The Penn's Grove record., 1884-01-12
THE POOL.

The sun was setting over the Ganges
one bright summer evening in 1871.
The day had been a hot one even for
India, and it was an ~unspeakable relief
to every one when the scorching sun
began to decline at last, and the length
ening shadows of the tail palms along
the river bank told that night was at
hand.
And now the Hindu inhabitants Of
the neighboring village, who had just
been lying motionless all the afternoon
under the Shade of their reed-thatched
roofs, or of the vast over-arching ban
van trees around them, came trooping
down to the water in a body.
Instantly the whole bank of the great
river-so lovely and silent all through
the long, burning day-became all
alive with the noise and hustle. Chill.
dren padded in the broad still pools,
or chased each other in and out of the
tall, feathery bamboo clump that grew
along the bank. Wamen filed their
earthern pitchers from the stream, or
washed their thread-baIe clothes. Men
began to scour their brass lotahs drink
ing vessels or to kindle fires for the
cooking of their evening meals ; while,
a little farther down the stream a group
of young girls, wading out into the
shallow water, fell te splashing each
other with might and main, amid shouts
of merry laughter.
To any one unaccustomed to the ways
in India, it would have seemed strange
enough to see, upon the wrists and an
kles of nearly all the girls, and many OF
their mother likewise, heavy bangles of
solid silver, which any western lady
might have been proud to wear. But
the Hindu peasants. to whom savings
banks are utterly unknown, have no
way of keeping their money sale except
by carrying it about with them in this
fashlon-a somewhat hazardous plan,
it must be owned, in a country swarm
ing with the most expert and daring
thieves in the world.
Suddenly, one of the girls, who had
yentured "a little farther out in the
stream than the rest, disappeared I'M
der the water with a piercing shrek, as
if dragged down by some overpowering
force. A few bubbles that rose sullenly
to the surface were the only token OF
her fate, while her terrified companions
turned and rushed back to the shore as
fast as possible, screaming:
"a crocodile a crocodile ~
Several days passed before any of the
village women dared to approach the
scene of this terrible mischance. Al
length one holder than the rest, ventur,
ed in again, and the others, seeing that
no harm came of her daring, began tC
follow her example. More than a week
passed without any accident, and every
thing began to go on as usual. when,
one evening, a second girl disappeared
in precisely the anne manne as the
first.
The terror was now universal, and
all the best hunters of tie village sci
them elves with one accord to get rid
of this destroying crocodile, Bate
were laid, traps set, men posted along
the bank with loaded guns to keeI
watch for the monster {; but, look fol
him as they might, nothing was to be
seen of him
Several days later the wife of II OF
the villagers was washing her white
wrapper on the bank of the river, when
it slipped from her hands and floated
slowly out into the wide, still pool,
formed by the bend of the stream. The
woman waded after it, and had just
succeeded in ~clutching it, when she
was seen by those on the bank to give
a sudden start, throw her arms convul-
sively into the air, and disappear un.
der water just as the other two had
one before.
About three day after this last catas-
ophy Mr.. Hemp Sparks, the British
commissioner for the district of Jung
leywallah, was at work in his office
amid a perfect mound Of paper, halting
every now and then to wipe his stream.
ing face (which, despite the enormou:
purkah, or swinging fan, worked by
his native servant outside with a cord
passed through a hole in the wall, look.
ed very much like a half-melted snow
ball, J when he was suddenly disturbed
by a knock at the door.
Come in ~ cried he snappis ly, ex
pecting the entrance of some Hindu
farmer or peasant with a complaint "a
long and unintellIgible as an Assyrian il
Scription. But at the first glimpse o
the person who entered his face cleared
at once.
The visitor was a tall native. will
the handsome features and stately bear
ing of a Mahratta. His figure, nearl.
six feet in height, was so gaunt AM
sineWy that is seemed to be made 0
pin wire, and his piercing black eye
looked out from beneath the folds o
his white turban with the quick, keel
Watchfnl planca of a nractical huntar