invited the unsuspecting Brahman into
his sitting-room. Once inside, he suddenly thrust a brass vessel
into his visitor's hand and dragged him into the yard, shouting
"Thief! thief!" The Lakhimpur bailiff, who was sitting on the
verandah, also laid hands on Ramda and, with the aid of two up-country
servants, he was dragged to the police station, too bewildered to
resist. On their way thither they met one of Nagendra's neighbours
named Harish Chandra Pal, who stopped them and asked what was the
matter. On learning particulars of the charge, he saw how the land
lay, and resolved to defeat an infamous plot. So waiting till the
little crowd was out of sight, he ran back to Nagendra's house and
whispered to him that the bailiff had sent for more property, in order
that the case against Ramda might look blacker. Nagendra handed him a
fine muslin shawl and loin-cloth, and a set of gold buttons, adding
that he would follow in half an hour in order to depose against the
thief. On reaching the police station, Harish found the Sub-Inspector
recording the statements of the witnesses. He looked on in silence
until Nagendra arrived. Then he asked the Sub-Inspector: "Do these
people mean to say that the brass vessel belongs to Nagendra Babu?"

"Certainly," was the reply. "Here are three witnesses who have
identified it."

"Well, that's strange," said Harish; then producing the shawl and
loin-cloth he said: "These are mine, but if you ask Nagen Babu he
will tell you a different story".

"But they are mine!" roared Nagendra, "and part of the stolen
property."

"Dear me," said Harish, "perhaps you will say that these buttons are
yours too?"

"Of course they are," was the rejoinder.

"Now, Sub-Inspector Babu," said Harish, "you must see that Nagendra
Babu is subject to strange hallucinations since he has taken to
drink. He fancies that he is the god of wealth personified, and
that everything belongs to him. I am quite certain that Ramda has
been falsely charged with stealing a brass vessel which is his own
property."

The Sub-Inspector evidently thought so too. He called the prosecutor
into an inner room. What passed between them there was never known;
but presently the Sub-Inspector returned to the office and ordered
the prisoner to be at once released. Ramda was truly grateful to
Harish Pal for having so cleverly saved him from ruin, and the whole
story soon became common property. Nagendra overheard his neighbours
whisperin