n. In the
temple he was inviolable; but at large, that was a different matter.

Arriving at the river brink, they saw the foot-prints of the lion on
the wet sand which ran down to the water. To leap from this spot to
the water was not possible for any beast of the jungle. Yet the lion
had vanished completely, as though he had been given wings. They stood
about in awe till one of the older hunters knelt, reached out, and dug
his hand into the innocent looking sand. Instantly he leaped to his
feet and jumped back.

"The sucking sand!" he cried. "To the raft!"

They skirted the dangerous quicksands and dashed along the banks to
discover that their raft was gone. Vishnu, then, as reincarnated,
required solid transportation, after the manner of human beings? They
became angry. A raft was a raft, substantial, necessary; and there was
no reason why a god who had ten thousand temples for his own should
stoop to rob a poor man of his wherewithal to travel in safety.

"The mugger!" exclaimed one, "let the high priestess beware of the
mugger, for he is strong enough to tip over the raft!"

Nearly every village which lies close to a stream has its family
crocodile. He is very sacred and thrives comfortably upon suicides and
the dead, which are often cast into the river to be purified. The
Hindus are a suicidal race; the reverse of the occidental conception,
suicide is a quick and glorious route to Heaven.

The current of the stream carried Kathlyn along at a fair pace; all she
had to do was to pole away from the numerous sand-bars and such
boulders as lifted their rugged heads above the water.

Round a bend the river widened and grew correspondingly sluggish. She
sounded with her pole. Something hideous beyond words arose--a fat,
aged, crafty crocodile. His corrugated snout was thrust quickly over
the edge of the raft. She struck at him wildly with the pole, and in a
fury he rushed the raft, upsetting Kathlyn.

The crocodile sank and for a moment lost sight of Kathlyn, who waded
frantically to the bank, up which she scrambled. She turned in time to
see the crocodile's tearful [Transcriber's note: fearful?] eyes staring
up at her from the water's edge. He presently slid back into his slimy
bed; a few yellow bubbles, and he was gone.

Kathlyn's heart became suddenly and unaccountably swollen with rage;
she became primordial; she wanted to hurt, maim, kill. Childishly she
stooped and picked up heavy stones