25 Mahendra
The sight of the steam which his tired horses were now snorting shook Karna from his reverie. He could see his own breath curling into the thinning air. It was not yet quite cold enough to put on his new bearskin coat, but the thought made him stop and get down off the chariot. He continued on foot, leading the two horses. At the last village he had left one of his horses on loan to a vaishya, in exchange for the bearskin. His host assured him he would soon need it.
The following day Karna again led his horses on foot; and as he tethered his exhausted animals for the night he decided at the next opportunity to exchange the chariot and horses for a mule. The tracks across the sparsely wooded slopes were not yet too treacherous for the horses, nor was their burden so heavy: the
