a noise and a
cry for help. We rushed out and ran along the verandah (corridor) to the
place whence the cry came. It was coming from the room of Prayag, one of
the boarders. We pushed the door but found that it was bolted from
inside, we shouted to him to open but he would not. The door had four
glass panes on the top and we discovered that the upper bolt only had
been used; as a matter of fact the lower bolts had all been removed,
because on closing the door from outside, once it had been found that a
bolt at the bottom had dropped into its socket and the door had to be
broken before it could be opened.

Prayag's room was in darkness. There was a curtain inside and so we
could see nothing from outside. We could hear Prayag groaning. The
Superintendent came up. To break the glass pane nearest to the bolt was
the work of a minute. The door was opened and we all rushed in. It was a
room 14'x12'; many of us could not, therefore, come in. When we went in
we took a light with us. It was one of the hurricane lanterns--the one
we had taken to the kitchen. The lamp suddenly went out. At the same
time a brickbat came rattling down from the roof and fell near my feet,
thus I could feel it with my feet and tell what it was. And Prayag
groaned again. Dr. M.N. came in, and we helped Prayag out of his bed and
took him out on the verandah. Then we saw another brickbat come from the
roof of the verandah, and fell in front of Prayag a few inches from his
feet. We took him to the central lawn and stood in the middle of it.
This time a whole solid brick came from the sky. It fell a few inches
from my feet and remained standing on its edge. If it had toppled over
it would have fallen on my toes.

By this time all the boarders had come up. Prayag stood in the middle of
the group shivering and sweating. A few more brickbats came but not one
of us was hurt. Then the trouble ceased. We removed Prayag to the
Superintendent's room and put him in the Doctor's bed. There were a
reading lamp on a stool near the head of the bed and a Holy Bible on
it. The learned Doctor must have been reading it when he was disturbed.
Another bed was brought in and the Doctor passed the night in it.

In the morning came the police.

They found a goodly heap of brickbats and bones in Prayag's room and on
the lawn. There was an investigation, but nothing came out of it. The
police however explained the matter as follows:--

There were some people living in the t