goaded him.

"Let Indra judge. Father of all, speak thou! What of the things we
have heard? Has Krishna lied indeed? Or----"

"Ye know," said the Buck, rising to his feet. "Ye know the Riddle of
the Gods. When Brahm ceases to dream the Heavens and the Hells and
Earth disappear. Be content. Brahm dreams still. The dreams come and
go, and the nature of the dreams changes, but still Brahm dreams.
Krishna has walked too long upon earth, and yet I love him the more
for the tale he has told. The Gods change, beloved--all save One!"

"Ay, all save one that makes love in the hearts of men," said Krishna,
knotting his girdle. "It is but a little time to wait, and ye shall
know if I lie."

"Truly it is but a little time, as thou sayest, and we shall know. Get
thee to thy huts again, beloved, and make sport for the young things,
for still Brahm dreams. Go, my children! Brahm dreams--and till He
wakes the Gods die not."

* * * * *

"Whither went they?" said the Lascar, awe-struck, shivering a little
with the cold.

"God knows!" said Findlayson. The river and the island lay in full
daylight now, and there was never mark of hoof or pug on the wet earth
under the peepul. Only a parrot screamed in the branches, bringing
down showers of water-drops as he fluttered his wings.

"Up! We are cramped with cold! Has the opium died out? Canst thou
move, Sahib?"

Findlayson staggered to his feet and shook himself. His head swam and
ached, but the work of the opium was over, and, as he sluiced his
forehead in a pool, the Chief Engineer of the Kashi Bridge was
wondering how he had managed to fall upon the island, what chances the
day offered of return, and, above all, how his work stood.

"Peroo, I have forgotten much. I was under the guard-tower watching
the river; and then--Did the flood sweep us away?"

"No. The boats broke loose, Sahib, and" (if the Sahib had forgotten
about the opium, decidedly Peroo would not remind him) "in striving to
retie them, so it seemed to me--but it was dark--a rope caught the
Sahib and threw him upon a boat. Considering that we two, with
Hitchcock Sahib, built, as it were, that bridge, I came also upon the
boat, which came riding on horseback, as it were, on the nose of this
island, and so, splitting, cast us ashore. I made a great cry when the
boat left the wharf, and without doubt Hitchcock Sahib will come for
us. As for the bridge, so many have died in the building t