Mr. Raymond. "They are the native police of Benares,"

"What do they want those fires for? It is hot enough
to roast."

"So it is, but that is only custom. The fellows would
sit on those fires and roast in reality if it were custom, and
their fathers had roasted there before them."

" But what do they go to sleep for if they are policemen ?
Is that custom too ? "

"It is just that exactly. They have nothing to do but be
on hand, where they can be called if there is trouble ; then
to look on carefully, see the whole with unprejudiced eyes,



3^4



OUR BOYS IN INDIA.



report it to the jemadas in the morning : and the soldiers
will then arrest the offenders. These fellows would not know
how to make an arrest, even if they dared to, in the night."

Where the huts by the roadside were near enough, it often
happened that they saw a row of heads lying over the door-
sill. At last, however, they reached the Dak Bungalow, where
Richard preferred stopping, that they might remain in seclu-
sion.

"It is a very pretty spot," Scott said, as he looked out
of the broad door that stood open to admit the breeze, when
he woke in the morning. There was a little lawn about the
bungalow, with several tropical trees growing upon it. " But
what are those natives there for ? Is it to see some Ameri-
cans?" he asked, pointing to a dozen or more Hindus who
were seated on the green lawn.

"They want to see us on business," replied Richard.

" Business ? " exclaimed Scott, thinking of Paul.

" Nothing of importance," Richard hastened to add. " Only
that, as soon as they see we have finished breakfast, they will
all come in with all sorts of native merchandise to sell."

" I don't want any of their stuff," said Scott impatiently.

" Every one says so," replied Richard ; "but they are good
salesmen. We have not much time to spare ; but this is one
of the sights of India, and we will wait a few minutes for it.
I warrant, that, before you know they have even tried to sell
you any thing, you'll be wishing you could purchase the lot."
He was quite correct.

They scarcely spoke a word, only now and then making
some slight remark about the place that some treasure came
from, as they undid their bundles, and spread upon the floor
about them a tempting array of every thing imaginable that



PILGRIMS, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. 365

India furnished. Mr. Raymond occupied the time in writing
and sending a note to the foreman, instructing him to meet
him at the bungalow at one o'clock. When he had finished,
he looked up, and asked, —

"Well, how do you find it, Scott?"

" You did not tell me they had such jolly things," said
Scott.

" No : I left you to find that out for yourself. What do
you want ? "

" I should like that little Cashmere cap, or perhaps two
or three of them, to carry home ; and I should like some of
those sandal-wood cases so beautifully carved ; and those
peacock-feather fans are beautiful, and — well, I don't know;
that ivory box would be a splendid present for mother, and
those embroidered silk handkerchiefs are wonderful. How
Bess would like them ! She must have them. And I should
like one of the hookahs, too, just to show the boys what fire-
engines they smoke through, you know."

" But I thought you didn't want any of their stuff," said
Richard, smiling. Scott had forgotten his remark.

" There are over one thousand temples in this city," said
Richard, as they started for a drive. "It is almost entirely a
Hindu city, but there is one Mohammedan mosque. First I
am going to take you out on the river, and then to the top
of the observatory, that you may see , the whole. Most of the
temples crowd upon the river, and from them marble steps
extend down into the water for the bathers. Then we will
see all we can of the best of the temples near the river
before dinner, and afterward drive to the distant ones."

They reached the river in the carriage, and dismissed it.
Seating themselves in a curious boat with a fancy canopy to



366



OUR BOYS IN INDIA.



protect 'them from the sun, a half-dozen oarsmen pushed them
past the miles of marble ghats (or steps) leading into the
water. They were dark with bathers. All sorts and sizes of
people, crowded their way into the water, dressed just as they
had come from the street, and just as they were going back
again into the street as soon as their clothes were dry. There
were broad, flat umbrellas, — a forest of them, — under which




TEMPLES BY THE KIVER.



bathers were sitting on the steps, waiting for an opportunity
to go into the water. Those already there would take the
, dirty water, and pour it over their heads, repeating a prayer,
and touch it to their lips and breasts, still praying. Sometimes
a carcass would float down, and become entangled in the
bathers ; but they would only push it out of their way, and
go on praying.



PILGRIMS, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. 367

" Are there no crocodiles here ? " asked Scott.

" Lots of them," repHed his friend ; " but they are fed so
well up the river and down that they rarely venture into the
crowd. There was a sensation here a while aeo, however,
when a crocodile was several times seen and often felt. He
would grasp by the legs the women that were bathing, and
often succeed in pulling off their gold and silver ornaments
that they wear about their ankles. They dared do nothing
to disturb him, for he is one of the most sacred animals of
India. But his depredations were suddenly stopped one day,
when a crocodile's head rose out of the water with a fearful
cry. There was another crocodile close behind. Suddenly
the one behind gave a bound, opened his mouth, grasped
something just beneath the water, gave it a shake. The head
flew off, and all saw the body of a native beneath it for an
instant, as it went down in the jaws of a genuine article."

"What was it?" asked Scott.

" Why, a fellow who put on the head to deceive the bathers,
and then, swimming under water, robbed the women of their
jewels."

" Good enough for him," replied Scott. " But what is that
pile of wood there for ? "

" That is at the top of the burning ghats. There are no
bathers there ; but at night there are fires all along the ghats,
where they are burning the dead. We shall round yonder
corner in a moment, and you will see them better. Before
we are out of sight, look at those two tall towers. They are
the minarets of the mosque."

The boat rounded the corner, shutting out the distant
minarets, but bringing into better view the temples and the
burning ghats.



368



OUR BOYS IN INDIA.



" The most beautiful bathing ghats in the world are not far
from here. I wish we could have stopped there, and have seen
them as we came through Mirzapur on the way to Benares.
They are of pure white marble, with magnificent ornamental
work, and a little temple at the top, and a wonderful balcony
of carved marble. It is enough to make one want to go in
bathing just to see it."




BURNING THE DEAD.



" Unless the water is cleaner than it is here, I think I should
rather be excused," said Scott, shaking his head.

" If you once saw the place, especially by moonlight, you'd
change your mind, I fancy," replied Mr. Raymond. "It's almost
enough to make one wish he were a heathen, just for half an
hour. Only long enough to wash his sins away, you know."

They left the boat just below the ghats, and turned into
one of the narrow streets, — so narrow, and with houses so
high, that the opposite eaves seemed almost to touch. All
along the street there were little booths, where all sorts and
sizes of idols were for sale ; and the streets were filled with



PILGRIMS, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. 369

pilgrims in rags and dirt, and princes and rajahs in magnifi-
cent costumes, all seeking the holy water ; and priests with-
out number, with scanty clothing or flowing robes, and long
silken beards that they never cut. Munis were everywhere,
and there were monkeys in every alley and on every roof.
In the most crowded parts of every street, there were cows
contentedly feeding on offerings that those who passed were




THE BEAUTIFUL MARBLE GHATS.



continually making to them. Some of the cows had garlands
of flowers about the horns or necks.

" I should think it was Decoration Day," said Scott. " And
what in the world is the matter there ? " he added, pointing
to two men and a woman who were flat on their faces before
one of the cows, right in the thick of the throng threading
the narrow alley.



370



OUR BOYS IN INDIA.



"The cow is sacred. They are only saying a prayer before
her : that is all," replied Richard.

" Great Caesar's ghost ! " muttered Scott, as he carefully
stepped over the extended legs of one of the devotees.

They climbed by a long, winding staircase, through dust
and dirt, to a broad, flat roof, raised high above the surround-
ing buildings.




THE OBSERVATORY.



"This is one of those observatories I was telling you about,"
said Richard. " Look at these dials for the sun and moon,
and this complex affair to regulate the Luna dials to the differ-
ent months, and this block of marble, with a little groove in
it pointing up to the North Star. Then there are a host of
other things that I know nothing about, that you will under-
stand when you study astronomy. This is one of the most



PILGRIMS, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. 371

modern observatories in India, and most of these things were
copies from others much older; but even these were here
when we were ready to hang Galileo for the first and simplest
discoveries that he made with his little telescope.

" We ! " said Scott. " They never asked me what I thought
about it, or I should have told them to leave it to these
heathen to settle the matter. And wouldn't the old Pope
have been mad ! What a bull he would have sent to doze
me ! "

The view from the summit of the observatory gave Scott
still another idea of the densely crowded holy city.

On their way out of the forest of temples, they passed
through an alley even gloomier and narrower than any they
had seen before.

" Look through that little hole in the wall, Scott, and see
how you like the view," Richard said, pointing to a hole so
small that Scott almost lost it in trying to stand on tiptoe to
reach it ; but at last, with a cry of surprise, he ^attained the
position.

He seemed to be looking into a vast chamber of dazzling
sunlight and polished marble and burnished gold. The draught
that was drawn through that little hole was laden with the
sweetest fragrance of rose-oil and sandal-wood.

"It is the Temple of Siva, — the great Golden Temple to
the especial deity of the city," Mr. Raymond explained.

"Will you have a drink?" asked Richard, as they stopped
beside the Well of Knowledge a moment later.

Scott stepped upon the platform, and looked down into
the well. A vile mass of decaying flowers and sprouting rice
was floating there ; and he replied that he would rather be
excused.



^^2 OUR BOYS IN INDIA.

" It is very efficacious water," continued Mr. Raymond.
" The god Ganesh, in the shape of a serpent, representing
Wisdom, jumped into this well. As the result of it, the well
became at once imbued with wisdom."

" And with serpents too ! " exclaimed Scott. " I saw a
dozen of them, at least, sticking their heads above the water.
And do people really drink it?"

" Look at them," replied Richard, as two pilgrims came
up, deposited their coins, and took a drink. " They imbibe
the wisdom."

" And the serpents, too, I'll bet ! But the thing must pay
like a soda-water fountain on a hot day. Look there ! There
go three more ignoramuses. What a set of people these
Hindus are ! One minute you think they're smarter than chain-
lightening, knowing all about astronomy before the stars were
created ; and the next you find them paying half a cent or
so a drink for dead rose-leaf and snake tea, thinking they are
going to grow wise on it."

As it was not far, they walked back to the bungalow ;
and on the way, just at the gate of a rajah's palace, they
passed a funeral procession, where three of the male relatives
were carrying the body of the dead in a sort of palanquin,
supported by poles, on their shoulders. They were wailing a
song as they went, or something intended for a song.

"If they were rich, they might have two or three fellows
going with them, with tomtoms and drums and a fife or two,
to keep up their spirits, and keep them in time," said Richard
as they approached.

"What are they singing?" asked Scott.

" Moro understands them. Where is the boy ? " returned
Richard, looking about him. But Sayad was following alone.



PILGRIMS, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. 373

" Oh, I remember ! " he added. " I told Moro he might bathe ;
and I suppose he will take a month for it, he has such an
accumulation of sins. But never mind. They are singing
the praises of the dead man, and a long list of good things
that he did when living : that is what they always sing."



»^/ '^'\^,




A FUNERAL PROCESSION.



" Poets and musicians must be plenty," observed Scott ;
** for there seem to be a plenty of deaths."

" But this is the same old song, both words and music,
that they have used at every funeral for centuries. They don't
want to say any thing but the best of a dead man ; and
when they have the very best that can be said, all written
down and set to music and learned by heart, what is the use
of any thing new ? "



374



OUR BOYS IN INDIA.



" And a fellow knows, that way, what is going to be said
of him. That's comfortable," added Scott.

The foreman came to the bungalow. He admitted that
Roderick had left Paul with him for a few days ; and said that
he had turned him over, according to orders, to some pilgrims
who were going up the Ganges and Jumna, to Delhi, to the
feast of the Pungas, for he had been directed to send Paul's
clothing there. Further than that he refused to speak.
Richard asked him of the whereabouts of Roderick Dennett ;
but he replied indignantly, —

" I'm not that sort o' man, Mr. Raymond ; and you know
it, that you do. Roddy Dennett's not my kind ; no, he ain't.
He can go back on his friends ; but I, no ! He's my friend,
— Roddy is. God knows he'd go back on me for a rupee
any day : but I'll not go back on him ; no, I won't. You
told me, if I'd let out all I knew o' the little kid, you'd let
up on me ; and I've done it. And you'll do it ; for you're
a man o' your word, yesterday and to-morrow and every day,
you are : and I'm not afraid to tell you to your face, top o'
that, that not a word'll I breathe o' Roddy Dennett, so help
me God ! no, I won't. No more you won't touch me, neither,
till you find out I've held something back about the kid. I
know you, Raymond Sahib, and there's no use your talking
more ; for I have your word, and I'd's soon have that as a
sealed pardon from the viceroy. I'll send you the kid's clothes
that's left behind before two hours, and that's all I will do.
Good-day, Mr. Raymond."

"That's not quite all," said Richard. "I told you you
must help me find the child."

" Right you are there, Raymond Sahib ; and I'm your man.
I'll go with you if you say it, or I'll go alone, or I'll stay



PILGRIMS, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. 375

where I am ; and, be it one or all, tell me where to find you,
and I'll give you my word — for what it's worth — that, the
first thing and every thing I learn o' the whereabouts o' the
kid, you shall know it by telegraph.

" Course you'll pay expenses and a little beside," he added
as he went out.

" All that is left us, then," said Richard when he and
Scott were alone, " is to go up to Delhi, and watch there
for the pilgrims coming in from the river. Let me see : this
is sixteen days since we landed."

" It seems like a year, at least," said Scott incredulously,
as he began to count the days again.

" They started two days after we landed," Richard continued,
" and could not possibly reach Delhi in less than a month.
We have time to go slowly, see a good deal by the way, and
still be well established before the feast of Pungfas."

"Why not strike the river, and search the pilgrims?" sug-
gested Scott.

" Because it would be impossible. The very ones that
had Paul in charge would look the most innocent. There
will be hundreds of boats going up to the feast, and we have
only the word of this vagabond to go upon. While we were
searching the wrong ones, the right one would hear of it,
and escape us. The best way is to say nothing. There is
no fear but that Paul will be well cared for. The Hindus
love children, in the first place ; and, beside that, whoever
has him will be well paid for care, and well threatened if any
thing happens. I know Dennett. He has not taken all this
pains, to lose his prize now."

Scott had no choice but to wait, and let matters take
their course ; and, as soon as dinner was eaten, they sent for



31^



OUR BOYS IN INDIA.



a carriage, and drove out ten miles to Sarnath, the site of
the first Buddhist city in the world, stopping by the way at
a famous temple.

Richard had said nothing of what sort of a temple it was,
wishing to surprise his friend ; but Scott noticed that he took
off his cork helmet just as he was entering the gate, and
was in the act of following the example, and of asking why
he did it, when his own helmet was lifted from his head.

There was no one near him ; and Scott looked up in sur-
prise, to see at least fifty little black hands with long wiry
fingers, with the nails bitten off very short, in a squirming
wreath about his head, and half as many dark woolly faces
turned disconsolately upward, while their tiny black eyes
followed the successful monkey. He leaped from the wall to
a tree, from the tree to the porch of a little temple, from the
porch to the ornamental tower, and from one ornament to
another, till he perched upon the very highest attainable point ;
and, with the huge helmet in his little hand, he turned round,
and made a face at Scott.

Scott picked up a stone to throw at the intruder ; when
at least a hundred and fifty monkeys all about him began to
howl, and two priests in hideous robes, with cowls over their
heads, sprang forward, and caught his uplifted hand. He
pushed them angrily away ; when Richard, coming to the
rescue, said, —

" Be careful, Scott. Those monkeys are terribly sacred,
and so are the priests. This is the great monkey-temple.
It wouldn't do to insult the gods."

" But he's got my hat," cried Scott angrily, and looked
up the tapering tower, — all jutting ornaments, to give the
monkeys a good chance to climb. When he saw the old



PILGRIMS, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. 377

monkey at the top, however, he could not himself refrain from
smiline : for the fellow had forced the hat down between two
ornamental projections, and, seating himself in it as though
it were an easy-chair, he had crossed his legs, and thrown
his head back against the marble tower ; and there he sat,
quietly scratching himself, and looking down on the bareheaded
boy.

" That's one way they take to make a living out of tour-
ists," Richard explained. " Perhaps you cannot see the joke,
but they want you to give them some money to pay them for
trying to get the hat back again."

"Will they guarantee to do it?" asked Scott, who had
inherited a financial turn of mind from his father.

" I don't believe they'd sign a contract," replied Richard ;
" and, unless you gave them nearly what they can get for the
hat if they sell it in the bazaar, I hardly think they will
succeed."

" They won't have a chance to try," returned Scott, quietly
taking from his pocket a little cashmere cap that he had
bought of the pedlers after breakfast that morning. "If they
can't furnish their gods with rocking-chairs, I will. And I'll
wear this till I can get me another."

Even the priests smiled at the business-like way in which
Scott turned to examine the temple and monkeys, without
so much as looking up again. He even bought some of the
pop-corn and candies that they keep always on hand to sell
to travellers who wish to feed the monkeys.

But when Scott came to the real idol, the great monkey-
god, in the centre of the little temple, in fact filling the
temple completely with his innumerable heads and legs and
arms, he turned away in disgust.



378



OUR BOYS IN INDIA.



" I'd give more for one sick monkey than a dozen like
him," he exclaimed. " Why, Paul's got a jumping-jack at
home that'll beat him all to Goshen ! "

They did not remain long, but taking the carriage again
drove out to Sarnath.

" You'll hardly think it worth seeing," remarked Richard.

" It's only what they call
a tope, or solid tower,
an enormous thing, and
quite dilapidated ; but it
was built upon the spot
where Gautama, the Hin-
du prince who renounced
his throne, pitched his
tent when he went into
hermitage."

" What did he do that
for ? " asked Scott.

" Because he believed
he was divinely appointed
to pr^ch a reformation
to the Hindus."

" That was a pretty
way to preach a reforma-
tion. Why didn't he stay a prince ? it would have had much
more weight," said Scott.

Richard did not reply directly: he only said, "Jesus of
Nazereth was a carpenter's son. He had not where to lay
his head when he preached a reformation to the Jews."

"How long has this tope been standing?" Scott asked
as they were examining it.




THE OLD TOPE AT SARNATH.



PILGRIMS, PRIESTS, AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. 379

" Over two thousand five hundred years," replied Richard.
"Gautama — who is now called Buddha, or wisdom ^ — began
to preach to five disciples who gathered about him out here,
four hundred years before Christ was born."

" How did he succeed ? " asked Scott again, with the
financial tendency uppermost.

" When he died, after only forty-five years of preaching,
and never to any but those who would come out to hear
him, he had over eight million followers."

Scott whistled.

" And to-day," Richard continued, " over two hundred
and ninety millions of people, or over a quarter of the whole
world, are Buddhists."

" But where are they all ? We have not seen them, have
we ? "

" There are very few in India," Richard replied.

" That's bad," said Scott. " It don't look well for a thing
to be driven away from its home that way."

" How many native Christians do you think there are in
Syria, Scott?" asked Richard.

" Never thought of that," said Scott ; " but is Buddhism
really good for any thing ? "

" Of course it is. There are a great many good things in
it; but they are all to be found in Christianity, and a deal
more that is not in Buddhism or all other religions com-
bined," Mr. Raymond replied earnestly.

"There is a little crowd over there," said Scott: "are they
pilgrims ? "

" We will go and see," replied Richard, directing the
driver to go over to where the fifty or more people were
gathered.



380 OUR BOYS IN INDIA.

" Barnum ! " cried Scott as he reached the Httle company,
and found many of them prostrate before three of the most
peculiar beings he had ever seen, two of whom were sitting
on raised chairs, and one standing behind.

" We are in luck," whispered Richard eagerly. " They
are pilgrims. They are three of a family of eight, — the hairy
people of Mandelbar."

" You don't mean to say that that long black hair all
over them is natural ? " said Scott.

" Indeed I do," replied Richard ; " and, more than that,
that person standing — the one behind — is a woman."

" A woman ! " exclairned Scott, " a woman, with all that
beard, and hair all over her forehead and arms and hands ? "

" Yes, a woman, and one very proud of her personal
appearance."

" Great Caesar's ghost!" muttered Scott. "But what are
they praying to them for ? "

'' They are not really praying to them as to God : they are
only receiving their blessing. They suppose, from their pecul-
iarity, that they are in some way under the especial care of
Providence ; and so they make them presents of money and
any thing they have, and take their blessing in return,"

" Why, that beats going with Barnum, by a large major-
ity," said Scott as they turned away. " I thought America
would surely be ahead in circus-show facilities."



AMONG THE PALACES.



381




CHAPTER XXI.

AMONG THE PALACES.

ROM Benares they went direct to Agra.

"■ I believe we'll drive right to the house of a
friend of mine here, a right good fellow. His name
is Royal Cliffton. He came from America with his
family, a few years ago, and has settled here. He has two