_Gopi._ Sadhu, now away with your high flown language; it does not sound well on the tongue of a peasant; it is like a sweeper’s broom touching the body. _Wood._ Now the rascal is become very wise. _Amin._ That fool explains the laws and magistrate’s orders to the common people, and thus raises confusion. His brother draws the ploughshare, and he uses the high word _pratápsháli_ “glorious.” _Gopi._ The child of the preparer of cow-dung balls is become a Court Naeb (deputy). My Lord, the establishment of schools in villages has increased the violence of the ryots. _Wood._ I shall write to our Indigo Planters’ Association to make a petition to the Government for stopping the schools in villages; we shall fight to secure stopping the schools. _Amin._ That fool wants to bring the case into Court. _Wood._ (_To Sadhu_) You are very wicked. You have twenty bigahs, of which, if you employ nine bigahs for Indigo, why can’t you cultivate the other nine bigahs for rice. _Gopi._ My Lord, the debt which is credited to him can be made use of for bringing the whole twenty bigahs within our own power. _Sadhu._ (_To himself_) O oh! _the witness for the spirit-seller is the drunkard?_ (_Openly_) If the nine bigahs which are marked off for the cultivation of the Indigo were worked by the plough and kine of the Factory, then can I use the other nine bigahs for rice. The work which is to be done in the rice-field is only a fourth of that which is necessary in the Indigo-field, consequently if I am to remain engaged in these nine bigahs, the remaining eleven bigahs will be without cultivation. _Wood._ You, dolt, are very wicked, you scoundrel (_háramjádá_); you must take the money in advance; you must cultivate the land; you are a very scoundrel (_kicks him_). You shall leave off every thing when you meet with Shamchand (_takes Shamchand from the wall._) _Sadhu._ My Lord, _the hand is only blackened by killing a fly_, _i. e._, your beating me only injures you. I am too mean. We— _Ray._ (_Angrily_) O my brother, you had better stop; let them take what they can; our very stomach is on the point of falling down from hunger. The whole day is passed, we have not yet been able either to bathe or to take our food. _Amin._ O rascal, where is your Court now? (_Twists his ears_). _Ray._ (_With violent panting_). I now die! My mother! my mother! _Wood._ Beat that “bloody nigger,” (_beats with Shamchand, the leather strap_). _Enter_ NOBIN MADHAB. _Ray._ O thou Babu! I am dying! Give me some water. I am just dead!