176 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
stones, and here and there overrun with weeds and 
dwarf shrubs, there was no sort of escape for flesh 
and blood. No chink or cranny, no trace of foot- 
steps, no vestige of the cotton, no clue to the mystery 
could they discover ; and while they were occupied 
upon the fruitless search, unwelcome thoughts were 
suggested to their minds, and the trembling knees of 
several refused to support their bodies ; so they fell to 
the earth, and prayed for dawai, mercy, to the saint 
of the awful Jaod Bhae ; until the Brahmin, by a 
strenuous effort, having regained possession of a 
portion of his wits, arose, and with a less boisterous 
devotion than that of some around him, pronounced, 
or endeavoured so to do, a saving verse from the 
Shastra , and then somewhat more articulately de- 
siring them to follow him, without farther ceremony, 
he led the way back to the city. 
By virtue of the spell which the holy man had thus 
used to preserve them from destruction, they arrived 
safely at home, and having assembled a tolerably nume- 
rous party around the fire which burnt upon the floor, 
in the centre of the guard-room in the city gate, the 
reverend priest, with a calm unshaken voice, related the 
awful upshot of their excursion, and being unwilling 
to declare himself to the people, as to his knowledge 
concerning the things which they had witnessed, with- 
out first consulting his brother Brahmins, he retired to 
his temple, and there, in conclave with those holy men, 
repeated all, and required their opinions. Whatever 
