"You appear comfortable," said Bhudrinath.
"I am so," I replied; "and I doubt not you envy me, in spite of your Brahminical belief."
"Perhaps I do," said he; "yet having never tasted the luxuries of meat and other things you set such value upon, I cannot estimate them sufficiently, and I care not about them: nay more, the very idea of meat, the sight of it in its raw state, the blood, the garbage accompanying it, are loathsome to me; and I very much question, were I to become a Mahomedan, whether I could ever bring myself to eat it. Pah! the idea is horrible."
I could not help laughing heartily at his disgust, and he was not angry. "But," said I, "how are we to wake at the proper time? an hour too soon or too late, and our enterprise is ruined."
"I was thinking of the same thing," he replied; and turning to the Bhutteara, he asked him how late he remained up: "For," he continued, "my friend and I have a small matter on our hands about midnight. Can we trust to you to awaken us if we sleep?"
"Certainly," said the man; "I never shut up my shop till after midnight, for sometimes travellers drop in, and, poor hungry souls, the first place they seek is the Bhutteara's shop, and were there not something hot for them woe be to me!"
"Here is a trifle over and above the price of the kabobs," said I, throwing him a few rupees, "to keep you awake."
He picked up the money with many salams and good wishes, and my hookah being smoked out, and feeling drowsy, I laid myself down and slept, but not long. As is often the case, excitement overpowered sleep, and I awoke in alarm lest I had overslept the time; I had not however done so. Looking round me, I saw the Bhutteara busily employed in cooking cakes, while his little daughter was turning some kabobs on the fire; he observed me, and said, "You are soon awake, Sahib, it wants a good hour yet of your time; you had better go to sleep again; you see I have work in hand which will keep me up beyond that time, for some travellers have arrived, and it is as much as I can do to satisfy their hungry stomachs."
"I cannot sleep again," said I; "I am refreshed, and another hookah or two will keep me awake till it is time to go."
"I understand you," said he; "you young men are hot-blooded, and are always seeking adventures; but it is only as it ought to be: I would not give a couree for a young fellow who had not the spirit you appear to possess."