Then, without further ado, Hushka turned and hurried away, having himself much to accomplish before nightfall. Oman, peremptorily left alone, looked around him, at his new abiding-place. The room was extremely small, considering the size of the Vihara. Opposite the door was a small window, with a straw shade rolled up from it and bound round with a string. From the window could be seen a strip of hillside, where the light of noon glared over shadowless gray earth, dotted here and there with clumps of stunted bushes. This, with a bit of deep blue sky, was his view. The furniture of the room consisted of a straw bed with a sleeping-mat, an earthen water-jug, another jar, and, under the window, on a low, stone platform a foot square, a small bronze image of the Buddha. The stone walls of the cell were nearly covered with carvings and bright-colored frescoes, which, crude as they were, gave the room an air of comfort and furnishing. Oman, accustomed to absolute simplicity, looked around him highly satisfied with his dwelling-place. He was not, however, so well pleased at the prospect of spending the whole afternoon without food; for his breakfast had been scanty, and the morning long. Nevertheless, Hushka had bidden him remain here, and Hushka’s slightest wish was law. So, calling up some of the Vedic fortitude of his childhood’s fasts, he remained for an hour or more gazing out of the window, considering some of the features of the new life; and then, since there seemed nothing better to do, let down the curtain over his window, threw himself upon his bed, and, in a few moments, had lost himself in sleep. * * * * * The first week of the Vassa life passed without order, in a jumbling way. Then, suddenly, as if by magic, everything changed, and existence ran as if by clockwork. Without knowing how it had all come about, the novices found their studies begun, and perceived that they were living under stringent laws. Only Oman, among the twenty youths that had received the Pabbagga ordination, found nothing to chafe him in the rules of the day, which were enforced with a rigor that defied disobedience. It was a long time, indeed, before the young Brahman, occupied with the unusual joys of companionship and congenial work, awoke to the fact of how much was being accomplished by himself and by those around him.