"They should have mauled us," he said, "instead of mewing at us. I wonder what they meant. I don't like it one little bit. "
I said that the Managing Committee of the temple would, in all probability, bring a criminal action against us for insulting their religion. There was a section of the Indian Penal Code that met Flee
te's offence. Strickland said he only hoped and prayed that they would do this. Before I left, I looked into Fleete's room and saw him lying on his right side, scratching his left breast. Then I went to bed cold, depressed, and unhappy, at seven o'clock in the morning.
At one o'clock I rode over to Strickland's house to inquire after Fleete's head. I imagined that it would be a sore one. Fleete was breakfasting and seemed unwell. His temper was gone, for he was abusing the cook for not supplying him with an underdone chop. A man who can eat raw meat after a wet night is a curiosity. I told Fleete this, and he laughed.
"You breed queer mosquitoes in these parts," he said. "I've been bitten to pieces
, but only in one place. "
"Let's have a look at the bite," said Strickland. "It may have gone down since this morning. "
While the chops were being cooked, Fleete opened his shirt and showed us, just over his left breast, a mark, the perfect double of the black rosettes-the five or six irregular blotches arranged in a circle-on a leopard's hide. Strickland looked and said, "It was only pink this morning. It's grown black now. "
Fleete ran to a glass.
"By Jove!" he said, "this is nasty. What is it?"
We could not answer. Here, the chops came in, all red and juicy, and Fleete bolted three in a most offensive manner. He ate on his right grinders only and threw his head over his right shoulder as he snapped the meat. When he had finished, it struck him that he had been behaving strangely, for he said apologetically, "I don't think I ever felt so hungry in my life. I've bolted like an ostrich. "
After breakfast, Strickland said to me, "Don't go. Stay here, and stay for the night. "
Seeing that my house was not three miles from Strickland's, this request was absurd. But Strickland insisted and was going to say something when Fleete interrupted by declaring in a shame-faced way that he felt hungry again. Strickland sent a man to my house to fetch over my bedding and a horse, and we three went down to Strickland's stables to pass the hours until it was time to go out for a ride. The man who has a weakness for horses never wearies of inspecting them; and when two men are killing time in this way they gather knowledge and lies the one from the other.
There were five horses in the stables, and I shall never forget the scene as we tried to look them over. They seemed to have gone mad. They reared and screamed and nearly tore up their pickets; they sweated and shivered and lathered and were distraught with fear. Strickland's horses used to know him as well as his dogs; which made the matter more curious. We left the stable for fear of the brutes throwing themselves in their panic. Then Strickland turned back and called me. The horses were still frightened, but they let us 'gentle' and made much of them and put their heads in our bosoms.
"They aren't afraid of us," said Strickland. "D' you know, I'd give three months' pay if Outrage here could talk. "
"I say, I want some more chops," he said. "Can I get them?"
We laughed and said, "Go and change. The ponies will be round in a minute. "
"All right," said Fleete. "I'll go when I get the chops-underdone ones, mind. "
He seemed to be quite in earnest. It was four o'clock, and we had had breakfast at one; still, for a long time, he demanded those underdone chops.
Then he changed into riding clothes and went out into the verandah. His pony-the mare had not been caught-would not let him come near. All three horses were unmanageable-mad with fear-and finally Fleete said that he would stay at home and get something to eat.
Strickland and I rode out wondering. As we passed the temple of Hanuman the Silver Man came out and mewed at us."He is not one of the regular priests of the temple," said Strickland. "I think I should peculiarly like to lay my hands on him. "
There was no spring in our gallop on the racecourse that evening. The horses were stale, and moved as though they had been ridden out.
"The fright after breakfast has been too much for them," said Strickland.
