cH.v TROUBLES WITH THE WORKMEN 51 
and 
mason to earn his forty-five rupees a month 
a little more if he felt inclined—and would cut down 
the impostors to about their proper pay as coolies. 
Now, as is often the case in this world, the impostors 
were greatly in the majority; and accordingly they 
attempted to intimidate the remainder into coming 
down to their own standard as regards output of 
work, in the hope of thereby inducing me to 
abandon the piece-work system of payment. This, 
however, I had no intention of doing, as I knew 
that I had demanded only a perfectly fair amount 
of work from each man. 
These masons were continually having quarrels 
and fights amongst themselves, and | had frequently 
to go down to their camp to quell disturbances and 
to separate the Hindus from the Mohammedans. 
One particularly serious disturbance of this sort had 
a rather amusing sequel. I was sitting after dusk 
one evening at the door of my hut, when I heard a 
great commotion in the masons’ camp, which lay 
only a few hundred yards away. Presently a 
jemadar came rushing up to me to say that the men 
were all fighting and murdering each other with 
sticks and stones. I ran back with him at once and 
succeeded in restoring order, but found seven badly 
injured men lying stretched out on-the ground. 
These I had carried up to my own éoma on charfoys 
(native beds) ; and Brock being away, | had to play 
E 2 
