“Gupta Rao—let us accept our destiny! If two men, mutually worthy of respect, were ever brought together for immortal purposes, those two are we! Consider! Have we not a task in common? Have we not a great ideal to espouse together? Is it not our duty to inspire the stage of Hind[[39]]? Have we not a ripe field waiting for us? Should we not revisit all the scenes of our success and stage such plays as shall uplift the drama of this land of Hind for ever? Think of those audiences, Gupta Rao! Think of the profits! Charge no more than one-half rupee admission, and we make our fortunes!”
Ommony cast about for an excuse for refusing, that should not turn a friend into an enemy.
“Who do you propose should write the plays?” he asked.
“We have a play! Ye Rulers of the Upper Spheres—a play, I tell you! I have memorized the whole of it! Let the Jew finance us, Gupta Rao! Let us go to Benjamin and use our joint persuasion to wheedle a decent contract out of him. I offer you a one-third interest! Commercialism—pah! The Jew is a commercialist, so we must feed him with rupees. The Lama, on the other hand, is ignorant of money’s value; he fails to see that it is good for the audience to pay a fair price for its education. As for us, let us take the middle way between two crass extremes. And if in the process we make a fortune, that will be no more than what is due to us. Have you heard that Christian adage, that the laborer is worthy of his hire?”
“I seem to have heard another one about stealing,” said Ommony dryly. “The play is the Lama’s.”
“Bah! It isn’t copyright. He should have taken elementary precautions. Besides, he has no right to keep for his own use an idea that has universal application. The play is religious; who can copyright religion?”
“Did you think of obtaining the Lama’s permission?” asked Ommony.
“No, I confess, I never thought of that. But it’s too late now; he’s gone. Let us go to Benjamin. The Jew will see the point of not letting a good profitable play lie idle for the sake of a bit of squeamishness. Come along. Let Benjamin convince you.”
Ommony jumped at that solution. He knew Benjamin.
“All right,” he said. “You make the proposal to him. If Benjamin agrees, I will then consider it. And don’t forget, you’ll need a genius to act the part of San-fun-ho!”