Page:Achmed Abdullah--Wings.djvu/138

122 when one sudden strike would mean destruction to the sahib-log and humiliation to the Cross.

When he heard of abuse, he exaggerated the tale of it, and when he heard of good, clean reform achieved by the English, he would sneer and ask if a crow can become a swan by bathing in the Ganges. When loyal Hindus argued with him and asked him to treat the foreigners who ruled India, if not with love, then at least with fairness and understanding, he replied that only a fool pats a scorpion with the hand of compassion; and when he heard of young Rajputs enlisting in the regiments of the British, he demanded why people should give poison to the snake.

It has been said that harmful is a crow among birds, a rat in the house, a monkey in the forest, and a Brahman among men. And indeed, the Brahman Krishnavana was harmful to the men and the house of India.

As the sugar-cane has a sweeter taste knot after knot from the top, so his influence grew with each succeeding year, with each succeeding pilgrimage through the broad land of Hind.

Then, after he had acquired local reputation, he went in for religious revival; and if the worship of