140 JULY 



is why I always annex the good-looking Mahom- 

 edan boy, whenever I can get him. He has a 

 very dapper use of his fingers, is nervous, quick and 

 active, and besides, he has a little knowledge of 

 gardening, and a good deal of brain. He does not 

 seize a tender fern by its new fronds, or try to get 

 it into a hole too small for it ; and best of all, he 

 does not waste time. So I get along admirably by 

 sitting under my two umbrellas, and instructing 

 him with a long stick as to what to take up and 

 where to put it, without many words of explana- 

 tion; and I think he really enjoys the work. I 

 said I was going to make a new rockery round an 

 old mango tree in " Under the Mangoes," and told 

 him where to get the earth and stones, and he 

 accomplished it all by himself, much to the surprise 

 of the Burra Sahib, who asked : 

 " How did you get your circle ? " 

 " The boy did it, by his eye," I said. 

 He is very pleased when I give him a little 

 reward of tea and sugar. In fact, they all like tea, 

 and I keep a canister by me specially for them. 

 When Penelope cannot get any money out of me, 

 he comes and asks, always with a toothless smile, 



