of an oil-jar, and daughter of pig-troughs, what is it thou hast
done?" And she, laughing, spake naught in reply, but gave me the
_Tcheke Slahp_ of her tribe, and her fingers fell upon my face, and my
teeth rattled within my mouth. But I, for my blood was made hot within
me, sped swiftly from her, making no halt, and the noise of fifty
thousand devils was in my ears, and the rage of the _Smâk duns_ burnt
fierce within the breast of me, and my tongue was as a fresh fig that
grows upon a southern wall. _Auggrh!_ pass me the peg, for my mouth is
dry. _Burra Murra Boko! Burra Murra Boko!_ Then came the Yunkum Sahib,
and the Bunkum Sahib, and they spake awhile together. But I, like unto
a _Brerra-bit_, lay low, and my breath came softly, and they knew not
that I watched them as they spake. And they joked much together, and
told each to the other how that the wives of their friends were to
them as mice in the sight of the crouching _Tabbikat_, and that the
honour of a man was as sand, that is blown afar by the storm-wind
of the desert, which maketh blind the faithful, and stoppeth their
mouths. Such are all of them, Sahib, since I that speak unto you know
them for what they are, and thus I set forth the tale that all men may
read, and understand. _Burra Murra Boko! Burra Murra Boko!_

'"Twas the most ondacint bedivilmint ever I set eyes on, Sorr. There
was I, blandandhering widout"--

"Pardon me," I said, "this is rather puzzling. A moment back you
were a Mahajun of Puli, in Marwur, or a Delhi Pathan, or a Wali Dad,
or something of that sort, and now you seem to have turned into an
Irishman. Can you tell me how it is done?"

"Whist, ye oncivilised, backslidhering pagin!" said my friend, Private
O'RAMMIS, for it was indeed he. "Hould on there till I've tould ye.