CHAPTER XVIII
THE HEART OF THE MULTITUDE
The chill hour of reaction, after the uproar and excitement of recent events, had come to the people of Angkor; and men who had had much to lose, had time now to look about them and to make a reckoning of their loss. These, of necessity, were in a minority, but possessing more of intelligence and enlightenment than their fellows, their thought leavened that of the mob, and they formed a nucleus, around which mal- contents instinctively gathered. They were traders, mostly, who had always held the quarry- folk in deep disdain, and hating the Brahmans mainly because they were tax-gatherers who levied heavy dues on merchandise, and because, from the height of their fabled divinity, the demigods looked down upon all men who were not of the twice-born caste, drawing scant distinction between class and class. To many of these it had seemed that, if once the Brahmans were extirpated, the dominant power would pass, naturally, into their hands. Now they stood aghast, gazing upon the ashes of their
