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his son hag gone off somewhere to plunder a caravan, and, owing to my
good fortune, the result of good deeds in a former birth, he has not yet returned; now it remains for Destiny to dispose of me. But, if this bandit were to see you, he would certainly do you some violence: so think of some artifice by which you may escape him."
When the maiden said this, Mukharaka recognized her, and at once clasping her round the neck, said to her, "Alas, my sister Padmishthá! I am that very brother of yours Mukharaka, the murderer of his relations. Alas ! wretched that I am, I am ruined." When Padmishthá heard this, and saw her elder brother, pity caused her to be, as it were, suddenly encircled with all sorrows. Then Śridarśana comforted the brother and sister, who were lamenting their parents, and address- ed a timely admonition and encouragement to them. He said, " This is not the time for lamentation, we must now save our lives even at the cost of our wealth, and by means of it we must protect ourselves against this bandit." When Śridarśana said this, they checked their grief with self-control, and all three agreed together what each was to do.
Then Śridarśana, being thin by reason of his former fasts, flung himself down on the bank of that tank, and pretended to be ill. And Mukharaka remained holding his feet and weeping : but Padmishthá immediately repaired to that bandit chief, and said, " A traveller has arrived, and is lying ill on the border of the tank, and there is another there who is his servant.". When the bandit chief heard that, he sent some of his followers there. They went, and seeing the two men as had been described, asked Mukharaka why he wept so much for his companion. When Mukharaka heard this, he said with affected sorrow; " This Bráhman, who is my elder brother, left his native land to visit holy bathing-places, but was attacked by disease, and slowly travelling along he has arrived here, accompanied by me. And the moment he got here, he became incapable of movement, and he said to me, ' Rise up, my dear brother, and quickly prepare for me a bed of darbha-grass. And fetch me some virtuous Bráhman from this village. On him I will bestow all my wealth, for I cannot live through this night.' When he said this to me in this foreign country after sunset, I felt quite puzzled as to what I ought to do, and, being afflicted, I had recourse to weeping. So bring here some Bráhman while he is aliye, in order that he may bestow on him with his own hand whatever wealth we possess. For he will certainly not live through the night, and I shall not be able to survive the sorrow of his loss, so to-morrow I shall enter the tire. So do for us this which we ask, since we have met with you here as compassionate men and friends without any cause."
When the bandits heard that, pity arose in their minds, and they went and told the story, exactly as they had heard it, to their master Vasubhúti,
