Stumbling down the stairs in hot haste he found his attendant asleep. Confused, angry, and unhinged by the vision of the ghost he had derided, Reilly so far forgot himself as to beat the peon severely. The man resented the action, and the next day took out a summons against his master for assault.
When the case came on surprise was expressed that a man of so gentle and quiet a nature should have conducted himself violently towards a servant who was not offending in any way. There could be no objection to his spending the hours of waiting in sleep. Reilly did not deny his act. He admitted beating the man in the unusual agitation of the moment, and he gave, as an explanation of his extraordinary behaviour, the story of the apparition. From that day the haunting of the office ceased and the watchmen slept at their posts in peace.
With regard to second sight and the power of reading the past and the future, the natives believe that it is done by the aid of the demons through the lips of the possessed. There is another way of learning what the future holds; it is by the reading of the stars through astrology. The latter process is entirely one of calculation.
There was still living in 1899 a man named Streenivasa Chamberlain. He was of the Brahmin caste and was born in Trichinopoly. A clever youth of some education, he was brought to the notice of the police superintendent, who admitted him into the service, and encouraged him to study. He learnt several languages, English being one of them; he had been a student of astrology from his earliest days. Like many other high caste natives, he was gifted with a marvellous memory and a clear mathematical brain. While in the police service he came under the influence of a Mr. Chamberlain,
