f Rs. 10,000 and two sureties of
Rs. 5,000. The necessary security was immediately forthcoming, and
Kumodini Babu found himself temporarily a free man, after enduring
nearly forty-eight hours of unspeakable misery in the station lock-up.

In due course his case came on for hearing before the Deputy
Magistrate. Ghaneshyam Babu secured the services of a fighting member
of the Calcutta bar and was indefatigable in his efforts to unearth
the nefarious plot against his brother. Proceedings lasted for four
days in a court packed with spectators. The Sub-Inspector and his
accomplices told their story speciously enough. A burglary had really
been committed and the jewellery found in Kumodini Babu's outhouse
was proved to have been part of the stolen goods. The issue was--who
placed them there? On this point the Sub-Inspector's evidence was
not by any means satisfactory. He finally broke down under rigorous
cross-examination, and was forced to admit that it was quite possible
that some one acting on his behalf had hidden the property in Kumodini
Babu's lumber-room. The battle of the markets was related in all its
dramatic details. Shopkeepers and ryots alike, seeing that justice
was likely to prevail, came forward to depose to acts of tyranny by
Ramani Babu's servants and their allies, the police. Evidence of the
prisoner's high character was forthcoming, while his age and dignified
bearing spoke strongly in his favour. The Magistrate saw that he had
been the victim of an abominable conspiracy and released him amid
the suppressed plaudits of the audience. His reasons for discharge
contained severe strictures on the local police, and even suggested
their prosecution. Thus, after weeks of agonising suspense and an
expenditure on legal fees running into thousands of rupees, Kumodini
Babu was declared innocent. He took the humiliation so much to heart,
that he meditated retiring to that refuge for storm-tossed souls,
Benares. But Ghaneshyam Babu strongly dissuaded him from abandoning the
struggle, at least until he had turned the tables on his enemies. So
Kumodini Babu moved the District Magistrate to issue process against
Ramani Babu and the Sub-Inspector. He met with a refusal, however,
probably because the higher authorities thought fit to hush up a
glaring scandal which might "get into the papers," and discredit
the administration. Ramani Babu, therefore, was not molested, but his
accomplice was departmentally censured, and tran