“When thou wilt. Any time is a proper time for the Pabbagga.”
“Then let me be at once ordained, that we may set forth at an early hour on the morrow.”
“Come then into the moonlight here before the step, that each may look upon the face of the other. Yet,”—he glanced toward Kota and Gokarna, who still stood close at hand,—“yet we should not act in the presence of any but followers of Gautama.”
At this, the father and mother embraced Oman, and then, when Kota had murmured to him that she should see him again in the morning, the two retired for the night, leaving Oman and Hushka alone in the veranda. Hushka was struggling with the bundle on his back, which Oman helped him to remove. In it, wrapped in the mat used by Buddhists for many purposes, lay a set of yellow robes, apparently new, yet mudstained to a height of a foot above the hem.
“Whence come the stains? And how dost thou carry this set of garments?” queried Oman, delighted that he was at once to assume the dress of his new faith.
“Thus is it decreed that, in such emergencies as this, when we take a pupil, we should have a robe for him. And the robes are stained with earth, that no Bhikkhu or student shall vainly rejoice in his new garment.”
Laying aside the yellow robes, Hushka bound up his mat again, this time putting the little bundle to one side, on the veranda. Then he said to Oman:
“Now must thou don this garb. It is our rule that the brethren shall not look upon one another in the act of robing or disrobing; so I turn my face from thee. Yet it will be necessary that I show thee the required manner of passing the cloth about the upper part of the body and over the left shoulder. Therefore, when the skirt is adjusted, call me to thine assistance.”
Oman nodded; but, as Hushka turned toward the other end of the veranda, Oman, who, in loosening his usual tunic, had accidentally touched the cord that he always wore, called out to Hushka: “The cord—the Brahman cord—must it be put off?”
“Let it remain,” answered Hushka, without turning around; and Oman in his heart rejoiced.