nlisted and put in seven years with the Colours, mostly in
Bengal; then we come over here and lay in Mandalay and, after a bit,
I--somehow got lost."

"That is, you deserted," sternly amended Shafto.

"Oh well, have it whatever way ye like, sorr. I was shootin' in the
jungles and was took terribly bad with fever and nearly died. The
natives are good-natured, kind, soft people--none better; they took me
in and nursed me, and one of the _pongyes_ doctored me. You see, I was
entirely out of touch with Europeans, and when I got cured was just a
walking skeleton. Some thief had made away with my boots and breeches,
so I stopped among the natives and never laid eyes on a white face for
two years. I soon picked up the Burmese lingo, which some say is
difficult; but to me it was aisy as kiss me hand. Then I was received
into the priesthood; that was over seven years ago, and here I am
still. Of course, as ye know, I can go or stay as I please; but I
stick to the yellow robe as if it was me skin. Still and all, I won't
deny that the sight of a soldier draws me, and that," he concluded
modestly, "is my only wakeness."

"I say, you don't mean to tell me that you are a _real_ Buddhist?"

"Why, of course I am; what else would I be? The religion is pure and
good and friendly; the other priests know that I'm from India--and
that's enough for _them_. In this country no questions is asked--and
that's what makes livin' so nice and aisy. And, sure, aren't we
Buddhists all over the world? Our doctrines are wise and ancient; we
pray and keep fasts and live to ourselves, and there's little differ,
in my mind, between us and the Catholic religion--in which I was born
and reared. Haven't we the mass, and vespers, and beads, and
monasteries, and Lent,--all complate?"

"So then you're a celibate--a monk?"

"And to be shure I am; ye don't think I look like a nun, do ye?"

"A water drinker?"

"Well, sorr, I'm tell ye no lie--not altogether; I am not a teetotaller
all out, I'm a sober man, and I mostly drink cocoanut water and tea.
It's a fine, free life, I can tell ye."

"Fine and idle, eh?"

"I'm not more idle than the rest of them; it's true that I don't teach,
and, of course, it's only the young fellows that do the sweeping,
water-carrying and filtering, and the work at the _kyoung_. I see a
heap of the country and have many friends, who give me small presents,
and smokes and food; I have a far better time--a thousand