From the Five Rivers

Publis

d 1893;

ghts r

IENDS AND

ITHOUT

COULD NOT HA

UT TH

WOULD NOT HAV

TEN

sh C

lue M

ujah's

tt

irls'

itron

Je

the Z

of the

gh S

ng S

est

-picki

E FIVE

SH C

et blue the stars hung many-hued and many-sized--each in their order, so clear, so bright, that the simile "as one s

ds which seemed to rise towards the pale horizon. There was a fresh, damp smell in the air, and close to his feet some lighter shadows surrounded by darker ones showed that the recent rains had been heavy

o its birthplace; but year after year the antlike builders piled more mud over the ruins of the old, until the village, girt by i

house; the house where he and his forebears for many a generation had been born; where he had stood by his father's death-bed and taken the reins of office from the dying hands; where he, too, hoped to die and pass the headship of the village to some stalwart son. And it was childless as yet. A curious thrill seemed to join heart and hand and brain in a trinity of skill and strengt

imself, "the crop is good, and the r

luck to be there, else the first-fruits would have been dead by morning. He lifted the lamb gently, thinking the while that he must divide the flock ere another night, and so run no more risks. As he made his way back to the village with swinging strides the mother trotted after him, bleating, and the village dogs snuffed at his heels silently; they knew better than to bark at Gunesh Chund the head-man, tall and strong; looking all the taller by reason of his white tur

ll and called, "

s through the flowers and branches garlanding the entrance. Then she set aside the swinging sickle hung to

th the dawn, like many another. And fear not, O my ch

the cresset nearer. "What

was in the fold. I have br

's face shone

use to-night; for as the ewe lamb to the fold so is the mal

dly on his face, curiously like her own--the same refined, aquiline features and narrow forehead;

" he asked, some

uffers, but that is the woman's part. 'Twould have been better for her

within, followed by women

n; the old mother knows it all. So! the lamps are lit, the flowers strewn, the spices burned, the chants r

ed, meekly, "and sure th

little creature. The bleats subsided into contented silence, and he groped a stumbling way up the narrow steps leading to the flat, square roof of his house. There he sat down, his b

muttered--"it will

men's--softer than his mother, for instance, deemed a true man's should be. It was occupied with one thought. Supposing it was a girl, after all? What should he do? He could not feel orthodox disgust or anger at the idea. Yet he longed for a son, if only because it would settle so many vexed questions and make life so much

hom his mother regarded as mere pretenders to the hereditary office of head-man. Did not Kishnu, their black-browed, sonsy mother, openly declare that, even if Gunesh had a son, hers might yet be preferred as being older, should autumn chills and summer pestilence carry the present incumbent off before his

ile at the very idea of baby fingers playing with his beard and baby kis

perform her first duty. As he sat trying to harden his heart, wild, skirling chants rose every now and again from the women's court, and at each outburst he shifted again uneasily; for through the noise he seemed to hear the c

iously over the cloudless world. He stood so, for a moment, the centre of his universe, contented, serene, ere memory returned to him. Then he made his way down to the yard with fear at his heart.

her and touche

r!" he

and looking in his face answe

at need to wake thee for such bit

little cry from within the quilt. Something--he kne

ther?" he asked, shee

yed him with s

f, ninny," she

rgotten what new-born babies were like since the days when, as a boy, he was admitted to s

ooking, mother!" he blurt

in the same short a

The child is well enough, and favours thee.

d, to aid his efforts, drew a reflective forefinger over the featureless face, feeling, as he did so, that strange thrill at his heart again. Suddenl

Look, mot

etorted the old woman, crossly, as she tucked the baby away again. He

ru? How

isordered by the night's watching, escaped from the close folds of her veil, and the quilt sl

prayers and alms. Lo, have I not fulfilled her every wish these nine months past? And now 'tis 'How is Veru?' forsooth, and no thought of the mother who has slaved in vain. But this is an end. She is accursed, and thou must b

only what he had expected. For all that, his mother might have waited a day or two ere speaking o

to sneer. So he gave up his morning pipe, and carried the firstling to take possession of the lambing fold. As he walked along in the sunshin

I

the birth of a girl, she would not for the world have omitted a single ceremony, and so have given colour to outside condolence. Veru herself was a delicate-looking, pretty woman of about six-and-twenty, with a broad forehead, and a thin-lipped, sensitive mouth--both of which characteristics were more blemishes than beauties in the opinion of her neighbours. Her chief defect, however, in the eyes of the stalwart, open-hearted, shrill-voiced, village women lay in a certain refined reserve, which they set down to conceit born of her pretensions to scholarship--though how any woman could be so wrong-minded as to usur

a flowing veil, the size of a pocket-handkerchief, disposed over the round skull-cap where a black fringe of wool simulated hair. On this outfit Veru had spent much time and trouble, while her mother-in-law

the sex of the Queen-Empress, did very well as lethal weapons, but as inward balm were most unsatisfactory. Often and often, after a passage of arms in which her more dexterous point had reduced her adversary to the usual appeal for patience, she would creep away into one of the dark, windowless rooms opening off the central court-y

r a retort when he was by had not been a very difficult one. But now the every-day life was beginning again, and

in the fields to inspect the preparations. The s

de of the child! For sure it is like the puppets Dya Ram

hild so," grumbled the old woman. "In my day there were none of those

know how to make them; but I cut and sewed th

d, relieved. "Thou hast clever fingers despi

made stalwart sons for the hearth, and left clothes to the tailor. 'Tis the other way

h its arms and legs free. I love to watch it struggling on its back like a young duck with the megrims. 'Tis comical. But feed it well, wife; if 'twere a calf I would hold i

e watched him bending over the baby. Nevertheless, she spoke more s

to stand knee-deep in young corn when it grows blue-green, as this year. Thou shouldst see it in the dip by the sandy bottom.

is the new wife to think of first. Go

and yet the man gave a quic

d a man take the name of another woman in his mouth, with

to thy fields--thank Heaven thou art not a ninny there--for see, yonder comes Kishnu

stood irresolute, but his

re the boys mine I would take them wherever

for sure. And will not the eldest make a fine

wish none

figure go down the alley for a minute, and th

ours. She hath her three with her, and Gunesh, poor soul, must needs stop and fondle them. He

raying," retorted Veru. She was never without words, but they were empty

ith a flounce among the voluminous skirts that hung half-way down her trousered l

sed her youngest at her capacious bosom, and, thus prepared

or the wedding already! Early days; but with a daughte

n-law, who, whatever she might say herself, was not inclined to stand imper

forting herself with the knowledge that words, after all, were but poor weapons against facts. As an imm

struck me. No doubt the new settlem

lement?" asked

mpiling of new records lay ample opportunity fo

n. This was better t

'tis so. My man heard it awhile ago through his friends at court; for certain, yesterday. Sure, Veru, 'tis a thousand pities th

this thing from them, and they were too proud to show how it had moved them. They prefe

ossing her head. "There can be no dispu

-in-law. At the risk of Kishnu's

.' So! thus thou mockest the great ones, and by idle

it as good as boys.

n, and teach young women to mock at the old? Though, for sure, she hersel

ihali in

her to the first year, and mayhap 'tis better so

e to a heart which beat true after its fa

e seven spices for it. 'Twill thrive if only thou wilt be reasonable, and save thyself fro

th me, if the charcoal rubs from their foreheads I'm agog with fear of the evil eye, and th

id not find her tongue. The noise, she said, made her head ache and disturbed the baby. She stripped the finery from its little

fields, with their calm in his face

not have patience and wait awhile." That was the burden o

time. "Few would have been so patient; but thou

ee, thy patience hath brought Nihali. Wait a year, onl

mother and child

t is but fair. So dry thine

nd he sat smoking with his mother in the outer yard, he asked

iercely, perhaps fr

women's rooms? They tell me the travelling one sent on his rounds by the Sirkar[2] is in th

m; and when sleep failed, he strolled out to where the village elders sat discussing the possible effects of this new settlement on the total of revenue due from the community. The familiar company was a relief,

I

s, sullen and silent. The old women of the village dropped in one after the other, more from curiosity than sympathy, each laying down the law as to some infallible nostrum, whose efficacy they defended against other views in high-pitched cackle. At last Veru, whose smattering of knowledge only brought incredulity without lending aid, declaring she would not

on the soft, closed hand. He took a corner of his cotton sha

hough she is a girl," said V

into a sob a

nfidence of a child, laying his great hand on the old woman's he

one is bewitched--though God only knows why any one should trouble to cast an eye on a girl. Ask Munlya. Ask Pre

d lingered,

d be better to fetch the docto

all the vigour and fire of her

onour and mine in the dust for a baby girl? Be it so, Gunesh! Choose now between her and me; or choose, rather, between Veru's barren kisses and my curse, for

I did but su

e name. 'Tis she who hath bewi

fiercely, seizing

er! Peace! I will n

all that. She hat

s less so, since the superstitions of his fathers enslaved his mind without controlling his affections. He wandered into the fields once more, where the rows of blossoming mustard sown among the wheat showed like a yellow sea against the horizon, but close

perhaps the feeble life was sinking silently; but the ignorant, loving e

se was empty, for his mother had sought th

s, "dost think the doctor might do her good? The mother will not ha

ision, the woman shrank from action. "I kn

t had been at work on the problem,

if thou hadst it still, should she return.

e, in the mud caravanserai, the travelling vaccinator was to be found! Neighbours, resting after the day's labour, called to him in various greeting, and he paused to reply with dull patience, conscious always of the unseen burden near his heart. So had he carrie

nts or strangers. Some camel-drivers, newly arrived, were cooking their food at a blazing wood-fire in the open, whence the flames threw long shadows, distorted out of all human semblance, into the far corners of the court-

not returned. She almost wished she had, for the solitude and silence seemed unending. At last, unable to endure the suspense any longer, she drew her veil tightly, to avoid recognition, and stole like a shadow along the darkest side of the street

Is there no on

relieved; for all its lightness, the little burden at his heart gre

the intention of making a last appeal to c

"'tis the evil eye; but there is time ye

seen children nearer death than this, snatc

ed at him, her triumph dim

iven her to us. Veru, poor fool, is away.--Let us work the charm, Guneshwa. I wor

es against these wise mothers, when they assured him of success? He gave a sign of assent

turmeric? Swiftly, with muttered charms, and many a deft passing through of this thing seven times, and that seven times seven, the child was laid on a low, strong-seated stool, in full blaze of the fire-light, while the grandmother, bringing the dru

enveloping poor little Nihal

ded the man, h

ed the stern old woman, fling

. The next, dashing the witches aside with furious blows, coughing and suffocating in the fumes, her empty, craving

failed to see the tall figure half hidden in the corner

to Guneshwa!

k after shriek rent the air, and she fell into one of the viol

d her mother-in-law, bitterly; so the

n the outer court-yard, where the old women flitted about with tiny oil lamps in their hands. Little Nihali, dressed in her fine clothes, with bandy legs straightened and struggling arms at rest, lay stiff on the string stool, with each tiny palm clenched over a ball of raw sugar, and miniature cards

, "and Guneshwa is fairly bewitched by her obstinacy. Nevertheless, the opportunity

e deserted streets. No fear was on their faces, no huddling together or whispering; straight in solemn order, as to

n enclosures; through the fields of wheat, till the village common-land, a s

pointing to a grey shadow slinking away from the

y bushes Gunesh Chund's moth

spered, and the

rom the village; then raising herself to her full height, she stretched her right hand toward

ve you forth

ck, but sen

e, unwatched. For a while the night was still; then soft pattering feet crept round Nihali, and fierce

kal, beginning with a faint whine, rose louder and louder, till ea

ited li

omen be goo

he grandmother, calmly. "I will

on which to build either hope or fear. Marks there were, and plenty, showing where the beasts had fought, but no

the long-sought son? Or had she come back to haunt t

tented old woman. "Even the omens fail! 'Tis all the

V

his fathers? What was the reading-writing woman, that she should run counter to the traditions which held the first duty of a Hindu wife was to be that of bringing a son to the hearth? He had no answer save a dull consciousness that somehow he was not quite as his fathers. They, for instance, had calmly acquiesced in such customs as the exposure of

had said to his mother, with a decision new to him. "Silence wi

in-law that it partook of the nature of murder; but with her usual shrewdness she exonerated Gunesh Chund from bla

or a ceaseless watering of the crops. Many and many a silent, peaceful hour he spent in the forked seat behind the oxen, half asleep, half awake; while the

out their mouldy proverbs, and the lads listened with their mouths full of the overripe dead-sweet fruit. A kindly, honest crew; ma

y of elders, and even his gentle self-depreciation could not fail to feel a certain loss of authority. One night, after Kishnu's husband, his own cousin, backed by some friends, had openly derided his opinion, and talked big about changes in the future, Gunesh sat on longer than was his wont among the elder men. They had been his father's friends, and he turned to them instinctively for s

f when the hubble-bubble of the pipes dropped into insignificance before a speech summoned up by neighb

e of my father and his. But his father was the lumberdar, and mine but an elder. If the seed

nd the assembly, whereat the pa

he herd, whose duty is it to see they do

ength to which this system of exhortat

k, wouldst thou have me r

ation of his own joke, "I would have thee plant some

assent came from the darknes

th one life; a man rejo

r took up t

s to boot, wherewit

t hath more stems tha

ld can drive bulloc

nd many a self-complacent wag of the head when the ball of an

Chund's slow brain. As he stood on the roof that night, whence he could see the horizon strike the sky in one unbroken c

eepishly to his mother, when, in the early dawn, he found her

neck with unwonted tenderness, and with tears of joy in her bright old eye

se thee, and have a soft tongue, that is all I care for. And, mother, say no

laughed s

me in crowds! Nay, be not so modest; that is the girl's part, not the man's. Nevertheless, as thou sayst

gered in Gunesh Chund's mind, it vanished quickly before th

t, but that she herself was absorbed in a new hope of victory, and thought it possi

st before Gunesh had realized his own capitulation,

mother, take care! Sure the choice of

o his ears. Whereupon his mother, with much inward contempt at his scruples, told him curtly that she had purposely chosen a

ieved; but somehow the days passed by, leav

other-in-law's constant allusions to her ill-health, with which the old lady bolstered up Gunesh Chund's failing resolution. All three were too much occupied with their own thoughts and

out of sight; loath to lose him, and regretting that she had not risked her secret ere he left. How much more would she have regretted it had she known that her husband's destination lay far beyond his usual bourne, the Central Revenue Office, and that his bundle contained all things necessary for the interchange of presents with a new bride! Meanwhile her mother-in-law, sto

yellow dust-haze hung over everything. Dust above, below, around her; only the ant-hill, furrowed by long-past rains into rugged pinnacles, rising clear and distinct. She was a timid woman, unused to roaming so far, and she looked fe

sugar-cakes, hung up her chaplet of flowers, and sprinkled the milk she had brought in a l

to disengage herself, and saw--a baby's bracelet! The next instant, with a shrill, high-pitched shriek of rage, she set off running towards the village. Her mind, slow enough to take in novel ideas, needed no prompting here. It was little Nihali's bracelet, and the explanation of this fact followed as a matter of course. The dead child had been exposed as an augury; but what had the verdict been? Strange as it may seem, that thought came uppermost. Doubtless, had the truth been told her in the first freshness of bereavement, when the soft touch of the little hands and the clinging of the lips were more than a memory, indignation and horror at the outrage on her child might have overcome her curiosity. At any rate, the desire to pose as an advanced woman would have induced her to co

against the door-jamb for support ere commencing the fray, and looked at the elder woman with sombre, menacing eyes. The latter paid no

lew through the air, and the dead baby's bracelet f

sent thee a pres

led; then sprang up and faced her

bread is baking thou hast thrown the augury. O Guneshwa! O my son! would that thou wert here to see this witch casting her spells to bring barrenness to the bride thou

n her mother-in-law's unforeseen reproach, felt the whole world turn round as the o

ever deceive me so!" was all the poor creature fo

elessly. "Come hither, and see if it

store-room door, which was kept jealously locked against all intrusion, and poi

e measure of more solid wedding presents. "Guneshwa's mother is not so careless as his wife. Here is everything needful, and yonder is the pile of dat

n her excitement and utter weariness. She swayed as she stood, and with a cry of "O G

sed indeed! Who would have dreamed of the gods bringing such hopes to Veru? Who would have thought of her concealing them even for a day? And what a heritage of evil she wo

ed her tenderly, and strove in her rough way to bring co

sponse; "I will die and becom

u diest ere Guneshwa returns, I swear he shall never know a word, neither of thy hopes nor of thy

woman's greater strength, could onl

eshwa?" asked the watcher at

e the reply, with a strange smile that

ow aught of this!" thought the old lady, as they streak

ack, yet the lumberdar's pony picked its way unerringly, true as the needle, towards the manger awaiting it; instinct or habit supplying the place of reason. Its rider could boast of no such contented certainty. Something--what, he would have been puzzled to say--had made the path of custom seem doubtful, without supplyin

nd swerved, throwing him fo

outstretched hands; but when he could give a calmer look, the difference in position caused by his pony's advanc

k does it," he said to himself. "I

he house, quiet and dark though it was, a haven of rest after the hustle and bustle of his rapid excursion into an unknown world. The door of the inner court was closed, for he was not ex

d gone before him? What more easy than to adopt the ancient remedy, and, by building a new court for the new wife, separate the jealous women! His mother would, of course, side with her own choice; so Veru, far from

his ten days' exile from the village. And so it came to pass that his mother, apprised

nant Ram, and make thy heart str

y; and then, as he sat below, patiently waiting for many a rite and conve

ke," he said, wistfully, to his mother; "and lo! the

tened by his gentle grief. "Her health was poor, and if Deat

e's reproaches. If Premi and Chuni only held their tongues, as they always did if it was made worth their while, neither Gunesh Chund nor his bri

time of year to his sad face. He took little interest in the preparations which his mother pressed on with feverish haste, but passed days a

him up with the remodelling of poor Veru's ornaments. "A lumberdar was a lumberdar long before the sahibs came to the land. What is it to thee if they w

rk nowadays doing things as they used to

e--I'd like

ing altered even now. For my part

mith hath done well. There is a fashion of necklet--French pattern he called it--like needlework for fineness. And

ce assumed a start

a good wife, loving me, and I was a good husband

bitten her tongue ou

in the hope of diverting his eager anxiety, "I have found what thou wert asking for--the certificates of thy fathers to many and many a generation. Thou hadst given them into Veru's

opening the handkerchief in which the precious docume

re are thirty-and-two, and when the canal sahib gave me his la

rtain eyes of one who, being unable to read, has to seek recognition through more devious

eaner than the rest," he muttered to himself, openi

i character, and his puzzle

xclaimed; "there are but thirt

have written it, but checked himself, from fear o

w it in the fire! I have no patience with folk who f

h a smile, "even thy tongue is not

is theft to go beyond. Writing is no good except for certificates. There is Devi Ditta's house thrown into grief, just as the boy's betrothal began, by the news of his father bein

placed it in his waistband. His friend t

i Ditta's house with a throat rendered hoarse by neighbourly lamentations, she found her son h

eplied in a curiously muffled voice that

thee, then,

nd made him draw shuddering breaths through widely distended nostrils, as he sat gazing at her with wild eyes full

mother; thou kn

but her voice was st

know, O Gun

ke mine! She knew you would not tell

d not availed against the dead wife's knowledge, she threw her lean arms up over her head a

e her utterly! My curse upon he

and reached o

have had enough o

her forget her anger

nnot hurt thee--she dare not, if charms avail. The iron rings are about her hands and feet, the nails are through her cursed, writing fingers--would God they had been there ere she wrot

returned

ose with a gest

th idle words. 'Tis but the chills, and thou

w of her death she met me on the common as I rode home. Nay, weep not so soon;

shing down her own dread in order to lessen his, and fiercely

eaker and weaker. Her heart stood still with fear, as she watched for the sleep of exhaustion which followed each successiv

even when the fever fiend held him in its grip, G

clutching at straws, she would have had him

"I deemed instead I was too soft for thee. But see! whether it be

ed his interest in all things save his fields, and when he grew too we

id at last; "the air is freer out there, and I

he lumberdar, made his way for the last time dow

un gleamed on the furrows. The birds chattering in the mulberry-tree overhead, and the ceaseless babble of the life-giving water flowing past him, filled his ears with familiar com

pells, found him one day looking out over the sp

ched the smoke of his funeral pyre drift away into the cloudless blue--"I might have saved him but for the letter. Oh,

ild appeal towards heaven, as she stood out against

LUE M

climbing up a yellow stick"; he further informs us

enerations of houses had been dug; the only peculiarity about it being a glaringly whitewashed mosque fa?ade, rising above the whole and flanked by a palm-tree. Merely a fa?ade: viewed frontwise, distinctly imposing, with minarets and dom

at So-and-so had returned with a "pinson"[5] to his wife and family. On these occasions the district officer invariably found an escort awaiting him at the boundary, consisting of sowars on leave from various regiments (with their horses), a contingent of "pinson-wallahs" in nondescript uniform on broodmares, and Khan Azmutoollah Khan Bahadur, C.I.E., ex-rissaldar, at their head. He was a very old man, as deeply wrinkled as a young actor doing the part of an ancient retainer. In the privacy of that court-yard, garnished by the jerry mosque, he clothed himself scantily in limp white muslin, and his

en bed under the nim-tree, the hard roly-poly bolster tucked in to the hollow of hi

bout wells, or water, or brood mares; for, if they make excellent troopers, they are intolerably bad ploughmen. That was why Mo

The fact that the Mohammedan population to a man was in the usurer's debt did not affect the position of affairs at all, or detract from the feeling of virtuous tolerance which allowed a most modest and retiring Hindu temple to conceal itse

ndu temple, nobody said him nay. They were goo

sin. God knows he needs it, for he hath charged me rascally interest on my last debt. If we must needs have a Hindu in the place

sets it on high is all one, so long as he hath enough to lend us when we seek it. And 'tis thank-offering, he say

extreme tip of a gilt spike which from the farthermost

ne of mine carry themselves like a 'lumpa ta heen.'[7] But that is an end of repentance and affection. I will have no idolatrous spike under my eyes, and

been rewarded by the long-prayed-for son, had looked on him as doubly dependent on the favour of the gods--his very name, Hunuman, having been bestowed on him because she had seen a monkey when she first regained consciousness after the curious hysterical crisis whic

shed the ideal of a blue monkey god perched on the top of that golden spike; and when, two days after

dly success, does not do it with his eyes open to the inevitable gulf which must separate them in the future. This particular son was like many another son of the sort; a good lad, on the whole, if more interested in his own development than anything else in the world. This, again, was inevitable. When you have to cram the evolution of ages into two-and-twenty years, and grow from a baby named after the monkey god into a B.A., a strict attention to business is necessar

, if possible, with a flavour of law about it. What! deprive a citizen, a subject of the Queen Empress, from due exercise of

who had enriched him all too well. Liberty was a fine thing, but money was better--peace and comfort best of all. This latter conviction, however, made him give way slightly before Chand Kor's tears; and

hib," remarked Rahmat Ali. "Yea, mine is

sten. The two boys, heads down, arms interlaced, wrestling stark naked in the sun, paused also. Then, suddenly, as if by mistake

t," yelled Azmutool

recommenced, and then once more something let go, lost con

er of the faith--the desecrator of my fathers' graves! A c

with drawn swords, headed by Azmutoollah, joined by half the populace of the village, do against Hunuman Sing, who, with a trembling in his knees

the onslaught to the temple door, stumbled on the step, sat down violently, and the co

indignation could

e do himself an injury, and seek Mool Raj,

, full of outraged importance. Th

ss. I am a loyal citizen of Victoria Kaiser-i-hind. Religious

pers, was perforce weak. The Hindu is not naturally resistant, and the fighting m

ced. I claim my rights. The law is on my

called Azmutoollah. "Enough, Hunuman-ji. Seek thy l

the conch, so the pressure of illegal coercion made his newly acquired love of freedom overflow into eloquence. Heart and head were both full to inflat

down, hands on knees, smacking their thighs, and crying "Hull-la-la!" to give themselves courage ere closing for the grip. Beneath the skeleton of a peepul-tree hard by, whence the branches had been stripped for fodder, s

, breathlessly keeping the

lah Baksh--there was no

e ran round

nput Rai, judicial assistant, sent in to ask five minutes' leisure of the Huzoor. Every one laid down his cards at once, and the doctor lit a fresh cigar, for Dhunput Rai was one of those natives of the old school who many a time a

conch to be blown in Jehadpore. There will be trouble. In my opinion, it is a fitting occasion for

aforethought. It was a great blow to Hunuman and a small circle of select college friends who had assembled to witness the triumph of religious freedom. They consoled themselves during the interval of appeal by writing an article to the 'Sun of Asia,' in the course of which they promulg

assistant. "And in a case like this, where every thing depends on the environment, and it's sure to be appealed again, there is no mortal good in anyt

lly, the doctor spoke.

ve me Scotland. Aw'm no saying ut'll hold as a preeceedent amongst the heath

n be praised!

conch," remarke

conch, call to prayer: that's the spirit. Fire away, o

ood Calvinists, was brought to bear on Hunuman and the conch, and the latt

g one, as he wiped the perspiration from his brow, and rema

us old gent

, 'Write ever with the pen which has been cut by the sword; then there is peace in

her in the interim by putting a small blue plaster monkey on the top of the gold spike, in fulfilment, it was urge

e during the night. That it remained so long was due to three reasons: First, that the Jehadpore troopers, if good swordsmen, were uncommonly

image, was a distinct nuisance when displayed unnecessarily over the top of a Mohammedan gentleman's private mosque. On the other hand, viewed from the Hindu standpoint, the image of a blue monkey might be an integral part of p

y had more than once taken the opportunity of his absence to advance matters a step. Azmutoollah Khan, as shrewd an old soldier as could be found on either side of the Indus, was not slow to notice this, and his blind opposition covered a great longing to have these youngsters on the hip. A

knew, had come with some friends in a bullock cart that morning, must have brought the thing with him; but as sure as fate there was a blue monkey sitting on the square pedestal in front of the temple which Alla Ditta, the mason, had built in all i

ald-headed as he was, and stumbling in his haste, was out of the court-yard into the narrow st

! Jehad! Jehad! Futt-eh Mohamme

shoes, standing by the blue monkey,

ing, "remember we are peaceable citizens. There is to be no opposition. Our trust is in truth and justice, not in

admirable, proved somewhat superfluous. The first sight of that mad assault coming round the corner sent the crowd, composed for the most part of wo

missible to foster or excite breach of peace. We can speak wit

ll to the plaster monkey on whose blue hide the sabres hacked fast. Above, on the roof, as on a hustings, the

ate property accompanied by violence, to the deputy commissioner. Old India sat triumphant but thoughtful on

ace, rissaldar-sahib, when he returned but half an hour gone, and I told him we were but waiting leisure to burn his books and clear off old scores in the old way. He wept, and sai

ff a detonating roulade of

I have a plan. We old fol

curt order to fall behind, and the hint--which British majesty gave in the interests of law and order--that his presence even there was undesirable. Hunuman Sing, and a friend who had remained to see fair play, certainly seemed to think the troopers jingling and clashing along in close order very much in their way. They edged their ponies here and there, only to

ernly. "I thought you said the blue monkey was d

-bright blue, with a long

at the ears of the Huzoor should be assailed with such wanton lies.

"what does this mean? I was told you and your fellows h

martial dignity undimmed by the dis

or beast wantonly. Let the Huzoor ask the blue monkey if it or its master hath aught against me. Of these"--he

, bunder-jee! speak for t

, as the figure on the pedestal rose slowly

an, "this is irrelevant--

spect the voice of thy par

ishable laughter played

s shrivelled limbs, he repeated his injunction regarding the fifth commandment to his son, who sat haran

of all. Ask no more. I am content, and thou hast naught to do with it. The

uman Sin

g vengeance on all summary justice. He was a full-blown pleader before the famous case of "Mool Raj and a Conch versus Azmutoollah Khan and Others" came up before the chief court of appeal. On t

Hunuman! Remember the t

a blue tail, and once more laughte

ssed. Anyhow, it is certain that shortly afterwar

n peace. And when Mool Raj died, the folk wagged their heads, saying, "We

UJAH'S

Perhaps he was deaf, perhaps he was dumb. Perhaps he was neither. Nobody knew, nor for the matter of that cared. He was one of Shah Sujah's mice; no more, no less. In that lay the difference between him and other men. A small difference in some ways; in others illimitable.

theory. These mouselike ones belong to Shah Sujah's shrine, because they are the firstlings of barren women made fruitful by the saints' intercession. Therefore,

additional gain assured by the secret exchange, through agents all over India, of the normal babies for that percentage of microcephalous infants which Nature makes--this much is certain: all children dedicated to Shah Sujah are his mice. There are hundreds of them; growing up at the shrine, dying there, and during the cold months spreading over the length and breadth of In

made no sound of any kind; whether from inability, or from some lingering consciousness that his sounds would not be as those he heard, no one knew. In fact, no one knew anything about him, save that he was a mouse; too naked to be dir

ed at everything so serenely. At the children running out to him with their mother's dole, at the lean dogs following him in hopes of a scrap, at the birds and squirrels watching for the crumbs he might leave behind. Down by some water-cut, his feet buried in the warm sand, his naked body covered with the fairy garments made of

sseous formation of the learned closing in like an egg-shell round

for one single minute when she took a pull at the gardener's pipe. This was down in the Taleri Bagh, where the English roses blossomed madly beneath the mango-tree

asures an

t thud of a peepul fig falling, rifled, to the ground, until

asures an

down by the big canal, which was a maze of sunlight and shadow, of thickets of sweet lime and groves of date-palms interspersed with patches of tomat

ave only for the mother walking up and down the pretty drawing-room clasping her hands tighter and tighter as the hours went by, and the ayah, numb with grief and remorse, in the dust outside. It was growing late. The sun sent its picture of the shisham-trees to decorate the blank side wall of the house; the wild

way,

d labials. The ayah gave an inarticulate

h--I'th all light. Puth

veranda, a child bubbling over with glee went flying to meet

mmie, he'th g

itheth hurth. And, Mummie, don'th l'oo hear?--he'th got '

Heaven knows what understanding of the little voice. Now he seemed to hear nothin

arling tighter as by instinct. "Who--wha

f Sonny's safe return; wanderers coming in disheartened from the search. Finally, Sonny's father, with an odd catch in his voic

janowar.[8] Give him a rupee, Mem sahiba, and let him go; if the

-O Mummie, don'th l'oo know he'th got

Mummie, almost aggrievedly; it was dreadf

g right away to the river's meet and is now, no doubt, on his way back to the shrine. Possibly he will meet an agent at Mooltan; they are seldom later than this in calling in their itinerants. He must have been in the gardens

him. Think--only think what might----" Sh

nto his bag and never touch it. And--and it does seem mean to

ees for the bag. He slipped them into it as if they had been pice, took up his gourd and went away, his beggar's staff ma

he woke, like a young bird at dawn next day, the child seemed to

own in the heat a little later, too, than was perhaps quite wise, but those holidays at the end of the month, which would give father the ch

owledge, he had to ride back, promising to arrange his work so as to be there as often as possible. He stood talking in undertones to the native

eth he gone--the 'quilth'--man? I wanth to thee the 'quil

ny in her arms, and the heat of him struck thr

ool evening air, she bent over the child, who lay more languid than suffering

'-man has come. Dad

ind and, if possible, to bring back one of Shah Sujah's mice, who had wandered on northward throug

onny. "Now, Mummie, l'oo'

prehending, incomprehensible--except, perhaps, to Sonny; but they took him, cot and all, as he lay, across the petunias, and set him down under one of the gre

lths' is flightful fings. 'Posing l'oo an' D

er the trees. The third pair looked also, doubtfully. It was an odd sight, certainly. The child's soft curls on the pillow, his flushed chee

cry, not a whistle. More like the croon of wind through tall tiger-grass. Scarcely audible, and yet a hush fell on the trees, as i

ing Dada on the arm. "He means sq

he mark of Great Ram's fingers on their shining coats, and barred tails a-bristle. Soft little mortals, not much bigger than a mouse, their round ears cocked, their bright eyes watchful. N

'quilth.'--Go on

d little fingers. Dainty over the feast, nibbling a bit here and a bit there, and g

w heavier a

distinctly, through a lump in his thr

he ayah, in a dissatisfied tone. "Ti

India, and every day for many days Sonny would rouse himse

going somehow. If you were on the railway, I'd risk all and have him in the hills to-morrow; but that lo

d to come to the janowars, as the ayah called them scornfully, of what was required of them, for day by day the crumbs wer

nearer. But the sheer content came quicker and he slept sooner and sooner, until one day when they were racing over the cot and pl

ce without a break in his voice. There was no lump in his throat now; nothing but an angry despair in his heart. "Take her away. I telegraphed for you to the commissioner last night; that

itten, while the dhoolies waited in the shade where Sonny's cot had stood the day bef

"Five rupees, I suppose, and the tahsildar to have him escorted so

parrots clung to them, eating the pulp as it ripened. That was when the gardeners were away turfing a grave in the little enclosure opening out of the garden, and planting red and white quamoclit to twine up a wooden

den. There oleanders and roses and elephant creeper massed themselves into a hedge, and clambered over the arched gateway where Dada paused. The doctor was there too, for fever comes with heavy rain, and the outlying hospitals needed constant inspection. As the gate swung open, they paused again, not at the sight within, but at a sound they seemed to recognize. It was a shady spot. To begin with, great branches swept over it f

cried the do

ss of quamoclits the squirrels were chasing each other and playing pranks with the crumbs they wer

the new-comers, but did

the man is a skeleton, and burning with fever. How the misch

en, he found the doctor looking suspiciously at the crumbs, at a piece of doug

had this and--he was feeding the squirrels.

to the highroad to the shrine, and had bidden him to go home. Even a janowar could have found his way had he chosen; but the obstinate animal had come back after the sweet rice. So then every one had been told not to give the disobedient one anything to eat. Indeed, it was past time for alms to Shah Sujah's mice; they should have been back at the shrine with their earnings. To li

the ayah sidled away, still indignant,

re ill companions; but I'll stay over to-morrow and see what I can

being orth

eemed so content, not to say weak, that they had left him alone while busy over an accident. Half an hour ago they had missed him from h

Dada, impatiently interr

and the squirrels were playing over

with a string bed again. "Bring a spa

ews, looked doubtful. "I--I won

it is!" said

downward on the peepul-trunk, eying the new-turned earth suspiciously. T

-a pip--p

ment they were chasing each oth

ed the ga

'quilth,'" he mu

hroat, and the doctor gave some

ther janowar. Perhaps because there was a difficul

TT

the wayfarer's path. Finding few victims, however; for the karait, stretched out like a blue whip-lash, curved back to the prickly cover at the distant step, and though the dusk

ngle below. But now, when the coming of dawn sent that curious whisper of wind through the wo

al buds. In the distance, shadowy in the half light, was a native town, flat-roofed against the sky. Close at hand an open grave, with a man and wom

tted her appearance. As she shaded her eyes with her hand, the coarse

ompanion. She might have been his daughter in age, but he used the ti

lipped not when he made me. I have naught to bring against him

e, when (as might be augured from his name, which meant 'Well done! Bravo!') he must have been possessed of extraordinary beauty. Her jealous determination to keep his

ture as they are for the present," he said,

st," she answered, smiling broadly into the grave at he

nd to no good, except to pave a blessed bed for another sinner. For they pay worse and worse, mai Suttu. When old Feroz Shah buried his son, last week, he left but a rupee's worth of clothes on the corpse for perquisit

the hard ground to show

not pay, there are the dates st

s will find their tongues. A woman needs gold--or a man. Thou wilt have neither un

u la

be not pock-marked a

, he is a man, and beauty is not safe for

The grandfather may rouse any day and tell me where the gold

is hideous face to

uld give more chance. For the fox of a father-in-law will be claiming shares of treasure with thee if I dig aught but graves. Lo! mai Suttu, I tell thee, 'tis ghoul-like

Suttu. "Lo, they come! Is all prepared? Alms or no alms, Deen

dignity quite apart f

sweep some loosened soil from the niche hollowed in the hard ground to one side for the uncoffined tenant. Then

nt the still dawn. "At least they remember that the burying of the old is as a bridal. Sure it may

slow trot. The crowd laughed and sang. The streamers fluttered, flying round that still, muslin-swathed form

s, a malicious look of amusement was on her face as she

owed by admiring eyes. For Suttu, the fakeerni, if somewhat outrageous, was

e where reality ended and unreality began. Here and there, showing where the perennial pools lay beneath the temporary flood, stretched a green carpet of lotus-leaves, where the flowers rose in varying height; the buds, still resting on the water; the full-blown flowers flaunting between them and the mace-like stems on which the hidden "jewel in the lotus"

at the scene approvingly. The Potter had made no mistake here either; she liked it, liked her own freedom purchased by an

o the water like a sapphire,

y, as the bird came up with a b

id a voice behind her.

t, confronting the Ka

t even pleasant. Have I not told thee--aye, and others--that I am a pious widow?" She drew a corner of her veil across her eye

son drew a

ell favoured for a religious.

hib," retorted Suttu, gravely; "and '

ies, and thou hast enemies. My house woul

ord's merit?" smiled Suttu, s

of reputable women. The whole affair had the intoxication of an int

he saint dies, and God knows how the case may go against a woman! Marry me, and I will gain it, were thy father

ould be fighting enow to fill thy st

d arms, as she spoke; and the action displayed the full vigour of her finely moulded form. He c

hts thinking of it. Yea, I swear it! I get no good from my food. I

ladly, Mir sahib, and then ma

roused to fury. "Then I will buy thee. Thy father-in-law has the right, for the sai

ding slap, making him stagger. Her left, thus released, followed suit on the other. "Go!" she cried, "or I will make Shah

thin call, and felt that his chance was over. He stalked away, trying to look dignified as he wound his head-d

n the grass and slipped her hands into t

" she murmured, "and the

to a lily-field. A couple of moor-hens fled, leaving a rippling streak of silver behind them. As she entered the leaf carpet it took in

ads of tiny insects, disturbed from the sweet stems, rose in cloud

f blown lotus, her track marked by drifting petals. As she approached he flung a

orn Hindus? Then 'twould have taken ten rupees of fire-wood to save them from being burned in hell. And last night, look you, I cut a sleeping snake in two as I dug, and both ends fell at my toes. Ar

ped to wring the water f

me. And lotus-beans are good till the dates ri

rey hair, on which he wo

y fairy. Then when I fall into the trance I ask the old question, 'Where is Deen A

be, forget the answer? The bla

gathered up his perquisites. "'Tis the fairy steals my

omb in the date-grove, she with her shea

I

ship of Deen Ali, the original, and Inam Ali, the present incumbent of the shrine, lay more in their surroundings than in themselves. The former, according to tradition, had lived for ten years in a trance, oblivious of all save the touch of a certain prayer-carpet on his feet; a ca

not spiritual, food. Doubtless physiologically it was quite as wonderful that twice a day, regularly

l canonization; for in those days saintship paid. In this case the offerings of the faithful had taken visible shape in the blue-tiled tomb where Deen Ali's body lay under a stucco roly-poly twelve feet long. Whether this length awarded to saintly tombs, which contrasts so od

palms, as a record of past munificence; and round it the green-blue parrots circled and swept

own; for, despite the slackness of modern offerings, there had never been any want in the mud hovel hitched on to the tomb; until Suttu, coming in one ev

h declared with mingled truth and tears, the pilgrims counted their third-class return tickets as offerings to the shrine, and the traffic department charged dead against charity in the extortionate fares for sheep, goats, and fowls. On the other hand, the railway had certainly brought cholera three years i

her stepfather's son. After a time, however, he had bought the child back, with bribes, to keep him company, and thereinafter had spent years in spoiling her. Consequently, when the inevitable fulfilment of the betrothal came round, Suttu was dragged off to zenana life, struggling like

ruth, the position was awkward. The saint might recover speech, and then, if he found that Suttu had been violently used, he might resent it and make away with the treasure. If, however, by starving her out, Suttu could be induced to break her vow and marry, Hussan could no doubt get himself appointed guardian of the shrine, and so have an opportunity of searching where he chose. The task was not a difficult one, since the people around were easily led to believe that her ways and works were anything but what a fakeerni's should be. So the offerings grew less and less, the complaints of mischance or neglect more frequent; yet still Suttu held her head jauntily and laughed when, of an evening, she met her father-in-law prowling around the graveyard. It had a fascination for him; and ofte

. Lotus-beans for breakfast were all very well, but you could not d

the fairy will cease to care for me, and th

other, and she was the apple of his eye. For all that, he must eat. Some day her enemy would tempt him to treason when

mounds, a sort of thrill shot up his legs at the thought that he might be treading on gold; for the hope of buried treasure takes possession of men, body and soul. He found no one in the reed thatched-hut; but a savory smell of curried beans from the fire-place showed that its mistress would soon be back to s

ied by expectation. Perhaps a call might rouse the sleeping soul. He started as his own hoarse whisper grew to a roar in the echoing dome. That should wake th

in behind him, passed softly to the bed and raised a menacing ha

id he te

ld be dinned into his ears by the ech

ith a curse; "one cannot hear one's

r, but a scorching air struck up from the bricks, making Suttu fan herself with the corner of her ve

ce is better than war. Give me half the gold, and

ne or thine?" she

y brother, since he is thy mother's s

" retorted Suttu, flippantly

ll, I care not. I came not to chop words. It

now of none. I

ed her, lying in his palm, a broad gold-piece. "They make no

ers. "Aye, 'tis old. Didst steal it from him, then?

he gav

refo

wast a child. Give it me b

it back to the old man, and see what he thinks of thee for keeping it. What! wouldst fight for one gold-piece, fool, and lose the chance of lakhs by my death? Yea, yea, I

ing. Her temper in control as yet, but she meant mischief, if mischief

he said, sulkily--"a s

she retorted quickly, and her frown

wilt but

she marched over the platform and entered the tomb. He could see her stoop and lay the coin in the indifferent palm resting beside the still body. Sh

elf down on the step beside her father-in-law, "if

gerly. "Halves--halves in everything

tempted. Then her natu

claim th

t to a woman

ah! It may come any day. Shahbash

s being true roused his anger. "

e accountant let loose a yell of dismay, and in his recoil rolled back a step or two, where he lay clutching at the bricks wildly. For the

moment was

th spectators; and they were

!" cried Suttu

u die!" echoed the a

s faces and rested on the familiar landscape darkening beyond the door of his tomb. Then the nerveless hand slipped from its resting-place on hi

ered, "gone--yea

ood, and her arms were already round the failing figure, as she turne

hance!" he whispe

are

head fell back o

ance w

and none came. Before the dawn broke, the old saint

. He had made no compact with Suttu, and, now that the grandfather was out of the way, h

speak once more, made gruesome faces over his coming task. The gold, for sure, was not hidden under Deen Ali's roly-po

uture, but of the past, when the

I

himself on the sickly-sweet fruit, and every one, far and near, grew visibly fatter. But Deen Ali's Arabian dates were too valuable for home consumption, and Suttu only awaited the n

t act. To begin with, the native of India does nothing in a hurry. In addition, none gauges better than he the indisputable advantage of an old lie over a new one. It is like port wine depositing

lms were swaying under the weight of men clinging to them by clamps and a rope passed round their waists. Below, the freshly gathered fruit lay in heaps under the fingers of women busy in sorti

used Shahbash, who still lay snoring

y the date-pickers, who as usual were strangers employed by a big contractor, it appeared supernatural; and the women, taking him to be nothing more nor less than the demon in charge of the grove, flung down their baskets and fled, scream

h it appeared that the pickers had been sent by a contractor,

old. I am in no hurry." He squatted himself on the matting and helped himself to the gathered dates with both hands. But Suttu saw further than the immediate present, and knew a protest must be raised, and that

I go to the big sahib's house and cry

e clingers, "but see us

e they may make away with the dates they have pick

ignation increasing at every swinging stride, ma

. He was just mounting his polo pony in order to keep his hand in by chivying a ball round a stick, when wronged womanhood appeared and flung out a pair of remarkably beautiful arms for justice. Perhaps the fac

o tell the Protector of the Poor that cont

o. Oh, yes. Tell the police to report as usual." Then, as he rode of

, while men for whom he had fagged were enjoying the inestimable privilege of sitting on a vestry--or the kni

efeat when the police refused permission for any one to pick the dates until th

e fakeerni, indignantly. "Lo, there is no drop of

Hussan saith otherwise, and the Kazi is with him. And births and m

were indeed her only refuge, she mig

these dates--Deen Ali's famous dates--are to be food for parrots? while I----" He sat in the sand, clasping

nt to the graveyard--not to dig, but solemnly to consider which of Suttu's two enemies should have his services. Dawn found him returning from the Kazi's house, with the black bottle full of rum, and the remains of a perfect feast of bakkar khana tied up in a handkerchie

he air and the sunshine; and I like to see the parrot peo

tered up his uneasy conscience by telling h

ise, when, that evening after supper, the d

g it might be wanted. And like as not they would eat oaths had it been bespoke in form, fo

ught the bribed watchmen to guard the date-grove. Then sooner or later after that some one's cries---- Well, why not? Suttu would not be the first woman who had been carried off to a rich marriage, and had lived to te

she brought out the trestle-shaped stool, on which her grandfather's copy of the Koran lay, and began to chant an additional chapter of Holy Writ as a kind of bribe to favour. As she rocked herself backward and forward, her lips busy with the long rhythm in which the unknown words quite lost all identity, her mind was busy over the time when she had learned it all with tears and trouble from the saint, stern on this one point. How fond he had been of divinations!--and Suttu paused in the middle of a pious apothegm to recollections of her grandfath

d one of the watchers to the other. His companion clucked a denial. "Thchu!

so Shahbash must be on his way back. She waited with the little oil-lamp in her hand, eager for her question. Then impatience gained the mastery, and stil

affair; but whence had he got the inspiration, and the greasy remnants of a feast which the light of the lamp disclosed? What villainy had he been bribed to commit? Something, she felt sure, even if it were nothing more serious than a failure to fulfil the duties of her freehold, by having Deen Ali's bed ready for the saddler's son. If it were that! She seized the shovel, and swinging it over her head brough

crept alone to the tomb. A man who is the prey of a purely animal passion does not have his ears boxed for nothing, and his id

und and round methodically, though she ached all over. Yet, if she died of it, that grave should be ready. What was that? Me

had taken that heavy brass pot, and then, but not till then, to go home quietly. The next instant the thud of the mattock began again. A lucky decision; for the Kazi's son, surprised at finding Suttu absent, was beginning to suspect treachery from the silence, when the digging recommenced. Shahbash, then, m

hut. He had not entered it before, being assured it was empty; but now, thinking Suttu might have see

him--a cry once heard

e! sn

est where one snake was there might be two. Suttu heard it also, and, lamp i

less, convulsed by fear, lay upon the ground--something that flung itself before

ied, "thou! Wh

gh, and she thrust

he men. "Give him the charm. Sure God gave such t

Go, hound--go and die! I

en, who strove to set him on his feet, caught her by the ankle

s, foaming at the mo

thing could be done, if by chance-- By the light of the lamp she e

s of the thatch thou wast bitten," she said, as

charm, mother Suttu, the char

er writhing lover. "Swear by thy son's

ll not break had been pronounc

one. "Lo, I will work the charm. As for thee--go home, swift as thou canst. Call the barber, let him bleed thee to faintness. Take kala dana[11] and

hen payment follows cure. Lo, thou art better already, and by this thou shouldst have

k the lamp, went to the door of the hut and chirruped. F

se who befriend his favourite. Shahbash would have had me tea

Her arms ached worse than ever from their short rest, and there was a grey glimmer in the east, before she judged that her work would pas

th hard clay, she carried it to the hut, shut the door, and by th

and when a gleam of real sun warned her that time was passing, she hid the pot under a pile of brushwood, and stepped out with a feeling of relief into the open air. The world was ablaze with t

r laugh echoed out among the palms, and she felt more comforted

V

f in his limbs, he stumbled towards them, conscious only of a racking headache. Memory of his own treachery had not yet returned, and when he all but fell into a new-made grave on his way to the black bottle, his mind seemed to him a perfect blank, and he stood transfigured before this evidence of an industry which he could not remember. He sat down helplessly on its edge, dangling his legs over the s

face fell. Still, a farthing was money, and pointed t

oney on the very day when he had given up hope and faith? His trembling legs would scarcely support him, as, driven by the necessity of knowing the worst, he

r, as he galloped forward, the sheet he had thrown round his shoulders spread out on either side, and his matted hair, still bound with chaplets, blew r

delight quite forgetting the necessity for caution, till Suttu sternly asked him to explain. Then, ins

akeerni, paling before the fear lest she had ov

out of our bodies and ate them before her face. 'Show me the treasures,' I cried; 'rescue my little mother Suttu from the necessity of marrying a one-eyed, pock-marked man, or I set no more cloths for thee!' Lo, thou shouldst have seen her clinging to me like a weanling child; but I would none of her! Then she grew wroth, saying she would ne'er return; but I answered, 'Who cares?' Think, mai Suttu--I, Shahbash, said that to my fai

, "and let the blisters be. They

being chastened by blisters, her heart melted: so she buri

d not resi

sure, fool--t

flourished a coin, which sh

nes of disappointment,

ans gold close at hand. Dost not know that wise men put pennies when they take pounds, s

wiftly to her forehead

put farthings in

en the last gold bit is gone he sits guarding a

left Suttu

er, and she threw up her hands, exclaiming: "Gone! Aye, he said it was

asked Shahbash, curiously. The

in thee is gone. Why cannot folk leave me alone?" sh

mazement, she suddenly began to cry--

ere watery diet, apt to turn acid and destroy the courage? But there s

resented a few rupees, but not enough to purchase witnesses and conduct a case in court. The Kazi's son would at least not give evidence against her, but even the break-down of this particular claim would

ch the dwarf, who had been digging the g

int, O Shahbash?" she a

l came grunts and groans. Then a verse of the Kora

with here and there a masonry tomb. On one of these a squirrel sat perched, hard

s Shahbash, she thought, with another of her broad smiles, and deserved the sweet kernel. No, another squirrel had caught wind of the affair and came pirating along with tail full set. Lo, 'twas a play to watch! Up and down, roun

er hands, watched the sec

in the peach-stone, nothing but a

up, clappi

Shahbash!

k his head out

Suttu, what

of her petticoat, a fling

all one. Leave digging, and go and call Huss

*

laited basket of Deen Ali's fruit. Afterwards a mutual fancy between her and my young barbarians led to confidences when she came over with all sorts of odd toys made out of palm-leaves and supplies of young squirrels for the children. She was s

hy she kept so many tame squi

iculty in persuading

all. It was better than fighting when the Kazi would not swear to the marriage, and our names were birth-

ahb

smile came

ite happy over the peach-stones while they are gnawing. Shahbash and the father-in-la

ame squirrel, reared from the perennial nest in the thatch, peered from the folds in her veil, with furtive, bright eyes. The parrots circled, screaming round the rip

ly, as became a fakeerni. But her smile seemed to dim the sunlight, as

y last sig

IRLS'

s--that being the last resort of matter in India, where poverty and greed fight for the uttermost farthing of utility. Besides the buffaloes and the refuse-heaps, the space in its longest angle showed the inevitable weaver's warp twined in and out of tiger-grass stalks stuck slantwise in the dust--inevitable, because it is never absent from an open space in a native city. Sometimes solitary, like a huge worm impaled and left to dry; more often tended by two chattering Fates, one on each side, whose tongues gabble an accompaniment to the whirring bobbins tied to long sticks which dance a

ramarine sky. There, however, the resemblance ended. A Genoese palace is sacred to silence and shadow; this was set apart to sunshine and sound, excepting on a gala day, when the philanthropic great ones came down to distribute prizes. Then it burst forth into carpets, awnings, curtains, and even the Alif

in the third story, quite an academic silence prevailed among the girls working away at Euclid, algebra, and all the 'ologies, and they had learned an automatic thrust forward of the arm towards the teacher worthy of a British board school. This never faile

ity. Then they earned a monthly pay from the Government by carrying the climbers of the ladder back to their homes in decent seclusion--playing, as it were, the part of Prince Hassan's carpet in transporting them into another hemisphere--nay, more, another world. At any rate, from algebra and the exact sciences to a cell of four walls, and, if Fate were kind, a few square yards of flat roo

king lounger in the gate; "there is that ba

and stretching to stand on the bottom step of the ar

ma! The bab

knees, her skinny hands inconceivably smeared with ink--there was more ink than hand--and the coarse cotton cloth she wore as a veil was frayed, worn, and dirty. Beneath it, the odd little galloon of plaited hair on her forehead showed sun-bl

nd dicing, or snoozing and sleeping. How am I to win scholarships if my days

l her rating ceased over a year-old baby whimpering on the floor on a ragged qui

mong the brown ones--were astride her curved hip, the whole balance of her thin bare body aga

Tis thy baby, I s

se, not hers. The veil which Nature draws to protect childhood counts for little among the men and women busy in drawing one to conceal their own unnatural vice, but Fatma's h

h a tongue," murmur

), assented Chundoo, shaking her head wisely. "

s ten rupees a month for the other, remember; and Fa

own every now and again to rest, for she was but a poor scrap of a thing, ill-fed from her birth. She pause

ne make tw

e make two

asses in full choir o

arry than one. Fatma clutched her burden tighter and toil

umaged like a parrot in red and green. "Babies seem hungry things. I'm glad I haven't one

lared shaft. The baby, having seized on her inky thumb, was

l instinct falls little short of that displayed by the human race. Eve

the babe, having sucked the ink from her

, here murmuring from books. More circled round the terrestrial globe. An odd company: some wrinkled and old, with shaven head and white shroud; others dressed in the same fashion, but fair and fresh. Hindu widows these, seeking solace for death in life endured or ye

en it too often. Her goal lay in the end room am

ared equal AX plus B," read out the teacher from her desk as Fatma

epresenting baby, does not enter in

, sternly, as a delicate-looking young woman, rather overdressed and ove

replied the mother, sullenly; "s

a pain in his inside; then he cries, and I have to sit u

and other students to and from the school; shiftless Hoshiarbi, who spent half her scholarship of ten rupees on her clothes; and Fatma, whose eight annas, a week for cleaning the writing-boards

e sat thinking, heaven knows of what, she jogged the base of its skull backward and forward on the palm of her supporting hand in approved native fashion. She did not know that it conduces to slight concussion of the brain and consequent coma, convenient to the nurse; but she knew mother always did it. This odd little woman of ten knew most of the old-fashioned, old-established ways of the world she l

hat do you want? Why a

petition while she was nursing the b

the infants. We make too much noise. And Peru goes away gambling and forgets him, so I get no time for study. Thus, when Hoshiaribi's sch

le facts, ever

ad your gram

hook he

e upper primary, and then, Miss Sahib, I could

ning on Fatma's curved hip. That, however, could not possibly be held equivalent to a pass from one department to anot

egum, whose father had been Munshi to some dead-and-gone Mogul. To begin with, she could silence every one with Persian epithets, and the pebbles of her polished speech hit hard. "These may Providence protect, but God hath sent this proof of his bounty to a handmaiden who is 'second-year student.' What! are we t

-veiled head, and threw out her podgy fat

e she entered the school, nearly sixteen years ago, she had been in receipt of a scholarship of sorts. At the beginning influence may have had something to do with her good fortune, for her mother was only a poor, good-looking Cashmiri, and her reputed father dead. But since then she had justified her selection. If not clever, she was studious

s in a poky little room, spending part of your own pay in bribes so as to get the grant for attendance, and t

can go on, as I am doing, into the medical school. That is t

ll my life. I like it. I don't want to go home and nurse the babies. I don't want to work. The committee paid me t

ittle Bengali; "you don't seem to

s and quill-drivers since creation, like yours. My people are poor. If I go home I

ou must

each. I want to st

to your lessons, and remember why you come here. Think, jus

li girl. That was it. They had paid her to learn

I

of irrelevant abuse in a strange tongue. Then something

nd laughed, might have been any spoiled

relied for a fair inspection, had divided four thousand one hundred and seven by six thousand three hundred and two. She had not only tried to divide it--she had divided it--with a quotient of fifty-six, and a remainder of five thousand and three. It wa

her, and the two sobbed vindictively across the intervening space, while a connecting circle of alphabet-learners whimp

to slap their children; the latter train of thought becoming accentuated by the arrival from a neighbouring tenement of Sultani's mother. Was it for this her daughter had been bribed away shamelessly for a neighbouring "missen," where, if they did read the Bible and try to pervert the scholars, they made up for it in prizes? Was it for this that base-born brat of a base-born mother had ta

her skinny brown arms in the small space still left between the combatants, and turned first to one side and then to the other in vociferous reproach, her weighted veil swung out, leav

This is a deplorable word! Have you forgotten this house is a school? You come here to

owerless, and Fatma's own imperious temper asserted itself. She turned like a whirlwin

s leave this scene of infamy. This is n

t her new nephew, a babe of three months, who had been squalling patiently in a corner, into the biggest g

ht in children's ways which is so marked a

are we so wicked? Look at my Amma, Fuzli--not four, I swear, and grave as a judge! Tobah

orning rounds for the pupils, and that one's Janet had been known to refuse her breakfast if Fatma said it was late. Aye--pucki, burri pucki--for good, not evil, and 'twere well others were more like her. So, with side sniffs, they pattered up and down the stairs to their several abodes, leaving Hoshiaribi

everybody. The last six months, since her failure to pass had sent her as a favour to the lowest pay of a branch-school teacher, had been sheer misery to her. For her husband's neglect she did not care, save in so far as it gave her complaint a sound basis. She had been betrothed to him, and so she had married him; but the six years since she had lived with him as his wife had only taught her that she could set her duty to him aside without reproach, for the sake of ten rupees a

first readers by heart, and, after a somewhat tarnished girlhood, had married a policeman; consequently, she was not a woman to be scorned in the quarter, just because folks' tongues had cause to wag. She was a buxom person, with oily hair, great bosses of silver tassels in her ears, and a perfunctory veil of Manchester hitched on to the very back of her head and drawn tight over her high bu

ks in an elaborate stage embrace, and then

i moved to put her head out of t

ust be close on four--and ma

busy over tea. These two groups had it sickly sweet, cinnamon-flavoured, in lit

'heart's comfort' in pattern on the breast, and two rows of seed-pearls round the collar. Then the b

after making the tea, was kneading as for dear life at the dough of bare flour

e by the Mori gate, a step from here; so into the gardens. Lord! how they smell of orange blossoms--like any bride. Then we could come home by

crackled like thorns, a

shed. Peru should not stop

tinsel for a kurta, and the bazar is worth seeing. A fair for noise, with the criers selling sugar-cane and fresh fritters. The shops full of jewels, the people crowding, the soldiers marching up and down, the mem-sahibas in their carriages, and, above

hich he had deserted in favour of dhooli bearing and a fixed salary of five rupees a month. It came, therefore, more naturally than anything else to Fatma, and so, when the babies left leisure, she earned a pice or two by sweating for an old wom

nce of a wife and the presence of an inquiring husband. With that same unconscious knowledge that it was the right thing to do which had made her jog the baby's cerebellum to keep it quiet, she lied cheerfully to avoid possible disturbance. Peru accepted the explanation with a like indifference to its truth. To begin with, that same indifference to all save appearance is a common feature among husbands; and then Peru would not have been exactly sorry to feel cause of complaint. It would

perfectly well that Hoshiaribi would never consent to live in the same house as Chundoo, and so his responsibility for her maintenance would cease, as he could plead poverty against any claim for separate alimony. As for her pay as a teacher, that, if Central school gossip said true, would not be for long; but Fatma would look after the babies somehow. Such were his thoughts as he sat watching the child's odd little figure busy over the c

thing legitimate; so he would respectfully command her to come and live with Chundoo, and, when s

at him, sniffed, and

orange blossom and attar began to be apparent in the close room. Peru coughed, hesi

n end of bread for your stomach. God b

hly, half jestingly, by the shoulder. "Keep a quieter

h of scorn, and twiste

art! Think not I do not understand. Let be. They are my babies

as she spoke, and began calmly o

m--"Go! we have no need of thee." Then her dignity gave way; she leaped to her feet, scattering the broken cakes upon the floor, and the echoes of her plain speakin

ring thread which seemed to make the darkness more dingy and dreary. He was a young man of five-and-twenty, who might stand years of imprisonment in those four walls, with--Heaven be praised!--a scrap of roof open to the sunlight beyon

e flights of stairs in the Cashmiri quarter, was one of them. Then he took to thinking tenderly of the odd little girl downstairs, whom

ng wrath against Peru for Hoshiaribi's return. Would she not be angry? It woul

one still. Perhaps she had chosen the other way. Back up the now pitchy stairs to the dim room. No one there save the sleeping babies. Fatma's wrath--cooled, rose again against the loiterer, had time to cool again into dismay. She knew well enough, young as she was

on gong at the Mori gate, she went back to the room and drew the bolt of the door. All was dark, save where a ray of moonlight shone through a chink in the s

ck, that would buy a "Maw" at the gimcrack shop round the corn

I

ne make tw

o make fou

hammed Ali; Janet and Kareem will take Ahmad Hassan for a walk down the alley and back

rse, it was a miserable sham, it gave great satisfaction to all concerned; Fatma finding sufficient payment in the general good-will of her neighbours, and the constant relays of nurse-maids she secured. She had plenty of time now for the golden stars; and since Lalu, the cripple's grandmother, had died, Fatma not only got full price for the work she did for him, but earned something besides by cooking his bread and doing his marketing when she did her own. An excellent plan, said the neighbours, since Mussumat Fatma, aged fourteen, was as sedate as a great-grandmother, and poor Lalu, for all his kind face and clever hands, was not to be reckoned as a possible husband for any one. The only thing over which the women shook their heads was this lack of a husband for the girl, who, though she was a little crooked perhaps, with hauling those big children up and down stairs, had not, like Lalu, lost her right to be married. What excuse could that rascal Peru offer to his conscience for his neglect of the natural guardian's first duty? He, and Chundoo, and Hoshiaribi flaunting away in the Badami bazar, were no better than pig

school'? It is not a 'missen' or an 'indigenous school.' We do

erself knew none of the versicles whic

ten with a smile to the chorus of children's voices, insisting on the fact that one and one make two. After all, it did not differ much from t

t the money in order to buy a "Maw," she had thought of nothing but the immediate morrow. Now, when she barred it, she closed it deliberately against all interference. Peru, at first, had come prowling round to see how matters went, and Hoshiaribi had sent inquiries from t

t as they emerged from the dark drain of a tenement stair, which all the sweeping in the world could not keep clean. The very water spilled on it, as the woman carried the chatties full to their rooms, seemed to dissolve the dirt and give it greater freedom. When those on the ground-fl

took the cousin who came from Umritsur. The police were burning clothes and

hospital, and the doctors never left him, but

over the world die silently from pluck, or pride, or piety; but not all of them die as these do, casting no shadow of blame either on the heaven above or on the earth beneath.

e to the dignity of a primary school. She fumigated her maidens solemnly with sulphur, she had covers to the wate

ittle pipe. "Juntu hath a bit o

rs, lest, after all, the contraband morsel should be found in your possession; u

d woman pushed her way unceremoniously into the room, and sat down on the bed with an air of possession. It was Chundoo. Fatma had last seen her g

er. I have come for thee because thy wedding is settled at last. The dates will be br

ncredible in it. Marriage in Fatma's world meant coercion. She had seen most of her con

and," she faltered,

ughed--a n

is pretty behaviour, and thou has

asked the g

en.' Well, he is there for two years, and hath repented him of the evil and bethought him of his duty. So I have found thee a husband--honourable, if somewhat old. But thou, God knows, art a grandmother, so that matters not. And he can affo

her. The touch seemed to make her realize the situation, for she dart

a mob of twenty mites, full of shrill cries and ineffectual beatings of tiny hands--ineffectual, till the tiniest, giving way to the natural Eve, slipped down and deliberately bit the enemy in the calf. Chundoo, yelling with pain, slappe

ry her to any one he chose. Even the neighbours, when they heard about the husband, would side against her. And it would be of no use to beg mercy of Peru in jail. That was the very reason why they had thought of marrying her. The money would be useful to keep Chundoo comfortable, and yet she would n

was gone? Drearily and still dry-eyed, she hitched the two-year-old on her hip, and with a pile of dough-cakes and pease porr

m above, and Lalu's voice cam

, yet knew thou wouldst be vexed to forget. Set the food

uched down on the floor suddenly, a

t will become of my school? And what will become

the girl's thin breast. There was no sound in the room save her sobbing, and a passing rustle as if something

age is good. It is the Lord's

esitated in his creed. To say sooth, it

cry, Lalu. Is there nothing to be don

idden, and even had the rest of him been as face and hands, there would have been nothing to be done, nothing to be said. What chance had a cripple, a girl,

cry not. Marriage i

a's sobs ceased be

he cried; "it grows lat

he voice from the shadows; "'t

come back." Her old decision and motherlin

had so often heard Fatma use as a lullaby. Yes, one and one made two,

her way through the dark, paused as her fingers touched Lalu's knee. She felt his fine ha

are what He chooses to make t

r the same. The big teacher said so.

he dark; then he called after her,

e, Lalu," echoed b

emen were standing round a bonfire of beds and clothes over which t

arithmetic and education and creeds and customs all into its own hands and settled the problem its own way. Two and two were not four, but none; and only Chundoo called Heave

ITRON

s inlaid themselves like mosaic among the tracery. For they are decorative birds, and, being untrammelled by prejudice regarding the position of their heads, lend themselves to many a graceful, topsy-turvy pattern. Girding the garden was a wall twenty feet high, bastioned like a fort, but, despite its thickness, crumbling here and there from sheer old age; invisible, too, for all its height from within, by reason of the tall thickets of wild lemon on its inner edge. Four broad alleys, sentinelled by broken fountains, converged to the mausoleum, high ab

ted by a woman and a snake; famo

ume. For all their solid, somewhat stolid look, they are fragile flowers. Gather a spray as gently as you can, and only the buds remain; the perfect flower has fallen. So, in a c

dropped into her stretched veil. She was not unlike a citron-blossom herself. Like them, arrayed boldly in saffron and white; like them, looking the world in the face with calm consciousness that she was worth a look in return. Finally, her w

heat of noon stilled even the women's tongues. Then, driven by an odd unrest, she had slipped away to the cool alleys she knew so well; even there busying herself with preparations, since the flowers she gathered would be needed to strew the bridal bed. It was no new task. Every year an old distiller came, in blossom-time, to set up his still beside the well. Then, in the dewy dawns, she and the old grandmother beat down the blossoms, and when sunset brought respite from the heat Naraini used to wa

e an assortment of them in the shed which served her as a play-room. And now, being nearly sixteen, she was about to lea

rl. It is hard to convey any impression of the girl's state of mind to English ears, simply because marriage had never been presented to her as an occasion for personal choice. She had been happy hitherto; the possession of a husband ought to in

uriosity, mingled with a pleasant conviction, made her stand her ground. Perhaps she knew that the spot occupied by her was the only one visible from the roof of the arcade, and drew her own conclusions. Perhaps she did not. It was true nevertheless, and the bridegroom, having caught a glimpse of something attractive, had taken advantage of the general sleepiness to climb over the ruined wall f

behind her veil, gurgled with soft laughter, pleased at being able to test the value of her beauty on the man she meant to rule by it. So they stood--she in the shadow at one end of the alley, he in the shadow at the other; between them the scented path bordered by the runnels of water slipp

e waking in him, as in a cat stalking a mouse, the cruelty of success wakin

f citron-blossoms was flung in his face, and Naraini was off down

f flowers lingering in a fold. He set his teeth hard. If she tried short cuts, so could he; and he was round the next square so fast, that she gave a little shriek and dived into the thickest part of the garden, whither the water was flowing, and where the beasts and bird

saffron flutter, pausing, advancing, retreating, pausing again. Naraini had lost the bea

one. He stood with the wide nostrils and fixed eyes of ghastly fear, clinging for support to the branch above him, whence the flowers fell pattering to the

e! sn

an back to him; but he struc

om. 'Tis thy fault. I was the bridegroom." He had sunk to the ground clasping his ankle, and rocked himself backward and forward, moaning and shuddering

rt the bridegroom, was not I the bride?" Then something leaped to memory. She thr

is dead! And I

his grovelling fear. As he turned to fly, he clutche

Thou hast killed me, but thou canst no

ately, but his hands held fast, shifting to her waist, till he forced her down to the dus

hy fault--thou shalt see me di

head on her bosom, his hands bruising her wrists,

e stirred the branches. And even when the swift poison loosed his clasp, Naraini was still

. The citron-bl

wls of sweetened milk into the scented thickets to propitiate the holy snake, lest, having chosen one vi

for him into her widow's shroud. The sweetness of them was no less sweet as it trickled into the old gi

utes' tragedy--perhaps none the le

JE

the story--in the

ted splendours of th

sh--hearted, playing

his boyhood, lost his he

fountain, set in b

, half maiden, dreamin

t half guessing, wha

r, and whisper, "You a

like petals, for a sto

water, where her r

for kisses, slender f

h ebon softness a cl

velvet blackness, from t

tning flashes in the

of women), so they

e fountain where but

y blossoms gem the bu

Prince Jehangir, on his

cries the stripling, "I

and unwilling; carele

wanders from the fl

est blossom, 'mid the

ng maiden, by the fo

ight-plumaged birds of

rfume passes; nothin

ed favourites soon the p

ihr-un-nissa, but wit

ing captive does the

sharply. "Sire," she fa

iden flushes at the p

, defiant, with a scorn

s the other, circling,

reprisal, wrath is l

eir of Akbar, gazin

ous figure, with its

ore him 'gainst the

amy blossom gems th

s are cooing o'er th

h of anger, as the f

o brightness, as the s

had flitted from the

Jehangir, like the do

THE ZAI

acter, won't you? and say

half so much as old Shu

l forty "suspected ones";

d ones" present, and gone

ur ear alone--if you'd li

y on paper, and show that

hall say, while old Shu

schedules were shaky for w

he system? Why, just wha

nowadays must look aft

to be squared, and the hi

ee times as careful, and

is no more; for your reign

like a banker, and scarce

ies and farthings. What I

he Presence! It shouldn

hools in my circle; I pay

garden! I've planted s

subscriptions! I've tried

ns a dung-heap! My mares

t sahib's ridden, but S

ibs has been awful, and

since there's nobody nigh;

s; but he didn't know br

y, there ain't many sins

d a few trifles. Aye, wi

heard of Fuzla--the best

ay he ne'er met with a ma

well, half a glass more--b

match! come, that's good! Wh

ing? Jehannam be mine,

e Chenab in full flood!

th' police on his side

wards were cautious, and

in the bottle and sen

of my cattle, and when

o the boast was scarce fai

u to help, that same nig

cure; but it wasn't! So d

d she buffaloes, all of

er, through tamarisk jung

e of jhau that would sc

otsteps behind, till the fi

eam; and, by God! it had r

in, shining far in the ra

r the flood that came hur

rrent in eddying swirls

as the bank, undermined,

her in silence; the looks

llenge of Fuzla's, and ma

s were against me; so, bid

on their traces and try h

e that I wanted--I drove t

e to the water; they loved

rom its mother--'twas cr

ith my hanger, and fasten

to the water, and buoyed i

and reeds that would ke

e of Fuzla's; then turned

ter her young one, and all

ke a leaf, and the calf sw

death struggle, and breas

d the beasts on, till 'twa

la should win, were the on

rd to half a mile downwa

single file, the black h

the big stream, and that

t, and I cast off the dead

ted, and drifted. I str

r my heart, and I knew

were swept past by the te

ed slipping away, as I s

la would take it, and h

e would say when days pas

n a dream, that the curr

it is strange I could

u: we measured it after

ten miles by the straight,

d sent me a pugri with kno

ing of Shurfu" is known th

has been wagging, and I

urfu compared to the merr

you want, send for Shurf

la once met with his mat

OF THE

GH S

ky with no fl

ox, make the

arth-mother wit

little ones ro

a's belly grow

folk are

ey like a partr

ox, drive th

y blow from the

fledglings fall

rth-mother fold

st's ripe

up in the teet

, guide the pl

rth-mother feeds

ry little ones

here the Dread O

we poor

anting from so

ox, drive ho

arth-mother wil

ll be hungry--no

a's belly that

ends poor

I

ING

sh on t

from the s

th desir

e from

urrows,

e of our M

s set sorro

gates o

ight of

hrough the su

the ground

read One

heart o

to its pati

r a cease

ream o

ins grow

ed of a ta

f Man's sou

body t

m! grant

rain of a

y soul in

e as a

grave,

will seek

rom the l

d in t

I

EST

n that shriv

nd in the ru

th as the dry

ife in the s

sickles, swea

on, beneath sh

r and

is but

ipens though l

sses, but mouths

ss of the s

face of the

heeling to m

ep on the sh

ke with the

ick in a ti

r and

s but

pens though dea

ladness, but toi

p in the glis

s round the th

ff from the w

ld as they

oke from the

e and its

and s

uld we

life in the Grea

labour, and

V

PICKING

how many blos

d how many

th red, the bl

with gold the

e merr

maids an

of these twai

S OF

lden

without

d within, l

man's

S OF

o! No

not ha

, pure

he world

love fi

man's

he merry leave

mall hands whi

points crimson-ti

na-tipped a

right sp

hands a

of these twai

S OF

riven

t its

n none p

man's

S OF

o! No

not ha

ul le

kindness

no man p

man's

down on the br

he maidens' thou

the seed for

fly to dear one

they'v

and cot

of these twain

S OF

able

ry idl

nd thith

man's

S OF

o! No

not ha

ite--win

ew work

naught fo

man's

e husk-shells s

the merry ton

er! Oh, the la

ts at all as t

r's a

r if

isses, tears

th and man'

nding, mo

in life will

OF A

ve me s

will b

can tell

an's t

S OF

fie!

not ha

OF MA

lassies--wait

s will flame, t

ugh, and teach

gth of his good

TNO

e 1: He

e 2: Go

ildren are not worth

with her unborn child ha

te 5:

6: Pilgri

e 7: Bi

8: Janwar

: "Hold yo

: Nodulated

11: Ipo

and decorated in

ad-man of a cir

14: Bad c

between the bands of boys and girls, which, as a rule, t

E

rom Ameri

Constable, Printe