But Jelloc had never heard of it. He was a poor man and such
things, by the favor of his Honor, did not concern him.
"What's the matter with your big friend that he was so terribly in
earnest?" asked Pagett, when he had left.
"Nothing much. He wants the blood of the people in the next
village, who have had smallpox and cattle plague pretty badly, and
by the help of a wizard, a currier, and several pigs have passed it
on to his own village. 'Wants to know if they can't be run in for
this awful crime. It seems they made a dreadful charivari at the
village boundary, threw a quantity of spell-bearing objects over the
border, a buffalo's skull and other things; then branded a
chamur-what you would call a currier-on his hinder parts and
drove him and a number of pigs over into JelIno's village. Jelbo
says he can bring evidence to prove that the wizard directing these
proceedings, who is a Sansi, has been guilty of theft, arson,
rattle-killing, perjury and murder, but would prefer to have him
punished for bewitching them and inflicting small-pox."
"And how on earth did you answer such a lunatic?"
"Lunatic I the old fellow is as sane as you or I; and he has some
ground of complaint against those Sansis. I asked if he would
likc a native superintendent of police with some men to make
inquiries, but he objected on the grounds the police were rather
worse than smallpox and criminal tribes put together.
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