PURDASEE, THE DOM. 153 



moans near a thicket of milk-hedge (euphorbia). 

 On going to the spot I was witness of a 

 most horrible sight. A couple of village pariah 

 dogs were tugging at the legs of a man, trying 

 to drag him out of a small hut of millet stalks. 

 The poor wretch was so emaciated and weak 

 from starvation that he had not the strength 

 to beat them off, but was clinging convulsively 

 to the sides of the hut and moaning faintly now 

 and again. A shower of blows with my whip 

 failed to drive off the dogs, which had grown 

 ferocious by feeding on human corpses, so that I 

 had to draw my revolver and shoot one of them 

 before the other took to flight. My terrible ex- 

 periences of the previous few months had taught 

 me that the village dogs, grown savage with 

 hunger, had taken to feeding on the bodies of 

 the dead and dying villagers, and had I not 

 opportunely arrived when I did, they would 

 have made short work of the poor wretch 

 in the hut. My syce now came up, and I sent 

 him on to hunt up my camp and to bring some 

 villagers with a charpoy (village bedstead) on 

 which to carry the poor fellow to my tent. A 

 few drops of brandy from my flask soon revived 

 him, and he greedily devoured a biscuit moistened 

 in brandy. I could see that hunger was his chief 

 ailment, but I would not for the present give him 

 more than a second biscuit, as I knew that in ex- 

 treme cases such as his, food must be administered 

 with caution. After a little time he was able to sit 

 up, and he then told me he did not belong to the 



