It is
an order of the Government that whoso is scratched on the arm with
these little knives which I hold up is charmed against her. All
Sahibs are thus charmed, and very many Hindoos. This is the mark
of the charm. Look!"
He rolled back his sleeve to the armpit and showed the white scars
of the vaccination-mark on his white skin. "Come, all, and look."
A few daring spirits came up, and nodded their heads wisely. There
was certainly a mark, and they knew well what other dread marks
were hidden by the shirt. Merciful was Jan Chinn, that then and
there proclaimed his godhead!
"Now all these things the man whom ye bound told you."
"I did - a hundred times; but they answered with blows," groaned
the operator, chafing his wrists and ankles.
"But, being pigs, ye did not believe; and so came I here to save
you, first from Smallpox, next from a great folly of fear, and
lastly, it may be, from the rope and the jail. It is no gain to
me; it is no pleasure to me: but for the sake of that one who is
yonder, who made the Bhil a man" - he pointed down the hill - "
I, who am of his blood, the son of his son, come to turn your
people. And I speak the truth, as did Jan Chinn.
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