156 AUGUST 



ghaut with the mistress's money to purchase some 

 of the kid that was sacrificed every day by the 

 priests in front of Kali's shrine. It did them both 

 good, being vegetarians. Poonia had a beatific 

 expression on his face afterwards. No doubt he 

 had the bones to suck. As soon as Gunga could 

 walk, I paid his fare home to Orissa, where he 

 went escorted by some friends. He was not much 

 of a gardener, but could work hard. He had a 

 peculiar voice that could be heard all over the 

 garden. The master said it was like a bumble-bee. 

 He tried to translate it into the vernacular in order 

 to address him by the name of "Bumble-bee," but 

 the nearest he could get to it was "Biting-fly." 



"Here, you Biting-fly, come and dig this up," 

 at the same time mimicking the sound of a bumble- 

 bee. Gunga had not the remotest idea why he 

 was a biting-fly, but if the master said he was a 

 biting-fly, what could he do ? He was a poor man. 

 The Ancient once thought, by the way, that he had 

 a biting-fly inside his hat. It was Proclamation day, 

 and a feu-de-joie was suddenly fired off on the 

 parade ground, half a mile away. 



" Good lord ! " cried the Ancient, " what's that 



