78 JUNGLE PEACE 



mercies — and besides, I was not certain how 

 many feet there were in a mile. By saying it 

 over rapidly I at last convinced myself that it 

 was " fivethousantwohunderaneighty." 



I gasped when I finished, and repeated my 

 questions. And again came the answers: "Yes, 

 sahib, we go home. Yes, sahib, we live Aurora. 

 Yes, sahib, we go like this ver' slow. No, sahib, 

 have no food." And as he said the last sentence, 

 a few drops of rain fell and he instantly spread 

 his body-cloth out and held it over the sick 

 woman. My mind instinctively went back to the 

 mother opossum and her young. The coolie 

 woman ceaselessly murmured in her native 

 tongue and looked steadily ahead with patient 

 eyes. Always she fumbled with her dusty 

 fingers for a spot to grip and shuffle ahead a 

 few inches. 



Two hundred feet in four hours! And six 

 full miles to the coolie quarters! This was on 

 the fourteenth of a month. If my calculation 

 was correct they would reach home on the tenth 

 of the following month, in three weeks and five 

 days. Truly oriental, if not, indeed, elemental 

 patience! This planet-like journey was deviated 

 from its path by a hospital stretcher and a swift 



