Srikanta
of neighbouring villages also. He confessed his diabolical humour before his death; and all those terror-inspiring manifestations of the occult ceased with his life. Perhaps, in my own case also, some such explanation was possible.
When I sank half-unconscious on the dusty embankment, the sound of footsteps advanced into the centre of the cremation-grounds and then faded into the empty air. The echoes seemed to say, 'Oh, fie! Why are you sitting there? Was it for this that we brought you so far? Come on into the midst of us! Do not sit there like an outcaste, come and sit with us as one of ourselves.' I cannot be sure whether I really heard those words with my ears or felt them in my inner consciousness, but I knew that I was still in full control of my faculties. My eyes kept gazing ahead, with a fixed, half-wakeful stare. I was as far from the calm of unconsciousness as from the alertness of a mind that is fully awake. I had not forgotten that it was very late and that I had to return to the tent. And I would have made an effort to do so, but for the feeling that everything was so utterly futile. I had not come there of my own free will; I had never dreamt of coming there again. So he who had brought me there had some special need of me; and he would not let me return without accomplishing his object. I had heard that no one, once he was in 'their' power, could escape against 'their' will; that, however cunningly you might run away from 'them', your path turned into a maze, leading you finally, after much wandering, back to your original starting-place.
I therefore thought all restless attempts to break through 'their' power quite useless, and sat still without making any effort or movement. And then suddenly I saw something which I shall never forget.
132
