that troublous time, declared that in the turmoil of the coming of
the soldiers he had not found it. Indeed this seemed reasonable, for
he, having fled down the road to the Gulab, had not been there when
they had opened the box and looted it.

So the Dewan sent for Ajeet, Hunsa and Sookdee, and declared that if
the Bagree contingent of murder did not start at once for the Pindari
camp he would have them taken up for the decoity.

It was Ajeet who answered the Dewan: "Dewan Sahib, we be men who
undertake all things in the favour of Bhowanee, and we make prayer to
that goddess. If the Dewan will give fifty rupees for our _pooja_,
to-morrow we will make sacrifice to her, for without the feast and the
sacrifice the signs that she would vouchsafe would be false. Then we
will take the signs and the men will go at once."

"You shall have the money," the Dewan declared: "but do not delay."

That evening the Bagrees made their way to a mango grove for the feast,
carrying cocoanuts, raw sugar, flour, butter, and a fragrant gum,
goojul. A large hole was dug in the ground and filled with dry
cow-dung chips which were set on fire. Sweet cakes were baked on the
fire and then broken into small pieces, a portion of the fire raked to
one side, and their priest sprinkled upon it the fragrant gum, calling
in a loud voice: "Maha Kali, assist and guide us in our expedition.
Keep calamity from us who worship Thee, and have made this feast in Thy
honour. Give us the sign, that we may know if it is agreeable to Thee
that we destroy the enemy of Maharaja Sindhia."

When the Bagrees had eaten much cooked rice and meat-balls, which were
served on plantain leaves, they drank robustly of _mhowa_ spirit, first
spilling some of this liquor upon the ground in the name of the goddess.

The strong rank native liquor roused an enthusiasm for their
approaching interview of the sacred one. Once Ajeet laid his hand upon
the pitcher that Hunsa was holding to his coarse lips, and pressing it
downward, admonished:

"Hunsa, whilst Bhowanee does not prohibit, it is an offence to approach
her except in devout silence."

The surly one flared up at this; his ungovernable rage drew his hand to
a knife in his belt, and his eyes blazed with the ferocity of a wounded
tiger.

"Ajeet," he snarled, "you are now Chief, but you are not Raja to
command slaves."

With a swift twist of his wrist Ajeet snatched the pitcher from the
hand of Hunsa, saying: "Ja