The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-10-14

I was laid silently in the crutch OF the
! roots outside the shrine. SomeuIhes III
I priest brought it; sometimes a La1I ,ixil
/ trader lodging in the yiilase. and anxl-
! Gus to get merit, trudged up the PAIN,
! but more often it was the woman VINO
/ had cooked the meal over1nisht; arc haa sne
would murmur hastily above her breatn'
| Speak for me before the gods, Bhasat'
! Speak for such an one. the WE Oh s3
and-so.' Now and then some poid cIliu
would be allowed the honor and Purun
Rbagat would hear him drop the boWt
and run as fast as his little legs could
carry him. but the Bhagat never came
down TO the village laid out IKE iiaP
at mis- feet. He could see the evening
gatherings held on the circle or the
threshng floors, because that was the
only level ground; could see the wonder
ful unnamed green of the young HGe,
the indigo blues OF the Indian corn; the
dock-like patches of buck wheat, and
In it's season the red bloom Of the anna
ranth, whose, Tiny seeds, being neither
grain nor pulse make a food that can
be lawfully eaten by Hindus in time OF
feasts.
When the year turned the roofs of the
huts were all little squares OF purest
gold, fer 1t was on the roofs that they
laid out their cobs Of the corn TO dry.
HiVinS and harvest. rice-sowing and
husking passed before his eyes, all en-
bro dered down there on the many-sided
plots OF fields. and he thought OF them
all. and wondered what they all led TO
at the long last
Now even in populated India n man
cannot a day Sit still before the wild
things run over him as though he were
a rock; and In that wilderness very soon
the wild things, who knew kalis shrine
well, came back to look at the intruder.
The langurs. the big erey-whiskered
monkeys of the Himalayas. were natur-
ally the first, for they are alive with
curiosity; and when they had upset the the
floor. and tried their teeth on the brass
handled crutCh, and made faces at the
antelope ihin, they decided that the
human being who sat so stu was hafm-
less. AT evening they would leap down
from the pines and beg with their hands
for things TO eat and then swing OF IN
graceful curves. They liked the warmth
of the fire, too, and huddled round 1t
till Purun Bhagat had TO push them
aside TO throw on more fuel; and in the
morning, as often as not, ne WouId Iinu
a furry ape sharing his blanket. All day
long one or other Of the tribe would SIT
by his side, staring out at the. SHOWS,
/ grooming and looking unspeakably wise
and sOrrOwful
After the monkeys came the harasiugh
the big deer, who is like our red deer.
but stronger. He wished to rub off the
velvet Of his horns against the cold stones
Of kai's statue and stamped mis- rect
when he saw the man at the SHRINE
But Purun Bhagat never moved and little
by little the royal stag edged up ana
nuzzled his shoulder. Purun Bhagat slld
one cool hand along the hot anuers, ana
the touch a5oothed she Iralted pb Desst
very softly, rubbed and reveled OH the
velvet. Afterwards the barasingh brought
his doe and tawn-gentle thlngs thdt
mumbled on the molly man pIahket-
or would come alone at night, nis eyes
green i'm the fre-hicker to take his snare
I of fresh walnuts At last the musk-deer
the shyest and almost the smallest OIL
the deerlets, came too, fieF gls F"uuts
ears erect-even brindled, silent mus
suck-naba must needs find out wnat the
light I'm the shrine meant anu drop heF
moose-like nose into Purun Bh isat zap,
coming and going with me SHADOWS OF tne
fre Pur1In Bhagat called them all my
hrotbers" and his low call of "Bhal
Rhal," would draw them from the 1otest
AT noon if they We're Withm edrsnot
The Himalayan black bear, moody ana
snsnicious-Sona who has the N-shaped
While mark under his chin-passed that
way more than once; and since the Bha-
cal showed no fear, soma showed no an
ger but watched him and came closer,
and begged share of the caresses ana
- ~ bread or wild berries, Otten IN
,be still dawns, when the Bhagat would
climb to the very crest OF the holcheu
mass 10 watch the red day waiklhg ai9ns
Tho nesks of the SHOWS, he Would Iiiu
Sona shufflng and grunting al his heels,
,71riIsting a curious forepaw unser fallen
trunks aud bringing IT away WIN
whoof OF impotence; or MS carry s'epS
WDIIl1
and the great brute rising erect; would
AIM To 6ght, TIN he heard the Bhagats
Voice and knew his best friend.
Neary all hermits ana holy men Who
renltation of being able 10 work mira
cIes' with the wild things, but all the
miracle lies in keeping still, IN never
making a hasty movement, and, Tor
recIly at a visitor. The villagers saw
the outlines of the barasingh
stalking ike t.. shadow ES,,n, through
the dark forest ,h peh H,na,av 1ne
pheasant, blazing in her best colors be
fore Kalis statue; and the langurs, on
their launches inside, playing. with the
walnut shells. Some OF the children, too,
had heard Soma singing to himself, bear
fashion, behind the Iallen rocks, and the
Bhagats reputat on as miracle wotker
stood firm Yet nothing was further
from his mind than miracles. He pc
Neyed that all things were one big MI
racle and when man knows That much
he knows something to go upon. lie
knew for a certainty that there was
nothing great and nothing little in this
world and day and night he strove to
think out his way into the hedrt OF
things, back TO the place whence his soul
had come. SO thinking, his untrlmmed
hair Tell down about his shoulders, the
stone slab at the side of the antelope
skin was dented into little hole by the
foot Of his brass-handled crutch, and the
place between the tree-trunkS where
the begging-bowl rested day after day
sunk and wore into a hollow almost as
smooth as the brown shell itself; ana
each beast knew his exact place at the
fire. The fields changed their colors with
the seasons, the threshng floors filled and
emptled and filled again and again. and
again and again, when winter came, the
iangurs frisked among the branches
feathered with light snow till the mother
monkeys brought their sad-eyed little
babies up from the warmer valleys with
the spring. There were very few changes
in the village. The priest was older. and
many Of the little children who used TO
come with the begging-dish sent their
own children now; and when you asked
OF the villagers how long their holy man
had been Up there In Kalis shrine at
the head OF the pass, they answered,
Always"
Then came such summer rains as had
not been known In the Hills for many |
seasons Through three good months
the valley was wrapped In cloud and |
soaking mist-steady unrelenting down
fall, breaking off into thunder-shower
after thunder-shower. kaifs shrine
stood above the clouds for the most part, |
and there was whole fortnight In
which the Bhagat never caught a glimpse
of his village. IL was packed away
under a white floor of clouds that swayed |
and shifted and rolled on itself and bulg- |
ed upward, but never broke from It's |
streaming tanks OF the valley:
All that time he heard nothing but
the sound of q million little waters