Page 58 - Train to Pakistan

head constable left the prisoners with his men and came back to the bungalow.
‘Who is this small chap you have brought?’ asked the subinspector, looking a

little worried.
‘I arrested him on your orders. He was the stranger staying at the Sikh
temple.’

The answer irritated the subinspector. ‘I do not suppose you have any brains
of your own! I leave a little job to you and you go and make a fool of yourself.
You should have seen him before arresting him. Isn’t he the same man who got

off the train with us yesterday?’
‘The train?’ queried the head constable, feigning ignorance. ‘I did not see him
on the train, cherisher of the poor. I only carried out your orders and arrested the

stranger loitering about the village under suspicious circumstances.’
The subinspector’s temper shot up.
‘Ass!’

The head constable avoided his officer’s gaze.
‘You are an ass of some place,’ he repeated with greater vehemence. ‘Have
you no brains at all?’

‘Cherisher of the poor, what fault have I…’
‘Shut up!’
The head constable started looking at his feet. The subinspector let his temper

cool. He had to face Hukum Chand, who relied on him and did not expect to be
let down. After some thought, the subinspector peered through the wire-gauze
door.

‘Have I permission to enter?’
‘Come in. Come in, Inspector Sahib,’ Hukum Chand replied. ‘Do not wait on
formalities.’

The subinspector went in, and saluted.
‘Well, what have you been doing?’ asked the magistrate. He was rubbing
cream on his freshly shaven chin. In a tumbler on the dressing table a flat white

tablet danced about the bottom, sending up a stream of bubbles.
‘Sir, we have made two arrests this morning. One is Jugga badmash. He was

out of his house on the night of the dacoity. We are bound to get some
information out of him. The other is the stranger whose presence had been
reported by the headman and you ordered him to be arrested.’
Hukum Chand stopped rubbing his chin. He detected the attempt to pass off