He consented, and they were both sewn up in sacks and thrown into the river; but they had conjured the water and would not sink.

They ought to have been put to death, but the governor was himself afraid of this kind of people, and let them off.

There is not', continued Jangbar, 'a village, or a single family, without its witch in that part of the country; indeed, no man will give his daughter in marriage to a family without one, saying, "If my daughter has children, what will become of them without a witch to protect them from the witches of other families in the neighbourhood ?" It is a fearful country, though the cheapest and most fertile in India.' We can easily understand how a man, impressed with the idea that his blood had all been drawn from him by a sorceress, should become faint, and remain many days in a languid state; but how the people around should believe that they saw the blood flowing from both parts of the cane at the place cut through, it is not so easy to conceive.
I am satisfied that old Jangbar believed the whole story to be true, and that at the time he thought the juice of the cane red; but the little pool of blood grew, no doubt, by degrees, as years rolled on and he related this tale of the fearful powers of the Khilauti witches.
Notes: 1.

_Ante_, Chapter 9.
2.

An orderly, or official messenger, who wears a 'chapras', or badge of office.
3.