noon
No one had taken the slightest notice of an exhibition which makes me blush hotly even when I think of it now . Two or three men trod on my panting body as they drew water , but they were evidently used to this sort of thing , and had no time to waste upon me . The situation was humiliating , Gunga Dass , indeed , when he had banked the embers of his fire with sand , was at some pains to throw half a cupful of fetid water over my head , an attention for which I could have fallen on my knees and thanked him , but he was laughing all the while in the same mirthless , wheezy key that greeted me on my first attempt to force the shoals . And so , in a semi-comatose condition , I lay till noon . Then , being only a man after all , I felt hungry , and intimated as much to Gunga Dass , whom I had begun to regard as my natural protector . Following the impulse of the outer world when dealing with natives , I put my hand into my pocket and drew out four annas . The absurdity of the gift struck me at once , and I was about to replace the money .