This is by the way. Let us return to the banks of the Banas river, where “poor Carey,” as Tod calls him, came when he was sickening for his last illness. The Banas is one of those streams which runs “over golden sands with feet of silver,” but, from the scarp of its banks, Deoli in the rains must be isolated. Ram Baksh, questioned hereon, vowed that all the Officer Sahibs never dreamed of halting, but went over in boats or on elephants. According to Ram Baksh the men of Deoli must be wonderful creatures. They do nothing but use his tongas. A break in some low hills give on to the dead flat plain in which Deoli stands. “You must stop here for the night,” said Ram Baksh. “I will not take my horses forward in the dark; God knows where the dak-bungalow is. I’ve forgotten, but any one of the Officer Sahibs in Deoli will tell you.” Those in search of a new emotion would do well to run about an apparently empty cantonment, in a disgraceful shooting-tonga, in search of a place to sleep in. Chaprassis come out of the back verandahs, and are rude, and regimental Babus hop out of godowns and are flippant, while in the distance a Sahib looks out of his room, where he has evidently been sleeping, and eyes the dusty forlorn-hope with silent contempt. It should be mentioned that the dust on the Deoli road not only powders but masks the face and raiment of the passenger. Next morning Ram Baksh was awake with the dawn, and clamorous to go on to Boondi. “I’ve sent a pair of horses, big horses, out there and the _sais_ is a fool. Perhaps they will be lost, I want to find them.” He dragged his unhappy passenger on to the road once more and demanded of all who passed the dak-bungalow which was the way to Boondi. “Observe!” said he, “there can be only one road, and if I hit it we are all right, and I’ll show you what the tonga can do.” “Amen,” said the Englishman devoutly, as the tonga jumped into and out of a larger hole. “Without doubt this is the Boondi road,” said Ram Baksh; “it is so bad.” Beyond Deoli the cultivated land gave place to more hills peppered with stones, stretches of _ak_-scrub and clumps of thorn varied with a little jhil here and there for the benefit of the officers of the Deoli Irregular Force.