'  He  will  never  get  near  them,'  said  the  fat  cook.  '  Who  is  he
— 2l  village  Pat^l — that  he  should  shoot  ?  Ay,  now,  at  my  city
we  have  '  the  real  shooting ;  there,  over  the  plains  of  Surroo
Nuggur;  thousands  of  antelopes  are  bounding  with  no  one  to
molest  them,  except  Nizam  Ali,  who  goes  out  with  the  nobles  and
shoots  a  hundred  sometimes  in  a  day.  I  was  once  there,  and
killed—'

'  With  thy  knife,  0  Zoolfoo,  and  roasted  it  afterwards  I  suppose,'
said  Nasur :  '  don't  tell  us  lies ;  thou  knowest  thou  never  hadst  a
gun  in  thy  hand  since  thou  wast  born.'

'  That  is  another  lie,'  retorted  Zoolfoo.  '  By  the  beard  of
Moula  Ali,  if  I  was  yonder  I  would  have  fired  long  ago :  we
shall  have  no  venison  for  supper  I  see  plainly  enough.  See  how
he  is  crawling  on  the  ground  as  a  frog  would, — can't  he  walk  up-
right like  a  man  ? '

'  He  knows  well  enough  what  he  is  doing,  you  father  of  owls,'
was  the  reply.  '  Inshalla !  we  shall  all  eat  venison  to-night,  and
thou  wilt  have  to  cook  us  kabobs  and  curries.'

'  Venison  and  mdthee-ke-bajee  make  a  good  curry,'  mused  the
cook;  'and  kabobs  are  also  good,  dried  in  the  sun  and
seasoned.'

'  Look  !  he  is  going  to  shoot,'  cried  the  Khan ;  '  which  will  it
be  ?    I  wager  thee  a  new  dooputta*  he  does  not  kilL'

'  Kubool !  I  agree,'  said  the  lady ;  he  will  kill  by  the  blessing
of  Alia, — I  feel  sure  he  will.'

But  Kasim's  gun  went  down.
