Like the Ganges, too, the waters were turbid, but the fugitives gladly drank from them. Possibly in time they might have acquired a liking for its roiled current, as do those who voyage up and down our own Mississippi.
Luchman had told them to lose no time, but to push on without thought of him. It was important, above everything else, to lessen the distance between them and Kurnal, and the few hours thus gained more than likely would be decisive of their fate.
All this time the Ghoojurs were squatted near the entrance to the temple, awaiting the coming of the fugitives.
The long, enforced rest made the exercise of walking acceptable to each, even though the night was suffocatingly hot. Mrs. Hildreth told her friends to feel no anxiety because of her, as she was able to walk a long way.
They followed the stream rather than any beaten path. Since the course of that in its upper portion was north and south, any one who traveled toward its source must draw near Kurnal.
A couple of miles further, they were startled by the appearance of a small boat, which shot around a curve in the stream above, and was upon them before they were aware. It contained five or six men, who were doubtless fully armed.
The fugitives could do nothing except to hide behind a clump of peepul trees, and hope for the best. The stream was so shallow that the occupants of the craft seemed to devote their whole efforts to prevent it from sticking fast on the numerous bars. It was this fact probably that prevented them catching sight of the figures on shore. The latter moved on as soon as the danger was past, and kept in the shelter of trees whenever possible. In this they were favored by the great number of groves which are scattered all through India, planted many years before by wealthy men, who thought thus to obtain enough merit to outweigh just such atrocities as their descendants were then committing.
The night was a memorable one to the fugitives, pushing steadily northward, knowing that in front was safety and behind was death. There had been other nights of more dangerous adventure, but somehow the feeling was within all that this was the crisis of their long and trying wanderings.
Directly in the east the glare of some conflagration was thrown against the sky. It was not far off, and it may have had no special significance, but to the fleeing fugitives it seemed to be a part of the lurid drama just opening, before which the whole civilized world was to stand aghast.
The friends indulged in little conversation, for all were oppressed with anxious thought. Where the nature of the ground permitted, Avery drew the arm of Marian within his own, and husband and wife did the same, for they were an example of beautiful love that grew brighter with the passage of years.