e by the god, yet that never again could I recover
my caste, even though the heaviest penances were performed. Henceforth,
I must stand alone in the world, without kindred, without friends,
without help, save such as the god might give me in the search.

"I was rich. The greater part of my goods I gave to the temple, and yet
retained a considerable sum, for I should need money to carry out my
quest, and after I had accomplished it I should hand over what remained
for the benefit of the poor. I should myself become a fakir. I want you
to understand, sahib, that henceforth I had but one object in life, a
supreme one, to accomplish, in which nothing must stand in my way, and
that what would be in others a crime was but a sacrifice on my part,
most acceptable to the god. I journeyed down to the place where my
comrade was, dressed as one of the lowest class, even as a sweeper, and
he and I strove by all the means in our power to discover what this man
had done with the jewels. Night after night we crawled into his tent. We
searched his bed and his clothes. With sharp rods we tried every inch of
the soil, believing that he had hidden the diamonds underground, but we
failed.

"There my comrade said, 'I must give my life to find out where he hides
these things. I will watch night after night by the door of his tent,
and if he comes out I will stab him; it shall be a mortal wound, but
I will not kill him outright. Before he dies he will doubtless, as the
other did, pass the jewels on to some comrade, and then it will be for
you to follow him up.' 'It is good,' I said. 'This man may have hidden
them away somewhere during the time they have marched through the
country. In spite of the watch you have kept he may have said to
himself, "I will return, though it be years hence." Your plan is good,'
I said. 'I envy you. 'Tis better to die thus than to live in sin as we
are doing.'

"That evening the man was stabbed, but an officer running up killed my
comrade. The soldier was taken to the hospital, and I lay down beside
the tent with my eye to a slit that I had cut, and watched till morning.

"Then I took my broom and swept the ground. I had not been hired as one
of the camp sweepers, and so could move about and sweep where I chose.
No one ever asked me any questions. The soldiers heeded me no more than
if I had been a dog, and, of course, supposed that I was acting by the
order of the head of the sweepers. Presently I saw one of th