18/39 His missionaries went round with a story that Government had issued orders not to collect taxes where the crops had fallen below a certain yield. The _rayats_ believed them, and when the tax-gatherer arrived they refused payment. Outrages such as the mutilation of the Queen's statue at Bombay, the attempt to fire the Church Mission Hall, the assaults upon "moderate" Hindus who refused to toe the line, became ominously frequent. Worse was to follow when the plague appeared. |