A Change of Masters 93 



through the fair, visiting the side-shows, staring 

 at the religious mendicants now in full costume 

 of skins and paint, or passing remarks on the 

 animals exposed for sale. As the night drew 

 on, thousands of tiny fires sparkled in the 

 darkness, and were reflected in the broad 

 waterway as each little encampment prepared 

 the evening meal, and 

 then sank to rest after 

 the excitement of the 

 past hours. For most 

 of these visitors were 

 men who rarely left 

 their distant villages, to 

 whom all was novel ; 

 even the sight of clear 



water flowing over boulders aroused their 

 curiosity, accustomed as they were to the murky 

 floods and sandbanks of the rivers of the country 

 of the plains. 



On the army of parasites who, with well- 

 advertised claims to sanctity and to charity, 

 swarmed over the fair, they looked with mixed 

 feelings. They might revere the village priest 



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