Of course, Jaistha Shukla Ekadashi was only 3 days off, and I decided to prolong my stay at my friend’s place, so that I too might have a look at the Ghost’s bath.

On the eventful day I resolved to pass the night with my friend and two other intrepid souls, near the tank.

After a rather late dinner, we started with a bedding and a Hookah and a pack of cards and a big lamp.  We made the bed (a mattress and a sheet) on a platform on the bank.  There were six steps, with risers about 9” each, leading from the platform to the water.  Thus we were about 41/2 feet from the water level; and from this coign of vantage we could command a full view of the tank, which covered an area of about four acres.  Then we began our game of cards.  There was a servant with us who was preparing our Hookah.

At midnight we felt we could play no longer.

The strain was too great; the interest too intense.

We sat smoking and chatting and asked the servant to remove the lamp as a lot of insects was coming near attracted by the light.  As a matter of fact we did not require any light because there was a brilliant moon.  At one o’clock in the morning there was a noise as of rushing wind—­we looked round and found that not a leaf was moving but still the whizzing noise as of a strong wind continued.  Then we found something advancing towards the tank from the opposite bank.  There was a number of cocoanut trees on the bank on the other side, and in the moonlight we could not see clearly what it really was.  It looked like a huge white elephant.  It approached the tank at a rapid pace—­say the pace of a fast trotting horse.  From the bank it took a long leap and with a tremendous splash fell into the water.  The plunge made the water rise on our side and it rose as high as 41/2 feet because we got wet through and through.

The mattress and the sheet and all our clothes were wet.  In the confusion we forgot to keep our eyes on the Ghost or white elephant or whatever it was and when we again looked in that direction everything was quiet.  The apparition had vanished.

The most wonderful thing was the rise in the water level.  For the water to rise 41/2 feet would have been impossible under ordinary circumstances even if a thousand elephants had got into the water.

We were all wide awake—­We went home immediately because we required a change of clothes.

The old man (my friend’s father) was waiting for us.  “Well you are wet” he said.

“Yes” said we.

“Rightly served” said the old man.

He did not ask what had happened.  We were told subsequently that he had got wet like us a number of times when he was a youngster himself.

FOOTNOTE: 

[2] Since the publication of the first edition “Hasting House” has been converted into an Indian Rugby for the benefit of the cadets of the rich families in Bengal.

A STRANGE INCIDENT.