Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/359

Rh ‘I then rode back and comforted my mind that I had done my duty zealously and expeditiously. Our community was a small one, and in spite of some mutual failings we had been a very united and pleasant little society. Many were the parties and afternoons we had shared together, and as I sat down to my solitary meal I felt regret for the loss of the lady. It was a sad duty that I had just performed, and I had done my best to discharge it.

‘The evening passed and night came. I was sleeping with an easy conscience, when a loud knocking outside woke me up. I hastened to the door and there stood another court peon with a note from the doctor stating briefly: “False alarm. Mrs. So-and-so is doing well and is eating her supper.”

‘Oh! agony; oh! horror, to think of that huge coffin carried up to the front door in the morning just as she was sitting down to breakfast !

‘It was then past midnight. The town where the undertaker lived was three miles off, and there was about the same distance again to the foot of the hill, across a dreadful rough country intersected by deep nullahs and sprinkled plentifully with rocks. Was it possible I could reach the base of the hill and stop the coolies with their horrible burden before it was too late? The lady would surely have a fit in reality if she saw them. Thinking it was hopeless to get across the country and to catch the coolies, I sent a runner down to the clerk with a letter saying that Mrs. Judge was not dead, and that he must get back the coffin at once.

‘And now it is time to follow it. Obedient to my orders the clerk had despatched the coffin with extra coolies for the hill journey. They were ordered to deliver it as expeditiously as possible. They toiled along for about four miles and then began to ascend the hill.