ong time in vain, at
last in despair I went away to the door, and knocked, and it was
opened; and there stood, not the _pratihari_, but Chaturika. And I
said: Chaturika, what has become of the Queen? And she said, with
emphasis: Forget the Queen, and remember thy father: it is time.

And I started, as if she had run a poisoned needle into my ears; for I
had utterly forgotten all about him. And no sooner had I got out of
the palace than I ran all the way home through the empty streets. And
I found my horse waiting, and I sprang on him, just as I was, and I
went out of Kamalapura, making for the desert as if I were running a
race with the god of death, to determine which of us should reach my
father first. And yet as I rode, I was thinking all the time of one
thing only, to return, quicker even than I went away, and listening
to my heart that sang without ceasing Tarawali, Tarawali, as if
keeping time to the rattle of the hoofs of the horse. And after a
while, I began to say: If I am to return, it will have to be on
another horse: for whatever else dies, or does not die, this horse
will die, beyond a doubt, either at the end of his race, or it may be,
even before.

And it happened as I said. For suddenly the horse fell, to rise no
more, while yet there was far to go: leaving me alone in the desert,
with the sun right over my head. And I exclaimed: Alas! out upon fate,
and out upon my own folly, for now I have killed my horse, that I
loved better than my own soul! Alas! my horse was like my good
fortune.[29] And if I had only started in the night, he would have had
an easy journey, going slower in the cool hours. And I have offered my
horse a sacrifice, and it may be, my kingdom also, to my deity
Tarawali. And yet, what does it matter, after all? Is she not worth
all the horses, and all the kingdoms in the world? Aye! I would give
them all, for another sunset like last night, with the lady of my
dream. But what is to be done now? There is absolutely no help for it,
and I must finish my journey how I can, going slowly on my own feet.

And as I said, so I did: and so it came about, that faint and tired
and overcome, by hunger and thirst and the long journey and the
fierceness of the desert sun, I began to reach my own city only as he
was going down. And as I slowly drew near it, making all the haste I
could, suddenly there fell on my ear a sound, coming to me from the
city, that smote it like a blow. And I stopped short,