A PERTINACIOUS BEGGAR. 
127 
in his import unities, maintaining the same insolent 
tone of expostulation which had at first excited my 
indignation. I now summoned four sturdy haniauls, 
or palankeen-bearers, and ordered them to turn the 
impertinent beggar out of my compound, — the enclosure 
in which my tent stood. They appeared at first ex- 
ceedingly reluctant to obey, the intruder threatening 
them with his heaviest execrations if they presumed 
to lay hands upon him. Seeing their backwardness, 
and knowing that there is nothing which the lower 
orders of Hindoos will not do for money, I promised 
them each half a rupee if they would instantly remove 
the troublesome saint from my sight. In a moment 
they seized him and hurried him beyond the bound- 
aries of my compound, the man all the while impre- 
cating curses upon them and me. He was not, how- 
ever, to be so easily got rid of, but placed himself 
before the entrance, where I had no right to inter- 
fere with him, calling down the vengeance of his 
gods upon my head. I smiled at his impotent rage, 
but he would not quit the spot. There he continued 
incessantly abusing me, and swore that he would 
remain where he was until I purchased his absence 
by a liberal bribe. I laughed at this threat ; but he 
stubbornly maintained his determination, keeping his 
post during the day, and at sunset, when I quitted 
my tent to dine with a friend, he saluted me as I 
passed with a bitter malediction. To my surprise, 
upon my return shortly before midnight, I found the 
pertinacious beggar in my path, nor was his tone in 
the slightest degree humbled ; on the contrary, he 
still persisted in declaring, with the same arrogance 
