UNA-BOMBAY 399
and the talk here was going on about the same time. The
Parsi coming to realize the consequences of his oversight
got thoroughly frightened and, losing no time, directly
ran np to the patient's house. But fortunately for him the
patient had not swallowed the death-dealing dose of poison.
He snatched away the packet of the powder and hastened
back to where Ramdas sat, and falling at his feet said with
great emotion, his eyes filled with tears:
"Swamiji, you have saved me today from the gallows.
It is all due to your kindness." Then he narrated the whole
story.
"It is the remembrance of God that saved you, friend:
the saviour is always God," Ramdas replied.
For this lapse on his part he undertook a fast of three
days during which he subsisted merely on water, and
Ramnam never left his lips. He also eschewed sleep
at night. The Ram mantram rang on his tongue
continuously.
Visits to the sugarcane fields of the Khoja friend,
where he was given a cool drink of the cane juice, and to
the noted shrine of Mahadev in the suburbs of the town
comprised the other events of the earlier part of Ramdas'
stay in Una. Latterly, he was presented to the boys of the
Ideal High School, in which Maganlal was a teacher and
also to the girls of two primary schools. In all of them
Ramdas delivered short speeches upon, "The right conduct
of boys and girls."
While returning from the High School he joined in the
game of cricket with the boys on the play-ground. When
he stood up for bowling, his very first ball knocked off
the mid-wicket. Amidst the laughter of the lookers-on,
Ramdas left the field.
In the hospital there was a post-mortem examination
over the body of a young man who had died by an accident.
With the permission of the doctor, Popatbhai was present
at the examination. He carefully scrutinized all the internal