ell."

"Certainly, he will come back if he recovers; but, then, he is very
ill. Supposing he were to die?"

"If he were to die, then what matter whether his name be on our
register or not?"

"Sir, the Mullah tells me that if he die with his name still on the
register of the mission school, he could never go to heaven."

Arguments were useless, and the head-master had perforce to satisfy
the father by giving the boy a leaving certificate.

Ultimately, however, 'Alam Gul recovered, and was allowed to go back
to the mission school; but a few months later the regiment in which
his uncle the Subadar was was transferred to another station, and
the uncle wished to take his nephew with him there. But the boy had
by this time formed a great attachment to the school, and begged to
be allowed to remain, so it was arranged that he should be entered
in the school boarding-house.

This hostel accommodated a number of those pupils whose homes were
too far from Bannu for them to attend as day scholars, and who had
no relations in the town with whom they might lodge. Each boy is
provided with a bedstead and a mat, and he brings his own bedding,
books and utensils.

The first night 'Alam Gul felt very strange. Instead of the small
crowded room of his house was a large airy dormitory, shared by some
twenty of his schoolfellows. At one end of the dormitory was the
room of the Superintendent, so that he could supervise the boys both
by day and night. The Superintendent was a Hindu, but 'Alam Gul had
got used by this time to respect his masters, even though they were
not Muhammadan, and had overcome some of his old prejudice. As the
Superintendent treated him kindly, and there was a Muhammadan friend
of his in the next bed, he was soon very happy there.

Attached to the hostel was a pond of water supplied daily from the
Kurram River, in which it was the duty of every boarder to bathe
regularly. This tank served other purposes too, as 'Alam Gul found to
his cost. It was the rule that all boarders were to be up and have
their bedding tidily folded by sunrise. The Principal of the school
every now and again paid surprise visits to the boarding-house about
that time, and woe betide the luckless boy who was found still asleep
in bed! Two of the monitors were told to take him by the head and
heels and swing him far into the middle of the tank.

'Alam Gul had not been many weeks in the boarding-house before one
morning he overslept hims