CHAPTER XXVI
MOUNT ABU AND AHMEDABAD
E were jolted from midnight until the next noon, to cover the two hundred and seventy-four miles of railway between Jeypore and Abu Roads, our bearer standing in his crowded car for all but three hours of that time. At Abu Roads we met again the long-tongued Anglo-Indian "jinny rickshaw." There were six coolies to each cart; two leaned against the cross-beam of the ridiculously long tongue as they slowly walked; two more leaned against the back of the vehicle; and the two reliefs rested as they lounged along the flat country road; all six dragging their clumsy shoes in the dust and enveloping us in a cloud for the six miles of level carriage-road. Running was not in their thoughts as, with frequent rests, they slowly crossed the plain and, at a snail's pace, crawled up the easy grades of the mountain road. Even ox-teams overtook us. We passed only the wretched hovels of the people, mere pig-sties of bamboo and mud beneath bamboo-trees, each with its banana-patch, and our shouting coolies made all who came to the doors to stare, kneel and salute us. We rested
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