Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/140

 to an expenditure of thousands of rupees and promised to crush him financially. It took huge slices from his leisure; in fact, during some of the stages of this never-ending case, the task of vindicating his character was his principle business and politics or literature was the work of leisure. A careful calculation of the actual time spent by him in fighting out the case from its commencement to the conclusion shows that it took away six precious years of his time. Nor was the loss of time and money his only misfortune. The dread uncertainty of it all threw a shadow on his cheerfulness. Mr. Tilak's life during the better part of this period can be compared to the course of a ship which every minute stands in danger of being blown over by a stray mine or a torpedo. In the end, truth triumphed over falsehood, justice over injustice, and Mr. Tilak's character was completely vindicated, first by the judgment of the Bombay High Court (1904) and then by that of the Privy Council in 1915.

Mr. Tilak was never a fatalist; but his experiences in the Tai Maharaj case must have shown him what a great part, seeming accidents play in men's lives! When on August 5th, 1897, Mr. Tilak was released on bail by Mr. Justice Badruddin Tyabji, he must have felt extremely thankful. But, had the High Court not released him on bail on August 5th, Mr. Tilak would not have been able to attend (Aug. 7th) the death-bed of his friend Baba Maharaj ; and had Mr. Tilak not met Baba Maharaj on that mournful day, he would not have been, in all probability, required to undertake the thankless duties of a Trustee. When Mr. Tilak saw that his friend was on the point of death ,he asked him to make a will;