236 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



they could bear it no longer; so each one took his 

 pack of sorrows on his back and went off to market 

 to sell or exchange it. There was much bargaining 

 and haggling and, as each found there was no one 

 worse off than himself, every one went home again 

 with his own burden ! 



We made all preparations to start back for the 

 railway and home. Storms were beginning, and the 

 rains expected, and we hurried our marches back, as 

 we had a river to cross which the guard said might 

 soon become flooded. 



The first march we travelled straight on all one 

 night and day and, as there was no other prospect 

 of a wash, I bathed in the river when we came to 

 it. The stretch of sand that had to be walked over 

 was so hot and burning from the sun it nearly 

 blistered my feet, and then there was deep black 

 mud to wade through before getting into deep water, 

 so for purposes of cleanliness I don't think the bath 

 was an improvement ! I tried to persuade Jiwan 

 to go into hospital until he felt better, but he was 

 anxious to go back to his home and friends, so went 

 off at once by train, and I have heard since that he 

 has quite recovered. 



Another accident happened on the way down to 

 Bombay when the mail train was pulled up rather 

 suddenly. We had run over an Indian woman who 

 was walking along the line carrying a big bundle of 

 grass on her head. Her feet had been cut off, and 

 she was just breathing when the guard picked her 

 up and laid her at the side of the line with her grass 

 bundle beside her. She died in a few minutes, and 



