mised me support, both material and influential, if I would do
so. It was a tempting field, and, no doubt, it would have exerted a
widespread influence for peace on the neighbourhood; but there were
insurmountable difficulties of another nature, and the project had
to be abandoned.

A few years ago I heard with regret that my old friend Chikki had
been ambuscaded by a section of the Khujjal Khel Wazirs, with whom
he had an old-standing quarrel. He and the men with him fell riddled
with bullets, and the victors exultingly cut out his heart and bore
it off in triumph, boasting that it weighed ten seers (twenty pounds).

CHAPTER XXIII

ROUGH DIAMONDS

A novel inquirer--Attends the bazaar preaching--Attacked
by his countrymen--In the police-station--Before the
English magistrate--Declares he is a Christian--Arrival
of his mother--Tied up in his village--Escape--Takes
refuge in the hills--A murder case--Circumstantial
evidence--Condemned--A last struggle for liberty--Qazi Abdul
Karim--His origin--Eccentricities--Enthusiasm--Crosses the
frontier--Captured--Confesses his faith--Torture--Martyrdom.

I will recount shortly in this chapter the stories of two Afghan
converts, to show what strange cases we have to deal with, and how
difficult it is to discover the motives at work, even if we ever do
discover them.

Seronai was one of the Marwat clan of Pathans, which inhabits the
southern part of the Bannu district.

One afternoon in the year 1899 I had been conducting the open-air
preaching in the Bannu bazaar, and was returning home, when I noticed
that I was being followed by a stalwart Afghan, over six feet high
and broad in proportion. I had noticed him among the crowd at the
preaching, as he was quite the biggest man there.

"What is it I can do for you?" I said to him.

"I am going to join your religion," was the reply.

I took him home, found that he was a farmer in a small way, possessed a
few acres of land in a very criminal village right at the base of the
frontier hills, could not read or write, and knew very little indeed
of the Muhammadan religion beyond the prayers. Yet when I asked him,
"Why do you wish to join our religion?" the only answer I could obtain
was, "Because it is my wish."

"But you do not know anything about either religion."

"You can teach me; I will learn."

So importunate a pupil it was impossible to refuse. He was willing
enough to lear