round them, but Y. told him that the Amir had sent a guard in his honour for the hour was late, so they went on, the soldiers walking on both sides, until they came to the bridge which spans the river, and here they turned to cross it, for the old part of the city to which Y. had been ordered to take the man lay in that direction. The man, however, got suspicious, and asked why they were going away from the palace, instead of towards it, and he seemed inclined to break away; but the soldiers gathered round closer, and Y. made an excuse that the Amir had ordered them to go that way, as he did not wish others to see them going towards the palace, and that they were to re-cross the river lower down, and reach their destination that way. The man said no more, and they went on, but when the road led them still further away from the palace he refused to go further; but on Y. telling him that it was the Amir’s orders, and perhaps seeing that it was useless to resist doing as he was told, he went on with them. When they at last arrived at a place in the ruins where there was an old disused well, the soldiers were signalled to seize the man, who, realizing what was intended, struggled fiercely, but was eventually overpowered, and held down on the ground. The officer of the men then came up and asked what was to be done further, so taking the paper given him by the Amir, Y. lighted a match, and after reading it told the officer that the man’s head was to be severed from the body. The officer then walked back to his men, taking out his sword as he went, and while the man was held down, cut through the throat, and at last finished the job, but the man’s violent struggles rendered it difficult to do what was ordered, until a gash had been made in the throat, and loss of blood weakened him. The head and body were then cast into an old well, and earth thrown on top to hide all traces, and they returned to the palace, and on arrival there Y. went to the Amir and reported that he had done as was ordered; the Amir said, “It is good,” and told him he had leave to go home. Y. said that night, after going to bed, every time he shut his eyes he could see the man’s head as it was when it was at last severed from the body, and that it was several nights before he could sleep without starting up again thinking he saw the same thing. A few weeks after this had happened, the dead man’s son went to the Amir, and said that Y. had called for his father late one night, intimating that the Amir Sahib wanted him, and the two of them had gone out together, and since then his father had not been seen. The Amir told him it was true, but to keep his mind at rest, for his father had been sent a long journey on a special mission and, God willing, he would come back. The relatives of men got rid of in this way, however, soon guessed the fate of those missing, and for their own sakes kept quiet lest they too should be taken away and never return.