ful tone he passed the order, 'Cut off his tail.' Chinath's long tail, composed of straw wrapped in coloured cloth, was then cut off and he was turned out of the house, while my aunt, who saw everything, simply remarked, 'Yes, keep it for yourself: you will find it useful.'
'Well, Srikanta,' said Indra to me as we stood together apart from the crowd, 'so this is where you live.'
'Yes,' said I, 'but where were you going so late to-night?'
'So late!' he answered, laughing. 'Why, it's only just evening. I am going to my dinghy to catch fish. Will you come?'
'In your boat?' I asked timidly. 'On such a dark night as this?'
He laughed again. 'Cheer up, that's just what makes it great fun. And, besides, you can't catch fish, you know, except in the dark. Can you swim?'
'Rather!'
'Come along, then,' and he caught hold of my hand. 'I can't row so far up-stream alone: I've been looking for someone who would not be afraid.'
I did not say another word. Holding his hand I went with him silently out to the road. At first I could hardly believe that I was really going on a fishing expedition in a canoe. I had little power then of realizing what a tremendous attraction it was that made me defy the stern discipline of our house, and that brought me out on the road in the deepening gloom of the night. We soon came to the path leading to the awful jungle of the Gossains, and I followed Indra through it, like one hypnotised, till we came to the bank of the Ganges at the jungle's end.
15
