uriously. "Why do you supplicate Lumsden
Sahib? It is enough to sink the boat straight away." "That is easily
explained," calmly replied Dilawur. "You are calling on saints who
have been dead for ages, while Lumsden Sahib is alive and lives close
by. Personally I consider it more sensible to call on a living man than
on a dead saint."

On another occasion his enthusiasm in the cause of religious
enlightenment nearly cost him his life. When the Amir Dost Mahomed Khan
came to Peshawur in 1856, he was accompanied by Hafiz Ji, a leading
mullah of Afghanistan and a great doctrinarian; to whom came the learned
amongst the Faithful, to discuss the tenets of their religion and to
listen to the wisdom of the wise. With them came also Dilawur, full
of zeal and thirsting for knowledge, who artlessly introduced so
debatable a subject, that the assembly was thrown into an uproar; and
lest worse things might happen unto him, the worthy, but too enquiring,
subadar was hustled hastily forth, and requested in future to stick to
soldiering, and to avoid bringing his infernal questions to cause
discord amongst the chosen of the Prophet. As Dilawur afterwards
pathetically remarked, he "didn't think much of a religion which instead
of meeting argument with argument only threw stones at the head of the
seeker after knowledge." Indeed the occasion seems to have thoroughly
unsettled him in the convictions of his youth, for shortly afterwards he
finally shook off all connection with the Mahomedan religion, and
turning Christian was baptised at Peshawur in 1858.

During the Mutiny he did excellent service, making the famous march to
Delhi with the Guides, and serving with them throughout the siege and
storming of that place. He served also in the many skirmishes which
occurred on the frontier during the next twelve years, getting what he
had bargained for on joining, plenty of fighting. And then came that
call of duty which asked of the staunch old warrior to lay down his life
for the foreign Queen whose good servant he was.

In 1869 the British Government wanted a man to go on a special and
important mission, a man of infinite resource, well educated, hardy and
brave, for he would need to carry his life in his hands for many a long
day and many a weary mile. The man selected was Dilawur Khan, and
joyfully he undertook the risks and excitement of the service. With him
went a comrade, Ahmed Jan, also of the Guides. The two set forth
together,