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CHAPTER X. 



TO THE SHAYAK. 



27th JULY. There was considerable delay occasioned 

 by the coolies coming late, and the jemadar not appearing. 

 Neither did the expected guide from Bella Shah appear ; 

 and the tattoo provided for me was such a feeble animal 

 that I scorned to bestride him. Having decided to leave 

 my own nags to be fresh for my return, I had been led to 

 expect better things by the jemadar, he having declared 

 that the thanadar would furnish me with horses like my 

 own. 



Without waiting for the jemadar, I gave the word to 

 be off, not disliking being compelled to resort to my usual 

 means of locomotion, my legs ; and hardly had we left 

 the enclosure than we were entangled in fields, amid the 

 partitions of which the path was lost. An unwilling 

 guide, in the person of a villager whom we appropriated 

 v sans ceremonie,' conducted us out of the fields to a plain 

 much- worn track, when, concluding that our way was 

 straight before us, I permitted him to abscond. On we 

 trudged, and had made some way, when shouts behind us 



