270 JUNGLE PEACE 



sight and smell; later, of hearing. The others 

 did not exist. We two were unattached, imper- 

 sonal, moving without effort or exertion. It was 

 magic, and I was glad that I had only my 

 Akawai for companion, for it was magic that a 

 word would have shattered. Yet there was this 

 wonderfully satisfying thing about it, that most 

 magic lacks: it exists at present, today perhaps, 

 at least once a month, and I know that I shall 

 experience it again. When I go to the window 

 and look out upon the city night, I find all 

 extraneous light emaciated and shattered by the 

 blare of gas and electricity, but from one up- 

 reaching tower I can see reflected a sheen which 

 is not generated in any power-house of earth. 

 Then I know that within the twenty-four hours 

 the terai jungles of Garhwal, the tree-ferns of 

 Pahang, and the mighty moras which now sur- 

 round us, will stand in silvery silence and in 

 the peace which only the wilderness knows. 



I soon took the lead and slackened the pace to 

 a slow walk. Every few minutes we stood mo- 

 tionless, listening with mouth as well as ears. 

 For no one who has not listened in such silence 

 can realize how important the mouth is. Like 

 the gill of old which gave it origin, our ear has 



