I found, with some relief, that my Beila men had made friends with the Afghans, and, surrounded by an admiring crowd, were hobnobbing over a hissing samovar.

One of the Afghans handed me a glass of tea, which, not to offend him, I drank and found delicious.

It had come from China _via_ Siberia, Samarcand, and Cabul.

"Russki!" said the man with a grin, as I handed back the cup.
The Khan of Kelat very rarely leaves his palace, and is seldom seen abroad in the streets of Kelat except on Fridays, when he goes to the mosque on foot, attended by an escort armed to the teeth.

He is said to live in constant dread of assassination, for his cruel, rapacious character has made him universally detested in and around the capital.
His one thought in life is money and the increase of his income, which, with the yearly sum allowed him by the British Government, may be put down at considerably over L30,000 per annum.