398 IN THE VISION OF GOD
evening. They had also to observe a partial fast, for they
had no food to cat except a plantain each and they had
even no water to drink.
At the landing place the odonr of dried fish fchsit tilled
the air was too much for L'opatbhai. He expressed his
disgust in strong terms and did not wish to take bhis route
for return journey.
OE landing they met MaganJal and another friend who
had come to receive thorn. A six-mile walk brought them
to Una. Ramdas and Popatbhai remained with Maganlal
in his rooms on the ground floor of u big building, the
upper floor of which was occupied by a Parsi chemist and
his family. Maganlal was living alone.
The news of Ramdas' arrival spread in the town and
many people came to see him, of whom mention has to bo
made of a Parsi chemist, Dr. Mahadcvia, a Khoja and the
schoolmasters.
Ramdas had invitations to dinner form the doctor and
the Parsi chemist. Their children and wives also treated
Ramdas with great kindness. The Parsi chemist, a quiet,
earnest and simple soul, spent most of hiR time in tiamdas'
company. He was so much enamoured of Ramiuim that he
commenced repeating it ceaselessly. One day an incident
happened which tended to strengthen his faith in God.
"While he was sitting with Ram das, a travelling agent of
drug-stores came to interview the chemist friend. In the
course of their business talk the Parsi chemist asked the
agent to supply him with a certain poisonous drug. The
agent expressed his surprise that the chemist's stock of that
drug should have gone off so soon, as ho had supplied the
stuff, a good quantity, only very recently. Then the ques-
tion came up as to what was the maximum dose of the drug*
Now the Parsi friend came to know that ho had that day
given to a patient a dose of the same drug by mistake
twenty times the quantity of the maximum dose. The
medicine was to be taken at seven o'clock in the evening