Page:MKGandhi patriot.djvu/69

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54
AN INDIAN PATRIOT

of a friend. He had been taught from childhood to admire the justice of British law and the purity of British honour. It is true that, now and then. some British official had shown himself brusque or over-bearing, but nothing, so far, had happened to chill his 1oyalty.

Here, in Natal, it was all changed. When, on the day following his advent, according to Eastern habits of respect, he wore his barrister's turban in Court, sitting, beside his client's solicitor at the horse-shoe, and was rudely ordered to remove his hat, he left the building smarting under a sense of insult. It was a feeling frequently to be aroused.

The case for which he was engaged needed his presence in Pretoria. The train could only take him as far as Chariestown. His clients had advised him to take a bed-ticket for the journey. This he neglected to do, having his own rugs with him. At Pietermaritzburg, before starting, a fellow-passenger called the guard, and to his surprise, Mr. Gandhi was ordered to "come out and go into the van-compartment." As he held a first-class ticket, and knew that the carriage went through to Charlestown, he refused. The guard insisted. The train was ready to start. He refused again. A constable was