come and go, and the nature of the dreams changes, but still Brahm
dreams. Krishna has walked too long upon earth, and yet I love him
the more for the tale he has told. The Gods change, beloved-all
save One!"

"Ay, all save one that makes love in the hearts of men," said
Krishna, knotting his girdle. "It is but a little time to wait,
and ye shall know if I lie."

"Truly it is but a little time, as thou sayest, and we shall know.
Get thee to thy huts again, beloved, and make sport for the young
things, for still Brahm dreams. Go, my children! Brahm dreams
- and till he wakes the Gods die not."

"Whither went they?" said the Lascar, awe-struck, shivering a
little with the cold.

"God knows!" said Findlayson. The river and the island lay in
full daylight now, and there was never mark of hoof or pug on the
wet earth under the peepul. Only a parrot screamed in the branches,
bringing down showers of water-drops as he fluttered his wings.

"Up! We are cramped with cold! Has the opium died out? Canst
thou move, Sahib?"

Findlayson staggered to his feet and shook himself. His head swam
and ached, but the work of the opium was over, and, as he sluiced
his forehead in a pool, the Chief Engineer of the Kashi Bridge was
wondering how he had managed to fall upon the island, what chances
the day offered of return, and, above all, how his work stood.