Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/193

Rh infirmity. He has a very loose tongue. He is an incorrigible gossip. The best use you can make of your enemy's secret is to entrust it to the Hajaam. If you want the secret to be most widely known, just say you give it him in the strictest confidence. He will rush off to the bazaar directly he leaves you, and will not rest till the whole village knows the secret, of course with due exaggerations, but in the strictest confidence.

But though the village Hajaam is a great "spendthrift of his tongue," he never dabbles in politics. He has an idea that the Police Superintendent is the natural enemy of those who discuss politics, and that he has the power of hanging any such person in the back part of the jail at the Collector's command.