"_The Son of God goes forth to war, Who follows in His train?_" The words were distinctly audible, following him as he passed on, the gun on his shoulder, the dead bird in his hand, and something between blessing and cursing in his heart. But above and through all, he seemed to hear a never-ceasing voice that said, "_The pivots of Life are Birth and Death. Death and Birth_." CHAPTER XI WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS "Half a minute, Dillon!" said the Commissioner abruptly, as the doctor, ushered in by a scarlet-sin-stain of an orderly, entered the tent where the former was working. "I must attend to these gentlemen first." These gentlemen were Dya Ram, Ramanund, and a third very different sort of person, obtrusively Hindoo in face, figure, attire. The Commissioner's manner, as he returned to the business in hand, changed from careless familiarity to an elaborate courtesy. "I quite understand, _pundit-sahib_," he said in English to Ramanund, "that you are, as you say, actuated by no personal motive. A man of your attainments and culture can scarcely feel a keen interest in _jogi_ Gorakh-nâth's--that is the name, I think--domicile in a gun barrel!" The sarcasm was lost on the hearer, who smiled, satisfied. "Quite so, sir," he replied. "It is merely, as my friend Dya Ram postulates, a question as to the legality--" The Commissioner interrupted him suavely. "In that case it is a matter for the courts, surely." "Unless your Honour should, as magistrate, act under Section 418 providing for emergencies," began Dya Ram; whereat the official sat back in his chair resignedly. "Of course," he answered, his brogue running riot, as it always did, when he was contemptuous, "I have that power. But do ye really think, sir, that this present matter is of such paramount importance to the stability of the British Empire, that I should be justified in running counter to the ordinary course of law and justice?" Here the futility of his own sarcasm seemed to come home to him. He paused to consult a file, and when he looked up again, he spoke in Hindustani--evidently for the benefit of the third party. "There is no record whatever," he said briefly, "of any previous claim to the gun. It has been worshipped, of course; but that is a different matter. The military power has no intention of interfering with this habit. I may add that a counter petition, praying me not to allow appeal on the ground that this _jogi_ is a man of ill fame, and a public nuisance, has been filed by the _mohunt_ (guardian of shrines) at the Pool of Immortality." The obtrusively Hindoo figure which had remained standing, though his companions were seated, here folded his hands as if in prayer, leant forward, and began garrulously:-- "_Huzoor_ it is malice--malice of hereditary nature. They hope to gain money--"