The Girl Actually
Pattered A Measure With Her Feet Upon The Back Of Her Head, And
The Proprietors Seemed Utterly Unable To Account For Our Apathetic
Disregard Of So Extremely Talented And Interesting A Performance.
OCTOBER 6.
- Left for Hutteian, about fifteen miles off. Ponies
being scarce, I had to walk part of the way; but the sepoy, pitching
by chance upon our friends, the Punjabees, triumphantly carried
off a stout little animal of theirs for my use. Before mounting,
however, I was mobbed by the tumbling family, EN MASSE, who went on
their knees in their solicitations to be exempt from the seizure
of their property. Finding me obdurate in retaining the pony at a
fair valuation, with "the army" to bear me out, they proceeded to
diplomatic measures to gain their end. First, a very small child,
choosing a stony place in the path, suddenly stood upon her head,
and proceeded to form black knots with her body. Finding that this
only caused me to threaten her father with a stick, they produced
a blind girl, who threw herself half naked at my feet and cried
by order. The poor creature had lost her sight by the small-pox,
and I had remarked her the day before patiently toiling over rocks
and broken paths with one little child in her arms, and another half
leading, half obstructing her, endeavouring to guide her footsteps
down the rocks. She, however, got no immediate benefit from the pony
of contention; so, giving her some money to console her in her forced
misery, I still remained inexorable.
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