Jane and I were sorrier, I think, to part with him than he with us. After
all, we were but troublesome charges, for whose well-being he had to
answer to "General 'Oon Sahib,"--charges who had not been quite so lavish
with their incalculable riches as they should have been, and who doled out
rupees, and even annas, with a sorely grudging hand; still I think Sabz
Ali, as he made his way to the station, with many rupees lining his inmost
garments, and a flaming "chit" carefully stowed away, felt a certain
regret at parting from the "sahibs," who had really shown a very fine
appreciation of his merit, and were sending him back with much honour to
his own country.
Late in the afternoon, as the spires and roofs of the city stood dark
against the sky, and the many steamers and native dhows showed black upon
a flood of liquid gold, the _Persia_ got under way, and we slowly left the
anchorage, steaming out into the fading light.
We stood long, leaning over the bulwarks and watching the lights of Bombay,
at first so distinct, melt gradually into a line of tiny stars as the gulf
widened that separated us from the land where we had spent so many happy
days.
I wonder if we shall ever revisit it? I trust so ... and yet----
"As a rule it is better to revisit only in imagination the places which
have greatly charmed us ... for it was not merely the sights that one
beheld which were the cause of joy and peace. However lovely the spot,
however gracious the sky, these things external would not have availed but
for contributory movements of mind and heart and blood--the essentials of
the man as then he was.
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