130 THE EARLY DAYS OF 



glance at the book, I scanned the text anxiously before giving 

 my examiner a specimen of my powers. But the years I had 

 attended Chapel at School stood me in good part, for I knew 

 the English almost by heart, and I was able to advance, though 

 somewhat tediously. On arriving at the last verse I felt quite 

 happy, and was about to give my examiner a homily on the 

 Natural History of the Holy Land, and how to distinguish eagles 

 from vultures if he saw them, when, as Natural History was 

 evidently neither here nor there to him, he preremptorily sent me 

 to the right-about and called up another lad. 



I have robbed many an eagle's and vulture's nest since that 

 eventful day, and always found the best way to deal with vulture's 

 eggs was to drill a large round hole and get a low caste fellow, for a 

 consideration, to shake the contents out. 



The next day I was told to construe the peroration of the first 

 " Georgic," commencing where the poet alludes to the prophetic 

 nature of the sun. This was very fortunate, for I know it better 

 than any other part, and I managed to go ahead, though I felt 

 considerable relief when I arrived at the last three lines, which 

 have never been surpassed for beauty or pathos in any language. 

 Then, after giving a specimen of my knowledge — or rather want of 

 knowledge — of grammar, I was rising to depart when my examiner 

 said, "By the bye, what is the perfect of Audco ? " to which I 

 jauntily replied, " Atuiivi." The contortion of that examiner's face 

 was almost terrible to behold ; he was so steeped in classical lore 

 that a grammatical error afforded him intense anguish, and I have 

 often thought my Indian career at that moment was trembling in 

 the balance. Luckily I saw my error, and correcting myself, gave 

 " Ausus-sum," on which his face brightened up and the dark cloud 

 which had come over it passed away. I considered this a fine 

 opportunity for asking so learned a man under what circumstances 

 such extraordinary things as deponent verbs had crept into the 

 Latin tongue, and how in the fine 



" Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro,^* 



