"‘'Ear! 'Ear!' said I, moved almost to tears by his eloquence, and then the Collector stopped him.
"‘Do my eyes deceive me,' said he, 'or is that poor wretched dog impaled upon a hook? What ghastly barbarity! What fiendish, awful, unparalleled brutality! . . . I am sorry to take such action against a Public Benefactor—but I am afraid that Section 748693211⁄2, πr² of the Indian Penal Code leaves me no option. I must order your arrest and'
"‘What?’ yelped the Travelling M.P., in a voice that much resembled the voice of suffering Fido.
"‘That dog is impaled, living, upon a barbed hook,' repeated the Collector. Barbarity, as I said before. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would rightly prosecute me if I did not prosecute you. The Press of the Empire is going to ring some more. Talk of the Unspeakable Turk and Armenian atrocities,—that dog has as much feeling as an Armenian if you haven't as much mercifulness as a Turk. . . .'
"The kind gentleman was purple and gasping. He fairly threw himself off the machan and
