VENGEANCE OF JHAPOO THE GOND 269 



jungle concealed its deep bed at intervals. It bisected the 

 plain, passed close within a mile or so and continued 

 a southern course towards the big river. 



From this main drain of the distant hills a winding 

 watercourse detached itself and approached my eyrie, 

 spreading out, as it diminished in size, into a number of 

 lesser nullahs, these in their turn splitting into the thread- 

 like cilia that climbed the yellow, scrub-covered hillside to 

 their little sources under the basalt precipice at my feet. 

 Most of the latter were dry and herbless gullies ; but one 

 of them, dropping over a toy-like lower cliff, was filled 

 with the bright green of a matted little jungle of kariinda 

 and lantdna, the strong red blossoms of the latter plant 

 contrasting prettily with the khaki and drab of the dry 

 slopes around. I could see a bevy of peafowl feeding on 

 the outskirts of this miniature jungle an almost certain 

 indication of some hidden spring of water. Farther down- 

 hill the nullah reappeared, a deep-cut fissure smothered in 

 rank dry grass. 



It was a dead still morning; and as I sat and sipped 

 the coffee that my servant had set on the stone parapet 

 at my side, one could distinctly hear the far-off sounds 

 of the villages of the plain as they awaked to another 

 long hot day. The fields lay bare, the threshing-floors 

 were cleared, the ryot's busy harvest-time was o'er; and 

 now the interminable Indian marriage ceremonies were in 

 full swing. A faint Thum thum thum of drumming 

 came floating up through miles of calm air. Then the 

 dull red disc of the sun looked over the horizon, and the 

 hillside flamed a sudden orange. 



The cool of an Indian summer morning is a brief and 

 evanescent pleasure, and as the sun climbed higher I rose 

 from my seat, with thoughts of the morning tub. As I 

 turned I heard the alarmed. "Tok tok tok!" of a pea- 

 cock, and, craning over the walls, saw that the birds which 

 had lately been so peacefully feeding were running along 



