Eager as they were to push on they could not escape the enervating effect of the temperature, which at times seemed as if it would smother them. There are days and nights in the Deccan and other parts of India when only a salamander can be considered proof against the extreme heat.
All were moving languidly along, suffering greatly, when the missionary was overcome by a faintness which plainly was the result of the high temperature. It was a warning that it was death to disregard, and he knew it. Without any evidence of alarm he told his friends that he would have to ask them to allow him to rest for a brief while.
Fortunately, they were on the edge of a large grove at the time. Avery thought there was little to be feared from wild beasts, the monkeys, though in great numbers, being harmless. They sat down near the margin, where they decided to stay till morning, which could not be far away.
The elderly gentleman felt very ill, but he did not let the others know it, and they did not suspect that anything serious was the matter with him. He parried their inquiries so well that they concluded he needed nothing but rest. When he lay down on the ground and sank into slumber no one had a doubt that he would not be fully recovered in the morning. It may as well be said that they were not disappointed.
The night was well spent, and Dr. Avery told his friends to make themselves as comfortable as they could, for he intended to stay where they were until dawn.
But with such a smothering temperature comfort was out of the question. The leaves over their heads did not give out the faintest rustle, and the heat was of that trying nature which causes a person when sitting still to feel the perspiration trickling down his body, while the oppressed chest vainly seeks relief by means of deep, long drawn sighs.
The ladies spread their shawls on the ground, and Marian, resting her head against the tree behind her, compelled her mother to place hers in her lap. In this posture they at last fell asleep, and were not awakened until daylight. It was much the same with the missionary.
It was different, however, with Dr. Avery. He seemed to need little more sleep than Luchman himself, and he was so wide awake that he felt slumber was out of the question, no matter how hard he might try to woo it. So it was unnecessary to walk back and forth as he did while guarding the temple. With both guns at his side he threw himself upon the ground at the edge of the grove, while the other three were sleeping just within it.
"Confound it!" he growled, mopping his forehead; "talk about the Upper Nile and the Red Sea being hot, they can't beat this, for if they did no one would ever live to tell of it. If England had to live in India she would give her up in a jiffy. Now what would I do without this?"
Drawing a hookah from his pocket, he filled it with the tobacco which Luchman had procured for him at the same time, and, striking a match, smoked with the slow, deliberate enjoyment which cannot be appreciated by one who does not love the weed.