ad that they should come to him, an official of the Peshwa, to demand
tribute; he would have them destroyed. Beyond, not two _kos_ away,
were a thousand soldiers,--which was a gorgeous lie,--who if he but
sent a messenger would come and behead the lot, would cast the sacred
bones in the gaudy bags upon the dunghill of the village bullocks.

"To-morrow, monkey-man, the gift will be doubled," Ajeet answered
calmly, "for that is the law, and you know it."

But the _patil_, thinking there would be little fight in a party of
pilgrims and mendicants, called to his stickmen to bring help and they
would beat these insolent ones and drive them on their way.

"Take the yogi, Hunsa," Ajeet said, "and the men that have the
fire-powder and throw it upon the thatched roof of a hut in the way of
a visitation from the gods, because this ape will not leave us in peace
for our mission until he is subdued."

In obedience as Hunsa and the yogi moved toward the village, the
_patil_ cried. "Where go you?"

"We go with a message from the gods to you who offer insult to a holy
one."

The villagers armed with sticks, retreated slowly before the yogi,
dreading to offer harm to the sainted one. Muttering his curses, his
iron tongs clanking at every step, the yogi strode to the first
mud-wall huts, and there raising his voice cried aloud: "Maha Kalil
consume the houses of these men of an evil heart who would deny the
offering to Thee."

Then at a wave of his skeleton arm the two men threw upon the thatched
roof of a hut a grey preparation of gunpowder which was but a
pyrotechnical trick, and immediately the thatch burst into flames.

"There, accursed ones--unbelievers! Kali has spoken!" the yogi
declared solemnly, and turning on his heels went back to the camp.

The headman and his men, with howls of dismay, rushed back to stop the
conflagration. And just then the jewel merchant arrived in his cart.
The curtains of the canopy were thrown back and the fat Hindu sat
blinking his owl eyes in consternation. At sight of Ajeet he
descended, salaamed, and asked:

"Has there been a decoity in the village--is it war and bloodshed?"

Ajeet assumed the haughty condescending manner of a Rajput prince, and
explained, with a fair scope of imagination that the _patil_ was a man
of ungovernable temper who gave protection to thieves and outlaws, that
the village itself was a nest for them. That two of his servants,
having gone into the village