A CHAPTER OF NOTHINGS 123 



brought them in. Their wild dog mother must have 

 been furious when she came home, probably with food 

 that she had hunted for them, and found them all 

 gone ! They were about a month old funny little 

 cross things and how nasty they did smell ! I would 

 have taken two of them if I could have borne having 

 them in my tent. 



The young cook I had with me, Shadrao, had 

 very bad fever for some days, his temperature 

 keeping up at 104, so that he was very ill and rather 

 delirious. One night when he was at his worst, 

 between twelve and two o'clock, he saw the devil. 

 Shaitan came to him and began to beat him ; he had 

 hard hands and long fingers, and the fingers were all 

 like black sticks; and he went on and on, beating 

 him for a long time. 



The servants told me this in the morning with 

 solemn faces, and were very much frightened, even 

 Govind thought very badly of it. Govind is my boy, 

 but likes to be called " Butler. " The servants said 

 they had already called the village specialist and he 

 said it was necessary for him to have a young chicken 

 to exorcise the devil, so I ordered one to be brought. 

 When all preparations were made for the cure of 

 Shadrao, who was lying in a small hut, the doctor 

 or priest came in with his chicken, which he gave 

 some one to hold for him until the time came for its 

 use. He took handfuls of rice and flour and came 

 and stood in front of the cook; holding the flour 

 and rice very carefully, he made passes with it close 

 to the sick man's face for some minutes. When 

 this was finished he called for the chicken. He 



