s. At the end of that time, I was seated
one day in school teaching one of the classes, when I got a message
from the head of the gaol saying there was a prisoner who professed
to be a Christian, and desired to see me. On responding to the call,
imagine my surprise to find Seronai. He said that on leaving us he had
intended to work his land, but, owing to the enmity of the people,
had been obliged to seek refuge in the mountains, where a certain
malik had befriended him and given him shelter. He had remained there
till a few weeks back, when he wished to pay a visit to his mother and
his village. On arrival there, he found that a tragedy had just been
enacted. He had a sister there married to a farmer in the village;
this lady had accepted the advances of another swain from the next
village, and had prepared to elope with him. They had, however, been
frustrated in their intentions, for the corpses of the two had been
found--the woman shot through the head, her lover through the heart.

Suspicion would most naturally fall on the husband, but the arrival
of Seronai at this moment suggested an alternative: the people of
the village would be glad to get an apostate, such as they considered
him to be, into trouble; circumstantial evidence was not difficult to
arrange, and witnesses in support might be had for the asking. Besides,
by making a scapegoat of Seronai, the rest of the village would
escape the harrying of the police myrmidons, who might otherwise
settle on their village like a swarm of locusts, for no one knew how
long. Thus it came about that Seronai was in gaol on the charge of
double murder. It was not much that I could do for him beyond giving
him the consolations of religion; circumstantial evidence was very
black against him, and it was not a matter of surprise when the judge
found him guilty and awarded him the extreme penalty of hanging.

Two days yet remained to the carrying out of the sentence, when there
was a great uproar in the gaol. Seronai and another prisoner, also
under sentence of death, had broken loose from cells, but, unable to
scale the outer wall of the prison, had clambered on to the roof of
one of the buildings, from which they bade defiance to all who ventured
near. They tore up the cornice, and if anyone came near he ran the risk
of having his head smashed with a well-directed brick. This siege went
on for two and a half hours; the two defenders were so alert that if
a ladder was put up