The child bubbled with laughter. 'And the moneylender paid the
mendicant?' it said.

'Surely, for he whom the Gods hold by the heel must pay to the
uttermost. The money was paid at evening, all silver, in great carts,
and thus Ganesh did his work.'

'Nathu! Ohe Nathu!'

A woman was calling in the dusk by the door of the courtyard.

The child began to wriggle. 'That is my mother,' it said.

'Go then, littlest,' answered Gobind; 'but stay a moment.'

He ripped a generous yard from his patchwork-quilt, put it over the
child's shoulders, and the child ran away.




THE AMIR'S HOMILY
[Footnote: Copyright, 1891, by MacMillan & Co.]


His Royal Highness Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan, G.C.S.I., and
trusted ally of Her Imperial Majesty the Queen of England and Empress of
India, is a gentleman for whom all right-thinking people should have a
profound regard. Like most other rulers, he governs not as he would but
as he can, and the mantle of his authority covers the most turbulent