RED HAT PROTESTS 67 



I do, and it is better that you should attend me, 

 and do a little work, than sit all day on a box 

 by the gate." In the evening, however, he came to 

 me with tears in his eyes, and said : 



" Your honour is my father and my mother, and 

 I eat your salt ; but I can lift no more pots. If the 

 Red Hat living near by at another house were to 

 see me, he would excommunicate me. He is the 

 priest of the Red Hats." 



"Very well," I said, "if you would rather listen 

 to him than to me, do so ; but I shall be compelled 

 to have a new Red Hat, one who will make 

 himself useful ; " and the present one arrived, and is 

 an extremely good man. It took some days to 

 finish this work, and then chutnies and preserves 

 were the order of the day. 



I really think it is dangerous having these 

 monkeys about. One never knows when they may 

 drop down from the trees on one's back. I saw 

 the big one reach down his long arm from the wall 

 and box Klinker's ears, making that estimable dog 

 fly for his life. So I gave a broken air-gun to a 

 coolie boy, and told him to point it at the monkeys 

 whenever he saw them, which he did with the 



