Around the khirgar was a small trench to carry off melted snow or rain. Inside, the floor was carpeted, and my patient was lying on a mattress on the ground. The khirgar was very warm, for in the centre was a large brazier with glowing charcoal. Light was to be obtained only by opening the door or by lighting a lamp. In the summer, when the felt-covering is dispensed with, light is obtained by pushing back a flap of canvas. On the boy’s thigh there was bandaged a wretched little splint, quite useless if the bone were broken. I soon had it off, and found that the bone was broken in the lower third. It took some little time to have a long splint made and to put it on. Several Page boys, who were living in other khirgars, came in, and also the official whose duty it is to look after the boys. When I was putting on the splint, I noticed the scar of a bullet in the upper part of the boy’s thigh. I enquired how he had got it, and then I heard the story of the attempt upon the life of the Amîr which had taken place the year before. His Highness was reviewing the troops on the plains outside the town of Mazar. The pain of his Sciatica was troubling him so that he was not on horseback, but sat in an arm-chair, which was placed on a large square mound or platform some four or five feet high, artificially made. His Highness sat smoking a cigarette, the Commander-in-Chief, Page boys, and officials were grouped around his chair, and seated on the ground by his side was Captain Griesbach, C.I.E., the geologist. An Herati regiment was passing, and suddenly one of the men stepped out of the line, threw up his rifle, and fired point-blank at the Amîr. Just at that moment His Highness leaned over to speak to Captain Griesbach, and the bullet whizzed under his arm, through the chair back, and caught Samander just below the hip. The Amîr continued what he was saying without a pause, and still smoked the cigarette. The Commander-in-Chief sprang instantly from the mound and rushed on the man to cut him down. Then the Amîr shouted “Stop!” But it was too late, the Commander-in-Chief’s sword flew to pieces on the man’s head, and the bystanders instantly dispatched him. The Amîr, presumably, wished to go into the matter, for the Herati was a known shot, and to enquire the motive of his action with a view of determining if he were alone in the plot. But whatever may have been suspected I never heard that anything definite was found out. It was, however, an evil day for the officers of that regiment. Samander receives a larger pay than any of the other Page boys, and is naturally somewhat of a favourite.