Preparations for the Morning To go from Suvarnapur to Manoharpuri one had to cross a bridge on river Subhadra. The river flowed under the arches of this stone bridge. The sea was near. Hence, even during the summer months of Chaitra the water in the river was deep, almost as high as a full grown man. The river was even deeper around the pillars of the bridge. The water came rushing down to be halted by the arches of the bridge only to emerge with greater force, cutting through the deep ravines on either bank. A stranger to these parts watching the river from the top of the ravines was quite likely to fall and drown in the river if not extremely cautious. The force of the flow was such that even expert swimmers dared not swim across the Subhadra. Since midnight the stone bridge had been the focus of stealthy but urgent human movement. Exactly at midnight Shankar Maharaj was seen running towards Suvarnapur, carrying his long thick staff in hand; he was heading for a village within the territory of Suvarnapur. The brave brahmin warrior feared neither wild animals nor Sursinh; anyone watching him would imagine that he too was a tiger or lion in human form. A few hours later a group of riders from Manoharpuri were seen approaching the bridge. They halted at the bridge and divided themselves into two groups. One group led by Manchatura and Abdullah moved on while Fatehsinh stayed back with the rest. Three or four of them got down from their horses and got busy preparing large fires. The men sat around these fires, exchanging stories of past valour among themselves, alert to the slightest movement and sound. Within a quarter of an hour, the riders from Manoharpuri had covered the entire area from the banyan tree to the stone bridge and beyond. As they went, they shouted out: ‘Victory to Maharaja Maniraj! Run! Run, all enemies of Maniraj, run!’ The forest and the skies reverberated with their calls. On the southern end of the bridge the fires crackled merrily, their crimson flames leaping up to the skies, dispelling the dark, while on its northern end, Maniraj’s victory was hailed aloud. All this hectic nocturnal activity was not witnessed by other people. But the forest was silent as if in awe of Maniraj’s power. Even the lions and tigers had retreated to their lairs as if to signal that a new day was upon them. The gushing waters of the Subhadra reflected the glow of the fires and the echoes of the soldiers hailing victory to Maniraj. They removed all shadows of inauspiciousness from Kumud Sundari’s path. On the other side, Sursinh’s men had also taken up their positions. Each group with its leader had reached the remote villages located on the peripheries of the forest. Some of these villages had no human presence except for abandoned and denuded houses, some were sparsely populated, but none of them had the wherewithal