What was that? Had some one withdrawn a veil? Had some one said, "Let there be light"?
The greyness, the coldness, lost their character in an instant. There was promise in them now--promise of light to come! The sun was reasserting its sway, and--not half of humanity had bathed!
"Have patience, brethren! Have patience!" shouted Broon-_sahib_, and there was a certain fierce determination in his tone.
Hardest saying of all, when the precious moments were going--going so fast!
"_Huzoor!_" came a piteous, confused voice behind him from the plinth, "it is my last chance. I am old--I forget. I have forgotten so much--only this remains. For pity's sake--for the sake of forty years ago--let old Bishen, the flower-seller, find salvation!"
Even in his hurry, in his breathless recognition that here was the crucial instant--that a single mistake might bring disaster--Broon-_sahib_ flung a quick look behind him.
He saw a pathetic old face, humble even in its grief.
"It's all right, _Baba_; there's plenty of time!" he said swiftly. "Here! look through this bit of glass--you'll see for yourself."
It only took a moment, those quick words; he was back, ready with hand and voice of command, almost without a break; but they did more for peace and order than a regiment of soldiers. For old Bishen, after one look through the smoked glass, rose to his feet and salaamed again and again, set, as he was, on high, in sight of all.
"Yea! it is true," he cried, in his thin old voice. "There _is_ time. Let us wait, brethren; for they know--the gods have told them."
Half-an-hour afterwards, with its table laid with flowers and silver, the sliding barge held Englishmen as well as Englishwomen; and one of them was drinking deep draughts of iced beer, while a little girl with yellow hair watched him admiringly, and a woman, still rather pale of face, stood looking at him with evident relief.
"I told you it would be all right, my dear," he said, smiling. "There never was any rush to speak of but once; and then I gave a bit of smoked glass to an old chap, and he saw through a glass darkly what was up, and told the others. So we squared 'em--gods and Brahmins and all-as I told you we should, in spite of all the talk and the telegrams."