Page:Anandamath, The Abbey of Bliss - Chatterjee.djvu/58

Bh. "They are, all of them." " How many more are there ?" " Thousands of them ; we will have more by and by." " Suppose you get ten or twenty thousands. Could you hope to depose the Mussulman king with them ?" " How many soldiers had the English at Plassey." " Tut ! to compare the English with the Bengali !" "Why not? Physical strength does not count for much ; the bullet won't be running faster, I ween, if I am stronger." " Then why this great difference between the Eng- lish and the Mussalman ? " " Because an Englishman would die sooner than fly ; — the Mussulman will fly with the first breath of fire and look about for sherbet Secondly, the English have determination : what they want to do they will see done. The Mussulman soldiers come to die for pay, and even that they don't always get. Lastly there is courage. A cannon ball falls only on one spot and cannot kill two hundred men together. Yet, when such a ball falls before the Mussulmans, they fly away in a body, while no Englishman would even fly before a shower of balls." " Have you these qualities ?" " No, but you dont pluck them like ripe fruits from trees ; they come by practice." " What is your practice ? ;> " Don't you see we are all anchorites ? Our renun- ciation is for the sake of this practice alone. When our mission is done or the practice is completed, we