about and straggled to get hold of the bottle of oil in his hand. The Babus then said: "Come tell us, sir, what is the matter?" The kabiraj replied: "The attack is a very severe one: there seems to be high fever and delirium. If I had only had news a little earlier, I might have managed to cure him: as it is, it would be impossible even for Shiva to do so." As he spoke, the patient got hold of his bottle of oil, and rubbed a good handful of it over his body. The kabiraj seeing the visit was likely to cost him dear[29], hurriedly took the bottle away, corked it well, and got up to go. "Where are you going, sir?" They all cried. The kabiraj replied: "The delirium is gradually increasing: I do not think there is any further necessity for keeping the patient in the house: you should now exert yourselves to make his end a happy one by taking him to the Ganges to die[30]."
As soon as he heard this, the patient jumped up, and the kabiraj started back at the sight. The young Babus of Vaidyabati ran after him, and as the kabiraj, who had gone on a short distance, stopped dumbfounded and amazed, they began to hustle him, with shouts of "Hori Bol: Hori Bol:" and one of them threw him over his shoulders, and started for the Ganges. Dolgovinda then came up to him, and said: "Aha my dear sir, you gave orders to have the patient taken to the Ganges: the doctor himself it is who is now being carried thither! I will myself perform the ceremony of putting you into the water, and of then throwing you on to the funeral pyre." The views of the fickle are ever changing, and so a little later he said: "Will you send me to the Ganges again? Go, my dear friend! go to your home, and to your children, but before you go, you must give me that bottle of oil." With these words, he snatched the bottle from the kabiraj, and all the young lunatics, smearing themselves over
