Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/17

 many attendants with me—sixteen bearers, four armed retainers, and others as well. When we reached this place, it was already past mid-day. The bearers declared that they could not proceed further without stopping to eat and drink. My armed guards objected that the place had a bad name, but the bearers argued that with so numerous a party, there was no fear. All were fasting and weary, and finally a halt was resolved upon.

My palanquin was deposited close to the water's edge under the shade of the banyan trees. Presently I gathered from the sound of their voices that my attendants had gone to some distance. I summoned up courage to draw the sliding doors and look out on the lake. I saw that the bearers were taking their meal under a tree at a distance of about a hundred yards. Before me the lake spread its blue waters. Around it were the lofty yet rounded masses of the banks looking like hills; between them and the shore grew many mighty forest trees; on the slopes cattle were feeding; in the water the