Chronicles of the Secret Service (26 page)

‘Sir Leonard’s idea, you see, sir, was that Abdul Qadir Khan could only be trapped by the appearance of somebody who
fitted into his schemes, yet was apparently in no way concerned with him. No harm was intended or could possibly come to Afghanistan. If this plot ended in a betterment of conditions for the lower-class Afghans, so much to the good. The poor beggars needed it. It has. Our Aziz has worked wonders for them. Abdul Qadir soon realised, and without any suspicions, that the very man he wanted had arisen. He made attempts to get into communication with him, only to be rebuffed at first. It was part of the game naturally for Aziz to appear reluctant to have anything to do with him.’

Kershaw then went on to give a full account of Aziz Ullah’s operations in Afghanistan, the triumph at Kabul, and then the manner in which Abdul Qadir Khan had been trapped and brought to Peshawar. Sir Leslie Hastings sat entranced. At the end of the recital, he seemed to find it difficult to express his feelings.

‘Gad!’ he exclaimed at last, then again: ‘Gad! Kershaw,’ he added with a smile, ‘I shan’t be happy until I shake hands with – that bloody Afghan.’

Ginger laughed, and rose from his chair.

‘He’s at the hotel, sir. I’ll send for him at once.’

When he came back to the room, he described to the general how, for a long time, Abdul Qadir Khan had been smuggling munitions in vast quantities from Russia through Turkestan to a well-selected spot near Shabqadar. He repeated all he had heard Abdul Qadir divulge to Aziz Ullah, and showed Sir Leslie the map and other documents taken from the Mahsud. The general could not read either, as his knowledge of the vernacular was practically non-existent, but his quick mind
soon grasped all salient facts. He agreed with Kershaw that he had every excuse for a punitive expedition. The mass of smuggled military stores was more than enough for this. With Sir Leslie, to decide was to act. It may be as well to relate here that two nights later a large force of troops guided by Kershaw, descended suddenly on Shabqadar. The hiding place of the munitions was captured practically without a fight, the surprise was complete. Men of the Sappers and Miners dynamited the caves, wherein the arms and ammunition were stored, and Abdul Qadir Khan’s ambitions were destroyed for ever. He himself was sent into exile.

While the two officers were planning the scoop, there came a knock at the door. In response to the general’s invitation, a tall, immensely broad individual entered the room. He was immaculately clothed in a well-cut silk suit; was altogether an attractive figure, with his clean-shaven face, clear grey eyes, square jaw and other fine features. His skin, however, was a light brown. Smiling broadly at Kershaw, he stood stiffly to attention, as the general rose to greet him.

‘You sent for me, sir?’ he asked.

‘This, General,’ introduced Ginger Kershaw, ‘is Aziz Ullah who has done so much for Afghanistan and incidentally for Great Britain. In other words, he is your bloody Afghan – Captain Hugh Shannon of the British Secret Service.’

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A
LEXANDER
W
ILSON
was a writer, spy and secret service officer. He served in the First World War before moving to India to teach as a Professor of English Literature and eventually became Principal of Islamia College at the University of Punjab in Lahore. He began writing spy novels whilst in India and he enjoyed great success in the 1930s with reviews in the
Telegraph, Observer
and the
Times Literary Supplement
amongst others. Wilson also worked as an intelligence agent and his characters are based on his own fascinating and largely unknown career in the Secret Intelligence Service. He passed away in 1963.

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Chronicles of the Secret Service