He was not impatient, so I took time and considered well, understanding him now, but pained that he should care nothing for my admiration.
"Sahib," I said finally, "by this oath you shall know my heart.
Should I ever doubt you, I will tear out your heart and lay it on a dung-hill." "Good!" said he.

But I remember he made me no threat in return, so that even to this day I wonder how my words sounded in his ears.

I am left wondering whether I was man enough to dare swear such an oath.

If he had sworn me a threat in return I should have felt more at ease--more like his equal.

But who would have gained by that?
My heart and my belly are not one.