THIS is a story Jorkens told me one day .sx It goes to prove that he does not talk always of himself , as some of the members of our club have chosen to assert , and since there is no personal motive to be served by any inaccuracy , I see no reason for doubting it .sx And if this story of his be true , why not his other ones ?sx That is the way I look at it , without any wish whatever to interfere with the judgment of others .sx He had fallen asleep after a somewhat heavy meal , and all the other members but I had left .sx Some had business to attend to , while others were irritated by Jorkens's snoring , though I couldn't see what harm his snores were doing , or what good their business did , if you come to that .sx And presently one of Jorkens's snores turned to a gurgle , which seemed for a moment to be going to choke him ; and that woke him up .sx and , being all alone with him , I made the remark , " I suppose you have seen some pretty queer things in your time .sx " " And people , " said Jorkens .sx And very soon he was well started , wonderfully refreshed by his sleep , and by whatever he may have had with his lunch .sx And this is the tale .sx He was in America , knocking about in New England , and chancing to be some-what out of funds .sx And he had taken up reporting for a paper , and inter-viewing , whenever he could get a scrap of work to do , in order to get on to what he called a financial footing ; which I expect meant money enough to get back to England third class .sx And one day they had sent him to see Makins , the millionaire , who had been having a good deal of publicity lately , and to get an interview .sx from him .sx In case the name of Makins conveys little , he .sx was better known as the Electric King , and his publicity .sx had come from the interest that had been taken in the case .sx to prove that he was capable of administering his own .sx affairs .sx That he was so capable had been triumphantly .sx proved by his lawyer , chiefly by full details of the organising , the working , the tending , even the very oiling , of the .sx giant dynamos that were watched and directed personally .sx by Makins himself for fourteen hours out of every twentyfour , the whole year round , year after year .sx What the .sx dynamos were used for was a point that was brushed aside .sx with such consummate brilliance that unless my reader be .sx thoroughly trained in the law he would never be able to .sx appreciate it .sx These were the dynamos that Jorkens saw .sx when he went to interview Makins .sx Jorkens would never have had the job if it had been an easy one , and yet he got the man's whole story .sx There was something about him that Makins had liked , even if it was only that " he took his wine like a man , " to use Makins's own words , and so he had got his story .sx Jorkens had congratulated .sx him on the news with which the .sx world was ringing , that he had just been .sx proved capable of controlling his own affairs , .sx and Makins had said , " Isn't it just marvellous ?sx " And then he had been silent for a .sx quarter of an hour , sitting sometimes shaking .sx his head , in a large carved chair , till he suddenly muttered , and soon his voice gained .sx strength and he told Jorkens this story .sx " I had the idea of busting the whole electric .sx light of America , and then gathering it all up .sx again into my own hands :sx one company to .sx illuminate every city of the United States .sx We should have been a power , at the lowest computation , equal to the full moon .sx I had it all clear in my head , and I could have done it I can't give you the details .sx It isn't clear now , but it was in those days , clear to the last cent .sx You might have asked me any question about the minutest part of the scheme , and I could have answered at once in those days .sx " I should have controlled all that light :sx think of it .sx As much as the full moon sheds on the North American continent .sx Then my leisure went .sx I suddenly lost my leisure .sx A slight attack the doctor called it .sx But it wasn't an attack .sx I was perfectly well in body .sx And it certainly wasn't my mind :sx that was clearer than ever , too clear in fact .sx My thoughts were crystal-clear , but too many of them .sx I simply lost my leisure .sx It takes a good deal of work , a good deal of thought , for one man to control big business , and when I stopped to breathe at the summit of my career , on a pinnacle higher than I had ever dreamed of , my thoughts ran on .sx They would not stop , and so I lost my leisure .sx Well , I didn't mind at first :sx they all went into the business .sx But when I found that the most trivial thoughts began to run through my head , like a mob of dirty children in a great ballroom , thoughts too trivial and silly and irrelevant even to mention , and no keeping them out , why then I began to panic , and went to a doctor , and said to him , " What about it ?sx " And he said , " Sea-voyage .sx " And I sailed from New York for Bombay .sx " Well , I found the sea-voyage was not doing me any good , and I did some thinking then .sx I was always thinking , and I figured it out then that what I wanted was not a doctor , but one who dealt with the terrors of the soul .sx Yes , I don't exaggerate :sx I was pretty well frightened , by then :sx I began to see that those thoughts were hunting my reason .sx Noses down , tails up , ears flapping , that's what they were after , as surely as hounds a long way behind a fox .sx Well , there were one or two priests on board , of various denominations , and I talked to them a good deal , walking round the decks in the evening with one or other of them , and putting my case to him as soon as he began to listen .sx But they mostly talked to me about going to Heaven , and I figured that their advice was too like my doctor's , who had sent me to Bombay ; not that Bombay's like Heaven , in the hot weather , not at all .sx And besides , I knew their talk pretty well already , and my thoughts went racing on .sx And then I remembered that I had heard that there were a good many religions in India , some with idols and some without .sx It was all one to me ; I was being hunted over a precipice and was anxious to clutch at anything .sx I mean any prejudice I may have had against idols seemed now merely absurd :sx you mayn't like brambles , but you'd grab them , going over an edge , and to such a drop as I saw .sx Yes , sir , my wits were tottering .sx And that thought went on hunting them .sx " It had come down chiefly to one thought now .sx It was something about a rat that I had once thrown a stone at .sx That was the nearest one , the leading one of the pack :sx night and day you know , and of course no sleep to speak of .sx " I got to know a man on board , who had been in India a good deal .sx I guessed it by his face , and began to talk to him .sx And in a day or two I had put my whole case before him , as near as I dared , for I daren't speak of the rat in those days .sx Ebblit his name was , and he told me about the Ganges .sx Our acquaintance began in the Mediterranean , we used to play chess at first , and sit and talk when the game was over .sx But he never really spoke out , never told me all he felt , or half he knew , till we turned that corner where de Lesseps stands , with one bronze hand held out to the eastern gate of the world , and the corrupt city of Port Said drops astern , a cluster of white domes in the evening , the sort of thing an angel might dream on waking ; just .sx leaving it behind him , you know , as we were .sx And Ebblit soon after that began to talk of the East , as though it were really there , and there were nothing odd about it ; while the West and its way seemed to drop farther and farther away from him , till he seemed no longer intimidated by its prejudices and customs .sx And then he spoke of the beauty of that river .sx He did not seem to know whether the calm of its beauty moulded the thoughts of those people , soothing and lulling them to an undreamed content , or whether it was the thoughts of generations of people that had given the river that surpassing sanctity .sx But I began to see there was ease to be found on the Ganges , and rest , as I dared to hope , for my hunted wits .sx And I asked him what part of the river was best to go to , and he thought for a little while and answered , ` Benares .sx ' " I had a long way yet to go , and that rat with its wounded tail was terribly close .sx I forgot to tell you that its tail was broken .sx Gosh , I'm a tough man .sx I've known hundreds of men right through , their little minds clear as glass to me , and I don't know one of them , not one , that would have held out against the rat through the Red Sea .sx " They had a large tank on board rigged up as a swimming bath , and I used to get some coolness there after sun-set , floating on the water and looking up at the stars and thinking of the rat .sx " And then I used to go and talk to Ebblit .sx Every bit of information I could get from him I used to collect like a stamp collector .sx The name of the best hotel , the best part of the river to sit at , the priests , the temples , the legends ; everything I could get from him , while we walked up and down in the heat .sx And one day I very nearly mentioned the rat to him .sx Not quite , but I think he saw it coming .sx After that I found it more difficult to get him to have a talk with me , especially when alone .sx " I was practically all alone with the rat after that .sx " And at last we reached Bombay .sx " Of course there are things to see in India between Bombay and Benares , quite a lot in fact .sx The eighth wonder of the world is at Agra , and the earthly paradise in the old palace at Delhi , not to mention the marvels of history which are the equal of legends in other lands .sx There's a lot to look at beyond the pinnacles of the Western Ghats .sx But by now I could see nothing but the slow blood oozing from the battered bruise in the tail .sx So I hurried on to Benares .sx " There was a man outside the Cow Temple who would help me , Ebblit had told me , to the right-hand side of the door .sx He was there three years ago , Ebblit had said , and would probably still be there .sx And I mustn't mind him being rather dirty , very dirty in fact .sx I would have laughed at the idea , if I'd been able to laugh in those days .sx Dirty , indeed !sx What was dirt to that rat ?sx " I went to that temple in terror .sx What if the man had gone ?sx Three years seemed a long time to me .sx But it wasn't long to him , just as Ebblit had said .sx He was there right enough , to the right-hand side of the door that leads to the Cow Temple ; loin-cloth , hare skin , and dirt , sitting upon the ground with a bowl beside him .sx So I found an interpreter and went back to the dirty man , and put my case to him at once , before I had even gone to my hotel .sx