A GOSEIN'S HUT. 175 



arrival and presence of three white faces, or free 

 from a certain itching to handle the current coin of 

 the realm. 



Most of the beaters, who addressed him as 

 " Sahib," and stood in considerable awe of his sanc- 

 tity and supernatural merits, were, nevertheless, not 

 so dumbfounded by his presence as to prevent their 

 asking and obtaining from him lights for their 

 pipes. Though acceding to their requests, he hardly 

 appeared to notice them, and treated them with a 

 negligent air of superiority. But, as the gentlemen 

 rode up, the instinct generated by a desire for the 

 acquisition of rupees, and which he yet possessed in 

 common with the inferior beings by whom he was 

 surrounded, induced him to present his ash-covered 

 body, and make obeisance, and an offer of his 

 services. Indeed, they afterwards discovered that 

 he had been of no little use in pointing out to the 

 shikarees the usual haunts of the bear, which in- 

 formation had led to its being marked down. 



It was a noble tope of trees at which they rested, 

 far up one of the lateral glens of the hills. But 

 here, again, the desire for seclusion, shade, and 

 water, and not the picturesqueness of its position, 

 had been the motive which urged him to select 

 a pretty spot, from which a fine view was 

 obtainable. 



