"Ohe', priest, whence come you and whither do you go?"
"From Roum have I come," shouted the priest, waving his whirligig; "from Roum,
blown by the breath of a hundred devils across the sea! O thieves, robbers,
liars, the blessing of Pir Khan on pigs, dogs, and perjurers! Who will take
the Protected of God to the North to sell charms that are never still to the
Amir? The camels shall not gall, the sons shall not fall sick, and the wives
shall remain faithful while they are away, of the men who give me place in
their caravan. Who will assist me to slipper the King of the Roos with a
golden slipper with a silver heel? The protection of Pir Khan be upon his
labours!" He spread out the skirts of his gabardine and pirouetted between the
lines of tethered horses.
"There starts a caravan from Peshawar to Kabul in twenty days, Huzrut," said
the Eusufzai trader. "My camels go therewith. Do thou also go and bring us
good luck."
"I will go even now!" shouted the priest. "I will depart upon my winged
camels, and be at Peshawar in a day! Ho! Hazar Mir Khan," he yelled to his
servant, "drive out the camels, but let me first mount my own."
He leaped on the back of his beast as it knelt, and, turning round to me,
cried, "Come thou also, Sahib, a little along the road, and I will sell thee a
charm--an amulet that shall make thee King of Kafiristan.
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