Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/208

192 SCENES IN A MOFUSSIL MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

No mortal thinks himself so happy as the Native Magistrate in the Mofussil. But there are times when even he, whose smile gives life to the evil-doer and whose frown annihilates him, feels insecure and uneasy. He does not fear the Collector, the Judge, the Revenue Commissioner, or the Governor himself. He meets the requisition of each with cheerful nonchalance. But whenever he hears that an English barrister is engaged to plead for a prisoner before him, or that a European soldier or sailor is defendant in a suit, the Native Magistrate loses appetite and his sleep. He studies his Penal Code as he never studied the most sacred of his shástras. He also reads his Compendium of English Grammar and Composition, and on the day the case is to