“Gold for the dotard a fair bride will win.”
Mr. Butler afterwards produced his witnesses, who all declared that on the day the assault was said to have been committed, Matilall was at home at Vaidyabati; but on cross-examination by Mr. Blaquiere, they were not so clear. Thakchacha saw that things were not going well: a slight slip might ruin everything. Most people, reduced to the necessity of having recourse to law, give up all ideas of right and wrong: they sever themselves from all connection with truth, once they have to enter the Law Courts: their sole idea must be to win their case somehow or other. Thakchacha then went forward himself, and gave evidence that on the day and at the time mentioned by the prosecution he was engaged teaching Matilall Persian at his home in Vaidyabati. Though the magistrate subjected him to severe cross-examination, Thakchacha was not a man to be easily confused: he was well up in law-suits, and his original evidence was not shaken in any way. Then Mr. Butler addressed the Court, and after some deliberation the magistrate passed orders that Matilall should be released, but that the other accused should be imprisoned for one calendar month, and pay a fine of thirty rupees each.
Loud were the cries of Hori Bol on the passing of this order, and Baburam Babu shouted: “Oh Incarnation of Justice, most acute is your judgment! soon may you be made Governor of the land!”
When they were all in the courtyard of the police court, Haladhar and Gadadhar caught sight of Premnaryan Mozoomdar, and at once commenced singing in his ear with the intention of annoying him;—
“Hasten homeward, hasten homeward, Premnarayan Mozoomdar,”
“Hop into your native jungle, black-faced monkey that you are!”
Premnarayan only replied: “What wicked boys you are! Here you are going to jail, but you cannot cease your tricks.” While he was still speaking, they were led away to jail. When Beni Babu, who was a very worthy god-fearing man, saw virtue thus defeated and vice triumphant, he was perfectly astounded. Thakchacha, shaking his head and smiling sardonically, said to him: “How now, sir, what does the man of books say now? Why, if we had acted in accordance with your suggestions, it would have been all up with us.” At this moment Bancharam Babu came running up in haste, gesticulating and saying: “Ha! ha! see what comes of trusting me! I told you I was no fool.” Bakreswar too had his say. “Ah, he is no ordinary boy is Matilall! he is a very model of what a boy should be.” “Ugh!” exclaimed Becharam Babu: “It was not I that wished this wrong done: I didn’t want to see this case won, far from it.” Saying this, he took Beni Babu’s hand and went off with him. Baburam Babu having made his offerings at Kali’s shrine at Kalighat, embarked on a boat to return home.
Though the Bengalees have always great pride of caste, it may sometimes fall out that even a Mahomedan may be regarded as worthy of equal honour with the ancestral deity, and Baburam Babu began now to regard Thakchacha as a veritable Bhishma Deva: he put his arms round his neck and forgot everything else in the joy of victory: food and devotions were alike neglected. Again and again they repeated that Mr. Butler had no equal, that there was no one like Bancharam Babu that Becharam Babu and Beni Babu were utter idiots. Matilall gazed all about him, at one moment standing on the edge of the boat, at another pulling an oar, at another sitting on the roof of the cabin or hard at work with the rudder. “What are you doing, boy?” said Baburam to him, “Do sit quiet for a moment, if you can.” One of Baburam Babu’s gardeners, Shankur Mali, of Kashijora, prepared the Babu’s tobacco for him: his heart expanded with joy, when he saw his master looking so happy, and he asked him: “Will you have many nautches at the Durga Pujah this year, sir? Isn’t that a cotton factory over there? How many cotton factories have these unbelievers set up?”
Change is the order of things in this world. Anger cannot long remain latent in the mind, but must reveal itself sooner or later; and so with a storm in nature, when there is great heat, and a calm atmosphere, a squall[16] may suddenly rise. The sun was just setting, the evening coming on, when suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, a small black cloud rose in the west: in a few minutes deep darkness had overspread the sky, and then with a rushing roar of wind the storm was on them. No one could see his neighbour: the boatmen shouted to each other to look out: the lightning flashed, and all were terrified at the loud and repeated thunder claps: down came the rain like a waterspout, and they were driven to take shelter in the cabin. The waters rose and dashed against the boats, several of which were swamped. Seeing this, the men in the remaining boats struggled hard to get to shore, but the violence of the wind drove them in the opposite direction. Thakchacha’s chattering ceased: frightened out of his senses, and clasping his bead chaplet in his hands, he gabbled aloud his prayers, calling on his Prophet and Patron,— Saint Mahomed Ali, and Satya Pir.
Baburam Babu too was in great anxiety. It seemed to be the beginning of the punishment of his misdeeds: who can remain calm in mind when he is conscious of wrong? Cunning and craft may suffice to conceal a crime from the eye of the world, but nothing can escape the conscience. The sinner is ever at the mercy of its sting: he is always in a state of alarm and dread, never at ease: he may occasionally indulge in laughter, but it is unnatural and forced. Baburam Babu wept from sheer fright, and said to Thakchacha: “Oh, Thakchacha, what is going to happen? I seem to see an untimely death before me! surely this is Nemesis. Alas, alas! to have just effected the release of my son, and yet to be unable to get him safe home and deliver him to his mother: my wife will die of grief if I perish. Ah, now I call to mind the words of my friend Beni Babu: all would have been well had I not turned aside out of the path of rectitude.” Thakchacha too was in a high state of alarm, but the old sinner was a great boaster, and so he answered: “Why be so alarmed, Babu? Even if the boat is swamped, I will take you to shore on my shoulders: it is misfortune that shows what a brave man really is.” The storm increased in violence, and the boat was soon in a sinking condition: all were in an extremity of terror, shouting for help, and Thakchacha’s only thought was his own safety.