'"And yet," said I, smiling, "we Feringhees fear you like us little." '"Little indeed!" said he, as his brow grew dark, "Sahib, I have seen and known your people--seen them at their manly sports in the cantonments yonder; seen the wonderful boat that Sinclair Sahib launched upon the Lake of Istaliff, and the flying shoes he used thereon when ice covered the standing water,' he continued, referring to a boat which was built, and skates which were made by Willie Sinclair, an ingenious "sub" of ours, to the great wonder of the Afghans, who had never seen either before. "But what brought you among our mountains? Individually you English are fine fellows--noble fellows; but collectively we _hate_ you," he added, while his eyes and his set teeth seemed to glisten. "Could it be otherwise with us, who see that you are unbelievers who deem that Allah is but a name? But you are my guest, let us not talk of these things. We shall have our pipes of tobacco, and Nourmahal shall take her saringa and sing us the 'Song of the Rose.'" 'She brought us cherry-stick pipes, obediently assumed her native guitar, and sang to us, as her lord and master suggested. The night passed pleasantly, for the tent was in a sheltered spot; and I got up betimes to return to the cantonment, escorted part of the way by Zemaun Khan, to whose wife I presented one of the pretty charms that hung at my watch-chain. 'As we parted within a mile or so of the cantonment gate, he again expressed his gratitude to me, but said to me impressively, and with a low earnest voice: '"If you can quit this place for Candahar or Jellalabad go at once--go, and go quickly; in three days, perhaps, it may be too late! The hills will then be alive with men." '"You say either too much or too little," I exclaimed rather angrily. '"I have said what I have said. The web of your existence has been spun of the thread of sorrow, and the sword of the Afghan will rend it asunder." '"If a rising of the natives is attempted," said I, "we shall not leave one stone of yonder Balahissar standing on another." '"Be it so; but," he added, pointing to the stupendous mountains, "you cannot destroy these--the fortresses given by God to the hill-tribes of Afghanistan! And Ackbar Khan has sworn an oath that your whole host shall perish save _one man_, who will be only spared to tell the fate of his comrades!"