to clear the scaffolding from
the guard-tower on the right bank, and Peroo with his mates was casting
loose and lowering down the bamboo poles and planks as swiftly as ever
they had whipped the cargo out of a coaster.

From his trolley he could hear the whistle of the serang's silver pipe
and the creak and clatter of the pulleys. Peroo was standing on the
topmost coping of the tower, clad in the blue dungaree of his abandoned
service, and as Findlayson motioned to him to be careful, for his was
no life to throw away, he gripped the last pole, and, shading his eyes
ship-fashion, answered with the long-drawn wail of the fo'c'sle lookout:
"Ham dekhta hai" ("I am looking out"). Findlayson laughed and then
sighed. It was years since he had seen a steamer, and he was sick for
home. As his trolley passed under the tower, Peroo descended by a rope,
ape-fashion, and cried: "It looks well now, Sahib. Our bridge is all but
done. What think you Mother Gunga will say when the rail runs over?"

"She has said little so far. It was never Mother Gunga that delayed us."

"There is always time for her; and none the less there has been delay.
Has the Sahib forgotten last autumn's flood, when the stoneboats were
sunk without warning--or only a half-day's warning?"

"Yes, but nothing save a big flood could hurt us now. The spurs are
holding well on the west bank."

"Mother Gunga eats great allowances. There is always room for more stone
on the revetments. I tell this to the Chota Sahib"--he meant Hitchcock--
"and he laughs."

"No matter, Peroo. Another year thou wilt be able to build a bridge in
thine own fashion."

The Lascar grinned. "Then it will not be in this way--with stonework
sunk under water, as the Quetta was sunk. I like sus-suspen-sheen
bridges that fly from bank to bank, with one big step, like a
gang-plank. Then no water can hurt. When does the Lord Sahib come to
open the bridge?"

"In three months, when the weather is cooler."

"Ho! ho! He is like the Burra Malum. He sleeps below while the work is
being done. Then he comes upon the quarter-deck and touches with his
finger, and says: 'This is not clean! Dam jibboonwallah!'"

"But the Lord Sahib does not call me a dam jibboonwallah, Peroo."

"No, Sahib; but he does not come on deck till the work is all finished.
Even the Burra Malum of the Nerbudda said once at Tuticorin--"

"Bah! Go! I am busy."

"I, also!" said Peroo, with an unshaken countenance. "May I take t