Evening star., 1936-01-24
Completely Surrounded.

Completely Surrounded.
During one Of his pauses his wide,
staring eyes took us in. He pointed at
us and shouted something which made
every body turn toward us and brought
those from the outer edge of the crowd
pushing in to where we stood SO that
we were completely surrounded. The
naked man with the whip walked to-
ward us-then seemed to change his
mind and walked around In circle,
nuttering and pointing.
looked at the purser out of the
corner Of my eyes and he looked at
me.
Maybe we better go. think
church Is over" I said.
If we went now it would look
like we were afraid" said the purser.
1T sure would" said.
The accordion player stopped play
ing and the drummer stopped beating
his drum. The man with the whip
walked around muttering to himself
and the crowd kept edging closer and
closer. I took out a package Of
cigarettes and in a whole-souled,
friendly sort Of manner began Offer
ing them to the fellows who were
standing near. The purser did the
same, and soon there were no ciga-
rettes.
The naked man with the whip ap-
parently made up his mind-one way
or another. He said something to a
man who went away and brought back
two chairs. He motioned us to sit
down and we sat down. The naked
man with the whip went back inside
the ropes and sat down. The crowd
stood and stared at us. A fellow put
brought us two cups of tea. I thought
of typhoid fever, smallpox, leprosy and
cholera. but took one look at the
man with the whip and drank the tea.
It was hot and very sweet.
The drummer began to drum and
the accordion player lifted his melan-
choly wall to the moon. The man
with the whip sat swaying from side
to side until he got himself worked
up to the proper pitch, where his eyes
were rolling and he was standing
again lashing about with his whip.
said to the purser' There's no use
ever trying to make anybody believe
this"
The purser said II don't think it's
true myself"
Overhead few clouds drifted across
the moon. The flares burned dimly
in fleeting puff Of wind. The crowd
stood silent, watching the fantastic
gyrations of the naked man with the
whip. Suddenly he stopped dancing
got two plates and went to fire on
which rested a circular, shallow pot.
He piled the plates with what smelled
like fried meat cakes and brought
them to us. told the purser If it was
a question OF running or eating the
meat I would rather run. We held the
plates on our knees and looked pleas
ant and pleased, but did not eat.
The dance seemed to be over. It
was AIS am. by my watch. I put
the plate down and the purser and I
stood up. We walked over to the man
with the whip and pressed silver
rupee into his palm.
What are you?" asked, Are you
a holy MANI"
NO" he said. in rather good Eng
lish, merely a man"
What were you doing?" I asked
him.
Praises God All Day Long.
"Praising God" he said. II praise
God all day long and I praise God all
through the night. I praise Him all
the time"
WELL I said, ''it is getting late
Well be going. Thank you for letting
us stay"
Il was soldier in the war in France"
said the man with the whip. Il was
an officer He pointed to his naked
shoulders, indicating the officers en-
blems he used to wear there.
My head was beginning to swim. We
shook hands and the purser and I
went back to the car. We had been
there almost two hours.
Who was that fellow?" asked the
driver.
He is policeman" said the driver.
"He is working on a case"
What sort of a case?" I asked him.
Il do not know. He is probably
looking for criminal"
"Oh, WELL" said, get on back to
the boat"
As the car moved away the fellow
with the accordion struck up tune
again, the drum began to beat and
I looked back to catch a last glimpse
of the naked man with the whip,
arms stretched above his head-prais-
in~ GNl