Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 14, 1903.djvu/451

Rh "The mukhya called to Jodha, 'Is there any muthiya in your house?' And Jodha replied from behind the closed doors, 'There is none within.'

"Then my son Raja came up, and I said to him, 'Go to the thana (police-station) and make a report; if possible, bring back with you some official (hakim) to turn the sorcerers out of Jodha's house.'

"I sat down myself in front of the door, and sent my sons Sheo Pal and Gaia Charan to the back to keep watch. Sheo Pal stood at Ram Din Thakur's door, and Gaia Charan climbed a banyan tree near Gajju's house. In a few moments the boy who was in the banyan tree called loudly to me, 'There are two men sitting in the upper room in Jodha's house.' I said, 'Let them sit; the policeman is coming, and they will then come out of themselves.'

"We waited some time, and Jodha came out to Ram Din, and said, ' Let these men go by way of your house.' But Ram Din refused.

"Now Mahpal lives in the house next to Ram Din's, and my son Gaia shouted that the Kahars were climbing out of his court. So Mahpal took a stick and went in and said, 'I will beat anyone who comes into my house.' Then Ram Din and the mukhya said to Jodha, 'It is now plain that these two men are in your house; bring them out.' And Jodha brought out Bihari and Bulla, Kahars. Bihari had a bundle of juar (millet) under his arm.

"So, leaving Jodha, we all went to the house of Sheo Baksh, mukhya, and the Kahars admitted the charge.

"Then Parwez Ali, zamindar, called us all to him and questioned the Kahars of the whole matter. Bihari said not a word, but Bulla confessed all. He said, 'I was sent to-day to Sindhan by Jodha; he gave me eight annas and told me to buy four annas' worth of liquor; this was for the god. Bhola Kumhar killed the goat and poured the liquor over it. Jodha also tied up Rs.26 in a turban, and gave it into Bhola's hand, saying, "When Beni Singh's life shall depart, this money shall be given to Bihari.

"Then the zamindar called Bhola. He confessed to having killed the goat, but denied all knowledge of the money, saying that 'Bihari and Jodha know about it, I do not.