an
reached us than our attention was drawn to the faces of the
camels probing the distance. You know how a camel examines the
air as he goes along--he is continually stretching forth his head
and smelling the air, and he can do this easily with his long
neck. As camels live in the desert they must keep smelling the
air to find out its humidity. Every time the air is very humid
they know that water is nearby. That is why we call camels the
examiners of space; in your country you would call them animal
barometers.

The moment Kari saw the camels he snorted in anger, though the
monkey was excited and thrilled. You see, elephants are the
aristocrats of animals, while camels are snobs. You can easily
tell a snob, he holds his head in a very supercilious way, always
looking down on everyone, and don't you think if you put a
monocle on a camel's eye he would look like any snob that walks
down the avenue? Nevertheless, I made my elephant join the
camels. That is to say, we kept about one hundred yards behind
them because I could not let the monkey bound from camel hump to
camel hump, and it would not do to let the elephant put his trunk
about the camels' necks and twist them.

Toward midday the whole caravan stopped and all the animals were
tied under different trees for two or three hours to rest. As we
knew we could easily reach the city by sun-down, we all enjoyed
our siesta. About half-past three, the doves began to coo, and
that made the monkey sit up and listen. Being a dweller of the
trees by birth, Kopee was always sensitive to tree sounds. Soon a
cuckoo called from the distance and in a few moments the caravan
was ready to move on. Nothing exciting happened the rest of the
journey.

CHAPTER IV

KARI'S ADVENTURE IN BENARES

As the sun went down in the gathering silence of the evening, we
entered the city of Benares, the oldest city in India. For three
thousand years stone has been laid on stone to keep this city
with its haughty towers and sombre domes above the rushing and
destroying currents of the sacred river. The river like a liquid
ax is continually cutting away the foundations of the city. At
night you can hear the whispering Ganges gnawing at the stone
embankments. And that is why all the tall towers of Benares lean
slightly over the water's edge. Their roots are being cut as
beavers cut the roots of trees. And any Hindu who comes into
Benares feels the age of India; she has lived very long--in