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our critics said nothing; but soon the profound impression it created became apparent, and they thundered forth their anathemas. We noted them, but heeded them not, and pursued the even tenor of our ways.

A Literary Conference was to have been held at Barisal on the following day. Dr. Rabindranath Tagore had come down from Calcutta to attend it. It was, however, abandoned, and he left for Calcutta with Mr. Bhupendra Nath Basu. On the following day I was invited to Rahamatpore, a place a few miles from Barisal, to address a Swadeshi and anti-Partition meeting. Our hosts were the Chakravarti Zemindars of the place; an ancient family who had thoroughly identified themselves with the Swadeshi movement. We were treated to a sumptuous breakfast. Caste objections were forgotten even in this out-of-the-way village in the fervour of our Swadeshi feeling, and we sat down to breakfast together, although I was an England-returned Bengalee.

The meeting was held after breakfast. When we had finished the police came in. They came in ticka gharries filled with regulation lathis; but they were a trifle too late. They came after the fair was over. They had no arrests to make, no meeting to report. In the meantime sensational rumours had been spread at Barisal about the movements of the police, and it was reported that they had gone down to Rahamatpore to arrest us. My relative, Mr. Behari Lal Roy, was alarmed, and he hastened to Rahamatpore to ascertain the situation and help us, if necessary. We met him on our way back near Lakutia, his ancestral home. He was delighted to meet us unhurt and with whole skins. He shewed us over his ancestral seat and grounds, the Samadhi, the funeral monuments of his father and brother; and we returned to Barisal with him, rejoicing that we had been able to do the day's work and elude the vigilance of Mr. Emerson and his police.

Thus closed one of the most stirring chapters of my somewhat eventful life. An English lady, when speaking to me about it, said, 'The authorities prepared a trap for you at Barisal. You got out of it. They fell into your trap. The moral victory was yours.' And she was an impartial spectator, standing wholly detached from the passions of the hour, and could take a true perspective of the situation.

After resting for a day we left for Calcutta. The return journey was one never to be forgotten. At every station where the steamer or the train touched crowds of people had gathered to see me and