues to permeate the great mass of Islam, and God will
undoubtedly bring back His own at the last. So, "undeterred by seeming
failure," we work and pray on, leaving the result with Him who knows
the hearts of men.

CHAPTER XI

SCHOOL-WORK

Different views of educational work--The changed attitude of the
Mullahs--His Majesty the Amir and education--Dangers of secular
education--The mission hostel--India emphatically religious--Indian
schoolboys contrasted with English schoolboys--School
and marriage--Advantage of personal contact--Uses of a
swimming-tank--An unpromising scholar--Unwelcome discipline--A
ward of court--Morning prayers--An Afghan University--A
cricket-match--An exciting finish--A sad sequel--An officer's
funeral--A contrast--Just in time.

There are four attitudes towards educational work: that of the people
at large, who desire learning, not usually for learning's sake, but
because that is the portal of Government preferment and commercial