noticed that he had passed by the fruit without taking
any; so he went up afterwards to console him, and ask him why he had
fallen out with those who had taken the fruit. He told him that when
he saw the other boys plucking the plums, he had himself taken one;
but then he thought how they had been told in the Scripture lessons
that that was a wrong thing to do, and so he had thrown the plum away.

'Alam Gul had hitherto never looked on the Scripture lesson as
a time for moral improvement, but rather as a time when fidelity
to his religion required him to shut his ears; so when he found
his schoolmate with a conscience that had become so tender through
listening to the Scripture teaching that he even thought it necessary
to confess to having plucked a single plum which he had not eaten,
his mind was filled with an inrush of new conflicting ideas.

The third influence came to him through the Scripture lesson
itself. The Indian pastor was teaching them from that chapter of the
greatest pathos in all history--the Crucifixion of our Lord. When it
came to his turn he read the verse: "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." Not very long before he would have resented
even having to read a verse addressing the Almighty as "Father,"
but now his heart was full of new emotions. "How could the Prophet
Christ pray for the forgiveness of enemies?" He remembered how an
uncle of his, on his death-bed, in making his last testament to
his sons, had enumerated his enemies and what evil they had done
him, and impressed upon them that revenge for those wrongs was the
heirloom which he had bequeathed to them, and which they must regard
as their bounden duty to perform. He remembered, too, how many of his
own family had been killed in blood-feuds, and even now his uncle,
the Subadar in the regiment, took precautions against somebody whom
he suspected of being his enemy. If Christ was able to die in this way
and His teaching had still such moral power, how was it that Muhammad,
who professed that his teaching had superseded that of Christ, had
not been able to give his followers an equal power? Why were there
Muhammadan tribes always torn with discord and feud and bloodshed on
every side, and by those who professed to do such deeds in his name?

'Alam Gul now began to study the Gospels for himself, and an interest
was awakened in his heart which surprised him; and instead of trying to
shirk the Scripture lessons, he began alwa