and an idolater for all thy child's simplicity. But now, Red Hat, what
is to be done?'

'This very night,'--the words came slowly, vibrating with
triumph--'this very night he will be as free as I am from all taint of
sin--assured as I am, when he quits this body, of Freedom from the
Wheel of Things. I have a sign'--he laid his hand above the torn chart
in his bosom--'that my time is short; but I shall have safeguarded him
throughout the years. Remember, I have reached Knowledge, as I told
thee only three nights back.'

'It must be true, as the Tirah priest said when I stole his cousin's
wife, that I am a Sufi [a free-thinker]; for here I sit,' said Mahbub
to himself, 'drinking in blasphemy unthinkable ... I remember the
tale. On that, then, he goes to Fannatu l'Adn [the Gardens of Eden].
But how? Wilt thou slay him or drown him in that wonderful river from
which the Babu dragged thee?'

'I was dragged from no river,' said the lama simply. 'Thou hast
forgotten what befell. I found it by Knowledge.'

'Oh, ay. True,' stammered Mahbub, divided between high indignation and
enormous mirth. 'I had forgotten the exact run of what happened. Thou
didst find it knowingly.'

'And to say that I would take life is--not a sin, but a madness simple.
My chela aided me to the River. It is his right to be cleansed from
sin--with me.'

'Ay, he needs cleansing. But afterwards, old man--afterwards?'

'What matter under all the Heavens? He is sure of
Nibban--enlightened--as I am.'

'Well said. I had a fear he might mount Mohammed's Horse and fly away.'

'Nay--he must go forth as a teacher.'

'Aha! Now I see! That is the right gait for the colt. Certainly he
must go forth as a teacher. He is somewhat urgently needed as a scribe
by the State, for instance.'

'To that end he was prepared. I acquired merit in that I gave alms for
his sake. A good deed does not die. He aided me in my Search. I
aided him in his. Just is the Wheel, O horse-seller from the North.
Let him be a teacher; let him be a scribe--what matter? He will have
attained Freedom at the end. The rest is illusion.'

'What matter? When I must have him with me beyond Balkh in six months!
I come up with ten lame horses and three strong-backed men--thanks to
that chicken of a Babu--to break a sick boy by force out of an old
trot's house. It seems that I stand by while a young Sahib is hoisted
into Allah knows what of an idolater's Heaven by mean