rake? There is no beast in the world with
whom it is more dangerous to play tricks. Yet in that dark corner, with
the lantern held purposely so that it should not dazzle the panther's
eyes, the Gray Mahatma stirred the beast with his toe and drove him away
as carelessly and incautiously as you might shove your favorite dog
aside! The panther crowded itself against the side of the cage and slunk
away behind us--to the front of the cage that is to say, close by the
padlocked gate--where he crouched again and moaned.

The dark, rear end of the cage was all masonry and formed part of the
building behind it. In the right-hand corner, almost invisible from
outside, was a narrow door of thick teak that opened very readily when
the Mahatma fumbled with it although I saw no lock, hasp or keyhole on
the side toward us. We followed him through into a stone vault.

"And now there is need to be careful," he said, his voice booming and
echoing along unseen corridors. "For though those here, who can harm you
if they will, are without evil intention, nevertheless injury begets
desire to injure. And do either of you know how to make acceptable
explanations to a she-cobra whose young have been trodden on? Therefore
walk with care, observing the lantern light and remembering that as long
as you injure none, none will injure you."

At that he turned on his heel abruptly and walked forward, swinging the
lantern so that its light swept to and fro. We were walking through the
heart of masonry whose blocks were nearly black with age; there was a
smell of ancient sepulchers, and in places the walls were damp enough to
be green and slippery. Presently we came to the top of a flight of stone
steps, each step being made of one enormous block and worn smooth by the
sandalled traffic of centuries. It grew damper as we descended, and
those great blocks were tricky things for a man in boots to walk on; yet
the Gray Mahatma, swinging his lantern several steps below us, kept
calling back:

"Have a care! Have a care! He who falls can do as much injury as he who
jumps! Shall the injured inquire into reasons?"

We descended forty or fifty steps and I, walking last, had just reached
the bottom, when something dashed between my feet, and another something
flicked like a whip-lash after it. As the Mahatma swung the lantern I
just caught sight of an enormous rat closely pursued by a six-foot
snake, and after that we might as well have been in hell for all