THE FIRST PANTHER 5 



much better come back with him to the village, where 

 I could have a charpoy to sleep on. 



I thanked him for coming, and said I was very 

 comfortable where I was, and would come in the 

 morning. 



He squatted down on his heels and began to talk : 



" I have not seen many white sahibs, but I knew 

 one very well, sahib/' As a rule, I found the Indians 

 in the country parts do not call a woman " mem- 

 sahib/' as our servants always do. " He was a 

 missionary and was a very good man. He used to 

 give us medicine, or dress our wounds at any time, 

 day or night. Whenever any one went to him for 

 help he was always ready and kind and in a good 

 temper. And we talked among ourselves and said, 

 ' If this is the Christian religion, then it is a good and 

 great religion, better than ours/ And we thought 

 and wondered about it, whether we should join him. 



" Then he had to go away and another sahib 

 came. He was very different. He often lost his 

 temper and got very angry. He was a gussa wala. 

 Then we said, c No, this is no religion for us, no 

 better than ours/ ' 



It was very amusing to hear his ideas on the sub- 

 ject. He went on and told me a good deal about his 

 religion which was very interesting. They had a 

 holy man of their own a long time ago. He was so 

 good that when he died both Mussulmans and 

 Hindus built a temple to him on a hill, and both 

 worshipped there, and did so still. 



I got rather sleepy at last, and said we would 

 finish our talk next day, so he went away leaving 



