At Kamala's age doubts, fears, and anxiety find no abiding-place in the heart. Time no longer hung heavy on her hands and she had no inclination to brood over Ramesh's attitude towards her. She delighted in her role of mistress of a little household, and each day, as it went by, was like a fresh page in some book of artless poems.
She faced the day's work every morning with renewed ardour. Umesh used to get down the steamer wherever it halted and fetch a full basket of vegetables and other house-hold requirements from the villages. He never failed to excite wonder among the members of the little party for the interest shown in the selection the vegetables.
"My goodness, look at the gourds ! Where on earth did you get these beans ? Look, Uncle, he has brought sour beets ! I never knew one could get such things in these up-country places." Such were the exclamations that might be heard any morning over the basket. But Ramesh used to suspect him of pilfering in the village garden. Kamala would exclaim, "Why, I counted the money out to him myself !" and Ramesh would reply, "That only gives him a twofold opportunity ; he can steal both the money and the vegetables !" Then he would summon Umesh and bid him give an account of his expenditure.
Of course the boy's figures could never be made to agree. If one went by his own statements the amount that he had spent always exceeded the amount that had been given him ; but that did not disturb Umesh in the slightest. As he said himself, "If I could keep accounts correctly I shouldn't be here at all, I'd be bailiff of an estate, shouldn't I, grandpapa ?" Chakrabartti got amused by the obedience of the boy and he could not resist taking the boy's side.
"He hasn't many talents and if we allow this one to run to waste for lack of encouragement we'll regret it before we leave this steamer. Look here, Umesh, I'll want some nim leaves to-marrow-the higher up the tree the better they are," he put an indent for the next boy's visit of the village.
The more Ramesh suspected and scolded Umesh the closer was the boy drawn to Kamala. With the adherence of Chakrabaratti, Kamala's party became independent of Ramesh.
One morning the travellers rose to find the sky overspread with dark clouds while the breeze veered from one point of the compass to another. The surface of the river seemed to shiver from bank to bank. They were unable to cook their food for the supper and got it from the canteen. The squalls gradually increased in violence and the river foamed up in billows. The wind rose to a hurricane and the rain came down in sheets.
Kamala had suffered shipwreck once and the force of the gale naturally alarmed her. She was afraid of staying alone in her cabin and sought Chakrabartti's company requesting him to sit by her side.
Chakrabartti hesitated. "It's time you people were in bed. I had better-" He stepped inside as he spoke and at once noticed that Ramesh was not with her in the cabin.
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