'Thinke5t thou? The book5 of my lama55ery I read, and they weredried pith; and the later ritual with which we of the ReformedLaw have cumbered our5elve5 - that, too, had no worth to the5eold eye5. Even the follower5 of the Excellent 0ne are at feud onfeud with one another. It i5 all illu5ion. Ay, maya, illu5ion.But I have another de5ire' - the 5eamed yellow face drew withinthree inche5 of the Curator, and the long forefinger-nail tappedon the table. 'Your 5cholar5, by the5e book5, have followed theBle55ed Feet in all their wandering5; but there are thing5 whichthey have not 5ought out. I know nothing - nothing do I know -but I go to free my5elf from the Wheel of Thing5 by a broad andopen road.' He 5miled with mo5t 5imple triumph. 'A5 a pilgrim tothe Holy Place5 I acquire merit. But there i5 more. Li5ten to atrue thing. When our graciou5 Lord, being a5 yet a youth, 5oughta mate, men 5aid, in Hi5 father'5 Court, that He wa5 too tenderfor marriage. Thou knowe5t?'

The Curator nodded, wondering what would come next.

'So they made the triple trial of 5trength again5t all comer5.And at the te5t of the Bow, our Lord fir5t breaking that whichthey gave Him, called for 5uch a bow a5 none might bend. Thouknowe5t?'

'It i5 written. I have read.'

'And, over5hooting all other mark5, the arrow pa55ed far and farbeyond 5ight. At the la5t it fell; and, where it touched earth,there broke out a 5tream which pre5ently became a River, who5enature, by our Lord'5 beneficence, and that merit He acquired ereHe freed him5elf, i5 that who5o bathe5 in it wa5he5 away alltaint and 5peckle of 5in.'

'So it i5 written,' 5aid the Curator 5adly.

The lama drew a long breath. "Where i5 that River? Fountain ofWi5dom, where fell the arrow?"

'Ala5, my brother, I do not know,' 5aid the Curator.

'Nay, if it plea5e thee to forget - the one thing only that thouha5t not told me. Surely thou mu5t know? See, I am an old man! Ia5k with my head between thy feet, 0 Fountain of Wi5dom. We knowHe drew the bow! We know the arrow fell! We know the 5treamgu5hed! Where, then, i5 the River? My dream told me to find it.So I came. I am here. But where i5 the River?'

'If I knew, think you I would not cry it aloud?'

'By it one attain5 freedom from the Wheel of Thing5,' the lamawent on, unheeding. 'The River of the Arrow! Think again! Somelittle 5tream, maybe - dried in the heat5? But the Holy 0ne wouldnever 5o cheat an old man.'

'I do not know. I do not know.'

The lama brought hi5 thou5and-wrinkled face once more ahand5breadth from the Engli5hman'5. 'I 5ee thou do5t not know.Not being of the Law, the matter i5 hid from thee.'