The latter turned to the man, whom he knew had long since rejected the faith of his fathers, and, so to speak, thrown the Almighty overboard to lighten his ship. "You cannot argue with that, my son!" he said gently, pointing to the sea of patient, yet eager, faces. "No one of your sort ever has, in all the history of the world. _That_ does not reason. It feels. Show it another miracle, and it will worship. Give it a cause, and it will espouse it. Give it a lead, and it will follow; but words--never!" "Well, I hope to God no one will supply it with the wrong lead!" put in the police officer. "For the rest, we must hold the fort, I suppose. Inspector! when is the show--the miracle, I mean,--supposed to end?" "Not till sunset, sir," said the man, _salaaming_. "And it's now about six, I suppose. Eleven hours!" He took out his cigar-case and counted. "Yes! I'll last through. Inspector! Close your men in, and let them stand at ease. Captain Dering, if you can spare yours till then, I shall be obliged." "Certainly. I left a troop with Roshan Khân, and orders to send word of any disturbance; and I wired to Dillon in case--" Father Ninian shook his head. "There is no fear till this is settled." He pointed to the Pool. And he was right. All through the long hot hours the crowd waited. Sometimes the cry, "_Hârâ! Hârî!_" burst out, to be followed by a faint rush. Sometimes the great mass stood silent, listening to the insistent throbbing of the old God-maker's drum in the distance, but through it all the note was patience. And it was patience, also, in the square enclosure of authority. Sometimes a would-be intruder would be lifted like a puppy, and chucked back to his fellows. Once or twice an English arm would go up, and come down on some more wilful head; but that was all. And far away at the Fort the gong chimed the hours regularly up to twelve, and begun at one again. But there was no fuss, no noise. The crowd stood their ground, giving no inch, and authority stood its ground and yielded none, since in that lay safety for all. So, with a horrible slowness, the day dragged on, until at last the red sun sank behind the levels beyond the gaol; and the strain was over! "I'll take a biscuit in my pocket next time," said the police officer, cheerfully, as, bit by bit, the stones of the courtyard began to show between the golden-shod feet. "Inspector! send your men to quarters, and let them eat their food." Then he walked over and looked down into the deep empty tank. "It might have been full up," he said. "We couldn't have stopped them for a moment if they had had any sort of a lead over. And from what you told the Commissioner, sir,"--he turned to Father Ninian--"I was afraid of one." The old priest stood watching the crowd disperse for a moment in silence. "So was I," he said, "but I was mistaken, so far. Still, there is danger in the air. I feel it. I hear it."