ned
again, impatiently it seemed to him. So forward he went, very quietly,
and saluting Beeka Mull, who was sitting turning over the contents of
this amazing box of jewels which fortune and some fools were putting
into his care, he said:

'Oh, Lala-ji, will you kindly let me have back that box of mine which
you have on trust?'

The Lala looked up as though he had been stung; but quickly the
thought flashed through his mind that if this man began making a fuss
again he would lose the confidence of these new and richer customers;
so he controlled himself, and answered:

'Dear me, of course, yes! I had forgotten all about it.' And he went
off and brought the little box and put it into the merchant's
trembling hands. Quickly the latter pulled out the key, which hung by
a string round his neck, and opened the box; and when he saw that his
treasures were all there he rushed into the road, and, with the box
under his arm, began dancing like a madman, with great shouts and
screams of laughter. Just then a messenger came running up and,
saluting the gentleman attending the palanquin, he said:

'The lady's husband has returned, and is prepared to travel with her,
so that there is no necessity to deposit the jewels.' Whereat the
gentleman quickly closed and relocked the box, and handed it back to
the waiting servant. Then from the palanquin came a yell of laughter,
and out jumped--not a lady--but Kooshy Ram, who immediately ran and
joined the merchant in the middle of the road and danced as madly as
he. Beeka Mull stood and stared stupidly at them; then, with a shrill
cackle of laughter, he flung off his turban, bounced out into the road
with the other two, and fell to dancing and snapping his fingers until
he was out of breath.

'Lala-ji,' said the gentleman who had played the part of the relative
attendant on the palanquin, 'why do you dance? The merchant dances
because he has recovered his fortune; Kooshy Ram dances because he is
a madman and has tricked you; but why do _you_ dance?'

'I dance,' panted Beeka Ram, glaring at him with a bloodshot eye, 'I
dance because I knew thirteen different ways of deceiving people by
pretending confidence in them. I didn't know there were any more, and
now here's a fourteenth! That's why I dance!'

(Punjabi Story, Major Campbell, Feroshepore.)

FOOTNOTE:

[3] 'Lala' is a complimentary title: 'ji' a polite affix; the
expression is somewhat equivalent to 'Dear Sir.'

_THE