a ladder from the ground. An Afghan woman, wrapped in a red cotton
quilt, squats on the floor trimming a small kerosene lamp. Her husband,
an elderly Afghan with a purple dyed beard, lies on a native cot,
covered by a striped blue and white cloth. He is wounded in the knee
and hip. A Government rifle leans against the cot. Their son, aged
twenty, kneels beside him, unfolding a letter. As the mother places the
lighted lamp in a recess in the wall, the son picks up the rifle and
pushes the half-opened door home with the butt. The wife passes her
husband a filled pipe of tobacco, blowing on the charcoal ball in the
bowl.

SON [_as he unfolds letter_]. It is from France. His Regiment is still
there.

FATHER. What does he say about the money?

SON [_reading_]. He says: "I am made easy by the news that you are now
receiving my pay-allotment regularly. You may depend upon its coming
every month henceforward. I have also sent eleven rupees over and above
the allotment. It is a gift towards the purchase of the machine needed
in your business."

FATHER [_drawing a cheap nickel-plated revolver from his breast_]. It
is a good machine, and he is a good son. What else.

SON. He says: "You tell me our enemies have killed my uncle and my
brother, beside wounding our father. I am very far away and can give no
help whatever. It is a matter for great regret. Our enemies are now two
lives to the good against us in the account. We must take our revenge
quickly. The responsibility, I suppose, is altogether on the head of my
youngest brother."

FATHER. But I am still good for sitting-shots.

MOTHER [_soothingly_]. Ah! But he means, to think over all the
arrangements. Wounded men cannot think clearly till the fever is out of
the wound.

SON [_reading_]. "My youngest brother said he would enlist after me
when the harvest was gathered. That is now out of the question. Tell
him he must attend to the work in hand." (That is true, I cannot enlist
now.) "Tell him not to wander about after the people who did the actual
killing. They will probably have taken refuge on the Government side of
the Border." (That is true, too. It is exactly what they did.) "Even up
the account from the nearest household of our enemies. This will force
the murderers for their honour's sake to return and attend to their
proper business when--God willing--they can be added as a bonus. Take
our revenge quickly."

FATHER [_stroking beard_]. This is all wisdom. I