Byram and GhopaL 



279 



swarm against they be wanted. And so with 

 man. The Gods see them die with indiffer- 

 ence, but not all. Some they save alive, 

 and these multiply and spread over the 

 waste regions, and bring them under plow 

 again. If the people burn their manure 

 for fuel and there were no insect nor other 

 creature to dress the land, the whole race 

 of man would die out of the land." 



At this point Ghopal emitted something 

 between a snore and a groan, which advised 

 Byram that he had given up the contest. 

 The sage, too, laid his head upon the pil- 

 low and was soon asleep. 



Ghopal ate his breakfast and fed the 

 birds somewhat mechanically. If he had 

 regular wages, he thought, or only half 

 the collections, he would not mind the 

 wandering life so much, at least not for a 

 year or two; but to carry Byram about 

 from year's end to year's end for nothing 

 but his food, was as bad as being a potter 

 with a debt like a millstone round his 

 neck. Every day the chances of finding 

 flaws in Byram's work appeared more hope- 

 less; still he did not like the humiliation 

 of going back from his contract and ask- 

 ing for wages. 



Thus musing, he took Byram on his 

 shoulders and started off to make the usual 

 collections. The Bunyas' hearts were open, 

 and they gave liberally. None gave less 

 than a cent, the majority three cents; and 

 when the round was ended Ghopal, who 

 kept strict count, made the amount a dol- 

 lar and eighty-two cents, or within a trifle 

 of his month's pay as potter. 



Byram changed it for silver at a money- 

 changer's table before leaving the city, and 

 placed it in his girdle, but as soon as they 

 were on the road he addressed Ghopal 

 about it. 



"This money," said he, "already nearly 

 five rupees, is more than I ever had in my 



life, and is getting burdensome; it troubles 

 me. A Faquir's rags are no fitting recep- 

 tacle for more than the needs of the day." 



" If the money troubles you," said Gho- 

 pal, "let me have it; I could carry ten 

 times as much and go the lighter for it." 



" That would not be right," said Byram. 

 "Unless you can earn it in accordance with 

 the terms of our contract it belongs to the 

 poor and necessitous." 



"Then," said Ghopal, "give it to me as 

 to the poorest and most necessitous. I 

 have no home, no caste; a stranger in a 

 strange land and among a strange people; 

 dependent even for bread on the alms of 

 the charitable. Above all, I have rendered 

 you daily services which give me a higher 

 claim on you than others could advance." 



"Powerfully argued," laughed Byram. 

 " Come, now, Ghopal. Take the half of it, 

 if thou wilt, and I will give the other half 

 in charity to the poor, of whom there is 

 never any lack." 



" Give five rupees to the first poor people 

 you meet," exclaimed Ghopal, " simply to 

 get rid of it! That surely were not wise. 

 The story would be spread abroad, and 

 before morning a hundred poor families 

 would set out in pursuit of us in the vain 

 hope of relief." 



Byram laughed inwardly, but made no 

 reply. As they proceeded on their way 

 Ghopal's attention was drawn to an ad- 

 joining field in which the minas by hun- 

 dreds were feeding on the locusts. 



" I have him now," thought he. " If all 

 these insects render man such valuable 

 services that it would be wrong to destroy 

 them, surely the birds must be a mistake, 

 for they are the great destroyers of in- 

 sects." 



"Courage, Ghopal. The money is not 

 growing less, and shall ere long be trans- 

 ferred to your waistband," 



