Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/348

 caused the gravest anxiety. The step was momentous. If the decision was based on the impulse of the moment, they and those who allowed them to join might have to rue the day that it was made and accepted. Then how could they ensure being arrested without making a fuss? They wanted to avoid all publicity till they were safely in gaol. Then there was the risk of the Government leaving them alone as being harmless maniacs and fanatics. If, at the last moment, they flinched, their prominence might seriously damage the cause they sought to advance. All these and several other considerations suggested that the best course would be to diliberately and openly decline to disclose their identity on courting arrest. And if the move failed even then, they were to proceed to Johannesburg and take up hawking without licences and compel arrest. Any hardship was light enough compared to that of having to bear the insult to them or their sisters of not being considered lawful wives of their husbands.