Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/237

Rh upon the back of his wife and ordered her to fetch out the imprisoned animal. She meekly obeyed without any resentment, and after a few disjointed sentences the party disappeared down the road. The stable women retired into their godowns, and peace reigned in the compound. After a few impoundings the garden was troubled no more by trespassers.

Buffaloes in a road are unpleasant creatures to pass. They invariably cross over with a heavy porcine gait, without any warning, just in front of the horse. An officer in the Royal Artillery met with his death in that way when we were living in Madras. The horse was restive and collided with a buffalo. It fell heavily and crushed its rider beneath it. The Rev. H. P. James was chaplain at the Mount at that time. One evening we dined with him, and the conversation turned upon a topic that was being discussed in some of the newspapers. Was there a future state for animals? Mr. James remarked : ‘Well, if there is a future life for animals, I hope there is a hot place in store for buffaloes !’

The seedlings blossomed and faded, and were replaced by foliage plants in pots. Among these was the wax flower, a scentless gardenia, that was useful for decorative purposes in the church. Another interesting plant was the pas rose (Hibiscus mutabilis), a beautiful double hibiscus that unfolded at sunrise a creamy white. As the heat of the sun increased a delicate blush of pink ran through its petals, deepening as the day passed. By the evening the pas rose hung its drooping head on its slender stalk, withered and limp, and of a crimson wine colour. It is the rose of which the Persian poet sings: And David's lips are lockt; but in divine High-piping Pehlevi, with ‘Wine! Wine! Wine! Red Wine!’—the Nightingale cries to the Rose That sallow cheek of hers to' incarnadine.