124 THE COBRA BUNGALOW 



Dowlutpoor. Then a decree was obtained and the 

 debtor's house, or land, was sold to defray the debt, 

 Beharilal himself being usually the purchaser, 

 though not, of course, in his own name, for he was a 

 prudent man. 



By these means Beharilal had become possessed 

 of large estates, which he managed with such skill 

 that they yielded to him revenues which they had 

 never yielded to the former owners of them, while 

 his tenants, who were mostly former owners, grew 

 daily more deeply involved in their pecuniary 

 obligations to him, and therefore entertained no 

 thought of leaving him, for he could put them 

 into prison any day if he chose. Their contentment 

 gave him great satisfaction, and he treated them 

 with benevolence, giving them advances of money 

 for all their necessary expenses and appropriating 

 the whole of their crops at the harvest to repay 

 himself. He bound them to buy all that they had 

 need of at his shop, so that he made profit off them 

 on both sides. 



And as his wealth increased, his person increased 

 with it and his appearance became more imposing, 

 so that he was regarded everywhere with the highest 

 respect and esteem. He was, moreover,, a very 

 religious man and charitable beyond most. By 

 early risers he might be seen in his garden seeking 

 out the nests of ants and giving them, with his own 

 hands, their daily dole of rice. It was his benevolent 

 thoughtfulness which had supplied drinking troughs 



