Quotes

They think we're gods.

Dan is exploiting local superstition in order to present himself and his companion Peachey as being superhuman, in order to set himself up to rule.

Some earlier travelers to Kafiristan in the distant past introduced Freemasonry up to the second degree. It became part of the culture, although a cult of worship grew up around it. Since Dan and Peachey are both third-degree Masons, they happen to know all the grips and words associated with the first or second degrees. But because they know and possess the symbol of the third degree, which is understood by the locals to be a secret and sacred symbol, Dan and Peachey appear to be gods possessed of superhuman knowledge and power. The fact the Englishmen also arrived with rifles in a country where warfare was still conducted with bows and arrows, and the fact they were willing and able to share firearm technology with their new subjects, may also have been a factor in their deification.

True as gospel. Kings we were, with crowns upon our heads—me and Dravot—poor Dan—oh, poor, poor Dan, that would never take advice, not though I begged of him!

Peachey and Dan left India to go attempt to become kings in Kafiristan, a fictional place in northeastern Afghanistan. Peachey is explaining, in his confused and mentally unstable way, that they succeeded in this goal. However some disaster befell them due to a mistake on Dan's part.

‘I can’t rightly say,’ says he; ‘but if you can induce the King to drop all this nonsense about marriage, you’ll be doing him and me and yourself a great service.’

A local chieftain is trying to warn Dan not to marry the unwilling and terrified young woman who is about to be forced to become his bride. Billy doesn't know exactly what will happen, because he himself doesn't truly know whether or not Dan is a god, but he knows no good will come of it. He can see that the tribespeople are very angry at Dan's insistence on marrying a mortal woman, despite the local taboo against the intermarriage of gods and mortals. Having grown up in the area, he is also aware that the rivalries and hatreds between tribes are not completely dead simply because a new leader has arisen to supposedly lead and unify them. Furthermore, having supported the Englishmen from the beginning as their oldest ally, Billy recognizes that he and his tribesmen are badly outnumbered by people from other clans who are just as heavily armed as they are. The King is in an extremely precarious position.

The Englishmen are blissfully unaware of the danger. They believe that the local tribes have been pacified and are getting along well (as occupying colonists generally do, lacking the sophistication to understand why the old rivalries came about and whether they are still simmering). They also do not take the local taboos seriously despite having been more than willing to profit from them.