22 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
“Don’t you observe/’ said one, who seemed -much 
superior to the other, by whom he was treated with a 
certain rude deference which denoted conscious inferi- 
ority, “ that something has been here before us ? The 
grass is crushed. This is not the pressure of a crea- 
ture with four legs. It looks more like the form of a 
man than of a wild beast. Who should have been 
here, so deep in the heart of the jungle, which we, with 
all our knowledge of its lurking-places, have not pene- 
trated until now ? If he really turn out to be a travel- 
ler who has lost his way, and we pounce upon him, 
he may take the last tender leave of his gold mohurs, 
for, by the Prophet’s beard, he and they shall part 
company.” 
“ I think, ” replied his companion, “ it must be a 
bear who has been basking here in the morning light, 
and hearing our voices, preferred changing his quarters 
to encountering a matchlock.” 
“ Bears don’t lie so lightly : the grass has been 
pressed, I suspect, by a smoother carcass, and we shall 
no doubt fall in with it before the sun shuts his bright 
eyes on this fair world to-night. I fancy we shall have 
more gratification at making his acquaintance, than he 
at making ours ; because in proportion as we shall be 
gainers he must be a loser, and money is never parted 
wfith joyously.” 
“ Though he should not give it with a good will, 
we shall be none the poorer ; so long as we clutch it, 
who cares whether it be taken courteously, or a blow 
on the head precedes the ceremony.” 
“ True, your tributaries, whether of governments 
who levy by law, or of good people like ourselves who 
