Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06

silence he resumed in a tone that was
almost matter of fact:
1T makes us heavy hearted when
we are forced to recognize that all
the sacrifices we have made for the
welfare of the enslaved people are
fruitless, that all we have gained by
these sacrifices becomes simply fresh
occasion for mistrust. When I de-
cided to enter as student at the
English University of Madras, I was
expelled from the fellowship of my
caste; and when subsequently fought
my way to an influential position in
the enemy service. I forfeited the last
vestigeS of my intimates' confidence.
But what other way is there in
which we Indians can carry on the
struggle against England? Here in
India the government still suppresses
freedom Of thought; but ere long, in
India no less than elsewhere, thought
will enter into its own. 1t is, indeed,
our own llow-countrymen, those on
whose behalf we are fighting, them
selves turn against u.s."
These words often came back to my
mind after my friends doom had been
fulfilled. I recall them as definite
foreshadowing of his own fate.
X X X X
THE sea was bright between the
- stems of the palm trees. We had
reached the burning-ground for the
dead. A wood pile had been made
ready for the evening now drawing on,
and the body of dead man lay nude
on the little scaffold. Heaps of ashes
remained to mark the cremation fires
of previous days.
I scrutini2ed the face of Mangeshe
Rao. Behind the tranquil forehead
glowed the dread hope that soon re-
volt would be raging through the
streets
A leprous beggar crawled on all
fours across the red road towards us.
He had been hiding in the ander-
growth to escape the stones thrown by
his prosecutors. Now he made raul
cous noises, as if driven insane by his
sufferings, twisting his hideous head
the while. A number of crows had
settled on the beach, and their caws
disturbed the sunlit peace.
Plague and smallpox are reaping
their harvests," said Mangeshe Rao
He was silent as we walked home
ward. Like me, doubtless, he was op-
pressed by the thought of how nu-
merous were the enemies by which his
country was beset, enemies against
whom the struggle was of no avail
He was thinking of the ills that befall
a nation that is decrepit and has
grown weary--immorality, vice, poverty
and pestilence.
Panya still felt it his duty to caution
me from time to time. and from his
point of view he was right. I did my
best to calm his fears, although in
reality his concern was dependent rath-
err upon jealousy than upon genuine
apprehension.
1.-THE British are afraid of my friend
Panya. Nothing worse than Danish
ment is likely to happen to him, and if
the same lot should befall me, it would
suit my present plans we'll enough
We should probably travel to Bombay
at state expense"
Panya's reioinder was calm and al
most melancholy.
You don't know this country, Sahib
Who said anything about danger
threatening you or the Brahmin from
the British? Don't you know that
the priests Of his own caste hate Man
geshe Rao as much as jackals hate
the hyena?
THE weapons the Branmins use
stif1e the cry in the victims throat
In the depths of the palm grove there
is a darkness which the eye of no
judge can pierce. 1t is said of the CO.
bra that we do not catch sight of it
until we are already face to face with
death, and to the Brahmin priests the
cobra is sacred
What do you mean Panya?"
/ was seriously concerned for when
this strange and childlike friend of my
Indian days spoke dispassionately, his
words seemed worthy of credence. !
had long been aware that his initial
hatred of Mangeshe Rao had been
transformed into an acknowledged lik-
ing. This change had not cured him
of jealousy, but it rendered me more
attentive to his anxieties.
II don't know" he answered But
why should you run the risk? Who is
there to protect you? You can only
trust an Englishman as long as you
are still useful to him; and II you are
friendly with his enemy he will no
longer regard you as his own friend.
MangeShe Rao stands in the middle,
where no one will support him. The
priests and the government alike con-
slider him traitor. In the struggle
for the country no one bothers, as
you do, to study mans heart
"Panya, I care little for joys that
can be secured without danger. What
I win is worth the trifling stake"
Don't think that speak as I do be-
cause want to leave you," answered
Panya simply.
It was long since had seen him in
such deadly earnest. and I carefully
pondered my position,
Tor the last few weeks Mangeshe
Rao had visited me less often
There was a tense feeling in the at
moSphere, and 1t was all the more