20
PARTISAN REVIEW
short. I do not want our steps to be ill-chosen; they must be firm and
wise. I do not recommend recklessness in the name of action; we must
now more than ever consider the wisdom of our policy, question it,
improve it, increase it. But we must act and we must act quickly. We
will soon have to face the greatest crisis in our struggle for liberation.
The oppressor stands ready to strike his blow, and ours, too, must be
prepared !"
Satya took the applause of the crowd with his accustomed stern–
ness, standing erect and unyielding, as if to show that he could out–
face all emotion; he was the mover who would not in turn be moved.
His glance passed beyond the people and rested on the cordon of
police and soldiers, which had been increased and drawn up several
rows deep along the edge of the meeting. He could make out the
native interpreters busily translating
his
speech to members of the
administration. Some of the administrators were deaf, and their inter–
preters kept bending down to relay the translation directly into their
ears. At the edge of the platform he recognized
his
Indefatigable,
who was boasting to a group of his fellows, stamping his heels, tossing
his furry headgear and pointing at Satya. Today the Indefatigables
were all armed with carbines.
As
the applause was dying out, one of the natives near the plat–
form noticed the troops that had been stationed at the edge of the
crowd. He called out, "Long live Satya!" and pointed to the police.
The crowd at the shallow end of the field, their attention drawn to
the surrounding troops, redoubled their applause and also raised the
shout, "Long live Satya!" They rose to their feet and surged forward,
applauding in the native manner with their arms extended over their
heads and their palms meeting stiffly. They were awkward at applause;
it was only at political meetings that they found occasion for it. But
they were in the habit of expecting miracles, and their eyes, as they
looked up to Satya, were full of a wild and unreasonable hope which
-arousing both his pride and his displeasure-declared him their
savior. He raised
his
hand for silence.
The next part of
his
speech drew no applause, but called out
murmurs, sighs, expressions of pity and sympathy and cries of outrage.
He reviewed briefly the outstanding events of the preceding five years,
the gains the party had made and the activities in which it had en–
gaged. It was this part of his speech that he had carefully prepared,
and he put on a pair of spectacles while he read it. His voice was
pitched lower than before, modulated to avoid dullness, more closely
resembling
his
natural tone and lacking the inflections of the agitator.
