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THE WRECK 137

her followers. He was like a vessel of great draught which cannot lie up against the bank but has to anchor in midstream and contemplate the land from a dis- tance while small boats and skiffs pass easily over the shallows.

The moon was now nearly full. One morning the travellers rose to find the sky overspread with dark clouds while the breeze veered from one point of the compass to another. Showers alternated with spells of sunshine. There was no other craft in midstream. A few boats were to be seen inshore, but their, move- ments betrayed the uneasiness of their crews. Women who descended to the waterside to fill their jars did not linger there long;, and now and then the surface of the river seemed to shiver from bank to bank.

The steamer ploughed on as usual and Kamala did not allow the elements to interfere with her culinary operations.

"You may not be able to cook this evening," re- marked Chakrabartti, with a glance at the sky, "so you had better get food ready for supper now. If you put the kedgeree on now I'll mix some dough for bread."

It was late before they all finished breakfast. The squalls gradually increased in violence and the river

foamed up in billows. The sun disappeared behind banks of clouds long before nightfall and no one marked his setting. The anchor was dropped betimes.

Night fell and the moon gleamed out now and then from among the ragged clouds with a wan delirious smile. The wind rose to a hurricane and the rain came down in sheets.

Kamala had suffered shipwreck once and the force of the gale naturally alarmed her. "There's nothing to be afraid of, Kamala" said Ramesh reassuringly; "we're safe enough on the steamer. Go to sleep and

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