Atondido Stories
always sung by the leader on such occasions, to which the rest
keep time with hands and feet, he thus began to sing:
"We are enty men,
They are erith men:
If each erith man, Surround eno men
Eno man remains.
Tâ, tai, tôm, tadingana."
The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader
was merely singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for
the leader commenced from a distance, and had sung the song
over twice before he and his companions commenced to ap-
proach the robbers. They had understood his meaning, because
they had been trained in trade.
When two traders discuss the price of an article in the pres-
ence of a purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.
"What is the price of this cloth?" one trader will ask another.
"Enty rupees," another will reply, meaning "ten rupees."
Thus, there is no possibility of the purchaser knowing what
is meant unless he be acquainted with trade language. By the
rules of this secret language erith means "three," enty means
"ten," and eno means "one." So the leader by his song meant to
hint to his fellow-traders that they were ten men, the robbers on-
ly three, that if three pounced upon each of the robbers, nine of
them could hold them down, while the remaining one bound the
robbers' hands and feet.
The three thieves, glorying in their victory, and little under-
standing the meaning of the song and the intentions of the danc-
ers, were proudly seated chewing betel and tobacco. Meanwhile
the song was sung a third time. Tâ tai tô m had left the lips of the
singer; and, before tad ingana was out of them, the traders sepa-
rated into parties of three, and each party pounced upon a thief.
488