563296589345

Thongwa to rebel, and then I arrest them as rebels. At the very moment when it is due to start, I shall
pounce on the ringleaders and clap every one of them into jail. After that, I dare say there may
possibly be some fighting. A few men may be killed and a few more sent to the Andamans. But
meanwhile, I shall be first in the field. U Po Kyin, the man who quelled a most dangerous rising in the
nick of time! I shall be the hero of the district.’
U Po Kyin, justly proud of his plan, began to pace up and down the room again with his hands
behind his back, smiling. Ma Kin considered the plan in silence for some time. Finally she said:
‘I still do not see why you are doing this, Ko Po Kyin. Where is it all leading? And what has it got
to do with Dr Veraswami?’
‘I shall never teach you wisdom, Kin Kin! Did I not tell you at the beginning that Veraswami stands
in my way? This rebellion is the very thing to get rid of him. Of course we shall never prove that he is
responsible for it; but what does that matter? All the Europeans will take it for granted that he is
mixed up in it somehow. That is how their minds work. He will be ruined for life. And his fall is my
rise. The blacker I can paint him, the more glorious my own conduct will appear. Now do you
understand?’
‘Yes, I do understand. And I think it is a base, evil plan. I wonder you are not ashamed to tell it
me.’
‘Now, Kin Kin! Surely you are not going to start that nonsense over again?’
‘Ko Po Kyin, why is it that you are only happy when you are being wicked? Why is it that
everything you do must bring evil to others? Think of that poor doctor who will be dismissed from his
post, and those villagers who will be shot or flogged with bamboos or imprisoned for life. Is it
necessary to do such things? What can you want with more money when you are rich already?’
‘Money! Who is talking about money? Some day, woman, you will realise that there are other
things in the world besides money. Fame, for example. Greatness. Do you realise that the Governor of
Burma will very probably pin an Order on my breast for my loyal action in this affair? Would not
even you be proud of such an honour as that?’
Ma Kin shook her head, unimpressed. ‘When will you remember, Ko Po Kyin, that you are not
going to live a thousand years? Consider what happens to those who have lived wickedly. There is
such a thing, for instance, as being turned into a rat or a frog. There is even hell. I remember what a
priest said to me once about hell, something that he had translated from the Pali scriptures, and it was
very terrible. He said, “Once in a thousand centuries two red-hot spears will meet in your heart, and
you will say to yourself, ‘Another thousand centuries of my torment are ended, and there is as much to
come as there has been before.’” Is it not very dreadful to think of such things, Ko Po Kyin?’
U Po Kyin laughed and gave a careless wave of his hand that meant ‘pagodas’.
‘Well, I hope you may still laugh when it comes to the end. But for myself, I should not care to look
back upon such a life.’
She re-lighted her cigar with her thin shoulder turned disapprovingly on U Po Kyin while he took
several more turns up and down the room. When he spoke, it was more seriously than before, and
even with a touch of diffidence.