Byram and Ghopal. 



229 



bushels for one, besides the interest, which 

 will raise it to five bushels." 



"It is folly to cast the blame of high prices 

 upon the Bunyas," said one of their number 

 who was present. "When grain is scarce 

 and everybody wants it, the price must be 

 high, whether the Bunyas will or not." 



"I will discuss this question of prices 

 with the Bunyas on my return to the Serai," 

 said Byram, " and do you prepare to resow 

 your fields without delay. To-morrow is 

 an auspicious day, and with the blessing of 

 Brahma, you shall have abundant crops this 

 year, and your land be renewed. A flight 

 of locusts when the land is covered with a 

 heavy green crop will benefit the land as 

 much as a five-year fallow." 



"That maybe true enough," said an old 

 farmer. " I remember when the locusts 

 came five years ago, just a week later than 

 to-day, the fields were resown the very last 

 day or two of the season, and the crops 

 were moderate, but the next year we had 

 the finest harvest that had been known for 

 years, and the crops have been pretty good 

 since — better at least than they were before 

 the locusts, when a third part of the fields 

 laid fallow because the soil was exhausted. 

 Yes, the locusts may be lucky for the crops, 

 but the Bunyas are in league with Brahma, 

 and charge interest on his blessings at the 

 same rate as on their own loans." 



"Not so," said a Bunya, "we depend 

 for our success on good seasons just as 

 much as the farmers, and share their good 

 and bad fortune with them." 



" Quite true," said the previous speaker. 

 *' Brahma sends good and ill fortune to be 

 shared among the Bunyas and cultivators, 

 and the Bunyas take as much good fortune 

 as fairly counterbalances the ill fortune 

 which they manage to allot to the farmers 

 as their share." 



At this there was a laugh, and Byram, 

 reflecting that when a people can joke over 

 their misfortunes they are in the best mood 

 for remedying them, proposed a return to 



the Serai, and a consultation with the shop 

 keepers to fix the price of seed grain. 



The whole body of merchants, to the 

 number of several hundred, responded 

 promptly to the summons, as did also the 

 cultivators and people of all castes, for all 

 were interested in the matter. 



When they were all assembled they asked 

 Byram to open the meeting, which he did 

 in a few words: 



" Every one knows," he said, "that after 

 land has been cropped some years the crops 

 get poorer and poorer from year to year, 

 until the farmer is compelled to manure 

 or fallow it. In this country farmers have 

 no manure, it is all burned for fuel, but at 

 intervals Brahma sends a flock of locusts, 

 which dress the fields and render them fruit- 

 ful for a few years. The locusts take what- 

 ever green stuff is on the land and convert 

 it into manure, at a profit to the farmer. 

 They pay good interest on what they take. 

 But the farmer gets neither principal nor 

 interest until the next crop, and for this he 

 is dependent on an advance of seed from 

 the Bunyas. Now if the Bunyas charge as 

 much interest as the locusts pay, the farmer 

 will gain nothing by the visitation, but if the 

 Bunyas are moderate, both they and the 

 farmers will be enriched. What say you, 

 Gunnoo Lall?" asked he, turning to a portly 

 old banker; "have the merchants agreed 

 on the price of grain?" 



"There is news that the locusts have 

 devastated the whole country southward of 

 Mooltan, and there is some talk of fixing 

 the nerrick of jowari millet as high as eighty 

 cents a maund." 



At this there was a great outcry among 

 the people, some of whom said they would 

 rather leave their land untilled than pay 

 such a monstrous price. 



"That is too high a figure," said Byram. 

 "The rate yesterday was thirty-six cents, 

 and if stocks are heavy it would be wiser 

 not to increase the price, which but for the 

 locusts would have fallen before harvest 



