254 THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



abuse and ridicule, was thrown in the lake ; none 

 of the Hindoos, however, venturing to lay a finger 

 upon it. 



We slipped quietly away without any of the gang 

 discovering our presence, and after turning over the 

 aifair in my mind, knowing the character of my 

 people, I resolved to work upon their superstitious 

 fears to my own advantage ; and some few days 

 afterwards, whilst out deer-stalking, I watched an 

 opportunity, when the Gooroo was separated from 

 the rest of the gang, and approaching tolerably near 

 unperceived, hid myself under a large mass of para- 

 sitical plants, and called out in a disguised low 

 sepulchral voice, "0 Perriatumbie, Perriatumbie ! " 

 (his real name, " the Gooroo," being a cognomen 

 given to him by the gang, on account of his having 

 some pretensions to priestcraft and sorcery,) am I 

 not the god Haniman, whom you and your wretched 

 associates caused to be defiled and thrown to the 

 bottom of the tank ? I am not dead, as you will 

 find, although I have been eight days in the water ; 

 I can see you, although Ali Beg tried to put out my 

 eyes ; I can hear, although my ears are disfigured ; 

 I can smell your vile carcass, although the end of 

 my nose is ofi"; and I can hardly keep my hands 

 away from your throat, although they are maimed." 

 At the first sound of my voice the Gooroo tried to 

 make a bolt, but in his mad terror he stumbled over 

 the ro©t of a tree, falling heavily his whole length 

 on the ground, when he began writhing about in a 



