12 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



measured him 7 ft. 2 in. and they carried him 

 back to the village to be skinned. 



That evening we had a village concert in the court- 

 yard of the temple. The schoolmaster asked if the 

 villagers might come up to hear my music ! I had 

 a banjo which always comes out camping with me, as 

 often after dinner the flies and insects are so trouble- 

 some, swarming round a light, that one has perforce 

 to sit in darkness. Then I strum on in the dark 

 till bedtime. 



Of course I said that the schoolmaster and the 

 villagers could come up, and quite a little gathering 

 of men and children assembled; the children stood 

 in the archway. The men did not think much of 

 my performances, however, and soon suggested that 

 they should give me some of their own music. The 

 schoolmaster said he would sing an English song. 

 I believe he did not know any English at all excepting 

 the words of his song, which were as follows : 



" God made the sun that shines so bright ; 

 God made the moon that shines at night ; 

 God made the stars to give us light " 



I forget the last line : but he sang sufficiently 

 in tune for me to gather that he started on the top 

 key-note and descended the scale to the octave below, 

 which was repeated for each line. He burst into 

 loud fits of laughing at the end of each line, and I 

 joined in. I encored him and we had it several 

 times over. He was the primo donno, as it were, 

 the other performers not doing great things. 



He asked as a favour if I would spare him a bottle 



