tock, the bearskin sloped and showed as though he
grieved exceedingly. Now the Goorkhas wear flat, green caps--'

'I see, I see,' said the Subadar-Major impatiently.

'They are bull-necked, too; and their stocks are hard, and when they
bend deeply--deeply--to match the Granadeers--they come nigh to choking
themselves. That was a handicap against them, when it came to the
observance of ritual.

'Yet even with their tall, grief-declaring bearskins, the Granadeers
could not endure the full hour's guard in the Presence. There was good
cause, as I will show, why no man could endure that terrible hour. So
for them the hour's guard was cut to one-half. What did it matter to the
Sahibs? They could draw on ten thousand Granadeers. Forsyth Sahib, who
had comprehension, put this choice also before the four, and they said,
"No, ours is the Honour of the Armies of Hind. Whatever the Sahibs do,
we will suffer the full hour."

'Forsyth Sahib, seeing that they were--knowing that they could neither
sleep long nor eat much, said, "Is it great suffering?" They said, "It
is great honour. We will endure."

'Forsyth Sahib, who loves us, said then to the eldest, "Ho, father, tell
me truly what manner of burden it is; for the full hour's watch breaks
up our men like water."

'The eldest answered, "Sahib, the burden is the feet of the multitude
that pass us on either side. Our eyes being lowered and fixed, we see
those feet only from the knee down--a river of feet, Sahib, that
never--never--never stops. It is not the standing without any motion; it
is not hunger; nor is it the dead part before the dawn when maybe a
single one comes here to weep. It is the burden of the unendurable
procession of feet from the knee down, that never--never--never stops!"

'Forsyth Sahib said, "By God, I had not considered that! Now I know why
our men come trembling and twitching off that guard. But at least, my
father, ease the stock a little beneath the bent chin for that
one hour."

'The eldest said, "We are in the Presence. Moreover _He_ knew every
button and braid and hook of every uniform in all His armies."

'Then Forsyth Sahib said no more, except to speak about their parched
grain, but indeed they could not eat much after their hour, nor could
they sleep much because of eye-twitchings and the renewed procession of
the feet before the eyes. Yet they endured each his full hour--not half
an hour--his one full hour in each four hours.'

'Correct! c