blazing eyes filled me with terror. He stood up, tying up his dishevelled hair, and approaching Didi asked, 'Have you really told them that?'
Didi sat silent, her head bent down as before. Indra nudged me, saying, 'Let's go home: it's getting late.' True, it was getting late, but I could not move a single step. Yet Indra went on, pulling me along. After we had gone a few steps we heard the voice of Shahji again, 'Why did you tell them?'
I did not hear Didi's reply, but by the time we had gone a little further, a sudden, piercing scream rent the darkness. In the twinkling of an eye Indra followed the sound and disappeared out of sight. But fate had willed differently for me. I stumbled as I turned and fell headlong into a big bush of shickul plant which stood in my path. Its thorns gashed and tore me all over, and some minutes passed before I could extricate myself from them, for by the time I released one part of my dress, another part had got entangled, and when that had been freed, a third part was caught up in the thorns. When at last I reached the front yard of the cottage I saw Didi lying in a faint at one end of it, and at the other end a battle royal proceeding between the master and the disciple. Beside them was lying a sharp, pointed lance. Shahji was a very powerful man. But he could not have known that Indra was far more powerful than he; if he had, he would not have wilfully run so grave a risk. In a few moments Indra had thrown him on his back and sat on his chest, squeezing his neck so hard that, had I not intervened, the life of Shahji the snake-charmer would soon have been finished.
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