It is true, as our Sahib said just
now, there is one fine for catching slaves, and yet another for
making to sell them. And it was the double fine that we needed,
Sahib, for our Sahib's cotton-play. We had fore-arranged all this
with Bulaki Ram, who knows the English Law, and, I thought the
Hajji remembered, but he grew angry, and cried out: 'O God,
Refuge of the Afflicted, must I, who am what I am, peddle this'
dog's meat by the roadside to gain his delight for my heart's
delight?" None the less, he admitted it was the English Law, and
so he offered me the six--five--in a small voice, with an averted
head. The Sheshaheli do not smell of sour milk as heathen should.
They smell like leopards, Sahib. This is because they eat men."
"Maybe," said Strickland. "But where were thy wits? One witness
is not sufficient to establish the fact of a sale."
"What could we do, Sahib? There was the Hajji's reputation to
consider. We could not have called in a heathen witness for such
a thing. And, moreover, the Sahib forgets that the defendant
himself was making this case.
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