The women, who waited on us during the meal, disappeared afterwards
for a considerable time. When they came back they also were
luxuriously overdressed and were introduced to us formally as the
ladies of the house. They were five: the wife of the host, a
woman of twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, then two others
looking somewhat younger, one of whom carried a baby, and, to our
great astonishment, was introduced as the married daughter of the
hostess; then the old mother of the host and a little girl of seven,
the wife of one of his brothers. So that our hostess turned out
to be a grandmother, and her sister-in-law, who was to enter finally
into matrimony in from two to three years, might have become a mother
before she was twelve. They were all barefooted, with rings on each
of their toes, and all, with the exception of the old woman, wore
garlands of natural flowers round their necks and in their jet
black hair. Their tight bodices, covered with embroidery, were
so short that between them and the sari there was a good quarter
of a yard of bare skin. The dark, bronze-coloured waists of these
well-shaped Women were boldly presented to any one's examination
and reflected the lights of the room. Their beautiful arms and
their ankles were covered with bracelets. At the least of their
movements they all set up a tinkling silvery sound, and the little
sister-in-law, who might easily be mistaken for an automaton doll,
could hardly move under her load of ornaments. The young grandmother,
our hostess, had a ring in her left nostril, which reached to the
lower part of the chin. Her nose was considerably disfigured by
the weight of the gold, and we noticed how unusually handsome she
was only when she took it off to enable herself to drink her tea
with some comfort.
The dances of the nautch girls began. Two of them were very pretty.
Their dancing consisted chiefly in more or less expressive movements
of their eyes, their heads, and even their ears, in fact, of the
whole upper part of their bodies. As to their legs, they either
did not move at all or moved with such a swiftness as to appear
in a cloud of mist.
After this eventful day I slept the sleep of the just.
- - - - -
After many nights spent in a tent, it is more than agreeable to
sleep in a regular bed, even if it is only a hanging one. The
pleasure would, no doubt, have been considerably increased had I
but known I was resting on the couch of a god. But this latter
circumstance was revealed to me only in the morning, when descending
the staircase I suddenly discovered the poor general en chef,
Hanuman, deprived of his cradle and unceremoniously stowed away
under the stairs. Decidedly, the Hindus of the nineteenth century
are a degenerate and blaspheming race!
In the course of the morning we learned that this swinging throne
of his, and an ancient sofa, were the only pieces of furniture in
the whole house that could be transformed into beds.
Neither of our gentlemen had spent a comfortable night. They slept
in an empty tower that was once the altar of a decayed pagoda and
was situated behind the main building. In assigning to them this
strange resting place, the host was guided by the praiseworthy
intention of protecting them from the jackals, which freely penetrate
into all the rooms of the ground floor, as they are pierced by
numberless arches and have no door and no window frames. The jackals,
however, did not trouble the gentlemen much that night, except by
giving their nightly concert. But both Mr. Y - - and the colonel
had to fight all the night long with a vampire, which, besides
being a flying fox of an unusual size, happened to be a spirit,
as we learned too late, to our great misfortune.
This is how it happened. Noiselessly hovering about the tower,
the vampire from time to time alighted on the sleepers, making
them shudder under the disgusting touch of his cold sticky wings.
His intention clearly was to get a nice suck of European blood.
They were wakened by his manipulations at least ten times, and
each time frightened him away. But, as soon as they were dozing
again, the wretched bat was sure to return and perch on their
shoulders, heads, or legs. At last Mr. Y - -, losing patience,
had recourse to strong measures; he caught him and broke his neck.
Feeling perfectly innocent, the gentlemen mentioned the tragic
end of the troublesome flying fox to their host, and instantly
drew down on their heads all the thunder-clouds of heaven.
The yard was crowded with people. All the inhabitants of the
house stood sorrowfully drooping their heads, at the entrance of
the tower. Our host's old mother tore her hair in despair, and
shrieked lamentations in all the languages of India. What was
the matter with them all? We were at our wits' end. But when
we learned the cause of all this, there was no limit to our confusion.
By certain mysterious signs, known only to the family Brahman, it
had been decided ten years ago that the soul of our host's elder
brother had incarnated in this blood-thirsty vampire-bat. This
fact was stated as being beyond any doubt. For nine years the
late Patarah Prabhu existed under this new shape, carrying out
the laws of metempsychosis. He spent the hours between sunrise
and the sunset in an old pipal-tree before the tower, hanging with
his head downwards.
