When he had reached the middle of the desert, that demon, in the same way as before, showed himself to the Bodisat as if he were coming from the opposite direction. The Bodisat knew him as soon as he saw him, thinking thus: “There is no water in this wilderness; its very name is the arid desert. This fellow is red-eyed and bold, and throws no shadow. The foolish merchant who went on before me will doubtless have been persuaded by this fellow to throw away all his water; will have been wearied out; and, with all his people, have fallen a prey. But he doesn’t know, methinks, how clever I am, and how fertile in resource.” Then he said to him, “Begone! We are travelling merchants, and don’t throw away the water we’ve got till we see some more; and as soon as we do see it, we understand quite well how to lighten carts by throwing ours away!” The demon went on a little way, and when he got out of sight, returned to his demon city. When the demons were gone, his men said to the Bodisat, “Sir! those men told us that yonder was the beginning of the green forest, and from there onwards it was always raining. They had all kinds of lotuses with them in garlands and branches, and were chewing the edible lotus-stalks; their clothes and hair were all wet, and they came dripping with water. Let us throw away the water, and go on quickly with light carts!” And when he heard what they said, the Bodisat made the waggons halt, and collecting all his men, put the question to them, “Have you ever heard anybody say that there was any lake or pond in this desert?” “We never heard so.” “And now some men are saying that it rains on the other side of that stretch of green forest. How far can a rain-wind be felt?” “About a league, Sir.” “Now does the rain-wind reach the body of any one of you?” “No, Sir.” “And how far off is the top of a rain-cloud visible?” “About a league, Sir.” “Now does any one of you see the top of a single cloud?” “No one, Sir.” “How far off can a flash of lightning be seen?” “Four or five leagues, Sir.” “Now has the least flash of lightning been seen by any one of you?” “No, Sir.” “How far off can thunder be heard?” “A league or two, Sir.” “Now has any of you heard the thunder?” “No, Sir.” “These fellows are not men, they are demons! They must have come to make us throw away our water with the hope of destroying us in our weakness. The foolish young merchant who went on before us had no power of resource. No doubt he has let himself be persuaded to throw away his supply of water, and has fallen a prey to those fellows. His waggons will be standing there just as they were loaded. We shall find them to-day. Go on as quickly as you can, and don’t throw away a single half-pint of water!”