Page:The Wreck.djvu/128

124

THE WRECK '

"I don't want to go ashore; the crew netted some big fish this morning and they could sell us one or part of one."

Kamala at once fetched a rupee and gave it to him.

"pay for it out of that and bring back the change."

Umesh duly produced the fish but there was no change. 'They wouldn't take less than a rupee," he announced.

Kamala knew that this was not the literal truth, and she observed, with a smile :

"Next time the steamer stops we'll have to get some rupees changed,"

"Yes, indeed," said Umesh, with becoming gravity; "once you show them a whole rupee it's a job to get any of it back."

"My eye! this is good," remarked Ramesh a little later as he fell to his breakfast, "but where did you .get it? Why, here's a carp's head," and he held it up with a ceremonious air. "It's neither a dream, nor an optical illusion, nor a figment of the imagination, but the genuine headpiece of Cyprinus Rohita!"

That day's breakfast was a great success. After Ra- mesh had retired to a long chair on the deck to let his meal digest it was Umesh's turn. His enjoyment of the fish-stew was so great that he went on eating steadily till Kamala from being amused became seriously alarmed. "Don't take any more just now," Umesh," she cried anxiously, "I've put some by for your supper."

Her varied activities and her sense of humour im- perceptibly weaned Kamala from her morning fit of depression. The day wore on, and the sun sloping westward worked his way steadily across the deck un- der the awning. Over the throbbing steamer the air shimmered in the afternoon heat. Down the narrow tracks that threaded the fresh green of the autumn crops flocked rustic matrons, water-pot on hip, bound

Digitized by Google