Page:Stories of Bengalee life - Prabhat Kumar Mukerji.pdf/177

Rh friends went slowly towards the tree. The child had on a leather coat and a curious skin cap with the hair on; some bones strung together as a necklace were round his throat. He was about two years old. The priest said he had picked up the child two days before. Some hill woman had lost him, and had not yet come in search of him.

Kumud Nath said to Jadu Babu—"Come along, we will take him with us."

"Are you mad? What can you do with him?"

"Bring him up."

"And if his mother comes in search of him?"

"I will give my address to the priest. If the child's mother comes I will give him up to her."

With these words Kumud Nath called his wife aside. At first she did not consent to the proposal. Kumud Nath urged the helpless condition of the child. He said—"Among these uncivilised races they don't concern themselves about the loss of a child; if they did, the mother would have come in search of it. In a day or two the child, if he stays here, will die."

These words stirred the mother's heart in Giribala. She gave it some milk from that brought for her own boy. It was now time to return. It was near four o'clock, and at five the