[Illustration: NATIVE SOLDIERS IN INDIA.]
Hostages are always persons of high rank, and persons whose lives are
so precious that their people will not allow them to be sacrificed.
The giving of hostages is therefore considered the most binding form of
agreement between savage peoples.
In this instance, however, the story that the Ameer demanded hostages
does not appear to be true.
A later despatch says that the messengers sent by the Afridis and
Orakzais were turned back at Jelalabad, and ordered to leave the
country.
The principal request they had to make of the Ameer was that he would
give them ammunition; bullets, gunpowder, and cartridges.
The fact that the Ameer sent them back without granting them an audience
has convinced the British that he is sincere in declaring himself
friendly to that nation.
The mullahs, or priests, have been persuading the people that the Ameer
would help them as soon as the revolution was firmly established. It is
these same mullahs who are responsible for the suspicions the English
had of the Ameer.
It is said that the tribesmen are just beginning to understand that the
Ameer does not mean to help them, and that they have only themselves to
look to, to support their rebellion against England.
* * * * *
There is a report from Cuba that the Spaniards have reconquered the town
of Las Tunas. This, however, seems hard to believe.
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