"No, huzoor. If a goat is purchased by the sahib and a bottle of arrack, Mahadua will take the goat to the shrine, pour the wine on his head till he has bowed three times to the god, and cut his throat so that the blood falls upon the shrine to appease the god. Also I will hang up a foot of the goat."
"What becomes of the goat?" the major asked.
"We will make kabobs of the flesh in the little village yonder, and hold a feast to-night."
Finnerty remained silent, and the Ahnd, to secure a feast, fell back upon tangible arguments. "Sahib, if the villagers are full with feasting and happy because of a little arrack warm in their stomachs, they will not go forth in the early morning with conch horns and axes to beat upon trees to drive Pundit Bagh up into the hills so he may not be slain."
"All right, Mahadua, I'll furnish the goat."
PART TWO
Chapter VII
They had come to where the open plain gave way to patches of jungle and rolling land clad with oak and rhododendron.