Part 16 (1/2)
”What's the ton
”They said they would cut ton laughed syenuine and candidly expressed The babu continued scratching
”To the right,” he said after a while, and the risaldar drove to the right, tohere a Hindu temple cast deep shadows, and a row of trees stood sentry in spasht In front of the te fakir of the none-too-holy type By his side was a flat covered basket
”Look, sahib!” said the babu; and Warrington looked
”My belly crawls!”
”What's the matter, man?”
”He is a fakir There are snakes in that basket-cobras, sahib! O!”
Warrington, swaying precariously over the edge, held tight by the loin-cloth, depending on it as a yacht in a tideould to three hundred pounds of iron
”Oh, cobras are so veree dreadful creatures!” wailed the babu, caressing his waist again ”Look, sahib! Look! Oh, look! Between devil and over-sea what should a e lurched at a ton's center of gravity shi+fted The babu see himself away froton the odd half-inch it needed to put hi to the loin-cloth and pulled hard to haul hiain, and the loin-cloth caton; and the risaldar reined in
But the horses took fright and plunged forward, though the risaldar swore afterward that the babu did nothing to the in the shadows that scared them
And whatever it may have been-snakes or not-that had scared the babu, it had scared all his helplessness away Naked fro ball backward over the carriage top, fell to earth behind the carriage, bu hi The teton started after hiot the horses stopped, and Colonel Kirby realized what had happened
”Coton obeyed, but without enthusiasm
”I can run faster than that fat brute, sir!” he said ”And I saw hih now in ato wipe the mud from hiot the most important part of his costuet hi in!” coh already without a charge of te Tell the risaldar to drive back to quarters I'et this ton sniffed as he cliiven hiive so to listen to the first man who smells the inside of this shay!” he said cheerily ”D 'you suppose we can blame it on the babu, sir?”
”We can try!” said Kirby ”Is that his loin-cloth you've got still?”
”Didn't propose to leave it in the road for him to come and find, sir! His present shaet out of the evening's sport I wish it sht babu, undiluted Hallo-what's this?”
He began to untwist a corner of the cloth, holding it up to get a better view of it in the dih theHe produced a piece of paper that had to be untwisted, too
”Got a match, sir?”
Kirby struck one
”It's addressed to 'Colonel Kirby sahib!' Bet you it's froh! Now-d'you suppose that heathen et his price for it?”