Page:In Black and White - Kipling (1890).djvu/44

 because upon my back and bosom were still the marks of the staves of the jaghirdar.

Jowar Singh the carpenter withstood me and turning me in his hands—for he is a very strong man—showed the scars upon my body, and bowed down with laughter upon the well-curb. He cried aloud so that all heard him, from the well-square to the Caravanserai of the Pilgrims:—"Oho! The jackals have quarrelled, and the gray one has been caught in the trap. In truth, this man has been grievously beaten, and his brother has taken the money which the Court decreed! O fool, this shall be told for years against you! The jackals have quarrelled, and, moreover, the books are burnt. O people indebted to Durga Dass, and I know that ye be many, the books are burnt!"

Then all Isser Jang took up the cry that the books were burnt—''Ahi! Ahi!'' that in my folly I had let that escape my mouth—and they laughed throughout the city. They gave me the abuse of the Punjabi, which is a terrible abuse and very hot; pelting me also with sticks and cow-dung till I fell down and cried for mercy.

Ram Narain, the letter-writer, bade the people cease, for fear that the news should get into Montgomery, and the Policemen might come down to inquire. He said, using many bad words—"This much mercy will I do to you, Durga Dass, though there was no mercy in your dealings with my sister's son over the matter of the dun heifer. Has any one a pony on which he sets no store, that this fellow may escape? If the jaghirdar hears that one of the twain (and God knows whether he beat one or both, but this man is certainly beaten) be in the city, there will be a murder done, and then will come the Police, making inquisition into each man's house and eating the sweet-seller's stuff all day long."

Kirpa Ram, the farmer, said:—"I have a pony very sick. But with beating he can be made to walk for two miles. If he dies, the hide-sellers will have the body."

Then Chumbo, the hide-seller, said:—"I will pay three annas for the body and will walk by this man's side till such