have a man for a son.
What else does he say, Akbar?

SON. He says: "I have a letter from Kohat telling me that a certain man
of a family that we know is coming out here with a draft in order to
settle with me for an account which he says I opened."

MOTHER [_quickly_]. Would that be Gul Shere Khan--about that Peshawari
girl?

SON. Perhaps. But Ahmed is not afraid. Listen! He says: "If that man or
even his brothers wish to come to France after me I shall be very
pleased. If, in fact, anyone wishes to kill me, let them by all means
come out. I am here present in the field of battle. I have placed my
life on a tray. The people in our country who talk about killing are
children. They have not seen the reality of things. _We_ do not turn
our heads when forty are killed at a breath. Men are swallowed up or
blown apart here as one divides meat. When we are in the trenches,
there is no time to strike a blow on the private account. When we are
at rest in the villages, one's lust for killing has been satisfied. Two
men joined us in the draft last month to look after a close friend of
mine with whom they had a private account. They were great
swash-bucklers at first. They even volunteered to go into the trenches
though it was not their turn of duty. They expected that their private
account could be settled during some battle. Since that turn of duty
they have become quite meek. They had, till then, only seen men killed
by ones and twos, half a mile separating them. _This_ business was like
killing flies on sugar. Have no fear for me, therefore, no matter who
joins the Regiment. It needs a very fierce stomach to add anything to
our Government rations."

MOTHER. He writes like a poet, my son. That is wonderful writing.

FATHER. All the young men write the same with regard to the war. It
_quite_ satisfies all desires. What else does he say?

SON [_summarizing_]. He says that he is well fed and has learned to
drink the French coffee. He says there are two sorts of French
tobacco--one yellow, one blue. The blue, he says, is the best. They are
named for the papers they are wrapped in. He says that on no account
must we send him any opium or drugs, because the punishment for
drugging is severe and the doctors are quick to discover. He desires to
be sent to him some strong hair-dye of the sort that our father uses.

MOTHER [_with a gesture_]. Hair-dye! He is a child. What's he been
doing?

SON. He says he wishes to win favour fr