Pakhal Naddi of the Palm Trees. 



49 



darkness growing ever nearer, 



twining, halting, crackling, snuffing j 



darkness of suspicious bodies, 



bodies of suspicious darkness, 



looming ever bigger, nearer, 



till the snouts of snuffling ' dookers] 



' dookers ! ' pigs they, wild, of jun- 



gle- 



snufF and gruntle slowly onwards. 

 Piggies full of sweet potatoes, 

 stolen sweetstuffs, luscious juices ! 

 luscious they the cane-stored juices, 

 slobbered canes of luscious sugar, 

 crunched up by the teeth of piggies 

 in that field beyond the river ! 

 Lean sows grunting to their hoglets, 

 small brown hoglets squealing answer j 

 youthful boars assuming graces, 

 graceless pranks they ne'er had tried on 

 were he present Grey-Boar, master ! 

 Sterns retreating, tails a' twitching, 

 passes on the champing sounder, 

 sounder of the jungle ' dockers, ' 

 seeking shelter mid the Pakhal. 

 Entering the prickly covert, 

 covert closing tight behind them, 

 covert smiling in the sunshine, 

 level rays of dawning sunshine, 

 showing ne'er a sign of piggies, 

 innocent it smiles. Of ' dookers ' 

 what does it know? Peaceful Pakhal ! 

 In the distance sounds a thudding, 

 cantering of useful ' tattoos ' j 

 ponies carry sahibs to hunting, 

 canter on till, dust subsiding, 

 sees them drawing rein o'er yonder, 

 under tamarinds so shady, 

 where the hunters Arab Waler 



switch their tails, by syces tended. 



Thither, too, the scouts repairing. 

 Shortly see hog-hunters issue 

 (champing curb-chain, glancing spear- 



tip)i 



cross the fields o'er, pass the ford by, 

 some to right and some to left hand 

 (and a couple with the beaters). 



Roosting like some mangy vulture 

 in the branches of a babul 

 thorny tree that wild acacia 

 sits a figure stands a figure 

 ape-like gibbers mid the branches, 

 branches of the thorny babul j 

 pointing, beckoning beckoning, point- 

 ing, 



joins dusk hands before the sahib, 

 points into the Pakhal's ihelter. 

 " There he lies, the horrid sooar ! 

 " Oh ! the rascal Ah ! the villain 

 " may his destiny be blasted, 

 " and his female relatives all, 

 " nose-clipped hussies, may they shamed 

 be! 



" See ! The swine came from the 



sugar, 



" sugarcane of my own planting, 

 " trampling crushing masticating, 

 " night-long ravages in champing ! 

 " When the sahibs were changing horses, 

 " burst he all my fence asunder, 

 " passed he thence into that thicket 

 ' thicket of the Pakhal Naddi. 

 " Where yon mango tree's dark shadow 

 " falls aslant the prickly palm-brake 

 " lies he daily cursed ' dooker ! ' 



" See ! I call my fellow-toilers 

 " (hasten Bapoo ! hurry Rama !) 



