noon
`` Mark thou , Sahib , '' Jemla said once , `` I do not hold that it is a merit in the sight of Allah to slay such except there is need , but when it is a _ jihad _ , a question of the supremacy of a true god , Allah , or the Sahib 's God -- which no doubt is one and the same -- as against the evil gods of destruction and depravity such as Shiva and Kali , then it is a merit to slay the children of evil . Mahomet did much to put this matter right , '' he declared ; `` he made good Musselmen of thousands who would otherwise have been cast into _ jehannum _ -LRB- hell -RRB- , at times holding the sword over their heads as argument . Therein Mahomet was a true prophet , a saver of souls rather than a destroyer of such . '' By noon they were drawing toward Mandhatta , and when they came to where the road from Indore to Mandhatta joined the one they were travelling , there was an increase in the stream of pilgrims and Barlow could see a look of uneasiness in the jamadar 's eyes . There was a grove of wild mango trees on the left , running from the road down to a stream that gurgled on its way from the hills to the Nerbudda river , and Jemla said , `` We might camp here , Sahib , for there is both good water and fire-wood . '' They could see , as they rested and ate , a party of Hindus down by the stream where there was a shrine to Krishna that nestled under a huge banyan that was like the roof of a cave from which dropped to earth to take roots hundreds of slender shoots , like stalactites , and whose roots , creeping from the earth like giant worms , crawled on to lave in the stream . When they had finished eating , Jemla said , `` That is a temple of the Preserver ; '' then he laughed a full-throated sneer : '' _ Allah hafiz _ !