Prose, throwing down his crowbar
from exhaustion.

Fortunately for Prose, by the directions of the interpreter, the baggage
elephant who carried the tent, and the natives accompanying it, now
halted opposite to the rock, on the side where Prose was, for the wish
expressed by Macallan to remain there had been construed by the
interpreter as a selection of the place where the refreshments should be
prepared. One of the natives, perceiving what Prose was about when he
threw away the crowbar, offered his assistance, which was readily
accepted, and the labour was continued.

"Well, Mr Prose, how do you get on now?"

"Oh--capitally."

"Don't you find it very warm?" continued Macallan, who stopped to wipe
the streams of perspiration from his own face.

"Oh, no," answered Prose, chuckling.

"Well, I do, I can assure you," answered the doctor, who, not wishing to
show symptoms of flagging while Prose was working so hard, recommenced
his labour.

Another quarter of an hour, and the doctor was quite exhausted; wishing
for an excuse to leave off himself, he called again to Prose--

"An't you tired, Mr Prose?"

"Not the least, doctor."

"Oh, but you must be--you had better rest yourself a little."

"Thank you, but I'm not the least tired."

Another five minutes.--"Well, Mr Prose, I really give you great credit
for your perseverance. Let me see how deep you are," said Macallan, who
could find no other excuse for being the first to abandon his task.

But Prose, who was not exactly a fool, determined not to lose his credit
with the doctor--pushing aside the native, he took the crowbar from him,
and before the doctor had walked round, was again hard at work.

"Upon my honour I give you great credit," observed the panting Macallan,
as he witnessed the effects of the labour.

"But," observed Prose, "why should we work this way when there are a
parcel of black fellows doing nothing? here, I say, you chap, come and
punch here," continued he, pointing the crowbar to the native, who
immediately resumed his labour. "You call another, Mr Macallan, and
make him work for you."

"Well thought of; Mr Prose," answered the doctor, and another native
being put in requisition, in less than an hour the rock was perforated
to the depth required, without the least appearance of fatigue, or even
heat upon the skins of the temperate Hindoos. In the meantime the tent
was erected, the mats and carpets spread, the fires lighted, and th