CHAPTER VI
In the Kapalik's company.
On entering the hut Nabokumar closed the door and sat down with the head on his hand. He did not lift his head for a long time.
"Is she a goddess?—or a woman in flesh and blood?—or a phantom of the Kapalik's creation?" were the thoughts uppermost in his mind as he sat immobile. He was at his wit's end.
Nabokumar was far too much occupied with his own thoughts to see any other object. A log of wood was burning in the cottage since before his return. Afterwardis, when far into night, it occurred to him that till then he had not performed his evening ceremonies, he struck up a truce with his cogitation in order to find out water. It was only then that the oddity forced itself upon his mind. Besides fire, there were rice and many other sundry things for the preparation of a meal. Nabokumar was not astonished at the sight of these as he believed them to be also the work of the Kapalik and at such a place as this it did not set him moping over it. Having finished the evening ceremonies, Nabokumar cooked the little rice in an earthen pot he found in the hut and had his repast.
As soon as he left his skin-bed the next morning, he struck for the sea-coast. The previous day's outing
