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Rue could only ied orange scarf, a reticule that looked like a lily flower, and a monkey charm necklace Her hair ild and loose Her feet were bare and bleeding Her skin was particularly pale in the ht and covered in scratches

The aped in surprise and then began to prostrate hiious icon brought to life

He kept repeating the word "Gauri," and bowing, then occasionally he would add, "Laksh of sentences and cries and possibly se His attitude was one of profound reverence He kept looking froround to his own clasped hands to Rue’s face to the reticule about her neck

I guess I’oddess in a sky train supposed to act?

Rue sesture with both hands, a little like swi, in a crude imitation of the dancers she’d seen at the Cloth Market Arasped at her movement and fell silent

Rue tried to convince hi her arms up and down in a ridiculousbut kneel and bow

Unsure what else to do, Rue lifted up her reticule, an object of much fascination She removed it from about her neck and took out the sparkler

The man moaned in fear and anticipation, eyes as wide as saucers

Rue carefully put the flint, tinder, and sparkler aside on the steering coluht need And then she cast about the cabin for soful

To one side was the boiler, accompanied by the ubiquitous pile of coal Rue picked up a small piece of the black and placed it carefully into the reticule, drawing it closed Making severalwith one hand while she held it in the other, feeling like a particularly poor conjuror, she hummed a little ditty Her mind was so befuddled it latched upon a bawdy favourite of Paw’s pack, "Eat Bertha’s Muscles" Fortunately, thebefore her was unfaoodof coal to thewith his hands cupped up in front of hi those tords "Gauri" and "Laksh to hum his own version of "Eat Bertha’s Muscles"

Rue wished she kne to say the words "leave e, she stood cooddess-like expression and pointed to the door

She didn’t knohat she expected Perhaps for thearound the elephant cheek the way she had

Instead, he ran to the door, pushed it open and leapt out

Rue suppressed an un-goddess-like shriek She didn’t want to kill the poor man!

She rushed after him, only to see that he had deployed sorabbed froe conical parasol He floated down to land a good distance away, on the other side of the gorge, in the unnalad tones of "Eat Bertha’s Muscles" wafted up to her Presus of his holy visitor

Well, thought Rue, at least I ht look like a creature of Hindu uidance cabin was all classic British engineering It was actually a rather siine out of the Poedunkle-Boof Manufacturing Company in Bacon End Rue’s eyebrows arched as she read the plaque – it was a decade or more out of date! It’s been a while since the far reaches of the e compared to Quesnel’s doht before it started Rue did not want to think about Quesnel Given the catastrophe that her evening had become, he had not been as far fro all this

The firebox was cold and dead which was odd as, even overnight, most steamers simply banked their coal Also, the boiler was half full, hardly enough water forstation on the other side of Tungareshwar?

Rue was undaunted All she had to do was get everything up to te, ured correctly, keep the firebox stoked, and the elephant head would move Actually, that’s rather a lot Fortunately, she had flint and tinder with her

It took soreat deal since she started her escapade – the night was near half done Eventually, she didand steauide the Ganesha and stoke at the same time Luckily, the elephant was inclined to stick to the cable although it did rattle a great deal All steaines by their nature need at least two people to run efficiently With only one at the hel the boiler, the loco the cable, an e that to any observer would seeod was overcome with occasional malaise Not to mention that it wasbehind

If her thievery of the front of the sky train had been noted by the crew sleeping in the freight cars, Rue couldn’t hear theine And if they had tried to ju, they were unsuccessful, for no one ca, Rue took a moment to open the door and crane her head back to see, and there was no one following