“Why, what’s this?” cried the station-master. “He says you assaulted him.”
“Does he look like it?” I demanded.
“No,” admitted the agent, “most sahibs leave marks.”
“Oh! That’s the old trick,” snorted the guard. “He understood the word ‘inspector’ and thinks he’ll keep out of hot water by making a counter accusation.”
“I don’t believe the tale,” said the agent, “but he insists on making a complaint, and I shall have to telegraph it to the inspector at the end of the line.”
The train went on. There being no European officers in the district I could not be placed under arrest, but it was not long before I found the police drag-net drawing close around me. The first station beyond Damoh was a populous town, and among the natives who crowded the platform my attention was drawn to two sturdy fellows in the garb of countrymen who elbowed their way through the throng and stared boldly in upon me. Apparently they had designs on my depleted pocketbook, but, indifferent to so slight a loss, I returned their scowls and settled back in my seat. We were well under way again when I turned from my contemplation of the distant landscape and glanced along the swaying cars. From the next compartment, his eyes glued on my own, hung one of the countrymen. Annoyed, I moved to the opposite side of the car. The head and shoulders of the second rascal protruded from the window ahead. The situation burst upon me. These, then, were “plain-clothes guys” assigned the duty of shadowing me to my destination.
As long as the journey lasted, the detectives sat motionless in their places, their heads twisted halfway round on their shoulders, staring like observant owls at the only means of exit from my compartment. I descended at Bina as twilight fell, and they hung on my heels until I had been accosted by a young Englishman in khaki uniform.
“The station-master at Damoh,” began the Briton, “reports that you assaulted a native officer. Will you come with me, please?”
He led the way to the waiting-room, and, producing a notebook, jotted down my story.
“He needed a good drubbing whether he got it or not,” he admitted, when I had concluded. “Unfortunately I cannot release you until the inspector comes.”