y found that
the officer knew them too well to be hoodwinked by their bluff,
they found it convenient to send up into Khost and bring back the
mare. The man through whose instrumentality it was brought back has
posed to me ever since as my benefactor, and expected a variety of
favours in return. The theft was universally reprobated by the tribe,
but chiefly because circumstances had doomed it to failure.

Notorious thieves and outlaws have frequently availed themselves of
the wards of the mission hospital when suffering from some fever
or other disease which has temporarily incapacitated them; but,
of course, they come under assumed names, and otherwise conceal
their identity. It is to be hoped, however, that they benefit
all the same from the addresses and good counsel which they daily
hear while under treatment. Sometimes, as in the case I am about
to relate, their identity becomes known. A few years ago, in Bed
26--the "Southsea" bed--there was Zaman, a noted thief, who came in
suffering from chronic dysentery, and continued under treatment for
over two months. He lingered on, with many ups and downs, but was
evidently past recovery when he came in. He paid much attention to
the Gospel that was read to him, and sometimes professed belief in
it, but showed no signs of repenting of his past career. But when
told eventually that there was no hope of his recovery, he at once
had a police officer summoned, so as to give him the names of some
of his former "pals," hoping thereby not only to get them caught and
punished in revenge for their having thrown him off when too weak and
ill to join in their nefarious practices, but also to gain a reward
for the information given. He gradually sank and died, professing
a belief in Christ; but He alone, who readeth the heart, knoweth. I
do not think he would have turned informer had not his confederates
apparently deserted him in his distress.

No description of Afghan life would be complete which did not give
an account of their public dances. These take place on the 'Id days,
or to celebrate some tribal compact, or the cessation of hostilities
between two tribes or sections. It can only be seen in its perfection
across the border, for in British India the more peaceful habits
of the people and the want of the requisite firearms have caused
it to fall into desuetude. Across the frontier some level piece of
ground is chosen, and a post is fixed in the centre. The men arrange
them