CHAPTER XVDILAWUR KHAN AND THE KING
Faraway in the north of India a little boy was born. He was trained to two things—to be a robber and to obey the Prophet Mohammed; and he learned what he was taught thoroughly, for he could steal cleverly and he was careful to pray five times a day and to fast through Ramadan. From the high hill side he watched the roads by which men crossed the country. When poor people passed along he always stayed quietly where he was, and let his sword lie by his side, though he kept his gun in his hand to be ready. But, if instead of a poor man he saw a rich trader pass, he swept down into the valley, and made the merchant a prisoner. He had hidden haunts in the hills, and he took his prisoner with him to one of them. There he kept him safely till money was sent to buy his freedom. If it was a long time before any money was sent, or if Dilawur Khan did not think that the sum that had been sent was large enough he would cut off one finger from his captive’s hand and send it to his friends, to tell them that if they did not send soon it would be too late.
A price was set on Dilawur’s head, and one time he was seen by some horse soldiers. They chased him, but though he ran on foot and they were on horseback they could not catch him, for he dashed into a field of tall com and lay there while they rode up and down.
At another time a government officer met him in a village, but the Englishman could not capture him there because the village was beyond the bounds of British India. But though the officer could not take him prisoner, he tried another way. He looked at the strong man before him and he felt that in spite of the wild life he was living he was a true man, so he said to him that he would give him service in the Guide Corps if he would live an honest life. But Dilawur refused the offer with scorn and said he would go on with his reckless life whatever the English said or did.
He was a faithful follower of the Prophet. Five times a day when the call for prayer rang out he bowed himself before Allah, and he kept fast each year through the month of Ramadan. Some Mohammedans have thought it a good thing even to kill those who do not worship Allah, and Dilawur Khan believed that in his life of robbery he was serving God by injuring His enemies.
But Dilawur could not forget what the officer had said to him, and the more he thought of it, the more it seemed to him that it would be better to give himself up to the English than to have them catch him as an outlaw. Besides he wished very much to getthe money that had been promised to anyone who would capture him, so he found out the officer whom he had met before and asked for the reward for bringing his own head! The officer still believed that if once Dilawur gave his word he would keep it. So, instead of executing him, he allowed him to serve in the army.
One day some time after this Dilawur was in Peshawur, and as he passed through the Bazaar he saw a noisy crowd. He went up to find out what was going on, and there, to his surprise, he saw a colonel of the army speaking to those around him. As he listened he found that the colonel was speaking of the King of India, the Son of God, and he knew that he was trying to win men to believe in the foreigner’s faith. Dilawur was sure that he could answer everything the colonel said, and could show the crowd that there was no truth in the religion of Christ. So he began to argue, and when he went away he took one of the colonel’s books home with him in order that he might study it and prove to everyone who would listen how false it was. But when he read it, he could not prove that it was false, so he took it to three of the religious teachers of his own faith. The first one was very angry with him for reading such a book; the second told him to put it away, and to remember to pray at the set times for worship; and the third one told him that if he read such books he would lose his faith in the Prophet. This surprised him very much, because he had read the Koran, his own sacred book, for many years, and he believed in it thoroughly,and thought that any book that would make him lose his faith in the Prophet of whom the Koran told, must be a wonderful one indeed.
After some time he heard that the man who had written the book had come to Peshawur. When he heard it he said, “I would walk many miles to see that man.” He went to see him and talked with him often, and from that time he began to attack the faith of those who followed the Prophet, and to urge them to prove to him the truth of the Koran. And as he thought and talked, the story of the love of Christ entered into his heart and the man who had once been a reckless robber, and who was now a brave soldier, took service also in another army and became a follower of the King.
But he had been a leader amongst the Mohammedans and they could not bear to have him leave them. They tried to kill him in many ways, and at last Dilawur was so used to attack that he challenged anyone whom he met after dark, with the words, “If you are a friend stand still!”
He served the army well, and he served Christ loyally amongst his comrades. He rose to the highest command that an Indian soldier could then hold, and he was trusted on special service. At length on one occasion a secret message had to be carried north through the mountains into Central Asia. Dilawur Khan was a true man and he knew the passes, so he was chosen to go on the dangerous errand, but ere it was finished he died amongst thesnow mountains. Though he knew that he was dying, he was not afraid, but he sent a message to his officers to say that he was glad to die on duty, and a greeting to his friends. He carried the spirit of a soldier’s obedience into his service of Christ. “Has He commanded?” he would ask, and if the answer was “yes,” he would add, “Then that is enough for me.”