'Let us be burned together, if anything remain over, for we have made
the necessary prayers. We have also cursed Madu, and Malak the brother
of Athira--both evil men. Send my service to the Colonel Sahib Bahadur.'

The Policeman looked long and curiously at the marriage bed of red and
white ashes on which lay, dull black, the barrel of the Ranger's gun. He
drove his spurred heel absently into a half-charred log, and the
chattering sparks flew upwards. 'Most extraordinary people,' said the
Policeman.

'WHE-W, WHEW, OUIOU,' said the little flames.

The Policeman entered the dry bones of the case, for the Punjab
Government does not approve of romancing, in his Diary.

'But who will pay me those four rupees?' said Madu.




THE FINANCES OF THE GODS
[Footnote: Copyright, 1891, by MACMILLAN & Co.]


The evening meal was ended in Dhunni Bhagat's Chubara and the old
priests were smoking or counting their beads. A little naked child
pattered in, with its mouth wide open, a handful of marigold flowers in
one hand, and a lump of conserved tobacco in the other. It tried to
kneel and make obeisance to Gobind, but it was so fat that it fell
forward on its shaven head, and rolled on its side, kicking and gasping,