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188 188 ENGLAND AND EUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA. tchah in which he had been immured, and keep him a prisoner in his own house; but two days after this the public executioner came to Stoddart with an order to put him to death unless he consented to become a Mussulman. To this alternative, borne down by the dreadful sufferings he had endured, and the exhaustion of his mental and bodily powers, he gave a reluctant consent, repeating the Mahomedan confession of faith, after which he was taken to the public square, and circumcised in the presence of an immense crowd who had been attracted there by the novelty of the event. Austere and sensitive in his religious feelings. Colonel Stoddart never forgave himself this act of weakness, of which he bitterly repented during the remainder of his wretched existence." The Russian minister then interested himself in his fate, and the continued triumphs of the English armies in Afghanistan occurred at the same moment of time to induce Nasrullah to alter his treatment of the unfortunate English officer. But when the fortune of war changed in Cabul, and tidings came of the disasters of 1841, Nasrullah reverted to his former cruel treatment. War had in the meanwhile broken out between Khokand and Bokhara, and there were those in Bokhara who asserted that English counsel was at the root of this quarrel. The Ameer readily believed these stories, and was only biding his time to obtain a complete revenge. In order to obtain that, it was necessary to get the other British officer in Central Asia, Captain Conolly, who was residing at the Court of Khokand, into his