THE ESCAPE OF THE PANDAVAS

When they reached the Ganges, there was a boat ready for them in charge of a boatman who knew their secret. They crossed the river in the darkness, and entering a mighty forest they went on an night in darkness that wrapped them like a shroud and in a silence broken hideously by the frightful noises of wild animals.

At last, quite fordone by toil, they sat down unable to bear the pangs of thirst and overcome by the drowsiness of sheer fatigue. Kuntidevi said: "I do not care even if the sons of Dhritarashtra are here to seize me, but I must stretch my legs." She forthwith laid herself down and was sunk in sleep.

Bhima forced his way about the tangled forest in search of water in the darkness, and finding a pool, he wetted his upper garment, made cups of lotus leaves and brought water to his mother and brothers who were perishing with thirst.

Then, while the others slept in merciful forgetfulness of their woes, Bhima alone sat awake absorbed in deep thought. "Do not the plants and the creepers of the forest mutually help each other and live in peace?" he reflected; "why should the wicked Dhritarashtra andDuryodhana try to injure us in these ways?" Sinless him self, Bhima could not understand the springs of sinfulness in others and was lost in grief.

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