informed him that the anchorite had hung the oilman's son to a
tree. But soon he explained to himself the difficulty, remembering
the exceeding cunning of jogis and other reverend men, and
determining that his enemy, the better to deceive him, had
doubtless altered the shape and form of the young oilman's body.

With this idea, Vikram was pleased, saying, "My trouble has been
productive of fruit." Remained the task of carrying the Vampire to
Shanta-Shil the devotee. Having taken his sword, the Raja
fearlessly climbed the tree, and ordering his son to stand away
from below, clutched the Vampire's hair with one hand, and with
the other struck such a blow of the sword, that the bough was cut
and the thing fell heavily upon the ground. Immediately on falling
it gnashed its teeth and began to utter a loud wailing cry like the
screams of an infant in pain. Vikram having heard the sound of its
lamentations, was pleased, and began to say to himself, "This devil
must be alive." Then nimbly sliding down the trunk, he made a
captive of the body, and asked " Who art thou?"

Scarcely, however, had the words passed the royal lips, when the
Vampire slipped through the fingers like a worm, and uttering a
loud shout of laughter, rose in the air with its legs uppermost, and
as before suspended itself by its toes to another bough. And there it
swung to and fro, moved by the violence of its cachinnation.

"Decidedly this is the young oilman!" exclaimed the Raja, after he
had stood for a minute or two with mouth open, gazing upwards
and wondering what he should do next. Presently he directed
Dharma Dhwaj not to lose an instant in laying hands upon the
thing when it next might touch the ground, and then he again