A priest with a trident on his forehead chuckled too. 'Yea! he is strong. He stole the sugar yesterday from Mai Kâli's very lap. Lo! even the monkeys know that offerings should be left at Shiv-jee's feet!' He spoke at a group of villagers who, in tow of a rival priest, were taking their offerings to the further temple. John Ellison laughed. '"'Ow 'appy could I be with either,"' he chanted. 'Wot! Ain't Shiver and Kâli settled that "_biz_" yet? W'y don't they get a divorce for bigamy both sides? Not as I care a d--n,'--he went on in his vile lingo in which all was English save the nouns and verbs, the latter having but one tense--the imperative. 'Siree 'Oneyman's my fancy. He as 'its 'im 'its me, Jân-Ali-shân. An' let me tell you that ain't no '_arnsiki bat_.[13] It's _zulm_ an' _ficker_ an' _burra hurra affut_!' These astounding equivalents for tyranny, trouble, and great misfortune, he used with intent; for he liked to trade on his reputation as a bird of ill-omen. 'Meanwhile,' he continued, chucking a _pice_ to the _pujâri_ with that extreme affability which made even the most alarmed exclude him, personally, from any share in the coming evil, 'seeing as I was branded A1 as a babby I won't trouble you agin, sonny; but there's your fee all the same. So now for Siree 'Oneyman!' He drew out a paper of sugar drops as he spoke, and, scattering some on the steps, began to sing 'Click, click! Like a monkey on a stick.' The effect was magical. Every leaf of the _pipals_ rustled as the monkeys, recognising his call, swung themselves downward from branch to branch. The bathers paused, full of smiles for this common interest shown by one of the aliens who are so often far beyond their simplicity. Even Chris could not help a smile, despite the anxiety he was in, as he watched the monkeys close in on the sugar drops, quarrelling, pouching, reaching round with all four paws: with the exception of one monkey, a very large male, which, coming lamentably last, only used three; the fourth, meanwhile, clutching convulsively at its stomach. 'W'y, 'Oneyman?' came John Ellison's mellow voice, full of sympathy, 'w'ot 's up, sonny? Got the cramps?--ate somethin' yer don't like?'--he paused, stared--'W'y! w'otever----' he paused again, and out of the fulness of his bewilderment wandered off helplessly into-- 'She wore a wreath of roses.' But poor Chris, far off as he was, had grasped the truth and turned hot and cold, long before Jân-Ali-shân said in an awed whisper-- 'Wherever in the nation _did_ 'ole 'Oneyman raise them dress bags?' He turned to the bystanders appealingly as he spoke, but their faces, as they gathered round in a circle, echoed his own surprise. 'Well, I am dashed!' he said softly; 'this beats cockfightin'.'