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Thousands of Indians had massed out side the tenement house, stood silent. With fresh water brought by Disciple Slade the Mahatma washed his hands and face, brushed his teeth. "Arrest me, too!" suddenly screamed Mrs. Gandhi, but even the need of comforting her did not cause Mr. Gandhi to break his silence. As she flung herself at his feet sobbing, "Please forgive me if I have said or done anything wrong to you at any time!" he patted her encouragingly on the back, then scribbled: "Don't grieve or worry about me. The British will be my warders, but God will be my protector. May the Father of us all keep you in His infinite mercy."
Softly Mrs. Gandhi, Miss Slade and some other Indian women who had crowded near began to chant the Mahatma's favorite prayer, "The Perfect Believer":
The perfect believer bears no ill will or malice toward any man. He looks upon every woman as his mother. He wishes well to all living creatures and he would cut out his tongue rather than lie.
As the last half minute of the Mahatma's half hour came, plump Devi Das Gandhi flung himself at the Mahatma's feet crying: "Father! Father!" Sobbing Miss Slade kissed the old man's withered toes, homage which he gently discouraged.
Immobile, non-resistant, the thousands of Indians who had waited all night around the tenement house made no move to interfere as the four police officers bundled Mr. Gandhi into a touring car, drove off into the night while the crowd chanted like a litany Victory! Victory! Victory!
Arrested the same night, spirited before dawn to the same jail was President Vallabhai Patel of the Indian National Congress which had declared the boycott on British goods as soon as the warrant for Mr. Gandhi's arrest was issued the afternoon before. (No sooner was Rajendra Prasad nominated to succeed Patel, than he too was taken prisoner. And Jawaharal Nehru, No. 2 Nationalist leader after the Mahatma, was sentenced to two years at hard labor.) One hour after the boycott went into effect, Mr. Gandhi imperatively demanded that two British-made gold watches be bought by his secretary and despatched to the two British policemen who guarded him in Europe. Expostulation against this breaking of the boycott by the Mahatma himself was in vain. "I promised those men watches," serenely observed St. Gandhi, "and I must stick to my word." (Each watch is engraved: "With love from M. K. Gandhi.")
At Yerovda Jail the British warders greeted Mr. Gandhi, whom many of them appear to venerate, with extreme kindness, made him welcome in his old quarters. Soon his spinning wheel was whirring. Beside it lay two books recently given him as keepsakes by their authors: Wanderings and Travels by James Ramsay Mac-Donald, Prime Minister; and The Fourth Seal by Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for India.
In his last hours of freedom Mr. Gandhi wrote two messages—a short one to all Christians, urging them to boycott British goods,* strive for Indian freedom; and a long message to his fellow Indians:
"India, awaken from your sleep! . . . Discard foreign cloth. Spin and weave your own. . . . Discard violence!
"Protect Englishmen, English women and