LIII

"Thence shall I pass, approved
A man, for ay removed
From the developed brute; a god,
Though in the germ."--_Browning_.

Blazing hot simply did not describe the degree of heat which pressed
down upon and around Leonie as she sat totally unconscious of it on the
verandah of the Bongong dak bungalow.

For the benefit of those who have not experienced the assorted joys of
travelling in India, a dak--pronounced dork--bungalow is a travellers'
rest, humble or spacious, presided over or not, as the case may be, by
a simple and courteous native. They are to be found dotted about
everywhere--in jungles, on roads, and outside ruined cities; and there
you can stay for an hour or a night, sleeping in comfort, provided you
have brought your own bedding and mosquito netting; eating according to
the contents of your hamper.

In the cooler hours vivid flashes of orange and black, or black and
red, or turquoise blue and green, or white flit across from tree to
tree; parrots chatter, crows scream, and the brain-fever bird soothes
or irritates you according to your mood, and you tap your fingers on
the table in time to the metallic anvil cry of the coppersmith bird,
until a tiger-ant or some such voracious insect claims your undivided
attention.

In the heat of noon the only sounds to break the intense stillness are
the metallic anvil cry of the aforesaid coppersmith bird, and the
never-ceasing call of his brain-fever brother.

Except for your own there is no movement whatever--the voracious insect
is always with you.

Quite alone in the bungalow, with her back to the open bedroom, Leonie
sat undisturbed, with her eyes fixed unseeingly upon the tree-lined
road, and a torrent of disconnected thought swirling through her mind.

Exactly what she was doing, and why she was doing it, she had no idea;
she only knew that do it she must, and was content to let it rest.

Programme or plan she had none, only an intolerable desire to get to
the ruined temple in the jungle.

For what?

She had no notion! She had to get there quickly, that was all she knew.

She sat on, with her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands,
without stirring; in fact you would have sworn she was asleep so still
was she in the silence broken only by the two birds.

She could see the car a little way down the road awaiting her, with the
driver curled up sound asleep beside it at the foot of a tree; the
bearer asleep too somewhere,