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68 The woman replied, "I don't know who Kopal-Kundala is; I have just been robbed of my kundalas."

Hearing a joke, Nobokumar was a little cheered. He asked, "What has happened?"

The speaker replied, "Robbers have broken my palki, and have killed one of my bearers. The others have run away. The robbers have stripped me of my ornaments, and have tied me in the palki."

Nobokumar could perceive in the darkness that a woman was really tied firmly in the palki with a cloth. He quickly loosened the fastening, and said, "Can you get up?"

The woman said, "One blow of a stick struck me also. I feel a pain in my foot, but I think that I could rise with a little help."

Nobokumar stretched out his arm, by the aid of which the woman got up. Nobokumar said, "Will you be able to walk?"

The woman gave no reply, but asked,