His Highness spoke to me for some time, though I remember but little of the conversation, except the more full description His Highness gave of his bodily ailments. He did not yet ask me to prescribe for him. When we reached home, I found my neighbour opposite, the Mirza Abdur-Rashid, had a guest. They were drinking tea together in the garden, and invited me to join them. The guest was a tall, very handsome man, plainly dressed in grey military tunic and astrakhan hat. He had very considerable dignity of manner, and was, I found, the Sirdar Gholam Hussain, a relative of His Highness, of the same clan. It is the duty of this gentleman to wait upon the Amîr at dinner, and to take charge of all food laid before His Highness. It is an honourable and also an onerous task in a country where the danger of poison is ever before the King. The drinking water of His Highness is in charge of a trusted page, the foster-brother of one of the Princes, and when, some time after this, I was attending His Highness medically, this page it was who was entrusted with the keys of the medicine cabinet. [Sidenote: The Blind Singer.] As we chatted over our tea, a blind boy came into the garden to sing. He would have been much improved by a few lessons on voice production, but for all that we listened to him with pleasure. His voice was soft and sweet, with a pathetic ring in it. [Illustration] CHAPTER XI. LIFE IN TURKESTAN. General Nassir Khan. The Story of the Shield. The Belgian’s Request. Escape of Allah Nûr: his Capture. The Amîr’s Decision. The Turkestan Commander-in-Chief. Operation on Allah Nûr. The Armenian’s Comments. Illness of Hadji Jan Mahomed. The Haughty Colonel: further comments by the Armenian. Sundry Acquaintances. Excursion to Takh-ta-Pûl. Fortune-telling among the Afghans. The Policeman-cook and the Lunch. Balkh. The Mosque at Mazar-i-Sherif and its Miracles. Called to His Highness. The Cool-air Pavilion: evil results of the same. Illness of the British Agent: the Armenian’s advice: the Answer from the Amîr. Brigadier Hadji-Gul Khan. Afghan Endurance of Suffering. The Country Cousin among the Court Pages. Euclid and Cards. A few days after this I was sent for to see General Nassir Khan, who was sick. He was a bent old man, but had been, I heard, a tiger to fight. He was with the Amîr during His Highness’s exile in Asiatic Russia. They said that he entered the Russian service, and rose to the rank of Colonel. He did not, however, forget his master, for he sent the greater part of his pay to the Amîr, retaining only enough for bare necessaries. Concerning this old man, I heard a little story, which throws a side-light on the Amîr, and may therefore be interesting. [Sidenote: The Story of the Shield.] There had been brought to His Highness, as a present, a very beautiful shield inlaid with gold. This was when he had come to the throne, and was Amîr.