Supreme Legislative Council, and drives the lonely white intruder to
illusion and death. She is indifferent to every conqueror. She feeds
her multitudes like a mother; and then suddenly her bounty dries and
there is famine and pestilence. Always she is a confronting Presence
dwarfing to one height masters and slaves. Mr Kipling has followed
this Presence as Browning's poet followed a more familiar quest:

"Yet the day wears,
And door succeeds door;
I try the fresh fortune--
Range the wide house from the wing to the centre.
Still the same chance! She goes out as I enter."


It is a lawful adventure, and for some it is an absolute duty, to
follow and challenge the Presence in word and deed. Englishmen who
live in her shadow have sometimes for their honour to grasp and defy
her; to assume that they are bound to question her authority. India
for all her unknown terror has to be wrestled with for the blessing
that England requires upon the labour of the English. Though the Gods
of India are sacred, the devils of India, filthy and lawless, must be
driven out. When India put the mark of the beast upon Fleete the
powers of darkness had of necessity to be brought to heel, and this
story may be read as a parable. The mark of the beast, wherever it may
appear, is the Imperial concern of the English in India.

But a warning enters here. Mr Kipling, celebrating Imperial India, has
shown us the English at close war with the India of black magic and
secret murder, of cruelty and fear. But he has balanced the account.
There is another set of stories, showing us how the white man comes to