Each Man Simply Flew To His Particular
Work, And Hammers And Chisels Resounded Merrily
And Energetically, Where All Had Been Silence A
Moment Before.
They thought, of course, that I
was still some distance off and had not seen them,
but to their consternation I shouted to them that
they were too late, as I had been watching them
for some time.
I fined every man present heavily,
besides summarily degrading the Headman, who
had thus shown himself utterly unfit for his
position. I then proceeded to my hut, but had
scarcely arrived there when two of the scoundrels
tottered up after me, bent almost double and
calling Heaven to witness that I had shot them
both in the back. In order to give a semblance
of truth to an otherwise bald and unconvincing
narrative, they had actually induced one of their
fellow workmen to make a few holes like shot
holes in their backs, and these were bleeding
profusely. Unfortunately for them, however, I
had been carrying a rifle and not a shot gun, and
they had also forgotten to make corresponding
holes in their clothing, so that all they achieved
by this elaborate tissue of falsehood was to bring
on themselves the derision of their comrades
and the imposition of an extra fine.
Shortly after this, when the masons realised that
I intended to make each man do a fair day's work
for his money, and would allow nothing to
prevent this intention from being carried out, they
came to the conclusion that the best thing to do
would be to put me quietly out of the way.
Accordingly they held a meeting one night, all
being sworn to secrecy, and after a long palaver it
was arranged that I was to be murdered next
day when I made my usual visit to the quarry.
My body was to be thrown into the jungle,
where of course it would soon be devoured by
wild beasts, and then they were to say that I had
been killed and eaten by a lion. To this cheerful
proposal every man present at the meeting agreed,
and affixed his finger-mark to a long strip of paper
as a binding token. Within an hour after the
meeting had dispersed, however, I was aroused
by one of the conspirators, who had crept into my
camp to give me warning. I thanked him for his
information, but determined to go to the quarry
in the morning all the same, as at this stage of
affairs I really did not believe that they were
capable of carrying out such a diabolical scheme,
and was rather inclined to think that the informant
had been sent merely to frighten me.
Accordingly the next morning (September 6)
I started off as usual along the trolley line to
the lonely quarry. As I reached a bend in the
line, my head mason, Heera Singh, a very good
man, crept cautiously out of the bushes and
warned me not to proceed.
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