Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/145

Rh "One day the master's son would come behind and ride on my back. In so doing he would do damage to my coat. Well, this coat I would show to the parents who, to encourage the boy to learn a little of fun and freedom, as they explained, would on no account scold him. But when I cried and said I was a poor man and had a family—I had become quite free with my master—they would laugh at my plight, and present me with a piece of longcloth, saying, by way of apology, that they would give away a thousand pieces of cloth rather than that their darling be checked in the free exercise of his faculties! One day the little urchin would empty the contents of an ink-bottle on my turban, and straightway would I go to the drawing-room, dripping with the liquid. The delighted father would clap his hands and describe my misery to the wife inside, who would laughingly order me to buy another turban! Well, I was nothing loth. Many a time since have I invited the boy to play me some such trick, and right handsomely have I got the parents to pay for it!

"But now Meer Bakhtawár was about Rs. 15,000 in debt. There was scarcely anything left to pledge or to sell. I prevailed upon