that my intention is to surrender to them. Therefore they will take
care to make my escape from this place possible."

Five minutes later the door opened suddenly, and six women marched in.
Two of them had wave-edged daggers, two had clubs, and the other two
brought food and water. It was pretty good food, and there was enough of
it for two; but the women would not say a word in answer to my
questions.

They set the food and water down and filed out one by one, the last one
guarding the retreat of all the rest and slipping out backward, pulling
the door shut after her. Whereat I offered the Mahatma food and drink,
but he refused the hot curry and only accepted a little water from the
brass carafe.

"They will feed me special food to-night, for I shall need my strength,"
he explained; but the explanation was hardly satisfying.

I did not see how he could be any stronger later on for having let
himself grow weaker in the interval. Nevertheless, I have often noticed
this--that the East can train athletes by methods absolutely opposite to
those imposed by trainers in the West, and it may be that their
asceticism is based on something more than guesswork. I ate enormously,
and he sat and watched me with an air of quiet amusement. He seemed to
grow more and more friendly all the time, and to forget that he had made
several attempts on my life, although his yellow eyes and lionlike way
of carrying his head still gave you an uncomfortable feeling, not of
mistrust but of incomprehension.

I began to realize how accurately King had summed him up; he was an
absolutely honest man, which was why he was dangerous. His standards of
conduct and motives were utterly different from ours, and he was honest
enough to apply them without compromise or warning, that was all.

I was curious about his death sentence, and also anxious to keep awake,
so I questioned him further, asking him point blank what kind of
experiment they were going to try on him, and what would be the use of
it. He meditated for about five minutes before answering:

"Is it within your knowledge that those who make guns seek ever to make
them powerful enough to penetrate the thickest armor; and that the men
who make armor seek always to make it strong enough to resist the most
powerful guns, so that first the guns are stronger, and then the armor,
and then the guns and then the armor again, until nations groan beneath
the burden of extravagance? You know that?

"