The Eyes of Asia | Page 9

When all the account was cleared, the beads were taken out of pawn
and returned to her grandfather, with a certificate, and he wept.
"This war is not a war. It is a world-destroying battle. All that has gone
before this war in this world till now has been only boys throwing
coloured powder at each other. No man could conceive it! What do you
or the Mohmunds or anyone who has not been here know of war?
When the ignorant in future speak of war, I shall laugh, even though
they be my elder brethren. Consider what things are done here and for
what reasons.
"A little before I took my wounds, I was on duty near an officer who
worked in wire and wood and earth to make traps for the enemy. He
had acquired a tent of green cloth upon sticks, with a window of soft
glass that could not be broken. All coveted the tent. It was three paces
long and two wide. Among the covetous was an Officer of Artillery, in
charge of a gun that shook mountains. It gave out a shell of ten maunds
or more [eight hundred pounds]. But those who have never seen even a

rivulet cannot imagine the Indus. He offered many rupees to purchase
the tent. He would come at all hours increasing his offer. He
overwhelmed the owner with talk about it." [I heard them often, Sahib.]
"At last, and I heard this also, that tent-owner said to that Artillery
Officer:--'I am wearied with your importunity. Destroy to-day a certain
house that I shall show you, and I will give you the tent for a gift.
Otherwise, have no more talk.' He showed him the roof of a certain
white house which stood back three kos [six miles] in the enemy
country, a little underneath a hill with woods on each side. Consider
this, measuring three kos in your mind along the Amritsar Road. The
Gunner Officer said:--'By God, I accept this bargain.' He issued orders
and estimated the distance. I saw him going back and forth as swiftly as
a lover. Then fire was delivered and at the fourth discharge the
watchers through their glasses saw the house spring high and spread
abroad and lie upon its face. It was as a tooth taken out by a barber.
Seeing this, the Gunner Officer sprang into the tent and looked through
the window and smiled because the tent was now his. But the enemy
did not understand the reasons. There was a great gunfire all that night,
as well as many enemy-regiments moving about. The prisoners taken
afterwards told us their commanders were disturbed at the fall of the
house, ascribing it to some great design on our part, so that their men
had no rest for a week. Yet it was all done for a little green tent's sake!
"I tell you this that you may understand the meaning of things. This is a
world where the very hills are turned upside down, with the cities upon
them. He who comes alive out of this business will forever after be as a
giant. If anyone wishes to see it let him come here or remain
disappointed all his life."
[We will finish with affection and sweet words. After all, a brother is a
brother.] "As for myself, why do you write to me so many complaints?
Are you fighting in this war or I? You know the saying: 'A soldier's life
is for his family: his death is for his country: his discomforts are for
himself alone.' I joined to fight when I was young. I have eaten the
Government's salt till I am old. I am discharging my obligation. When
all is at an end, the memory of our parting will be but a dream.

"I pray the Guru to bring together those who are separated.
"God alone is true. Everything else is but a shadow."
[That is poetry. Oh--and add this, Sahib.]
"Let there be no delay about the carpet. She would not accept anything
else."

THE PRIVATE ACCOUNT
Scene: Three and a half miles across the Border--Kohat way. Time: The
edge of sunset. Single room in a stone built tower house reached by a
ladder from the ground. An Afghan woman, wrapped in a red cotton
quilt, squats on the floor trimming a small kerosene lamp. Her husband,
an elderly Afghan with a purple dyed beard, lies on a native cot,
covered by a striped blue and white cloth. He is wounded in the knee
and hip. A Government rifle leans against the cot. Their son, aged
twenty, kneels beside him, unfolding a letter. As the mother places the
lighted lamp in a recess in the wall, the son picks up the rifle and
pushes