Page:Old Deccan Days.djvu/203

 Rh donkey's ears, and he and the Blind Man spent the rest of the night in peace and comfort.

Next morning the Deaf Man woke the Blind Man early, saying, 'Awake, brother, awake; here we are indeed in luck! the whole floor is covered with heaps of gold and silver and precious stones.' And so it was; for the Rakshas owned a vast amount of treasure, and the whole house was full of it. 'That is a good thing,' said the Blind Man. 'Show me where it is, and I will help you to collect it.' So they collected as much treasure as possible, and made four great bundles of it. The Blind Man took one great bundle, the Deaf Man took another; and putting the other two great bundles on the donkey, they started off to return home. But the Rakshas whom they had frightened away the night before had not gone very far off, and was waiting to see what his father Bakshas might look like by daylight. He saw the door of his house open, and watched attentively, when out walked—only a Blind Man, a Deaf Man, and a donkey, who were all three laden with large bundles of his treasure! The Blind Man carried one bundle, the Deaf Man carried another bundle, and two bundles were on the donkey.

The Rakshas was extremely angry, and immediately called six of his friends to help him kill the Blind Man, the Deaf Man, and the donkey, and recover the treasure.

The Deaf Man saw them coming (seven great Rakshas, with hair a yard long, and tusks like an elephant's), and 'was dreadfully frightened; but the Blind Man was very brave (because he couldn't see), and said, 'Brother, why do you lag behind in that way?'—'Oh!' answered the Deaf Man, 'there are seven great Rakshas with tusks like an elephant's coming to kill us; what can we do?' 'Let us hide the treasure in the bushes,' said the Blind Man; 'and do you lead me to a tree; then I will climb up first, and you shall climb up afterwards, and so we shall be out of their way.' The Deaf Man thought this good advice, so he pushed the donkey and the bundles of treasure into the bushes, and led the Blind Man to a high supari tree that grew close by; but he was a very cunning man, this Deaf Man, and instead of letting the Blind Man climb up first and following him, he got up first and let the Blind Man clamber after, so that he was further out of harm's way than his friend.

When the Rakshas arrived at the place and saw them both