it, and made a paste with foul water; but they were very few. Scott
understood dimly that many people in the India of the South ate rice,
as a rule, but he had spent his service in a grain Province, had
seldom seen rice in the blade or the ear, and least of all would
have believed that, in time of deadly need, men would die at arm's
length of plenty, sooner than touch food they did not know. In vain
the interpreters interpreted; in vain his two policemen showed by
vigorous pantomime what should be done. The starving crept away to
their bark and weeds, grubs, leaves, and clay, and left the open
sacks untouched. But sometimes the women laid their phantoms of
children at Scott's feet, looking back as they staggered away.

Faiz Ullah opined it was the will of God that these foreigners should
die, and therefore it remained only to give orders to burn the dead.
None the less there was no reason why the Sahib should lack his
comforts, and Faiz Ullah, a campaigner of experience, had picked up a
few lean goats and had added them to the procession. That they might
give milk for the morning meal, he was feeding them on the good grain
that these imbeciles rejected. 'Yes,' said Faiz Ullah; 'if the Sahib
thought fit, a little milk might be given to some of the babies';
but, as the Sahib well knew, babies were cheap, and, for his own
part, Faiz Ullah held that there was no Government order as to
babies. Scott spoke forcefully to Faiz Ullah and the two policemen,
and bade them capture goats where they could find them. This they
most joyfully did, for it was a recreation, and many ownerless goats
were driven in. Once fed, the poor brutes were willing enough to
follow the carts, and a few days' good food--food such as human
beings died for lack of--set them in milk again.

'But I am no goatherd,' said Faiz Ullah. 'It is against my _izzat_