First Grain of Sand — Page 122
106 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND then later tell him that I had been killed. At the time of Maghrib [Prayer after sunset], those who were particularly hostile to me would plot against me with an officer named Kандан [pro- nounced Kandan]. I was surprised to see them talking to him but was unable to understand what they were talking about. Then one night at 2 a. m. , as I was standing next to my area of the cell as I usually did, my heart began racing. So I glanced up at the ventilation window of the cell and witnessed that a soldier was preparing to attack me. I immediately pinned myself against the wall. He then began adjusting his position to get me in his line of sight. I quickly hid under a wooden table. As he moved closer to the doorway and took aim, I immediately ducked behind a large water bucket for cover. A couple of Russian inmates in my cell, pretending to sleep, tried to wrestle the bucket away from me. In the midst of the struggle, another Russian inmate named Антон [pronounced Antan], who sympathised with me, opened the door and ordered the others to let go. He then took the bucket, placed it where I needed it, and left the room. His action right at that moment of need convinced me he was a good friend. Hence, my situation became quite dangerous. My interro- gation was now taken over by the head officer himself, who was responsible for overseeing the investigation and making a final decision, instead of the State Prosecutor. Arrangements were made for me to be escorted upstairs to the head officer's office by a Muslim officer and a Russian officer. When the Bukhari scholar in my cell would see my condition, he looked amazed and deeply moved. When he watched me per- form my daily Prayers, when he heard me reading Maulana Rumi's poetry from Masnawi, and when he heard the Persian poetry of