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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Elephant God, by Gordon Casserly
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Elephant God
+
+Author: Gordon Casserly
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2004 [EBook #14076]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ELEPHANT GOD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, David Garcia and the PG Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ELEPHANT GOD
+
+BY GORDON GASSERLY
+
+
+
+NEW YORK
+1921
+
+
+
+
+TO A CERTAIN ROGUE ELEPHANT RESIDENT IN THE TERAI FOREST
+
+THE SLAYER OF DIVERS MEN AND WOMEN
+
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MUCH
+INSTRUCTION AND IN THE HOPE THAT SOME DAY IN THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS
+THEY MAY MEET AGAIN AND DECIDE THE ISSUE
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD TO AMERICAN EDITION
+
+
+Twenty years ago I dedicated my first book, _The Land of the Boxers; or
+China Under the Allies_, to the American officers and soldiers of the
+expeditionary forces then fighting in the Celestial Empire--as well as to
+their British comrades. And when, some years afterwards, I was visiting
+their country, right glad I was that I had thus offered my slight tribute
+to the valour of the United States Army. For from the Pacific to the
+Atlantic I met with a hospitality and a kindness that no other land could
+excel and few could equal. And ever since then, I have felt deep in debt to
+all Americans and have tried in many parts of our Empire to repay to those
+who serve under the Star Spangled Banner a little of what I owe to their
+fellow-countrymen.
+
+Only those who have experienced that sympathetic American kindness can
+realise what it is. It is all that gives me courage to face the reading
+public as a writer of fiction and attempt to depict to it the fascinating
+world of an Indian jungle, the weird beasts that people it, and the
+stranger humans that battle with them in it. The magic pen of a Kipling
+alone could do justice to that wonderful realm of mountain and forest that
+is called the Terai--that fantastic region of woodland that stretches for
+hundreds of miles along the foot of the Himalayas, that harbours in its dim
+recesses the monsters of the animal kingdom, quaint survivals of a vanished
+race--the rhinoceros, the elephant, the bison, and the hamadryad, that
+great and terrible snake which can, and does, pursue and overtake a mounted
+man, and which with a touch of its poisoned fang can slay the most powerful
+brute. The huge Himalayan bear roams under the giant trees, feeding on
+fruit and honey, yet ready to shatter unprovoked the skull of a poor
+woodcutter. Those savage striped and spotted cats, the tiger and the
+panther, steal through it on velvet paw and take toll of its harmless
+denizens.
+
+But, if I cannot describe it as I would, at least I have lived the life of
+the wild in the spacious realm of the Terai. I would that I had the power
+to make others feel what I have felt, the thrill that comes when facing the
+onrush of the bloodthirstiest of all fierce brutes, a rogue elephant, or
+the joy of seeing a charging tiger check and crumple up at the arresting
+blow of a heavy bullet.
+
+I have followed day after day from dawn to dark and fought again and again
+a fierce outlaw tusker elephant that from sheer lust of slaughter had
+killed men, women, and children and carried on for years a career of crime
+unbelievable.
+
+No one that knows the jungle well will refuse to credit the strangest story
+of what wild animals will do. Of all the swarming herds of wild elephants
+in the Terai, the Mysore, or the Ceylon jungles no man, white or black, has
+ever seen one that had died a natural death. Yet many have watched them
+climbing up the great mountain rampart of the Himalayas towards regions
+where human foot never followed. The Death Place of the Elephants is a
+legend in which all jungle races firmly believe, but no man has ever found
+it. The mammoths live a century and a half--but the time comes when each of
+them must die. Yet no human eye watches its death agony.
+
+Those who know elephants best will most readily credit the strangest tales
+of their doings. And there are men--white men--whose power over wild beasts
+and wilder fellow men outstrips the novelist's imagination, the true tale
+of whose doings no resident in a civilised land would believe.
+
+GORDON CASSERLY.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                   PAGE
+
+    I.--THE SECRET MISSION                   3
+
+   II.--A ROGUE ELEPHANT                    20
+
+  III.--A GIRL OF THE TERAI                 35
+
+   IV.--THE MADNESS OF BADSHAH              59
+
+    V.--THE DEATH-PLACE                     79
+
+   VI.--A DRAMATIC INTRODUCTION             95
+
+  VII.--IN THE RAJAH'S PALACE              117
+
+ VIII.--A BHUTTIA RAID                     137
+
+   IX.--THE RESCUE OF NOREEN               155
+
+    X.--A STRANGE HOME-COMING              175
+
+   XI.--THE MAKING OF A GOD                193
+
+  XII.--THE LURE OF THE HILLS              213
+
+ XIII.--THE PLEASURE COLONY                231
+
+  XIV.--THE TANGLED SKEIN OF LOVE          248
+
+   XV.--THE FEAST OF THE GODDESS KALI      267
+
+  XVI.--THE PALACE OF DEATH                286
+
+ XVII.--A TRAP                             309
+
+XVIII.--THE CAT AND THE TIGER              330
+
+  XIX.--TEMPEST                            351
+
+   XX.--THE GOD OF THE ELEPHANTS           377
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ELEPHANT GOD
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+THE SECRET MISSION
+
+"The letters, sahib," said the post orderly, blocking up the doorway of the
+bungalow.
+
+Kevin Dermot put down his book as the speaker, a Punjaubi Mohammedan in
+white undress, slipped off his loose native shoes and entered the room
+barefoot, as is the custom in India.
+
+"For this one a receipt is needed," continued the sepoy, holding out a long
+official envelope registered and insured and addressed, like all the
+others, to "The Officer Commanding, Ranga Duar, Eastern Bengal."
+
+Major Dermot signed the receipt and handed it to the man. As he did so the
+scream of an elephant in pain came to his ears.
+
+"What is that?" he asked the post orderly.
+
+"It is the _mahout_, Chand Khan, beating his _hathi_ (elephant), sahib,"
+replied the sepoy looking out.
+
+Dermot threw the unopened letters on the table, and, going out on the
+verandah of his bungalow, gazed down on the parade ground which lay a
+hundred feet below. Beyond it at the foot of the small hill on which stood
+the Fort was a group of trees, to two of which a transport elephant was
+shackled by a fore and a hind leg in such a way as to render it powerless.
+Its _mahout_, or driver, keeping out of reach of its trunk, was beating it
+savagely on the head with a bamboo. Mad with rage, the man, a grey-bearded
+old Mohammedan, swung the long stick with both hands and brought it down
+again and again with all his force. From the gateway of the Fort above the
+_havildar_, or native sergeant, of the guard shouted to the _mahout_ to
+desist. But the angry man ignored him and continued to belabour his
+unfortunate animal, which, at the risk of dislocating its leg, struggled
+wildly to free itself and screamed shrilly each time that the bamboo fell.
+This surprised Dermont, for an elephant's skull is so thick that a blow
+even from the _ankus_ or iron goad used to drive it, is scarcely felt.
+
+The puzzled officer re-entered the bungalow and brought out a pair of
+field-glasses, which revealed the reason of the poor tethered brute's
+screams. For they showed that in the end of the bamboo were stuck long,
+sharp nails which pierced and tore the flesh of its head.
+
+Major Dermot was not only a keen sportsman and a lover of animals, but he
+had an especial liking for elephants, of which he had had much experience.
+So with a muttered oath he put down the binoculars and, seizing his helmet,
+ran down the steep slope from his bungalow to the parade ground. As he went
+he shouted to the _mahout_ to stop. But the man was too engrossed in his
+brutality to hear him or the _havildar_, who repeated the Major's order. It
+was not until Dermot actually seized his arm and dragged him back that he
+perceived his commanding officer. Dropping the bamboo he strove to justify
+his ill-treatment of the elephant by alleging some petty act of
+disobedience on its part.
+
+His excuses were cut short.
+
+"_Choop raho!_ (Be silent!) You are not fit to have charge of an animal,"
+cried the indignant officer, picking up and examining the cruel weapon. The
+sharp points of the nails were stained with blood, and morsels of skin and
+flesh adhered to them. Dermot felt a strong inclination to thrash the
+brutal _mahout_ with the unarmed end of the bamboo, but, restraining
+himself, he turned to the elephant. With the instinct of its kind it was
+scraping a little pile of dust together with its toes, snuffing it up in
+its trunk and blowing it on the bleeding cuts on its lacerated head.
+
+"You poor beast! You mustn't do that. We'll find something better for you,"
+said the Major compassionately.
+
+He called across the parade ground to his white-clad Mussulman butler, who
+was looking down at him from the bungalow.
+
+"Bring that fruit off my table," he said in Hindustani. "Also the little
+medicine chest and a bowl of water."
+
+When the servant had brought them Dermot approached the elephant.
+
+"_Khubbadar_--(take care)--sahib!" cried a coolie, the _mahout's_
+assistant. "He is suffering and angry. He may do you harm."
+
+But, while the rebuked _mahout_ glared malevolently and inwardly hoped that
+the animal might kill him, Dermot walked calmly toward it, holding out his
+hand with the fruit. The elephant, regarding him nervously and suspiciously
+out of its little eyes, shifted uneasily from foot to foot, and at first
+shrank from him. But, as the officer stood quietly in front of it, it
+stretched out its trunk and smelled the extended hand. Then it touched the
+arm and felt it up to the shoulder, on which it let the tip of the trunk
+rest for a few seconds. At last it seemed satisfied that the white man was
+a friend and did not intend to hurt it.
+
+During the ordeal Dermot had never moved; although there was every reason
+to fear that the animal, either from sheer nervousness or from resentment
+at the ill-treatment that it had just received, might attack him and
+trample him to death. Indeed, many tame elephants, being unused to
+Europeans, will not allow white men to approach them. So the Hindu coolie
+stood trembling with fright, while the _havildar_ and the butler were
+alarmed at their sahib's peril.
+
+But Dermot coolly peeled a banana and placed it in the elephant's mouth.
+The gift was tried and approved by the huge beast, which graciously
+accepted the rest of the fruit. Then the Major said to it in the _mahouts'_
+tongue:
+
+"_Buth!_ (Lie down!)"
+
+The elephant slowly sank down to the ground and allowed the Major to
+examine its head, which was badly lacerated by the spikes. Dermot cleansed
+the wounds thoroughly and applied an antiseptic to them. The animal bore it
+patiently and seemed to recognise that it had found a friend; for, when it
+rose to its feet again, it laid its trunk almost caressingly on Dermot's
+shoulder.
+
+The officer stroked it and then turned to the _mahout_, who was standing in
+the background.
+
+"Chand Khan, you are not to come near this elephant again," he said. "I
+suspend you from charge of it and shall report you for dismissal. _Jao!_
+(Go!)"
+
+The man slunk away scowling. Dermot beckoned to the Hindu, who approached
+salaaming.
+
+"Are you this animal's coolie?"
+
+(The Government of India very properly recognises the lordliness of the
+elephant and provides him in captivity with no less than two body-servants,
+a _mahout_ and a coolie, whose mission in life is to wait on him.)
+
+The Hindu salaamed again.
+
+"Yes, _Huzoor_ (The Presence)," he replied.
+
+"How long have you been with it?"
+
+"Five years, _Huzoor_."
+
+"What is its name?"
+
+"_Badshah_ (The King). And indeed he is a _badshah_ among elephants. No one
+but a Mussulman would treat him with disrespect. Your Honour sees that he
+is a _Gunesh_ and worthy of reverence."
+
+The animal, which was a large and well-shaped male, possessed only one
+tusk, the right. The other had never grown. Dermot knew that an elephant
+thus marked by Nature would be regarded by Hindus as sacred to _Gunesh_,
+their God of Wisdom, who is represented as having the head of an elephant
+with a single tusk, the right. Many natives would consider the animal to be
+a manifestation of the god himself and worship it as a deity. So the Major
+made no comment on the coolie's remark, but said:
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Ramnath, _Huzoor_."
+
+"Very well, Ramnath. You are to have sole charge of Badshah until I can get
+someone to help you. You will be his _mahout_. Take this medicine that I
+have been using and put it on as you have seen me do. Don't let the animal
+blow dust on the cuts. Keep them clean, and bring him up tomorrow for me to
+see."
+
+He handed the man the antiseptic and swabs. Then he turned to the elephant
+and patted it.
+
+"Good-bye, Badshah, old boy," he said. "I don't think that Ramnath will
+ill-treat you."
+
+The huge beast seemed to understand him and again touched him with the tip
+of its trunk.
+
+"Badshah knows Your Honour," said the Hindu. "He will regard you always now
+as his _ma-bap_ (mother and father)."
+
+Dermot smiled at this very usual vernacular expression. He was accustomed
+to being called it by his sepoys; but he was amused at being regarded as
+the combined parents of so large an offspring.
+
+"Badshah has never let a white man approach him before today, _Huzoor_,"
+continued Ramnath. "He has always been afraid of the sahibs. But he sees
+you are his friend. _Salaam kuro_, Badshah!"
+
+And the elephant raised his trunk vertically in the air and trumpeted the
+_Salaamut_ or royal salute that he had been taught to make. Then, at
+Ramnath's signal, he lowered his trunk and crooked it. The man put his bare
+foot on it, at the same time seizing one of the great ears. Then Badshah
+lifted him up with the trunk until he could get on to the head into
+position astride the neck. Then the new _mahout_, salaaming again to the
+officer, started his huge charge off, and the elephant lumbered away with
+swaying stride to its _peelkhana_, or stable, two thousand feet below in
+the forest at the foot of the hills on which stood the Fort of Ranga Duar.
+For this outpost, which was garrisoned by Dermot's Double Company of a
+Military Police Battalion, guarded one of the _duars_, or passes, through
+the Himalayas into India from the wild and little-known country of Bhutan.
+
+Its Commanding Officer watched the elephant disappear down the hill before
+returning to his little stone bungalow, which stood in a small garden
+shaded by giant mango and jack-fruit trees and gay with the flaming lines
+of bougainvillias and poinsettias.
+
+Dismissing the post orderly, who was still waiting, Dermot threw himself
+into a long chair and took up the letters that he had flung down when
+Badshah's screams attracted his attention. They were all routine official
+correspondence contained in the usual long envelopes marked "On His
+Majesty's Service." The registered one, however, held a smaller envelope
+heavily sealed, marked "Secret" and addressed to him by name. In this was a
+letter in cipher.
+
+Dermot got up from his chair and, going into his bedroom, opened a trunk
+and lifted out of it a steel despatch box, which he unlocked. From this he
+extracted a sealed envelope, which he carried back to the sitting-room.
+First examining the seals to make sure that they were intact, he opened the
+envelope and took from it two papers. One was a cipher code and on the
+other was the keyword to the official cipher used by the military
+authorities throughout India. This word is changed once a year. On the
+receipt of the new one every officer entitled to be in possession of it
+must burn the paper on which is written the old word and send a signed
+declaration to that effect to Army Headquarters.
+
+Taking a pencil and a blank sheet of paper Dermot proceeded to decipher the
+letter that he had just received. It was dated from the Adjutant General's
+Office at Simla, and headed "Secret." It ran:
+
+"Sir:
+
+"In continuation of the instructions already given you orally, I have
+the honour to convey to you the further orders of His Excellency the
+Commander-in-Chief in India.
+
+"Begins: 'Information received from the Secretary to the Foreign
+Department, Government of India, confirms the intelligence that Chinese
+emissaries have for some time past been endeavouring to re-establish the
+former predominance of their nation over Tibet and Bhutan. In the former
+country they appear to have met with little success; but in Bhutan, taking
+advantage of the hereditary jealousies of the _Penlops_, the great feudal
+chieftains, they appear to have gained many adherents. They aim at
+instigating the Bhutanese to attempt an invasion of India through the
+_duars_ leading into Eastern Bengal, their object being to provoke a war.
+The danger to this country from an invading force of Bhutanese, even if
+armed, equipped, and led by Chinese, is not great. But its political
+importance must not be minimised.
+
+"'For the most serious feature of the movement is that information received
+by the Political Department gives rise to the grave suspicion that, not
+only many extremists in Bengal, but even some of the lesser rajahs and
+nawabs, are in treasonable communication with these outside enemies.
+
+"'Major Dermot, at present commanding the detachment of the Military
+Battalion stationed at Ranga Duar, has been specially selected, on account
+of his acquaintance with the districts and dialects of the _duars_ and that
+part of the Terai Forest bordering on Bhutan, to carry out a particular
+mission. You are to direct him to inspect and report on the suitability,
+for the purposes of defence against an invasion from the north, of:
+
+  (_a_) The line of the mountain passes at an altitude of from 3000 to
+        6000 feet.
+
+  (_b_) A line established in the Terai Forest itself.
+
+"'In addition, if this officer in the course of his investigations
+discovers any evidence of communication between the disloyal elements
+inside our territory and possible enemies across the border, he will at
+once inform you direct.' Ends.
+
+"Please note His Excellency's orders and proceed to carry them out
+forthwith. You can pursue your investigations under the pretence of big
+game shooting in the hills and jungle. The British officer next in
+seniority to you will command the detachment in your absences. You may
+communicate to him as much of the contents of this letter as you deem
+advisable, impressing upon him the necessity for the strictest secrecy.
+
+"You will in all matters communicate directly and confidentially with this
+office.
+
+"I have the honour to be, Sir,
+
+"Your most obedient servant."
+
+
+Here followed the signature of one of the highest military authorities in
+India.
+
+Dermot stared at the letter.
+
+"So that's it!" he thought. "It's a bigger thing than I imagined."
+
+He had known when he consented to being transferred from a staff
+appointment in Simla to the command of a small detachment of a Military
+Police Battalion garrisoning an unimportant frontier fort on the face of
+the Himalayas that he was being sent there for a special purpose. He had
+consented gladly; for to him the great attraction of his new post was that
+he would find himself once more in the great Terai Jungle. To him it was
+Paradise. Before going to Simla he had been stationed with a Double Company
+of the Indian Infantry Regiment to which he belonged in a similar outpost
+in the mountains not many miles away. This outpost had now been abolished.
+But while in it he used to spend all his spare time in the marvellous
+jungle that extended to his very door.
+
+The great Terai Forest stretches for hundreds of miles along the foot of
+the Himalayas, from Assam through Bengal to Garwhal and up into Nepal. It
+is a sportsman's heaven; for it shelters in its recesses wild elephants,
+rhinoceros, bison, bears, tigers, panthers, and many of the deer tribes.
+Dermot loved it. He was a mighty hunter, but a discriminating one. He did
+not kill for sheer lust of slaughter, and preferred to study the ways of
+the harmless animals rather than shoot them. Only against dangerous beasts
+did he wage relentless war.
+
+Dermot knew that he could very well leave the routine work of the little
+post to his Second in Command. The fort was practically a block of
+fortified stone barracks, easily defensible against attacks of badly armed
+hillmen and accommodating a couple of hundred sepoys. It was to hold the
+_duar_ or pass of Ranga through the Himalayas against raiders from Bhutan
+that the little post had been built.
+
+For centuries past the wild dwellers beyond the mountains were used to
+swooping down from the hills on the less warlike plainsmen in search of
+loot, women, and slaves. But the war with Bhutan in 1864-5 brought the
+borderland under the English flag, and the Pax Britannica settled on it.
+Yet even now temptation was sometimes too strong for lawless men.
+Occasionally swift-footed parties of fierce swordsmen swept down through
+the unguarded passes and raided the tea-gardens that are springing up in
+the foothills and the forests below them. For hundreds of coolies work on
+these big estates, and large consignments of silver coin come to the
+gardens for their payment.
+
+But there was bigger game afoot than these badly-armed raiders. The task
+set Dermot showed it; and his soldier's heart warmed at the thought of
+helping to stage a fierce little frontier war in which he might come early
+on the scene.
+
+Carefully sealing up again and locking away the cipher code and keyword, he
+went out on the back verandah and shouted for his orderly. The dwellings of
+Europeans upcountry in India are not luxurious--far from it. Away from the
+big cities like Bombay, Calcutta, or Karachi, the amenities of civilisation
+are sadly lacking. The bungalows are lit only by oil-lamps, their floors
+are generally of pounded earth covered with poor matting harbouring fleas
+and other insect pests, their roofs are of thatch or tiles, and such
+luxuries as bells, electric or otherwise, are unknown. So the servants, who
+reside outside the bungalows in the compounds, or enclosures, are summoned
+by the simple expedient of shouting "Boy".
+
+Presently the orderly appeared.
+
+"Shaikh Ismail," said the Major, "go to the Mess, give my salaams to Parker
+Sahib, and ask him to come here."
+
+The sepoy, a smart young Punjabi Mussulman, clad in the white undress
+of the Indian Army, saluted and strode off up the hill to the pretty
+mess-bungalow of the British officers of the detachment. In it the
+subaltern occupied one room.
+
+When he received Dermot's message, this officer, a tall, good-looking man
+of about twenty-eight years of age, accompanied the orderly to his senior's
+quarters.
+
+"Come in and have a smoke, Parker," said the Major cheerily.
+
+The subaltern entered and helped himself to a cigarette from an open box on
+the table before looking for a chair in the scantily-furnished room.
+
+As he struck a match he said,
+
+"Ismail Khan tells me you've just had trouble with that surly beast, Chand
+Khan".
+
+Dermot told him what had occurred.
+
+"What a _soor!_ (swine!)" exclaimed Parker indignantly. "I always knew he
+was a cruel devil; but I didn't think he was quite such a brute. And to
+poor old Badshah too. It's a damned shame".
+
+"He's a good elephant, isn't he?" asked the senior.
+
+"A ripper. Splendid to shoot from and absolutely staunch to tiger," said
+the subaltern enthusiastically. "Major Smith--our Commandant before you,
+sir--was charged by a tiger he had wounded in a beat near Alipur Duar. He
+missed the beast with his second barrel. The tiger sprang at the howdah,
+but Badshah caught him cleverly on his one tusk and knocked him silly. The
+Major reloaded and killed the beast before it could recover."
+
+"Good for Badshah. He seemed to me to be a fine animal," said Dermot.
+
+"One of the best. We all like him; though he'll never let any white man
+handle him. By the way, Ismail Khan says he permitted you to do it."
+
+"I doctored up his cuts. Besides, I'm used to elephants."
+
+"All the same you're the first sahib I've heard Of that Badshah has allowed
+to touch him. Do you know, the Hindus worship him. He's a _Gunesh_--I
+supposed you noticed that. I've seen some of them simply go down on their
+faces in the dust before him and pray to him. There's a curious thing about
+Badshah, too. Have you heard?"
+
+"No. What is it?" asked the Major.
+
+"Well, it's a rummy thing. He's usually awfully quiet and obedient. But
+sometimes he gets very restless, breaks loose, and goes off on his own into
+the jungle. After a week or two he comes back by himself, as quiet as a
+lamb. But when the fit's on him nothing will hold him. He bursts the
+stoutest ropes, breaks iron chains; and I believe he'd pull down the
+_peelkhana_ if he couldn't get away."
+
+"Oh, that often happens with domesticated male elephants," said Dermot.
+"They have periodic fits of sexual excitement--get _must_, you know--and go
+mad while these last."
+
+"Oh, no. It's not that," replied the subaltern confidently. "Badshah
+doesn't go _must_. It's something quite different. The jungle men around
+here have a quaint belief about it. You see, Badshah was captured by the
+Kheddah Department here years ago--twenty, I think. He's about forty now.
+He was taken away to other parts of India, Mhow for one----"
+
+"Yes, they used to have an elephant battery there," broke in the Major.
+
+"But somehow or other he got here eventually. Rather curious that he should
+have been sent back to his birthplace. Anyhow, the natives believe that
+when he breaks away he goes off to family reunions or to meet old pals."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised," remarked Dermot, meditatively. "They're strange
+beasts, elephants. No one really knows much about them. I expect the jungle
+calls to them, as it does to me."
+
+He lit a cigarette and went on,
+
+"But I've sent for you to talk over something important. Read that."
+
+He handed Parker his transcription of the cipher letter. As the subaltern
+read it his eyes opened wider and wider. When he had finished he exclaimed
+joyfully,
+
+"By Jove, Major, that's great. Do you think there's anything in it? How
+ripping it'll be if they try to come in by this pass! Won't we just knock
+them! Couldn't we get some machine guns?"
+
+"I'm afraid we couldn't hold the Fort of Ranga Duar against a whole
+invading army, Parker. You know it isn't really defensible against a
+serious attack."
+
+"Oh, I say! Do you mean, sir, that we'd give it up to a lot of Chinks and
+bare-legged Bhuttias without firing a shot?"
+
+The Major smiled at his junior's indignation.
+
+"You must remember, Parker, that if an invasion comes off it will be on a
+scale that two hundred men won't stop. The Bhutanese are badly armed; but
+they are fanatically brave. They showed that in their war with us in '64
+and '65. They had only swords, bows, and arrows; but they licked one of our
+columns hollow and drove our men in headlong flight. But cheer up, Parker,
+if there is a show it won't be my fault if you and I don't have a good look
+in."
+
+"Thank you, Major," said the subaltern gratefully.
+
+He smoked in silence for a while and then said:
+
+"D'you know, sir, I had an idea there was something up when Major Smith was
+suddenly ordered away and you, who didn't belong to us, were sent here from
+Simla. I'd heard of you before, not only as a great _shikari_--the natives
+everywhere in these jungles talk a lot about you--but also as a keen
+soldier. A fellow doesn't usually come straight from a staff job at Army
+Headquarters to a small outpost like this for nothing."
+
+Dermot laughed.
+
+"Unless he has got into trouble and is sent off as a punishment," he said.
+"But that didn't happen to be my case. However, I was delighted to leave
+Simla. Better the jungle a thousand times."
+
+"Yes; Simla's rather a rotten place, I believe," remarked the subaltern
+meditatively. "Too many brass hats and women. They're the curse of India,
+each of them. And I'm sure the women do the most harm."
+
+"Well, steer clear of the latter, and don't become one of the former," said
+Dermot with a laugh, rising from his chair, "then you'll have a peaceful
+life--but you won't get on in your profession."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+A ROGUE ELEPHANT
+
+The four transport elephants attached to the garrison of Ranga Duar for the
+purpose of bringing supplies for the men from the far distant railway were
+stabled in a _peelkhana_ at the foot of the hills and a couple of thousand
+feet below the Fort. This building, a high-walled shed with thatched roof
+and brick standings for the animals, was erected beside the narrow road
+that zig-zagged down from the mountains into the forest and eventually
+joined a broader one leading to the narrow-gauge railway that pierced the
+jungle many miles away.
+
+One morning, about three weeks after Dermot's first introduction to
+Badshah, the Major tramped down the rough track to the _peelkhana_,
+carrying a rifle and cartridge belt and a haversack containing his food for
+the day. Nearing the stables he blew a whistle, and a shrill trumpeting
+answered him from the building, as Badshah recognised his signal. Ramnath,
+hurriedly entering the impatient elephant's stall, loosed him from the iron
+shackles that held his legs. Then the huge beast walked with stately tread
+out of the building and went straight to where Dermot awaited him. For
+during these weeks the intimacy between man and animal had progressed
+rapidly. Elephants, though of an affectionate disposition, are not
+demonstrative as a rule. But Badshah always showed unmistakable signs of
+fondness for the white man, whom he seemed to regard as his friend and
+protector.
+
+Dermot was in the habit of taking him out into the jungle every day, where
+he went ostensibly to shoot. After the first few occasions he displaced
+Ramnath from the guiding seat on Badshah's neck and acted as _mahout_
+himself. But, instead of using the _ankus_--the heavy iron implement shaped
+like a boat-hook head which natives use to emphasise their orders to their
+charges--the Major simply touched the huge head with his open hand. And his
+method proved equally, if not more, effective. He was soon able to dispense
+altogether with Ramnath on his expeditions, which was his object. For he
+did not want any witness to his secret explorations of the forest and the
+hills.
+
+An elephant, when used as a beast of burden or for shooting from in thick
+jungle, carries on its back only a "pad"--a heavy, straw-stuffed mattress
+reaching from neck to tail and fastened on by a rope surcingle passing
+round the body. On this pad, if passengers are to be carried, a wooden seat
+with footboards hanging by cords from it and called a _charjama_ is placed.
+Only for sport in open country or high grass jungle is the cage-like howdah
+employed.
+
+Dermot replaced Badshah's heavy pad by a small, light one, especially made,
+or else took him out absolutely bare. No shackles were needed to secure the
+elephant when his white rider dismounted from his neck, for he followed
+Dermot like a dog, came to his whistle, or stood without moving from the
+spot where he had been ordered to remain. The most perfect understanding
+existed between the two; and the superstitious Hindus regarded with awe the
+extraordinary subjection of their sacred and revered _Gunesh_ to the white
+man.
+
+Now, after a greeting and a palatable gift to Badshah, Dermot seized the
+huge ears, placed his foot on the trunk which was curled to receive it and
+was swung up on to the neck by the well-trained animal. Then, answering the
+_salaams_ of the _mahouts_ and coolies, who invariably gathered to witness
+and wonder at his daily meeting with Badshah, he touched the elephant under
+the ears with his toe and was borne away into the jungle.
+
+His object this day was not to explore but to shoot a deer to replenish the
+mess larder. Fresh meat was otherwise unprocurable in Ranga Duar; and an
+unvaried diet of tinned food was apt to become wearisome, especially as it
+was not helped out by bread and fresh vegetables. These were luxuries
+unknown to the British officers in this, as in many other, outposts.
+
+The sea of vegetation closed around Badshah and submerged him, as he turned
+off a footpath and plunged into the dense undergrowth. The trees were
+mostly straight-stemmed giants of teak, branchless for some distance from
+the ground. Each strove to thrust its head above the others through the
+leafy canopy overhead, fighting for its share of the life-giving sunlight.
+In the green gloom below tangled masses of bushes, covered with large,
+bell-shaped flowers and tall grasses in which lurked countless thorny
+plants obstructed the view between the tree-trunks. Above and below was a
+bewildering confusion of creepers forming an intricate network, swinging
+from the upper branches and twisting around the boles, biting deep into the
+bark, strangling the life out of the stoutest trees or holding up the
+withered, lifeless trunks of others long dead. They filled the space
+between the tree-tops and the undergrowth, entangled, crisscrossed,
+festooned, like a petrified mass of writhing snakes.
+
+Through this maddening obstacle Badshah forced his way; while Dermot hacked
+at the impeding _lianas_ with a sharp _kukri_, the heavy-bladed Gurkha
+knife. The elephant moved on at an easy pace, shouldering aside the surging
+waves of vegetation and bursting the clinging hold of the creepers. As he
+went he swept huge bunches of grass up in his trunk, tore down leafy trails
+or broke off small branches, and crammed them all impartially into his
+mouth. At a touch of Dermot's foot or the guiding pressure of his hand he
+swerved aside to avoid a tree or a particularly thorny bush.
+
+There was little life to be seen. But occasionally, with a whirring sound
+of rushing wings, a bright-plumaged jungle cock with his attendant bevy of
+sober-clad hens swept up with startled squawks from under the huge feet and
+flew to perch high up on neighbouring trees, chattering and clucking
+indignantly in their fright. The pretty black and white Giant Squirrel ran
+along the upper branches; or a troop of little brown monkeys leapt away
+among the tree tops.
+
+It was fascinating to be borne along without effort through the enchanted
+wood in the luminous green gloom that filled it, lulled by the swaying
+motion of the elephant's stride. The soothing silence of the woodland was
+broken only by the crowing of a jungle cock. The thick, leafy screen
+overhead excluded the glare of the tropic sunlight; and the heat was
+tempered to a welcome coolness by the dense shade.
+
+But, despite the soporific motion of his huge charger, Dermot's vigilant
+eye searched the apparently lifeless jungle as he was borne along.
+Presently it was caught by a warm patch of colour, the bright chestnut hide
+of a deer; and he detected among the trees the graceful form of a _sambhur_
+hind. Accustomed to seeing wild elephants the animal gazed without
+apprehension at Badshah and failed to mark the man on his neck. But females
+of the deer tribe are sacred to the sportsman; and the hunter passed on.
+Half a mile farther on, in the deepest shadow of the undergrowth, he saw
+something darker still. It was the dull black hide of a _sambhur_ stag, a
+fine beast fourteen hands high, with sharp brow antlers and thick horns
+branching into double points. Knowing the value of motionlessness as a
+concealment the animal never moved; and only an eye trained to the jungle
+would have detected it. Dermot noted it, but let it remain unscathed; for
+he knew well the exceeding toughness of its flesh. What he sought was a
+_kakur_, or barking deer, a much smaller but infinitely more palatable
+beast.
+
+Hours passed; and he and Badshah had wandered for miles without finding
+what he wanted. He looked at his watch; for the sun was invisible. It was
+nearly noon. In a space free from undergrowth he halted the elephant and,
+patting the skull with his open hand, said:
+
+"_Buth!_"
+
+Badshah at the word sank slowly down until he rested on his breast and
+belly with fore and hind legs stuck out stiffly along the ground. Dermot
+slipped off his neck and stretched his cramped limbs; for sitting long
+upright on an elephant without any support to the back is tiring. Then
+he reclined under a tree with his loaded rifle beside him--for the
+peaceful-seeming forest has its dangers. He made a frugal lunch off a
+packet of sandwiches from his haversack.
+
+Eating made him thirsty. He had forgotten to bring his water-bottle with
+him; and he knew that there was no stream to be met with in the jungle for
+many miles. But he was aware that the forest could supply his wants.
+Rising, he drew his _kukri_ and looked around him. Among the tangle of
+creepers festooned between the trees he detected the writhing coils of one
+with withered, cork-like bark, four-sided and about two inches in diameter.
+He walked over to it and, grasping it in his left hand, cut it through with
+a blow of his heavy knife. Its interior consisted of a white, moist pulp.
+With another blow he severed a piece a couple of feet long. Taking a metal
+cup from his haversack he cut the length of creeper into small pieces and
+held all their ends together over the little vessel. From them water began
+to drip, the drops came faster and finally little streams from the pulpy
+interior filled the cup to the brim with a cool, clear, and palatable
+liquid. The _liana_ was the wonderful _pani-bêl_, or water-creeper.
+
+Dermot drank until his thirst was quenched, then sat down with his back
+against a tree and lit his pipe. He smoked contentedly and watched Badshah
+grazing. The elephant plucked the long grass with a scythe-like sweep of
+his trunk, tore down succulent creepers and broke off small branches from
+the trees, chewing the wood and leaves with equal enjoyment. From time to
+time he looked towards his master, but, receiving no signal to prepare to
+move on, continued his meal.
+
+At last the Major knocked out the ashes of his pipe, grinding them into the
+earth with his heel lest a chance spark might start a forest fire, and
+whistled to Badshah. The elephant came at once to him. From his haversack
+Dermot took out a couple of bananas and held them up. The snake-like trunk
+shot out and grasped them, then curving back placed them in the huge mouth.
+Dermot stood up and, slinging his rifle over his shoulder, seized Badshah's
+ears and was lifted again to his place astride the neck.
+
+Once more the jungle closed about them, as the elephant moved off. The
+rider, unslinging his rifle and laying it across his thighs, glanced from
+side to side as they proceeded. The forest grew more open. The undergrowth
+thinned; and occasionally they came to open glades carpeted with tall
+bracken and looking almost like an English wood. But the great boughs of
+the giant trees were matted thick with the glossy green leaves of orchid
+plants, from which drooped long trails of delicate mauve and white flowers.
+
+Just as they were emerging from dense undergrowth on to such a glade,
+Dermot's eye was caught by something moving ahead of them. He checked
+Badshah; and they remained concealed in in the thick vegetation. Then
+through the trees came a trim little _kakur_ buck, stepping daintily in
+advance of his doe which followed a few yards behind. As they moved their
+long ears twitched incessantly, pointing now in this, now in that,
+direction for any sound that might warn them of danger. But they did not
+detect the hidden peril. Dermot noiselessly raised his rifle, aimed
+hurriedly at the leader's shoulder and fired. The loud report sounded like
+thunder through the silent forest. The stricken buck sprang convulsively
+into the air, then fell in a heap; while his startled mate leaped over his
+body and disappeared in bounding flight.
+
+At the touch of his rider's foot the elephant moved forward into the open;
+and without waiting for him to sink down Dermot slid to the ground. Old
+hunter that he was, the Major could never repress a feeling of pity when he
+looked on any harmless animal that he had shot; and he had long ago given
+up killing such except for food. He propped his rifle against a tree and,
+taking off his coat and rolling up his sleeves, drew his _kukri_ and
+proceeded to disembowel and clean the _kakur_. While he was thus employed
+Badshah strayed away into the jungle to graze, for elephants feed
+incessantly.
+
+When Dermot had finished his unpleasant task, it still remained to bind the
+buck's legs together and tie him on to Badshah's back. For this he would
+need cords; but he relied on the inexhaustible jungle to supply him with
+these.
+
+While searching for the udal tree whose inner bark would furnish him with
+long, tough strips, he heard a crashing in the undergrowth not far away,
+but, concluding that it was caused by Badshah, he did not trouble to look
+round. Having got the cordage that he needed, he turned to go back to the
+spot where he had left the _kakur_. As he fought his way impatiently
+through the thorny tangled vegetation, he again heard the breaking of twigs
+and the trampling down of the undergrowth. He glanced in the direction of
+the sound, expecting to see Badshah appear.
+
+To his dismay his eyes fell on a strange elephant, a large double-tusker.
+It had caught sight of him and, contrary to the usual habit of its kind,
+was advancing towards him instead of retreating. This showed that it was
+the most terrible of all wild animals, a man-killing "rogue" elephant, than
+which there is no more vicious or deadly brute on the earth.
+
+Dermot instantly recognised his danger. It was very great. His rifle was
+some distance away, and before he could reach it the tusker would probably
+overtake him. He stopped and stood still, hoping that the rogue had not
+caught sight of him. But he saw at once that there was no doubt of this.
+The brute had its murderous little eyes fixed on him and was quickening its
+pace. The undergrowth that almost held the man a prisoner was no obstacle
+to this powerful beast.
+
+Dermot realised that it meant to attack him. His heart nearly stopped, for
+he knew the terrible death that awaited him. He had seen the crushed
+bodies, battered to pulp and with the limbs torn away, of men killed by
+rogue elephants. The only hope of escape, a faint one, lay in flight.
+
+Madly he strove to tear himself free from the clutching thorns and the grip
+of the entangling creepers that held him. He flung all his weight into his
+efforts to fight his way out clear of the malignant vegetation, that seemed
+a cruel, living thing striving to drag him to his death. The elephant saw
+his desperate struggles. It trumpeted shrilly and, with head held high,
+trunk curled up, and the lust of murder in its heart, it charged.
+
+The tangled network of interlaced undergrowth parted like gossamer before
+it. Small trees went down and the tallest bushes were trampled flat; the
+stoutest creepers broke like pack-thread before its weight.
+
+Dermot tore himself free from the clutch of the last clinging, curving
+thorns that rent his garments and cut deep into his flesh. Gaining
+comparatively open ground he ran for his life. But he had lost all sense of
+direction and could not remember where his rifle stood. Escape seemed
+hopeless. He knew only too well that in the jungle a pursuing elephant will
+always overtake a fleeing man. The trees offered no refuge, for the lowest
+branches were high above his reach and the trunks too thick and straight to
+climb. He fled, knowing that each moment might be his last. A false step, a
+trip over a root or a creeper and he was lost. He would be gored, battered
+to death, stamped out of existence, torn limb from limb by the vicious
+brute.
+
+The rogue was almost upon him. He swerved suddenly and with failing breath
+and fiercely beating heart ran madly on. But the respite was momentary. His
+head was dizzy, his legs heavy as lead, his strength almost gone. He could
+hear the terrible pursuer only a few yards behind him.
+
+Already the great beast's uncurled trunk was stretched out to seize its
+prey. Dermot's last moment had come when, with a fierce, shrill scream, a
+huge body burst out of the jungle and hurled itself at his assailant.
+Badshah had come to the rescue of his man.
+
+Before the rogue could swing round to meet him the gallant animal had
+charged furiously into it, driving his single tusk with all his immense
+weight behind it into the strange elephant's side. The shock staggered the
+murderous brute and almost knocked it to the ground. Only the fact of its
+having turned slightly at Badshah's cry, so that his tusk inflicted a
+somewhat slanting blow, had saved it from a mortal wound. Before it could
+recover its footing Badshah gored it again.
+
+Dermot, plucked at the last moment from the most terrible of deaths,
+staggered panting to a tree and tried to stand, supporting himself against
+the trunk. But the strain had been too great. He turned faint and sank
+exhausted to the earth, almost unconscious. But the remembrance of
+Badshah's peril from a better-armed antagonist--for the possession of two
+tusks gave the rogue a great advantage--nerved him. Holding on to the tree
+he dragged himself up and looked around for his rifle. He could not see it,
+and he dared not cross the arena in which the two huge combatants were
+fighting.
+
+As Badshah drew back to gain impetus for another charge, the rogue regained
+its feet and prepared to hurl itself on the unexpected assailant. Dermot
+was in despair at being unable to aid his saviour, who he feared must
+succumb to the superior weapons of his opponent. He gazed fascinated at the
+titanic combat.
+
+The rogue trumpeted a shrill challenge. Then it curled its trunk between
+its tusks out of harm's way and with ears cocked forward and tail erect
+rushed to the assault. But suddenly it propped on stiffened forelegs and
+stopped dead. It stared at Badshah, who was about to charge again, and
+backed slowly, seemingly panic-stricken. Then as the tame elephant moved
+forward to the attack the rogue screamed with terror, swung about, and with
+ears and tail dropped, bolted into the undergrowth.
+
+With a trumpet of triumph Badshah pursued. Dermot, left alone, could
+hardly credit the passing of the danger. The whole episode seemed a
+hideous nightmare from which he had just awaked. He could scarcely
+believe that it had actually taken place, although the trampled
+vegetation and the crashing sounds of the great animals' progress
+through the undergrowth were evidence of its reality. The need for
+action had not passed. The rogue might return, for a fight between wild
+bull-elephants often lasts a whole day and consists of short and
+desperate encounters, retreats, pursuits, and fresh battles. So he
+hurriedly searched for his rifle, which he eventually found some
+distance away. He opened the breach and replaced the soft-nosed bullets
+with solid ones, more suitable for such big game. Then, once more
+feeling a strong man armed, he waited expectantly. The sounds of the
+chase had died away. But after a while he heard a heavy body forcing a
+passage through the undergrowth and held his rifle ready. Then through
+the tangle of bushes and creepers Badshah's head appeared. The elephant
+came straight to him and touched him all over with outstretched trunk,
+just as mother-elephants do their calves, as if to assure himself of his
+man's safety.
+
+Dermot could have kissed the soft, snake-like proboscis, and he patted the
+animal affectionately and murmured his thanks to him. Badshah seemed to
+understand him and wrapped his trunk around his friend's shoulders. Then,
+apparently satisfied, he moved away and began to graze calmly, as if
+nothing out of the common had taken place.
+
+Dermot pulled himself together. Near the foot of the tree at which he had
+sunk down he found the cord-like strips of bark which he had cut. Picking
+them up he went to the carcase of the buck and tied its legs together. A
+whistle brought the elephant to him, and, hoisting the deer on to the pad,
+he fastened it to the surcingle. Then, grasping the elephant's ears, he was
+lifted to his place on the neck.
+
+Turning Badshah's head towards home he started off; but, as he went, he
+looked back at the trampled glade and thanked Heaven that his body was not
+lying there, crushed and lifeless.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+A GIRL OF THE TERAI
+
+"How beautiful! How wonderful!" murmured the girl on the verandah, her eyes
+turned to the long line of the Himalayas filling the horizon to the north.
+
+Clear against the blue sky the shining, ice-clad peaks of Kinchinjunga, a
+hundred miles away, towered high in air. Mystic, lovely, they seemed to
+float above the earth, as unsubstantial as the clouds from which they rose.
+They belonged to another world, a fairy world altogether apart from the
+rugged, tumbled masses, the awe-inspiring precipices and tremendous cliffs,
+of the nearer mountains. These were majestic, overpowering, but plainly of
+this earth, unlike the pure, white summits that seemed unreal, impossible
+in their beauty.
+
+"Do come and look, Fred," said the girl aloud. "I've never seen the Snows
+so clearly."
+
+She spoke to the solitary occupant of the dining-room of the bungalow. The
+young man at the breakfast table answered laughingly:
+
+"I don't want to look at those confounded hills, Sis. I've seen them,
+nothing but them, all through these long months, until I begin to hate the
+sight of them."
+
+"Oh, but do come, dear!" she pleaded. "Kinchinjunga has never seemed so
+beautiful as it does this morning. And it looks so near. Who could believe
+that it was all those miles away?"
+
+With an air of pretended boredom and martyr-like resignation, her brother
+put down his coffee-cup and came out on the verandah.
+
+"Isn't it like Fairyland?" said the girl in an awed voice.
+
+He put his arm affectionately round her, as he replied:
+
+"Then it's where you belong, kiddie, for you look like a fairy this
+morning."
+
+The hackneyed compliment, unusual from the lips of a brother, was not
+far-fetched. If a dainty little figure, an exquisitely pretty dimpled
+face, a shell-pink complexion, violet eyes with long, thick lashes, and
+naturally wavy golden hair be the hallmarks of the fairies, then Noreen
+Daleham might claim to be one. Her face in repose had a somewhat sad
+expression, due to the pathetic droop of the corners of her little
+mouth and a wistful look in her eyes that made most men instinctively
+desire to caress and console her. But the sadness and the wistfulness
+were unconscious and untrue, for the girl was of a sunny and happy
+disposition. And the men that desired to pet her were kept at a distance
+by her natural self-respect, which made them respect her, too.
+
+She was, perhaps, somewhat unusual in her generation in that she did not
+indulge in flirtations and would have strongly objected to being the object
+of promiscuous caresses and light lovemaking. Her innate purity and
+innocence kept such things at a distance from her. It never occurred to her
+that a girl might indulge in a hundred flirtations without reproach.
+Without being sentimental she had her own inward, unexpressed feelings of
+romance and vague dreams of Love and a Lover--but not of loves and lovers
+in the plural.
+
+No one so far had shattered her belief in the chivalrous feeling of respect
+of the other sex for her own. Men as a rule, especially British men--though
+they are no more virtuous than those of alien nations--treat a woman as she
+inwardly wants them to treat her. And, although this girl was over twenty,
+she had never yet had reason to suspect that men could behave to her with
+anything but respect.
+
+Her small and shapely figure looked to advantage in the well-cut riding
+costume of khaki drill that she wore this morning. A cloth habit would
+have been too warm for even these early days of an Eastern Bengal hot
+weather. She was ready to accompany her brother in his early ride
+through the tea-garden (of which he was assistant manager) in the Duars,
+as this district of the Terai below the mountains is called. From the
+verandah on which they stood they could look over acres of trim and tidy
+bushes planted in orderly rows, a strong contrast to the wild disorder
+of the big trees and masses of foliage of the forest that lay beyond
+them and stretched to and along the foothills of the Himalayas only a
+few miles away.
+
+Daleham's father, a retired colonel, had died just as the boy was preparing
+to go up for the entrance examination for the Royal Military College at
+Sandhurst. To his great grief he was obliged to give up all hope of
+becoming a soldier, and, when he left school, entered an office in the
+city. Passionately desirous of an open-air and active life he had
+afterwards eagerly snatched at an offer of employment by one of the great
+tea companies that are dotting the Terai with their plantations and
+sweeping away glorious spaces of wild, primeval forest to replace the trees
+by orderly rows of tea-bushes and unsightly iron-roofed factories.
+
+Left with a small income inherited from her mother, Noreen Daleham, who was
+two years her brother's junior, had gladly given up the dulness of a home
+with an aunt in a small country town to accompany her brother and keep
+house for him.
+
+To most girls life on an Indian tea-garden would not seem alluring; for
+they would find themselves far from social gaieties and the society of
+their kind. Existence is lonely and lacking in the comforts, as well as the
+luxuries, of civilisation. Dances, theatres, concerts, even shops, are far,
+very far away. A woman must have mental resources to enable her to face
+contentedly life in a scantily-furnished, comfortless bungalow, dumped down
+in a monotonous stretch of unlovely tea-bushes. With little to occupy her
+she must rely for days at a time on the sole companionship of her man. To a
+young bride very much in love that may seem no hardship. But when the
+glamour has vanished she may change her mind.
+
+To Noreen, however, the isolation was infinitely preferable to the
+narrow-minded and unfriendly intimacy of society in a country town with
+its snobbery and cliques. To be mistress of her own home and to be able
+to look after and mother her dearly-loved brother was a pleasant change
+from her position as a cipher in the household of a crotchetty,
+unsympathetic, maiden aunt. And fortunately for her the charm of the
+silent forest around them, the romance of the mysterious jungle with its
+dangers and its wonders, appealed strongly to her, and she preferred
+them to all the pleasures that London could offer. And yet the delights
+of town were not unknown to her. Her father's first cousin, who had
+loved him but married a rich man, often invited the girl to stay with
+her in her house in Grosvenor Square. These visits gave her an insight
+into life in Mayfair with its attendant pleasures of dances in smart
+houses, dinners and suppers in expensive restaurants, the Opera and
+theatres, and afternoons at Ranelagh and Hurlingham. She enjoyed them
+all; she had enough money to dress well; and she was very popular.
+But London could not hold her. Her relative, who was childless, was
+anxious that Noreen should remain always with her, at least until she
+married--and the older woman determined that the girl should make an
+advantageous marriage. But the latter knew that her income was very
+welcome to her aunt and, with a spirit of self-sacrifice not usual in
+the young, gave up a gay, fashionable life for the dull existence of
+a paying drudge in the house of an ungrateful, embittered elderly
+spinster. Yet her heart rejoiced when she conscientiously felt that her
+brother needed her more and had a greater claim upon her; and gladly she
+went to keep house for him in India.
+
+And she was happier than he in their new life. For in this land that is
+essentially a soldier's country, won by the sword, held by the sword, in
+spite of all that ignorant demagogues in England may say, Fred Daleham felt
+all the more keenly the disappointment of his inability to follow the
+career that he would have chosen. However, he was a healthy-minded young
+man, not given to brooding and vain regrets.
+
+"Are you ready to start, dear?" he said to his sister now. "Shall I order
+the ponies?"
+
+"I am ready. But have you finished your coffee?"
+
+"Thanks, yes. We'll go off at once then, for I have a long morning's work,
+and we had better get our ride over while it's cool."
+
+He shouted to his "boy" to order the _syces_, or grooms, to bring the
+ponies.
+
+"Where are we going today, dear?" asked the girl, putting on her pith
+helmet.
+
+"To the nursery first. I want to see if the young plants have suffered much
+from that hailstorm yesterday."
+
+"Wasn't it awful? What would people in England say if they got hailstones
+like that on their heads?"
+
+"Chunerbutty and I measured one that I picked up outside the withering
+shed," said the brother. "It was a solid lump of clear ice two inches long
+and one and a half broad."
+
+"I couldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen them," observed the girl. "I
+wonder that everyone who is caught out in such a storm is not killed."
+
+"Animals often are--and men, too, for that matter," replied Daleham.
+
+Noreen tapped her smart little riding-boot with her whip.
+
+"I'm glad we're going out to the nursery," she said. "It's my favourite
+ride."
+
+"I know it is, but I don't like taking you there, Sis," replied her
+brother. "I always funk that short cut through the bit of jungle to it. I
+never feel sure that we won't meet a wild elephant in it."
+
+"Oh; but I don't believe they are dangerous; and I do love the ride through
+that exquisite patch of forest. The trees look so lovely, now that the
+orchids on them are in flower."
+
+"My dear girl, get that silly idea that elephants are not dangerous out of
+your head," said Daleham decidedly. "You ask any of the fellows."
+
+"Mr. Parry says they're not."
+
+"Old Parr's never seen any elephant but a tame one, unless it's a pink or
+speckled one with a brass tail climbing up the wall of his room when he's
+got D.T's. He never went out shooting in the jungle in his life. But you
+ask Payne or Reynolds or any of the chaps on the other gardens who know
+anything of the jungle."
+
+The girl was unwilling to believe that her beloved forest could prove
+perilous to her, and she feared lest her excursions into it should be
+forbidden.
+
+"Well, perhaps a rogue might be dangerous," she admitted grudgingly. "But I
+don't believe that even a rogue would attack you unprovoked."
+
+"Wouldn't it? From all I've heard about them I'd be very sorry to give one
+of them the chance," said her brother. "I'd almost like you to meet one,
+just to teach you not to be such a cocksure young woman. Lord! wouldn't I
+laugh to see you trying to climb a tree--that is, if I were safe up one
+myself!"
+
+The arrival of the ponies cut short the discussion. Daleham swung his
+sister up into the saddle of her smart little countrybred and mounted his
+own waler.
+
+Out along the road through the estate they trotted in the cool northerly
+breeze that swept down from the mountains and tempered the sun's heat. The
+panorama of the Himalayas was glorious, although Kinchinjunga had now drawn
+up his covering of clouds over his face and the Snows had disappeared. The
+long orderly lines of tea-bushes were dotted here and there with splashes
+of colour from the bright-hued _puggris_, or turbans, of the men and the
+_saris_ and petticoats of the female coolies, who were busy among the
+plants, pruning them or tending their wounds after the storm.
+
+The brother and sister quickened their pace and, racing along the soft
+earthern road, soon reached the patch of forest that intervened between the
+garden and the nursery.
+
+"I say, Noreen, I think we'd better go the long way round," said Daleham
+apprehensively, as he pulled up his waler.
+
+"Oh, no, Fred. Don't funk it. Do come on," urged the girl. "If you don't,
+I'll go on by myself and meet you at the nursery."
+
+The dispute was a daily occurrence and always ended in the man weakly
+giving in.
+
+"That's a dear boy," said his sister consolingly, when she had gained her
+point.
+
+"Yes, that's all very well," grumbled the brother. "You've got your own
+way, as usual. I hope you won't have cause to regret it one day."
+
+"Don't be silly, dear. Come on!" she replied, touching her pony with the
+whip. The animal seemed to dislike entering the forest as much as the man
+did. "Oh, do go on, Kitty. Don't be tiresome."
+
+The pony balked, but finally gave way under protest, and they rode on into
+the jungle. A bridle path wound through the undergrowth and between the
+trees, and this they followed.
+
+It was easy to understand the girl's enthusiasm and desire to be in the
+forest. After the tameness of the tea-garden the wild beauty of the giant
+trees, their huge limbs clothed in the green leaves and drooping trails of
+blossoms of the orchids, the tangled pattern of the interlaced creepers,
+the flower-decked bushes and the high ferns, looked all the lovelier in
+their untrammelled profusion.
+
+The nursery was visited and the damage done to the young plants inspected.
+Then they turned their ponies' heads towards home and went back through the
+strip of jungle. They rode over the whole estate, including the untidy
+ramshackle village of bamboo and palm-thatched huts of the garden coolies,
+where the little, naked, brown babies rushed out to salaam and smile at
+their friend Noreen.
+
+As they came in sight of the ugly buildings of the engine and drying-houses
+with their corrugated iron roofs and rusty stove-pipe chimneys, Daleham
+said:
+
+"Look here, old girl, while I go to the factory, you'd better hurry on and
+see to the drinks and things we've got to send to the club. I hope you
+haven't forgotten that it's our day to be 'at home' there."
+
+"Of course I haven't, Fred. Is it likely?" exclaimed the justly-indignant
+housewife. "Long before you were awake I helped the cook to pack the cold
+meat and sweets and cakes, and they went off before we left the bungalow."
+
+They were referring to a custom that obtains in the colonies of
+tea-planters who are scattered in ones, twos, and threes on
+widely-separated estates. Their one chance of meeting others of their
+colour is at the weekly gathering in the so-called club of the district.
+This is very unlike the institutions known by that name to dwellers in
+civilised cities. No marble or granite palace is it, but a rough wooden
+shed with one or two rooms built out in the forest far from human
+habitations, but in a spot as central and equi-distant to all the
+planters of the district as possible. A few tennis courts are made
+beside it, or perhaps a stretch of jungle is cleared, the more obtrusive
+roots grubbed up, and the result is called a polo-ground, and on it the
+game is played fast and furiously.
+
+A certain day in the week is selected as the one which the planters from
+the gardens for ten or twenty miles around will come together to it. Across
+rivers, through forest, jungle, and peril of wild beasts they journey on
+their ponies to meet their fellow men. Some of them may not have seen
+another white face since the last weekly gathering.
+
+Each of them in turn acts as host. By lumbering bullock-cart or on the
+heads of coolies he sends in charge of his servants to the club-house miles
+away from his bungalow food and drink, crockery, cutlery, and glasses, for
+the entertainment of all who will foregather there.
+
+And for a few crowded hours this lonely spot in the jungle is filled with
+the sound of human voices, with laughter, friendliness, and good
+fellowship. Men who have been isolated for a week rub off the cobwebs,
+lunch, play tennis, polo, and cards, and swap stories at the bar until the
+declining sun warns them of the necessity for departing before night falls
+on the forest. After hearty farewells they swing themselves up into the
+saddle again and dash off at breakneck speed to escape being trapped by the
+darkness.
+
+Many and strange are the adventures that befall them on the rough roads or
+in the trackless wilds. Sometimes an elephant, a bear, or a tiger confronts
+them on their way. But the intrepid planter, and his not less courageous
+women-folk, if he has any to accompany him, gallops fearlessly by it or,
+perhaps, rides unarmed at the astonished beast and scares it by wild cries.
+Then on again to another week of lonely labour.
+
+This day it had fallen to the lot of the Dalehams to be the hosts of their
+community. Noreen had superintended the preparation and despatch of the
+supplies for their guests and could ride home now with a clear conscience
+to wait for her brother to return for their second breakfast. The early
+morning repast, the _chota hazri_ of an Anglo-Indian household, is a very
+light and frugal one, consisting of a cup of coffee or tea, a slice of
+toast, and one or two bananas.
+
+As she pulled up her pony in front of the bungalow a man came down the
+steps of the verandah and helped her to dismount.
+
+"Oh, thank you, Mr. Chunerbutty," she exclaimed, "and good morning."
+
+"Good morning, Miss Daleham. Just back from your ride with Fred, I
+suppose?"
+
+The newcomer was the engineer of the estate. The staff of the tea-garden of
+Malpura consisted of three persons, the manager, a hard-drinking old
+Welshman called Parry; the assistant manager, Daleham; and this man. As a
+rule the employees of these estates are Europeans. Chunerbutty was an
+exception. A Bengali Brahmin by birth, the son of a minor official in the
+service of a petty rajah of Eastern Bengal, he had chosen engineering
+instead of medicine or law, the two professions that appeal most to his
+compatriots. A certain amount of native money was invested in the company
+that owned the Malpura garden; and the directors apparently thought it good
+policy to employ an Indian on it.
+
+Like many other young Hindus who have studied in England, Chunerbutty
+professed to be completely Anglicised. In the presence of Europeans he
+sneered at the customs, beliefs, and religions of his fellow-countrymen and
+posed as an agnostic. It galled him that Englishmen in India thought none
+the more of him for foreswearing his native land, and he contrasted
+bitterly their manner to him with the reception that he had met with in the
+circles in which he moved in England. He had been regarded as a hero in
+London boarding-houses. His well-cut features and dark complexion had
+played havoc with the affections of shop-girls of a certain class and that
+debased type of young Englishwoman whose perverted and unnatural taste
+leads her to admire coloured men.
+
+In one of these boarding-houses he had met Daleham, when the latter was a
+clerk in the city. It was at Chunerbutty's suggestion and with an
+introduction from him that Fred had sought for and obtained employment in
+the tea company, and as a result the young Englishman had ever since felt
+in the Bengali's debt. He inspired his sister with the same belief, and in
+consequence Noreen always endeavoured to show her gratitude to Chunerbutty
+by frank friendliness. They had all three sailed to India in the same ship,
+and on the voyage she had resented what seemed to her the illiberal
+prejudice of other English ladies on board to the Hindu. And all the more
+since she had an uncomfortable suspicion that deep down in her heart she
+shared their feeling. So she tried to seem the friendlier to Chunerbutty.
+
+It said much for her own and her brother's popularity with the planters
+that their intimacy with him did not cause them to be disliked. These men
+as a class are not unjust to natives, but intimate acquaintance with the
+Bengali does not tend to make them love him. For the Dalehams' sake most of
+the men in the district received Chunerbutty with courtesy. But his
+manager, a rough Welshman of the bad old school, who openly declared that
+he "loathed all niggers," treated him with invariable rudeness.
+
+As the Hindu engineer and Noreen ascended the steps of the verandah
+together, the girl said:
+
+"You are coming to the club this afternoon, are you not?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Daleham, that is why I have been waiting at your bungalow to see
+you. I wanted to ask if we'd ride over together."
+
+"Of course. We must start early, though. I want to see that the servants
+have everything ready."
+
+"I don't think I'd be anxious to go if it were not _your_ 'At Home' day,"
+said the Bengali, as they seated themselves in the drawing-room that Noreen
+had made as pretty as she could with her limited resources. "I don't like
+the club as a rule. The fellows are so stand-offish."
+
+"You mustn't think so, Mr. Chunerbutty. They aren't really. You know
+Englishmen as a rule are not expansive. They often seem unfriendly when
+they don't mean to be."
+
+"Oh, they mean it right enough here," replied the Hindu bitterly. "They all
+think they're better than I am, just because I am an Indian. It is that
+hateful prejudice of the English man and woman in this country. It is
+different in England. You know I was made a lot of in London. You saw how
+all the men in that boarding-house we stayed at before we sailed were my
+friends."
+
+"Yes; that was so, Mr. Chunerbutty," replied Noreen, who was secretly tired
+of the subject, with which he regaled her every day.
+
+"And as for the women--Of course I don't want to boast, but all the girls
+were keen to have me take them out and were proud to be seen with me. I
+know that if I liked I could have picked up lots of ladies, real ladies, I
+mean, not shop-girls. You should have seen the way they ogled me in the
+street. I can assure you that little red-haired girl from Manchester in the
+boarding-house, Lily----"
+
+Noreen broke in quickly.
+
+"Please don't tell me anything about her, Mr. Chunerbutty. You know that I
+don't like to hear you speak disrespectfully of ladies." Then, to change
+the disagreeable subject, she continued: "Fred will be back to breakfast
+soon. Will you stay for it? Then we can all ride together to the club."
+
+"Thank you. I should like to," replied Chunerbutty. To show his freedom
+from caste prejudices he not only ate with Europeans, but even showed no
+objection to beef, much to the horror of all orthodox Hindus. That a
+Brahmin, of all men, should partake of the sacred flesh of the almost
+divine cow was an appalling sacrilege in their eyes.
+
+Leaving him with a book she attended to the cares of her household,
+disorganised by the absence of cook and butler, who had gone on ahead to
+the club with the supplies.
+
+When, after an eight miles' ride, the Dalehams and Chunerbutty reached the
+wooden shanty that was the rendezvous of the day, they found that they were
+not the first arrivals. Four or five young men swooped joyously down on
+Noreen and quarrelled over the right to help her from the saddle. While
+they were disputing vehemently and pushing each other away the laughing
+girl slipped unaided to the ground and ran up the wooden steps of the
+verandah. She was instantly pursued by the men, who followed her to the
+back verandah where she had gone to interview her servants. They clamoured
+to be allowed to help in any capacity, and she had to assume an indignation
+and a severity she was far from feeling to drive them away.
+
+"Oh, do go away, please," she said. "You are only in the way. How can I
+look after _tiffin_ if you interfere with me like this? Now do be good boys
+and go off. There's Mrs. Rice arriving. Help her out of her trap."
+
+They went reluctantly to the aid of the only other lady of their little
+community, who was apparently unable to climb down from her bamboo cart
+without help. Her husband and Daleham were already proferring their
+services, but they were seemingly insufficient.
+
+Mrs. Rice belonged to the type of woman altogether unsuited to the life of
+a planter's wife. She was a shallow, empty-headed person devoid of mental
+resources and incapable of taking interest in her household or her
+husband's affairs. In her girlhood she had been pretty in a common style,
+and she refused to recognise that the days of her youth and good looks had
+gone by. On the garden she spent her time lounging in her bungalow in an
+untidy dressing-gown, skimming through light novels and the fashion papers
+and writing interminable letters to her family in Balham. Her elderly
+husband, a weak, easy-going man, tired of her constant reproaches for
+having dragged her away from the gay life of her London suburb to the
+isolation of a tea-garden, spent as much of his day as possible in the
+factory. In the bungalow he drank methodically and steadily until he was in
+a state of mellow contentment and indifferent to his wife's tongue.
+
+On club days Mrs. Rice was a different woman. She arrayed herself in the
+latest fashions, or the nearest approach to them that could be reached by a
+native tailor working on her back verandah with the guidance of the fashion
+plates in ladies' journals. Her face thickly coated with most of the
+creams, powders, and complexion beautifiers on the market, she swathed her
+head in a thick veil thrown over her sun-hat. Then, prepared for conquest,
+she climbed into the strong, country-built bamboo cart in which her husband
+was graciously permitted to drive her to the club. Fortunately for her a
+passable road to it ran from her bungalow, for she could not ride.
+
+Arrived at the weekly gathering-place she delighted to surround herself
+with all the men that she could cajole from the bar running down the
+side of the one room of the building. With the extraordinary power of
+self-deception of vain women she believed that most of them were
+secretly in love with her.
+
+Noreen's arrival in the district the previous year and her instant
+popularity were galling to the older woman. But after a while, finding that
+her sneers and thinly-veiled bitter speeches against the girl had no effect
+on the men, she changed her tactics and pretended to make a bosom friend of
+her.
+
+When all the company had assembled at the club, luncheon was served at a
+long, rough wooden table. Beside Noreen sat the man she liked best in the
+little colony, a grey-haired planter named Payne. Many of the younger men
+had striven hard to win her favour, and several had wished to marry her;
+but, liking them all, none had touched her heart. She felt most at ease
+with Payne, who was a quiet, elderly man and a confirmed bachelor. And he
+cordially reciprocated her liking.
+
+During _tiffin_ Fred Daleham called out from the far end of the table:
+
+"I say, Payne, I wish you'd convince that young sister of mine that wild
+elephants can be dangerous beasts."
+
+"They can indeed," replied Payne, turning to Noreen. "Take my advice and
+keep out of their way."
+
+"Oh, but isn't it only rogues that one need be afraid of?" the girl asked.
+"And aren't they rare?"
+
+"These jungles are full of them, Miss Daleham," said another planter.
+"We've had two men on our garden killed already this year."
+
+"The Forest Officer told me that several guards and wood-cutters have been
+attacked lately," joined in another. "One brute has held up the jungles
+around Mendabari for months."
+
+"Oh, don't tell us any more, Mr. Lane," cried Mrs. Rice with affected
+timidity. "I shall be afraid to leave the bungalow."
+
+"I heard that the fellow commanding the Military Police detachment at Ranga
+Duar was nearly killed by a rogue lately," remarked an engineer named
+Goddard. "Our _mahout_ had the story from one of the _mahouts_ of the Fort.
+He had a cock-and-bull yarn about the sahib being saved by his tame
+elephant, a single-tusker, which drove off the rogue. But, as the latter
+was a double tusker, it's not a very likely tale."
+
+"They've got a still more wonderful story about that fellow in Ranga Duar,"
+remarked a planter named Lulworth. "They say he can do anything with wild
+elephants, goes about the jungle with a herd and they obey him like a pack
+of hounds."
+
+The men near him laughed.
+
+"Good old Lulworth!" said one. "That beats Goddard's yarn. Did you make it
+up on the spot or did it take you long to think it out?"
+
+Lulworth smiled good humouredly.
+
+"Oh, it's not an original lie," he replied. "I had it from a half-bred
+Gurkha living in the forest village near my garden."
+
+"Who is commanding Ranga Duar?" asked Lane.
+
+"A fellow called Dermot; a Major," replied Goddard.
+
+"Dermot? I wonder if by any chance it's a man who used to be in these parts
+before--commanded Buxa Duar when there was a detachment of an Indian
+regiment there," said Payne.
+
+"I believe it's the same," replied Goddard. "He knows these jungles well
+and did a lot of shooting in them. He bagged that _budmash_ (rogue)
+elephant that killed so many people. You heard of it. He chased the brute
+for a fortnight."
+
+"That's the man," said Payne. "I'm glad he's back. We used to be rather
+pals and stay with each other."
+
+"Oh, do ask him again, Mr. Payne, and bring him to the club," chimed in
+Mrs. Rice. "It would be such a pleasant change to have some of the officers
+here. They are so nice, such men of the world."
+
+A smile went round the table. All were so used to the lady's tactless
+remarks that they only amused. They had long lost the power to irritate.
+
+"I'm afraid Dermot wouldn't suit you, Mrs. Rice," said Payne laughing.
+"He's not a lady's man."
+
+"Indeed? Is he married?" she asked.
+
+"No, he hasn't that reason to dislike your sex. At least, he wasn't married
+when I knew him. I wonder how he's escaped, for he's very well off for a
+man in the Indian Army and heir to an uncle who is a baronet. Good-looking
+chap, too. Clever beggar, well read and a good soldier, I believe. He has a
+wonderful way with animals. I had a pony that was a regular mad beast. It
+killed one _syce_ and savaged another. It nearly did for me. I sent it to
+Dermot, and in a week he had it eating out of his hand."
+
+"He seems an Admiral what-d'you-call-him--you know, that play they had in
+town about a wonderful butler," said Mrs. Rice.
+
+"Admirable Crichton, wasn't it?"
+
+"Yes, that was the name. Well, your Major seems a wonderful chap," she
+said. "Do ask him. Perhaps he'll bring some of his officers here."
+
+"I hope he won't, Mrs. Rice," remarked Goddard. "If he does, it's evident
+that none of us will have a look in with you."
+
+She smirked, well pleased, as she caught Noreen's eye and rose from the
+table.
+
+Sets of tennis were arranged and the game was soon in full swing. Some of
+the men walked round to the back of the building to select a spot to be
+cleared to make a polo ground. Others gathered at the bar to chat.
+
+Noreen had a small court round her, Chunerbutty clinging closely to her all
+the afternoon, to her secret annoyance. For whenever he accompanied her to
+the club he seemed to make a point of emphasising the friendly terms on
+which they were for the benefit of all beholders. As a matter of fact he
+did so purposely, because he knew that it annoyed all the other men of the
+community to see him apparently on intimate terms with the girl.
+
+On the afternoon, when at her request he had gone out to the back verandah
+to tell her servants to prepare tea, he called to her across the club and
+addressed her by her Christian name. Noreen took it to be an accidental
+slip, but she fancied that it made Mrs. Rice smile unpleasantly and several
+of the men regard her curiously.
+
+The day passed all too quickly for these exiled Britons, whose one bright
+spot of amusement and companionship it was in the week. The setting sun
+gave the signal for departure. After exchanging good-byes with their
+guests, the Malpura party mounted their ponies and cantered home.
+
+One morning, a week later, Noreen over-slept herself, and, when she came
+out of her room for her _chota hazri_, she found that her brother had
+already started off to ride over the garden. Ordering her pony she followed
+him. She guessed that he had gone first to the nursery, and when she
+reached the short cut through the forest she rejoiced at being able to
+enter it without the usual battle. She urged the reluctant Kitty on, and
+rode into it carelessly.
+
+Suddenly her pony balked and shied, flinging her to the ground. Then it
+turned and galloped madly home.
+
+As Noreen, half stunned by the fall, picked herself up stiffly and stood
+dazed and shaken, she shrieked in terror. She was in the middle of a herd
+of wild elephants which surrounded her on every side; and, as she gazed
+panic-stricken at them, they advanced slowly upon her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+THE MADNESS OF BADSHAH
+
+Badshah's rescue of Dermot from the rogue caused him to be more venerated
+than ever by the natives. The Mohammedan sepoys of the detachment, who
+should have had no sympathy with Hindu superstitions, began to regard him
+with awe, impressed by the firm belief in his supernatural nature held by
+their co-religionists among the _mahouts_ and elephant coolies. Among the
+scattered dwellers in the jungle and the Bhuttias on the hills, his fame,
+already widespread, increased enormously; and these ignorant folk, partly
+devil-worshippers, looked on him as half-god, half-demon.
+
+Dermot's feelings towards the gallant animal deepened into strong
+affection, and the perfect understanding between the two made the sympathy
+between the best-trained horse and its rider seem a very small thing. The
+elephant loved the man; and when the Major was on his neck, Badshah seemed
+to need neither touch of hand or foot nor spoken word to make him
+comprehend his master's wishes.
+
+Such a state of affairs was very helpful to Dermot in the execution of his
+task of secret enquiry and exploration. He was thus able to dispense with
+any attendant for the elephant in his jungle wanderings, which sometimes
+lasted several days and nights without a return to the Fort. He wanted no
+witness to his actions at these times. Badshah needed no attention on these
+excursions. The jungle everywhere supplied him with food, and water was
+always to be found in gullies in the hills. It was unnecessary to shackle
+him at night when Dermot slept beside him in the forest. The elephant never
+strayed, but stayed by his man to watch over him through the dangerous
+hours of darkness. He either stood by the sleeper all night or else gently
+lay down near him with the same consummate carefulness that a cow-elephant
+uses when she lowers her huge body to the ground beside her young calf.
+When Badshah guarded Dermot no harm from beast of prey could come to him.
+
+While the forest provided sustenance for the animal, the soldier,
+accustomed though he was to roughing it, found it advisable to supplement
+its resources for himself. But with some ship's biscuits and a few tins of
+preserved meat he was ready to face the jungle for days. Limes and bananas
+grew freely in the foothills. Besides his rifle he usually carried a shot
+gun, for jungle fowl abounded in the forest, and _kalej_, the black and
+white speckled pheasant, in the lower hills, and both were excellent
+eating.
+
+Dermot carried out a thorough survey of the borderland between Bhutan and
+India, making accurate military sketches and noting the ranges of all
+positions suitable for defence, artillery, or observation. Mounted on
+Badshah's neck he ascended the steep hills--elephants are excellent
+climbers--and explored every known _duar_ and defile.
+
+At the same time he kept a keen look-out for messengers passing between
+disloyal elements inside the Indian frontier and possible enemies beyond
+it. His knowledge of the language spoken by the Bhuttia settlers within
+the border, mostly refugees from Bhutan who had fled thither to escape
+the tyranny and exactions of the officials, enabled him to question the
+hill-dwellers as to the presence and purpose of any strangers passing
+through. He gradually established a species of intelligence department
+among these colonists, whose dread and hatred of their former rulers
+have made them very pro-British. Through them he was able to keep a
+check on the comings and goings of trans-frontier Bhutanese, who are
+permitted to enter India freely, although an English subject is not
+allowed by his own Government to penetrate into Bhutan. Despite this
+prohibition--so Dermot discovered--many Bengalis had lately passed
+backwards and forwards across the frontier, a thing hitherto unheard of.
+That members of this timorous race should venture to enter such a
+lawless and savage country as Bhutan and that, having entered it, they
+lived to come back proved that there must be a strong understanding
+between many Bhutanese officials and a certain disloyal element in
+India.
+
+Dermot was returning through the forest from one of his excursions in the
+hills, when an opportunity was afforded him of repaying the debt that he
+owed to Badshah for the saving of his life. They had halted at midday, and
+the man, seated on the ground with his back to a tree, was eating his
+lunch, while the elephant had strayed out of sight among the trees in
+search of food.
+
+Beside Dermot lay his rifle and a double-barrelled shot gun, both loaded.
+Having eaten he lit a cheroot and was jotting down in his notebook the
+information that he had gathered that morning, when a shrill trumpet from
+the invisible Badshah made him grasp his rifle. Skilled in the knowledge of
+the various sounds that elephants make he knew by the brassy note of this
+that the animal was in deadly fear. He sprang up to go to his assistance,
+when Badshah burst through the trees and came towards him at his fastest
+pace, his drooping ears and tail and outstretched trunk showing that he was
+terrified.
+
+Dermot, bringing his rifle to the ready, looked past him for the cause of
+his flight, but could see no pursuer. He wondered what could have so
+alarmed the usually courageous animal. Suddenly the knowledge came to him.
+As Badshah rushed towards him with every indication of terror the man saw
+that, moving over the ground with an almost incredible speed, a large
+serpent came in close pursuit. Even in the open across which Badshah was
+fleeing it was actually gaining on the elephant, as with an extraordinary
+rapidity it poured the sinuous curves of its body along the earth. It was
+evident that, if the chase were continued into the dense undergrowth which
+would hamper the animal more than the snake, the latter would prove the
+winner in the desperate race.
+
+Dermot recognised the pursuer. From its size and the fact that it was
+attacking the elephant it could only be that most dreadful and almost
+legendary denizen of the forest, the hamadryad, or king-cobra. All other
+big snakes in India are pythons, which are not venomous. But this, the
+deadliest, most terrible of all Asiatic serpents, is very poisonous and
+will wantonly attack man as well as animals. Badshah had probably disturbed
+it by accident--it might have been a female guarding its eggs--and in its
+vicious rage it had made an onslaught on him.
+
+The peril of the poisoned tooth is the sole one that a grown elephant need
+fear in the jungle, and Badshah seemed to know that only his man could save
+him. And so in his extremity he fled to Dermot.
+
+The soldier hurriedly put down his rifle and picked up the fowling-piece.
+The elephant rushed past him, and then the snake seemed to sense the
+man--its feeble sight would not permit it to see him. It swerved out of
+its course and came towards him. When but a few feet away it suddenly
+checked and, swiftly writhing its body into a coil from which its head
+and about five feet of its length rose straight up and waved menacingly
+in the air, it gathered impetus to strike.
+
+A deadly feeling of nausea and powerlessness possessed Dermot, as from the
+open mouth, in which the fatal fangs showed plainly while the protruding
+forked tongue darting in and out seemed to feel for him, came a fetid
+effluvia that had a paralysing effect on him. He was experiencing the
+extraordinary fascination that a snake exercises over its victims. His
+muscles seemed benumbed, as the huge head swayed from side to side and
+mesmerised him with its uncanny power. The gun almost dropped from his
+nerveless fingers. But with a fierce effort he regained the mastery of
+himself, brought the butt to his shoulder, and pressed both triggers.
+
+At that short range the shot blew the snake's head off, and Dermot sprang
+back as the heavy body fell forward and lashed and heaved with convulsive
+writhing of the muscles, while the tail beat the ground heavily.
+
+At the report of the gun Badshah stopped in his hurried retreat and turned.
+Then, still showing evidences of his alarm, he approached Dermot slowly.
+
+"It's all right, old boy," said the Major to him. "The brute is done for."
+
+The elephant understood and came to him. Dermot patted the quivering trunk
+outstretched to smell the dead snake and then went forward and grasped the
+hamadryad's tail with both hands, striving to hold it still. But it dragged
+him from side to side and the writhing coils of the headless body nearly
+enfolded him, so he let go and stepped back. As well as he could judge the
+king-cobra was more than seventeen feet long.
+
+It took some time to reassure Badshah, for the elephant was badly
+frightened and, when Dermot mounted him, set off from the spot with a haste
+unlike his usual deliberate pace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a week after this occurrence the Major was busy in his bungalow in
+Ranga Duar drawing up reports for the Adjutant General and amplifying
+existing maps of the borderland, as well as completing his large-scale
+sketches of the passes. When his task was finished he filled his haversack
+with provisions one morning and, shouldering his rifle, descended the
+winding mountain road to the _peelkhana_. Long before this was visible
+through the trees of the foothills he was apprised by the trumpeting of the
+elephants and the loud shouts of men that there was trouble there. When he
+came out on the cleared stretch of ground in front of the stables he saw
+_mahouts_ and coolies fleeing in terror in all directions, while the
+stoutly built _peelkhana_ itself rocked violently as though shaken by an
+earthquake.
+
+Then forth from it, to the accompaniment of terrified squealing and
+trumpeting from the female elephants, Badshah stalked, ears cocked and tail
+up and the light of battle in his eyes, broken iron shackles dangling from
+his legs.
+
+"_Dewand hoyga_ (he has gone mad)," cried the attendants, fleeing past the
+Major in such alarm that they almost failed to notice him. Last of all came
+Ramnath, who, recognising him, halted and salaamed.
+
+"_Khubbadar_ (take care), sahib!" he cried in warning. "The fit is on him
+again. The jungle calls him. He is mad."
+
+Dermot paid no attention to him but hastened on to intercept the elephant
+which stalked on with ears thrust forward and tail raised, ready to give
+battle to any one that dared stop him.
+
+The Major whistled. Badshah checked in his stride, then as a well-known
+voice fell on his ear he faltered and looked about him. Dermot spoke his
+name and the elephant turned and went straight to him, to the amazement of
+the _peelkhana_ attendants watching from behind trees on the hillside. Yet
+they feared lest his intention was to attack the sahib, for when a tame
+tusker is seized with a fit of madness, it often kills even its _mahout_,
+to whom ordinarily it is much attached.
+
+Dermot raised his hand. Badshah stopped and sank on his knees, while his
+master cast off the broken shackles and swung himself astride of his neck.
+Then the elephant rose again and of his own volition rolled swiftly forward
+into the jungle which closed around them and hid animal and man from the
+astounded watchers.
+
+One by one the _mahouts_ and coolies stole from the shelter of the trees
+and gathered together.
+
+"_Wah! Wah!_ the sahib has gone mad, too," exclaimed an old Mohammedan.
+
+"He will never return alive," said another, shaking his head sorrowfully.
+"_Afsos hun_ (I am sorry), for he was a good sahib. The _shaitan_ (devil)
+has borne him away to _Eblis_ (hell)."
+
+Here Ramnath broke in indignantly:
+
+"My elephant is no _shaitan_. He is _Gunesh_, the god _Gunesh_ himself. He
+will let no harm come to the sahib, who is safe under his protection."
+
+The other Hindus among the elephant attendants nodded agreement.
+
+"_Such bath_ (true words)," they said. "Who knows what the gods purpose?
+Which of you has ever before seen any man stop a _dhantwallah_ (tusker)
+when the madness was upon him? Which of ye has known a white man to have a
+power that even we have not, we whose fathers, whose forefathers for
+generations, have tended elephants?"
+
+"Ye speak true talk," said the first speaker. "The Prophet tells us there
+are no gods. But _afrits_ there are, _djinns_--beings more than man. What
+know we of those with whom the sahib communes when he and Badshah go forth
+alone into the forest?"
+
+"The sahib is not as other sahibs," broke in an old coolie. "I was with him
+before--in Buxa Duar. There is naught in the jungle that can puzzle him. He
+knows its ways, the speech of the men in it--ay, and of its animals, too.
+He was a great _shikari_ (hunter) in those old days. Many beasts have
+fallen to his gun. Yet now he goes forth for days and brings back no heads.
+What does he?"
+
+"For days, say you, Chotu?" queried another _mahout_. "Ay, for more than
+days. For nights. What man among us, what man even of these wild men around
+us, would willingly pass a night in the forest?"
+
+"True talk," agreed the old Mohammedan. "Which of us would care to lie down
+alone beside his elephant in the jungle all night? Yet the sahib sleeps
+there--if he does sleep--without fear. And no harm comes to him."
+
+Ramnath slowly shook his head.
+
+"The sahib does not sleep. Nor is there aught in the forest that can do him
+harm. Or my elephant either. The _budmash_ tried to kill the sahib, and
+Badshah protected him. When the big snake attacked Badshah, the sahib saved
+him.
+
+"But what do they in the forest?" asked Chotu again. "Tell me that,
+Ramnath-_ji_."
+
+Once more Ramnath shook his head.
+
+"What know we? We are black men. What knowledge have we of what the sahibs
+do, of what they can do? They go under the sea in ships, beneath the land
+in carriages. So say the sepoys who have been to _Vilayet_ (Europe). They
+fly in the air like birds. That have I seen with my own eyes at Delhi----"
+
+"And I at Lahore," broke in the old Mohammedan.
+
+"And I at Nucklao (Lucknow)," said a third.
+
+"But never yet was there a man, black man or sahib, who could hold a
+_dhantwallah_ when the mad fit was on him, as our sahib has done,"
+continued Ramnath. "He is under the protection of the gods."
+
+Even the Mohammedans among his audience nodded assent. Their _mullah_
+taught them that the gods of the Hindu were devils. But who knew? Mecca was
+far away, and the jungle with its demons was very near them. Among the
+various creeds in India there is a wide tolerance and a readiness to
+believe that there may be something of truth in all the faiths that men
+profess. A Hindu will hang a wreath of marigolds on the tomb of a
+Mohammedan _pir_--a Mussulman saint--and recite a _mantra_, if he knows
+one, before it as readily as he will before the shrine of Siva.
+
+While the superstitious elephant attendants talked, Badshah was moving at a
+fast shambling pace along animal paths through the forest farther and
+farther away from the _peelkhana_. Wild beasts always follow a track
+through the jungle, even a man-made road, in preference to forcing a way
+through the undergrowth for themselves. As he was borne swiftly along, his
+rider felt that, although the elephant had allowed him to mount to his
+accustomed place, it would resent any attempts at restraint or guidance.
+But indeed Dermot had no wish to control it. He was filled with an immense
+desire to learn the mystery of Badshah's frequent disappearances. The Major
+was convinced that the animal had a definite objective in view, so
+purposeful was his manner. For he went rapidly on, never pausing to feed,
+unlike the usual habit of elephants which, when they can, eat all their
+waking time. But Badshah held straight on rapidly without stopping. He was
+proceeding in a direction that took him at an angle away from the line of
+the Himalayas, and the character of the forest altered as he went.
+
+Near the foot of the hills the graceful plumes of the bamboo and the broad
+drooping leaves of the plantain, the wild banana, were interspersed with
+the vivid green leaves and fruit of the limes. Then came the big trees,
+from which the myriad creepers hung in graceful festoons. Here the
+undergrowth was scanty and the ground covered with tall bracken in the open
+glades, which gave the jungle the appearance of an English wood.
+
+Farther on the trees were closer together and the track led through dense
+undergrowth. Then through a border of high elephant-grass with feathery
+tops it emerged on to a broad, dry river-bed of white sand strewn with
+rounded boulders rolled down from the hills. The sudden change from the
+pleasant green gloom of the forest to the harsh glare of the brilliant
+sunshine was startling. As they crossed the open Dermot looked up at the
+giant rampart of the mountains and saw against the dark background of their
+steep slopes the grey wall of Fort and bungalows in the little outpost of
+Ranga Duar high above the forest.
+
+Then the jungle closed round them again, as Badshah plunged into the high
+grass bordering the far side of the river-bed, its feathery plumes sixteen
+feet from the ground. On through low thorny trees and scrub to the huge
+bulks and thick, leafy canopy of the giant _simal_ and teak once more. The
+further they went from the hills the denser, more tropical became the
+undergrowth. The soil was damper and supported a richer, more luxuriant
+vegetation. Cane brakes through which even elephants and bison would find
+it hard to push a way, tree ferns of every kind, feathery bushes set thick
+with cruel hooked thorns, mingled with the great trees, between which the
+creepers rioted in wilder confusion than ever.
+
+The heat was intense. The air grew moist and steamy, and the sweat trickled
+down Dermot's face. The earth underfoot was sodden and slushy. Little
+streams began to trickle, for the water from the mountains ten miles away
+that sinks into the soil at the foot of the hills and flows to the south
+underground, here rises to the surface and gives the whole forest its
+name--Terai, that is, "wet."
+
+Slimy pools lurked in the undergrowth. In one the ugly snout of a small
+crocodile protruded from the muddy, noisome water, and the cold, unwinking
+eyes stared at elephant and man as they passed. The rank abundant foliage
+overhung the track and brushed or broke against Badshah's sides, as he
+shouldered his way through it.
+
+Suddenly, without warning, Badshah came out on a stretch of forest clear of
+undergrowth between the great tree-trunks, and to his amazement Dermot saw
+that it was filled with wild elephants. Everywhere, as far as the eye could
+range between the trees, they were massed, not in tens or scores, but in
+hundreds. On every side were vistas of multitudes of great heads with
+gleaming white tusks and restless-moving trunks, of huge bodies supported
+on ponderous legs. And with an unwonted fear clutching at his heart Dermot
+realised that all their eyes were turned in his direction.
+
+Did they see him? Were they aware that Badshah carried a man? Dermot knew
+that beasts do not quickly realise a man's presence on the neck or back of
+a tame elephant. He had seen in a _kheddah_, when the _mahouts_ and noosers
+had gone on their trained elephants in among the host of terrified or angry
+captured wild ones, that the latter seemed not to observe the humans.
+
+So he hoped now that if he succeeded in turning his animal round and
+getting him away quickly, his presence would remain unnoticed. Grasping his
+rifle ready to fire if necessary, he tried with foot and hand to swing
+Badshah about. But his elephant absolutely ignored his efforts and for the
+first time in their acquaintance disobeyed him. Slowing down to a stately
+and deliberate pace the _Gunesh_ advanced to meet the others.
+
+Then, to Dermot's amazement, from the vast herd that now encompassed them
+on every side came the low purring that in an elephant denotes pleasure.
+Almost inaudible from one throat, it sounded from these many hundreds like
+the rumble of distant thunder. And in answer to it there came from
+Badshah's trunk a low sound, indicative of his pleasure. Then it dawned on
+Dermot that it was to meet this vast gathering of his kind that the animal
+had broken loose from captivity.
+
+And the multitude of huge beasts was waiting for him. All the swaying
+trunks were lifted together and pointed towards him to sense him, with a
+unanimity of motion that made it seem as if they were receiving him with a
+salute. And, as Badshah moved on into the centre of the vast herd and
+stopped, again the murmured welcome rumbled from the great throats.
+
+Dermot slung his rifle on his back. It would not be needed now. He resigned
+himself to anything that might happen and was filled with an immense
+curiosity. Was there really some truth in the stories about Badshah, some
+foundation for the natives' belief in his mysterious powers? This reception
+of him by the immense gathering of his kind was beyond credence Dermot knew
+that wild elephants do not welcome a strange male into a herd. He has to
+fight, and fight hard, for admission, which he can only gain by defeating
+the bull that is its leader and tyrant. But that several herds should come
+together--for that there were several was evident, since the greatest
+strength of a herd rarely exceeds a hundred individuals--to meet an escaped
+domesticated elephant, and apparently by appointment, was too fantastic to
+be credited by any one acquainted with the habits of these animals. Yet
+here it was happening before his eyes. The soldier gave up attempting to
+understand it and simply accepted the fact.
+
+He looked around him. There were elephants of every type, of all ages. Some
+were very old, as he could tell from their lean, fleshless skulls, their
+sunken temples and hollow eyes, emaciated bodies and straight, thin legs.
+And the clearest proof of their age was their ears, which lapped over very
+much at the top and were torn and ragged at the lower edges.
+
+There were bull-elephants in the prime of life, from twenty-five to
+thirty-five years old, with great heads, short, thick legs bowed out
+with masses of muscle, and bodies with straight backs sloping to the
+long, well-feathered tails. Most of them were tuskers--and the sight
+of one magnificent bull near Dermot made the sportsman's trigger-finger
+itch, so splendid were its tusks--shapely, spreading outward and upward
+in a graceful sweep, and each nearly six feet in length along the
+outside curve.
+
+There was a large proportion of females and calves in the assemblage. The
+youngest ones were about four or five months old. A few had not shed their
+first woolly coat; and many of the male babies could not boast of even the
+tiniest tusks.
+
+Badshah was now completely surrounded, for the elephants had closed in on
+him from every side. He raised his trunk. At once the nearest animals
+extended theirs towards him. These he touched, and they in their turn
+touched those of their neighbours beyond his reach. They did the same to
+others farther away, and so the action was repeated and carried on
+throughout the herd by all except the youngest calves.
+
+Dermot was wondering whether this meant a greeting or a command from
+Badshah, when there was a sudden stir among the animals, and soon the whole
+mass was in motion. Then he saw that the elephants were moving into single
+file, the formation in which they always march. Badshah alone remained
+where he was.
+
+Then the enormous gathering broke up and began to move. The oldest
+elephants led; and the line commenced to defile by Badshah, who stood as if
+passing them in review. As the first approached it lifted its trunk, and to
+Dermot's astonishment gently touched him on the leg with it. Then it passed
+on and the next animal took its place and in its turn touched the man. The
+succeeding ones did the same; and thus all the elephants defiled by their
+domesticated companion and touched or smelt Dermot as they went by.
+
+Throughout the whole proceeding Badshah remained motionless, and his rider
+began to believe that he had ordered his wild kindred to make themselves
+acquainted with his human friend. It seemed a ridiculous idea, but the
+whole proceeding was so wildly improbable that the soldier felt that
+nothing could surprise him further.
+
+As the elephants passed him he noticed on the legs of a few of them marks
+which were evidently old scars of chain or rope-galls. And the forehead of
+one or two showed traces of having been daubed with tar, while on the trunk
+of one very large tusker was an almost obliterated ornamental design in
+white paint, and his tusks were tipped with brass. So it was apparent that
+Badshah was not the only animal present that had escaped from captivity.
+The big tusker had probably belonged to the _peelkhana_ of some rajah,
+judging by the pattern of the painted design.
+
+Slowly the seemingly endless line of great animals went by. Hours elapsed
+before the last elephant had passed; and Dermot, cramped by sitting still
+on Badshah's neck, was worn out with heat and fatigue long before the slow
+procession ended.
+
+When at last the almost interminable line had gone by, Badshah moved off at
+a rapid pace and passed the slow-plodding animals until he had overtaken
+the leaders. Dermot found that the herd was heading for the mountains and
+the oldest beasts were still in front. This surprised him, as it was
+altogether contrary to the custom of wild elephants. For usually on a march
+the cows with calves lead the way. This is logical and reasonable; because
+if an unencumbered tusker headed the line and set the pace, he would go too
+fast and too far for the little legs of the babies in the rear. They would
+fall behind; and, as their mothers would stay with them, the herd would
+soon be broken up.
+
+But as Badshah reached the head of the file and, taking the lead, set a
+very slow pace, Dermot quickly understood why the old elephants were
+allowed to remain in front. For all of them were exceedingly feeble, and
+some seemed at death's door from age and disease. He would not have been
+surprised at any of them falling down at any moment and expiring on the
+spot.
+
+Then he remembered the curious but well-known fact that no man, white or
+coloured, has ever yet found the body of a wild elephant that has died in
+the jungle from natural causes. Though few corners of Indian or Ceylon
+forests remain unexplored, no carcases or skeletons of these animals have
+ever been discovered. And yet, although in a wild state they reach the age
+of a hundred and fifty years, elephants must die at last.
+
+Dermot was meditating on this curious fact of natural history when Badshah
+came out on the high bank of an empty river-bed and cautiously climbed down
+it. Ahead of them rose the long line of mountains clear and distinct in the
+rays of the setting sun. As he reached the far bank Dermot turned round to
+look back. Behind them stretched the procession of elephants in single
+file, each one stepping into the huge footprints of those in front of it.
+When Badshah plunged into the jungle again the tail of the procession had
+not yet come out on the white sand of the river-bed.
+
+And when the sun went down they were still plodding on towards the hills.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE DEATH-PLACE
+
+An hour or two after night had fallen on the jungle Badshah stopped
+suddenly and sank down on his knees. Dermot took this as an invitation to
+dismount, and slid to the ground. When Badshah stopped, the long-stretching
+line behind him halted, too, and the elephants broke their formation and
+wandered about feeding. Soon the forest resounded with the noise of
+creepers being torn down, branches broken off, and small trees uprooted so
+that the hungry animals could reach the leafy crowns. Dermot realised that
+in the darkness he was in danger of being trodden underfoot among the
+hundreds of huge animals straying about. But Badshah knew it, too, and so
+he remained standing over his man, while the latter sat down on the ground,
+rested his aching back against a tree, and made a meal from the contents of
+his haversack. Badshah contented himself with the grass and leaves that he
+could reach without stirring from the spot, and then cautiously lowered
+himself to the ground and stretched his huge limbs out.
+
+Dermot lay down beside him, as he had so often done before in the nights
+spent in the jungle. But, exhausted as he was, he could not sleep at first.
+The strangeness of the adventure kept him awake. To find his presence
+accepted by this vast gathering of wild elephants, animals which are
+usually extremely shy of human beings, was in itself extraordinary. Much as
+he knew of the jungle he had never dreamt of this. In Central Indian
+villages he had been told legends of lost children being adopted by wolves.
+But for elephants to admit a man into their herd was beyond belief. That it
+was due to Badshah's affection for him was little less remarkable than the
+fact itself. For it opened up the question of the animal's extraordinary
+power over his kind. And that was an unfathomable mystery.
+
+Dermot found the riddle too difficult to solve. He ceased to puzzle over
+it. The noises in the forest gradually died down, and the intense silence
+that followed was broken only by the harsh call of the barking-deer or the
+wailing cry of the giant owl. Fatigue overcame him, and he slept.
+
+It seemed to him that he had scarcely lost consciousness when he was
+awakened by a touch on his face. It was still dark; but, when he sprang up
+hastily, he could vaguely make out Badshah standing beside him. The
+elephant touched him with his trunk and then sank down on his knees. The
+invitation to mount was unmistakable; and Dermot slung his rifle on his
+back and climbed on to the elephant's neck. Badshah rose up and moved off,
+and apparently the other elephants followed him, for the noises that had
+filled the forest and showed them to be awake and feeding, ceased abruptly.
+Dermot could just faintly distinguish the soft footfall of the animal
+immediately behind him.
+
+When Badshah reached the lowest hills and left the heavy forest behind the
+sky became visible, filled with the clear and vivid tropic starlight. An
+animal track led up between giant clumps of bamboos, by long-leaved
+plantain trees and through thick undergrowth of high, tangled bushes that
+clothed the foothills. Up this path, as a paling in the east betokened the
+dawn, the long line of elephants climbed in the same order of march as on
+the previous day. Badshah led; and behind him followed the oldest
+elephants, on which the steep ascent told heavily.
+
+Two thousand feet above the forest the track led close to a Bhuttia
+village. As the rising sun streaked the sky with rose, the head of the long
+line neared the scattered bamboo huts perched on piles on the steep slopes.
+The track was not visible from the village, but a party of wood-cutters
+from the hamlet had just reached it on their way to descend to their day's
+work in the jungle below. They saw the winding file of ascending elephants
+some distance beneath them and in great alarm climbed up a big rubber tree
+growing close to the path. Hidden among its broad and glossy green leaves
+they watched the approaching elephants.
+
+From their elevated perch they had a good view of the serpentining line.
+To their amazement they saw that a white man sat astride the neck of the
+first animal and was apparently conducting the enormous herd. One of the
+wood-cutters recognised Dermot, who had once visited this very village
+and interrogated this man among others. Petrified with fright, the
+Bhuttia and his companions watched the long line go by, and for fully an
+hour after the last elephant had disappeared they did not venture to
+descend from the tree.
+
+When at last they did so there was no longer any thought of work. Instead,
+they fled hotfoot to the village to spread their strange news; and next
+day, when they went to their work below and explained to the enraged Gurkha
+overseer the reason of their absence on the previous day, they told him the
+full tale. No story is too incredible for the average native of India, and
+the overseer and various forest guards who also heard the narrative fully
+believed it and spread it through the jungle villages. It grew as it passed
+from tongue to tongue, until the story finally rivalled the most marvellous
+of the exploits of Krishna, that wonderful Hindu god.
+
+Meanwhile Dermot and his mammoth companions were climbing steadily higher
+and ever higher into the mountains. A panther, disturbed by them in his
+sleep beside the bones of a goat, rose growling from the ground and slunk
+sullenly away. A pair of brilliantly-plumaged hornbills flew overhead with
+a loud and measured beat of wings. _Kalej_ pheasants scuttled away among
+the bushes.
+
+But soon the jungle diminished to low scrub and finally fell away behind
+the ascending elephants, and they entered a region of rugged, barren
+mountains cloven by giant chasms and seamed by rocky _nullahs_ down which
+brawling streams rushed or tumbled over falls. A herd of _gooral_--the
+little wild goat--rushed away before their coming and sprang in dizzy leaps
+down almost sheer precipices.
+
+As the mountains closed in upon him in a narrow passage between beetling
+cliffs thousands of feet high, Dermot's interest quickened. For he knew
+that he was nearing the border-line between India and Bhutan; and this was
+apparently a pass from one country into the other, unknown and unmarked in
+the existing maps, one of which he carried in his haversack. He took it out
+and examined it. There was no doubt of it; he had made a fresh discovery.
+
+He turned round on Badshah's neck and looked down on all India spread out
+beneath him. East and west along the foot of the mountains the sea of
+foliage of the Terai swept away out of sight. Here and there lighter
+patches of colour showed where tea-gardens dotted the darker forest. Thirty
+odd miles to the south of the foothills the jungle ended abruptly, and
+beyond its ragged fringe lay the flat and fertile fields of Eastern Bengal.
+A dark spot seen indistinctly through the hot-weather haze marked where the
+little city of Cooch Behar lay. Sixty miles and more away to the south-east
+the Garo Hills rose beyond the snaky line of the Brahmaputra River
+wandering through the plains of Assam.
+
+A sharp turn in the narrow defile shut out the view of everything except
+the sheer walls of rock that seemed almost to meet high overhead and hide
+the sky. Even at noon the pass was dark and gloomy. But it came abruptly to
+an end, and as through a gateway the leading elephants emerged suddenly on
+a narrow jungle-like valley. The first line of mountains guarding Bhutan
+had been traversed. Beyond the valley lay another range, its southern face
+covered with trees.
+
+Badshah halted, and the elephants behind him scattered as they came out of
+the defile. The aged animals among them, as soon as they had drunk from a
+little river running midway between the mountain chains and fed by streams
+from both, lay down to rest, too exhausted to eat. But the others spread
+out in the trees to graze.
+
+Dermot, who had begun to fear that the supply of food in his haversack
+might run short, found a plantain tree and gathered a quantity of the
+fruit. After a frugal meal he wrote up his notes on the pass through which
+he had just come and made rough military sketches of it. Then he strolled
+among the elephants grazing near Badshah. They showed no fear or hostility
+as he passed, and some of the calves evinced a certain amount of curiosity
+in him. He even succeeded in making friends with one little animal about a
+year old, marked with whitish blotches on its forehead and trunk, which
+allowed him to touch it and, after due consideration, accepted the gift of
+a peeled banana. Its mother stood by during the proceeding and regarded the
+fraternising with her calf dubiously.
+
+Not until dawn on the following day did the herd resume its onward
+movement. Dermot was awake even before Badshah's trunk touched his face to
+arouse him, and as soon as he was mounted the march began again. The route
+lay through the new mountain range; and all day, except for a couple of
+hours' halt at noon, the long line wound up a confusing jumble of ravines
+and passes. When night fell a plateau covered with tall deodar trees had
+been reached, and here the elephants rested.
+
+Daybreak on the third morning found Badshah leading the line through a
+still more bewildering maze of narrow defiles and a forest with such dense
+foliage that, when the sun was high in the heavens, its rays scarcely
+lightened the gloom between the tree-trunks. Dermot wondered how Badshah
+found his way, for there was no sign of a track, but the elephant moved on
+steadily and with an air of assured purpose.
+
+At one place he plunged into a deep narrow ravine filled with tangled
+undergrowth that constantly threatened to tear Dermot from his seat.
+Indeed, only the continual employment of the latter's _kukri_, with which
+he hacked at the throttling creepers and clutching thorny branches, saved
+him.
+
+Darker and gloomier grew the way. The sides of the _nullah_ closed in until
+there was scarcely room for the animals to pass, and then Dermot found
+Badshah had entered a natural tunnel in the mountain side. The interior was
+as black as midnight, and the soldier had to lie flat on the elephant's
+skull to save his own head.
+
+Suddenly a blinding light made him close his eyes, as Badshah burst out of
+the darkness of the tunnel into the dazzling glare of the sunshine.
+
+When his rider looked again he found that they were in an almost circular
+valley completely ringed in by precipitous walls of rock rising straight
+and sheer for a couple of thousand feet. Above these cliffs towered giant
+mountain peaks covered with snow and ice.
+
+At the end of the valley farthest from them was a small lake. Near the
+mouth of the tunnel the earth was clothed with long grass and flowering
+bushes and dotted with low trees. But elsewhere the ground was dazzlingly
+white, as though the snow lay deep upon it. Badshah halted among the trees,
+and the old elephants passed him and went on in the direction of the lake.
+Dermot noticed that they seemed to have suddenly grown feebler and more
+decrepit.
+
+He looked down at the white ground. To his surprise he found that from here
+to the lake the valley was floored with huge skulls, skeletons, scattered
+bones, and tusks. It was the elephants' Golgotha. He had penetrated to a
+spot which perhaps no other human being had ever seen--the death-place of
+the mammoths, the mysterious retreat to which the elephants of the Terai
+came to die.
+
+He looked instinctively towards the aged animals, which alone had
+gone forward among the bones. And, as he gazed, one of them stumbled,
+recovered its footing, staggered on a few paces, then stopped and slowly
+sank to the ground. It laid its head down and stretched out its limbs.
+Tremors shook the huge body; then it lay still as though asleep.
+A second old elephant, and a third, stood for a moment, then slowly
+subsided. Another and another did the same; until finally all of them
+lay stretched out motionless--lifeless, dark spots on the white floor
+that was composed of bones of countless generations of their kind.
+
+There was a strange impressiveness about the solemn passing of these great
+beasts. It affected the human spectator almost painfully. The hush of this
+fatal valley, the long line of elephants watching the death of their
+kindred, the pathos of the end of the stately animals which in obedience to
+some mysterious impulse, had struggled through many difficulties only to
+lie down here silently, uncomplainingly, and give up their lives, all
+stirred Dermot strangely. And when the thought of the incalculable wealth
+that lay in the vast quantity of ivory stored in this great charnel-house
+flashed through his mind, he felt that it would be a shameful desecration,
+inviting the wrath of the gods, to remove even one tusk of it.
+
+He was not left long to gaze and wonder at the weird scene. To his relief
+Badshah suddenly turned and passed through the trees again towards the
+tunnelled entrance, and the hundreds of other elephants followed him in
+file. In a few minutes Dermot found himself plunged into darkness once
+more, and the Valley of Death had disappeared.
+
+When they had passed through the tunnel, the elephants slipped and stumbled
+down the rock-encumbered ravines, for elephants are far less sure-footed in
+descent than when ascending. But they travelled at a much faster pace,
+being no longer hampered by the presence of the old and decrepit beasts. It
+seemed to take only a comparatively short time to reach the valley between
+the two mountain ranges. And here they stopped to feed and rest.
+
+When morning came, Dermot found that the big assembly of elephants was
+breaking up into separate herds of which it was composed. The greater
+number of these moved off to the east and north, evidently purposing to
+remain for a time in Bhutan, where the young grass was springing up in the
+valleys as the lower snows melted. Only three herds intended to return to
+India with Badshah, of which the largest, consisting of about a hundred
+members, seemed to be the one to which he particularly belonged.
+
+During the descent from the mountains into the Terai, Dermot wondered what
+would happen with Badshah when they reached the forest. Would the elephant
+persist in remaining with the herd or would it return with him to the
+_peelkhana_?
+
+Night had fallen before they had got clear of the foothills, so that
+when they arrived in the jungle once more they halted to rest not far
+from the mountains. When Dermot awoke next morning he found that he and
+Badshah were alone, all the others having disappeared, and the animal
+was standing patiently awaiting orders. He seemed to recognise that his
+brief hour of authority had passed, and had become once more his usual
+docile and well-disciplined self. At the word of command he sank to
+his knees to allow his master to mount; and then, at the touch of his
+rider's foot, turned his head towards home and started off obediently.
+
+As they approached the _peelkhana_ a cry was raised, and the elephant
+attendants rushed from their huts to stare in awe-struck silence at animal
+and man. Ramnath approached with marked reverence, salaaming deeply at
+every step.
+
+When Dermot dismounted it was hard for him to bid farewell to Badshah. He
+felt, too, that he could no longer make the elephant submit to the ignominy
+of fetters. So he bade Ramnath not shackle nor bind him again. Then he
+patted the huge beast affectionately and pointed to the empty stall in the
+_peelkhana_; and Badshah, seeming to understand and appreciate his being
+left unfettered, touched his white friend caressingly with his trunk and
+walked obediently to his brick standing in the stable. The watching
+_mahouts_ and coolies nodded and whispered to each other at this, but
+Ramnath appeared to regard the relations between his elephant and the sahib
+as perfectly natural.
+
+Dermot shouldered his rifle and started off on the long and weary climb to
+Ranga Duar. When he reached the parade ground he found the men of the
+detachment falling out after their morning drill. His subaltern, Parker,
+who was talking to the Indian officers of the Double Company, saw him and
+came to meet him.
+
+"Hullo, Major; I'm glad to see you back again," he said, saluting. "I
+hardly expected to, after the extraordinary stories I've heard from the
+_mahouts_."
+
+"Really? What were they?" asked his senior officer, leading the way to his
+bungalow.
+
+"Well, the simplest was that Badshah had gone mad and bolted with you into
+the jungle," replied the subaltern. "Another tale was that he knelt down
+and worshipped you, and then asked you to go off with him on some
+mysterious mission."
+
+Dermot had resolved to say as little as possible about his experiences.
+Europeans would not credit his story, and he had no desire to be regarded
+as a phenomenal liar. Natives would believe it, for nothing is too
+marvellous for them; but he had no wish that any one should know of the
+existence of the Death Place, lest ivory-hunters should seek to penetrate
+to it.
+
+"Nonsense. Badshah wasn't mad," he replied. "It was just as I guessed when
+you first told me of these fits of his--merely the jungle calling him."
+
+"Yes, sir. But the weirdest tale of all was that you were seen leading an
+army of elephants, just like a Hindu god, to invade Bhutan."
+
+"Where did you hear that?" asked Dermot in surprise.
+
+"Oh, the yarn came from the _mahouts_, who heard it from some of the forest
+guards, who said they'd been told it by Bhuttias from the hills. You know
+how natives spread stories. Wasn't it a silly tale?" And Parker laughed at
+the thought of it.
+
+"Yes, rather absurd," agreed the Major, forcing a smile. "Yes, natives are
+really--Hello! who's done this?"
+
+They had reached the garden of his bungalow. The little wooden gate-posts
+at the entrance were smeared with red paint and hung with withered wreaths
+of marigolds.
+
+When a Hindu gets the idea into his head that a certain stone or tree or
+place is the abode of a god or godling or is otherwise holy, his first
+impulse is to procure marigolds and red paint and make a votive offering of
+them by making wreaths of the one and daubing everything in the vicinity
+with the other.
+
+"By Jove, Major, I expect that some of the Hindus in the bazaar have heard
+these yarns about you and mean to do _poojah_ (worship) to you," said
+Parker with a laugh. "I told you they regard Badshah as a very holy animal.
+I suppose some of his sacredness has overflowed on to you."
+
+Dermot realised that there was probably some truth in the suggestion. He
+was annoyed, as he had no desire to be looked on by the natives as the
+possessor of supernatural powers.
+
+"I must see that my boy has the posts cleaned," he said. "When you get to
+the Mess, Parker, please tell them I'll be up to breakfast as soon as I've
+had a tub and a shave."
+
+Two hours later Dermot showed Parker the position of the defile on the map
+and explained his notes and sketches of it; for it was important that his
+subordinate should know of it in the event of any mishap occurring to
+himself. But before he acquainted Army Headquarters in India with his
+discovery, he went to the pass again on Badshah to examine and survey it
+thoroughly. When this was done and he had despatched his sketches and
+report to Simla, he felt free to carry out a project that interested him.
+This was to seek out the herd of wild elephants with which Badshah seemed
+most closely associated and try to discover the secret of his connection
+with them.
+
+Somewhat to his surprise he experienced no difficulty in finding them; as,
+when he set out from the _peelkhana_ in search of them, Badshah seemed to
+know what he wanted and carried him straight to them. For each day the
+animal appeared to understand his man's inmost thoughts more and more, and
+to need no visible expression of them.
+
+When they reached the herd, the elephants received Badshah without any
+demonstration of greeting, unlike the previous occasion. They showed no
+objection to Dermot's presence among them. The little animal with the
+blotched trunk recognised him at once and came to him, and the other calves
+soon followed its example and made friends with him. The big elephants
+betrayed no fear, and allowed him to stroll on foot among them freely.
+
+This excursion was merely the first of many that Dermot made with the herd,
+with which he often roamed far and wide through the forest. And sometimes,
+without his knowing it, he was seen by some native passing through the
+jungle, who hurriedly climbed a tree or hid in the undergrowth to avoid
+meeting the elephants. From concealment the awed watcher gazed in
+astonishment at the white man in their midst, of whom such wonderful tales
+were told in the villages. And when he got back safely to his own hamlet
+that night the native added freely to the legends that were gathering
+around Dermot's name among the jungle and hill-dwellers.
+
+On one occasion Dermot, seated on Badshah's neck, was following in rear of
+the herd when it was moving slowly through the forest a few miles from the
+foot of the hills. A sudden halt in the leisurely progress made him wonder
+at the cause. Then the elephants in front broke their formation and crowded
+forward in a body, and Dermot suddenly heard a human cry. Fearing that they
+had come unexpectantly on a native and might do him harm, he urged Badshah
+forward through the press of animals, which parted left and right to let
+him through. To his surprise he found the leading elephants ringed round a
+girl, an English girl, who, hatless and with her unpinned hair streaming on
+her shoulders, stood terrified in their midst.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+A DRAMATIC INTRODUCTION
+
+When Noreen Daleham rose half-stunned from the ground where her pony had
+flung her and realised that she was surrounded by wild elephants she was
+terrified. The stories of their ferocity told her at the club flashed
+across her mind, and she felt that she was in danger of a horrible death.
+When the huge animals closed in and advanced on her from all sides she gave
+herself up for lost.
+
+At that awful moment a voice fell on her ears and she heard the words:
+
+"Don't be alarmed. You are in no danger."
+
+In bewilderment she looked up and saw to her astonishment and relief a
+white man sitting on the neck of one of the great beasts.
+
+"Oh, I am so glad!" she exclaimed. "I was terrified. I thought that these
+were wild elephants."
+
+Dermot smiled.
+
+"So they are," he said. "But they won't hurt you. Can I help you? What are
+you doing here? Have you lost your way in the jungle?"
+
+By this time Noreen had recovered her presence of mind and began to realise
+the situation. It was natural that this man should be astonished to find an
+Englishwoman alone and in distress in the forest. Her appearance was
+calculated to cause him to wonder--and a feminine instinct made her hands
+go up to her untidy hair, as she suddenly thought of her dishevelled state.
+She picked up her hat and put it on.
+
+"I've had a fall from my pony," she explained, trying to reduce her unruly
+tresses to order. "It shied at the elephants and threw me. Then I suppose
+it bolted."
+
+She looked around but could see nothing except elephants, which were
+regarding her solemnly.
+
+"But where have you come from? Are you far from your camp?" persisted
+Dermot. "Shall I take you to it?"
+
+"Oh, we are not in camp," replied Noreen. "I live on a tea-garden. It is
+quite near. I can walk back, thank you, if you are sure that the elephants
+won't do me any harm."
+
+But as she spoke she felt her knees give way under her from weakness, and
+she was obliged to sit down on the ground. The shock of the fall and the
+fright had affected her more than she realised.
+
+Dermot laid his hand on Badshah's head, and the animal knelt down.
+
+"I'm afraid you are not fit to walk far," said Dermot. "I must take you
+back."
+
+As he spoke he slipped to the ground. From a pocket in the pad he extracted
+a flask of brandy, with which he filled a small silver cup.
+
+"Drink this," he said, holding it to her lips. "It will do you good."
+
+Noreen obeyed and drank a little of the spirit. Then, before she could
+protest, she was lifted in Dermot's arms and placed on the pad on Badshah's
+back. This cool disposal of her took her breath away, but to her surprise
+she felt that she rather liked it. There was something attractive in her
+new acquaintance's unconsciously authoritative manner.
+
+Replacing the flask he said:
+
+"Are you used to riding elephants?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Then hold on to this rope across the pad, otherwise you may slip off when
+Badshah rises to his feet. You had better keep your hand on it as we go
+along, though there isn't much danger of your falling."
+
+As he got astride the elephant's neck he continued: "Now, be ready. Hold on
+tightly. Uth, Badshah!"
+
+Despite his warning Noreen nearly slipped off the pad at the sudden and
+jerky upheaval when the elephant rose.
+
+"Now please show me the direction in which your garden lies, if you can,"
+said Dermot.
+
+"Oh, it is quite near," Noreen answered. "That is the road to it."
+
+She let the rope go to point out the way, but instantly grasped it again.
+Dermot turned Badshah's head down the track.
+
+"Oh, what about all these other elephants?" asked the girl apprehensively,
+looking at them where they were grouped together, gazing with curiosity at
+Badshah's passengers. "Will they come too?"
+
+"No," said Dermot reassuringly, "you needn't be afraid. They won't follow.
+We'd create rather too much of a sensation if we arrived at your bungalow
+at the head of a hundred _hathis_."
+
+"But are they really wild?" she asked. "They look so quiet and inoffensive
+now; though when I was on the ground they seemed very dreadful indeed. But
+I was told that wild elephants are dangerous."
+
+"Some of them undoubtedly are," replied Dermot. "But a herd is fairly
+inoffensive, if you don't go too near it. Cow-elephants with young calves
+can be very vicious, if they suspect danger to their offspring."
+
+A turn in the road through the jungle shut out the sight of the huge
+animals behind them, and Noreen breathed more freely. She began to wonder
+who her rescuer was and how he had come so opportunely to her relief. Their
+dramatic meeting invested him in her eyes with more interest than she would
+have found in any man whose acquaintance she had made in a more unromantic
+and conventional manner. And so she bestowed more attention on him and
+studied his appearance more closely than she would otherwise have done. He
+struck her at once as being exceedingly good looking in a strong and manly
+way. His profile showed clear-cut and regular features, with a mouth and
+chin bespeaking firmness and determination. His face in repose was grave,
+almost stern, but she had seen it melt in sudden tenderness as he sprang to
+her aid when she had felt faint. She noticed that his eyes were very
+attractive and unusually dark--due, although she did not know it, to the
+Spanish strain in him as in so many other Irish of the far west of
+Connaught--and with his darker hair, which had a little wave in it, and his
+small black moustache they gave him an almost foreign look. The girl had a
+sudden mental vision of him as a fierce rover of bygone days on the Spanish
+Main. But when, in a swift transition, little laughter-wrinkles creased
+around his eyes that softened in a merry smile, she wondered how she could
+have thought that he looked fierce or stern. Although, like many of her
+sex, she was a little prejudiced against handsome men, and he certainly was
+one, yet she was strongly attracted by his appearance. Probably the very
+contrast in colouring and type between him and her made him appeal to her.
+He was as dark as she was fair. And when he was standing on the ground she
+had seen that he was well above middle height with a lithe and graceful
+figure displayed to advantage by his careless costume of loose khaki shirt
+and Jodpur breeches. The breadth of his shoulders denoted strength, and his
+rolled-up sleeves showed muscular arms burned dark by the sun.
+
+"How did you manage to come up just at the right moment to rescue me?" she
+asked. "I have not thanked you yet for saving me, but I do so now most
+heartily. I can't tell you how grateful I feel. I am sure, no matter what
+you say, that those elephants would have killed me if you hadn't come."
+
+Dermot laughed.
+
+"I'm afraid I cannot pose as a heroic rescuer. I daresay there might have
+been some danger to you, had I not been with them. For one can never tell
+what elephants will do. Out of sheer nervousness and fright they might have
+attacked you."
+
+"You were with them?" she echoed in surprise. "But you said that these were
+wild ones."
+
+"So they are. But this animal we are on is a tame one and was captured
+years ago in the jungle about here. I think he must have belonged to this
+particular herd, for they accept him as one of themselves."
+
+"Yes; but you?"
+
+"Oh, they have made me a sort of honorary member of the herd for his sake,
+I think. He and I are great pals," and Dermot laid his hand affectionately
+on Badshah's head. "He saved my life not long ago when I was attacked by a
+vicious rogue."
+
+Noreen suddenly remembered the conversation at the club lunch.
+
+"Oh, are you the officer from the Fort up at Ranga Duar?" she asked.
+
+"One of them. I am commanding the detachment of Military Police there," he
+answered. "My name is Dermot."
+
+"Then I've heard of you. I understand now. They said that you could do
+wonderful things with wild elephants, that you went about the forest with a
+herd of them."
+
+"_They_ said?" he exclaimed. "Who are 'they'?"
+
+"The men at the club. We have a planters' club for the district, you know.
+At our last weekly meeting they spoke of you and said that you had nearly
+been killed by a rogue. Mr. Payne told us that he used to know you."
+
+"What? Payne of Salchini? I knew him well. Awfully good chap."
+
+"Yes, isn't he? I like him so much."
+
+"I saw a lot of him when I was stationed at Buxa Duar with my Double
+Company. Hullo! here we are at a tea-garden."
+
+They had suddenly come out of the forest on to the open stretch of furrowed
+land planted with the orderly rows of tidy bushes.
+
+"Yes; it is ours. It's called Malpura," said Noreen. "My brother is the
+assistant manager. Our name is Daleham."
+
+"Here comes somebody in a hurry," remarked Dermot, pointing to where, on
+the road ahead of them, a man on a pony was galloping towards them with a
+cloud of dust rising behind him.
+
+"Yes, it's my brother. Oh, what's happening?" she exclaimed.
+
+For as he approached his pony scented the elephant and stopped dead
+suddenly, nearly throwing its rider over its head.
+
+"Fred! Fred! Here I am!" she cried.
+
+But Daleham's animal was unused to elephants and positively refused to
+approach Badshah. In vain its rider strove to make it go on. It suddenly
+put an end to the dispute between them by swinging round and bolting back
+the way that it had come, despite its master's efforts to hold it.
+
+Noreen looked after the pair anxiously.
+
+"You needn't be alarmed, Miss Daleham," said Dermot consolingly. "Your
+brother is quite all right. Once he gets to a safe distance from Badshah
+the pony will pull up. Horses are always afraid of elephants until they get
+used to them. See, he is slowing up already."
+
+When the girl was satisfied that her brother was in no danger she smiled at
+the dramatic abruptness of his departure.
+
+"Poor Fred! He must have been awfully worried over me," she said. "He
+probably thought I was killed or at least had met with a bad accident. And
+now the poor boy can't get near me."
+
+"I daresay he was alarmed if your pony went home riderless."
+
+"Yes, it must have done so. Naughty Kitty. It must have bolted back to its
+stable and frightened my poor brother out of his wits."
+
+"Well, he'll soon have you back safe and sound," said Dermot. "Hold on
+tightly now, and I'll make Badshah step out. _Mul!_"
+
+The elephant increased his pace, and the motion sorely tried Noreen. As
+they passed through the estate the coolies bending over the tea-bushes
+stopped their work to stare at them. Noreen remarked that they appeared
+deeply interested at the sight of the elephant, and gathered together to
+talk volubly and point at it.
+
+When they neared the bungalow they saw Daleham standing on the steps of the
+verandah, waiting for them. He had recognised the futility of struggling
+with his pony and had returned with it.
+
+As they arrived he ran down the steps to meet them.
+
+"Good gracious, Noreen, what has happened to you?" he cried, as Badshah
+stopped in front of the house. "I've been worried to death about you. When
+the servants came to the factory to say that Kitty had galloped home with
+broken reins and without you, I thought you had been killed."
+
+"Oh, Fred, I've had such an adventure," she cried gaily. "You'll say it
+served me right. Wait until I get down. But how am I to do so, Major
+Dermot?"
+
+"The elephant will kneel down. Hold on tightly," he replied. "_Buth_,
+Badshah." He unslung his rifle as he dismounted.
+
+When her brother had lifted her off the pad, the girl kissed him and said:
+
+"I'm so glad to get back to you, dear. I thought I never would. I know
+you'll crow over me and and say, 'I told you so.' But I must introduce you
+to Major Dermot. This is my brother, Major. Fred, if it had not been for
+Major Dermot, you wouldn't have a sister now. Just listen."
+
+The men shook hands as she began her story. Her brother interrupted her to
+suggest their going on to the verandah to get out of the sun. When they
+were all seated he listened with the deepest interest.
+
+At the end of her narrative he could not help saying:
+
+"I warned you, young woman. What on earth would have happened to you if
+Major Dermot had not been there?" He turned to their visitor and continued:
+"I must thank you awfully, sir. There's no doubt that Noreen would have
+been killed without your help."
+
+"Oh, perhaps not. But certainly you were right in advising her not to enter
+the forest alone."
+
+"There, you see, Noreen?"
+
+The girl pouted a little.
+
+"Is it really so dangerous, Major Dermot?" she asked.
+
+"Well, one ought never to go into it without a good rifle," he replied.
+"You might pass weeks, months, in it without any harm befalling you; but on
+the other hand you might be exposed to the greatest danger on your very
+first day in it. You've just had a sample."
+
+"You were attacked yourself by a rogue, weren't you?" asked the girl. "You
+said that your elephant saved you? Was this the one? Do tell us about it."
+
+Dermot briefly narrated his adventure with the rogue. Brother and sister
+punctuated the tale with exclamations of surprise and admiration, and at
+the conclusion of it, turned to look at Badshah, who had taken refuge from
+the sun's rays under a tree and was standing in the shade, shifting his
+weight from leg to leg, flapping his ears and driving away the flies by
+flicking his sides with a small branch which he held in his trunk. Dermot
+had taken off his pad.
+
+"You dear thing!" cried the girl to him. "You are a hero. I'm very proud to
+think that I have been on your back."
+
+"It was really wonderful," said Daleham. "How I should have liked to see
+the fight! I say, all our servants have come out to look at him. By Jove!
+any amount of coolies, too. One would think that they'd never seen an
+elephant before."
+
+"I'm sure they've never seen such a splendid one," said his sister
+enthusiastically. "He is well worth looking at. But--oh, what is that man
+doing?"
+
+One of the crowd of coolies that had collected had gone down on his knees
+before Badshah and touched the earth with his forehead. Then another and
+another imitated him, until twenty or thirty of them were prostrate in the
+dust, worshipping him.
+
+"I must stop this," exclaimed Daleham. "If old Parr sees them he'll be
+furious. They ought to be at their work."
+
+He ran down the steps of the verandah and ordered them away. His servants
+disappeared promptly, but the coolies went slowly and reluctantly.
+
+"What were they doing, Major Dermot?" asked Noreen. "They looked as if they
+were praying to your elephant. Hadn't they ever seen one before?"
+
+He explained the reason of the reverence paid to Badshah. Daleham,
+returning, renewed his thanks as his sister went into the bungalow to see
+about breakfast. When she returned to tell them that it was ready, Dermot
+hardly recognised in the dainty girl, clad in a cool muslin dress, the
+terrified and dishevelled damsel whom he had first seen standing in the
+midst of the elephants.
+
+During the meal she questioned him eagerly about the jungle and the ways of
+the wild animals that inhabit it, and she and her brother listened with
+interest to his vivid descriptions. A chance remark of Daleham's on the
+difficulty of obtaining labour for the tea-gardens in the Terai interested
+Dermot and set him trying to extract information from his host.
+
+"I suppose you know, sir, that as these districts are so sparsely populated
+and the Bhuttias on the hills won't take the work, we have to import the
+thousands of coolies needed from Chota Nagpur and other places hundreds of
+miles away," said Daleham. "Lately, however, we have begun to get men from
+Bengal."
+
+"What? Bengalis?" asked Dermot.
+
+"Yes. Very good men. Quite decent class. Some educated men among them. Why,
+I discovered by chance that one is a B.A. of Calcutta University."
+
+"Do you mean for your clerical work, as _babus_ and writers?"
+
+"No. These chaps are content to do the regular coolie work. Of course we
+make them heads of gangs. I believe they're what are called Brahmins."
+
+"Impossible! Brahmins as tea-garden coolies?" exclaimed Dermot in surprise.
+
+"Yes. I'm told that they are Brahmins, though I don't know much about
+natives yet," replied his host.
+
+Dermot was silent for a while. He could hardly believe that the boy was
+right. Brahmins who, being of the priestly caste, claim to be semi-divine
+rather than mere men, will take up professions or clerical work, but with
+all his experience of India he had never heard of any of them engaging in
+such manual labour.
+
+"How do you get them?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, they come here to ask for employment themselves," replied Daleham.
+
+"Do they get them on many gardens in the district?" asked Dermot, in whose
+mind a vague suspicion was arising.
+
+"There are one or two on most of them. The older planters are surprised."
+
+"I don't wonder," commented Dermot grimly. "It's something very unusual."
+
+"We have got most, though," added his host. "I daresay it's because our
+engineer is a Hindu. His name is Chunerbutty."
+
+"Sounds as if he were a Bengali Brahmin himself," said Dermot.
+
+"He is. His father holds an appointment in the service of the Rajah of
+Lalpuri, a native State in Eastern Bengal not far from here. The son is an
+old friend of ours. I met him first in London."
+
+"In fact, it was through Mr. Chunerbutty that we came here," said Noreen.
+"He gave Fred an introduction to this company."
+
+Dermot reflected. He felt that if these men were really Bengali Brahmins,
+their coming to the district to labour as coolies demanded investigation.
+Their race furnishes the extremist and disloyal element in India, and any
+of them residing on these gardens would be conveniently placed to act as
+channels of communication between enemies without and traitors within. He
+felt that it would be advisable for him to talk the matter over with some
+of the older planters.
+
+"Who is your manager here?" he enquired.
+
+"A Welshman named Parry."
+
+"Are you far from Salchini?"
+
+"You mean Payne's garden? Yes; a good way. He's a friend of yours, isn't
+he?"
+
+"Yes; I should like to see him again. I must pay him a visit."
+
+"Oh, look here, Major," said Daleham eagerly. I've got an idea. Tomorrow is
+the day of our weekly meeting at the club. Will you let me put you up for
+the night, and we'll take you tomorrow to the club, where you will meet
+Payne?"
+
+"Thank you; it's very kind of you; but--" began Dermot dubiously.
+
+Noreen joined in.
+
+"Oh, do stay, Major Dermot. We'd be delighted to have you."
+
+Dermot needed but little pressing, for the plan suited him well.
+
+"Excellent," said Daleham. "You'll meet Chunerbutty at dinner then. You'll
+find him quite a good fellow."
+
+"I'd like to meet him," answered the soldier truthfully. He felt that the
+Bengali engineer might interest him more than his host imagined.
+
+"I'll tell the boy to get your room ready," said Noreen. "Oh, what will you
+do with your elephant?"
+
+"Badshah will be all right. I'll send him back to the herd."
+
+"What, will he go by himself?" exclaimed Daleham. "How will you get him
+again?"
+
+"I think he'll wait for me," replied Dermot.
+
+They had finished breakfast by now and rose from the table. The Major went
+to Badshah, touched him and made him turn round to face in the direction
+whence they had come.
+
+"Go now, and wait for me there," he said pointing to the forest.
+
+The elephant seemed to understand, and, touching his master with his trunk,
+started off at once towards the jungle.
+
+Daleham and his sister watched the animal's departure with surprise.
+
+"Well, I'm blessed, Major. You certainly have him well trained," said Fred.
+"Now, will you excuse me, sir? I must go to the factory. Noreen will look
+after you."
+
+He rose and took up his sun-hat.
+
+"Oh, by the way, there is one of the fellows I told you of," he continued.
+"He is the B.A."
+
+He pointed to a man passing some distance away from the bungalow. Dermot
+looked at him with curiosity. His head was bare, and his thick black hair
+shone with oil. He wore a European shirt and a _dhoti_, or cotton cloth
+draped round his waist like a divided skirt. His legs were bare except for
+gay-coloured socks and English boots. Gold-rimmed spectacles completed an
+appearance as unlike that of the ordinary tea-garden coolie as possible. He
+was the typical Indian student as seen around Gower Street or South
+Kensington, in the dress that he wears in his native land. There was no
+doubt of his being a Bengali Brahmin.
+
+Daleham called him.
+
+"Hi! I say! Come here!"
+
+When the man reached the foot of the verandah steps the assistant manager
+said to him:
+
+"I have told this sahib that you are a graduate of Calcutta University."
+
+The Bengali salaamed carelessly and replied:
+
+"Oah, yess, sir. I am B.A."
+
+"Really? What is your name?" asked Dermot.
+
+"Narain Dass, sir."
+
+"I am sorry, Mr. Dass, that a man of your education cannot get better
+employment than this," remarked Dermot.
+
+The Bengali smiled superciliously.
+
+"Oah, yess, I can, of course. This--" He checked himself suddenly, and his
+manner became more cringing. "Yess, sir, I can with much facility procure
+employment of sedentary nature. But for reasons of health I am stringently
+advised by medical practitioner to engage in outdoor occupation. So I adopt
+policy of 'Back to the Land.'"
+
+"I see, Mr. Dass. Very wise of you," remarked Dermot, restraining an
+inclination to smile. "You are a Brahmin, aren't you?"
+
+"Yess, sir," replied the Bengali with pride.
+
+"Well, Mr. Dass, I hope that your health will improve in this bracing air.
+Good-morning."
+
+"Good-morning, sir," replied the Bengali, and continued on his way.
+
+Dermot watched his departing figure meditatively. He felt that he had got
+hold of a thread, however slender, of the conspiracy against British rule.
+
+"You seem very interested in that coolie, Major Dermot," remarked Noreen.
+
+"Eh? Oh, I beg your pardon," he said, turning to her. "Yes. You see, it is
+very unusual to find such a man doing this sort of work."
+
+He did not enter into any further explanation. The suspicion that he
+entertained must for the present be kept to himself.
+
+When Daleham left them the girl felt curiously shy. Perfectly at her
+ease with men as a rule, she now, to her surprise, experienced a
+sensation of nervousness, a feeling almost akin to awe of her guest. Yet
+she liked him. He impressed her as being a man of strong personality.
+The fact that--unlike most men that she met--he made no special effort
+to please her interested her all the more in him. Gradually she grew
+more at her ease. She enjoyed his tales of the jungle, told with such
+graphic power of narrative that she could almost see the scenes and
+incidents that he depicted.
+
+Dinner-time brought Chunerbutty, who did not conduce to harmony in the
+little party. Dermot regarded him with interest, for he wished to discover
+if the engineer played any part in the game of conspiracy and treason.
+Although the Hindu was ignorant of this, it was evident that he resented
+the soldier's presence, partly from racial motives, but chiefly from
+jealousy over Noreen. He was annoyed at her interest in Dermot and objected
+to her feeling grateful for her rescue. He tried to make light of the
+adventure and asserted that she had been in no danger. Gradually he became
+so offensive to the Major that Noreen was annoyed, and even her brother,
+who usually saw no fault in his friend, felt uncomfortable at Chunerbutty's
+incivility to their guest.
+
+Dermot, however, appeared not to notice it. He behaved with perfect
+courtesy to the Hindu, and ignored his attempts at impertinence, much to
+Daleham's relief, winning Noreen's admiration by his self-control. He
+skilfully steered the conversation to the subject of the Bengalis employed
+on the estate. The engineer at first denied that there were Brahmins among
+them, but when told of Narain Dass's claim to be one, he pretended
+ignorance of the fact. This obvious falsehood confirmed Dermot's suspicion
+of him.
+
+The Dalehams were not sorry when Chunerbutty rose to say good-night shortly
+after they had left the dining-room. He was starting at an early hour next
+morning on a long ride to Lalpuri to visit his father, of whose health he
+said he had received disquieting news.
+
+When Noreen went to bed that night she lay awake for some time thinking of
+their new friend. In addition to her natural feeling of gratitude to him
+for saving her from deadly peril, there was the consciousness that he was
+eminently likable in himself. His strength of character, his manliness, the
+suggestion of mystery about him in his power over wild animals and the
+fearlessness with which he risked the dangers of the forest, all increased
+the attraction that he had for her. Still thinking of him she fell asleep.
+
+And Dermot? Truth to tell, his thoughts dwelt longer on Chunerbutty and
+Narain Dass than on Miss Daleham. He liked the girl, admired her nature,
+her unaffected and frank manner, her kind and sunny disposition. He
+considered her decidedly pretty; but her good looks did not move him much,
+for he was neither impressionable nor susceptible, and had known too many
+beautiful women the world over to lose his heart readily. Possibly under
+other circumstances he might not have given the girl a second thought, for
+women had never bulked largely in his life. But the strange beginning of
+their acquaintance had given her, too, a special interest.
+
+The Dalehams' arrival at the club the next day with their guest caused
+quite a sensation. At any time a stranger was a refreshing novelty to this
+isolated community. But in addition Dermot had the claim of old friendship
+with one of their members, and the other men knew him by repute. So he was
+welcomed with the open-hearted hospitality for which planters are
+deservedly renowned.
+
+Mrs. Rice took complete possession of him as soon as he was introduced to
+her, insisted on his sitting beside her at lunch and monopolised him after
+it. Noreen, rather to her own surprise, felt a little indignant at the calm
+appropriation of her new friend by the older woman, and a faint resentment
+against Dermot for acquiescing in it. She was a little hurt, too, at his
+ignoring her.
+
+But the soldier had not come there to talk to ladies. He soon managed to
+escape from Mrs. Rice's clutches in order to have a serious talk with his
+old friend Payne, which resulted in the latter adroitly gathering the older
+and more dependable men together outside the building on the pretext of
+inspecting the future polo ground. In reality it was to afford Dermot an
+opportunity of disclosing to them as much of the impending peril of
+invasion as he judged wise. The planters would be the first to suffer in
+such an event. He wanted to put them on their guard and enlist their help
+in the detection of a treacherous correspondence between external and
+internal foes. This they readily promised, and they undertook to watch the
+Bengalis among their coolies.
+
+The Dalehams and their guest did not reach Malpura until after sundown, and
+Dermot was persuaded to remain another night under their roof.
+
+On the following morning the brother and sister rode out with him to the
+scene of Noreen's adventure. He was on foot and was accompanied by two
+coolies carrying his elephant's pad. The girl was not surprised, although
+Fred Daleham was, at Badshah's appearance from the forest in response to a
+whistle from his master. And when, after a friendly farewell, man and
+animal disappeared in the jungle, Noreen was conscious of the fact that
+they had left a little ache in her heart.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+IN THE RAJAH'S PALACE
+
+A rambling, many-storied building, a jumbled mass of no particular design
+or style of architecture, with blue-washed walls and close-latticed
+windows, an insanitary rabbit-warren of intricate passages, unexpected
+courtyards, hidden gardens, and crazy tenements kennelling a small army of
+servants, retainers, and indefinable hangers-on--such was the palace of the
+Rajah of Lalpuri. Here and there, by carved doors or iron-studded gates
+half off their hinges, lounged purposeless sentries, barefooted, clad in
+old and dirty red coatees, white cross-belts and ragged blue trousers. They
+leant on rusty, muzzle-loading muskets purchased from "John Company" in
+pre-Mutiny years, and their uniforms were modelled on those worn by the
+Company's native troops before the days of Chillianwallah.
+
+The outer courtyard swarmed with a mob of beggars, panders, traders,
+servants, and idlers, through which occasionally a ramshackle carriage
+drawn by galled ponies, their broken harness tied with rope, and conveying
+some Palace official, made its way with difficulty. Sometimes the vehicle
+was closely shuttered or shrouded with white cotton sheets and contained
+some high-caste lady or brazen, jewel-decked wanton of the Court.
+
+On one side were the tumble-down stables, near which a squealing white
+stallion with long, red-dyed tail was tied to a _peepul_ tree. Its rider, a
+blue-coated _sowar_, or cavalryman, with bare feet thrust into heelless
+native slippers, sat on the ground near it smoking a hubble-bubble. A
+chorus of neighing answered his screaming horse from the filthy stalls,
+outside which stood foul-smelling manure-heaps, around which mangy pariah
+dogs nosed. In the blazing sun a couple of hooded hunting-cheetahs lay
+panting on the bullock-cart to which they were chained.
+
+The Palace stood in the heart of the city of Lalpuri, a maze of narrow,
+malodorous streets off which ran still narrower and fouler lanes. The
+gaudily-painted houses, many stories high, with wooden balconies and
+projecting windows, were interspersed with ruinous palm-thatched bamboo
+huts and grotesquely decorated temples filled with fat priests and hideous,
+ochre-daubed gods, and noisy with the incessant blare of conch shells and
+the jangling of bells. Lalpuri was a byword throughout India and was known
+to its contemptuous neighbours as the City of Harlots and Thieves. Poverty,
+debauchery, and crime were rife. Justice was a mockery; corruption and
+abuses flourished everywhere. A just magistrate or an honourable official
+was as hard to find as an honest citizen or a virtuous woman.
+
+Like people, like rulers. The State had been founded by a Mahratta
+free-booter in the days when the Pindaris swept across Hindustan from
+Poona almost to Calcutta. His successor at the time of the Mutiny was a
+clever rascal, who refused to commit himself openly against the British
+while secretly protesting his devotion to their enemies. He balanced
+himself adroitly on the fence until it was evident which side would
+prove victorious. When Delhi fell and the mutineers were scattered, he
+offered a refuge in his palace to certain rebel princes and leaders
+who were fleeing with their treasures and loot to Burmah. But the
+treacherous scoundrel seized the money and valuables and handed the
+owners over to the Government of India.
+
+The present occupant of the _gadi_--which is the Hindustani equivalent of a
+throne--was far from being an improvement on his predecessors. He exceeded
+them in viciousness, though much their inferior in ability. As a rule the
+Indian reigning princes of today--and especially those educated at the
+splendid Rajkumar College, or Princes' School--are an honour to their high
+lineage and the races from which they spring. In peace they devote
+themselves to the welfare of their subjects, and in war many of them have
+fought gallantly for the Empire and all have given their treasures or their
+troops loyally and generously to their King-Emperor.
+
+The Rajah of Lalpuri was an exception--and a bad one. Although not thirty
+years of age he had plumbed the lowest depths of vice and debauchery.
+Cruelty and treachery were his most marked characteristics, lust and liquor
+his ruling passions.
+
+Of Mahratta descent he was of course a Hindu. While in drunken moments
+professing himself an atheist and blaspheming the gods, yet when
+suffering from illness caused by his excesses he was a prey to
+superstitious fears and as wax in the hands of his Brahmin priests.
+Although his territory was small and unimportant, yet the ownership of
+a Bengal coalfield and the judicious investment by his father of the
+treasure stolen from the rebel princes in profitable Western enterprises
+ensured him an income greater than that enjoyed by many far more
+important maharajahs. But his revenue was never sufficient for his
+needs, and he ground down his wretched subjects with oppressive taxes
+to furnish him with still more money to waste in his vices. All men
+marvelled that the Government of India allowed such a debauchee and
+wastrel to remain on the _gadi_. But it is a long-suffering Government
+and loth to interfere with the rulers of the native states. However,
+matters were fast reaching a crisis when the Viceroy and his advisers
+would be forced to consider whether they should allow this degenerate to
+continue to misgovern his State. This the Rajah realised, and it filled
+him with feelings of hostility and disloyalty to the Suzerain Power.
+
+But the real ruler of Lalpuri State was the _Dewan_ or Prime Minister, a
+clever, ambitious, and unscrupulous Bengali Brahmin, endowed with all the
+talent for intrigue and chicanery of his race and caste as well as with
+their hatred of the British. He had persuaded himself that the English
+dominion in India was coming to an end and was ready to do all in his power
+to hasten the event. For he secretly nourished the design of deposing the
+Rajah and making himself the nominal as well as the virtual ruler of the
+State, and he knew that the British would not permit this. His was the
+brain that had conceived the project of uniting the disloyal elements of
+Bengal with the foreign foes of the Government of India, and he was the
+leader of the disaffected and the chief of the conspirators.
+
+When Chunerbutty arrived in Lalpuri he rode with difficulty through the
+crowded, narrow streets. His sun-helmet and European dress earned him
+hostile glances and open insults, and more than one foul gibe was hurled at
+him as he went along by some who imagined him from his dark face and
+English clothes to be a half-caste. For the native, however humble, hates
+and despises the man of mixed breed.
+
+When he reached the Palace he made his way through the throng of beggars,
+touts, and hangers-on in the outer courtyard, and, passing the sentries,
+all of whom recognised him, entered the building. Through the maze of
+passages and courts he penetrated to the room occupied by his father in
+virtue of his appointment in the Rajah's service.
+
+He found the old man sitting cross-legged on a mat in the dirty, almost
+bare apartment. He was chewing betel-nut and spitting the red juice into a
+pot. He looked up as his son entered.
+
+Among the other out-of-date customs and silly superstitions that the
+younger Chunerbutty boasted of having freed himself from, were the
+respect and regard due to parents--usually deep-rooted in all races of
+India, and indeed of the East generally. So without any salutation or
+greeting he sat down on the one ricketty chair that the room contained,
+and said ill-temperedly:
+
+"Here I am, having ridden miles in the heat and endured discomfort for
+some absurd whim of thine. Why didst thou send for me? I told thee never
+to do so unless the matter were very important. I had to eat abuse from
+that drunken Welshman to get permission to come. I had to swear that
+thou wert on the point of death. Then he consented, but only because, as
+he said, I might catch thy illness and die too. May jackals dig him from
+his grave and devour his corpse!"
+
+As the father and son sat confronting each other the contrast between them
+was significant of the old Bengal and the new. The silly, light-minded
+girls in England who had found the younger man's attractions irresistible
+and raved over his dark skin and the fascinating suggestion of the Orient
+in him, should have seen the pair now. The son, ultra-English in his
+costume, from his sun-hat to his riding-breeches and gaiters, and the old
+Bengali, ridiculously like him in features, despite his shaven crown with
+one oiled scalp-lock, his bulbous nose and flabby cheeks, and teeth stained
+red by betel-chewing. On his forehead were painted three white horizontal
+strokes, the mark of the worshippers of Siva the Destroyer. His only
+garment was a dirty old _dhoti_ tied round his fat, naked paunch.
+
+He grinned at his son's ill-temper and replied briefly:
+
+"The Rajah wishes to see thee, son."
+
+"Why? Is there anything new?"
+
+"I do not know. Thou art angry at being torn from the side of the English
+girl. Art thou to marry her? Why not be satisfied to wed one of thine own
+countrywomen?"
+
+The younger man spat contemptuously.
+
+"I would not be content with a fat Hindu cow after having known English
+girls. Thou shouldest see those of London, old man. How they love us of
+dark skin and believe our tales that we are Indian princes!"
+
+The father leered unpleasantly.
+
+"Thou hast often told me that these white women are shameless. Is it
+needful to pay the price of marriage to possess this one?"
+
+"I want her, if only to anger the white men among whom I live," replied his
+son sullenly. "Like all the English out here they hate to see their women
+marry us black men."
+
+"There is a white man in the Palace who is not like that."
+
+"A white man in the Palace?" echoed his son. "Who is he? What does he
+here?"
+
+"A Parliamentary-_wallah_, who is visiting India and will go back to tell
+the English monkeys in his country what we are not. He comes here with
+letters from the _Lat Sahib_."
+
+"From the Viceroy?"
+
+"Yes; thou knowest that any fool from their Parliament holds a whip over
+the back of the _Lat Sahib_ and all the white men in this land. This one
+hath no love for his own country."
+
+"How knowest thou that?"
+
+"Because the _Dewan Sahib_ loves him. Any foe of England is as welcome to
+the _Dewan_ as the monsoon rain to the _ryot_ whose crops are dying of
+drought. Thou wilt see this one, for he is ever with the _Dewan_, who has
+ordered that thou goest to him before seeing the Rajah.
+
+"Ordered? I am sick of his orders," replied the son, petulantly. "Am I his
+dog that he should order me? I am not a Lalpuri now. I am a British
+subject."
+
+"Thy father eats the Rajah's salt. Thou forgettest that the _Dewan_ found
+the money to send thee across the Black Water to learn thy trade."
+
+The younger man frowned discontentedly.
+
+"Well, I see not the colour of his money now. Why should I obey him? I will
+not."
+
+"Softly, softly, son. There be many knives in the bazaars of the city that
+will seek out any man's heart at the _Dewan's_ bidding. Thou art a man of
+Lalpuri still."
+
+His son rose discontentedly from his chair.
+
+"_Kali_ smite him with smallpox. I suppose it were better to see what he
+wants. I shall go."
+
+Admitted to the presence of the _Dewan_, Chunerbutty's defiant manner
+dropped from him, for he had always held that official in awe. His swagger
+vanished; he bent low and his hand went up to his head in a salaam. The
+Premier of the State, a wrinkled old Brahmin, was seated on the ground
+propped up by white bolsters, with a small table, a foot high, crowded with
+papers in front of him. He was dressed simply and plainly in white cotton
+garments, a small coloured _puggri_ covering his shaved head. Although
+reputed the possessor of finer jewels than the Rajah he wore no ornaments.
+
+Sprawling in an easy chair opposite him was a fat European in a tight white
+linen suit buttoned up to the neck. He evidently felt the heat acutely, and
+with a large coloured handkerchief he incessantly wiped his red face, down
+which the sweat rolled in oily drops, and mopped his bald head.
+
+When Chunerbutty entered the apartment the _Dewan_, without any greeting
+indicated him, saying:
+
+"This, Mr. Macgregor, is an example of what all we Indians shall be when
+relieved of the tyranny of British officials and allowed to govern
+ourselves."
+
+His English was perfect.
+
+The bearer of the historic Highland name, whose appearance suggested rather
+a Hebrew patronymic, removed from his mouth the cigar that he was smoking
+and asked in a guttural voice:
+
+"Who is the young man?"
+
+The _Dewan_ briefly explained, then, turning to Chunerbutty, he said:
+
+"This is Mr. Donald Macgregor, M.P., a member of the Labour Party and a
+true friend of India. You may speak freely before him. Sit down."
+
+The engineer looked around in vain for another chair. The _Dewan_ said
+sharply in Bengali, using the familiar, and in this case contemptuous,
+"thou":
+
+"Sit on the floor, as thy fathers before thee have done, as thou didst
+thyself before thou began to think thyself an Englishman and despise thy
+country and its ways."
+
+Chunerbutty collapsed and sat down hastily on a mat. Then in English the
+_Dewan_ continued:
+
+"Have you any news?"
+
+"No; I have forwarded as they came all letters and messengers from Bhutan.
+The troops--" He stopped and looked at the Member of Parliament.
+
+"Continue. There is no need of secrecy before Mr. Macgregor," said the
+_Dewan_. "I have said that he is a friend of India."
+
+"It's all right, my boy," added the Hebrew Highlander encouragingly. "I am
+a Pacifist and a socialist. I don't hold with soldiers or with keeping
+coloured races enslaved. 'England for English and India for the Indians' is
+my motto."
+
+"Well, I have already informed you that there is no truth in the reports
+that troops were to be sent again to Buxa Duar," said Chunerbutty,
+reassured. "On the frontier there are only the two hundred Military Police
+at Ranga Duar. They are Punjaubi Mohammedans. I made the acquaintance of
+the officer commanding them last night."
+
+"Ah! What is he like?" enquired the _Dewan_, interested.
+
+"Inquisitive, but a fool--like all these officers," replied the engineer
+contemptuously. "He noticed Narain Dass on our garden and saw that he was a
+Bengali. He learned that others of us were employed on our estate and was
+surprised that Brahmins should do coolie work. But he suspected nothing."
+
+"You are sure?" asked the _Dewan_.
+
+"Quite certain."
+
+The _Dewan_ shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"These English officers are not always the fools they seem," he observed.
+"We must keep an eye on this inquisitive person. Now, how goes the work
+among the garden coolies? Are they ripe for revolt?"
+
+"Not yet on all the estates. They are ignorant cattle, and to them the
+Motherland means nothing. But on our garden our greatest helper is the
+manager, a drunken bully. He ill-treats the coolies and nearly kicked one
+to death the other day."
+
+"That's how the Englishman always treats the native, isn't it?" asked the
+Hebrew representative of an English constituency.
+
+"Always and everywhere," replied the engineer unhesitatingly, wondering if
+Macgregor were really fool enough to believe the libel, which one day's
+experience in India should have shown him to be false. But this foreign Jew
+turned Scotchman hated the country of his adoption, as only these gentry
+do, and was ready to believe any lie against it and eager to do all in his
+power to injure it.
+
+The _Dewan_ said:
+
+"Mr. Macgregor has been sent to tell us that his party pledges itself to
+help us in Parliament."
+
+"Yes, you need have no fear. We'll see that justice is done you," began the
+politician in his best tub-thumping manner. "We Socialists and Communists
+are determined to put an end to tyranny and oppression, whether of the
+downtrodden slaves of Capitalism at home or our coloured brothers abroad.
+The British working-man wants no colonies, no India. He is determined to
+change everything in England and do away with all above him--kings, lords,
+aristocrats, and the _bourgeoisie_. He demands Revolution, and we'll give
+it him."
+
+"Pardon me, Mr. Macgregor," remarked the engineer. "I've lived among
+British working-men, when I was in the shops, but I never found that they
+wanted revolution."
+
+The Member of Parliament looked at him steadily for a moment and grinned.
+
+"You're no fool, Mr. Chunerbutty. You're a lad after my own heart. You know
+a thing or two. Perhaps you're right. But the British working-man lets us
+represent him, and we know what's good for him, if he don't. We Socialists
+run the Labour Party, and I promise you we'll back you up in Parliament if
+you rebel and drive the English out of India."
+
+"We shall do it, Mr. Macgregor," said the _Dewan_, confidently, "We are
+co-ordinating all the organisations in the Punjaub, Bombay, and Bengal,
+and we shall strike simultaneously. Afghan help has been promised, and
+the Pathan tribesmen will follow the Amir's regiments into India. As I
+told you, the Chinese and Bhutanese invasion is certain, and there are
+neither troops nor fortifications along this frontier to stop it."
+
+"That's right. You'll do it," said Macgregor. "The General Election
+comes off in a few months, and our party is sure of victory. I am
+authorised to assure you that our first act will be to give India
+absolute independence. So you can do what you like. But don't kill the
+white women and children--at least, not openly. They might not like it
+in England, though personally I don't care if you massacre every damned
+Britisher in the country. From what I've seen of 'em it's only what
+they deserve. The insolence I've met with from those whipper-snapper
+officers! And the civil officials would be as bad, if they dared.
+Then their women--I wouldn't like to say what I think of _them_."
+
+The _Dewan_ turned to Chunerbutty.
+
+"Go now; you have my leave. His Highness wishes to see you. I have sent him
+word that you are here."
+
+The engineer rose and salaamed respectfully. Then, with a nod to Macgregor,
+he withdrew full of thought. He had not known before that the conspiracy to
+expel the British was so widespread and promising. He had not regarded it
+very seriously hitherto. But he had faith in the _Dewan_, and the pledge of
+the great political party in England was reassuring.
+
+Admitted to the presence of the Rajah, Chunerbutty found him reclining
+languidly on a pile of soft cushions on the floor of a tawdrily-decorated
+room. The walls were crowded with highly-coloured chromos of Hindu gods and
+badly-painted indecent pictures. A cut-glass chandelier hung from the
+ceiling, and expensive but ill-assorted European furniture stood about the
+apartment. French mechanical toys under glass shades crowded the tables.
+
+The Rajah was a fat and sensual-looking young man, with bloated face and
+bloodshot that eyes spoke eloquently of his excesses. On his forehead was
+painted a small semicircular line above the eyebrows with a round patch in
+the middle, which was the sect-mark of the _Sáktas_. His white linen
+garments were creased and dirty, but round his neck he wore a rope of
+enormous pearls. His feet were bare. On a gold tray beside him were two
+liqueur bottles, one empty, the other only half full, and two or three
+glasses.
+
+He looked up vacantly as Chunerbutty entered, then, recognising him, said
+petulantly:
+
+"Where have you been? Why did you not come before?"
+
+The engineer salaamed and seated himself on the carpet near him without
+invitation. He held the Rajah far less in awe than the Prime Minister, for
+he had been the former's boon-companion in his debauches too often to have
+much respect for him.
+
+He answered the prince carelessly.
+
+"The _Dewan_ sent for me to see him before I came to you, _Maharaj Sahib_."
+
+"Why? What for? That man thinks that he is the ruler of Lalpuri, not I,"
+grumbled the Rajah. "I gave orders that you were to be sent to me as soon
+as you arrived. I want news of the girl. Is she still there?"
+
+"Yes; she is still there."
+
+"Listen to me," the Rajah leant forward and tapped him on the knee. "I must
+have that girl. Ever since I saw her at the _durbar_ at Jalpaiguri I have
+wanted her."
+
+"Your Highness knows that it is difficult to get hold of an Englishwoman in
+India."
+
+"I know. But I do not care. I must have her. I _will_ have her." He filled
+a tumbler with liqueur and sipped it. "I have sent for you to find a way.
+You are clever. You know the customs of these English. You have often told
+me how you did as you wished with the white women in England."
+
+"That is very different. It is easy there," and Chunerbutty smiled at
+pleasant memories. "There the women are shameless, and they prefer us to
+their own colour. And the men are not jealous. They are proud that their
+daughters and sisters should know us."
+
+He helped himself to the liqueur.
+
+"Why do you not go to England?" he continued. "There every woman would
+throw herself at your feet. They make much of the Hindu students, the sons
+of fat _bunniahs_ and shopkeepers in Calcutta, because they think them all
+Indian princes. For you who really are one they would do anything."
+
+The Rajah sat up furious and dashed his glass down on the tray so violently
+that it shivered to atoms.
+
+"Go to England? Have I not tried to?" he cried. "But every time I ask, the
+Viceroy refuses me permission. I, a rajah, the son of rajahs, must beg
+leave like a servant from a man whose grandfather was a nobody--and be
+refused. May his womenkind be dishonoured! May his grave be defiled!"
+
+He filled another glass and emptied it before continuing.
+
+"But, I tell you, I want this girl. I must have her. You must get her for
+me. Can you not carry her off and bring her here? You can have all the
+money you want to bribe any one. You said there are only two white men on
+the garden. I will send you a hundred soldiers."
+
+Chunerbutty looked alarmed. He had no wish to be dragged into such a mad
+proceeding as to attempt to carry off an Englishwoman by force, and in a
+place where he was well known. For the girl in question was Noreen Daleham.
+The Rajah had seen her a few months before at a _durbar_ or reception of
+native notables held by the Lieutenant Governor of Eastern Bengal, and been
+fired with an insane and unholy passion for her.
+
+"Your Highness, it is impossible. Quite impossible. Do you not see that all
+the power of the _Sirkar_ (the Government) would be put forth to punish us?
+You would be deposed, and I--I would be sent to the convict settlement in
+the Andaman Islands, if I were not hanged."
+
+The Rajah abused the hated English, root and branch. But he was forced to
+admit that Chunerbutty was right. Open violence would ruin them.
+
+He sank back on the cushions, exhausted by his fit of anger. Draining his
+glass he filled it up again. Then he clapped his hands. A servant entered
+noiselessly on bare feet, bringing two full bottles of liqueur and fresh
+tumblers. There was little difficulty in anticipating His Highness's
+requirements. The _khitmagar_ removed the empty bottles and the broken
+glass and left the apartment.
+
+The Rajah drank again. The strong liqueur seemed to have no effect on him.
+Then he said:
+
+"Well, find a plan yourself. But I must get the girl."
+
+Chunerbutty pretended to think. Then he began to expose tentatively, as if
+it were an idea just come to him, a plan that he had conceived weeks
+before.
+
+"_Maharaj Sahib_, if I could make the girl my wife--"
+
+The Rajah half rose up and spluttered out furiously:
+
+"You dog, wouldst thou dare to rival me, to interfere between me and my
+desires?"
+
+The engineer hastened to pacify the angry man.
+
+"No, no, Your Highness. You misunderstand me. Surely you know that you can
+trust me. What I mean is that, if I married her, she would have to obey me,
+and--" he smiled insinuatingly and significantly--"I am a loyal subject of
+Your Highness."
+
+The fat debauchee stared at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments. Then
+understanding dawned, and his bloated face creased into a lascivious smile.
+
+"I see. I see. Then marry her," he said, sinking back on the cushions.
+
+"Your Highness forgets that the salary they pay a tea-garden engineer is
+not enough to tempt a girl to marry him nor support them if she did."
+
+"That is true," replied the Rajah thoughtfully. He was silent for a little,
+and then he said:
+
+"I will give you an appointment here in the Palace with a salary of a
+_lakh_ of rupees a year."
+
+Chunerbutty's eyes glistened. A _lakh_ is a hundred thousand, and at par
+fifteen rupees went to an English sovereign.
+
+"Thank you, Your Highness," he said eagerly.
+
+The Rajah held up a fat forefinger warningly.
+
+"But not until you have married her," he said.
+
+Chunerbutty smiled confidently. Much as he had seen of Noreen Daleham he
+yet knew her so little as to believe that the prospect of such an income,
+joined to the favour in which he believed she held him, would make it an
+easy matter to win her consent.
+
+He imagined himself to be in love with the girl, but it was in the
+Oriental's way--that is, it was merely a matter of sensual desire. Although
+as jealous as Eastern men are in sex questions, the prospect of the money
+quite reconciled him to the idea of sharing his wife with another. His
+fancy flew ahead to the time, which he knew to be inevitable, when
+possession would have killed passion and the money would bring new, and so
+more welcome, women to his arms. The Rajah would only too readily permit,
+nay encourage him to go to Europe--alone. And he gloated over the thought
+of being again in London, but this time with much money at his command.
+What was any one woman compared with fifty, with a hundred, others ready to
+replace her?
+
+So he calmly discussed with the Rajah the manner of carrying out their
+nefarious scheme; and His Highness, to show his appreciation, invited him
+to share his orgies that night. And in the smiles and embraces of a
+Kashmiri wanton, Chunerbutty forgot the English girl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+A BHUTTIA RAID
+
+Dermot's friendship with the Dalehams made rapid progress, and in the
+ensuing weeks he saw them often. In order to verify his suspicions as to
+the Bengalis, he made a point of cultivating the acquaintance of the
+planters, paid several visits to Payne and other members of the community,
+and was a frequent guest at the weekly gatherings at the club.
+
+On one of his visits to Malpura he found Fred recovering from a sharp bout
+of malarial fever, and Dermot was glad of an opportunity of requiting their
+hospitality by inviting both the Dalehams to Ranga Duar to enable Fred to
+recuperate in the mountain air.
+
+The invitation was gladly accepted. Their host came to fetch them himself
+with two elephants; Badshah, carrying a _charjama_, conveying them, while
+the other animal bore their luggage and servants. With jealous rage in his
+heart Chunerbutty watched them go.
+
+Noreen enjoyed the journey through the forest and up the mountains, with
+Dermot sitting beside her to act as her guide, for on this occasion
+Ramnath drove Badshah. As they climbed the steep, winding road among the
+hills and rose out of the damp heat of the Plains, Fred declared that he
+felt better at once in the cool refreshing breezes that swept down from
+the lofty peaks above. The forest fell away behind them. The great teak
+and _sal_ trees gave place to the lighter growths of bamboo, plantain,
+and sago-palm. A troop of small brown monkeys, feasting on ripe bananas,
+sprang away startled on all fours and vanished in all directions. A
+slim-bodied, long-tailed mongoose, stealing across the road, stopped in
+the middle of it to rise up on his hind legs and stare with tiny pink
+eyes at the approaching elephants. Then, dropping to the ground again
+with puffed-out, defiant tail, he trotted on into the undergrowth angry
+and unafraid.
+
+Arrived at Ranga Duar the brother and sister exclaimed in admiration at the
+beauty of the lonely outpost nestling in the bosom of the hills. They gazed
+with interest at the stalwart sepoys of the detachment in khaki or white
+undress whom they passed and who drew themselves up and saluted their
+commanding sahib smartly.
+
+Dermot had given up his small bungalow to his guests and gone to occupy
+the one vacant quarter in the Mess. Noreen was to sleep in his bedroom,
+and, as the girl looked round the scantily-furnished apartment with
+its small camp-bed, one canvas chair, a table, and a barrack chest of
+drawers, she tried to realise that she was actually to live for a while
+in the very room of the man who was fast becoming her hero. For indeed
+her feeling for Dermot so far savoured more of hero-worship than of
+love. She looked with interest at his scanty possessions, his sword,
+the line of riding-boots against the wall, the belts and spurs hung on
+nails, the brass-buttoned greatcoat hanging behind the door. In his
+sitting-room she read the names of the books on a roughly-made stand to
+try to judge of his taste in literature. And with feminine curiosity she
+studied the photographs on the walls and tables and wondered who were
+the originals of the portraits of some beautiful women among them and
+what was their relation to Dermot.
+
+While her brother, who picked up strength at once in the pure air,
+delighted in the military sights and sounds around him, the girl revelled
+in the loveliness of their surroundings, the beauty of the scenery, the
+splendour of the hills, and the glorious panorama of forest and plains
+spread before her eyes. To Parker, who had awaited their arrival at
+Dermot's gate and hurried forward to help down from Badshah's back the
+first Englishwoman who had ever visited their solitary station, she took an
+instant liking, which increased when she found that he openly admired his
+commanding officer as much as she did secretly.
+
+In the days that followed it seemed quite natural that the task of
+entertaining Noreen should fall to the senior officer's lot, while the
+junior tactfully paired off with her brother and took him to shoot on the
+rifle range or join in games of hockey with the sepoys on the parade
+ground, which was the only level spot in the station.
+
+Propinquity is the most frequent cause of love--for one who falls headlong
+into that passion fifty drift into it. In the isolation of that solitary
+spot on the face of the giant mountains, Kevin Dermot and Noreen Daleham
+drew nearer to each other in their few days together there than they ever
+would have done in as many months of London life. As they climbed the hills
+or sat side by side on the Mess verandah and looked down on the leagues of
+forest and plain spread out like a map at their feet, they were apt to
+forget that they were not alone in the world.
+
+The more Dermot saw of Noreen, the more he was attracted by her naturalness
+and her unconscious charm of manner. He liked her bright and happy
+disposition, full of the joy of living. On her side Noreen at first hardly
+recognised the quiet-mannered, courteous man that she had first known in
+the smart, keen, and intelligent soldier such as she found Dermot to be in
+his own surroundings. Yet she was glad to have seen him in his little world
+and delighted to watch him with his Indian officers and sepoys, whose
+liking and respect for him were so evident.
+
+When she was alone her thoughts were all of him. As she lay at night
+half-dreaming on his little camp-bed in his bare room she wondered what
+his life had been. And, to a woman, the inevitable question arose in her
+mind: Had he ever loved or was he now in love with someone? It seemed to
+her that any woman should be proud to win the love of such a man. Was
+there one? What sort of girl would he admire, she wondered. She had
+noticed that in their talks he had never mentioned any of her sex or
+given her a clue to his likes and dislikes. She knew little of men. Her
+brother was the only one of whose inner life and ideas she had any
+knowledge, and he was no help to her understanding of Dermot.
+
+It never occurred to Noreen that there was anything unusual in her interest
+in this new friend, nor did she suspect that that interest was perilously
+akin to a deeper feeling. All she knew was that she liked him and was
+content to be near him. She had not reached the stage of being miserable
+out of his presence. The dawn of a woman's love is the happiest time in its
+story. There is no certain realisation of the truth to startle, perhaps
+affright, her, no doubts to depress her, no jealous fears to torture her
+heart--only a vague, delicious feeling of gladness, a pleasant rose-tinted
+glow to brighten life and warm her heart. The fierce, devouring flames come
+later.
+
+The first love of a young girl is passionless, pure; a fanciful, poetic
+devotion to an ideal; the worship of a deified, glorious being who does
+not, never could, exist. Too often the realisation of the truth that the
+idol has feet of clay is enough to burst the iridescent glowing bubble. Too
+seldom the love deepens, develops into the true and lasting devotion of the
+woman, clear-sighted enough to see the real man through the mists of
+illusion, but fondly wise enough to cherish him in spite of his faults,
+aye, even because of them, as a mother loves her deformed child for its
+very infirmity.
+
+So to Noreen love had come--as it should, as it must, to every daughter of
+Eve, for until it comes no one of them will ever be really content or feel
+that her life is complete, although when it does she will probably be
+unhappy. For it will surely bring to her more grief than joy. Life and
+Nature are harder to the woman than to the man. But in those golden days in
+the mountains, Noreen Daleham was happy, happier far than she had ever
+been; albeit she did not realise that love was the magician that made her
+so. She only felt that the world was a very delightful place and that the
+lonely outpost the most attractive spot in it.
+
+Even when the day came to quit Ranga Duar she was not depressed. For was
+not her friend--so she named him now in her thoughts--to bring her on his
+wonderful elephant through the leagues of enchanted forest to her home? And
+had he not promised to come to it again very soon to visit--not her, of
+course, but her brother? So what cause was there for sadness?
+
+Long as was the way--for forty miles of jungle paths lay between Malpura
+and Ranga Duar--the journey seemed all too short for Noreen. But it came
+to an end at last, and they arrived at the garden as the sun set and
+Kinchinjunga's fairy white towers and spires hung high in air for a
+space of time tantalisingly brief. Before they reached the bungalow the
+short-lived Indian twilight was dying, and the tiny oil-lamps began to
+twinkle in the palm-thatched huts of the toilers' village on the estate.
+And forth from it swarmed the coolies, men, women, children, not to
+welcome them, but to stare at the sacred elephant. Many heads bent low,
+many hands were lifted to foreheads in awed salutation. Some of the
+throng prostrated themselves to the dust, not in greeting to their own
+sahib but in reverence to the marvellous animal and the mysterious white
+man bestriding his neck who was becoming identified with him.
+
+When Dermot rode away on Badshah the next morning the same scenes were
+repeated. The coolies left their work among the tea-bushes to flock to the
+side of the road as he passed. But he paid as little attention to them as
+Badshah did, and turned just before the Dalehams' bungalow was lost to
+sight to wave a last farewell to the girl still standing on the verandah
+steps. It was a vision that he took away with him in his heart.
+
+But, as the elephant bore him away through the forest, Noreen faded from
+his mind, for he had graver, sterner thoughts to fill it. Love can never be
+a fair game between the sexes, for the man and the woman do not play with
+equal stakes. The latter risks everything, her soul, her mind, her whole
+being. The former wagers only a fragment of his heart, a part of his
+thoughts. Yet he is not to blame; it is Nature's ordinance. For the world's
+work would never go on if men, who chiefly carry it on, were possessed,
+obsessed, by love as women are.
+
+So Dermot was only complying with that ordinance when he allowed the
+thoughts of his task, which indeed was ever present with him, to oust
+Noreen from his mind. He was on his way to Payne's bungalow to meet the
+managers of several gardens in that part of the district, who were to
+assemble there to report to him the result of their investigations.
+
+His suspicions were more than confirmed. All had the same tale to tell--a
+story of strange restlessness, a turbulent spirit, a frequent display of
+insolence and insubordination among the coolies ordinarily so docile and
+respectful. But this was only in the gardens that numbered Brahmins in
+their population. The influence of these dangerous men was growing daily.
+This was not surprising to any one who knows the extraordinary power of
+this priestly caste among all Hindus.
+
+There was evidence of constant communication between the Bengalis on the
+other estates and Malpura, which pointed to the latter as being the
+headquarters of the promoters of disaffection. But few of the planters were
+inclined to agree with Dermot in suspecting Chunerbutty as likely to prove
+the leader, for they were of opinion that his repudiation and disregard of
+all the beliefs and customs of the Brahmins would render him obnoxious to
+them.
+
+From Payne's the Major went on to visit some other gardens. Everywhere he
+heard the same story. All the planters were convinced that the heart and
+the brain of the disaffection was to be found in Malpura. So Dermot
+determined to return there and expose the whole matter to Fred Daleham at
+last, charging him on his loyalty not to give the faintest inkling to
+Chunerbutty.
+
+A delay in the advent of the rain, which falls earlier in the district of
+the Himalayan foothills than elsewhere in India, had rendered the jungle
+very dry. Consequently when Dermot on Badshah's neck emerged from it on to
+the garden of Malpura, he was not surprised to see at the far end of the
+estate a column of smoke which told of a forest fire. The wide, open
+stretch of the plantation was deserted, probably, so Dermot concluded,
+because all the coolies had been collected to beat out the flames. But, as
+he neared the Daleham's bungalow, he saw a crowd of them in front of it.
+Before the verandah steps a group surrounded something on the ground, while
+the servants were standing together talking to a man in European clothes,
+whom Dermot, when he drew nearer, recognised as Chunerbutty.
+
+The group near the steps scattered as he approached, and Dermot saw that
+the object on the ground was a native lying on his back, covered with blood
+and apparently dead.
+
+Chunerbutty rushed forward. He was evidently greatly agitated.
+
+"Oh, Major Dermot! Major Dermot! Help! Help!" he cried excitedly. "A
+terrible thing has happened. Miss Daleham has been carried off by a party
+of Bhuttia raiders."
+
+"Carried off? By Bhuttias?" exclaimed the soldier. "When?"
+
+He made the elephant kneel and slipped off to the ground.
+
+"Barely two hours ago," replied the engineer. "A fire broke out in the
+jungle at the south edge of the garden--probably started purposely to draw
+everyone away from the bungalows and factory. The manager, Daleham, and I
+went there to superintend the men fighting the flames. In our absence a
+party of ten or twenty Bhuttia swordsmen rushed the house. Miss Daleham had
+just returned from her ride. Poor girl!"
+
+He broke down and began to cry.
+
+"Pull yourself together man!" exclaimed Dermot in disgust. "Go on. What
+happened?"
+
+"They seized and bound her," continued the Bengali, mastering his emotion.
+"These cowards"--with a wave of his hand he indicated the servants--"did
+nothing to protect her. Only the _syce_ attempted to resist, and they
+killed him."
+
+He pointed to the prostrate man.
+
+"They tried to bear her off on her pony, but it took fright and bolted.
+Then they tied poles to a chair brought from the bungalow and carried her
+away in it."
+
+"Didn't the servants give the alarm?" asked Dermot.
+
+"No; they remained hiding in their quarters until we came. A coolie woman,
+who saw the raiders from a distance, ran to us and told us. Fred went mad,
+of course. He wanted to follow the Bhuttias, but I pointed out that it was
+hopeless."
+
+"Hopeless? Why?"
+
+"There were only three of us, and they were a large party," replied
+Chunerbutty.
+
+"Yes; but you had rifles and should have been a match for fifty."
+
+The Bengali shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"We did not know in which way they had gone," he said. "We could not track
+them."
+
+"I suppose not. Well?"
+
+"Fred and Mr. Parry have ridden off in different directions to the
+neighbouring gardens to summon help. We sent two coolies with a telegram to
+you or any officer at Ranga Duar, to be sent from the telegraph office on
+the Barwahi estate. Then you came."
+
+Dermot observed him narrowly. He was always suspicious of the Hindu; but,
+unless the engineer was a good actor, there was no doubt that he was
+greatly affected by the outrage. His distress seemed absolutely genuine.
+And certainly there seemed no reason for suspecting his complicity in the
+carrying off of Miss Daleham. So the Major turned to the servants and,
+taking them apart one by one, questioned them closely. Chunerbutty had
+given their story correctly. But Dermot elicited two new facts which they
+had not mentioned to the engineer. One raider at least was armed with a
+revolver, which was unusual for a Bhuttia, the difficulty of procuring
+firearms and ammunition in Bhutan being so great that even the soldiers of
+the Maharajah are armed only with swords and bows. The Dalehams'
+_khansamah_, or butler, stated that this man had threatened all the
+servants with this weapon, bidding them under pain of death remain in their
+houses without raising an alarm.
+
+"Do you know Bhutanese?" asked Dermot.
+
+"No, sahib. But he spoke Bengali," replied the servant.
+
+"Spoke it well?"
+
+"No, sahib, not well, but sufficiently for us to understand him."
+
+Another servant, on being questioned, mentioned the curious fact that the
+man with the revolver conversed with another of the raiders in Bengali.
+This struck Dermot as being improbable, but others of the servants
+confirmed the fact. Having gathered all the information that they could
+give him he went over to look at the dead man.
+
+The _syce_, or groom, was lying on his back in a pool of blood. He had been
+struck down by a blow from a sword which seemed to have split the skull.
+But, on placing his ear to the poor wretch's chest, Dermot thought that he
+could detect a faint fluttering of the heart. Holding his polished silver
+cigarette case to the man's mouth he found its brightness slightly clouded.
+
+"Why, he is still living," exclaimed the soldier. "Quick! Bring water."
+
+He hastily applied his flask to the man's lips. Although he grudged the
+time, Dermot felt that the wounded man's attempt to defend Noreen entitled
+him to have his wound attended to even before any effort was made to rescue
+her. So he had the _syce_ carried to his hut, and then, taking out his
+surgical case, he cleansed and sewed up the gash. But his thoughts were
+busy with Noreen's peril. The occurrence astonished him. Bhuttias from the
+hills beyond the border occasionally raided villages and tea-gardens in
+British territory in search of loot, but were generally careful to avoid
+Europeans. Such an outrage as the carrying off of an Englishwoman had never
+been heard of on the North-East Frontier.
+
+There was no time to be lost if the raiders were to be overtaken before
+they crossed the border. Indeed, with the start that they had, pursuit
+seemed almost hopeless. Nevertheless, Dermot resolved to attempt it, and
+single-handed. For he could not wait for the planters to gather, and
+summoning his men from Ranga Duar was out of the question. He did not
+consider the odds against him. Had Englishmen stopped to do so in India,
+the Empire would never have been founded. With his rifle and the prestige
+of the white race behind him he would not have hesitated to face a hundred
+such opponents. His blood boiled at the thought of the indignity offered to
+the girl; though he was not seriously concerned for her safety, judging
+that she had been carried off for ransom. But he pictured the distress and
+terror of a delicately nurtured Englishwoman at finding herself in the
+hands of a band of savage outlaws dragging her away to an unknown and awful
+fate. She was his friend, and he felt that it was his right as well as his
+duty to rescue her.
+
+With a grim determination to follow her abductors even to Punaka, the
+capital of Bhutan, he swung his leg across Badshah's neck and set out,
+having bade Chunerbutty inform Daleham and the planters that he had started
+in pursuit.
+
+The raiders had left the garden by a path leading to the north and headed
+for the mountains. When Dermot got well clear of the bungalow and reached
+the confines of the estate, he dismounted and examined the ground over
+which they had passed. In the dust he found the blurred prints of a number
+of barefooted men and in one place four sharply-defined marks which showed
+where they had set down the chair in which Noreen was being carried,
+probably to change the bearers. A mile or two further on the track crossed
+the dry bed of a small stream. In the sand Dermot noticed to his surprise
+the heel-mark of a boot among the footprints of the raiders, it being most
+unusual for Bhuttias to be shod.
+
+As his rider knelt down to examine the tracks, Badshah stretched out his
+trunk and smelt them as though he understood the object of their mission.
+And, as soon as Dermot was again on his neck, he moved on at a rapid pace.
+It was necessary, however, to check constantly to search for the raiders'
+tracks. The Bhuttias had followed an animal path through the jungle, and
+Dermot seated on his elephant's neck with loaded rifle across his knees,
+scanned it carefully and watched the undergrowth on either side, noting
+here and there broken twigs or freshly-fallen leaves which marked the
+passage of the chair conveying Noreen. Such signs were generally to be
+found at sharp turnings of the path. Wherever the ground was soft enough or
+sufficient dust lay to show impressions he stopped to examine the spot
+carefully for footprints. Occasionally he detected the sharp marks of the
+chair-legs or of the boot.
+
+The trial led towards the mountains, as was natural. But after several
+hours' progress Badshah turned suddenly to the left and endeavoured to
+continue on towards the west. Dermot was disappointed, for he had persuaded
+himself that the elephant quite understood the quest and was following the
+trail. He headed Badshah again towards the north, but with difficulty, for
+the animal obstinately persisted in trying to go his own way. When Dermot
+conquered finally they continued towards the mountains. But before long the
+soldier found that he had lost all traces of the raiding party. He cast
+around without success and wasted much time in endeavouring to pick up the
+trail again. At last to his annoyance he was forced to turn back and
+retrace his steps.
+
+At the spot where the conflict of opinion between him and the elephant had
+taken place he cast about and found the track again. It led in the
+direction in which Badshah had tried to take him. The elephant had been
+wiser than he. Now, with an apologetic pat on the head, Dermot let him
+follow the new path, wondering at the change of route, for it was only
+natural to expect that the Bhuttias would have made for the hills by the
+shortest way to the nearest pass into Bhutan. As the elephant moved along
+his rider's eye was quick to recognise the traces of the passing of the
+raiders, where no sign would have been visible to one unskilled in
+tracking.
+
+All at once Badshah slackened his pace and began to advance with the
+caution of a tusker stalking an enemy. Confident in the animal's
+extraordinary intelligence Dermot cocked his rifle. The elephant suddenly
+turned off the path and moved noiselessly through the undergrowth for a few
+minutes. Then he stopped on the edge of an open glade in the forest.
+
+Scattered about in it, sitting or lying down half-asleep, were a number of
+short, sturdy, brown-faced men with close cropped bare heads. Each was clad
+in a single garment shaped like a Japanese _kimono_ and kilted up to expose
+thick-calved, muscular bare legs by a girdle from which hung a _dah_--a
+short, straight sword. A little apart from them sat Noreen Daleham in a
+chair in which she was securely fastened and to which long carrying-poles
+were tied. She was dressed in riding costume and wore a sun-helmet.
+
+The girl was pale, weary, and dejected, and looked so frail and unfitted to
+cope with so terrifying a situation that a feeling of immense tenderness
+and an instinctive desire to protect her filled Dermot as he watched her.
+Then passionate anger welled up in him as he turned his eyes again to her
+captors; and he longed to make them pay dearly for the suffering that she
+had endured.
+
+But, despite his rage, he deliberated coolly enough on the best mode of
+attack, as he counted the number of the raiders. There were twenty-two. The
+soldier's quick eye instantly detected that one of them, although garbed
+similarly to the rest, was in features unlike a Bhuttia and had not the
+sturdy frame of a man of that race. He was wearing shoes and socks and was
+the only one of the party not carrying a _dah_.
+
+Dermot's first idea was to open fire suddenly on the raiders and continue
+firing while moving about in cover from place to place on the edge of the
+glade, so as to give the impression of a numerous force. But he feared that
+harm might come to the girl in the fight if any of the Bhuttias carried
+fire-arms, for they would probably fire wildly, and a stray bullet might
+hit the girl. So he resolved on a bolder policy. While the raiders, who had
+put out no sentries, lay about in groups unconscious of the proximity of an
+enemy, Dermot touched Badshah with his hand, and the elephant broke
+noiselessly out of the undergrowth and suddenly appeared in their midst.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE RESCUE OF NOREEN
+
+There was a moment's consternation among the Bhuttias. Then they sprang to
+their feet and began to draw their _dahs_. But suddenly one cried:
+
+"The demon elephant! The devil man!"
+
+Another and another took up the cry. Then all at once in terror they turned
+and plunged panic-stricken into the undergrowth. All but two--the wearer of
+shoes and a man with a scarred face beside him. While the rest fled they
+stood their ground and called vainly to their companions to come back. When
+they found themselves deserted the wearer of shoes pulled out a revolver
+and fired at Dermot, while his scarred comrade drew his sword and ran
+towards Noreen.
+
+The soldier, ignoring his own danger but fearing for the girl's life, threw
+his rifle to his shoulder and sent a bullet crashing through her
+assailant's skull, then with his second barrel he shot the man with the
+pistol through the heart. The first raider collapsed instantly and fell in
+a heap, while the other, dropping his weapon, swayed for a moment,
+staggered forward a few feet, and fell dead.
+
+Only then could Dermot look at Noreen. In the dramatic moment of his
+appearance the girl had uttered no sound, but sat rigid with her eyes fixed
+on him. When the swordsman rushed at her she seemed scarcely conscious of
+her peril but she started in terror and grew deadly pale when his companion
+fired at her rescuer. When both fell her tension relaxed. She sank back
+half-fainting in her chair and closed her eyes.
+
+When she opened them again Badshah was kneeling a few yards away and Dermot
+stood beside her cutting the cords that bound her.
+
+She looked up at him and said simply:
+
+"I knew you would come."
+
+With an affectation of light-heartedness that he was far from feeling he
+replied laughing:
+
+"Of course you did. I am bound to turn up like the clown in the pantomime,
+saying, 'Here we are again.' Oh, I forgot. I am a bit late. I should have
+appeared on the scene when those beggars got to your bungalow."
+
+He pretended to treat the whole affair lightly and made no further allusion
+to her adventure, asking no questions about it. He was afraid lest she
+should break down in the sudden relief from the strain and anxiety. But
+there was no cause to fear it. The girl was quietly brave and imitated his
+air of unconcern, behaving after the first moment as if they were meeting
+under the most ordinary circumstances. She smiled, though somewhat feebly,
+as she said:
+
+"Oh, not a clown, Major Dermot. Rather the hero of a cinema drama, who
+always appears in time to rescue the persecuted maiden. I am beginning to
+feel quite like the unlucky heroine of a film play."
+
+The cords fastening her had now been cut, so she tried to stand up but
+found no strength in her numbed limbs.
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm--I'm rather stiff," she said, sinking back into the
+chair again. She felt angry at her weakness, but she was almost glad of it
+when she saw Dermot's instant look of concern.
+
+"You are cramped from being tied up," he said. "Don't hurry."
+
+The cords had chafed her wrists cruelly. He stooped to examine the
+abrasions, and the girl thrilled at his gentle touch. A feeling of shyness
+overcame her, and she turned her eyes away from his face. They fell on the
+bodies of the dead raiders, and she hastily averted her gaze.
+
+"Hadn't we better hurry away from here?" she asked, apprehensively.
+
+"No; I don't think there is any necessity. The men who ran away seemed too
+scared to think of returning. But still, we'll start as soon as you feel
+strong enough."
+
+"What was it that they cried out?"
+
+"Oh, merely an uncomplimentary remark about Badshah and me," he replied.
+
+The girl made another attempt to rise and succeeded with his assistance. He
+lifted her on to Badshah's pad and went over to examine the dead men. After
+his first casual glance at the wearer of shoes he knelt down and looked
+closely into the face of the corpse. Then he pulled open the single
+garment. A thin cord consisting of three strings of spun cotton was round
+the body next the skin, passing over the left shoulder and under the right
+arm. This Dermot cut off. From inside the garment he took out some other
+articles, all of which he pocketed. He then searched the corpse of the
+scarred Bhuttia, taking a small packet tied up in cloth from the breast of
+the garment. Noreen watched him with curiosity and marvelled at his courage
+in handling the dead bodies.
+
+He returned to the kneeling elephant and took his place on the neck.
+
+"Hold on now, Miss Daleham," he said. "Badshah's going to rise. _Uth_"
+
+Noreen gripped the surcingle rope tightly as the elephant heaved up his big
+body and set off along a track through the jungle at a rapid pace.
+
+"Now we are safe enough," said Dermot, turning towards his companion. "I
+have not asked you yet about your adventures. Tell me all that happened to
+you, if you don't mind talking about it."
+
+"Oh, it was awful," she answered, shuddering at the remembrance. "And it
+was all so sudden. There was a fire in the jungle near the garden, and Fred
+went with the others to put it out. He wouldn't let me accompany him, but
+told me to go for my ride in the opposite direction. I didn't stay away
+long. I had just returned to the bungalow and dismounted and was giving my
+pony a piece of sugar, when several Bhuttias rushed at me from behind the
+house and seized me. Poor Lalla, my _syce_, tried to keep them off with his
+bare hands, but one brute struck him on the head with his sword. The poor
+boy fell, covered with blood. I'm afraid he was killed."
+
+"No, he isn't dead," remarked Dermot. "I saw him, and I think that he'll
+live."
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad to hear it," exclaimed the girl. "Ever since I saw it I've
+had before my eyes the dreadful sight of the poor lad lying on the ground
+covered with blood and apparently lifeless. Well, to go on. I called the
+other servants, but no one came. The Bhuttias tied my hands and tried to
+lift me on to my pony's back, but Kitty got frightened and bolted. Then
+they didn't seem to know what to do, and one went to a man who had remained
+at a distance from us and spoke to him. He apparently told them to fetch a
+chair from the bungalow and put me into it. I tried to struggle, but I was
+powerless in their grasp. I was fastened to the chair, poles were tied to
+it, and at a sign from the man who stood alone--he seemed to be the
+leader--I was lifted up and carried off."
+
+"Did you notice anything about this man--the leader?" asked Dermot.
+
+"Yes, he was not like the others in face. He didn't seem to me to be a
+Bhuttia at all. He was one of the two that you shot--the man with shoes. It
+seems absurd, but do you know, his face appeared rather familiar to me
+somehow. But of course I could never have seen him before."
+
+"Are you sure that you hadn't? Think hard," said Dermot eagerly.
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"It's no use. I puzzled over the likeness most of the time that I was in
+their hands, but I couldn't place him."
+
+Dermot looked disappointed.
+
+The girl continued:
+
+"We went through the forest for hours without stopping, except to change
+the bearers of my chair. I noticed that the leader spoke to one man only,
+the man with the scars on his face whom you shot, too, and he passed on the
+orders."
+
+"Could you tell in what language these two spoke to each other?"
+
+"No; they never talked in my hearing. In fact I noticed that the man with
+shoes always avoided coming near me. Well, we went on and on and never
+halted until we reached the place where you found us. It seemed to be a
+spot that they had aimed for. I saw the scarred man examining some marks on
+the trees in it and pointing them out to the leader, who then gave the
+order to stop."
+
+"How did they behave to you?"
+
+"No one took any notice of me. They simply carried me, lifted me up, and
+dumped me down as if I were a tea-chest," replied the girl. "Well, that is
+all my adventure. But now please tell me how you came so opportunely to my
+rescue. Was it by chance or did you follow us? Oh, I forgot. You said you
+saw Lalla, so you must have been at Malpura. Did Fred send you?"
+
+Dermot briefly related all that had happened. When he told her of his
+dispute with Badshah about the route to be followed and how the elephant
+proved to be in the right she cried enthusiastically:
+
+"Oh, the dear thing! He's just the most wonderful animal in the world.
+Forgive me for interrupting. Please go on."
+
+When he had finished his tale there was silence between them for a little.
+Then Noreen said in a voice shaking with emotion:
+
+"How can I thank you? Again you have saved me. And this time from a fate
+even more dreadful than the first. I'd sooner be killed outright by the
+elephants than endure to be carried off to some awful place by those
+wretches. Who were they? Were they brigands, like one reads of in Sicily?
+Was I to be killed or to be held to ransom?"
+
+"Oh, the latter, I suppose," replied Dermot.
+
+But there was a doubtful tone about his words. In fact, he was at a loss to
+understand the affair. It was probably not what he had thought it at
+first--an attempt on the part of enterprising Bhuttia raiders to carry off
+an Englishwoman for ransom. For when he overtook them they were on a path
+that led away from the mountains, so they were not making for Bhutan. And
+the identity of the leader perplexed him.
+
+There could be no political motive for the outrage. The affair was a
+puzzle. But he put the matter aside for the time being and began to
+consider their position. The sun was declining, for the afternoon was well
+advanced. As far as he could judge they were a long way from Malpura, and
+it seemed to him that Badshah was not heading directly for the garden. But
+he had sufficient confidence in the animal's intelligence to refrain from
+interfering with him again. The pangs of hunger reminded him that he had
+had no food since the early morning cup of tea at the planter's bungalow
+where he had passed the night, for he had hoped to breakfast at Malpura. It
+occurred to him that his companion must be in the same plight.
+
+"Are you hungry, Miss Daleham?" he asked.
+
+"Hungry? I don't know. I haven't had time to think about food," she
+replied. "But I'm very thirsty."
+
+"Would you like a cup of tea?"
+
+"Oh, don't tantalise me, Major," she replied laughing. "I feel I'd give
+anything for one now. But unfortunately there aren't any tea-rooms in this
+wonderful jungle of yours."
+
+Dermot smiled.
+
+"Perhaps it could be managed," he said. "What I am concerned about is how
+to get something substantial to eat, for I foolishly came away from
+Granger's bungalow, where I stayed last night, without replenishing my
+stores, which had run low. I intended asking you for enough to carry me
+back to Ranga Duar. But when I heard what had happened--Hullo! with luck
+there's our dinner."
+
+He broke off suddenly, for a jungle cock had crowed in the forest not far
+away.
+
+"I wish I had a shot gun," he whispered. "But my rifle will have to do.
+_Mul_, Badshah."
+
+He guided the elephant quietly and cautiously in the direction from which
+the sound had come. Presently they came to an open glade and heard the fowl
+crow again. Dermot halted Badshah in cover and waited. Presently there was
+a patter over the dry leaves lying on the ground, and a jungle cock, a bird
+similar to an English bantam, stalked across the glade twenty yards away.
+It stopped and began to peck. Dermot quietly raised his rifle and took
+careful aim at its head. He fired, and the body of the cock fell to the
+earth headless.
+
+"What a good shot, Major!" exclaimed Noreen, who had been quite excited.
+
+"It was an easy one, for this rifle's extremely accurate and the range was
+very short. I fired at the head, for if I had hit the body with such a big
+bullet there wouldn't have been much dinner left for us. Now I think that
+we shall have to halt for a little time. I know that you must be eager to
+get back home and relieve your brother's anxiety. But Badshah has been
+going for many hours on end and has not delayed to graze on the way, so it
+would be wise to give him a rest and a feed."
+
+"Yes, indeed," said the girl. "He thoroughly deserves it."
+
+She was not unwilling that the time spent in Dermot's company should be
+prolonged. It was a sweet and wonderful experience to be thus alone with
+him in the enchanted jungle. She had forgotten her fears; and the
+remembrance of her recent unpleasant adventure vanished in her present
+happiness. For she was subtly conscious of a new tenderness in his manner
+towards her.
+
+The elephant sank down, and Dermot dismounted and lifted the girl off
+carefully. Noreen felt herself blushing as he held her in his arms, and she
+was thankful that he did not look at her, but when he had put her down,
+busied himself in taking off Badshah's pad and laying it on the ground.
+Unstrapping his blankets he spread one and rolled the other up as a pillow.
+
+"Now please lie down on this, Miss Daleham," he said. "A rest will do you
+good, too. I am going to turn cook and show you how we fare in the jungle."
+
+The girl took off her hat and was only too glad to stretch herself on the
+pad, which made a comfortable couch, for the emotions of the day had worn
+her out. She watched Dermot as he moved about absorbed in his task. From
+one pocket of the pad he took out a shallow aluminium dish and a small,
+round, convex iron plate. From another he drew a linen bag and a tin
+canister.
+
+"You said that you would like tea, Miss Daleham," he remarked. "Well, you
+shall have some presently."
+
+"Yes; but how can you make it?" she asked. "There's no water in the
+jungle."
+
+"Plenty of it."
+
+"Are we near a stream, then?"
+
+"No; the water is all round us, waiting for me to draw it off."
+
+The girl looked about her.
+
+"What do you mean? I don't see any. Where is the water?"
+
+"Hanging from the trees," he replied, laughing. "I'll admit you into one of
+the secrets of the jungle. But first I want a fire."
+
+He gathered dried grass and sticks, cleared a space of earth and built
+three fires, two on the ground with a large lump of hard clay on either
+side of each, the third in a hole that he scraped out.
+
+"To be consistent I ought to produce fire by rubbing two pieces of dried
+wood together, as they do in books of adventure," he said, turning to the
+interested girl. "It can be done. I have seen natives do it; but it is a
+lengthy process and I prefer a match."
+
+He took out a box and lit the fires.
+
+"Now," he said, "if you'll see to these for me, I'll go and get the kettle
+and crockery."
+
+At the far end of the glade was a clump of bamboos. Dermot selected the
+biggest stem and hacked it down with his _kukri_. From the thicker end he
+cut off a length from immediately below a knot to about a foot above it,
+trimmed the edges and brought it to Noreen. It made a beautifully clean and
+polished pot, pale green outside, white within.
+
+"There is your kettle and tea-pot," he said.
+
+From a thinner part he cut off similarly two smaller vessels to serve as
+cups.
+
+"Now then for the water to fill the kettle," he said, looking around among
+the creepers festooning the trees for the _pani bêl_. When he found the
+plant he sought, he cut off a length and brought it to the girl, who had
+never heard of it. Asking her to hold the bamboo pot he filled it with
+water from the creeper, much to her astonishment.
+
+"How wonderful!" she cried. "Is it really good to drink?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"But how are you going to boil it?"
+
+"In that bamboo pot."
+
+"But surely that will burn?"
+
+"No, the water will boil long before the green wood begins to be charred,"
+replied Dermot, placing the pot over the first fire on the two lumps of
+clay, so that the flames could reach it.
+
+Then he opened the linen bag, which Noreen found to contain _atta_, or
+native flour. Some of this he poured into the round aluminium dish and with
+water from the _pani bêl_ he mixed dough, rolled it into balls, and patted
+them into small flat cakes. Over the second fire he placed the iron plate,
+convex side up, and when it grew hot put the cakes on it.
+
+"How clever of you! You are making _chupatis_ like the natives do,"
+exclaimed Noreen. "I love them. I get the cook to give them to us for tea
+often."
+
+She watched him with interest and amusement, as he turned the cakes over
+with a dexterous flip when one side browned; then, when they were done, he
+took them off and piled them on a large leaf.
+
+"Who would ever imagine that you could cook?" Noreen said, laughing. "Do
+let me help. I feel so lazy."
+
+"Very well. Look after the _chupatis_ while I get the fowl ready," he
+replied.
+
+He cleaned the jungle cock, wrapped it up in a coating of wet clay and laid
+it in the hot ashes of the third fire, covering it over with the red
+embers.
+
+Just as he had finished the girl cried: "The water is actually boiling? Who
+would have believed it possible?"
+
+"Now we are going to have billy tea as they make it in the bush in
+Australia," said Dermot, opening the canister and dropping tea from it into
+the boiling water.
+
+Noreen gathered up a pile of well-toasted _chupatis_ and turned a smiling,
+dimpled face to him.
+
+"This is the jolliest picnic I've ever had," she cried. "It was worth being
+carried off by those wretches to have all these delightful surprises. Now,
+tea is ready, sir. Please may I pour it out?"
+
+He wrapped his handkerchief round the pot before handing it to her.
+
+"I suppose you haven't a dairy in your wonderful jungle?" she asked,
+laughing.
+
+"No; I'm sorry to say that you must put up with condensed milk," he
+replied, producing a tin from a pocket of the pad and opening it with his
+knife.
+
+"What a pity! That spoils the illusion," declared the girl. "I ought to
+refuse it; but I'll pass it for this occasion, as I don't like my tea
+unsugared and milkless. No, I refuse to have a spoon." For he took out a
+couple and some aluminium plates from the inexhaustible pad. "I'll stir my
+tea with a splinter of bamboo and eat my _chupatis_ off leaves. It is more
+in keeping with the situation."
+
+Like a couple of light-hearted children they sat side by side on the pad,
+drank their tea from the rude bamboo cups and devoured the hot _chupatis_
+with enjoyment; while, invisible in the dense undergrowth, Badshah twenty
+yards away betrayed his presence by tearing down creepers and breaking off
+branches. In due time Dermot took from the hot ashes a hardened clay ball,
+broke it open and served up the jungle fowl, from which the feathers had
+been stripped off by the process of cooking. Noreen expressed herself
+disappointed when her companion produced knives and forks from the magic
+pockets of the pad.
+
+"We ought to be consistent and use our fingers," she said.
+
+When they had finished their meal, which the girl declared was the most
+enjoyable one that she had ever had, Dermot made her rest again on the pad
+while he cleaned and replaced his plates, cutlery, and cooking vessels.
+Then, leaning his back against a tree, he filled and lit his pipe, while
+Noreen watched him stealthily and admiringly. In the perfect peace and
+silence of the forest encompassing them she felt reluctant to leave the
+enchanted spot.
+
+But suddenly the charm was rudely dispelled. A shot rang out close by, and
+Dermot's hat was knocked from his head as a bullet passed through it and
+pierced the bark of the tree half an inch above his hair. As though the
+shot were a signal, fire was opened on the glade from every side, and for a
+moment the air seemed full of whistling bullets. The soldier sprang to
+Noreen, picked her up like a child in his arms, and ran with her to an
+enormously thick _simal_ tree, behind which he placed her. Then he gathered
+up the pad and piled it on her exposed side as some slight protection. At
+least it hid her from sight.
+
+As he did so the firing redoubled in intensity and bullets whistled and
+droned through the glade. One grazed his cheek, searing the flesh as with a
+red-hot iron. Another wounded him slightly in the neck, while a third cut
+the skin of his thigh. He seemed to bear a charmed life; and the girl
+watching him felt her heart stop, as the blood showed on his face and neck.
+The flying lead sent leaves fluttering to the ground, cut off twigs, and
+struck the tree-trunks with a thud. Flinging himself at full length on the
+ground Dermot reached his rifle, then crawled to shelter behind another
+tree.
+
+He looked eagerly around for his assailants. At first he could see no one.
+Suddenly through the undergrowth about thirty yards away the muzzle of an
+old musket was pushed out, and then a dark face peered cautiously behind
+it. The eyes in it met Dermot's, but that glance was their last. The
+soldier's rifle spoke, and the face disappeared as its owner's body pitched
+forward among the bushes and lay still. At the sharp report of the white
+man's weapon the firing all around ceased suddenly. But the intense silence
+that followed was broken by a strange sound like the shrill blast of a
+steam whistle mingled with the crackling of sheets of tin rapidly shaken
+and doubled. Noreen, crouching submissively in the shelter where Dermot had
+placed her, thrilled and wondered at the uncanny sound.
+
+The soldier knew well what it was. It was Badshah's appeal for help, and he
+wondered why the animal had given it then, so late. But far away a wild
+elephant trumpeted in reply. There was a crashing in the undergrowth as
+Badshah dashed away and burst through the cordon of enemies encircling
+them. Dermot's heart sank; for, although he rejoiced that his elephant was
+out of danger, his sole hope of getting Noreen and himself away had lain in
+running the gauntlet on the animal's back through their invisible foes.
+
+As he gripped his rifle, keenly alert for a mark to aim at, his thoughts
+were busy. He was amazed at this unexpected attack and utterly unable to
+guess who their assailants could be. They were not the Bhuttias again, for
+those had no guns. And the man that he had just shot was not a mountaineer.
+Although it was evident that the firearms used were mostly old smooth-bore
+muskets, and the smoke from the powder rose in clouds over the undergrowth
+and drifted to the tree-tops, he had detected the sharp crack of a modern
+rifle occasionally among the duller reports of the more ancient weapons.
+The mysterious attackers were apparently numerous and completely surrounded
+them. Dermot cursed himself for his folly in halting for food instead of
+pushing on to safety without a stop. But he had calculated on the
+superstitious fears of the Bhuttias who had been scared away by the sight
+of him and Badshah; and indeed to all appearance he was right in so doing.
+He could not reckon on new enemies springing up around them. Who could they
+be? It was almost inconceivable that in this quiet corner of the Indian
+Empire two English people could be thus assailed. The only theory that he
+could form was that the attackers were a band of Bengali political
+_dacoits_.
+
+The firing started again. Dermot appeared to be so well hidden that none of
+their enemies had discovered him, except the one unlucky wretch whose
+courage had proved his ruin. The shots were being fired at random and all
+went high. But there seemed no hope of escape; for it was evident from the
+sounds and the smoke that the girl and he were completely surrounded. For
+one wild moment he thought of rising suddenly to his feet and making a dash
+through the cordon, hoping to draw all their enemies after him and give his
+companion a chance of escape. But the plan was futile; for she would never
+find her way alone through the jungle and would fall at once into the hands
+of her foes.
+
+Suddenly a heavy bullet struck the tree a foot above his head, evidently
+fired from behind him. He instantly rolled over on his back and lay
+motionless with his eyes half-closed, looking in the direction from which
+the shot must have come. The bushes not ten yards away were parted quietly;
+and a head was thrust out. With a swift motion Dermot swung his rifle round
+until the muzzle pointed over his toes and, holding the weapon in one hand
+like a pistol, fired point-blank at the assailant who had crept up quietly
+behind him. Shot through the head the man pitched forward on his face,
+almost touching the soldier's feet. Dermot saw that the corpse was that of
+a low-caste Hindu, clad only in a dirty cotton _koorta_ and _dhoti_. A
+Tower musket lay beside him.
+
+The wild firing died down again. The sun was setting; and the soldier
+judged that the attackers were probably waiting for darkness to rush him.
+Why they did not do so at once, since they were so numerous, surprised him;
+but he surmised that it was lack of courage. It was maddening to be obliged
+to await their pleasure. He was far more concerned about the girl than for
+himself. A feeling of dread pity filled his heart when he thought of what
+her fate would be when he was no longer alive to protect her. Should he
+kill her, he asked himself, and give her a swift and merciful death instead
+of the horrors of outrage and torture that would probably be her lot if she
+fell alive into the hands of these murderous scoundrels? In those moments
+of tension and terrible strain he realised that she was very dear to him,
+that she evoked in his heart a feeling that no other woman had ever aroused
+in him.
+
+The sun was going down; and with it Dermot felt that his life was passing.
+He grudged losing it in an obscure and causeless scuffle, instead of on an
+honourable field of battle as a soldier should. He wished that he had a
+handful of his splendid sepoys with him. They would have made short work of
+a hundred of such ruffians as now threatened him. But it was useless to
+long for them. He drew his _kukri_ and laid it on the ground beside him,
+ready for the last grim struggle. He had resolved to crawl to the girl when
+darkness settled on the forest, and, before the rush came, give her the
+chance of a swift and honourable death, shoot her if she chose it--as he
+was confident that she would--then close with his foes until death came.
+
+The light grew fainter. Dermot nerved himself for the terrible task before
+him and was about to move, when with a light and unfaltering step Noreen
+came to him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+A STRANGE HOME-COMING
+
+Dermot dragged the girl down to the ground beside him as a shot rang out.
+
+"I suppose they will kill us, Major Dermot," she said calmly. "But couldn't
+you manage to get away in the darkness? You know the jungle so well. Please
+don't hesitate to leave me, for I should only hamper you. Won't you go?"
+
+Emotion choked the soldier for a moment. He gripped her arm and was about
+to speak when suddenly the forest on every side of them resounded to a
+pandemonium of noise: a chorus of wild shrieks, shots, the crashing of
+trampled undergrowth, the death-yells of men amid the savage screams and
+fierce trumpetings of a herd of elephants.
+
+"Oh, what's that? What terrible thing is happening?" cried the girl.
+
+Dermot seized her and dragged her close against the trunk of the tree. In
+the gloom they saw men flying madly past them pursued by elephants. One
+wretch not ten yards from them was overtaken by a great tusker, which
+struck him to the ground, trampled on him, kicked and knelt upon his
+lifeless body until it was crushed to a pulp, then placing one forefoot on
+the man's chest, wound his trunk round the legs and seized them in his
+mouth, tore them from the body, and threw them twenty yards away. All
+around similar tragedies were being enacted; for the herd of wild elephants
+had charged in among the attackers.
+
+Dermot gathered the terrified girl in his arms and held her face against
+his breast, so that she should be spared the horror of the sights about
+them; but he could not shut out the terrible sounds, the agonised shrieks,
+the despairing yells of the wretches who were meeting with an awful fate.
+He remained motionless against the tree, hoping to escape the notice of the
+fierce animals, whom he could see plunging through the jungle in pursuit of
+their prey, for they were hunting the men down. Suddenly one elephant came
+straight towards them with trunk uplifted. Dermot put the girl behind him
+and raised his rifle; but with a low murmur from its throat the animal
+lowered its trunk, and he recognised it.
+
+"Thank God! we are saved," he said. "It's Badshah. He has brought his herd
+to our rescue."
+
+The girl clung to him convulsively and scarcely heard him; for the tumult
+in the jungle still continued, though the terrible pursuit seemed to be
+passing farther away. The giant avengers were still crashing through the
+jungle after their prey; and an occasional heartrending shriek told of
+another luckless wretch who had met his doom.
+
+Dermot gently disengaged the clinging hands and repeated his words. The
+girl, still shuddering, made an effort and rose to her knees.
+
+Dermot went forward and laid his hand on the elephant's trunk.
+
+"Thank you, Badshah," he said. "I am in your debt again."
+
+The tip of the trunk touched his face in a gentle caress. Then he stepped
+back and said: "Now we'll go at once, Miss Daleham. We won't stop this time
+until we reach your bungalow."
+
+The girl had already recovered her courage and stood beside him.
+
+"But you are wounded. There's blood on your face and on your neck. Are you
+badly hurt?"
+
+Dermot laughed reassuringly.
+
+"To tell you the truth I had forgotten all about it. They are only
+scratches. The skin is cut, that's all. Come, we mustn't delay any longer."
+
+At a word from him Badshah knelt. He hurriedly threw the pad on the
+elephant's back and made him rise so that the surcingle rope could be
+fixed. Then he brought the animal to his knees again and lifted Noreen on
+to the pad. But before he took his own seat he searched the undergrowth
+around the glade and found many corpses of men almost unrecognisable as
+human bodies, so crushed and battered were they. From the number that he
+came upon it was evident that most of their assailants had been slain. But
+all the elephants except his had disappeared; and the sounds of the
+massacre were dying away.
+
+Slinging his rifle he climbed on to the pad; and Badshah rose and went
+swiftly along a track that seemed to Dermot to lead towards Malpura. He did
+not attempt to guide the elephant, but placed himself so that his body
+would shield the girl from the danger of being struck by overhanging
+boughs. He held her firmly as they were borne through the darkness that now
+filled the forest; for the swift-coming Indian night had fallen.
+
+"Keep well down, Miss Daleham," he said. "You must be on your guard against
+being swept off the pad by the low branches."
+
+"Oh, Major Dermot," cried the girl with a shudder, "have all these terrible
+things really happened in the last few hours or has it all been a hideous
+nightmare?"
+
+"Please try not to think of them," he answered. "You are safe now."
+
+"Yes; but you? You have to face these dangers again, since you are so much
+in the jungle. Oh, my forest that I thought a fairyland! That such terrible
+things can happen in it!"
+
+"I can assure you that they are very unusual," he replied with a cheery
+laugh. "You have been very fortunate; for you have crammed more excitement
+and adventure into one day than I have seen previously in all my time in
+the jungle."
+
+"It all seems so incredible," she said. "Did you really mean that Badshah
+brought his herd to our rescue? But I know he did. I heard him call them.
+When he ran off I thought that he was frightened and had abandoned us. But
+I did him a great injustice."
+
+Her companion was silent for a moment. Then he said:
+
+"Look here, Miss Daleham, we had better not tell that tale of Badshah quite
+in that way. It would seem impossible, and no European would credit it.
+Natives would, of course, for as it is they seem to look upon him as a god
+already."
+
+"Yes; but you think as I do, don't you?" she exclaimed in surprise. "Surely
+you believe that he did bring the other elephants to save us."
+
+"Yes, I do. I know that he did, for I--well, between ourselves I have seen
+him do even more wonderful things. But others wouldn't believe us, and I
+don't want to emphasise the marvellous part of the story. I'd rather people
+thought that the _dacoits_, or whoever those men were who attacked us,
+accidentally fell foul of a herd of wild elephants."
+
+"Perhaps you are right. But _we_ know. It will be just our own secret and
+Badshah's," she said dreamily.
+
+Then she relapsed into silence. In spite of the terrible experiences
+through which she had just passed she felt happy at the pressure of
+Dermot's arm about her and the sensation of being utterly alone with him in
+a world of their own, as they were borne on through the darkness. Fatigue
+made her drowsy, and the swaying motion of the elephant's pace lulled her
+to sleep.
+
+She woke suddenly and for an instant wondered where she was. Then
+remembrance came and she felt the warm blood mantle her face as she
+realised that she was nestling in Dermot's arms. But, drowsy and content,
+she did not move. Looking up she saw the stars overhead. They were out of
+the forest.
+
+"I must have been asleep," she said. "Where are we?"
+
+"At Malpura. There are the lights of your bungalow," replied Dermot. He
+said it almost with regret, for he had found the long miles through the
+forest almost short, while the girl nestled confidingly, though
+unconsciously, in his arms and he held her against his heart.
+
+As the elephant neared the house Dermot gave a loud shout.
+
+Instantly the verandah filled with men who rushed out of the lighted rooms
+and tried to pierce the darkness. A little distance from the bungalow a
+large number of coolies, seated on the ground, rose up and pressed forward
+to the road. From behind the house several white-clad servants ran out.
+
+Dermot shouted again and called out Daleham's name.
+
+There was a frantic rush down the verandah steps.
+
+"Hurrah! it's the Major," cried a planter.
+
+"And--and--yes, Miss Daleham's with him. Hooray!" yelled another.
+
+"Good old Dermot!" came in Payne's voice.
+
+Through the throng of shouting, excited men the girl's brother broke.
+
+"Noreen! Noreen! My God, are you there? Are you safe?" he cried
+frantically.
+
+Almost before Badshah sank to the ground, the girl, with a little sob,
+sprang into her brother's arms and clung to him, while Dermot was dragged
+off the pad by the eager hands of a dozen men who thumped him on the back,
+pulled him from one to another, and nearly shook his arm off. The servants
+had brought out lamps to light up the scene.
+
+From the verandah steps Chunerbutty looked jealously on. He had been
+relieved at knowing that the girl had returned, but in his heart he cursed
+the man who had saved her. He was roughly thrust aside by Parry, who dashed
+up the steps, ran into the house, and emerged a minute later holding a
+large tumbler in his hand.
+
+"Where is he, where is he? Look you, I know what he wants. Here's what will
+do you good, Major," he shouted.
+
+Dermot laughed and, taking the tumbler, drank its contents gratefully,
+though their strength made him cough, for the bibulous Celt had mixed it to
+his own taste.
+
+"Major, Major, how can we thank you?" said Fred Daleham, coming to him with
+his sister clinging to his arm.
+
+But she had to release him and shake hands over and over again with all the
+planters and receive their congratulations and expressions of delight at
+seeing her safe and sound. Meanwhile her brother was endeavouring in the
+hubbub to thank her rescuer. But Dermot refused to listen.
+
+"Oh, there's nothing to make a fuss about I assure you, Daleham," he said.
+"It was just that I had the luck to be the first to follow the raiders. Any
+one else would have done the same."
+
+"Oh, nonsense, old man," broke in Payne, clapping him on the back. "Of
+course we'd all have liked to do it, but none of us could have tracked the
+scoundrels like you could. How did you do it?"
+
+"Yes; tell us what happened, Major."
+
+"How did you find her, Dermot?"
+
+"What occurred, Miss Daleham?"
+
+"Did they put up a fight, sir?"
+
+The eager mob of men poured a torrent of questions on the girl and her
+rescuer.
+
+"Easy on, you fellows," said Dermot, laughing. "Give us time. We can't
+answer you all at once."
+
+"Yes, give them a chance, boys. Don't crowd," cried one planter.
+
+"Here! We can't see them. Let's have some light," shouted another.
+
+"Where are those servants? Bring out all the lamps!"
+
+"Lamps be hanged! Let's have a decent blaze. We'll have a bonfire."
+
+Several of the younger planters ran to the stable and outhouses and brought
+piles of straw, old boxes, anything that would burn. Others despatched
+coolies to the factory near by to fetch wood, broken chests, and other
+fuel. Several bonfires were made and the flames lit up the scene with a
+blaze of light.
+
+"Why, you're wounded, Dermot!" exclaimed Payne.
+
+"Oh, no. Just a scratch."
+
+"Yes, he is wounded, but he pretends it's nothing," said Noreen. "Do see if
+it's anything serious, Mr. Payne."
+
+"I assure you it's nothing," protested the soldier, resisting eager and
+well-meant attempts to drag him into the house and tend his hurts by force.
+But attention was diverted when a planter cried:
+
+"Good Heavens! what's this? The elephant's tusk is covered with blood."
+
+"Tusk! Why, he's blood to the eyes," exclaimed another.
+
+For the leaping flames revealed the fact that Badshah's tusk, trunk, and
+legs were covered with freshly-dried blood.
+
+"Good Heavens! he's been wading in it."
+
+"What's that on his tusk? Why, it's fragments of flesh. Oh, the deuce!"
+
+There were exclamations of surprise and horror from the white men. But the
+mass of coolies, who had been pressing forward to stare, drew back into the
+darkness and muttered to each other.
+
+"The god! The god! Who can withstand the god?" they whispered.
+
+"_Arhé, bhai_! (Aye, brother!) But which is the god? The elephant or his
+rider? Tell me that!" exclaimed a grey-haired coolie.
+
+Among the Europeans the questions showered on Dermot redoubled.
+
+"Look here, you fellows. I can't answer you all at once," he expostulated.
+"It's a long story. But please remember that Miss Daleham has had a tiring
+day and must be worn out."
+
+"Oh, no, I'm not," exclaimed the girl. "Not now. I was fatigued, but I'm
+too excited to rest yet."
+
+"Come into the bungalow everyone and we'll have the whole story there,"
+said her brother. "The servants will get supper ready for us. We must
+celebrate tonight."
+
+"Indeed, yes. Look you, it shall be very wet tonight in Malpura,
+whateffer," cried Parry, who was already half drunk. "Here, boy! Boy! Where
+is that damned black beastie of mine? Boy!"
+
+His _khitmagar_ disengaged himself from the group of servants and
+approached apprehensively, keeping out of reach of his master's fist.
+
+"Go to the house," said Parry to him in Bengali. "Bring liquor here. All
+the liquor I have. Hurry, you dog!"
+
+He aimed a blow at him, which the _khitmagar_ dodged with the ease of long
+practice and ran to execute his master's bidding.
+
+Daleham gave directions to his butler and cook to prepare supper, and led
+the way into the house with his arm round his sister, who, woman-like,
+escaped to change her dress and make herself presentable, as she put it.
+She had already forgotten the fatigues of the day in the hearty welcome and
+the joy of her safe home-coming.
+
+But before Dermot entered the bungalow he had water brought and washed from
+Badshah's head and legs the evidences of the terrible vengeance that he had
+taken upon their assailants. And from the verandah the planters looked at
+animal and master and commented in low tones on the strange tales told of
+both, for the reputation of mysterious power that they enjoyed with natives
+had reached every white man of the district.
+
+The crowd of coolies drifted away to their village on the tea-garden, and
+there throughout the hot night hours the groups sat on the ground outside
+the thatched bamboo huts and talked of the animal and the man.
+
+"It is not well to cross this sahib who is not as other sahibs," said a
+coolie, shaking his head solemnly.
+
+"Sahib, say you? Is he only a sahib?" asked an old man. "Is he truly of the
+_gora logue_ (white folk)?"
+
+"Why, what else is he? Is not his skin white?" said a youth,
+presumptuously thrusting himself into the conclave of the elders.
+
+"Peace! Since when was it meet for children to prattle in the presence of
+their grandsires?" demanded a grey-haired coolie contemptuously. "Know,
+boy, that Shri Krishn's skin was of the same colour when he moved among us
+on earth."
+
+Krishna, the Second Person of the Hindu Trinity, the best-loved god of all
+their mythological heaven, is represented in the cheap coloured oleographs
+sold in the bazaars in India as being of fair complexion.
+
+"Is he Krishna himself?" asked a female coolie eagerly, the glass bangles
+on her arm rattling as she raised her hand to draw her _sari_ over her face
+when she thus addressed men. "Is he Krishna, think you? He is handsome
+enough to be the Holy One."
+
+"Who knows, daughter? It may be. Shri Krishn has many incarnations," said
+the old man solemnly.
+
+"Nay, I do not think that he is Krishna," remarked an elderly coolie. "It
+may be that he is another of the Holy Ones."
+
+"Perhaps he is _Gunesh_," ventured a younger man.
+
+"No; he bestrides _Gunesh_. I think he must be Krishna," chimed in another.
+"What lesser god would dare to use Gunesh as his steed?"
+
+"He is _Gunesh_ himself," asserted a grey-beard. "Does he not range the
+jungle and the mountains at the head of all the elephants of the Terai? Can
+he not call them to his aid as Hanuman did the monkeys?"
+
+"He is certainly a Holy One or else a very powerful demon," declared the
+old man. "It is an evil and a dangerous thing to molest those whom he
+protects. The Bhuttias, ignorant pagans that they are, carried off the
+missie _baba_ he favours. What, think ye, has been their fate? With your
+own eyes ye have all seen the blood and the flesh of men upon the tusk and
+legs of his sacred elephant."
+
+And so through the night the shuttle of superstitious talk went backward
+and forward and wove a still more marvellous garment of fancy to drape the
+reputation of elephant and man. The godship that the common belief had long
+endowed Badshah with was being transferred to his master; and a mere Indian
+Army Major was transformed into a mysterious Hindu deity.
+
+Meanwhile in the well-lighted bungalow in which all the sahibs were
+gathered together the servants were hurriedly preparing a supper such as
+lonely Malpura had never known. And Noreen's pretty drawing-room was
+crowded with men in riding costume or in uniform--for most of the planters
+belonged to a Volunteer Light Horse Corps, and some of them, expecting a
+fight, had put on khaki when they got Daleham's summons. Their rifles,
+revolvers, and cartridge belts were piled on the verandah. Chunerbutty,
+feeling that his presence among them would not be welcomed by the white men
+that night, had gone off to his own bungalow in jealous rage. And nobody
+missed him. Dermot, despite his protests, had been dragged off to have his
+hurts attended to, and it was then seen that he had been touched by three
+bullets.
+
+When all were assembled in the room the planters demanded the tale of
+Noreen's adventures; and the girl, looking dainty and fresh in a white
+muslin dress, unlike the heroine of her recent tragic experience, smilingly
+complied and told the story up to the point of Dermot's unexpected and
+dramatic intervention.
+
+"Now you must go on, Major," she said, turning to him.
+
+"Yes, yes, Dermot. Carry on the tale," was the universal cry.
+
+Everyone turned an expectant face towards where the soldier sat, looking
+unusually embarrassed.
+
+"Oh, there's nothing much to tell," he said. "The raiders--they were
+Bhuttias--had left a trail easy enough to see, though I confess that I
+would have lost it once but for my elephant. When I came up to them, as
+Miss Daleham has just told you, they all ran away except two."
+
+"What did these two do?" asked Granger, his host of the previous night.
+
+"Not much. They tried to stand their ground, but didn't really give much
+trouble. So I took Miss Daleham up on my elephant and we started back. But
+like a fool I stopped on the way to have grub, and somebody began shooting
+at us from the jungle, until wild elephants turned up and cleared them off.
+Then we came on here. That's all."
+
+These was a moment's silence. Then Granger, in disgusted tones, exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Major, of all the poor story-tellers I've ever heard, you're the
+very worst. One would think you'd only been for a stroll in a quiet English
+lane. 'Then we came on here. That's all.'"
+
+"Oh, yes, you can't ask us to believe it was as tame as that, Major," said
+another planter. "We expected to hear something a little more exciting."
+
+"You go out after thirty or forty raiders--"
+
+"No, only twenty-two all told," corrected Dermot.
+
+"All right, only twenty-two, come back with three hits on you and your
+elephant up to his eyes in blood and--and--well, hang it all, Major, let's
+have some more details."
+
+"Come, Miss Daleham," Payne broke in, "you tell us what happened. I know
+Dermot, and we won't get any more out of him."
+
+"Yes; let's hear all about it, Noreen," said her brother. "I'm sure it
+wasn't as tame as the Major says."
+
+"Tame?" echoed the girl, smiling. "I've had enough excitement to last me
+all my life, dear. I think that Major Dermot has put it rather mildly. I'm
+sure even I could tell the story better."
+
+She narrated their adventures, giving her rescuer, despite his protests,
+full credit for his courage and resource, only omitting the details of
+their picnic meal and slurring over their relief by the wild elephants. The
+planters listened eagerly to her tale, breaking into applause at times.
+When she had finished Parry laid a heavy hand on Dermot's shoulder and said
+solemnly, though thickly:
+
+"Look you, you are a bad liar, Major Dermot. Your story would not deceive a
+child, whateffer. But I am proud of you. You should have been a Welshman."
+
+The rest overwhelmed the soldier with compliments and congratulations, much
+to his embarrassment, and when Noreen left the room to supervise the
+arrangement of the supper-table they plied him with questions without
+extracting much more information from him. But when a servant came to
+announce that the meal was ready and the planters rose to troop to the
+dining-room, Dermot reached the door first and held up his hand to stop
+them.
+
+"Gentlemen, one moment, please," he said. Then he looked out to satisfy
+himself that the domestic was out of hearing and continued: "I'd be obliged
+if during supper you'd make no allusion before the servants to what has
+happened today. Afterwards I shall have something to say to you in
+confidence that will explain this request of mine."
+
+The others looked at him in surprise but readily agreed. Before they left
+the room Daleham noticed the Hindu engineer's absence for the first time.
+
+"By Jove, I'd forgotten Chunerbutty," he exclaimed. "I wonder where he is?
+Perhaps he doesn't know we're going to have supper. I'd better send the boy
+to tell him."
+
+"Indeed no, he is fery well where he is," hiccoughed Parry, who, seated by
+a table on which drinks had been placed, had not been idle. "This is not a
+night for black men, look you."
+
+"Yes, Daleham, Parry's right," said Granger. "Let us keep to our own colour
+tonight. Things might be said that wouldn't be pleasant for an Indian to
+hear."
+
+"Forgive my putting a word in, Daleham," added Dermot. "But I have a very
+particular reason, which I'll explain afterwards, for asking you to leave
+Chunerbutty out."
+
+"Yes, we don't want a damned Bengali among us tonight, Fred," said a young
+planter bluntly.
+
+"Oh, very well; if you fellows would rather I didn't ask him I won't,"
+replied their host. "But I'm afraid his feelings will be hurt at being left
+out when we're celebrating my sister's safe return. He's such an old
+friend."
+
+"Oh, hang his feelings! Think of ours," cried another of the party.
+
+"All right. Have it your own way. Let's go in to supper," said the host.
+
+The hastily improvised meal was a merry feast, and the loud voices and the
+roars of laughter rang out into the silent night and reached the ears of
+Chunerbutty sitting in his bungalow eating his heart out in bitterness and
+jealousy. Noreen, presiding at one end of the long table, was the queen of
+the festival and certainly had never enjoyed any supper in London as much
+as this impromptu meal. General favourite as she always was with every man
+in the district, this night there was added universal gladness at her
+escape and the feeling of satisfaction that the outrage on her had been so
+promptly avenged. While the girl was pleased with the warmth and sincerity
+of the congratulations showered upon her, she was secretly delighted to see
+the high esteem in which all the other men held Dermot. He was seated
+beside her and shared with her the good wishes of the company. His health
+was drunk with all the honours after hers, and the planters did not spare
+his blushes in their loudly-expressed praises of his achievements.
+Cordiality and good humour prevailed, and, although the fun was fast and
+furious, Parry was the only one who drank too much. Before he became
+objectionable, for he was usually quarrelsome in his cups, he was
+dexterously cajoled out of the room and safely shepherded to his bungalow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE MAKING OF A GOD
+
+Parry's departure served as a hint to Noreen that it was time for her to
+say good-night to her guests and withdraw. As soon as she left the room
+there was an instant hush of expectancy, and all eyes were turned to
+Dermot. The servants had long since gone, but, after asking his host's
+permission, he rose from his place and strolled with apparent carelessness
+to each doorway in turn and satisfied himself that there were no
+eavesdroppers. Then he shut the doors and asked members of the party to
+station themselves on guard at each of them. The planters watched these
+precautions with surprise.
+
+Having thus made sure that he would not be overheard Dermot said:
+
+"Gentlemen, a few of you already know something of what I am going to tell
+you. I want you to understand that I am now speaking officially and in
+strict confidence."
+
+He turned to his host.
+
+"I must ask you, Mr. Daleham (Fred looked up in surprise at the formality
+of the mode of address) to promise to divulge nothing of what I say to your
+friend, Mr. Chunerbutty."
+
+"Not tell Chunerbutty, sir?" repeated the young planter in astonishment.
+
+"No; the matter is one which must not be mentioned to any but Europeans."
+
+"Oh, but I assure you, Major, Chunerbutty's thoroughly loyal and reliable,"
+said Daleham warmly.
+
+"I repeat that you are not to give him the least inkling of what I am going
+to say," replied Dermot in a quiet but stern voice. "As I have already told
+you, I am speaking officially."
+
+The boy was impressed and a little awed by his manner.
+
+"Oh, certainly, sir. I give you my word that I shan't mention it to him."
+
+"Very well. The fact is, gentlemen, that we are on the track of a vast
+conspiracy against British rule in India, and have reason to believe that
+the activity of the disloyalists in Bengal has spread to this district. We
+suspect that the Brahmins who, very much to the surprise of any one
+acquainted with the ways of their caste, are working as coolies on your
+gardens, are really emissaries of the seditionists."
+
+"By George, is that really so, Major?" asked a young planter in a doubting
+tone. "We have a couple of these Bengalis on our place, and they seem such
+quiet, harmless chaps."
+
+"The Major is quite right. I know it," said one of the oldest men present.
+"I confess that it didn't occur to me as strange that Brahmins should take
+such low-caste work until he told me. But I have found since, as others of
+us have, that these men are the secret cause of all the trouble and unrest
+that we have had lately among our coolies, to whom they preach sedition and
+revolution."
+
+Several other estate managers corroborated his statement.
+
+"But surely, sir, you don't suspect Chunerbutty of being mixed up in this?"
+asked Daleham. "He's been a friend of mine for a long time. I lived with
+him in London, and I'm certain he is quite loyal and pro-British."
+
+"I know nothing of him, Daleham," replied the soldier. "But he is a Bengali
+Brahmin, one of the race and caste that are responsible for most of the
+sedition in India, and we must take precautions."
+
+"I'd stake my life on him," exclaimed the boy hotly. "He's been a good
+friend to me, and I'll answer for him."
+
+Dermot did not trouble to argue the matter further with him, but said to
+the company generally:
+
+"This outrageous attempt to carry off Miss Daleham--"
+
+"Oh, but you said yourself, sir, that the ruffians were Bhuttias," broke in
+the boy, still nourishing a grievance at the mistrust of his friend.
+
+Dermot turned to him again.
+
+"Do Bhuttias talk to each other in Bengali? The leader gave his orders
+in that language to one man--who, by the way, was the only one he spoke
+to--and that man passed them on to the others in Bhutanese."
+
+This statement caused a sensation in the company.
+
+"By Jove, is that a fact, Dermot?" cried Payne.
+
+"Yes. These two were the men I shot. Do Bhuttias, unless they have just
+looted a garden successfully--and we know these fellows had not--carry sums
+like this?" And Dermot threw on the supper-table a cloth in which coins
+were wrapped. "Open that, Payne, and count the money, please."
+
+All bent forward and watched as the planter opened the knot fastening the
+cloth and poured out a stream of bright rupees, the silver coin of India
+roughly equivalent to a florin. There was silence while he counted them.
+
+"A hundred," he said.
+
+Dermot laid on the table a new automatic pistol and several clips of
+cartridges.
+
+"Bhuttias from across the border do not possess weapons like these, as you
+know. Nor do they carry English-made pocket-books with contents like those
+this one has."
+
+He handed a leather case to Granger who opened it and took out a packet of
+bank notes and counted them. "Eight hundred and fifty rupees," he said.
+
+The men around him looked at the notes and at each other. A young engineer
+whistled and said: "Whew! It pays to be a brigand. I'll turn robber myself,
+I think. Poor but honest man that I am I have never gazed on so much wealth
+before. Hullo! What's that bit of string?"
+
+Dermot had taken from his pocket the cord that he had cut from the corpse
+of the second raider and laid it on the table.
+
+"Perhaps some of you may not be sufficiently well acquainted with Indian
+customs to know what this is."
+
+"I'm blessed if I am, Major," said the engineer. "What is it?"
+
+"It's the _janeo_, or sacred cord worn by the three highest of the
+original Hindu castes as a symbol of their second or spiritual birth and
+to mark the distinction between their noble twice-born selves and the
+lower caste once-born Súdras. You see it is made up of three strings of
+spun cotton to symbolise the Hindu _Trimurti_ (Trinity), Brahma, Vishnu,
+and Siva, and also Earth, Air, and Heaven, the three worlds pervaded by
+their essence."
+
+"Oh, I see. But where did you get it?" asked the engineer.
+
+"Off the body of the second man that I shot, together with the pistol and
+pocket-book. Now, Bhuttias do not wear the _janeo_, not being Hindus. But
+high-caste Hindus do--and a Brahmin would never be without it."
+
+"Oh, no. So you mean that the man wasn't a Bhuttia?"
+
+"This is the last exhibit, as they say in the Law Courts," said Dermot,
+producing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. "You don't find Bhuttias
+wearing these."
+
+"By Jove, no," said Granger, taking them up and trying them. "Damned good
+glasses, these, and cost a bit, too."
+
+Dermot turned towards Daleham.
+
+"Do you remember showing me on this garden one day a coolie whom you said
+was a B.A. of Calcutta University?"
+
+"Yes; he was called Narain Dass," replied Fred. "We spoke to him, you
+recollect, Major? He talked excellent English of the _babu_ sort."
+
+"What has happened to him?"
+
+"I don't know. He disappeared a short time ago. Deserted, I suppose, though
+I don't see why he should. He was getting on well here."
+
+Dermot smiled grimly and touched the cord and spectacles.
+
+"The man who wore these, who led the Bhuttias in the raid, was Narain
+Dass."
+
+These was a moment's amazed silence in the room. Then a hubbub arose, and
+there was a chorus of exclamations and questions.
+
+"Good Heavens, is it possible, Major? He appeared to be such a decent,
+civil chap," exclaimed Daleham.
+
+"His face seemed familiar to me, as he lay dead on the ground," replied
+Dermot. "I couldn't place him, though, until I found the spectacles. I put
+them on his nose, and then I knew him. His hair was cropped close, he was
+wearing Bhuttia clothes, but it was Narain Dass, the University graduate
+who was working as a coolie for a few _annas_ a day."
+
+"And he had eight hundred and fifty rupees on him," added the young
+engineer.
+
+"Yes; and if all the Bhuttias had as much as the one shot that meant over
+two thousand."
+
+"Where did they get it?"
+
+"Who is behind all this?"
+
+"The seditionists, of course," said an elderly planter.
+
+"Yes; but today it isn't a question of an isolated outrage on one
+Englishwoman, nor of a few Bengali lawyers in Calcutta and their dupes
+among hot-headed students and ignorant peasants," said Dermot. "It's the
+biggest thing we've ever had to face yet in India. What we want to get at
+is the head and brains of the conspiracy."
+
+"What do you make of this attempt on Miss Daleham?" asked Granger. "What
+was the object of it?"
+
+"Probably just terrorism. They wanted to show that no one is secure under
+our rule. It may be that Narain Dass, who had worked on this garden and
+seen Miss Daleham, suggested it. They may have thought that the carrying
+off of an Englishwoman would make more impression than the mere bombing of
+a police officer or a magistrate--we are too used to that."
+
+"But why employ Bhuttias?" asked Payne.
+
+"To throw the pursuers off the track and prevent their being run down. The
+search would stop if we thought they'd gone across the frontier, so they
+could get away easily. When they had got Miss Daleham safely hidden away in
+the labyrinths of a native bazaar, perhaps in Calcutta, they'd have let
+everyone know who had carried her off."
+
+"Who was the other fellow with Narain Dass--the chap who talked Bengali?"
+
+"Probably a Bhuttia who knew the language was given the Brahmin as an
+interpreter."
+
+"But I say, Major," cried a planter, "who the devil were the lot that
+attacked you?"
+
+"I'm hanged if I know," Dermot answered. "I have been inclined to believe
+them to be a gang of political _dacoits_, probably coming to meet the
+Bhuttias and take Miss Daleham from them, but in that case they would have
+been young Brahmins and better armed. This lot were low-caste men and their
+weapons were mostly old muzzle-loading muskets."
+
+"Perhaps they were just ordinary _dacoits_," hazarded a planter.
+
+"Possibly; but they must have been new to the business," replied the Major.
+"For there wouldn't be much of an opening for robbers in the middle of the
+forest."
+
+"It's a puzzle. I can't make it out," said Granger, shaking his head.
+
+The others discussed the subject for some time, but no one could elucidate
+the mystery. At length Dermot said to Daleham:
+
+"No answer has come to that telegram you sent to Ranga Duar, I suppose?"
+
+"No, Major; though there's been plenty of time for a reply."
+
+"It's strange. Parker would have answered at once if he'd got the wire, I
+know," said Dermot. "But did he? Most of the telegraph clerks in this
+Province are Brahmins--I don't trust them. Anyhow, if Parker did receive
+the wire, he'd start a party off at once. It's a long forty miles, and
+marching through the jungle is slow work. They couldn't get here before
+dawn. And the men would be pretty done up."
+
+"I bet they would if they had to go through the forest in the dark," said a
+planter.
+
+"Well, I want to start at daybreak to search the scene of the attack on us
+and the place where I came on the Bhuttias. Will some of you fellows come
+with me?"
+
+"Rather. We'll all go," was the shout from all at the table.
+
+"Thanks. We may round up some of the survivors."
+
+"I say, Major, would you tell us a thing that's puzzled me, and I daresay
+more than me?" ventured a young assistant manager, voicing the thoughts of
+others present. "How the deuce did those wild elephants happen to turn up
+just in the nick of time for you?"
+
+"They were probably close by and the firing disturbed them," was the
+careless answer.
+
+"H'm; very curious, wasn't it, Major?" said Granger. "You know the habits
+of the _jungli hathi_ better than most other people. Wouldn't they be far
+more likely to run away from the firing than right into it?"
+
+"As a rule. But when wild elephants stampede in a panic they'll go through
+anything."
+
+The assistant manager was persistent.
+
+"But how did your elephant chance to join up with them?" he asked. "Judging
+by the look of him he took a very prominent part in clearing your enemies
+off."
+
+"Oh, Badshah is a fighter. I daresay if there was a scrap anywhere near him
+he'd like to be in it," replied Dermot lightly, and tried to change the
+conversation.
+
+But the others insisted on keeping to the subject. They had all been
+curious as to the truth of the stories about Dermot's supposed miraculous
+power over wild elephants, but no one had ever ventured to question him on
+the subject before.
+
+"I suppose you know, Major, that the natives have some wonderful tales
+about Badshah?" said a planter.
+
+"Yes; and of you, too, sir," said the young assistant manager. "They think
+you both some special brand of gods."
+
+"I'm not surprised," said the Major with assumed carelessness. "They're
+ready to deify anything. They will see a god in a stone or a tree. You know
+they looked on the famous John Nicholson during the Mutiny as a god, and
+made a cult of him. There are still men who worship him."
+
+"They're prepared to do that to you, Major," said Granger frankly. "Barrett
+is quite right. They call you the Elephant God."
+
+Dermot laughed and stood up.
+
+"Oh, natives will believe anything," he said. "If you'll excuse me now,
+Daleham, I'll turn in--or rather, turn out. I'd like to get some sleep, for
+we've an early start before us."
+
+"Yes, we'd better all do the same," said Granger, rising too. "How are you
+going to bed us all down, Daleham? Bit of a job, isn't it?"
+
+"We'll manage all right," replied the young host. "I told the servants to
+spread all the mattresses and charpoys that they could raise anywhere out
+on the verandah and in the spare rooms. I'm short of mosquito curtains,
+though. Some of you will get badly bitten tonight."
+
+"I'll go to old Parr's bungalow and steal his," said Granger. "He's too
+drunk to feel any 'skeeter biting him."
+
+"I pity the mosquito that does," joined in a young planter laughing. "The
+poor insect would die of alcoholic poisoning."
+
+"I've given you my room, Major," said Daleham. "I know the other fellows
+won't mind."
+
+No persuasion, however, could make Dermot accept the offer. While
+the others slept in the bungalow, he lay under the stars beside his
+elephant. The house was wrapped in darkness. In the huts in the compound
+the servants still gossiped about the extraordinary events of the day,
+but gradually they too lay down and pulled their blankets over their
+heads, and all was silence. But a few hundred yards away a lamp still
+burned in Chunerbutty's bungalow where the Hindu sat staring at the wall
+of his room, wondering what had happened that day and what had been
+said in the Dalehams' dining-room that night. For he had prowled about
+their house in the darkness and seen the company gathered around the
+supper-table. And he had watched Dermot shut the door between the room
+and the verandah, and guessed that things were to be said that Indians
+were not meant to hear. So through the night he sat motionless in his
+chair with mind and heart full of bitterness, cursing the soldier by all
+he held unholy.
+
+Long before dawn Noreen, refreshed by sleep and quite recovered from the
+fatigues and alarms of the previous day, was up to superintend the early
+meal that her servants prepared for the departing company. No one but her
+brother was returning to Malpura, the others were to scatter to their own
+gardens when Dermot had finished with them.
+
+As the girl said good-bye to the planters she warmly thanked each one for
+his chivalrous readiness to come to her aid. But to the soldier she found
+it hard, impossible, to say all that was in her heart, and to an onlooker
+her farewell to him would have seemed abrupt, almost cold. But he
+understood her, and long after he had vanished from sight she seemed to
+feel the friendly pressure of his hand on hers. When she went to her rooms
+the tears filled her eyes, as she kissed the fingers that his had held.
+
+Out in the forest the Major led the way on Badshah, the ponies of his
+followers keeping at a respectful distance from the elephant. When nearing
+the scene of the fight the tracks of the avenging herd were plain to see,
+and soon the party came upon ghastly evidences of the tragedy. The buzzing
+of innumerable flies guided the searchers to spots in the undergrowth where
+the scattered corpses lay. As each was reached a black cloud of blood-drunk
+winged insects rose in the air from the loathsome mass of red, crushed
+pulp, but trains of big ants came and went undisturbed. The dense foliage
+had hidden the battered, shapeless bodies from the eyes of the soaring
+vultures high up in the blue sky, otherwise nothing but scattered bones
+would have remained. Now the task of scavenging was left to the insects.
+
+Over twenty corpses were found. When an angry elephant has wreaked his rage
+on a man the result is something that is difficult to recognise as the
+remains of a human being. So out of the twenty, the attackers shot by
+Dermot were the only ones whose bodies were in a fit state to be examined.
+But they afforded no clue to the identity of the mysterious assailants. The
+men appeared to have been low-caste Hindus of the coolie class. They
+carried nothing on their persons except a little food--a few broken
+_chupatis_, a handful of coarse grain, an onion or two, and a few
+_cardamoms_ tied up in a bit of cloth. Each had a powder-flask and a small
+bag with some spherical bullets in it hung on a string passed over one
+shoulder. The weapons found were mostly old Tower muskets, the marks on
+which showed that at one time they had belonged to various native regiments
+in the service of the East India Company. But there were two or three
+fairly modern rifles of French or German make.
+
+These latter Dermot tied on his elephant, and, as there was nothing further
+to be learned here, he led the way to the other spot which he wished to
+visit. But when, after a canter along the narrow, winding track through the
+dense undergrowth, jumping fallen trees and dodging overhanging branches,
+the party drew near the open glade in which Dermot had overtaken the
+raiders, a chorus of loud and angry squawks, the rushing sound of heavy
+wings and the rustling of feathered bodies prepared them for
+disappointment. When they entered it there was nothing to be seen but two
+struggling groups of vultures jostling and fighting over what had been
+human bodies. For the glade was open to the sky and the keen eyes of the
+foul scavengers had detected the corpses, of which nothing was left now but
+torn clothing, mangled flesh, and scattered bones. So there was no
+possibility of Daleham's deciding if Dermot had been right in believing
+that one of the two raiders that he had killed was the Calcutta Bachelor of
+Arts. On the whole the search had proved fruitless, for no further clue to
+the identity of either body of miscreants was found.
+
+So the riders turned back. At various points of the homeward journey
+members of the party went off down tracks leading in the direction of their
+respective gardens, and there was but a small remnant left when Dermot said
+good-bye, after hearty thanks from Daleham and cheery farewells from the
+others.
+
+He did not reach the Fort until the following day. There he learned that
+Parker had never received the telegram asking for help. Subsequent
+enquiries from the telegraph authorities only elicited the statement that
+the line had been broken between Barwahi and Ranga Duar. As where it passed
+through the forest accidents to it from trees knocked down by elephants or
+brought down by natural causes were frequent, it was impossible to discover
+the truth, but the fact that nearly all the telegraph officials were
+Bengali Brahmins made Dermot doubtful. But he was able to report the
+happenings to Simla by cipher messages over the line.
+
+Parker was furious because the information had failed to reach him. He had
+missed the opportunity of marching a party of his men down to the rescue of
+Miss Daleham and his commanding officer, and he was not consoled by the
+latter pointing out to him that it would have been impossible for him to
+have arrived in time for the fight.
+
+Two days after Dermot's return to the Fort he was informed that three
+Bhuttias wanted to see him. On going out on to the verandah of his bungalow
+he found an old man whom he recognised as the headman of a mountain village
+just inside the British border, ten miles from Ranga Duar. Beside him stood
+two sturdy young Bhuttias with a hang-dog expression on their Mongol-like
+faces.
+
+The headman, who was one of those in Dermot's pay, saluted and, dragging
+forward his two companions, bade them say what they had come there to say.
+Each of the young men pulled out of the breast of his jacket a little
+cloth-wrapped parcel, and, opening it, poured a stream of bright silver
+rupees at the feet of the astonished Major. Then they threw themselves on
+their knees before him, touched the ground with their foreheads, and
+implored his pardon, saying that they had sinned against him in ignorance
+and offered in atonement the price of their crime.
+
+Dermot turned enquiringly to the headman, who explained that the two had
+taken part in the carrying off of the white _mem_, and being now convinced
+that they had in so doing offended a very powerful being--god or devil--had
+come to implore his pardon.
+
+Their story was soon told. They said that they had been approached by a
+certain Bhuttia who, formerly residing in British territory, had been
+forced to flee to Bhutan by reason of his many crimes. Nevertheless, he
+made frequent secret visits across the border. For fifty rupees--a princely
+sum to them--he induced them to agree to join with others in carrying off
+Miss Daleham. They found subsequently that the real leader of the
+enterprise was a Hindu masquerading as a Bhuttia.
+
+When they had succeeded in their object they were directed to go to a
+certain spot in the jungle where they were to be met by another party to
+which they were to hand over the Englishwoman. Having reached the place
+first they were waiting for the others when Dermot appeared. So terrible
+were the tales told in their villages about this dread white man and his
+mysterious elephant that, believing that he had come to punish them for
+their crime, all but the two leaders fled in panic. Several of the
+fugitives ran into the party of armed Hindus which they were to meet, a
+member of which spoke a certain amount of Bhutanese. Having learned what
+had happened he ordered them to guide the newcomers' pursuit.
+
+When the attack began the Bhuttias, having no fire-arms, took refuge in
+trees. So when the herd swept down upon the assailants all the hillmen
+escaped. But they were witnesses of the terrible vengeance of the powerful
+devil-man and devil-elephant. When at last they had ventured to descend
+from the trees that had proved their salvation and returned to their
+villages these two confided the story to their headman. At his orders they
+had come to surrender the price of their crime and plead for pardon.
+
+Their story only deepened the mystery, for, when Dermot eagerly
+questioned them as to the identity of the Hindus, he was again brought
+up against a blank wall, for they knew nothing of them. He deemed it
+politic to promise to forgive them and allow them to keep the money that
+they had received, after he had thoroughly impressed upon them the
+enormity of their guilt in daring to lay hands upon a white woman. He
+ordered them as a penance to visit all the Bhuttia villages on each side
+of the border and tell everyone how terrible was the punishment for such
+a crime. They were first to seek out their companions in the raid and
+lay the same task on them. He found afterwards that these latter had
+hardly waited to be told, for they had already spread broadcast the
+tale, which grew as it travelled. Before long every mountain and jungle
+village had heard how the Demon-Man had overtaken the raiders on his
+marvellous winged elephant, slain some by breathing fire on them and
+called up from the Lower Hell a troop of devils, half dragons, half
+elephants, who had torn the other criminals limb from limb or eaten them
+alive. So, not the fear of the Government, as Dermot intended, but the
+terror of him and his attendant devil Badshah, lay heavy on the
+border-side.
+
+Chunerbutty, kept at the soldier's request in utter ignorance of more
+than the fact that Noreen had been rescued by him from the raiders, had
+concluded at first that the crime was what it appeared on the surface--a
+descent of trans-frontier Bhuttias to carry off a white woman for ransom.
+But when these stories reached the tea-garden villages and eventually came
+to his ears he was very puzzled. For he knew that, in spite of their
+extravagance, there was probably a grain of truth somewhere in them. They
+made him suspect that some other agency had been at work and another reason
+than hope of money had inspired the outrage.
+
+In the Palace at Lalpuri a tempest raged. The Rajah, mad with fury and
+disappointed desire, stormed through his apartments, beating his servants
+and threatening all his satellites with torture and death. For no news had
+come to him for days as to the success or failure of a project that he had
+conceived in his diseased brain. Distrusting Chunerbutty, as he did
+everyone about him, he had sent for Narain Dass, whom he knew as one of the
+_Dewan's_ agents, and given him the task of executing his original design
+of carrying off Miss Daleham. To the Bengali's subtle mind had occurred the
+idea of making the outrage seem the work of Bhuttia raiders. But for
+Dermot's prompt pursuit his plan would have been crowned with success. The
+girl, handed over as arranged to a party of the Rajah's soldiers in
+disguise, would have been taken to the Palace at Lalpuri, while everyone
+believed her a captive in Bhutan.
+
+At length a few poor wretches, who had escaped their comrades' terrible
+doom under the feet of the wild elephants and, mad with terror, had
+wandered in the jungle for days, crept back starved and almost mad to the
+capital of the State. Only one was rash enough to return to the Palace,
+while the others, fearing to face their lord when they had only failure to
+report, hid in the slums of the bazaar. This one was summoned to the
+Rajah's presence. His tale was heard with unbelief and rage, and he was
+ordered to be trampled to death by the ruler's trained elephants. Search
+was made through the bazaar for the other men who had returned, and when
+they were caught their punishment was more terrible still. Inconceivable
+tortures were inflicted on them and they were flung half-dead into a pit
+full of live scorpions and cobras. Even in these enlightened days there are
+dark corners in India, and in some Native States strange and terrible
+things still happen. And the tale of them rarely reaches the ear of the
+representatives of the Suzerain Power or the columns of the daily press.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+THE LURE OF THE HILLS
+
+A dark pall enveloped the mountains, and over Ranga Duar raged one of
+the terrifying tropical thunderstorms that signalise the rains of India.
+Unlike more temperate climes this land has but three Seasons. To her the
+division of the year into Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter means
+nothing. She knows only the Hot Weather, the Monsoon or Rains, and the
+Cold Weather. From November to the end of February is the pleasant time
+of dry, bright, and cool days, with nights that register from three to
+sixteen degrees of frost in the plains of Central and Northern India.
+In the Himalayas the snow lies feet deep. The popular idea that
+Hindustan is always a land of blazing sun and burning heat is entirely
+wrong. But from March to the end of June it certainly turns itself into
+a hell of torment for the luckless mortals that cannot fly from the
+parched plains to the cool mountains. Then from the last days of June,
+when the Monsoon winds bring up the moisture-laden clouds from the
+oceans on the south-west of the peninsula, to the beginning or middle
+of October, India is the Kingdom of Rain. From the grey sky it falls
+drearily day and night. Outside, the thirsty soil drinks it up gladly.
+Green things venture timidly out of the parched earth, then shoot up as
+rapidly as the beanstalk of the fairy tale. But inside houses dampness
+reigns. Green fungus adorns boots and all things of leather, tobacco
+reeks with moisture, and the white man scratches himself and curses the
+plague of prickly heat.
+
+But while tens of thousands of Europeans and hundreds of millions of
+natives suffer greatly in the tortures of Heat and Wet for eight weary
+months of the year in the Plains of India, up in the magic realm of the
+Hills, in the pleasure colonies like Simla, Mussourie, Naini Tal,
+Darjeeling, and Ootacamund, existence during those same months is one long
+spell of gaiety and comfort for the favoured few. These hill-stations make
+life in India worth living for the lucky English women and men who can take
+refuge in them. And incidentally they are responsible for more domestic
+unhappiness in Anglo-Indian households than any other cause. It is said
+that while in the lower levels of the land many roads lead to the Divorce
+Court, in the Hills _all_ do.
+
+For wives must needs go alone to the hill-stations, as a rule. India is not
+a country for idlers. Every white man in it has work to do, otherwise he
+would not be in that land at all. Husbands therefore cannot always
+accompany their spouses to the mountains, and, when they do, can rarely
+contrive to remain there for six months or longer of the Season.
+Consequently the wives are often very lonely in the big hotels that abound
+on the hill-tops, and sometimes drift into dependence on bachelors on leave
+for daily companionship, for escort to the many social functions, for
+regular dancing partners. And so trouble is bred.
+
+Major Dermot was no lover of these mountain Capuas of Hindustan, and had
+gladly escaped from Simla, chiefest of them all. Yet now he sat in his
+little stone bungalow in Ranga Duar, while the terrific thunder crashed and
+roared among the hills, and read with a pleased smile an official letter
+ordering him to proceed forthwith to Darjeeling--as gay a pleasure colony
+as any--to meet the General Commanding the Division, who was visiting the
+place on inspection duty. For the same post had brought him a letter from
+Noreen Daleham which told him that she was then, and had been for some
+time, in that hill-station.
+
+The climate of the Terai, unpleasantly but not unbearably hot in the summer
+months, is pestilential and deadly during the rains, when malaria and the
+more dreaded black-water fever take toll of the strongest. Noreen had
+suffered in health in the hot weather, and her brother was seriously
+concerned at the thought of her being obliged to remain in Malpura
+throughout the Monsoon. He could not take her to the Hills; it was
+impossible for him to absent himself even for a few days from the garden,
+for the care and management of it was devolving more and more every day on
+him, owing to the intemperate habits of Parry.
+
+Fred Daleham's relief was great when his sister unexpectedly received a
+letter from a former school-friend who two years before had married a man
+in the Indian Civil Service. Noreen, who was a good deal her junior, had
+corresponded regularly with her, and she now wrote to say that she was
+going to Darjeeling for the Season and suggested that Noreen should join
+her there. Much as the prospect of seeing a friend whom she had idolised,
+appealed to the girl (to say nothing of the gaieties of a hill-station and
+the pleasure of seeing shops, real shops, again), she was nevertheless
+unwilling to leave her brother. But Fred insisted on her going.
+
+From Darjeeling she told Dermot in a long and chatty epistle all her
+sensations and experiences in this new world. It was her first real letter
+to him, although she had written him a few short notes from Malpura. It was
+interesting and clever, without any attempt to be so, and Dermot was
+surprised at the accuracy of her judgment of men and things and the
+vividness of her descriptions. He noticed, moreover, that the social
+gaieties of Darjeeling did not engross her. She enjoyed dancing, but the
+many balls, At Homes, and other social functions did not attract her so
+much as the riding and tennis, the sight-seeing, the glimpses of the
+strange and varied races that fill the Darjeeling bazaar, and, above all,
+the glories of the superb scenery where the ice-crowned monarch of all
+mountains, Kinchinjunga, forty miles away--though not seeming five--and
+twenty-nine thousand feet high, towers up above the white line of the
+Eternal Snows.
+
+Dermot was critically pleased with the letter. Few men--and he least of
+all--care for an empty-headed doll whose only thoughts are of dress and
+fashionable entertainments. He liked the girl for her love of sport and
+action, for her intelligence, and the interest she took in the varied
+native life around her. He was almost tempted to think that her letter
+betrayed some desire for his companionship in Darjeeling, for in it she
+constantly wondered what he would think of this, what he would say of that.
+
+But he put the idea from him, though he smiled as he re-read his orders and
+thought of her surprise when she saw him in Darjeeling. Would she really be
+pleased to meet her friend of the jungle in the gay atmosphere of a
+pleasure colony? Like most men who are not woman-hunters he set a very
+modest value on himself and did not rate highly his power of attraction for
+the opposite sex. Therefore, he thought it not unlikely that the girl might
+consider him as a desirable enough acquaintance for the forest but a bore
+in a ballroom. In this he was unjust to her.
+
+He was surprised to discover that he looked forward with pleasure to seeing
+her again, for women as a rule did not interest him. Noreen was the first
+whom he had met that gave him the feeling of companionship, of comradeship,
+that he experienced with most men. She was not more clever, more talented,
+or better educated than most English girls are, but she had the capacity of
+taking interest in many things outside the ordinary range of topics. Above
+all, she inspired him with the pleasant sense of "chum-ship," than which
+there is no happier, more durable bond of union between a man and a woman.
+
+The Season brought the work in which Dermot was engaged to a standstill,
+and, keen lover of sport as he was, he was not tempted to risk the
+fevers of the jungle. Life in the small station of Ranga Duar was dull
+indeed. Day and night the rain rattled incessantly on the iron roofs
+of the bungalows--six or eight inches in twenty-four hours being not
+unusual. Thunderstorms roared and echoed among the hills for twenty or
+thirty hours at a stretch. All outdoor work or exercise was impossible.
+The outpost was nearly always shrouded in dense mist. Insect pests
+abounded. Scorpions and snakes invaded the buildings. Outside, from
+every blade of grass, every leaf and twig, a thin and hungry leech waved
+its worm-like, yellow-striped body in the air, seeming to scent any
+approaching man or beast on which it could fasten and gorge itself fat
+with blood. Certainly a small station on the face of the Himalayas is
+not a desirable place of residence during the rains, and to persons
+of melancholy temperament would be conducive to suicide or murder.
+Fortunately for themselves the two white men in Ranga Duar took life
+cheerily and were excellent friends.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By this time Noreen considered herself quite an old resident of Darjeeling.
+But she had felt the greatest reluctance to go when her brother had helped
+her into the dogcart for the long drive to the railway. Fred was unable to
+take her even as far as the train, for his manager had one of his periodic
+attacks of what was euphemistically termed his "illness." But Chunerbutty
+volunteered to escort Noreen to the hills, as he had been summoned again to
+his sick father's side, the said parent being supposed to be in attendance
+on his Rajah who had taken a house in Darjeeling for the season. As a
+matter of fact his worthy progenitor had never left Lalpuri. However,
+Daleham knew nothing of that, and, being empowered to do so when Parry was
+incapacitated, gladly gave him permission to go and gratefully accepted his
+offer to look after the girl on the journey.
+
+Noreen would much have preferred going alone, but her brother refused to
+entertain the idea. Although she knew nothing of the suspicions of her
+Bengali friend entertained by Dermot, she sensed a certain disapproval on
+his part of Fred's and her intimacy with Chunerbutty, and it affected her
+far more than did the open objection of the other planters to the Hindu.
+Besides, she was gradually realising the existence of the "colour bar,"
+illiberal as she considered it to be. But it will always exist, dormant
+perhaps but none the less alive in the bosoms of the white peoples. It is
+Nature herself who has planted it there, in order to preserve the
+separation of the races that she has ordained. So Noreen, though she hated
+herself for it, felt that she would rather go all the way alone than travel
+with the Hindu.
+
+The thirty miles' drive to the station of the narrow-gauge branch railway
+which would convey them to the main line did not seem long. For several
+planters who resided near her road had laid a _dâk_ for her, that is, had
+arranged relays of ponies at various points of the way to enable the
+journey to be performed quickly. Noreen's heavy luggage had gone on ahead
+by bullock cart two days before, so the pair travelled light.
+
+After her long absence from civilisation the diminutive engine and
+carriages of the narrow-gauge railway looked quite imposing, and it
+seemed to the girl strange to be out of the jungle when the toy train
+slid from the forest into open country, through the rice-fields and by
+the trim palm-thatched villages nestling among giant clumps of bamboo.
+
+In the evening the train reached the junction where Noreen and Chunerbutty
+had to transfer to the Calcutta express, which brought them early next
+morning to Siliguri, the terminus of the main line at the foot of the
+hills, whence the little mountain-railway starts out on its seven thousand
+feet climb up the Himalayas.
+
+Out of the big carriages of the express the passengers tumbled reluctantly
+and hurried half asleep to secure their seats in the quaint open
+compartments of the tiny train. White-clad servants strapped up their
+employers' bedding--for in India the railway traveller must bring his own
+with him--and collected the luggage, while the masters and mistresses
+crowded into the refreshment room for _chota hazri_, or early breakfast.
+Noreen was unpleasantly aware of the curious and semi-hostile looks cast at
+her and her companion by the other Europeans, particularly the ladies, for
+the sight of an English girl travelling with a native is not regarded with
+friendly eyes by English folk in India.
+
+But she forgot this when the toy train started. As they climbed higher the
+vegetation grew smaller and sparser, until it ceased altogether and the
+line wound up bare slopes. And as they rose they left the damp heat behind
+them, and the air grew fresher and cooler.
+
+The train twisted among the mountains and crawled up their steep sides on a
+line that wound about in bewildering fashion, in one place looping the loop
+completely in such a way that the engine was crossing a bridge from under
+which the last carriage was just emerging. Noreen delighted in the journey.
+She chatted gaily with her companion, asking him questions about anything
+that was new to her, and striving to ignore the looks of curiosity, pity,
+or disgust cast at her by the other European passengers, among whom
+speculation was rife as to the relationship between the pair.
+
+The leisurely train took plenty of time to recover its breath when it
+stopped at the little wayside stations, and many of its occupants got out
+to stretch their legs. Two of them, Englishmen, strolled to the end of the
+platform at a halt. One, a tall, fair man, named Charlesworth, a captain in
+a Rifle battalion quartered in Lebong, the military suburb of Darjeeling,
+remarked to his companion:
+
+"I wonder who is the pretty, golden-haired girl travelling with that
+native. How the deuce does she come to be with him? She can't be his wife."
+
+"You never know," replied the other, an artillery subaltern named Turner.
+"Many of these Bengali students in London marry their landladies' daughters
+or girls they've picked up in the street, persuading the wretched women by
+their lies that they are Indian princes. Then they bring them out here to
+herd with a black family in a little house in the native quarter."
+
+"Yes; but that girl is a lady," answered Charlesworth impatiently. "I heard
+her speak on the platform at Siliguri."
+
+"She certainly looks all right," admitted his friend. "Smart and
+well-turned out, too. But one can never tell nowadays."
+
+"Let's stroll by her carriage and get a nearer view of her," said
+Charlesworth.
+
+As they passed the compartment in which Noreen was seated, the girl's
+attention was attracted by two gaily-dressed Sikkimese men with striped
+petticoats and peacocks' feathers stuck in their flowerpot-shaped hats, who
+came on to the platform.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Chunerbutty, look at those men!" she said eagerly. "What are
+they?"
+
+The Hindu had got out and was standing at the door of the compartment.
+
+"Did you notice that?" said Charlesworth, when he and Turner had got beyond
+earshot. "She called him Mr. Something-or-other."
+
+"Yes; deuced glad to hear it, too," replied the gunner. "I'd hate to see a
+white woman, especially an English lady, married to a native. I wonder how
+that girl comes to be travelling with the beggar at all."
+
+"I'd like to meet her," said Charlesworth, who was returning from ten days'
+leave in Calcutta. "If I ever do, I'll advise her not to go travelling
+about with a black man. I suppose she's just out from England and knows no
+better."
+
+"She'd probably tell you to mind your own business," observed his friend.
+"Hullo! it looks as if the engine-driver is actually going to get a move on
+this old hearse. Let's go aboard."
+
+More spiteful comments were made on Noreen by the Englishwomen on the
+train, and the girl could not help remarking their contemptuous glances at
+her and her escort.
+
+When the train ran into the station at Darjeeling she saw her friend, Ida
+Smith, waiting on the platform for her. As the two embraced and kissed each
+other effusively Charlesworth muttered to Turner:
+
+"It's all right, old chap. I'll be introduced to that girl before this time
+tomorrow, you bet. I know her friend. She's from the Bombay side--wife of
+one of the Heaven Born."
+
+By this lofty title are designated the members of the Indian Civil Service
+by lesser mortals, such as army officers--who in return are contemptuously
+termed "brainless military popinjays" by the exalted caste.
+
+Their greeting over, Noreen introduced Chunerbutty to Ida, who nodded
+frigidly and then turned her back on him.
+
+"Now, dear, point out your luggage to my servant and he'll look after it
+and get it up to the hotel. Oh, how do you do, Captain Charlesworth?"
+
+The Rifleman, determined to lose no time in making Noreen's acquaintance,
+had come up to them.
+
+"I had quite a shock, Mrs. Smith, when I saw you on the platform, for I was
+afraid that you were leaving us and had come to take the down train."
+
+"Oh, no; I am only here to meet a friend," she replied. "Have you just
+arrived by this train? Have you been away?"
+
+Charlesworth laughed and replied:
+
+"What an unkind question, Mrs. Smith! It shows that I haven't been missed.
+Yes, I've been on ten days' leave to Calcutta."
+
+"How brave of you at this time of year! It must have been something
+very important that took you there. Have you been to see your tailor?"
+Then, without giving him time to reply, she turned to Noreen. "Let me
+introduce Captain Charlesworth, my dear. Captain Charlesworth, this is
+Miss Daleham, an old school-friend, who has come up to keep me company.
+We poor hill-widows are so lonely."
+
+The Rifleman held out his hand eagerly to the girl.
+
+"How d'you do, Miss Daleham? I hope you've come up for the Season."
+
+"Yes, I think so," she replied. "It's a very delightful change from down
+below. This is my first visit to a hill-station."
+
+"Then you'll be sure to enjoy it. Are you going to the
+Lieutenant-Governor's ball on Thursday?"
+
+"I don't suppose so. I don't know anything about it," she replied.
+"You see, I've only just arrived."
+
+"You are, dear," said Ida. "I told Captain Craigie, one of the A.D.C.'s,
+that you were coming up, and he sent me your invitation with mine."
+
+"Oh, how jolly!" exclaimed the girl. "I do hope I'll get some partners."
+
+"Please accept me as one," said Charlesworth. Then he tactfully added to
+Ida, "I hope you'll spare me a couple of dances, Mrs. Smith."
+
+"With pleasure, Captain Charlesworth," she replied. "But do come and see us
+before then."
+
+"I shall be delighted to. By the way, are you going to the gymkhana on the
+polo-ground tomorrow?"
+
+"Yes, we are."
+
+Charlesworth turned to Noreen.
+
+"In that case, Miss Daleham, perhaps you'll be good enough to nominate me
+for some of the events. As you have only just got here you won't have been
+snapped up yet by other fellows. I know it's hopeless to expect Mrs. Smith
+not to be."
+
+Ida smiled, well pleased at the flattery, although, as a matter of fact, no
+one had yet asked her to nominate him.
+
+"I'm afraid I wouldn't know what to do," answered Noreen. "I've never been
+to a gymkhana in India. I haven't seen or ridden in any, except at
+Hurlingham and Ranelagh."
+
+Charlesworth made a mental note of this. If the girl had taken part in
+gymkhanas at the London Clubs she must be socially all right, he thought.
+
+"They're just the same," he said. "In England they've only copied India in
+these things. Have you brought your habit with you?"
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Smith told me in her letters that I could get riding up here."
+
+"Good. I've got a ripping pony for a lady. I'll raise a saddle for you
+somewhere, and we'll enter for some of the affinity events."
+
+The girl's eyes sparkled.
+
+"Oh, how delightful. Could I do it, Ida?"
+
+"Yes, certainly, dear."
+
+"I should love to. It's very kind of you, Captain Charlesworth. Thank you
+ever so much. It will be splendid. I hope I shan't disgrace you."
+
+"I'm sure you won't. I'll call for you and bring you both down to Lebong if
+I may, Mrs. Smith."
+
+"Will you lunch with us then?" asked Ida. "You know where I am staying--the
+Woodbrook Hotel. Noreen is coming there too."
+
+"Thank you, I'll be delighted," replied the Rifleman.
+
+"Very well. One o'clock sharp. Now we'll say good-bye for the present."
+
+Charlesworth shook hands with both ladies and strode off in triumph to
+where Turner was awaiting him impatiently.
+
+"Now, dear, we'll go," said Ida. "I have a couple of _dandies_ waiting for
+us."
+
+"_Dandies_?" echoed the girl in surprise. "What do you mean?"
+
+The older woman laughed.
+
+"Oh, not dandies like Captain Charlesworth. These are chairs in which
+coolies carry you. In Darjeeling you can't drive. You must go in
+_dandies_, or rickshas, unless you ride. Here, Miguel! Have you got the
+missie _baba's_ luggage?" This to her Goanese servant.
+
+"Yes, _mem sahib_. All got," replied the "boy," a native Christian with the
+high sounding name of Miguel Gonsalves Da Costa from the Portugese Colony
+of Goa on the West Coast of India below Bombay. In his tweed cap and suit
+of white ducks he did not look as imposing as the Hindu or Mohammedan
+butlers of other Europeans on the platform with their long-skirted white
+coats, coloured _kamarbands_, and big _puggris_, or turbans, with their
+employers' crests on silver brooches pinned in the front. But Goanese
+servants are excellent and much in demand in Bombay.
+
+"All right. You bring to hotel _jeldi_ (quickly). Come along, Noreen," said
+Mrs. Smith, walking off and utterly ignoring the Hindu engineer who had
+stood by unnoticed all this time with rage in his heart.
+
+Noreen, however, turned to him and said:
+
+"What are you going to do, Mr. Chunerbutty? Where are you staying?"
+
+"I am going to my father at His Highness's house," he replied. "I should
+not be very welcome at your hotel or to your friends, Miss Daleham."
+
+"Oh, of course you would," replied the girl, feeling sorry for him but
+uncertain what to say. "Will you come and see me tomorrow?"
+
+"You forget. You are going to the gymkhana with that insolent English
+officer."
+
+"Now don't be unjust. I'm sure Captain Charlesworth wasn't at all insolent.
+But I forgot the gymkhana. You could come in the morning. Yet, perhaps, I
+may have to go out calling with Mrs. Smith," she said doubtfully. "And how
+selfish of me! You have your own affairs to see to. I do hope that you'll
+find your father much better."
+
+"Thank you. I hope so."
+
+"Do let me know how he is. Send me a _chit_ (letter) if you have time. I am
+anxious to hear. Now I must thank you ever so much for your kindness in
+looking after me on the journey. I don't know what I'd have done without
+you."
+
+"It was nothing. But you had better go. Your haughty friend is looking back
+for you, angry that you should stop here talking to a native," he said
+bitterly.
+
+Ida was beckoning to her; even at that distance they could see that she was
+impatient. So Noreen could only reiterate her thanks to the Hindu and hurry
+after her friend, who said petulantly when she came up:
+
+"I do wish you hadn't travelled up with that Indian, Noreen. It isn't nice
+for an English girl to be seen with one, and it will make people talk. The
+women here are such cats."
+
+Noreen judged it best to make no reply, but followed her irate friend in
+silence. Their _dandies_ were waiting outside the station, and as the girl
+got into hers and was lifted up and carried off by the sturdy coolies on
+whose shoulders the poles rested, she thought with a thrill of the last
+occasion on which she had been borne in a chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+THE PLEASURE COLONY
+
+A town on the hill-tops; a town of clubs, churches, and hotels, of luxury
+shops, of pretty villas set in lovely gardens bright with English flowers
+and shaded by great orchid-clad trees; of broad, well-kept roads--such is
+Darjeeling, seven thousand feet above the sea.
+
+At first sight there is nothing Oriental about it except the Gurkha
+policemen on point duty or the laughing groups of fair-skinned,
+rosy-cheeked Lepcha women that go chattering by him. But on one side the
+steep hills are crowded with the confused jumble of houses in the native
+bazaar, built higgledy-piggledy one on top of the other and lining the
+narrow streets and lanes that are thronged all day by a bright-garbed
+medley of Eastern races--Sikkimese, Bhuttias, Hindus, Tibetans, Lepchas.
+Set in a beautiful glen are the lovely Botanical Gardens, which look
+down past slopes trimly planted with rows of tea-bushes into the deep
+valleys far below.
+
+As Noreen was borne along in her _dandy_ she thought that she had never
+seen a more delightful spot. Everything and everyone attracted her
+attention--the scenery, the buildings, the varied folk that passed her on
+the road, from well set-up British soldiers in red coats and white helmets,
+smartly-dressed ladies in rickshas, Englishmen in breeches and gaiters
+riding sleek-coated ponies, to yellow-gowned lamas and Lepcha girls with
+massive silver necklaces and turquoise ornaments. She longed to turn her
+chair-coolies down the hill and begin at once the exploration of the
+attractive-looking native bazaar--until she reached the English shops with
+the newest fashions of female wear from London and Paris, set out behind
+their plate-glass windows. Here she forgot the bazaar and would willingly
+have lingered to look, but Ida's _dandy_ kept steadily alongside hers and
+its occupant chattered incessantly of the many forth-coming social
+gaieties, until they turned into the courtyard of their hotel and stepped
+out of their chairs.
+
+When Ida had shown her friend into the room reserved for her she said:
+
+"Take off your hat, dear, and let me see how you look after all these
+years. Why, you've grown into quite a pretty girl. What a nice colour your
+hair is! Do you use anything for it? I don't remember its being as golden
+as all that at school."
+
+The girl laughed and shook the sunlit waves of it down, for it had got
+untidy under her sun-hat.
+
+"No, Ida darling, of course I don't use anything. The colour is quite
+natural, I assure you. Have you forgotten you used sometimes to call me
+Goldylocks at school?"
+
+"Did I? I don't remember. I say, Noreen, you're a lucky girl to have made
+such a hit straight away with Captain Charlesworth. He's quite the rage
+with the women here."
+
+"Is he? Why?" asked the girl carelessly, pinning up her hair.
+
+"Why? My dear, he's the smartest man in a very smart regiment. Very well
+off; has lots of money and a beautiful place at home, I believe. Comes from
+an excellent family. And then he's so handsome. Don't you think so?"
+
+"Yes; he's rather good-looking. But he struck me as being somewhat
+foppish."
+
+"Oh, he's always beautifully dressed, if that's what you mean. You saw
+that, even when he had just come off a train journey. He's a beautiful
+dancer. I'm so glad he asked me for a couple of dances at the L.G.'s ball.
+I'll see he doesn't forget them. I'll keep him up to his word, though
+Bertie won't like it. He's fearfully jealous of me, but I don't care."
+
+"Bertie? Who is--? I thought that your husband's name was William?" said
+Noreen wonderingly.
+
+Ida burst into a peal of laughter.
+
+"Good gracious, child! I'm not talking of my husband. Bill's hundreds of
+miles away, thank goodness! I wouldn't mind if he were thousands. No; I'm
+speaking of Captain Bain, a great friend of mine from the Bombay side. He's
+stationed in Poona, which is quite a jolly place in the Season, though of
+course not a patch on this. But he got leave and came here because I did."
+
+"Oh, yes, I see," replied Noreen vaguely, puzzled by Ida's remark about her
+husband. She had seen the Civil Servant at the wedding and remembered him
+as a stolid, middle-aged, and apparently uninteresting individual. But the
+girl was still ignorant enough of life not to understand why a woman after
+two years of marriage should be thankful that her husband was far away from
+her and wish him farther.
+
+"But I'm not going to let Bertie monopolise me up here," continued Mrs.
+Smith, taking off her hat and pulling and patting her hair before the
+mirror. "I like a change. I've come here to have a good time. I think I'll
+go in and cut you out with Captain Charlesworth. He's awfully attractive."
+
+"You are quite welcome to him, dear," said the girl.
+
+"Oh, wait until you see the fuss the other women make of him. He's a great
+catch; and all the mothers here with marriageable daughters and the spins
+themselves are ready to scratch each other's eyes out over him."
+
+"Don't be uncharitable, Ida dearest."
+
+"It's a fact, darling. But I warn you that he's not a marrying man. He has
+the reputation of being a terrible flirt. I don't think you'll hold him
+long. He's afraid of girls--afraid they'll try to catch him. He prefers
+married women. He knows we're safe."
+
+Noreen said nothing, but began to open and unpack her trunks. In India, the
+land of servants, where a bachelor officer has seven or more, a lady has
+usually to do without a maid, for the _ayah_, or native female domestic, is
+generally a failure in that capacity. In the hotels Indian "boys" replace
+the chambermaids of Europe.
+
+Ida rattled on.
+
+"Of course, Bertie's awfully useful. A tame cat--and he's a well-trained
+one--is a handy thing to have about you, especially up here. You need
+someone to take you to races and gymkhanas and to fill up blanks on your
+programme at dances, as well as getting your ricksha or _dandy_ for you
+when they're over."
+
+Noreen laughed, amused at the frankness of the statement.
+
+"And where is the redoubtable Captain Bain, dear?"
+
+"You'll see him soon. I let him off today until it's time for him to call
+to take us to the Amusement Club. He was anxious to see you. He wanted to
+come with me to the station, but I said he'd only be in the way. I knew
+Miguel would be much more useful in getting your luggage. Bertie's so slow.
+Still, he's rather a dear. Remember, he's my property. You mustn't poach."
+
+Noreen laughed again and said:
+
+"If he admires you, dear, I'm sure no one could take him from you."
+
+"My dear girl, you never can trust any man," said her friend seriously.
+Then, glancing at herself in the mirror, she continued modestly:
+
+"I know I'm not bad-looking, and lots of men do admire me. Bertie says I'm
+a ripper."
+
+She certainly was decidedly pretty, though of a type of beauty that would
+fade early. Vain and empty-headed, she was, nevertheless, popular with the
+class of men who are content with a shallow, silly woman with whom it is
+easy to flirt. They described her as "good fun and not a bit strait-laced."
+Noreen knew nothing of this side of her friend, for she had not seen her
+since her marriage, and honestly thought her beautiful and fascinating.
+
+Ida picked up her hat and parasol and said:
+
+"Now I'll leave you to get straight, darling child, and come back to you
+later on."
+
+She looked into the glass again and went on:
+
+"It's so nice to have you here. A woman alone is rather out of it,
+especially if she comes from the other side of India and doesn't know
+Calcutta people. Now it'll be all right when there are two of us. The cats
+can't say horrid things about me and Bertie--though it's only the old
+frumps that can't get a man who do. I _am_ glad you've come. We'll have
+such fun."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Captain Bain, a dapper little man, designed by Nature to be the "tame cat"
+of some married woman, was punctual when the time came to take the two
+ladies to the Amusement Club. Noreen had very dubiously donned her smartest
+frock which, having just been taken out of a trunk after a long journey,
+seemed very crushed, creased, and dowdy compared with the freshness and
+daintiness of Ida's _toilette._ Men as a rule understand nothing of the
+agonies endured by a woman who must face the unfriendly stares of other
+women in a gown that she feels will invite pitiless criticism.
+
+But for the moment the girl forgot her worries as they turned out of the
+hotel gate and reached the Chaurasta, the meeting of the "four-ways,"
+nearly as busy a cross-roads as (and infinitely more beautiful than) Carfax
+at Oxford or the Quattro Canti in Palermo. To the east the hill of
+Jalapahar towered a thousand feet above Darjeeling, crowned with bungalows
+and barracks. To the north the ground fell as sharply; and a thousand feet
+below Darjeeling lay Lebong, set out on a flattened hilltop. On three sides
+of this military suburb the hill sloped steeply to the valleys below. But
+beyond them, tumbled mass upon mass, rose the great mountains barring the
+way to Sikkim and Tibet, towering to the clouds that hid the white summits
+of the Eternal Snows.
+
+Bain walked his pony beside Noreen's chair and named the various points of
+the scenery around them. Then, when Noreen had inscribed her name in the
+Visitors' Book at Government House, they entered the Amusement Club.
+
+Noreen was overcome with shyness at finding herself, after her months
+of isolation, among scores of white folk, all strangers to her. Ida
+unconcernedly led the way into the large hall which was used as a
+roller-skating rink, along one side of which were set out dozens of
+little tables around which sat ladies in smart frocks that made the girl
+more painfully conscious of what she considered to be the deficiencies
+of her own costume. She saw one or two of the women that had travelled
+up in the train that day stare at her and then lean forward and make
+some remark about her to their companions at the table. She was
+profoundly thankful when the ordeal was over and, in Ida's wake, she had
+got out of the rink. Conscious only of the critical glances of her own
+sex, she was not aware of the admiring looks cast at her by many men in
+the groups around the tables.
+
+But later on in the evening she found herself seated at one of those same
+tables that an hour before had seemed to her a bench of stern judges. She
+formed one of a laughing, chattering group of Ida's acquaintances. More at
+ease now, the girl watched the people around her with interest. For a year
+she had seen no larger gathering of her own race than the weekly meetings
+at the planters' little club in the jungle, with the one exception of a
+_durbar_ at Jalpaiguri.
+
+Yet despite Ida's company she was feeling lonely and a little depressed, a
+stranger in a crowd, when she saw Captain Charlesworth enter the rink,
+accompanied by another man. Recent as had been their meeting, he seemed
+quite an old friend among all these unknown people about her, and she
+almost hoped that he would come and speak to her. He sauntered through the
+hall, bowing casually to many ladies, some of whom, the girl noticed, made
+rather obvious efforts to detain him. But he ignored them and looked
+around, as if in search of some particular person. Suddenly his eyes met
+Noreen's, and he promptly came straight to her table. He shook hands with
+Mrs. Smith and bowed to the other ladies in the group, introduced his
+companion, a new arrival to his battalion, and, securing a chair beside
+Noreen, plunged into a light and animated conversation with her. The girl
+could not help feeling a little pleased when she saw the looks of surprise
+and annoyance on the faces of some of the women at the other tables. But
+Charlesworth was not allowed to have it all his own way with her. Bain and
+an Indian Army officer named Melville also claimed her attention. The
+knowledge that we are appreciated tends to make most of us appear at our
+best, and Noreen soon forgot her shyness and loneliness and became her
+usual natural, bright self. Ida looked on indulgently and smiled at her
+patronisingly, as though Noreen's little personal triumph were due to her.
+
+Noreen slept soundly that night, and although she had meant to get up early
+and see Kinchinjunga and the snows when the sun rose, it was late when her
+hostess came to her room. After breakfast Ida took her out shopping. Only a
+woman can realise what a delight it was to the girl, after being divorced
+for a whole year from the sight of shops and the possibility of
+replenishing her wardrobe, or purchasing the thousand little necessities of
+the female toilet, to enter milliners' and dressmakers' shops where the
+latest, or very nearly the latest, _modes_ of the day in hats and gowns
+were to be seen.
+
+Charlesworth came to lunch in a smart riding-kit, looking particularly
+well-groomed and handsome. The girl was quite excited about the gymkhana,
+and plied him with innumerable questions as to what she would have to do.
+She learned that they were to enter for two affinity events. In one of
+these the lady was to tilt with a billiard-cue at three suspended rings,
+while the man, carrying a spear and a sword, took a tent-peg with the
+former, threw the lance away, cut off a Turk's head in wood with the sword,
+and then took another peg with the same weapon. The other competition was
+named the Gretna Green Stakes, and in it the pair were to ride hand in hand
+over three hurdles, dismount and sign their names in a book, then mount
+again and return hand in hand over the jumps to the winning-post.
+
+The polo-ground at Lebong that afternoon presented an animated scene,
+filled with colour by the bright-hued garments of the thousands of native
+spectators surrounding it, the uniforms of the British soldiers in the
+crowd, and the frocks of the English ladies in the reserved enclosure,
+where in large white marquees the officers of Charlesworth's regiment acted
+as hosts to the European visitors. Down the precipitous road to it from
+Darjeeling came swarms of mixed Eastern races in picturesque garb, Gurkha
+soldiers in uniform, and British gunners from Jalapahar; and through the
+throngs Englishmen on ponies, and _dandies_ and rickshas carrying ladies in
+smart summer frocks, could scarcely make their way.
+
+When Mrs. Smith's party reached the enclosure and shook hands with the wife
+of the Colonel of the Rifles, who was the senior hostess, Noreen was not
+troubled by the feeling of shyness that had assailed her at the Club on the
+previous evening. She had the comforting knowledge that her habit and boots
+from the best West End makers were beyond cavil. But she was too excited at
+the thought of the approaching contests to think much of her appearance.
+Charlesworth took her to see the pony that she was to ride, and, as she
+passed through the enclosure, she did not hear the admiring remarks of many
+of the men and, indeed, of some of the women. For in India even an
+ordinarily pretty girl will be thought beautiful, and Noreen was more than
+ordinarily pretty. Her mount she found to be a well-shaped, fourteen-two
+grey Arab, with the perfect manners of his race; and she instantly lost her
+heart to him as he rubbed his velvety muzzle against her cheek.
+
+The gymkhana opened with men's competitions, the first event in which
+ladies were to take part, the Tilting and Tent-pegging, not occurring until
+nearly half-way down the programme. Noreen was awaiting it too anxiously to
+enjoy, as she otherwise would, the novel scene, the gaiety, the band in the
+enclosure, the well-dressed throngs of English folk, the gaudy colours of
+the crowds squatting round the polo-ground and wondering at the strange
+diversions of the sahib-_logue_. Charlesworth did well in the men's event,
+securing two first prizes and a third, and Noreen could not help admiring
+him in the saddle. He was a graceful as well as a good rider. Indeed, he
+was No. 2 in the regimental polo team, which was one of the best in India
+at the time.
+
+When the moment for their competition came at last and he swung her
+up into her saddle, Noreen's heart beat violently and her bridle-hand
+shook. But when, after other couples had ridden the course, their names
+were called and a billiard-cue given her, the girl's nerves steadied at
+once and she was perfectly cool as she reined back her impatient pony at
+the starting-line. The signal was given, and she and her partner dashed
+down the course at a gallop. They did well, Charlesworth securing the
+two pegs and cutting the Turk's head, while his affinity carried off two
+rings and touched the third. No others had been as fortunate, and cheers
+from the soldiers and plaudits from the enclosure greeted their success.
+Noreen was encouraged, and a becoming colour flushed her face at the
+applause. The last couple to ride tied with them, the lady taking all
+the rings, her partner getting the Turk's head and one peg and touching
+the second. The tie was run off at once. Noreen, to her delight, found
+the three rings on her cue when she pulled up at the end of the course,
+although she hardly remembered taking them, while Charlesworth had made
+no mistake. Daunted by this result, their rivals lost their heads and
+missed everything in their second run.
+
+Noreen, on her return to the enclosure, was again loudly cheered by the
+men, the applause of the ladies being noticeably fainter, possibly because
+they resented a new arrival's success. But the girl was too pleasantly
+surprised at her good luck to observe this, and responded gratefully to the
+congratulations showered on her. She was no longer too excited to notice
+her surroundings, and now was able to enjoy the scenery, the music, the gay
+crowds, the frocks, as well as her tea when Charlesworth escorted her to
+the Mess Tent.
+
+In the Gretna Green Stakes she and her partner were not so fortunate. Over
+the second hurdle in the run home Charlesworth's pony blundered badly and
+he was forced to release his hold on the girl's hand. When the event came
+for which he had originally requested her to nominate him, she suggested
+that he should ask Mrs. Smith to do so instead. He was skilled enough in
+the ways of women not to demur, and he did as he was wanted so tactfully
+that Ida believed it to be his own idea. So, when the gymkhana ended and
+Noreen and her chaperone said good-bye, he felt that he had advanced a good
+deal in the girl's favour.
+
+During the afternoon Noreen caught sight of Chunerbutty talking to a fat
+and sensual-looking native in white linen garments with a string of
+roughly-cut but very large diamonds round his neck and several obsequious
+satellites standing behind him. They were covertly watching her, but when,
+catching the engineer's eye, she bowed to him, the fat man leant forward
+and stared boldly at her. She guessed him to be the Rajah of Lalpuri, who
+had been pointed out to her once at the Lieutenant-Governor's _durbar_ at
+Jalpaiguri.
+
+That evening a note from Chunerbutty, telling her that his father was
+better though still in a precarious state, was left at her hotel. But the
+engineer did not call on her.
+
+The ball on the Thursday night at Government House was all that Noreen
+anticipated it would be. Among the hundreds of guests there were a few
+Indian men of rank and a number of Parsis of both sexes--the women adding
+bright colours to the scene by the beautiful hues of their _saris_, as the
+silk shawls worn over their heads are called. During the evening Noreen saw
+Chunerbutty standing at the door of the ballroom with the fat man, who was
+now adorned with jewels and wearing a magnificent diamond _aigrette_ in his
+_puggri,_ and gloating with a lustful gaze over the bared necks and bosoms
+of the English ladies. The native of India, where the females of all races
+veil their faces, looks on white women, who lavishly display their charms
+to the eyes of all beholders, as immodest and immoral. And he judges
+harshly the freedom--the sometimes extreme freedom--of intercourse between
+English wives and men who are not their husbands.
+
+Later in the evening, when Noreen was sitting in the central lounge with
+Captain Bain during an interval, Chunerbutty approached her with the fat
+man. Coming up to her alone the engineer said:
+
+"Miss Daleham, may I present His Highness the Rajah of Lalpuri to you?"
+
+Noreen felt Captain Bain stiffen, but she replied courteously:
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Chunerbutty."
+
+The Rajah stepped forward, and on being introduced held out a fat and
+flabby hand to her, speaking in stiff and stilted English, for he did not
+use it with ease. He spoke only a few conventional sentences, but all the
+while Noreen felt an inward shiver of disgust. For his bloodshot eyes
+seemed to burn her bared flesh, as he devoured her naked shoulders and
+breast with a hot and lascivious stare. After replying politely but briefly
+to him she turned to the engineer and enquired after his father's health.
+The music beginning in the ball-room for the next dance gave her a welcome
+excuse for cutting the interview short, as Bain sprang up quickly and
+offered her his arm. Bowing she moved away with relief.
+
+"I suppose that fellow in evening dress was the man from your garden, Miss
+Daleham?" asked Bain, as they entered the ballroom.
+
+"Yes; that was Mr. Chunerbutty, who escorted me to Darjeeling," she
+answered.
+
+"Well, if he's a friend of your brother, he ought to know better than to
+introduce that fat brute of a rajah to you."
+
+"Oh, he is staying at the Rajah's house here, as his father, who is ill, is
+in His Highness's service."
+
+"I don't care. That beast Lalpuri is a disreputable scoundrel. There are
+awful tales of his behaviour up here. It's a wonder that the L.G. doesn't
+order him out of the place."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Yes; he's a disgraceful blackguard. None of the other Rajahs of the
+Presidency will have anything to do with him, I believe; and the two or
+three of them up here now who are really splendid fellows, refuse to
+acknowledge him. Everybody wonders why the Government of India allows him
+to remain on the _gadi_."
+
+The Rajah had watched Noreen with a hungry stare as she walked towards the
+ballroom. When she was lost to sight in the crowd of dancers he turned to
+Chunerbutty and seized his arm with a grip that made the engineer wince.
+
+"She is more beautiful than I thought," he muttered. "O you fools! You
+fools, who have failed me! But I shall get her yet."
+
+He licked his dry lips and went on:
+
+"Let us go! Let us go from here! I am parched. I want liquor. I want
+women."
+
+And they returned to a night of revolting debauchery in the house that was
+honoured by being the temporary residence of His Highness the Rajah of
+Lalpuri, wearer of an order bestowed upon him by the Viceroy and ruler of
+the fate of millions of people by the grace and under the benign auspices
+of the Government of India.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+THE TANGLED SKEIN OF LOVE
+
+The Lieutenant-Governor's ball was for Noreen but the beginning of a long
+series of social entertainments, of afternoon and evening dances,
+receptions, dinner and supper parties, concerts, and amateur theatrical
+performances that filled every date on the calendar of the Darjeeling
+Season. Only in winter sport resorts like St. Moritz and Mürren had she
+ever seen its like. But in Switzerland the visitors come from many lands
+and are generally strangers to each other, whereas in the Hills in India
+the summer residents of the villas and the guests at the big hotels are of
+the same race and class, come from the same stations in the Plains or know
+of each other by repute. For, with the exception of the comparatively few
+lawyers, planters, merchants, or railway folk, the names of all are set
+forth in the two Golden Books of the land, the Army List and the Civil
+Service List; and hostesses fly with relief to the blessed "Table of
+Precedence" contained in them, which tells whether the wife of Colonel This
+should go in to dinner before or after the spouse of Mr. That. The great
+god Snob is the supreme deity of Anglo-India.
+
+Many hill-stations are the Hot Weather headquarters of some important
+Government official, such as the Governor of the Presidency or the
+Lieutenant-Governor or Chief Commissioner of the Province. These are great
+personages indeed in India. They have military guards before their doors.
+The Union Jack waves by command above their august heads. They have Indian
+Cavalry soldiers to trot before their wives' carriages when these good
+ladies drive down to bargain in the native bazaar. But to the hill visitors
+their chief reason for existing is that their position demands the giving
+of official entertainments to which all of the proper class (who duly
+inscribe their names in the red-bound, gold-lettered book in the hall of
+Government House) have a prescriptive right to be invited.
+
+Noreen revelled in the gaieties. Her frank-hearted enjoyment was like a
+child's, and made every man who knew her anxious to add to it. She could
+not possibly ride all the ponies offered to her nor accept half the
+invitations that she got. Even among the women she was popular, for none
+but a match-making mother or a jealous spinster could resist her.
+
+Proposals of marriage were not showered on her, as persons ignorant of
+Anglo-Indian life fondly believe to be the lot of every English girl there.
+While a dowerless maiden still has a much better chance of securing a
+husband in a land where maidens are few and bachelors are many, yet the day
+has long gone by when every spinster who had drawn a blank in England could
+be shipped off to India with the certainty of finding a spouse there.
+Frequent leave and fast steamers have altered that. When a man can go home
+in a fortnight every year or second year he is not as anxious to snatch at
+the first maiden who appears in his station as his predecessor who lived in
+India in the days when a voyage to England took six months. And men in the
+East are as a rule not anxious to marry. A wife out there is a handicap at
+every turn. She adds enormously to his expenses, and her society too often
+lends more brightness to the existence of his fellows than his own.
+Children are ruinous luxuries. Bachelor life in Mess or club is too
+pleasant, sport that a single man can enjoy more readily than a married one
+too attractive, rupees too few for what Kipling terms "the wild ass of the
+desert" to be willing to put his head into the halter readily.
+
+Yet men do marry in India--one wonders why!--and a girl there has so many
+opportunities of meeting the opposite sex every day, and so little rivalry,
+that her chances in the matrimonial market are infinitely better than at
+home. In stations in the Plains there are usually four or five men to every
+woman in its limited society, and the proportion of bachelors to spinsters
+is far greater. Sometimes in a military cantonment with five or six
+batteries and regiments in it, which, with departmental officers, may
+furnish a total of eighty to a hundred unmarried men from subalterns to
+colonels, there may be only one or two unwedded girls. The lower ranks are
+worse off for English spinster society; for the private soldier there is
+none.
+
+Noreen's two most constant attendants were Charlesworth and Melville. The
+Indian Army officer's devotion and earnestness were patent to the world,
+but the Rifleman's intentions were a problem and a source of dispute among
+the women, who in Indian stations not less than other places watch the
+progress of every love-affair with the eyes of hawks. It was doubtful if
+Charlesworth himself knew what he wanted. He was a man who loved his
+liberty and his right to make love to each and every woman who caught his
+fancy. Noreen's casual liking for him but her frank indifference to him in
+any other capacity than that of a pleasant companion with whom to ride,
+dance, or play tennis, piqued him, but not sufficiently to make him risk
+losing his cherished freedom.
+
+Chunerbutty left Darjeeling after a week's stay. Parry, having become
+sufficiently sober to enquire after him and learn of his absence,
+demanded his instant return in a telegram so profanely worded that it
+shocked even the Barwahi post-office _babu._ The engineer called on
+Noreen to say good-bye, and offered to be the bearer of a message to her
+brother. He kept up to the end the fable of his sick father.
+
+He could not tell her the real reason of his coming to Darjeeling. The
+truth was that he had learned that the Rajah had inspired the attempt by
+the Bhuttias to carry off Noreen and wanted to see and upbraid him for his
+deceit and treachery to their agreement. There had been a furious quarrel
+when the two accomplices met. The Rajah taunted the other with his lack of
+success with Noreen and the failure of his plan to persuade her to marry
+him. Chunerbutty retorted that he had not been allowed sufficient time to
+win the favour of an English girl, who, unlike Indian maidens, was free to
+choose her own husband. And he threatened to inform the Government if any
+further attempt against her were made without his knowledge and approval.
+But the quarrel did not last long. Each scoundrel needed the help of the
+other. Still, Chunerbutty judged it safer to remove himself from the
+Rajah's house and find a lodging elsewhere, lest any deplorable accident
+might occur to him under his patron's roof.
+
+After the engineer's departure Noreen seldom saw the Rajah, and then only
+at official entertainments, to which his position gained him invitations.
+He spoke to her once or twice at these receptions, but as a rule she
+contrived to elude him.
+
+So far she had got on very well with Mrs. Smith. Their wills had never
+clashed, for the girl unselfishly gave in to her friend whenever the latter
+demanded it, which was often enough. Ida's ways were certainly not
+Noreen's, and the latter sometimes felt tempted to disapprove of her
+excessive familiarity with Captain Bain and one or two others. But the next
+moment she took herself severely to task for being censorious of the elder
+woman, who must surely know better how to behave towards men than a young
+unmarried girl who had been buried so long in the jungle. And Ida did not
+guess why sometimes her repentant little friend's caresses were so fervent
+and her desire to please her so manifest, and ascribed it all to her own
+sweetness of nature.
+
+The coming of the Rains did not check the gaiety of the dwellers on the
+mountain-tops, though torrential downpours had to be faced on black nights
+in shrouded rickshas and dripping _dandies_, though incessant lightning lit
+up the road to the club or theatre, and the thunder made it difficult to
+hear the music of the band in the ballroom. Noreen missed nothing of the
+revels. But in all the whirl of gaiety and pleasure in which her days were
+passed her thoughts turned more and more to the great forest lying
+thousands of feet below her, and the man who passed his lonely days
+therein.
+
+Little news of him came to her. He never wrote, and her brother seldom
+mentioned him in his letters; for during Parker's absence on two months'
+privilege leave from Ranga Duar Dermot did not quit it often and very
+rarely visited the planters' club or the bungalows of any of its members.
+And Noreen wanted news of him. Much as she saw of other men now--many of
+them attractive and some of whom she frankly liked--none had effaced
+Dermot's image or displaced him from the shrine that she had built for him
+in her inmost heart. Mingled with her love was hero-worship. She dared
+not hope that he could ever be interested in or care for any one as
+shallow-minded as she. She could not picture him descending from the
+pedestal on which she had placed him to raise so ordinary a girl to his
+heart. She could not fancy him in the light, frothy life of Darjeeling.
+She judged him too serious to care for frivolities, and it inspired her
+with a little awe of him and a fear that he would despise her as a
+feather-brained, silly woman if he saw how she enjoyed the amusements
+of the hill-station. But she felt that she would gladly exchange the
+gaieties and cool climate of Darjeeling for the torments of the Terai
+again, if only it would bring him to her side. For sometimes the longing
+to see him grew almost unbearable.
+
+As the days went by the power of the gay life of the Hills to satisfy her
+grew less, while the ache in her heart for her absent friend increased. If
+only she could hear from him she thought she could bear the separation
+better. From her brother she learned by chance that he was alone in Ranga
+Duar, the only news that she had had of him for a long time. The Rains had
+burst, and she pictured the loneliness of the one European in the solitary
+outpost, cut off from his kind, with no one of his race to speak to,
+deprived of the most ordinary requirements, necessities, of civilisation,
+without a doctor within hundreds of miles.
+
+At that thought her heart seemed to stop beating. Without a doctor! He
+might be ill, dying, for all she knew, with no one of his colour to tend
+him, no loving hand to hold a cup to his fevered lips. Even in the short
+time that she had been in India she had heard of many tragedies of
+isolation, of sick and lonely Englishmen with none but ignorant, careless
+native servants to look after them in their illness, no doctor to alleviate
+their sufferings, until pain and delirium drove them to look for relief and
+oblivion down the barrel of a too-ready pistol.
+
+Thus the girl tortured herself, as a loving woman will do, by imagining all
+the most terrible things happening to the man of her heart. She feared no
+longer the perils of the forest for him. She felt that he was master of man
+or beast in it. But fever lays low the strongest. It might be that while
+she was dancing he was lying ill, dying, perhaps dead. And she would not
+know. The dreadful idea occurred to her after her return from a ball at
+which she had been universally admired and much sought after. But, as she
+sat wrapped in her blue silk dressing-gown, her feet thrust into satin
+slippers of the same colour, her pretty hair about her shoulders, instead
+of recalling the triumphs of the evening, the compliments of her partners,
+and the unspoken envy of other girls, her thoughts flew to one solitary man
+in a little bungalow, cloud-enfolded and comfortless, in a lonely outpost.
+The sudden dread of his being ill chilled her blood and so terrified her
+that, if the hour had not made it impossible, she would have gone out at
+once and telegraphed to him to ask if all were well.
+
+Yet the next instant her face grew scarlet at the thought. She sat for a
+long time motionless, thinking hard. Then the idea occurred to her of
+writing to him, writing a chatty, almost impersonal letter, such as one
+friend could send to another without fear of her motives being
+misunderstood. She had too high an opinion of Dermot to think that he would
+deem her forward, yet it cost her much to be the first to write. But her
+anxiety conquered pride. And she wrote the letter that Dermot read in his
+bungalow in Ranga Duar while the storm shook the hills.
+
+The girl counted the days, the hours, until she could hope for an answer.
+Would he reply at once, she wondered. She knew that, even shut up in his
+little station, he had much work to occupy him. He could not spare time,
+perhaps, for a letter to a silly girl. And the thought of all that she had
+put in hers to him made her face burn, for it seemed so vapid and frivolous
+that he was sure to despise her.
+
+On the fourth day after she had written to Dermot she was engaged to ride
+in the afternoon with Captain Charlesworth. But in the morning a note came
+to her from him regretting his inability to keep the appointment, as the
+Divisional General had arrived in Darjeeling and intended to inspect the
+Rifles after lunch. Noreen was not sorry, for she was going to a dance that
+evening and did not wish to tire herself before it.
+
+Distracted and little in the mood for gaiety as she felt that night, yet
+when she entered the large ballroom of the Amusement Club she could not
+help laughing at the quaint and original decorations for the occasion. For
+the entertainment was one of the great features of the Season, the
+Bachelors' Ball, and the walls were blazoned with the insignia of the Tribe
+of the Wild Ass. Everywhere was painted its coat-of-arms--a bottle,
+slippers, and a pipe crossed with a latch-key, all in proper heraldic
+guise. Captain Melville, who was a leading member of the ball committee and
+who was her particular host that night, spirited her away from the crowd of
+partner-seeking men at the doorway and took her on a tour of the room to
+see and admire the scheme of decoration. She was laughing at one original
+ornamentation when a well-known voice behind her said:
+
+"May I hope for a dance tonight, Miss Daleham?"
+
+The girl started and turned round incredulously, feeling that her ears had
+deceived her. To her astonishment Dermot stood before her. For a few
+seconds she could not trust herself to reply. She felt that she had grown
+pale. At last she said, and her voice sounded strange in her own ears:
+
+"Major Dermot! Is it possible? I--I thought you--"
+
+She could not finish the sentence. But neither man observed her emotion,
+for Melville had suddenly seized Dermot's hand and was shaking it warmly.
+They had been on service together once and had not met since. The next
+moment, a committee man being urgently wanted, Melville was called away and
+left Dermot and the girl together.
+
+"I suppose you thought me shut up in my mountain home," the man said, "and
+probably wondered why I had not answered your very interesting letter. It
+was so kind of you in all your gaiety here to think of me in my
+loneliness."
+
+Noreen had quite recovered from her surprise and smiled brightly at him.
+
+"Yes, I believed you to be in Ranga Duar," she said. "How is it you are
+here?"
+
+"An unexpected summons reached me at the same time as your letter. Four
+days ago I had no idea that I should be coming here."
+
+"How could you bear to leave your beloved jungle and that dear Badshah? I
+know you dislike hill-stations," said the girl, laughing and tremulously
+happy. The world seemed a much brighter place than it did five minutes
+before.
+
+"My beloved jungle has no charm for me at this season," he said. "But
+Badshah--ah, that was another matter. I have seldom felt parting with a
+human friend as much as I did leaving him. The dear old fellow seemed to
+know that I was going away from him. But I was very pleased to come here to
+see how you were enjoying yourself in this gay spot. I was glad to know
+that you were out of the Terai during the Rains."
+
+So he had wanted to see her again. Noreen blushed, but Dermot did not
+observe her heightened colour, for he had taken her programme out of her
+hand in his usual quiet, masterful manner and was scrutinising it.
+
+"You haven't said yet if I may have a dance," he continued. "But I know
+that on an occasion like this I must lose no time if I want one."
+
+"Oh, do you dance?" she asked in surprise. Somehow she had never associated
+him with ballrooms and social frivolities.
+
+Dermot laughed.
+
+"You forget that I was on the Staff in Simla. I shouldn't have been kept
+there a day if I hadn't been able to dance. What may I have?"
+
+Noreen felt tempted to bid him take all her programme.
+
+"Well, I'm engaged for several. They are all written down. Take any of the
+others you like," she said demurely, but her heart was beating fast at the
+thought of dancing with him.
+
+"H'm; I see that all the first ones are booked. May I--oh, I see you have
+the supper dances free. May I take you in to supper?"
+
+"Yes, do, please. We haven't met for so long, and I have heaps to tell
+you," the girl said. "We can talk ever so much better at the supper-table
+than in an interval."
+
+"Thank you. I'll take the supper dances then."
+
+"Wouldn't you care for any others?" she asked timidly. What would he think
+of her? Yet she didn't care. He was with her again, and she wanted to see
+all she could of him.
+
+"I should indeed. May I have this--and this?"
+
+"With pleasure. Is that enough?"
+
+"I'll be greedy. After all, the men up here have had dances from you all
+the Season, and I have never danced with you yet. I'll take these, too, if
+you can spare them."
+
+She looked at him earnestly.
+
+"I owe you more than a few dances can pay," she said simply.
+
+"Thank you, little friend," he said, and a happy feeling thrilled her at
+his words. He had not forgotten her, then. He used to call her that
+sometimes in Ranga Duar. She was still his little friend. What a delightful
+place the world was after all!
+
+As he pencilled his initials on her programme a horde of dance-hungry men
+swooped down on Noreen and almost pushed him aside. He bowed and strolled
+away to watch the dancing. He had no desire to obtain other partners and
+was content to watch his little friend of the forest, who seemed to have
+suddenly become a very lovely woman. She seemed very gay and happy, he
+thought. He noticed that she danced oftenest with Melville and a tall, fair
+man whom he did not know.
+
+Never had the early part of a ball seemed to Noreen to drag so much as this
+one did. She felt that her partners must find her very stupid indeed, for
+she paid no attention to what they said and answered at random.
+
+At last almost in a trance of happiness she found herself gliding round the
+room with Dermot's arm about her. The band was playing a dreamy waltz, and
+her partner danced perfectly. Neither of them spoke. Noreen could not; she
+felt that all she wanted was to float, on air it seemed, held close to
+Dermot's breast. She gave a sigh when the dance ended. In the interval she
+did not want to talk; it was enough to look at his face, to hear his voice.
+She hated her next partner when he came to claim her.
+
+But she had two more dances with Dermot before the band struck up "The
+Roast Beef of Old England," and the ballroom emptied. At supper he
+contrived to secure a small table at which they were alone; so they were
+able to talk without constraint. She began to wonder how she had ever
+thought him grave and stern or felt in awe of him. For in the gay
+atmosphere his Irish nature was uppermost; he was as light-hearted as a
+boy, and his conversation was almost frivolous.
+
+During supper Noreen saw Ida watching her across the room, and later on,
+when the dancing began again, her friend cornered her.
+
+"I say, darling, who is the new man you've been dancing with such a lot
+tonight? You had supper with him, too. I've never seen him before. He's
+awfully good-looking."
+
+"Oh, that is--I suppose you mean Major Dermot," replied the girl, feeling
+suddenly shy.
+
+"Major Dermot? Who's he? What is--Oh, is it the wonderful hero from the
+Terai, the man you told me so much about when you came up?"
+
+"Yes; he is the same."
+
+"Really? How interesting! He's so distinguished-looking. When did he come
+up? Why didn't you tell me he was coming?"
+
+"I didn't know it myself."
+
+"I should love to meet him. Introduce him to me. Now, at once."
+
+With a hurried apology to her own partner and Noreen's she dragged the girl
+off in search of the fresh man who had taken her fancy, and did not give up
+the chase until, with Melville's aid, Dermot was run to earth in the
+cardroom and introduced to her. Ida did not wait for him to ask her to
+dance but calmly ran her pencil through three names on the programme and
+bestowed the vacancies thus created on him in such a way that he could not
+refuse them. Dermot, however, did not grumble. She was Noreen's friend; if
+not the rose, she was near the rose.
+
+Ida was not the only one who noticed how frequently the girl had danced
+with him. Charlesworth, disappointed at finding vacancies on her programme,
+for which he had hoped, already filled, commented on it and asked who the
+stranger was in a supercilious tone that made her furious and gained for
+him a well-merited snubbing.
+
+Indifferent to criticism, kind or otherwise, Noreen gave herself up for the
+evening to the happiness of Dermot's presence, trying to trick herself into
+the belief that he was still only a dear friend to whom she owed an immense
+debt of gratitude for saving her life and her honour. Never had a ball
+seemed so enjoyable--not even her first. Never had she had a partner who
+suited her so well. Certainly he danced to perfection, but she knew that if
+he had been the worst dancer in the room she still would have preferred him
+to all others. And never had she hated the ending of an entertainment so
+much. But Dermot walked beside her _dandy_ to the gate of her hotel, calmly
+displacing Charlesworth, much to the fury of the Rifleman, who had begun to
+consider this his prerogative.
+
+Ida and she sat up for hours in her room discussing the ball and all its
+happenings, but the older woman's most constant topic was Dermot. It was a
+subject of which Noreen felt that she could never weary; and she drew her
+friend on to talk of him, if the conversation threatened to stray to
+anything less interesting. The girl was used to Ida's sudden fancies for
+men, for the married woman was both susceptible and fickle, and Noreen
+judged that this sudden predilection for Dermot would die as quickly as a
+hundred others before it. But this time she was wrong.
+
+The Major was not to remain many days in Darjeeling, but Noreen hoped that
+he would give her much of his spare time while there. She was disappointed,
+however, to find that although he was frequently in her and Ida's company
+at the Amusement Club or elsewhere, he made no effort to compete with
+Charlesworth or Melville or any other man who sought to monopolise her, but
+drew back and allowed him to have a clear field while he himself seemed
+content to talk to Mrs. Smith. At first she was hurt. He was her friend,
+not Ida's. But he never sought to be alone with her, never asked her to
+ride with him, or do anything that would take her away from the others.
+
+Then she grew piqued. If he did not value her society he should see that
+others did, and she suddenly grew more gracious to Charlesworth, who seemed
+to sense in Dermot a more dangerous rival than was Melville or any of the
+others and began to be more openly devoted and to put more meaning into his
+intentions.
+
+One hateful night when she had been with Charlesworth to a private dance to
+which Ida had refused to go, dining instead with Dermot, who had no
+invitation to the affair, the blow fell. After her return to the hotel her
+treacherous friend had crept into her room, weeping and imploring her
+sympathy. Too late, she sobbed on Noreen's shoulder, she had found her
+soul-mate, the man destined for her through the past æons, the one man who
+could make her happy and whose existence she alone could complete. Why had
+she met Dermot too late? Why was she tied to a clod, mated to a clown? Why
+were two lives to be wrecked?
+
+As Noreen listened amazed an icy hand seemed to clutch her shrinking heart.
+Was this true? Did Dermot really care for Ida? Could the man whom she had
+revered as a white-souled knight be base enough to make love to another
+man's wife?
+
+Then the demon of jealousy poisoned her soul. She got the weeping Ida back
+to her bed, and sat in her own dark room until the dawn came, her brain in
+a whirl, her heart filled with a fierce hatred of Dermot. And when next
+day, his business finished, he had to leave Darjeeling, she made a point of
+absenting herself with Charlesworth from the hotel at the time when Dermot
+had arranged to come to say good-bye.
+
+But long before the train in which he travelled down to the Plains was
+half-way to Siliguri, the girl lay on her bed, her face buried in her
+pillow, her body shaken with silent but convulsive sobs.
+
+And Dermot stared out into the thick mist that shrouded the mountains and
+enfolded his downward-slipping train and wondered if his one-time little
+friend of the forest would be happy in the new life that, according to her
+bosom-friend and confidant, Mrs. Smith, would open to her as Charlesworth's
+wife as soon as she spoke the word that was trembling on her lips.
+
+And he sighed unconsciously. Then he frowned as the distasteful memory
+recurred to him of the previous night, when a wanton woman, misled by
+vanity and his courteous manner, had shamelessly offered him what she
+termed her love and forced him to play the Joseph to a modern Mrs.
+Potiphar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+THE FEAST OF THE GODDESS KALI
+
+The Rains were nearing their end, and with them the Darjeeling Season was
+drawing to a close. To Noreen Daleham it had lost its savour since Dermot's
+departure. Her feelings towards Ida had undergone a radical change; her
+admiration of and affection for her old schoolfellow had vanished. Her eyes
+were opened, and she now saw plainly the true character of the woman whom
+once she was proud to call her friend. The girl wondered that she could
+have ever been deceived, for she now understood the many innuendoes that
+had been made in her hearing against Mrs. Smith, as well as many things in
+that lady's own behaviour that had perplexed her at the time.
+
+But towards the man her feelings were frankly anger and contempt. He had
+rudely awakened her from a beautiful dream; for that she could never
+forgive him. Her idol was shattered, never again to be made whole, so she
+vowed in the bitterness of her desolate soul. It was not friendship that
+she had felt for him--she realised that now. It was love. She had given him
+her whole heart in a girl's first, pure, ideal love. And he had despised
+the gift and trampled it in the mire of unholy passion. She knew that it
+was the love of her life. Never could any man be to her what he had been.
+
+But what did it matter to Dermot? she thought bitterly. She had passed out
+of his life. She had never been anything in it. He had been amused for an
+idle moment by her simplicity, tool that she was. What he had done, had
+risked for her, he would have done and risked for any other woman. Why did
+he not write to her after his departure as he might have done? She almost
+hoped that he would, so that she could answer him and pour out on him, if
+only on paper, the scorn and disgust that filled her. But no; she would not
+do that. The more dignified course would be to ignore his letter
+altogether. If only she could hurt him she felt that she would accept any
+other man's offer of marriage. But even then he wouldn't care. He had
+always stood aside in Darjeeling and let others strive for her favour. And
+she was put to the test, for first Charlesworth and then Melville had
+proposed to her.
+
+Though Noreen's heart was frozen towards her quondam friend, Ida never
+perceived the fact. For the elder woman was so thoroughly satisfied with
+herself that it never occurred to her that any one whom she honoured with
+her liking could do aught but be devoted to her in return. And against the
+granite of her self-sufficiency the iron of the girl's proud anger broke
+until at length, baffled by the other's conceit, Noreen drifted back into
+the semblance of her former friendliness. And Ida never remarked any
+difference.
+
+A hundred miles away Dermot roamed the hills and forest again. The
+interdict of the Rains was lifted, and the game was afoot once more.
+
+The portents of the coming storm were intensified. Much that the Divisional
+Commander, General Heyland, had revealed to him in their confidential
+interviews at Darjeeling was being corroborated by happenings in other
+parts of the Peninsula, in Afghanistan, in China, and elsewhere. Signs were
+not wanting on the border that Dermot had to guard. Messengers crossing and
+re-crossing the Bhutan frontier were increasing in numbers and frequency;
+and he had at length succeeded in tracking some of them to a destination
+that first gave him a clue to the seat and identity of the organisers of
+the conspiracy in Bengal.
+
+For one or two Bhutanese had been traced to the capital of the Native State
+of Lalpuri, and others, having got into Indian territory, had been met by
+Hindus who were subsequently followed to the same ill-famed town. But once
+inside the maze of its bazaars their trail was hopelessly lost. It was
+useless to appeal to the authorities of the State. Their reputation and the
+character of their ruler were so bad that it was highly probable that the
+Rajah and all his counsellors were implicated in the plot. But how to bring
+it home to them Dermot did not know. By his secret instructions several of
+the messengers to and from Bhutan were the victims of apparent highway
+robbery in the hills. But no search of them revealed anything compromising,
+no treasonable correspondence between enemies within and without. The men
+would not speak, and he could not sanction the proposals made to him by
+which they should be induced so to do.
+
+The planters began to report to him a marked increase in the mutinous
+spirit exhibited by their coolies; arms were found in the possession of
+these men, and there was reason to fear a combined rising of the labourers
+on all the estates of the Duars. Dermot advised Rice to send his wife to
+England, but the lady showed no desire to return to her loudly-regretted
+London suburb.
+
+Every time that the Major met Daleham he expected to be told of Noreen's
+engagement, perhaps even her wedding. But he heard nothing. When he
+found that Fred was beginning to arrange for her return to Malpura and
+that--instigated by Chunerbutty--he refused to consider the advisability
+of her remaining away until conditions were better in the Terai, Dermot
+persuaded him to replace his untrustworthy Bengali house-servants by
+reliable Mussulman domestics, warlike Punjaubis, whom the soldier
+procured. They were men not unused to firearms, and capable of defending
+the bungalow if necessary.
+
+He and Badshah, who was happy to have his man with him again, kept
+indefatigable watch and ward along the frontier. Sometimes Dermot assembled
+the herd, which had learned to obey him almost like a pack of hounds, and,
+concealed among them, penetrated across the border into Bhutan and explored
+hidden spots where hostile troops might be concentrated. Only rarely a
+wandering Bhuttia chanced to see him, and then the terrified man would veil
+his eyes, fearing to behold the doings of the terrible Elephant God.
+
+The constant work and preoccupation kept Dermot from dwelling much on
+Noreen. Nevertheless, he thought often of the girl and hoped that she would
+be happy when she married the man she was said to have chosen. He felt no
+jealousy of Charlesworth; on the contrary, he admired him as a good
+sportsman and a manly fellow, as well as he could judge from the little
+that he had seen of him. The very fact that the girl who was his friend had
+chosen the Rifleman as her husband, according to Mrs. Smith, made him ready
+to like the man. He was not in love with the girl and had no desire to
+marry, for he was wedded to his profession and had always held that a
+soldier married was a soldier marred.
+
+Thus while Dermot thought far seldomer of Noreen, whom he acknowledged to
+himself he liked more than any other woman he had ever met, she, who
+assured herself every day that she hated and despised him, could not keep
+him out of her mind. And all the more so as she began to have doubts of the
+truth of Ida's story. For the girl, who could not resist watching her
+friend's post every day, much as she despised herself for doing it,
+observed that no letter ever came to Mrs. Smith in Dermot's handwriting.
+And, although Ida had talked much and sentimentally of him for days after
+his departure, she appeared to forget him soon, and before long was
+engrossed in a good-looking young civilian from Calcutta. Bain had long
+since left Darjeeling.
+
+Could it all have been a figment of the woman's imagination and
+vanity?--for Noreen now realised how colossally vain she was. Had she
+misunderstood or, worse still, misrepresented him? But that thought was
+almost more painful to the girl than the certainty of his guilt. For if
+it were true, how cruelly, how vilely unjust she had been to the man who
+had saved her at the peril of his life, the man who had called her his
+friend, who had trusted in her loyalty! No, no; better that he were
+proved worthless, dishonourable. That thought were easier to bear.
+
+Sometimes the girl almost wished that she could see him again so that she
+might ask him the truth. She could learn nothing now from Ida, who calmly
+ignored all attempts to extract information from her. Yet how could she
+question him, Noreen asked herself. She could not even hint to him that she
+had any knowledge of the affair, for her friend had divulged it to her in
+confidence. If only she were back at Malpura! He might come to her again
+there and perhaps of his own free will tell her what to believe of him. But
+when in a letter she broached the subject of her return to her brother,
+Fred bade her wait, for he hoped that he might be able to join her in
+Darjeeling for a few days during the Puja holidays.
+
+During the great festival of Durgá-Puja, or the Dússera, as it is variously
+called, no Hindu works if he can help it, especially in Bengal. As all
+Government and private offices in Calcutta are closed for it, every
+European there, who can, escapes to Darjeeling, twenty-four hours away by
+rail, and the Season in that hill-station dies in a final blaze of
+splendour and gaiety in the mad rush of revelry of the Puja holidays. And
+Fred hoped that he might he there to see its ending, if Parry would keep
+sober long enough to let his assistant get away for a few days. When he
+returned, Daleham wrote, he would bring Noreen back with him.
+
+Dermot's activities on the frontier were not passing unmarked by the chief
+conspirators in Lalpuri. His measures against their messengers focussed
+attention on him. The _Dewan_, a far better judge of men and things than
+Chunerbutty, did not make the mistake of despising him merely because he
+was a soldier. The old man realised that it was not wise to count British
+officers fools. He knew too well how efficient the Indian Military
+Intelligence Department had proved itself. So he began to collect
+information about this white man who might seriously inconvenience them or
+derange their plans. And he came to the conclusion that the inquisitive
+soldier must be put out of the way.
+
+Assassination can be raised to a fine art in a Native State--where a man's
+life is worth far less than a cow's if the State be a Hindu one--provided
+that the prying eyes of British Political Officers are not turned that way.
+True, Dermot was in British territory, but in such an uncivilised part of
+it that his removal ought not to be difficult considering his habit of
+wandering alone about the hills and jungle.
+
+So thought the _Dewan_. But the old man found to his surprise that it
+was very difficult to put his hand on any one willing to attempt
+Dermot's life. No sum however large could tempt any Bhuttia on either
+side of the border-line, or any Hindu in the Duars. Even the Brahmin
+extremists acting as missionaries on the tea-gardens fought shy of him.
+Superstition was his sure shield.
+
+Then the _Dewan_ fell back on the bazaar of Lalpuri City. But in that den
+of criminals there was not one cut-throat that did not know of the terrible
+Elephant God-Man and the appalling vengeance that he had wreaked on the
+Rajah's soldiers in the forest. The _Dewan_ might cajole or threaten, but
+there was not one ruffian in the bazaar who did not prefer to risk his
+anger to the certainty of the hideous fate awaiting the rash mortal that
+crossed the path of this dread being who fed his magic elephants on the
+living flesh of his foes.
+
+The _Dewan_ was not baffled. If the local villains failed him an assassin
+must be imported from elsewhere. So the extremist leaders in Calcutta,
+being appealed to, sent more than one fanatical young Brahmin from that
+city to Lalpuri, where they were put in the way to remove Dermot. But when
+in bazaar or Palace his reputation reached their ears they drew back. One
+was sent direct from Calcutta to the Terai, so that he would not be scared
+by the foolish tales of the men of Lalpuri. But his first enquiries among
+the countryfolk as to where to find Dermot brought him such illuminating
+information that, not daring to return unsuccessful to those who had sent
+him, he turned against his own breast the weapon that he had meant for the
+British officer.
+
+Then the _Dewan_ sent for Chunerbutty and took counsel with him, as being
+more conversant with European ways. And the result was a cunning and
+elaborate plot, such as from its very tortuousness and complexity would
+appeal to the heart of an Oriental.
+
+The Rajah of Lalpuri, being of Mahratta descent, tried to copy in many
+things the great Mahratta chiefs in other parts of India, such as the
+Gaekwar of Baroda and the Maharajah Holkar of Indore. He had long been
+anxious to imitate Holkar's method of celebrating the Dússera or Durgá
+Festival, particularly that part of it where a bull is sacrificed in public
+by the Maharajah on the fourth day of the feast. The _Dewan_ had always
+opposed it, but now he suddenly veered round and suggested that it should
+be done. In Indore all the Europeans of the cantonment and many of the
+ladies and officers from the neighbouring military station of Mhow were
+always invited to be present on the fourth day. The old plotter proposed
+that, similarly, some of the English community of the Duars, the Civil
+Servants and planters, should receive invitations to Lalpuri. It would seem
+only natural to include the Officer Commanding Ranga Duar. And to tempt
+Dermot into the trap Chunerbutty suggested Noreen as a bait, undertaking to
+persuade her brother to bring her.
+
+The Rajah was delighted at the thought of her presence in the Palace. The
+_Dewan_ smiled and quoted two Hindu proverbs:
+
+"Where the honey is spread there will the flies gather," said he. "Any lure
+is good that brings the bird to the net."
+
+The consequence of the plotting was that Noreen Daleham, fretting in
+Darjeeling at having to wait for her brother to come there for the Puja
+holidays, received a letter from him saying that he had changed his mind
+and had accepted an invitation from the Rajah of Lalpuri for her and
+himself to be present at the celebrations of the great Hindu festival at
+the Palace. She was to pack up and leave at once by rail to Jalpaiguri,
+where he would meet her with a motor-car lent him for the purpose by the
+Lalpuri Durbar, or State Council. If Mrs. Smith cared to accompany her an
+invitation for her would be at once forthcoming. Fred added that he was
+making up a party from their district which included Payne, Granger, and
+the Rices. From Lalpuri Noreen would return with him to Malpura.
+
+The girl was delighted at the thought of leaving Darjeeling sooner than she
+had expected. To her surprise Ida announced her intention of accompanying
+her to Lalpuri. But the fact that her Calcutta friend was returning to the
+city on the Hoogly and that by going with Noreen she could travel with him
+as far as Jalpaiguri explained it.
+
+Chunerbutty, deputed by the Rajah to act as host to his European guests,
+met Daleham's party when they arrived at the gates of Lalpuri and
+conducted them to the Palace. They passed through the teeming city with
+its thronged bazaar, its narrow, winding streets hemmed in by the
+overhanging houses with their painted walls and closely-latticed windows
+through which thousands of female eyes peered inquisitively at the white
+women, the brightly dressed crowds flattening themselves against the
+walls to get out of the way of the two cavalry soldiers of the Rajah's
+Bodyguard who galloped recklessly ahead of the car. Soon they reached
+the _Nila Mahal_, or Blue Palace, as His Highness's residence was
+called, with its iron-studded gates, carved doors, and countless wooden
+balconies. A swarm of retainers in magnificent, if soiled, gold-laced
+liveries filled the courtyards, and bare-footed sepoys in red coats,
+generally burst at the seams and lacking buttons, and old shakoes with
+white cotton flaps hanging down behind, guarded the entrance.
+
+A wing of the Palace had been cleared out and hastily furnished in an
+attempt to suit European tastes. The guests were accommodated in rooms
+floored with marble, generally badly stained or broken. Two large chambers
+tiled and wainscoted with wonderfully carved blackwood panels were
+apportioned as dining-hall and sitting-room for the English visitors. All
+the windows of the wing, many of them closely screened, looked on an inner
+courtyard which was bounded on two sides by other buildings of the Palace.
+The fourth side was divided off from another courtyard by a high blank wall
+pierced by a large gateway, the leaves of the gate hanging broken and
+useless from the posts.
+
+Ida and Noreen were given rooms beside each other and were amused at the
+heterogeneous collection of odd pieces of furniture in them. The old
+four-posted beds with funereal canopies and moth-eaten curtains had
+probably been brought from England a hundred years before. In small
+chambers off their rooms, with marble walls and floors, and windows
+filled with thin slabs of alabaster carved in the most exquisite tracery
+as delicate as lace, galvanised iron tubs to be used as baths looked
+sadly out of place.
+
+When they had freshened themselves up after their long motor drive they
+went down to the dining-hall, where lunch was to be served. And when she
+entered the room the first person that Noreen saw was Dermot, seated at a
+small table with Payne and Granger.
+
+On his return from a secret excursion across the Bhutan border the Major
+had found awaiting him at Ranga Duar the official invitation of the Lalpuri
+Durbar. He was very much surprised at it; for he knew that the State had
+never encouraged visits from Europeans, and had, when possible, invariably
+refused admission to all except important British officials, who could not
+be denied. Such a thing as actually entertaining Englishmen of its own
+accord was unknown in its annals. So he stared at the large card printed in
+gold and embossed with the coat-of-arms of Lalpuri in colours, and wondered
+what motive lay behind the invitation. That it betokened a fresh move in
+the conspiracy he was certain; but be the motive what it might he was glad
+of the unexpected opportunity of visiting Lalpuri and meeting those whom he
+believed to be playing a leading part in the plot. So he promptly wrote an
+acceptance.
+
+He reached the Palace only half an hour before Daleham's party arrived from
+another direction, and had just met his two planter friends when Noreen
+entered the room. He had not known that she was to be at Lalpuri. The three
+men rose and bowed to her, and Dermot looked to see if Charlesworth were
+with her. But only the two women and Daleham followed Chunerbutty as he led
+the way to a table at the far end of the room.
+
+There were about twenty English guests altogether, eight or nine of whom
+were from the district in which Malpura was situated, the Rices among them.
+The rest were planters from other parts of the Duars, a few members of the
+Indian Civil Service or Public Works Departments, and a young Deputy
+Superintendent of Police from Jalpaiguri.
+
+At Chunerbutty's table the party consisted of the Rices, one of the Civil
+Servants, the Dalehams, and Noreen's friend. The planter's wife neglected
+the man beside her to stare at Mrs. Smith, taking in every detail of her
+dress, while Ida chattered gaily to Fred, whose good looks had attracted
+her the moment that she first saw him on the platform of Jalpaiguri
+station. She was already apparently quite consoled for the loss of her
+Calcutta admirer.
+
+Noreen sat pale and abstracted beside Chunerbutty, answering his remarks in
+monosyllables, eating nothing, and alleging a headache as an explanation of
+her mood. The unexpected sight of Dermot had shaken her, and she dreaded
+the moment when she must greet him. Yet she was anxious to witness his
+meeting with Ida, hoping that she might glean from it some idea of how
+matters really stood between them.
+
+After _tiffin_ a move was made into the long chamber arranged as the
+guests' lounge. Here introductions between those who had not previously
+known each other and meetings between old acquaintances took place; and
+with an inward shrinking Noreen saw Dermot approaching. She was astonished
+to observe that Ida's careless and indifferent greeting was responded to by
+him in a coldly courteous manner almost indicative of strong dislike. The
+girl wondered if they were both consummate actors. Dermot turned to her. He
+spoke in his usual pleasant and friendly manner; but she seemed to detect a
+trace of reserve that he had never showed before. She was almost too
+confused to reply to him and turned with relief to shake hands with Payne
+and Granger, who had come up with him.
+
+Chunerbutty played the host well, introduced those who were strangers to
+each other, and saw that the Palace servants, who were unused to European
+habits, brought the coffee, liqueurs, and smokes to all the guests, where
+they gathered under the long punkah that swung lazily from the painted
+ceiling and barely stirred the heated air.
+
+As soon as it was cool enough to drive out in the State carriages and
+motor-cars that waited in the outer courtyard, the afternoon was devoted to
+sight-seeing. Chunerbutty, in the leading car with Noreen and the District
+Superintendent of Police, acted as guide and showed them about the city.
+Dermot noted the lowering looks of many of the natives in the narrow
+streets, and overhead more than one muttered insult to the English race
+from men huddling against the houses to escape the carriages.
+
+The visitors were invited by Chunerbutty to enter an ornate temple of
+Kali, in which a number of Hindu women squatted on the ground before a
+gigantic idol representing the goddess in whose honour the Puja festival
+is held. The image was that of a fierce-looking woman with ten arms,
+each hand holding a weapon, her right leg resting on a lion, her left on
+a buffalo-demon.
+
+"I say, Chunerbutty, who's the lady?" asked Granger. "I can't say I like
+her looks."
+
+"No, she certainly isn't a beauty," said the Brahmin with a contemptuous
+laugh. "Yet these superstitious fools believe in her, ignorant people that
+they are."
+
+He indicated the female worshippers, who had been staring with malevolent
+curiosity at the English ladies, the first that most of them had ever seen.
+So these were the _mem-logue_, they whispered to each other, these
+shameless white women who went about openly with men and met all the world
+brazenly with unveiled countenances. And the whisperers modestly drew their
+_saris_ before their own faces.
+
+"She is the goddess Kali or Durgá, the wife of Shiva, one of the Hindu
+Trinity. She is supposed to be the patron of smallpox and lots of other
+unpleasant things, so no wonder she is ugly," continued Chunerbutty.
+
+"Oh, you have goddesses then in the Hindu religion," observed Ida
+carelessly.
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Smith; but these are the sort we have in India," he answered
+with an unpleasant leer. "The English people are more fortunate, for they
+have you ladies."
+
+The remark was one that would have gained him smiles and approbation from
+his female acquaintances in the Bayswater boarding-house, but Ida glared
+haughtily at him and most of the men longed to kick him.
+
+Dreading a cutting and sarcastic speech from her friend, Noreen hurriedly
+interposed.
+
+"Isn't the Puja festival in her honour, Mr. Chunerbutty?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Daleham, it is. It is another of these silly superstitions of
+the Hindus that make one really ashamed of being an Indian. The festival is
+meant to commemorate the old lady's victory over a buffalo-headed demon.
+Hence the weird-looking beast under her left leg."
+
+"And do these people really believe in that sort of rot?" asked Mrs. Rice.
+
+"Oh, yes, lots of the ignorant, uneducated lower class do," replied the
+atheistical Brahmin. "Durgá is the favourite deity. Her husband and Krishna
+and old Brahma are back numbers. The fact is that the common people are
+afraid of Kali. They think she can do them such a lot of harm."
+
+"What does the festival consist of, old chap?" asked Daleham. "What do the
+Hindus do?"
+
+"Well, the image is worshipped for nine days and then chucked into the
+water," replied the engineer. "Tomorrow, the fourth day, is the one on
+which the sacrifices are made--sheep, buck goats, and buffaloes are used.
+Their heads are cut off before this idol and their heads and blood are
+offered to it. Tomorrow you'll see the Rajah kill the bull that is to be
+the sacrifice. At least, he'll start the killing of it. Now, we'll go along
+back to the Palace."
+
+The visitors' dinner that night was quite a magnificent affair. The
+catering for the time of their stay had been confided to an Italian firm
+in Calcutta. The cooking was excellent, but the waiting by the awkward
+Palace retainers was very bad. The food was eaten off the Rajah's State
+silver service, made in London for his father for the entertainment of a
+Viceroy. The wine was very good. So the guests enjoyed their meal, and
+most of them were quite prepared to think the Rajah a most excellent
+fellow when, at the conclusion of the meal, he entered the dining-room
+and came to the long table to propose and drink the health of the
+King-Emperor. He left the room immediately afterwards. This is the usual
+procedure on the part of Hindu rulers in India, since they are precluded
+by their religion and caste-customs from eating with Europeans.
+
+After dinner the guests went to the lounge, where coffee was served. They
+broke up into groups or pairs and sat or stood about the room chatting.
+Mrs. Rice, who had been much impressed by Ida's appearance and expensive
+gowns, secured a chair beside her and endeavoured to monopolise her,
+despite many obvious snubs. At last Ida calmly turned her back on her and
+called Daleham to talk to her. Then the planter's wife espied Dermot
+sitting alone and pounced on him. He had tried to speak to Noreen after
+dinner, but it was so apparent that she wished to avoid him that he gave up
+the attempt. He endured Mrs. Rice's company with admirable resignation, but
+was thankful when the time for "good-night" came at last.
+
+The men stayed up an hour or two later, and then after a final "peg" went
+off to bed. Dermot walked upstairs with Barclay, the young police officer,
+who was his nearest neighbour, although the Major's room was at the end of
+the building and separated from his by a long, narrow passage and several
+empty chambers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+THE PALACE OF DEATH
+
+When they reached the door of the police officer's apartment Dermot wished
+him good-night and proceeded down the passage, which was lit only by a
+feeble lamp placed in a niche high up in the wall. He had to grope his way
+through the outer chambers by the aid of matches, and when he reached his
+room, was surprised to find it in darkness, for he had left a light burning
+in it. He struck more matches, and was annoyed to discover that his lamp
+had been taken away. Being very tired he felt inclined to undress and go to
+bed in the dark, but, suddenly remembering the small light in the passage,
+determined to fetch it. Making his way back to the passage he tried to take
+the little lamp down. But it was too high up, and the noise that he made in
+his efforts to reach it brought Barclay to his door.
+
+When he heard of Dermot's difficulty he said:
+
+"I'm not sleepy yet, Major, so I'll bring my lamp along to your room and
+smoke a cheroot while you undress. Then I'll go off with it as soon as
+you've turned in."
+
+Dermot thanked him, and the young policeman went with him, carrying the
+lamp, which had a double wick and gave a good light. Putting it down on the
+dressing-table he lit a cheroot and proceeded to seat himself in a chair
+beside the bed. Like the room itself and the rest of the furniture, it was
+covered with dust.
+
+"By George, what dirty quarters they've given you, sir," he exclaimed.
+"Just look at the floor. I'll bet it's never been swept since the Palace
+was built. The dust is an inch deep near the bed." He polished the seat of
+the chair carefully before he sat down.
+
+The heat in the room was stifling, and the police officer, even in his
+white mess uniform, felt it acutely.
+
+"By Jove, it's steamy tonight," he remarked, wiping his face.
+
+"Yes, I hate October," replied Dermot. "It's the worst month in the year, I
+think. Its damp heat, when the rain is drying up out of the ground, is more
+trying than the worst scorching we get in May and June."
+
+"Well, you don't seem to find it too hot, Major," said the other laughing.
+"It looks as if you'd got a hot-water bottle in the foot of your bed."
+
+"Hot-water bottle? What do you mean?" asked Dermot in surprise, throwing
+the collar that he had just taken off on to the dressing-table and turning
+round.
+
+"Why, don't you see? Under the clothes at the foot," said his companion,
+pointing with the Major's cane to a bulge in the thin blanket and sheet
+covering the bed. He got up and strode across to it. "What on earth have
+you got there? It does look--Oh, good heavens, keep back!" he cried
+suddenly.
+
+Dermot was already bending over the bed, but the police officer pushed him
+forcibly back and snatched up the cane which he had laid down. Then,
+cautiously seizing the top of the blanket and sheet near the pillow, he
+whisked them off with a sudden vigorous jerk. At the spot where the bulge
+had betrayed it a black cobra, one of the deadliest snakes in India, lifted
+its head and a foot of its length from its shining coils. The forked tongue
+darted and quivered incessantly, and the unwinking eyes glistened as with a
+loud hiss it raised itself higher and poised its head to strike.
+
+Barclay struck it sharply with the cane, and it fell writhing on the bed,
+its spine broken. The coils wound and unwound vigorously, the tail
+convulsively lashing the sheet. He raised the stick to strike it again,
+but, paused with arm uplifted, for the snake could not move away or raise
+its head.
+
+Seeing that it was powerless the young Superintendent swung round to
+Dermot.
+
+"Have you a pistol, Major?" he whispered.
+
+Without a word the soldier unlocked his despatch-box and took out a small
+automatic.
+
+"Loaded?"
+
+The soldier nodded.
+
+"Give it to me."
+
+Taking the weapon he tiptoed to the door, listened awhile, then opened it
+sharply. But there was no one there.
+
+"Bring the lamp," he whispered.
+
+Dermot complied, and together they searched the ante-rooms and passages.
+They were empty. Then they looked into the small room in which the zinc
+bath-tub stood. There was no one there.
+
+The Deputy Superintendent closed the door again, and, as it had neither
+lock nor bolt, placed a heavy chair against it. Taking the lamp in his hand
+he bent down and carefully examined the dusty floor under and around the
+bed. Then he put down the lamp and drew Dermot into the centre of the room.
+
+"Has your servant any reason to dislike you?" he asked in a low voice.
+
+Dermot answered him in the same tone:
+
+"I have not brought one with me."
+
+The D.S.P. whistled faintly, then looked apprehensively round the room and
+whispered:
+
+"Have you any enemies in the Palace or in Lalpuri?"
+
+Dermot smiled.
+
+"Very probably," he replied. Then in a low voice he continued: "Look here,
+Barclay, do you know anything of the state of affairs in this province? I
+mean, politically."
+
+The police officer nodded.
+
+"I do. I'm here in Lalpuri to try to find out things. The root of the
+trouble in Bengal is here."
+
+"Then I can tell you that I have been sent on a special mission to the
+border and have come to this city to try to follow up a clue."
+
+The D.S.P. drew a deep breath.
+
+"That accounts for it. Look here, Major, I've seen this trick with the
+snake before. Not long ago I tried to hang the servant of a rich _bunniah_
+for murdering his master by means of it, but the Sessions Judge wouldn't
+convict him. If you look you'll see that that brute"--he pointed to the
+cobra writhing in agony on the bed and sinking its fangs into its own
+flesh--"never got up there by itself. It was put there. Otherwise it would
+have left a clear trail in the thick dust on the floor, but there isn't a
+sign."
+
+"Yes, I spotted that," said Dermot, lighting a cigarette over the lamp
+chimney. "I see the game. My lamp--which was here, for I dressed for dinner
+by its light--was taken away, so that I'd have to go to bed in the dark;
+and, by Jove, I very nearly did! Then I'd have kicked against the cobra as
+I got in, and been bitten. The lamp would have been put back in the morning
+before I was 'found.' Look here, Barclay, I owe you a lot. Without you I'd
+be dead in two hours."
+
+"Or less. Sometimes the bite is fatal in forty minutes. Yes, there's no
+doubt of it, you'd have been done for. Lucky thing I hadn't gone to bed and
+heard you. Now, what'll we do with the brute?"
+
+He looked at the writhing snake.
+
+"Wait a minute. Where are the matches?"
+
+He picked up a box from the dressing-table, moved the chair from the door
+and left the room. In a minute or two he returned, carrying an old
+porcelain vase, and shut the door.
+
+"I found this stuck away with a lot of rubbish in the outer room," he said.
+"I don't suppose any one will miss it."
+
+Dermot watched him with curiosity as he placed the vase on the floor near
+the bed and picked up the cane. Putting its point under the cobra he lifted
+the wriggling body on the stick and with some difficulty dropped the snake
+into the vase, where they heard its head striking the sides with furious
+blows.
+
+"I hope it won't break the damned thing just when I'm carrying it," he
+said, regarding the vase anxiously.
+
+"What are you doing that for?" asked Dermot.
+
+The police officer lowered his voice.
+
+"Well, Major, we don't want these would-be murderers to know how their
+trick failed. That's the reason I didn't pound the brute to a jelly on the
+bed, for it would have made such a mess on the sheet. Now there isn't a
+speck on it. I'll take the vase with me into my room and finish the cobra
+off. In the morning I'll get rid of its body somehow. When these devils
+find tomorrow that you're not dead, they'll be very puzzled. Now, the
+question is, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Going to bed," answered Dermot, continuing to undress. "There's nothing
+else to be done at this hour, is there?"
+
+The police officer looked at him with admiration.
+
+"By George, sir, you've got pluck. If it were I, I'd want to sit up all
+night with a pistol."
+
+"Not you. Otherwise you wouldn't be in the place at all. Besides you are
+qualifying for delicate little attentions like this." And Dermot flicked
+the ash of his cigarette into the vase in which the cobra still writhed and
+twisted.
+
+"Oh, well, they haven't tumbled to me yet," said the young police officer,
+making light of his own courage. "I suppose you won't make any fuss about
+this?"
+
+"Of course not. We've got no proof against any one."
+
+"But do you think it wise for you to stay on here, sir? They'll only try
+again."
+
+Dermot lit a fresh cigarette.
+
+"Well, it can't be helped. It's all in the day's work. I'm due to stay here
+two days more, and I'm damned if I'm going to move before then. As you
+know, it doesn't do to show these people the white feather. Besides, I'm
+rather interested to see what they'll try next."
+
+"You're a cool hand, Major. Well, since you look at it that way, there's
+nothing more to be said. I see you're ready for bed, so I'll take my lamp
+and bit of pottery, and trek."
+
+"Oh, just one moment, Barclay." Dermot sank his voice. "Did you notice the
+Rajah's catch-'em-alive-ohs on sentry?"
+
+"You mean his soldiers? No, I can't say I did."
+
+"Well, just have a look at them tomorrow. I want to have a talk with you
+about them."
+
+"I'd like to strip these bed-clothes off. I don't fancy them after the
+snake. Luckily it's so hot that one doesn't want even a sheet tonight. Let
+me see if there's another cobra under the pillow. It's said that they
+generally go about in pairs." He turned over the pillow. "No; that's all
+right."
+
+"Hold on a minute," whispered Barclay, raising the lamp above his head with
+his left hand. "Let's see if there's any concealed entrance to the room. I
+daresay these old palaces are full of secret passages and masked doors."
+
+He sounded the walls and floors and examined them carefully.
+
+"Seems all right. I'll be off now. Good-night, Major. I hope you'll not be
+disturbed. If there's any trouble fire a shot and I'll be here in two
+shakes. I've got a pistol, and by Jingo I'll have it handy tonight. Keep
+yours ready, too."
+
+"I shall. Now a thousand thanks for your help, Barclay," said the soldier,
+shaking his friend's hand.
+
+Then he closed the door behind the police officer and by the light of a
+match piled chairs against it. Then he lay down on the bed, put the pistol
+under the edge of the mattress and ready to his hand, and fell asleep at
+once.
+
+Early in the morning he was aroused by a vigorous knocking and heard
+Barclay's voice outside the door.
+
+"Are you all right, Major?" it said.
+
+"Yes, thanks. Good-morning," replied the soldier. "Come in. No, wait a
+minute."
+
+He jumped out of bed and removed the barricade. Barclay entered in his
+pyjamas. Lowering his voice he said:
+
+"Anything happen during the night?"
+
+"I don't think so. I slept soundly and heard nothing. You're up early,"
+replied the soldier, picking up the blankets and sheets from the floor and
+spreading them carelessly on the bed to make it look as if he had used
+them.
+
+"Yes; those infernal birds make such a confounded row. It's like being in
+an aviary," said Barclay.
+
+Dermot threw open the wooden shutters. Outside the window was a small
+balcony. On the roofs and verandahs of the Palace scores of grey-hooded
+crows were perched, filling the air with discordant sounds. Up in the pale
+blue sky the wheeling hawks whistled shrilly. Down in the courtyard below
+yellow-beaked _mynas_ chattered volubly.
+
+"Don't they make a beastly row? How is a fellow to sleep?" grumbled
+Barclay. "Look at that cheeky beggar."
+
+A hooded crow perched on the railing of the balcony and, apparently
+resenting his remarks, cawed defiantly at him. The Deputy Superintendent
+picked up one of Dermot's slippers and was about to hurl it at the bird,
+when a voice from the doorway startled him.
+
+"_Char, Huzoor!_ (Tea, Your Excellency!)"
+
+He looked round. One of the Palace servants stood at the door holding a
+tray containing tea and buttered toast.
+
+Dermot directed the man to put the tray on the dressing-table, and when the
+servant had salaamed and left the room, he walked over to it and looked at
+the food.
+
+"Now, is it safe to eat that?" he said. "I've no fear of the grub they
+serve in the dining-hall, for they wouldn't dare to poison us all. But
+somehow I have my doubts about any nice little meal prepared exclusively
+for me."
+
+"I think you're right there, Major," said Barclay, who was sitting on the
+edge of the bed.
+
+"We'll see. There isn't the usually handy pi-dog to try it on. But we'll
+make use of our noisy friend here. He won't be much loss to the world if it
+poisons him," and Dermot broke off a piece of the toast and threw it on the
+floor of the balcony. The crow stopped his cawing, cocked his head on one
+side, and eyed the tempting morsel. Buttered toast did not often come his
+way. He dropped down on to the balcony floor, hopped over to the toast,
+pecked at it, picked it up in his strong beak, and flew with it to the roof
+of the building opposite. In silence the two men watched him devour it.
+
+"That seems all right, Major," said the police officer. "You've made him
+your friend for life. He's coming back for more."
+
+The crow perched on the rail again and cawed loudly.
+
+"Oh, shut up, you greedy bird. Here's another bit for you. That's all
+you'll have. I want the rest myself," said Dermot, laughing. He broke off
+another piece and threw it out on to the balcony.
+
+The crow looked at it, ruffled its feathers, shook itself--and then fell
+heavily to the floor of the balcony and lay still.
+
+"Good heavens! What an escape!" ejaculated Barclay, suddenly pale.
+
+The two men stared at each other and the dead bird in silence. Then Dermot
+murmured:
+
+"This is getting monotonous. Hang it! They _are_ in a hurry. Why, they
+couldn't even know whether I was alive or not. If the snake trick had come
+off, I'd be a corpse now and this nice little meal would have been wasted.
+Really, they are rather crowding things on me."
+
+"They're taking no chances, the devils," said the younger man, who was more
+upset by the occurrence than his companion.
+
+"Well, I'll have to do without my _chota hazri_; and I do like a cup of tea
+in the morning," said the soldier; and he began to shave. Glancing out of
+the window he continued: "They've got a fine day for the show anyway."
+
+Barclay sprang up from the chair on which he had suddenly sat down. His
+nerve was shaken by the two attempts on his companion's life.
+
+"Damn them and their shows, the infernal murderers," he muttered savagely,
+and rushed out of the room.
+
+"Amen!" said Dermot, as he lathered his face. Death had been near him too
+often before for him to be disturbed now. So he went on shaving.
+
+Before he left the room he poured tea into the cup on the tray and got rid
+of the rest of the toast, to make it appear that he had freely partaken of
+the meal. He wrapped up the dead crow in paper and locked it in his
+despatch-case, until he could dispose of it that evening after dark.
+
+Noreen had slept little during the night. All through the weary hours of
+darkness she had tossed restlessly on her bed, tortured by thoughts that
+revolved in monotonous circles around Dermot. What was she to believe of
+him? What were the relations between him and her friend? He had seemed very
+cold to Ida when they met and had avoided her all day. And she did not
+appear to mind. What had happened between them? Had they quarrelled? It did
+not disturb Ida's rest, for the girl could hear her regular breathing all
+night long, the door between their rooms being open. Was it possible that
+she and Dermot were acting indifference to deceive the people around them?
+
+Only towards morning did Noreen fall into a troubled, broken sleep, and she
+dreamt that the man she loved was in great danger. She woke up in a fright,
+then dozed again. She was hollow-eyed and unrefreshed when a bare-footed
+native "boy" knocked at her door and left a tray with her _chota hazri_ at
+it. She could not eat, but she drank the tea thirstily.
+
+Pleading fatigue she remained in her room all the morning and refused to go
+down to _tiffin_. When the other guests were at lunch in the dining-hall a
+message was brought her that Chunerbutty begged to see her urgently. She
+went down to the lounge, where he was waiting. Struck by her want of
+colour, he enquired somewhat tenderly what ailed her. She replied
+impatiently that she was only fatigued by the previous day's journey, and
+asked rather crossly why he wanted to see her.
+
+"I have something nice for you," he said smiling. "Something I was to give
+you."
+
+Glancing around to make sure that they were unobserved, he opened a
+sandalwood box that he held in his hand and took out a large, oval
+leather case, which he offered to her.
+
+"What is this?" she asked in surprise.
+
+"Open it and see," he replied.
+
+The girl did so unsuspectingly. It was lined with blue velvet, and resting
+in it was a necklace of diamonds in quaint and massive gold setting,
+evidently the work of a native jeweller. The stones, though badly cut, were
+very large and flashed and sparkled with coloured fires. The ornament was
+evidently extremely valuable. Noreen stared at it and then at Chunerbutty
+in surprise.
+
+"What does this mean?" she demanded, an ominous ring in her voice.
+
+"Just a little present to you from a friend," replied the Hindu, evidently
+thinking that the girl was pleased with the magnificent gift.
+
+"For me? Are these stones real?" she asked quietly.
+
+"Rather. Why, that necklace must be worth thousands of pounds. The fact is
+that it's a little present from the Rajah, who admires you awfully. He----"
+
+Noreen's eyes blazed, and she was on the point of bursting into angry
+words; but, controlling herself with an effort, she thrust the case back
+into his hands and said coldly:
+
+"You know little of English women, Mr. Chunerbutty, if you think that they
+accept presents like that from strangers. This may be the Rajah's
+ignorance, but it looks more like insolence."
+
+She turned to go; but, stopping her, he said:
+
+"Oh, but you don't understand. He's a great friend of mine and he knows
+that I'm awfully fond of you, little girl. So he's ready to do anything for
+us and give me a----"
+
+She walked past him, her eyes blazing with anger, with so resolute an air
+that he drew back and watched her go. She went straight to her room and
+remained there until Ida came to tell her that it was time to dress for the
+celebration of the Puja festival.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the outer courtyard of the Palace six of the Rajah's State elephants,
+their tusks gilded and foreheads gaudily painted, caparisoned with rich
+velvet housings covered with heavy gold embroidery trailing almost to the
+ground, bearing on their backs gold or silver howdahs fashioned in the
+shape of temples, awaited the European guests. Chunerbutty, when allotting
+positions as Master of Ceremonies, took advantage of his position to
+contrive that Noreen should accompany him on the elephant on which he was
+to lead the line. The girl discovered too late that they were to be alone
+on it, except for the _mahout_ on its neck. Dermot and Barclay managed to
+be together on another animal.
+
+When all were in position in the howdahs, to which they climbed by ladders,
+the gates were thrown open, and through a mob of salaaming retainers the
+elephants emerged with stately tread on the great square in front of the
+Palace and proceeded through the city. The houses were gaily decorated.
+Flags and strips of coloured cloth fluttered from every building; gaudy
+carpets and embroideries hung from the innumerable balconies and windows.
+The elephants could scarcely force a passage through the narrow streets, so
+crowded were they with swarms of men, women, and children in holiday
+attire, all going in one direction. Their destination was the park of the
+_Moti Mahal_ or Pearl Palace, the Rajah's summer residence outside the
+walls of the city.
+
+There the enormous crowd was kept back by red-robed retainers armed with
+_tulwars_--native curved swords--leaving clear a wide stretch of open
+ground, in the centre of which on a gigantic altar was the image of the
+Goddess Kali. Before it a magnificent bull was firmly secured by chains and
+ropes to stout posts sunk deep in the earth. The animal's head drooped and
+it could hardly stand up, for it had been heavily drugged for the day's
+ceremony and was scarcely conscious.
+
+The Rajah's army was drawn up in line fronting the altar, but some distance
+away from it. Two old muzzle-loading nine-pounder guns, their teams of
+powerful bullocks lying contentedly behind on the grass, formed the right
+of the line. Then came the cavalry, consisting of twenty _sowars_ on
+squealing white stallions with long tails dyed red. Left of them was the
+infantry, two hundred sepoys in shakoes, red coatees, white trousers, and
+bare feet, leaning on long percussion-capped muskets with triangular
+bayonets.
+
+Shortly after the Europeans had arrived and their elephants taken up their
+position on one side of the ground, cheering announced the coming of the
+Rajah. The cannons were discharged by slow matches and the infantrymen,
+raising their muskets, fired a ragged volley into the air. Then towards the
+altar of Kali the Rajah was seen approaching in a long gilded car shaded by
+a canopy of cloth-of-gold and drawn by an enormous elephant, richly
+caparisoned. Two gold-laced, scarlet-clad servants were perched on the back
+of the car, waving large peacock-feather fans over their monarch. A line of
+carriages followed, conveying the _Dewan_, the Durbar officials, the
+Ministers of the State and the leading nobles of Lalpuri. After the first
+volley, which scattered the horses of the cavalry, the artillery and
+infantry loaded and fired independently as fast as their antiquated weapons
+permitted, until the air was filled with smoke and the acrid smell of
+gunpowder.
+
+The Rajah, hemmed in by spearmen with levelled points and followed by all
+his suite with drawn swords, timidly approached the bull, _tulwar_ in hand.
+The animal was too dazed to lift its head. The Rajah raised his gleaming
+blade and struck at the nape of its neck, and at the same moment two
+swordsmen hamstrung it. Immediately the _Dewan_, Ministers, and nobles
+crowded in and hacked at the wretched beast as it lurched and fell heavily
+to the ground. The warm blood spurted out in jets and covered the officials
+and nobles as they cut savagely at the feebly struggling carcase, and the
+red liquid splashed the Rajah as he stood gloating over the gaping wounds
+and the sufferings of the poor sacrifice, his heavy face lit up by a
+ghastly grin of delight.
+
+The horrible spectacle shocked and disgusted the European spectators. Ida
+nearly fainted, and Mrs. Rice turned green. Noreen shuddered at
+Chunerbutty's fiendish and bestial expression, as he leaned forward in the
+howdah, his face working convulsively, his eyes straining to lose no detail
+of the repulsive sight. He was enjoying it, like the excited, enthralled
+mobs of Indians of all ages around, who pressed forward, gradually pushing
+back the line of retainers struggling to keep the ground.
+
+Suddenly the swarming thousands broke loose. They surged madly forward,
+engulfing and sweeping the soldiers along with them, and rushed on the
+dying bull. They fought savagely to reach it. Those who succeeded threw
+themselves on the quivering carcase and with knives or bare hands tore
+pieces of still living flesh from it and thrust them into their mouths.
+Then, blooded to the eyes, they raised their reddened arms aloft, while
+from thousands of throats rang out the fanatical cry:
+
+"_Kali Ma ki jai!_ (Victory to Mother Kali!)"
+
+They surged around the altar. The Rajah was knocked down and nearly
+trampled on by the maddened, hysterical crowd. _Dewan_, Ministers,
+officials, guards were hustled and swept aside. The cavalry commander saw
+his ruler's danger and collecting a dozen of his _sowars_ charged the
+religious-mad mob and rescued the Rajah from his dangerous position, riding
+down and sabring men, women, and children, the fierce stallions savaging
+everyone within reach with their bared teeth.
+
+Chunerbutty, in whom old racial instincts were rekindled, had scarcely been
+able to restrain himself from climbing down and joining in the frenzied
+rush on the bull. But the turn of events sobered him and induced him to
+listen at last to Noreen's entreaties and angry demands from the Englishmen
+who bade him order the _mahouts_ to take the visitors away from the
+horrible spectacle. As they left they saw the Rajah's golden chariot and
+the carriages of the officials being driven helter-skelter across the grass
+with their blood-stained and terrified occupants. And the madly fanatical
+crowds surged wildly around the altar, while their cries to Kali rent the
+air.
+
+The elephants lumbered swiftly in file through the deserted city, for it
+was now emptied of its inhabitants. Merchants, traders, shopkeepers,
+workers, harlots, and criminals, all had flocked to the _Moti Mahal_ to
+witness the sacrifice.
+
+As they entered the Palace gates the _mahout_ of the animal carrying
+Barclay, Dermot, and two planters called to a native standing idly in the
+courtyard:
+
+"Why wert thou not out with thy elephant, Ebrahim?"
+
+The man addressed, a grey-bearded Mussulman, replied:
+
+"Shiva-_ji_ is bad today. I fear him greatly."
+
+"Is it the madness of the _dhantwallah_?"
+
+"It is the madness."
+
+And the speaker cracked his finger-joints to avert evil luck.
+
+Dinner was not a very jovial meal among the English guests that night. Much
+to their relief the Rajah did not come in to them. The ladies retired early
+to their rooms, and the men were not long in following their example.
+
+Barclay and Dermot, who were the only occupants of the floor on which their
+rooms were situated--it was the top one of the wing--went upstairs
+together. At the Deputy Superintendent's door a man squatted and, as they
+approached, rose, and saluted them in military fashion. It was Barclay's
+police orderly.
+
+"Hast got it?" asked his master in the vernacular.
+
+"I have got it, Sahib. It is here," and the man placed a small covered
+basket in his hands.
+
+"_Bahut atcha. Ruksat hai_" (very good. You have leave to go), said his
+officer, using the ordinary Indian formula for dismissing a subordinate.
+
+"Salaam, Sahib."
+
+The orderly saluted and went away down the passage.
+
+"Wait a moment, Major; I'm going with you to your room," said the Deputy
+Superintendent, opening his door. "Do you mind bringing my light along, as
+yours may be gone again. My hands are full with this basket."
+
+When they reached Dermot's apartment they found a lamp burning feebly in
+it, smoking, and giving little light.
+
+"Looks as if there's a fresh game on tonight," said Dermot in a low voice.
+"This is not the lamp I had before dinner. That was a large and brilliant
+one. I'm glad we brought yours along."
+
+"Barricade the door, Major," whispered Barclay. "Are the shutters closed?
+Yes; that's all right."
+
+"What have you got in that mysterious basket?" his companion asked.
+
+"You'll see presently."
+
+He set it down on the floor and raised the lid. A small, sharp-muzzled head
+with fierce pink eyes popped up and looked about suspiciously. Then its
+owner climbed cautiously out on to the floor. It was a slim, long-bodied
+little animal like a ferret, with a long, furry tail.
+
+"Hullo! A mongoose? You think they'll try the same trick again?" asked
+Dermot.
+
+He glanced at the bed and picked up his cane.
+
+"Just stand still, Major, and watch. If there's anything in the snake line
+about our young friend here will attend to it."
+
+The mongoose trotted forward for a few steps, then sat down and scratched
+itself. It rose, yawned, stretched its legs, and looked up at the two men,
+betraying no fear of them. Then it lifted its sharp nose into the air,
+sniffed, and pattered about the room, stopping to smell the legs of the
+dressing-table and a cap of Dermot's lying on the floor. It investigated
+several rat-holes at the bottom of the walls and approached the bed. Under
+it a pair of the soldier's slippers were lying. The mongoose, passing by
+them, turned to smell them. Suddenly it sprang back, leaping a couple of
+feet into the air. When it touched the floor it crouched with bared teeth,
+the hair on its back bristling and its tail fluffed out until it was bigger
+than the body of the fierce little animal.
+
+"By Jove, it has found something!" exclaimed Barclay.
+
+The two men leant forward and watched intently. The mongoose approached the
+slippers again in a series of bounds, jumped around them, crouched, and
+then sprang into the air again.
+
+Suddenly there was a rush and a scurry. The mongoose had pounced on one
+slipper and was shaking it savagely, beating it on the floor, rolling over
+and over and leaping into the air with it. Its movements were so rapid that
+for a few moments the watchers could distinguish nothing in the miniature
+cyclone of slipper and ball of fluffy hair inextricably mingled. Then there
+was a pause. The mongoose stood still, then backed away with stiffened
+legs, its sharp teeth fixed in the neck of a small snake about ten inches
+long, which it was trying to drag out of the slipper.
+
+"Good heavens! This is worse than last night," cried Barclay. "It's a
+_karait_."
+
+This reptile is almost more poisonous than a cobra, and, as it is thin and
+rarely exceeds twelve inches in length, it can hide anywhere and is an even
+deadlier menace in a house.
+
+The mongoose backed across the room, dragging the snake and with it the
+slipper.
+
+"Why the deuce doesn't it pull the _karait_ out?" said Dermot, bending down
+to look more closely, as the mongoose paused. "By George! Look at this,
+Barclay. The snake's fastened to the inside of the slipper by a loop and a
+bit of thin wire."
+
+"What a devilish trick!" cried Barclay.
+
+"Well, I hope that concludes the entertainment for tonight," said Dermot.
+"Enough is as good as a feast."
+
+When next morning the servant brought in his tray, Dermot was smoking a
+cigarette in an easy chair, and he fancied that there was a scared
+expression in the man's eyes, as the fellow looked covertly at the slippers
+on the Major's feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+A TRAP
+
+In the forenoon of the fifth day of the Durgá-Puja Festival the _Dewan_ and
+Chunerbutty sat on the thick carpet of the Rajah's apartment, which was in
+that part of the Palace facing the wing given up to the visitors. It formed
+one of the sides of the square surrounding the paved courtyard below, which
+was rarely entered. Only one door led into it from the buildings which
+lined it on three sides, a door under the Rajah's suite of apartments.
+
+That potentate was sprawling on a pile of soft cushions, glaring
+malevolently at his Chief Minister, whom he hated and feared.
+
+"Curses on thee, _Dewan-ji_!" he muttered, turning uneasily and groaning
+with the pain of movement. For he was badly bruised, sore, and shaken, from
+his treatment by the crowd on the previous day.
+
+"Why on me, O Maharaj?" asked the _Dewan_, looking at him steadily and with
+hardly-veiled contempt.
+
+"Because thine was the idea of this foolish celebration yesterday. Mother
+Durgá was angry with me for introducing this foreign way of worship,"
+answered the superstitious atheist, conveniently forgetting that the idea
+was his own. "It will cost me large sums to these greedy priests, if she is
+not to punish me further."
+
+"Not for that reason, but for another, is the Holy Mother enraged, O
+Maharaj," replied his Minister. "For the lack of a sweeter sacrifice than
+we offered her yesterday."
+
+"What is that?" demanded the Rajah suspiciously. He distrusted his _Dewan_
+more than any one else in his service.
+
+"Canst thou ask? Thou who bearest on thy forehead the badge of the Sáktas?"
+
+"Thou meanest a human sacrifice?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"I have given Durgá many," grumbled the Rajah. "But if she be greedy, let
+her have more. There are girls in my _zenana_ that I would gladly be rid
+of."
+
+"The Holy Mother demands a worthier offering than some wanton that thou
+hast wearied of."
+
+Chunerbutty spoke for the first time.
+
+"She wants the blood of one of the accursed race; of a _Feringhi_; of this
+soldier and spy."
+
+The Rajah shifted uneasily on his cushions. He hated but he feared the
+white men, and he had not implicit faith in the _Dewan's_ talk of their
+speedy overthrow.
+
+"Mother Durgá has rejected him," he said. "Have ye not all tried to slay
+him and failed?"
+
+The _Dewan_ nodded his head slowly and stared at the carpet.
+
+"There is some strange and evil influence that sets my plans at naught."
+
+"The gods, if there be gods as you Brahmins say, protect him. I think evil
+will come to us if we harm him. And can we? Did he not lie down with the
+hooded death itself, a cobra, young, active, full of venom, and rise
+unhurt?"
+
+"True. But perhaps the snake had escaped from the bed before the
+_Feringhi_ entered it," said the _Dewan_ meditatively.
+
+"To guard against that, did they not fasten the _karait_ in his shoe?"
+
+"He may have discovered it in time," said the engineer. "Englishmen fear
+snakes greatly and always look out for them."
+
+"Ha! and did he not eat and drink the poisoned meal prepared for him by our
+skilfullest physician?"
+
+There was no answer to this. The mystery of Dermot's escape from death was
+beyond their understanding.
+
+"There is certainly something strange about him," said Chunerbutty. "At
+least, so it is reported in our district, though to me he seems a fool. But
+there all races and castes fear him. Curious tales are told of him. Some
+say that _Gunesh_, the Elephant-headed One, protects him. Others hold that
+he is _Gunesh_ himself. Can it be so?"
+
+The _Dewan_ smiled.
+
+"Since when hast thou believed in the gods again?" he asked.
+
+"Well, it is hard to know what is true or false. If there be no gods,
+perhaps there are devils. My Christian friends are more impressed by the
+latter."
+
+The Rajah shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"Perhaps he is a devil. Who knows? They told me that he summoned a host of
+devils in the form of elephants to slay my soldiers. Pah! it is all
+nonsense. There are no such things."
+
+With startling distinctness the shrill trumpeting of an elephant rang
+through the room.
+
+"Mother Kali preserve me!" shrieked the superstitious Rajah, flinging
+himself in terror on his face. "That was no mortal elephant. Was it
+_Gunesh_ that spoke?" He lifted his head timidly. "It is a warning. Spare
+the _Feringhi_. Let him go."
+
+"Spare him? Knowest thou, O Maharaj, that the girl thou dost desire loves
+him? But an hour ago I heard her tell him that she wished to speak with him
+alone," said Chunerbutty.
+
+"Alone with him? The shameless one! Curses on him! Let him die," cried the
+jealous Rajah, his fright forgotten.
+
+The _Dewan_ smiled.
+
+"There was no need to fear the cry of that elephant," he said. "It was your
+favourite, Shiva-_ji_. He is seized with the male-madness. They have penned
+him in the stone-walled enclosure yonder. He killed his _mahout_ this
+morning."
+
+"Killed Ebrahim? Curse him! If he had not cost me twenty thousand rupees I
+would have him shot," growled the Rajah savagely. "Killed Ebrahim, my best
+_mahout_? Why could he not have slain this accursed _Feringhi_ if he had
+the blood-lust on him?"
+
+"In the name of Siva the Great One!" exclaimed the _Dewan_ piously. "It is
+a good thought. Listen to me, Maharaj! Listen, thou renegade" (this to
+Chunerbutty, who dared not resent the old man's insults).
+
+The three heads came together.
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+After lunch that day Dermot sat smoking in his room. Although it had no
+punkah and the heat was great, he had escaped to it from the crowded lounge
+to be able to think quietly. But his thoughts were not of the attempts on
+his life and the probability that they would be repeated. His mind was
+filled with Noreen to the temporary exclusion of all other subjects. She
+puzzled him. He had supposed her engaged, or practically engaged, to
+Charlesworth. Yet she had come away from Darjeeling at its gayest time and
+here seemed to be engrossed with Chunerbutty. She was always with him or he
+with her. He never left her side. She sat by him at every meal. She had
+gone alone with him in his howdah to the _Moti Mahal_, when every other
+elephant had carried more than two persons. He knew that she had always
+regarded the Hindu as a friend, but he had not thought that she was so
+attracted to him. Certainly now she did not appear content away from him.
+What would Charlesworth, who hated natives, think of it?
+
+As for himself, their former friendship seemed dead. He had naturally been
+hurt when she had not waited in the hotel at Darjeeling, though she knew
+that he was coming to say good-bye to her. But perhaps Charlesworth had
+kept her out, so he could not blame her. But why had she deliberately
+avoided him here in the Palace? What was the reason of her unfriendliness?
+Yet that morning in the lounge after breakfast he had chanced to pass her
+where she stood beside Chunerbutty, who was speaking to a servant. She had
+detained him for a moment to tell him that she wished to see him alone some
+time, for she wanted his advice. She seemed rather mysterious about it, and
+he remembered that she had spoken in a low tone, as if she did not desire
+any one else to hear what she was saying.
+
+What did it all mean? Well, if he could help her with advice or anything
+else he would. He had not realised how fond he was of her until this
+estrangement between them had arisen.
+
+As he sat puzzling over the problem the servant who waited on him entered
+the room and salaamed.
+
+"_Ghurrib Parwar!_ (Protector of the Poor.) I bring a message for Your
+Honour. The English missie _baba_ sends salaams and wishes to speak with
+you."
+
+Dermot sprang up hastily.
+
+"Where is she, Rama? In the lounge?"
+
+"No, _Huzoor_. The missie _baba_ is in the Red Garden."
+
+"Where is that?"
+
+"It is the Rajah's own private garden, through there." The servant pointed
+down to the gateway in the high wall of the courtyard below. He had opened
+the shutter of the window by which they were standing. "I will guide Your
+Honour. We must go through that door over there under His Highness's
+apartments."
+
+"_Bahut atcha_, Rama. I will come with you. Give me my _topi_," cried
+Dermot, feeling light-hearted all at once. Perhaps the misunderstanding
+between Noreen and him would be cleared up now. He took his sun-hat from
+the man and followed him out of the room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Noreen was greatly perplexed about the insult, as she considered it, of the
+Rajah's offer of the necklace. She feared to tell her brother, who might be
+angry with her for suspecting his friend of condoning an impertinence to
+her. Equally she felt that she could not confide in Ida or any one else,
+lest she should be misjudged and thought to have encouraged the engineer
+and his patron. To whom could she turn, sure of not being misunderstood? If
+only Dermot had remained her friend!
+
+She was torn with longings to know the truth about his relations with Ida.
+The uncertainty was unbearable. That morning in her room she had boldly
+attacked Ida and asked her frankly. The other woman made light of the whole
+affair, pretended that Noreen had misunderstood her on that night in
+Darjeeling, and laughed at the idea of any one imagining that she had ever
+been in love with Dermot.
+
+The girl was more puzzled than ever. Her heart ached for an hour or two
+alone with her one-time friend of the forest. O to be out with him on
+Badshah in the silent jungle, no matter what dangers encircled them!
+Perhaps there the cloud between them would vanish. But could she not speak
+to him here in the Palace? He seemed to be no longer fascinated with Ida,
+if indeed he ever had been. She could tell him of the Rajah's insult. He
+would advise her what to do, for she was sure that he would not misjudge
+her. And perhaps--who knew?--her confiding in him might break down the wall
+that separated them. She forgot that it had been built by her own
+resentment and anger, and that she had eluded his attempts to approach her.
+Even now she felt that she could not speak to him before others.
+
+Growing desperate, she had that morning snatched at the opportunity to ask
+him for an interview. Chunerbutty, who seemed always to cling to her now
+with the persistence of a leech, had as usual been with her, but his
+attention had been distracted from her for a moment. She hoped that the
+Hindu had not overheard her. Yet what did it matter if he had? Dermot had
+understood and nodded, as he passed on with the old, friendly look in his
+eyes. Perhaps all would come right.
+
+She had seen him leave the lounge after lunch, but she remained there
+confident that he would return. She felt she could not talk to the others
+so she withdrew to a table near one of the shuttered windows and pretended
+to read the newspapers on it.
+
+Payne was there, deep in the perusal of an article in an English journal on
+the disturbed state of India. Mrs. Rice, impervious to snubs, was trying to
+impress the openly bored Ida with accounts of the gay and fashionable life
+of Balham. The men were scattered about the room in groups, some discussing
+in low tones the occurrences of the day before at the _Moti Mahal_, others
+talking of the illuminations and fireworks which were to wind up their
+entertainment in Lalpuri on this the last night of their stay. For all were
+leaving on the morrow.
+
+Suddenly there was a wild outcry outside. Loud cries, the shouts of men,
+the terrifying trumpeting of an elephant, resounded through the courtyard
+below and echoed weirdly from the walls of the buildings. A piercing shriek
+of agony rang high above the tumult of sound and chilled the blood of the
+listeners in the lounge.
+
+Payne tore fiercely at the stiff wooden shutters of the window near him,
+which led out to the long balcony. Suddenly they burst open and he sprang
+out.
+
+"Good God!" he cried in horror. "Look! Look! Dermot's done for!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The soldier had followed Rama, who led him through an unfamiliar part of
+the Palace along low passages, down narrow winding staircases, through
+painted rooms, in some of which female garments flung carelessly on the
+cushions seemed to indicate that they were passing through a portion of the
+_zenana_. Finally they reached a marble-paved hall on the ground-floor,
+where two attendants, the first persons whom they had seen on their way,
+lounged near a small door. They were evidently the porters and appeared to
+expect them, for they opened the door at Rama's approach. Through it Dermot
+followed his guide out into the courtyard on which he had often looked from
+the balcony of his room. He looked up at the lounge, two stories above his
+head, its long casements shuttered against the heat. Then he noticed that
+in none of the buildings surrounding the court were there any windows lower
+than the second story, and the only entrance into it from the Palace was
+the small door through which he had just passed. Almost at the moment he
+stepped into the courtyard a familiar sound greeted his ears. It was the
+trumpeting of an elephant. But there was a strange note of rage and
+excitement in it, and he thought of the remarks of the _mahouts_ the
+previous day on the return from the _Moti Mahal_. Probably the _must_
+elephant of which they spoke was chained somewhere close by.
+
+As he crossed the courtyard he chanced to glance up at the shuttered
+windows of the apartments which he had been told were occupied by the
+Rajah. At that moment one of them was opened and a white cloth waved from
+it by an unseen hand. He wondered was it a signal. He stooped to fasten a
+bootlace, and Rama, who was making for the gateway in the high wall forming
+the fourth side of the courtyard, called impatiently to him to hasten. The
+servant's tone was impertinent, and Dermot looked up in surprise.
+
+Then suddenly Hell broke loose. From the direction in which they were
+proceeding came fierce shouts of men, yells of terror, and the angry
+trumpeting of an elephant mingled with the groaning of iron dragged over
+stone and the crashing of splintered wood. Rama, who was a few yards ahead,
+turned and ran past the white man, his face livid. Dermot looked after him
+in surprise. The man had dashed back to the little door and was beating on
+it madly with his fists. It was opened to admit him and then hastily
+closed. The soldier heard the rusty bolts grinding home in their sockets.
+
+Scenting danger and fearing a trap he stood still in the middle of the
+courtyard.
+
+The uproar continued and drew nearer. Suddenly it was dominated by a
+blood-curdling shriek of agony. Through the wide gateway he saw five or
+six men fleeing across the farther courtyard, which was surrounded by a
+high wall. Behind them rushed a huge tusker elephant, ears and tail
+cocked, eyes aflame with rage. He overtook one man, struck him down with
+his trunk, trod him to pulp, and then pursued the others. Some of them,
+crazed with terror, tried to climb the walls. The savage brute struck
+them down one after another, gored them or trampled them to death.
+
+Three terrified wretches fled through the gateway into the courtyard in
+which Dermot was standing. One stumbled and the elephant caught him up. The
+demented man turned on it and tried to beat it off with his bare hands.
+With a scream of fury the maddened beast drove his blood-stained tusk into
+the wretch's body, pitched him aloft, then hurled him to the ground and
+gored him again and again. The dying shriek that burst from the labouring
+lungs turned Dermot's blood cold. The body was kicked, trampled on, and
+then torn limb from limb.
+
+The two other men had dashed wildly across the courtyard. One reached the
+small door and was beating madly on it with bleeding knuckles, but it
+remained implacably closed. The other, driven mad by fear, was running
+round and round the courtyard like a caged animal, stopping occasionally to
+raise imploring hands and eyes to the windows of the Palace, which were now
+filled with spectators. Even the roofs were crowded with natives looking
+down on the tragedy being enacted below.
+
+Dermot realised that he had been trapped. There was no escape. He looked up
+at the Rajah's windows. One had been pushed open, and he thought that he
+could see the _Dewan_ and his master watching him. He determined that he
+would not afford them the gratification of seeing him run round and round
+the walls of the courtyard like a rat in a trap until death overtook him.
+So, when the elephant at last drew off from its victim and stood irresolute
+for a moment, he turned to face it.
+
+It seemed to him that he heard his voice called, faintly and from far away,
+but all his faculties were intent on watching the death that approached him
+in such hideous guise. Dermot's thoughts flew to Badshah for a moment, but
+swung back to centre on the coming annihilation. With flaming eyes, trunk
+curled, and head thrown up, the elephant charged.
+
+For one brief instant the man felt an insane desire to flee but, mastering
+it, he faced the on-rushing brute. A minute more, and all would be over.
+The soldier was unconscious of the shouts that rent the air, of the
+spectators crowding the balconies and windows. He felt perfectly cool now
+and had but one regret--that he had not been able to see Noreen again, as
+she had wished, before he died.
+
+He drew a deep breath, his last perhaps before Death reached him, and took
+a step forward to meet his doom.
+
+But at his movement a miracle happened. Not five yards from him the
+charging elephant suddenly tried to check its rush, flung all its weight
+back and, unable to halt, slid forward with stiffened fore-legs over the
+paving-stones. When at last it stopped one tusk was actually touching the
+man. Tail, ears, and trunk drooped, and it backed with every evidence of
+terror. Some instinct had warned it at the last moment that this man was
+sacred to the mammoth tribe.
+
+Like a flash enlightenment came to Dermot. Once again a mysterious power
+had saved him. The elephant knew and feared him. Yet he seemed as one in a
+dream. He looked up at the native portion of the Palace and became aware of
+the spectators on the roofs, the staring faces at the windows, the eyes of
+the women peering at him through the latticed casements of the _zenana_.
+The Rajah and the _Dewan_, all caution forgotten in their excitement, had
+thrown open the shutters from behind which they had hoped to witness his
+death, and were leaning out in full view.
+
+Dermot laughed grimly, and the thought came to him to impress these
+treacherous foes more forcibly. He walked towards the shrinking elephant,
+raised his hand, and commanded it to kneel. The animal obeyed submissively.
+The soldier swung himself on to its neck, and the animal rose to its feet
+again.
+
+He guided it across the courtyard until it stood under the window from
+which the Rajah and the _Dewan_ stared down at him in amazement and
+superstitious dread. Then he said to the animal:
+
+"_Salaam kuro!_ (Salute!)"
+
+It raised its trunk and trumpeted in the royal salutation. With a mocking
+smile, Dermot lifted his hat to the shrinking pair of murderers and turned
+the elephant away.
+
+Then for the first time he became aware that the balcony of the lounge was
+crowded with his fellow-countrymen. Ida and Mrs. Rice were sobbing
+hysterically on each other's shoulders. Noreen, clinging to her brother,
+whose arm was about her, was staring down at him with a set, white face.
+And as he looked up and saw them the men went mad. They burst into a roar
+of cheering, of greeting, and applause that drove the Rajah and his
+Minister into hiding again, for the shouts had something of menace in them.
+
+Dermot took off his hat in acknowledgment of the cheers and, seeing the
+Hindu engineer shrinking behind the others with an expression of amazed
+terror on his face, called to him:
+
+"Would you kindly send one of your friends to open the door, Mr.
+Chunerbutty? It seems to have got shut by some unfortunate accident."
+
+He brought the elephant to its knees and dismounted. Then as it rose he
+pointed to the gateway and said in the _mahout's_ tongue:
+
+"Return to your stall."
+
+The animal walked away submissively. The two surviving natives shrank
+against the buildings in deadly fear, but the animal disappeared quietly.
+
+Dermot went to the door and waited. Soon he heard the key turned in the
+lock and the rusty bolts drawn back. The door was then flung open by one of
+the porters, while the others huddled against the wall, for Barclay stood
+in front of them with a pistol raised. He sprang forward and seized
+Dermot's hand.
+
+"Heaven and earth! How are you alive?" he cried. "I thought the devils had
+got you this time. I was tempted to shoot these swine here for being so
+long in opening the door."
+
+There was a clatter of boots on the marble floor, as Payne and Granger,
+followed by the rest of the Englishmen, ran up the hall, cheering. They
+crowded round Dermot, nearly shook his arm off, thumped him on the back,
+and overwhelmed him with congratulations.
+
+As Dermot thanked them he said:
+
+"I didn't know that you fellows were looking on, otherwise I wouldn't have
+done that little bit of gallery-play. But I had a reason for it." "Yes; we
+know," said Payne significantly. "Barclay told us."
+
+Then they dragged him protesting upstairs to the lounge, that the women
+might congratulate him too; which they did each in her own fashion. Ida was
+effusive and sentimental, Mrs. Rice fatuous, and Noreen timid and almost
+stiff. The girl, who had endured an agony worse than many deaths, could not
+voice her feelings, and her congratulations seemed curt and cold to others
+besides Dermot.
+
+She had no opportunity of speaking to him apart, even for a minute, for the
+men surrounded him and insisted on toasting him and questioning him until
+it was time to dress for dinner. And even then they formed a guard of
+honour and escorted him to his room.
+
+Noreen, utterly worn out by her sleepless nights and the storm of emotions
+that had shaken her, was unable to come down to dinner, and at her
+brother's wish went to bed instead. And so she did not learn that Dermot
+was leaving the Palace at the early hour of four o'clock in the morning.
+
+That night as Dermot and Barclay went upstairs together the police officer
+said:
+
+"I wonder if they'll dare to try anything against you tonight, Major. I
+should say they'd give you a miss in baulk, for they must believe you
+invulnerable. Still, I'm going with you to your room to see."
+
+When they reached it and threw open the door a figure half rose from the
+floor. Barclay's hand went out to it with levelled pistol, but the words
+arrested him.
+
+"_Khodawund!_ (Lord of the World!) Forgive me! I did not know. I did not
+know."
+
+It was the treacherous Rama who had tried to lead Dermot to his death. He
+lay face to the ground.
+
+"Damned liar!" growled Barclay in English.
+
+"Did not know that thou wert leading me under the feet of the _must_
+elephant?" demanded Dermot incredulously.
+
+"Aye, that I knew of course, _Huzoor_. How can I deceive thee? But thee I
+knew not; though the elephant Shiva-_ji_ did, even in his madness. It is
+not my fault. I am not of this country. I am a man of the Punjaub. I know
+naught of the gods of Bengal."
+
+Barclay had heard from the planters the belief in Dermot's divinity which
+was universal in their district, and perceived that the legend had reached
+this man. He was quick to see the advantages that they could reap from his
+superstitious fears. He signed to Dermot to be silent and said in solemn
+tones:
+
+"Rama, thou hast grievously offended the gods. Thou knowest the truth at
+last?"
+
+"I do, Sahib. The talk through the Palace, aye, throughout the city, is all
+of the God of the Elephants, of the Terrible One who feeds his herd of
+demons on the flesh of men. The temple of _Gunesh_ will be full indeed
+tonight. But alas! I am an ignorant man. I knew not that the holy one took
+form among the _gora-logue_ (white folk)."
+
+"The gods know no country. The truth, Rama, the truth," said Barclay
+impressively. "Else thou art lost. Shiva-_ji_, mayhap, is hungry and needs
+his meal of flesh."
+
+"Ai! sahib, say not so," wailed the terror-stricken man. "He has feasted
+well today. With my own eyes I saw him feed on Man Singh the Rajput."
+
+Natives believe that an elephant, when it seizes in its mouth the limbs
+of a man that it has killed and is about to tear in pieces, eats his
+flesh. In dread of a like doom, of the terrible vengeance of this
+mysterious Being, god, man, or demon, perhaps all three, from whom
+death shrank aside, whom neither poison of food nor venom of snake could
+harm, who used mad, man-slaying elephants as steeds, Rama unburdened his
+soul. He told how the _Dewan's_ confidential man had bade him carry out
+the attempts on Dermot's life. He showed them that the Major's
+suspicions when he saw the Rajah's soldiery were correct, and that from
+Lalpuri came the inspiration of the carrying-off of Noreen. He told them
+of a party of these same soldiers that had gone on a secret mission into
+the Great Jungle, from which but a few came back after awful sufferings,
+and the strange tales whispered in the bazaar as to the fate of their
+comrades.
+
+He disclosed more. He spoke of mysterious travellers from many lands that
+came to the Palace to confer with the _Dewan_--Chinese, Afghans, Bhutanese,
+Indians of many castes and races, white men not of the sahib-_logue_. He
+said enough to convince his hearers that many threads of the world-wide
+conspiracy against the British Raj led to Lalpuri. There was not proof
+enough yet for the Government of India to take action against its rulers,
+perhaps, but sufficient to show where the arch-conspirators of Bengal were
+to be sought for.
+
+Rama left the room, not pardoned indeed, but with the promise of punishment
+suspended as long as he was true to the oath he had sworn by the Blessed
+Water of the Ganges, to be true slave and bearer of news when Dermot needed
+him.
+
+Long after he left, the two sat and talked of the strange happenings of the
+last few days, and disclosed to each other what they knew of the treason
+that stalked the land, for each was servant of the Crown and his knowledge
+might help the other. And when the hoot of Payne's motor-horn in the outer
+courtyard told them that it was time for Dermot to go, they said good-bye
+in the outwardly careless fashion of the Briton who has looked into
+another's eyes and found him true man and friend.
+
+Then through the darkness into the dawn Dermot sped away with his
+companions from the City of Shame and the Palace of Death.
+
+And Noreen woke later to learn that the man she loved had left her again
+without farewell, that the fog of misunderstanding between them was not yet
+lifted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+THE CAT AND THE TIGER
+
+Several weeks had passed since the Durgá Puja Festival. Over the Indian
+Empire the dark clouds were gathering fast. The Pathan tribes along the
+North-west Frontier were straining at the leash; Afridis, Yusufzais,
+Mohmands, all the _Pukhtana_, were restless and excited. The _mullahs_ were
+preaching a holy war; and the _maliks_, or tribal elders, could not
+restrain their young men. Raids into British Indian territory were
+frequent.
+
+There was worse menace behind. The Afghan troops, organised, trained, and
+equipped as they had never been before in their history, were massing near
+the Khyber Pass. Some of the Penlops, the great feudal chieftains of
+little-known Bhutan, were rumoured to have broken out into rebellion
+against the Maharajah because, loyal to his treaties with the Government of
+India, he had refused a Chinese army free passage through the country. All
+the masterless Bhuttia rogues on both sides of the border were sharpening
+their _dahs_ and looking down greedily on the fertile plains below.
+
+All India itself seemed trembling on the verge of revolt. The Punjaub was
+honeycombed with sedition. Men said that the warlike castes and races that
+had helped Britain to hold the land in the Black Year of the Mutiny would
+be the first to tear it from her now. In the Bengals outrages and open
+disloyalty were the order of the day. The curs that had fattened under
+England's protection were the first to snap at her heels. The Day of Doom
+seemed very near. Only the great feudatories of the King-Emperor, the noble
+Princes of India, faithful to their oaths, were loyal.
+
+Through the borderland of Bhutan Dermot and Badshah still ranged, watching
+the many gates through the walls of mountains better than battalions of
+spies. The man rarely slept in a bed. His nights were passed beside his
+faithful friend high up in the Himalayan passes, where the snow was already
+falling, or down in the jungles still reeking of fever and sweltering in
+tropic heat. By his instructions Parker and his two hundred sepoys toiled
+to improve the defences of Ranga Duar; and the subaltern was happy in the
+possession of several machine guns wrung from the Ordnance Department with
+difficulty.
+
+Often, as Dermot sat high perched on the mountain side, searching the
+narrow valleys and deep ravines of Bhutan with powerful glasses, his
+thoughts flew to Noreen safe beyond the giant hills at his back. It cheered
+him to know that he was watching over her safety as well as guarding the
+peace of hundreds of millions in the same land. He had seldom seen her
+since their return from Lalpuri, and on the rare occasions of their meeting
+she seemed to avoid him more than ever. Chunerbutty was always by her side.
+Could there be truth, then, in this fresh story that Ida Smith had told him
+on their last night at the Palace, when she said that she had discovered
+that she was mistaken in believing in Noreen's approaching betrothal to
+Charlesworth, of which she had assured him in Darjeeling? For at Lalpuri
+she said she had extracted from the girl the confession that she had
+refused the Rifleman and others for love of someone in the Plains below.
+And Ida, judging from Chunerbutty's constant attendance on, and
+proprietorial manner with Noreen, confided to Dermot her firm belief that
+the Bengali was the man.
+
+The thought was unbearable to the soldier. As he sat in his lonely eyrie he
+knew now that he loved the girl, that it would be unbearable for him to see
+her another's wife. Those few days at Lalpuri, when first he felt the
+estrangement between them, had revealed the truth to him. When in the
+courtyard of the Palace he saw Death rushing on him he had given her what
+he believed would be his last thought.
+
+He recalled her charm, her delightful comradeship, her brightness, and her
+beauty. It was hateful to think that she would dower this renegade Hindu
+with them all. Dermot had no unjust prejudice against the natives of the
+land in which so much of his life was passed. Like every officer in the
+Indian Army he loved his sepoys and regarded them as his children. Their
+troubles, their welfare, were his. He respected the men of those gallant
+warrior races that once had faced the British valiantly in battle and
+fought as loyally beside them since. But for the effeminate and cowardly
+peoples of India, that ever crawled to kiss the feet of each conqueror of
+the peninsula in turn and then stabbed him in the back if they could, he
+had the contempt that every member of the martial races of the land, every
+Sikh, Rajput, Gurkha, Punjaubi had.
+
+The girl would scarcely have refused so good a match as Charlesworth or
+come away heart-whole from Darjeeling, where so many had striven for her
+favour, if she had gone there without a prior attachment. That she cared
+for no man in England he was sure, for she had often told him that she had
+no desire to return to that country. He had seen her among the planters of
+the district and was certain that she loved none of them. Only Chunerbutty
+was left; it must indeed be he.
+
+He shut up his binoculars and climbed down the rocky pinnacle on which he
+had been perched, and went to eat a cheerless meal where Badshah grazed a
+thousand feet below.
+
+In Malpura Noreen was suffering bitterly for her foolish pride and jealous
+readiness to believe evil of the man she loved. She knew that she was
+entirely to blame for her estrangement from him. He never came to their
+garden now; and to her dismay her brother ignored all hints to invite him.
+For the boy was divided between loyalty to Chunerbutty (whom he had to
+thank for his chance in life) and the man who had twice saved his sister.
+Chunerbutty had reproached him with forgetting what he, the now despised
+Hindu, had done for him in the past, and complained sadly that Miss Daleham
+looked down on him for the colour of his skin. So Fred felt that he must
+choose between two friends and that honour demanded his clinging to the
+older one. Therefore he begged Noreen for his sake not to hurt the
+engineer's feelings and to treat him kindly. She could not refuse, and
+Chunerbutty took every advantage of her sisterly obedience. Whenever they
+went to the club he tried to monopolise her, and delighted in exhibiting
+the terms of friendship on which they appeared to be. The girl felt that
+even her old friends were beginning at last to look askance at her;
+consequently she tried to avoid going to the weekly gatherings.
+
+It happened that on the occasion when Dermot, having arrived at Salchini on
+a visit to Payne, again made his appearance at the club, Daleham had
+insisted on his sister accompanying him there, much against her will.
+Chunerbutty was unable to go with them, being confined to his bungalow with
+a slight touch of fever.
+
+That afternoon Noreen was more than ever conscious of a strained feeling
+and an unmistakable coldness to her on the part of the men whom she knew
+best. And worse, it seemed to her that some young fellows who had only
+recently come to the district and with whom she was little acquainted, were
+inclined to treat her with less respect than usual. She had seen Dermot
+arrive with his host; but, although Payne came to sit down beside her and
+chat, his guest merely greeted her courteously and passed on at once.
+
+All that afternoon it seemed to the girl that something in the atmosphere
+was miserably wrong, but what it was she could not tell. She was bitterly
+disappointed that Dermot kept away from her. It was not the smart of a hurt
+pride, but the bewildered pain of a child that finds that the one it values
+most does not need it. Indeed her best friends, all except Payne, seemed to
+have agreed to ignore her.
+
+Mrs. Rice, however, was even sweeter in her manner than usual when she
+spoke to the girl.
+
+"Where is Mr. Chunerbutty today, dear?" she asked after lunch from where
+she sat on the verandah beside Dermot. Noreen was standing further along it
+with Payne, watching the play on the tennis-court in front of the club
+house.
+
+"He isn't very well," replied the girl. "He's suffering from fever."
+
+"Oh, really? I am so sorry to hear that," exclaimed the older woman. "So
+sad for you, dear. However did you force yourself to leave him?"
+
+Noreen looked at her in surprise.
+
+"Why not? We could do nothing for him," she said. "We sent him soup and
+jelly made by our cook, and Fred went to see him before we started. But he
+didn't want to be disturbed."
+
+Mrs. Rice's manner grew even more sweetly sympathetic.
+
+"I _am_ so sorry," she said. "How worried you must be!"
+
+The girl stared at her in astonishment. She had never expected to find Mrs.
+Rice seriously concerned about any one, and least of all the Hindu, who was
+no favourite of hers.
+
+"Oh, there's really nothing to worry about," she exclaimed impatiently.
+"Fred said he hadn't much of a temperature."
+
+"Yes, I daresay. But you can't help being anxious, I know. I wonder that
+you were able to bring yourself to come here at all, dear," said the older
+woman in honeyed tones.
+
+"But why shouldn't I?"
+
+Noreen's eyebrows were raised in bewilderment. She felt instinctively that
+there was some hidden unfriendliness at the back of Mrs. Rice's sympathetic
+words. She felt that Dermot was watching her.
+
+"Oh, forgive me, dear. I am afraid I'm being indiscreet. I forgot," said
+the other woman. She rose from her chair and turned to the man beside her.
+
+"Major, do take me out to see how the coolies are getting on with the polo
+ground. I hope when it's finished you'll come here to play regularly. These
+boys want someone to show them the game. You military men are the only ones
+who know how it should be played."
+
+She put up her green-lined white sun-umbrella and led the way down the
+verandah steps. With a puckered brow Noreen watched her and her companion
+until they were out of sight round the corner of the little wooden
+building.
+
+"What does Mrs. Rice mean?" she demanded. "I'm sure there's something
+behind her words. She never pretended to like Mr. Chunerbutty. Why should
+she be concerned about him now? Why does she seem to expect me to stay
+behind to nurse him? Of course I would, if he were dangerously ill. But
+he's not."
+
+Payne glanced around. Some of the men, who were sitting near, had heard the
+conversation with Mrs. Rice, and Noreen felt that there was something
+hostile in the way in which they looked at her.
+
+Payne answered in a careless tone:
+
+"Let's sit down. There are a couple of chairs. We'll bag them."
+
+He pointed to two at the far end of the verandah and led the way to them.
+
+When they were seated he said:
+
+"Haven't you any idea of what she means, Miss Daleham?"
+
+The girl stared at him anxiously.
+
+"Then she does mean something, and you know it. Mr. Payne, you have always
+been good to me. Won't you help me? Everyone seems to have grown suddenly
+very unfriendly."
+
+The grey-haired man looked pityingly at her.
+
+"Will you be honest with me, child?" he asked. "Are you engaged to
+Chunerbutty?"
+
+"Engaged? What--to marry him? Good gracious, no!" exclaimed the astonished
+girl, half rising from her chair.
+
+"Will you tell me frankly--have you any intention of marrying him?" he
+persisted.
+
+Noreen stared at him, her cheeks flaming.
+
+"Marry Mr. Chunerbutty? Of course not. How could you think so! Why, he's
+not even a white man."
+
+"Thank God!" Payne exclaimed fervently. "I'm delighted to hear it. I
+couldn't believe it--yet one never knows."
+
+"But what on earth put such a preposterous idea into your head, Mr. Payne?"
+asked Noreen. "And what has this got to do with Mrs. Rice?"
+
+"Because Mrs. Rice said that you were engaged to Chunerbutty."
+
+For a moment Noreen could find no words. Then she leaned forward, her eyes
+flashing.
+
+"Oh, how could she--how could she think so?"
+
+"Perhaps she didn't. But she wanted us to. She said that you had told her
+you were engaged to him, but wanted it kept secret for the present. So
+naturally she told everyone."
+
+"Told everyone that I was going to marry a native? Oh, how cruel of her!
+How could she be so wicked!" exclaimed the girl, much distressed. Then she
+added: "Did _you_ believe it?"
+
+Payne shook his head.
+
+"Candidly, child, I didn't know what to think. I hoped it wasn't true. But
+of late that damned Bengali seemed so intimate with you. He apparently
+wanted everyone to see on what very friendly terms you and he were."
+
+"Did Major Dermot believe it too?"
+
+"I don't know," said Payne doubtfully. "Dermot's not the fellow to talk
+about women. He's never mentioned you."
+
+"But how do you know that Mrs. Rice said such a thing? Did she tell you?"
+
+"No; she knows that I am your friend, and I daresay she was afraid to tell
+me such a lie. But she told others."
+
+He turned in his chair and called to a young fellow standing near the bar
+of the club.
+
+"I say, Travers, do you mind coming here a moment? Pull up a chair and sit
+down."
+
+Travers was a straight, clean-minded boy, one of those of their community
+whom Noreen liked best, and she had felt hurt at his marked avoidance of
+her all the afternoon.
+
+"Look here, youngster," said Payne in a low voice, "did Mrs. Rice tell you
+that Miss Daleham was engaged to Chunerbutty?"
+
+Travers looked at him in surprise.
+
+"Yes. I told you so the other day. She said that Miss Daleham had confided
+to her that they were engaged, but wanted it kept secret for a time until
+he could get another job."
+
+"Then, my boy, you'll be pleased to hear it's a damned lie," said Payne
+impressively. "Miss Daleham would never marry a black man."
+
+The boy's face lit up.
+
+"I am glad!" he cried impulsively. "I'm very, very sorry, Miss Daleham, for
+helping to spread the lie. But I only told Payne. I knew he was a friend of
+yours, and I hoped he'd be able to contradict the yarn. For I felt very
+sick about it."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Travers," the girl said gratefully. "But I'm glad that you
+did tell him. Otherwise I might not have heard it, at least not from a
+friend."
+
+Just then the four men on the tennis-court finished their game and came in
+to the bar. Fred Daleham and another took their places and began a single.
+Mrs. Rice, with Dermot and several other men, came up the steps of the
+verandah, and, sitting down, ordered tea for the party.
+
+Noreen looked at her with angry eyes, and, rising, walked along the
+verandah to where she was sitting surrounded by the group of men.
+
+Her enemy looked up as she approached.
+
+"Are you coming to have tea, dear?" she said sweetly. "I haven't ordered
+any for you, but I daresay they'll find you a cup."
+
+Dermot rose to offer the girl his chair; but, ignoring him, she confronted
+the other woman.
+
+"Mrs. Rice, will you please tell me if it is true that you said I was
+engaged to Mr. Chunerbutty?" she demanded in a firm tone.
+
+It was as if a bomb had exploded in the club. Noreen's voice carried
+clearly through the building, so that everyone inside it heard her words
+distinctly. The only two members of their little community who missed them
+were her brother and his opponent on the tennis-court.
+
+Mrs. Rice gasped and stared at the indignant girl, while the men about her
+sat up suddenly in their chairs.
+
+"I said so? What an idea!" ejaculated the planter's wife. Then in an
+insinuating voice she added: "You know I never betray secrets."
+
+"There is no secret. Please answer me. Did you say to any one that I had
+told you I was engaged to him?" persisted the girl.
+
+The older woman tried to crush her by a haughty assumption of superiority.
+
+"You absurd child, you must be careful what accusations you bring. You
+shouldn't say such things."
+
+"Kindly answer my question," demanded the angry girl.
+
+Mrs. Rice lay back in her chair with affected carelessness.
+
+"Well, aren't you engaged to him? Won't even he--?" she broke off and
+sniggered impertinently.
+
+"I am not. Most certainly not," said Noreen hotly. "I insist on your
+answering me. Did you say that I had told you we were and asked you to keep
+it a secret?"
+
+"No, I did not. Who did I tell?" snapped the other woman.
+
+"Me for one," broke in a voice; and Dermot took a step forward. "You
+told me very clearly and precisely, Mrs. Rice, that Miss Daleham had
+confided to you under the pledge of secrecy--which, by the way, you were
+breaking--that she was engaged to this man."
+
+There was an uncomfortable pause. Noreen glanced gratefully at her
+champion. The other men shifted uneasily, and Mrs. Rice's husband, who was
+standing at the bar, hastily hid his face in a whiskey and soda.
+
+Noreen turned again to her traducer.
+
+"Will you kindly contradict your false statement?" she asked.
+
+The other woman looked down sullenly and made no reply.
+
+"Then I shall," continued the girl. She faced the group of men before her,
+Payne and Travers by her side.
+
+"I ask you to believe, gentlemen, that there never was nor could be any
+question of an engagement between Mr. Chunerbutty and me," she said firmly.
+"And I give you my word of honour that I never said such a thing to Mrs.
+Rice."
+
+She waited for a moment, then turned and walked away down the verandah,
+followed by Payne and Travers, leaving a pained silence behind her. Mrs.
+Rice tried to regain her self-confidence.
+
+"The idea of that chit talking to me like that!" she exclaimed. "It was
+only meant for a joke, if I did say it. Who'd have ever thought she'd have
+taken it that way?"
+
+"Any decent man--or woman, Mrs. Rice," said Dermot severely. Then, after
+looking at Rice to see if he wished to take up the cudgels on his wife's
+behalf, and failing to catch that gentleman's carefully-averted eye, the
+soldier turned and walked deliberately to where Noreen was sitting, now
+suffering from the reaction from her anger and frightened at the memory of
+her boldness.
+
+The other men got up one by one and went to the bar, from which the hen
+pecked Rice was peremptorily called by his angry wife and ordered to drive
+her home.
+
+After the Dalehams had returned to their bungalow the girl told her brother
+of what had happened at the club. He was exceedingly angry and agreed that
+it would be wiser for her to keep Chunerbutty at a distance in future. And
+later on he had no objection to her inviting Dermot to pay them a flying
+visit when he was again in their neighbourhood. For the incident at the
+club had brought about a resumption of the old friendly relations between
+Noreen and Dermot, who occasionally invited her to accompany him on Badshah
+for a short excursion into the forest, much to her delight. She confided to
+him the offer of the necklace and learned in return his belief that the
+Rajah was the instigator of the attempt to carry her off. When her brother
+heard of this and of Chunerbutty's action in the matter of the jewels he
+was so enraged that he quarrelled for the first time with his Hindu friend.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dermot was kept informed of whatever happened in Lalpuri by the repentant
+Rama through the medium of Barclay. For the Deputy Superintendent had been
+appointed to a special and important post in the Secret Police and told off
+to watch the conspiracy in Bengal. This he owed to a strong recommendation
+from Dermot to the Head of the Department in Simla. Rama proved invaluable.
+Through him they learned of the despatch of an important Brahmin messenger
+and intermediary from the Palace to Bhutan, by way of Malpura, where he was
+to visit some of his caste-fellows on Parry's garden. The information
+reached Dermot too late to enable him to seize the man on the tea-estate.
+So he hurried to the border to intercept the messenger before he crossed
+it. But here, too, he was unsuccessful. Certain that the Brahmin had not
+slipped through the meshes of the net formed by his secret service of
+subsidised Bhuttias, Dermot returned to the jungle to make search for him
+along the way. But all to no avail, much to his chagrin; for he had reason
+to hope that he would find on the emissary proof enough of the treason of
+the rulers of Lalpuri to hang them. He went back to Malpura to prosecute
+enquiries.
+
+To console himself for his disappointment Dermot determined to have a day's
+shooting in the jungle, a treat he rarely had leisure for now. He invited
+the Dalehams to accompany him. Noreen accepted eagerly, but her brother was
+obliged to decline, much to his regret. For Parry was now always in a state
+bordering on lunacy, and his brutal treatment of the coolies, when his
+assistant was not there to restrain him, several times nearly drove them
+into open revolt. So Dermot and his companion set off alone.
+
+As they went along they chanced to pass near a little village buried in the
+heart of the jungle. A man working on the small patch of cleared soil in
+which he and his fellows grew their scanty crops saw them, recognised
+Badshah and his male rider, and ran away shouting to the hamlet. Then out
+of it swarmed men, women, and children, the last naked, while only
+miserable rags clothed the skinny frames of their elders. All prostrated
+themselves in the dust in Badshah's path. The elephant stopped. Then a
+wizened old man with scanty white beard raised his hands imploringly to
+Dermot.
+
+"Lord! Holy One! Have mercy on us!"
+
+The rest chorused: "Have mercy!"
+
+"Spare thy slaves, O Lord!" went on the old man. "Spare us ere all perish.
+We worship at thy shrine. We grudge not thy elephants our miserable crops.
+Are they not thy servants? But let not the Striped Death slay all of us."
+
+Dermot questioned him and then explained to Noreen that a man-eating tiger
+had taken up its residence near the village and was rapidly killing off its
+inhabitants.
+
+"Oh, do help them," she said. "Can't you shoot it?"
+
+He reflected for a few moments.
+
+"Yes, I think I know how to get it. Will you wait for me in the village?"
+
+"What? Mayn't I go with you to see you kill it? Please let me. I promise
+I'll not scream or be stupid."
+
+He looked at her admiringly.
+
+"Bravo!" he said. "I'm sure you'll be all right. Very well. I promise you
+you shall see a sight that not many other women have seen."
+
+He borrowed a _puggri_--a strip of cotton cloth several yards long--from a
+villager, and bade them show him where the tiger lay up during the heat of
+the day. When they had done so from a safe distance, he turned Badshah,
+and, to Noreen's surprise, sped off swiftly in the opposite direction.
+
+Suddenly the girl touched his arm quietly.
+
+"Look! I see a wild elephant. There's another! And another!" she whispered.
+
+"Yes; I've come in search of them," he replied in his ordinary tone. "It's
+Badshah's herd."
+
+"Is it really? How wonderful! How did you know where to find them?" she
+cried, thrilled by the sight of the great beasts all round them and
+exclaiming with delight at the solemn little woolly babies, many newly
+born. For this was the calving season.
+
+Dermot uttered a peculiar cry that sent the cow-elephants huddling
+together, their young hiding under their bodies, while from every
+quarter the great tuskers broke out through the undergrowth and came to
+him in a mass. Then, as Badshah turned and set off at a rapid pace, the
+bull-elephants followed.
+
+When he arrived near the spot in which the man-eater was said to have his
+lair, Dermot stopped them all. Despite her protests he tied Noreen firmly
+with the _puggri_ to the rope crossing Badshah's pad. Then he drove his
+animal into the herd of tuskers, which had crowded together, and divided
+them into two bodies. The tiger was reported to lie up in a narrow _nullah_
+filled and fringed with low bushes. From the near bank to where Badshah
+stood the forest was free from undergrowth, which came to within a score of
+yards of the far bank.
+
+Badshah smelled the ground, and the other elephants followed his example
+and, when they scented the tiger's trail, began to be restless and excited.
+A sharp cry from Dermot and the two bodies of tuskers separated and moved
+away, branching off half right and left, and disappeared in the
+undergrowth.
+
+Dermot cocked his double-barrelled rifle. There was a long pause. A strange
+feeling of awe crept over Noreen at the realisation of her companion's
+strange power over these great animals. No wonder the superstitious natives
+believed him to be a god.
+
+Presently there was a loud crashing in the undergrowth beyond the _nullah_,
+and Noreen saw the saplings in it agitated, as if by the passage of the
+elephants. The tiger gave no sign of life. The girl's heart beat fast, and
+her breath came quickly. But her companion never moved.
+
+Suddenly Noreen gasped, for through the screen of thin bushes that fringed
+the edge of the _nullah_ a hideous painted mask was thrust out. It was a
+tiger's face, the ears flattened to the skull, the eyes flaming, the lips
+drawn back to bare the teeth in a ghastly snarl. The brute saw Badshah and
+drew quietly back. A pause. Then it sprang into full view and poised for a
+single instant on the far bank. But at that very moment the line of tuskers
+burst out of the tangled undergrowth and the tiger jumped down into the
+_nullah_ again.
+
+Then like a flash it leaped into sight over the near bank, bounding in a
+furious charge straight at Badshah. Noreen held her breath as it crouched
+to spring. Dermot's rifle was at his shoulder, and he pressed the trigger.
+There was a click--the cartridge had missed fire. And the tiger sprang full
+at the man.
+
+But as it did so Badshah swung swiftly round--well for Noreen that she was
+securely fastened--for he had been standing a little sideways. And with an
+upward sweep of his head he caught the leaping tiger in mid-air on the
+point of his tusk, hurling it back a dozen yards.
+
+As the baffled brute struck the ground with a heavy thud it lay still for a
+second and then sprang up, but at that moment Dermot's second barrel rang
+out, and, shot through the brain, the tiger collapsed, its head resting on
+its paws. A tremor shook the powerful frame, the tail twitched feebly, then
+all was still.
+
+The long line of elephants halted on the far bank of the _nullah_, swung
+into file, and moved swiftly out of sight. Their work was done.
+
+Dermot reloaded and urged Badshah forward, covering the tiger with his
+rifle. There was no need. It was dead.
+
+Noreen leant forward and looked down at the striped body.
+
+"What a splendid beast!" she exclaimed.
+
+Dermot turned to her.
+
+"You kept your word well, Miss Daleham," he said. "I congratulate you on
+your pluck. The highest compliment I can pay you is to say that I forgot
+you were there. Not many men would have sat as quiet as you did when the
+cartridge missed fire and the brute sprang."
+
+The girl's eyes sparkled and she blushed. His praise was very dear to her.
+
+In a lighter tone he continued:
+
+"As a reward and a souvenir you shall have the skin. I'll get the
+villagers to take it off. Now stay on Badshah, please, while I slip down
+and have a look at the tiger's little nest."
+
+With rifle at the ready, lest the dead animal should have had a mate,
+he climbed down into the _nullah_. He had not gone ten yards before his
+foot struck against something hard. In the pressed-down weeds was the
+half-gnawed skull of a man. The skin and flesh of the face were fairly
+intact. He took the head up in his hands. On the forehead were painted
+three white horizontal strokes. The tiger's last prey had been a
+Brahmin. A thought flashed across Dermot's mind. He searched about.
+A few bones, parts of the hands and feet, some rags of clothing--and
+a long flat narrow leather case. He tore this open and hastily took
+out the papers it contained; and as he skimmed through them his eyes
+glistened with delight.
+
+He sprang up out of the _nullah_ and ran towards Badshah. When the
+elephant's trunk had swung him up on to the massive head he said:
+
+"We must go back at once. I 'll tell the villagers as we pass to flay the
+tiger. I must borrow your brother's pony and ride as fast as I can to
+Salchini to get Payne's motor to take me to the railway."
+
+"The railway?" exclaimed the girl. "Why, what is the matter? Where are you
+going?"
+
+"To Simla. I've found the lost messenger. Aye, and perhaps information that
+may save India and proofs that will hang our friends in the Palace of
+Lalpuri. _Mul_, Badshah!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+TEMPEST
+
+The storm had burst on India. In the Khyber Pass there was fiercer fighting
+than even that blood-stained defile had ever seen. The flames kindled by
+fanaticism and lust of plunder blazed up along the North-west Frontier and
+burned fiercest around Peshawar, where the Pathan tribes gathered thickest.
+No news came from the interior of Bhutan.
+
+So far, however, the interior of the land was comparatively tranquil.
+Sporadic outbreaks in the Bombay Presidency and the Punjaub had been
+crushed promptly. The great plan of a wide-spread concerted rising
+throughout the peninsula had come to naught, thanks to the papers that
+Dermot had found in the man-eater's den. He had carried them straight to
+Simla himself, for closer examination had confirmed his first impression
+and shown him that they were far too important to be confided to any one
+else.
+
+The information in them proved to be of the utmost value, for they
+disclosed the complete plans of the conspirators and told the very dates
+arranged for the advance of the Afghan army and the attacks of the Pathans,
+which were to take place simultaneously with the general rising in India.
+This latter the military authorities were enabled to deal with so
+effectively that it came to nothing.
+
+Incidentally the papers conclusively proved the treason of the Rajah and
+the _Dewan_ of Lalpuri, and that the Palace was one of the most important
+centres of the conspiracy. To Dermot's amazement no action was taken
+against the two arch-plotters, owing to the incredible timidity of the
+chief civil authorities in India and their susceptibility to political
+influences in England. For Lalpuri and its rulers had been taken under the
+very particular protection of the Socialist Party; and the Government of
+India feared to touch the traitors. The excuse given for this leniency was
+that any attempt to punish them might be the signal for the long delayed
+rising in Lalpuri and Eastern Bengal generally.
+
+A few days after Dermot's return from Simla orders came to him from the
+Adjutant General to hand over the command of the detachment to Parker, as
+he himself had been appointed extra departmental Political Officer of the
+Bhutan Border, with headquarters at Ranga Duar. This released him from the
+responsibilities of his military duties and left him free to devote himself
+to watching the frontier. He was able to keep in communication with Parker
+by means of signal stations established on high peaks near the Fort,
+visible from many points in the mountains and the forest; for he carried a
+signalling outfit always with him.
+
+Thanks to this precaution the garrison of the outpost was not taken by
+surprise when one morning the hills around Ranga Duar were seen to be
+covered with masses of armed men, and long lines of troops wound down the
+mountain paths. For from the peaks above the pass through which he had once
+gone to the Death Place of the elephants, Dermot had looked down upon an
+invading force of Chinese regulars supported by levies of Bhutanese from
+the interior and a wild mob of masterless Bhuttias from both sides of the
+border. He had flashed a warning to Parker in ample time, returned to the
+_peelkhana_ and bidden Ramnath hide with Badshah in a concealed spot in the
+foothills where he could easily find them, sent the other _mahouts_ and
+elephants out of reach of the invaders, and climbed up to the Fort to watch
+with his late subaltern the arrival of the enemy.
+
+"Well, Major, it's come our way at last," said Parker as they greeted each
+other. "Thanks to your warning we're ready for them. But we are not the
+only people who've been expecting them. The wires are cut, the road
+blocked, and we are isolated."
+
+"Yes, I know. Many messengers have got through from the enemy; for my
+cordon of faithful Bhuttias has disappeared. The members of it have joined
+the invaders in the hope of loot." Parker looked up at the hills, black
+with descending forms.
+
+"There's a mighty lot of the beggars," he said simply. "Do you remember our
+discussing this very happening once and your saying that we weren't equal
+to stopping a whole army? What's your advice now?"
+
+"See it out. We're bound to go under in the end, but we'll be able, I hope,
+to keep them off for a few days. And every hour we hold them up will be
+worth a lot to those below. We shan't be relieved, for there aren't any men
+to spare in India. But we'll have done our part."
+
+"I say, Major, wasn't it lucky we got those machine guns in time? I've
+plenty of ammunition, so we ought to be able to put up a good fight.
+What'll they do first?"
+
+"Try to rush the defences at once. They have a lot of irregulars whom the
+Chinese General won't be able to keep in hand. He won't mind their being
+wiped out either. I see you've made a good job of clearing the foreground.
+You haven't left them much cover. So you blew up our poor old Mess and the
+bungalows?"
+
+"Yes. The rubble came in handy for filling in that _nullah_. Hullo!"
+Parker's glasses went to his eyes. "You're right, by Jingo! They're
+gathering for an assault. Gad! what a beautiful mark for shrapnel. I wish
+we'd a gun or two."
+
+A storm of shells from the mountain batteries, the only artillery that the
+enemy had been able to bring with them through the Himalayas, fell on the
+Fort and its defences. Then masses of men rushed down the hills to the
+attack. Not a shot was fired at them. Encouraged by the garrison's silence
+and carried away by the prospect of an easy victory, they lost all
+formation and crowded together in dense swarms.
+
+The two British officers watched them from the central redoubt. Parker held
+his binoculars to his eyes with his right hand, while his left forefinger
+rested on a polished button in a little machine on the table beside him.
+The assailants, favoured by the fall of the ground, soon reached the limits
+of the cantonments, bare now of buildings and trees. There were trained
+Chinese troops, some tall, light-complexioned Northerners of Manchu blood,
+others stocky, yellow men from Canton and the Southern Provinces. Mobs of
+Bhutanese with heads, chests, legs, and feet bare, fierce but undisciplined
+fighters, armed with varied weapons, led the van. Uttering weird yells and
+brandishing their _dahs_, spears, muskets, and rifles, they rushed towards
+the fort, from which no shot was fired. Accustomed to the lofty _jongs_, or
+castles, of their own land they deemed the breastworks and trenches
+unworthy of notice. And the stone barracks and walls in the Fort were
+rapidly melting away under the rain of shells.
+
+Flushed with victory the swarming masses came on. But suddenly the world
+upheaved behind the leaders. Rocks, earth, and rubble went up in clouds
+into the air, and with them scores of the Chinese regular troops, under
+whose very feet mines of the new explosive had been fired by Parker. And
+the howling mobs in front were held up by barbed wire, while from the
+despised trenches and breastworks a storm of lead swept the crowded masses
+of the attackers away. At that close range every bullet from the machine
+guns and rifles of the defenders drove through two or three assailants,
+every bomb and grenade slew a group. Only in one spot by sheer weight of
+numbers did they break through.
+
+But like a thunderbolt fell the counter-attack. Stalwart Punjaubi
+Mohammedans, led by Dermot, swept down upon them, and with bomb and bayonet
+drove them out. The survivors turned and staggered up the hills again,
+withering away under the steady fire of the sepoys, who adjusted their
+sights with the utmost coolness as the range increased.
+
+Again and again the assaults were repeated and repulsed, until the
+undisciplined and demoralised Bhutanese refused to advance, and the Chinese
+regulars attacked alone. But fresh mines exploded under them; the deadly
+fire of the defenders' machine guns blasted them; and the Pekin general
+looked anxious as his best troops melted away. He would not go far into
+India if every small body of its soldiers took equally heavy toll of his
+force. So he ordered a cessation of the assaults.
+
+But there was no respite for the little garrison. Day and night the
+pitiless bombardment by the mountain batteries and long-range fire of
+rifles and machine guns never ceased. And death was busy among the
+defenders.
+
+On the third night of the siege Dermot and the subaltern knelt side by side
+in what was now the last line of the defence.
+
+"I ought not to ask you to go, Major," whispered Parker. "It's not possible
+to get through, I'm afraid. I can't forget the awful sight of the fiendish
+tortures they inflicted on poor Hikmat Khan and Shaikh Ismail today in full
+view of us all. They tried to slip through last night with their naked
+bodies covered with oil. It's a terrible death for you if they catch you.
+It would be much easier to die fighting. Yet someone ought to go."
+
+"Yes, they must be told at Headquarters," replied his companion in an
+equally low tone. "We can't hold them two days longer."
+
+"Not that, if they try to rush us again. Our ammunition is giving out,"
+said Parker. "I'd go myself if I weren't commanding here. But I'd have no
+chance of getting through. You are our only hope. Oh, I don't mean of
+relief. There's no possibility of that."
+
+"No; if I do manage to get into touch with Headquarters, it would be too
+late, even if they could spare any troops."
+
+"Yes, it's all over now, bar the shouting. Well, we've had some jolly times
+together, sir, you and I, in this little place, haven't we? Do you remember
+when the Dalehams were up here? What a nice girl she was. I hope she's
+safe."
+
+"I hope to Heaven she is," muttered Dermot. "Well, Parker, I must say
+good-bye. We've been good friends, you and I; and I'm sorry it's the
+end."
+
+In the darkness their hands met in a firm grip.
+
+"One word, sir," whispered the subaltern. "If you do pull through, you've
+got my mother's address. You'll let her know? She thinks a lot of me, poor
+old lady."
+
+Dermot answered him only by a pressure of the hand. The next moment he was
+gone. Parker, straining eyes and ears, saw nothing, heard nothing.
+
+Half an hour later a picquet of slant-eyed men lying on the steep slopes of
+the hill below the Fort saw above them a man's figure dark against the
+paling stars. They challenged and sprang towards it with levelled bayonets.
+The next instant they were hurled apart, dashed to the ground, trampled to
+death. One as he expired had a shadowy vision of some awful bulk towering
+black against the coming dawn.
+
+The sun was low in the heavens when Dermot awoke in a bracken-carpeted
+glade of the forest thirty miles away from Ranga Duar. Over him Badshah
+stood watchfully. The man yawned, rubbed his eyes and sat up. He looked at
+his watch.
+
+"Good Heavens! I've slept for hours!" he cried.
+
+Overcome by fatigue, for he had not even lain down once since the siege
+began, and finding that he was in danger of falling off the elephant, he
+had dismounted for a few minutes' rest. But exhausted Nature had conquered
+him, and he had fallen into a deep sleep. Haggard, hollow-eyed, and worn
+out, despite the rest, he staggered to his feet and was swung up to
+Badshah's neck by the crooked trunk and started again.
+
+He was hastening towards Salchini, where he hoped to secure Payne's car, if
+the owner had not fled, and try to get into touch with Army Headquarters.
+But what to do if his friend had gone he hardly knew. The heavy firing at
+Ranga Duar, echoed by the mountains, must have been heard in the district;
+and all the planters had probably taken the warning and gone away. He was
+racked with anxiety as to Noreen's fate and could only hope that at the
+first alarm her brother had hurried her off. But there was no military
+station nearer than Calcutta or Darjeeling, and by this time it was
+probable that the whole of Eastern Bengal was in revolt. God help the
+Englishwoman that fell into its people's hands! The temptation to turn
+aside to Malpura was great. But Dermot overcame it. His duty came first.
+
+Darkness had fallen on the jungle now. Except to lessen his speed it made
+little difference to the elephant; but for the man it was harder to find
+his way. On the twisting jungle tracks his luminous compass was of little
+use. He was forced to trust mainly to the animal.
+
+But soon a suspicion arose in his mind that Badshah had swerved away from
+the direction in which Salchini lay and was heading for Malpura. It became
+certainty when they reached a deep _nullah_ in the forest which Dermot knew
+was on the route to that garden. He tried to turn the elephant. Badshah
+paid no heed to him and held on his way with an invincible determination
+that made the man suspect there was a grave reason for his obstinacy. He
+knew too well the animal's strange and mysterious intelligence. He gave up
+contending uselessly and was borne along through the dark forest
+unresisting. Over the tree-tops floated the long, wailing cry of a Giant
+Owl circling against the stars. Close to their path the warning bark of a
+_khakur_ deer was answered by the harsh braying roar of a tiger. Far away
+the metallic trumpeting of a wild elephant rang out into the night.
+
+Presently Dermot saw a red glow through the trees ahead. Badshah never
+checked his pace but swept on until the glow became a ruddy glare staining
+the tree-trunks. Suddenly the stars shone overhead. They were clear of the
+jungle; and as they emerged on the open clearing of the tea-garden a column
+of fire blazed up ahead of them.
+
+A chill fear smote Dermot. He would have urged Badshah on, but the elephant
+did not need it. Rapidly they sped along the soft road towards the leaping
+flames, which the soldier soon realised rose from the burning factory and
+withering sheds. And black against the light danced hundreds of figures,
+while yells and wild cries rent the air. And, well to one side, a fresh
+burst of flame and sparks leapt up into the night. It was one of the
+bungalows afire. Round it more figures moved fantastically. A groan came
+from the man's lips. Was it Daleham's bungalow that burned?
+
+All at once Badshah stopped of his own accord and sank down on his knees.
+Mechanically his rider slipped to the ground and stood staring at the
+strange scene. He hardly noticed that the elephant rose, touched him
+caressingly with its trunk, swung round and sped away towards the forest.
+Half-dazed and heedless of danger Dermot hurried forward. Again the flames
+shot up, and by their light he saw to his relief that the Dalehams'
+bungalow was still standing. Parry's house was burning furiously. Pistol in
+hand he ran forward, scarcely cognizant of the crowds of shifting figures
+around the blazing buildings, deaf to their triumphant yells. Groups of
+natives crossed his path, shouting and leaping into the air excitedly, but
+they paid no attention to him. But, as he ran, he hit up against one man
+who turned and, seeing his white face, yelled and sprang away.
+
+As Dermot neared the Dalehams' bungalow he saw that it was surrounded by a
+cordon of coolies armed with rifles and strung out many yards apart. He
+raced swiftly for a gap between two of them; but a man rose from the ground
+and snatched at him. The soldier struck savagely at him with the hand in
+which the pistol was firmly clenched, putting all his weight into the blow.
+The native crumpled and fell in a heap.
+
+Dashing on Dermot shouted Daleham's name. From behind a barricade of boxes
+on the verandah a stern voice which he recognised as belonging to one of
+the Punjaubi servants whom he had provided, called out:
+
+"_Kohn hai? Kohn atha?_ (Who is there? Who comes?)"
+
+"Sher Afzul! It is I. Dermot Sahib," he replied, as he sprang up the
+verandah steps.
+
+The muzzle of a rifle was pointed at him over the barricade, and a bearded
+face peered at him.
+
+"It is the Major Sahib!" said the Mohammedan. "In the name of Allah, Sahib,
+have you brought your sepoys?"
+
+"No; I am alone. Where are the Sahib and the missie _baba?_"
+
+"In the bungalow. Enter, Sahib."
+
+Dermot climbed over the barricade and pushed open the door of the
+dining-room, which was in darkness. But the heavy curtain dividing it
+from the drawing-room was dragged aside and Daleham appeared in the
+doorway, outlined against the faint light of a turned-down lamp. Behind
+him Noreen was rising from a chair.
+
+"Who's there?" cried the boy, raising a revolver.
+
+"It's all right, Daleham. It's I, Dermot. I'm alone, I'm sorry to say."
+
+A stifled cry burst from the girl.
+
+"Oh, you are safe, thank God!" she cried, her hand at her heart.
+
+"What has happened here?" asked Dermot, entering the room.
+
+Fred let fall the curtain as he answered:
+
+"Hell's broke loose on the garden, sir. The coolies have mutinied. Parry's
+dead, murdered; and we're alive only by the kind mercies of that brute
+Chunerbutty, damn him! You were right about him, Major; and I was a
+fool.... Is it true you've been attacked up in Ranga Duar?" he continued.
+
+"Are you wounded, Major Dermot?" broke in the girl anxiously.
+
+"No, Miss Daleham. I'm quite safe and sound."
+
+Then he told them briefly what had happened. When he had finished he asked
+them when the trouble began at Malpura.
+
+"Three days ago," replied Fred. "The wind was blowing from the north, and
+we heard firing up in the mountains. I thought you were having an extra go
+of musketry there. But the coolies suddenly stopped work and gathered
+outside their village, where those infernal Brahmins harangued them. I went
+to order them back to their jobs----".
+
+"Where was Parry?"
+
+"Lying dead drunk in his bungalow. Well, some of the coolies attacked me
+with _lathis_, others tried to protect me. The Brahmins told me that the
+end of the British _Raj_ (dominion) had come and that you were being
+attacked in Ranga Duar by a big army from China and would be wiped out.
+Then I was hustled back to the bungalow where those Mohammedan servants
+that you got for us--lucky you did!--turned out with rifles, which they
+said afterwards you'd given them, and wanted to fire on the mob. But I
+stopped them."
+
+"Where was Chunerbutty?"
+
+"Oh, he hadn't thrown off the mask yet. He came to me and said he was a
+prisoner and would not be allowed to leave the estate. But he advised me to
+ride over to Granger or some of the other fellows and get their help. But I
+wouldn't leave Noreen; and Sher Afzul told me that it was as bad on the
+other gardens. But only today the real trouble began."
+
+"What happened?"
+
+"Some news apparently reached the coolies that drove them mad with delight.
+They murdered the Parsi storekeeper, looted his place, and got drunk on his
+_dáru_. Then they started killing the few Mohammedans we had on the estate.
+Some of the women and children got to us and we took them in. But the rest,
+even the little babies, were murdered by the brutes.
+
+"I went over to Parry, but he was still too drunk to understand me. I was
+trying to rouse him when I heard shouts and ran out on the verandah. All
+the coolies, men, women, and children, were streaming towards the
+bungalows, mad with excitement, screaming and yelling. The men and even
+most of the boys carried weapons. The Brahmins were leading them. They made
+for Chunerbutty's house first. I was going to run to his assistance, when
+he came out and they cheered him like anything. He was in native dress and
+had marks painted on his forehead like the other Brahmins."
+
+"Yes; go on. What happened then?"
+
+"The engineer seemed as excited and mad as the rest. He ran down his steps,
+put himself at the head of the mob, shouted out something, and pointed to
+Parry's bungalow. They all rushed over to it, yelling like mad. Poor old
+Parr heard them and, dazed and drunk, staggered out on the verandah in his
+pyjamas and bare feet. Chunerbutty and the Brahmins came up the steps,
+driving back the crowd, which tried to follow them, howling like demons."
+
+Fred passed his hand across his eyes. Dermot bent forward and stared
+eagerly at him, while Noreen looked only at the soldier.
+
+"I called out to the engineer and asked him what it all meant," went on the
+boy, "but he took no notice of me. Parry tottered towards him, abusing him.
+Chunerbutty let him come to within a yard or two, then pulled out a pistol
+and fired three shots straight at the old man's heart. Poor old Parr fell
+dead."
+
+Daleham paused for a moment.
+
+"Poor old chap! He had his faults; but he had his good points, too. Well,
+I rushed towards him, but the Bengalis fell on me, knocked me down, and
+overpowered me. The mob outside yelled for my blood; but Chunerbutty shut
+them up. I was allowed to get on my feet again; and Chunerbutty held a
+pistol to my head, and cursed me and ordered me to go back to my bungalow
+and wait. He said that somebody would come here tomorrow to settle what was
+to be my fate and to take Noreen."
+
+The girl sprang up.
+
+"You never told me that," she cried.
+
+"No; it wasn't any use distressing you," replied her brother. "But I had to
+tell the Major."
+
+She turned impetuously to Dermot and stretched out her arms to him.
+
+"You won't let them take me, will you? Oh, say you won't!" she said with a
+little sob.
+
+He took both her hands in his.
+
+"No, little girl, I won't. Not while I live."
+
+"You'll kill me first? Promise me."
+
+"On my honour."
+
+She gave a sigh of relief and, strangely content, sank back into her chair.
+But she still held one of his hands clasped tightly in both of hers.
+
+"Well, that's pretty well all there is to tell, Major," her brother went
+on. "I came back here, and the servants and I tried to put the house into a
+state of defence. No one's come near us so far."
+
+"So Chunerbutty was at the head of affairs here. I thought so, I suppose
+the someone is that scoundrelly Rajah. He'll make his conditions known and,
+if you don't surrender, they'll attack us. Now, let's see what we've got as
+garrison. We two and the servants--seven. How are you off for weapons? I
+left my rifle behind."
+
+"The servants have got their rifles and plenty of ammunition. I have a
+double-barrelled .400 cordite rifle and a shot-gun. If it comes to a scrap
+I'll take that and leave you the rifle. You're a much better shot; and I
+can't miss at close quarters with a scatter-gun."
+
+"Do you think there's any hope for us?" asked the girl quietly.
+
+"Frankly, I don't. I'd not put it so bluntly, only I've seen you in a tight
+corner before, Miss Daleham, and you weren't afraid."
+
+"I am not now," she replied calmly.
+
+"I believe we'd hold off these coolies, aye, and the Rajah's soldiers too,
+if they came. But we may have the Chinese troops on us at any minute; and
+that's a different matter."
+
+"But why should you stay with us, Major Dermot?" said the girl anxiously.
+"As you got in through these men, surely you could escape the same way."
+
+"I'll be candid with you, Miss Daleham, and tell you that if I could I
+would. For it's my duty to go on and report. But I'm stranded without my
+elephant, and even if I had him it wouldn't be much good unless I had
+Payne's car. And what has happened here must have happened on the other
+gardens. Without the motor I'd be too late with my news. So I'll stay here
+and take my chance."
+
+Then he laughed and added:
+
+"But cheer up; we're not dead yet. If only I'd Badshah I'd take you both up
+on him and we'd break through the whole Chinese Army."
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"We couldn't go. We couldn't leave those poor women and children and the
+servants."
+
+"I forgot them. No; you're right. Well, I haven't lost all hope. I have
+great faith in old Badshah. I shouldn't be surprised if he got us out of
+this scrape, as he did before."
+
+"Oh, I forgot him. I believe he'll help us still," cried the girl. "Where
+did you leave him?"
+
+"He left me. He's quite able to take care of himself," replied Dermot
+grimly. "Now, Daleham, please take me round the house and show me the
+defences; and we'll arrange about the roster of sentry-duty with the
+servants. Please excuse me, Miss Daleham."
+
+Through the weary night the two men, when not taking their turn on guard,
+sat and talked with Noreen in the drawing-room. For the girl refused to go
+to bed and, only to content them, lay back on a settee.
+
+When she and Dermot were left alone she sighed and said:
+
+"Ah, my beautiful forest! I must say good-bye to it. How I have enjoyed the
+happy days in it."
+
+"Some of them were too exciting to be pleasant," he replied smiling.
+
+"But the others made up for them. I like to think of you in the forest
+best," she said dreamily. "We were real friends there."
+
+"And elsewhere, I hope."
+
+"No. In Darjeeling you didn't like me."
+
+"I did. Tonight I can be frank and tell you that I was glad to go to it
+because you were there."
+
+She looked at him wonderingly.
+
+"But you wouldn't take any notice of me there," she said.
+
+"No. I was told that you were engaged, or practically engaged, to
+Charlesworth, and disliked any one else taking up your time."
+
+She sat up indignantly.
+
+"To Captain Charlesworth? How absurd! I suppose I've Ida to thank for that.
+I wouldn't have married him for anything."
+
+"Is that so? What a game of cross-purposes life is! But that's why I didn't
+try to speak to you much."
+
+"Did you want to? I thought you disliked me. And it hurt me so much. Do you
+know, I used to cry about it sometimes. I wanted you to be my friend."
+
+He walked over to her settee.
+
+"Noreen, dear, I wanted to be your friend and you to be mine," he said,
+looking down at her. "I liked you so much. At least, I thought I liked
+you."
+
+"And--and don't you?" she asked, looking up at him.
+
+He knelt beside her.
+
+"No, little friend, I don't like you. Because I--" He paused.
+
+"What?" she whispered faintly.
+
+"I love you, dear. Do you think it absurd?"
+
+She was silent for a moment. Then she looked slowly up at him; and in her
+eyes he read her answer.
+
+"Sweetheart! Little sweetheart!" he whispered, and held out his arms to
+her.
+
+With a little cry she crept into them; and he pressed her to his heart. At
+that moment enemies, danger, death, were forgotten. For Noreen her whole
+world lay within the circle of his arms.
+
+"Do you really, really love me?" she asked wonderingly.
+
+He held her very close to his heart and looked fondly, tenderly down into
+the lovely upturned face.
+
+"Love you, my dearest? I love you with all my heart, my soul, my being," he
+whispered. "How could I help loving you?"
+
+And bending down he kissed her fondly.
+
+"It's all so wonderful," she murmured. "I didn't think that you cared for
+me, that you could ever care. You seemed so far away, too occupied with
+important things to spare a thought for me. So serious a person, and
+sometimes so stern, that I was afraid of you."
+
+He laughed amusedly.
+
+"The wonder is that you ever came to care for me. You do care, don't you,
+beloved?"
+
+She looked up at him earnestly.
+
+"Dear, do I seem forward, bold? But our time together is too short for
+pretence. Yes, I do care. I love you? I seem to have always loved you. Or
+at least to have waited always to love you. I don't think I knew what love
+was until now. Until now. Now I do know."
+
+She paused and stared across the room, seeing the vision of her childhood,
+her girlhood. From outside came intermittent shouts and an occasional
+random shot. But she did not hear them.
+
+"As a child, as a schoolgirl, even afterwards, I used to day-dream. I used
+to wonder if any one would ever love me, ever teach me what love is. I
+dreamt of a Fairy Prince who would come to me one day, of a strong, brave,
+tender man who would care for me, who would want me to care for him. I
+often laughed at myself for it afterwards. For in London men all seemed so
+very unlike my dream-hero."
+
+She turned her face to him and looked tenderly at him.
+
+"But when I met you," she continued, "I think I knew that you were He. But
+I never dared hope that you would learn to care for me."
+
+"Dearest heart," he replied, "I think I must have fallen in love with you
+the first moment I saw you. I can see you now as you stood surrounded by
+the elephants, a delightful but most unexpected vision in the jungle."
+
+"Did you--oh, did you really like me that very first day?" she asked
+eagerly. At the moment the answer seemed to her the most important thing in
+the world.
+
+As a lover will do Dermot deceived himself and imagined that his love had
+been born at the first sight of her. He told her so; and the girl forgot
+the imminent, deadly peril about them in the glow of happiness that warms
+the heart of a loving woman who hears that she has been beloved from the
+beginning.
+
+"But I looked so absurd," she said dreamily; "so untidy, when you first saw
+me. Why, my hair was all down."
+
+He laughed again; but the laughter died from his lips as the remembrance of
+their situation returned to him. Death was ordinarily little to him; though
+now life could be so sweet since she loved him. It seemed a terrible thing
+that this young girl must die so soon--and probably by his own hand to save
+her from a worse fate.
+
+She guessed his thoughts.
+
+"Is this really the end, dear?" she asked, unwilling but unafraid to meet
+death. "Is there no hope for us?"
+
+"I fear not, beloved."
+
+"I--I don't want to die so soon. Before you came tonight I wouldn't have
+minded very much; for I was not happy. But now it's a little hard, just as
+this wonderful thing has happened to me."
+
+She sighed. He held out his arms again, and she crept into them and nestled
+into his embrace.
+
+"Well, if it must be so, I'll try to be worthy of my soldier and not
+disgrace you, dear," she said fondly, bravely. "Let's try to forget it for
+a while and not let it spoil our last hours together. Let's 'make-believe,'
+as the children say. Let's pretend that this is all a hideous nightmare,
+that our lives and our love are before us."
+
+So through the long, dread night with the hideous menace never out of their
+minds they talked bravely of what they would like to do, to be--if only
+they were not to die so soon. Several times Noreen left him and went to
+comfort, to console the poor Mohammedan women and children to whom she had
+given shelter. Her brother refused to allow Dermot to relieve him on watch,
+saying that he could not sleep or rest, and begging him instead to remain
+with the girl to cheer her, to hearten her in the awful hours of waiting
+for the end.
+
+So Dermot was with her when a sudden uproar outside caused him to dash out
+on to the verandah. From behind the barricade on the front verandah Daleham
+was watching.
+
+"What is it? Are they attacking?" cried the soldier.
+
+"No. It's not an attack. They're cheering somebody, I think, and firing
+into the air."
+
+Dermot stared out. Men ran forward to the smouldering ruins of the factory
+and threw on them tins of kerosene oil, looted from the murdered Parsi's
+shop, until the flames blazed up again and lit up the scene. The hundreds
+of coolies were cheering and crowding round a body of men in red coats.
+
+"I believe it's the Rajah's infantry," said Dermot. "Are they going to
+attack? Sher Afzul, wake up the others and tell them to be on their guard.
+Give me that rifle, Daleham."
+
+So Noreen did not see her lover again until the sun rose on a scene of
+desolation and ruin. Smoke and sparks still came from the blackened heaps
+of the destroyed buildings. The cordon of sentries had apparently been
+withdrawn; but when Daleham climbed up on the barricade to get a better
+view a shot was fired from somewhere and a bullet tore up the ground before
+the bungalow.
+
+A couple of hours dragged slowly by; and then a servant doing sentry on the
+front verandah reported a cloud of dust on the road from the forest leading
+to the village. Dermot went out on the front verandah which looked towards
+the coolie lines and put up the glasses.
+
+"Some men on horses. Yes, and a motor-car coming slowly behind them," he
+said to Daleham and his sister, who had followed him out. "It's the Rajah
+and his escort, I suppose. Things will begin to move now."
+
+When the newcomers reached the village a storm of shouting arose. Volley
+after volley of shots were fired, conch-shells blown, tom-toms beaten.
+
+"Yes, there's no doubt of it. It must be that fat brute," said Daleham.
+
+Half an hour went by. The sun was high in the heavens. The landscape was
+bare of life. Not a man was visible. But presently from the village came a
+little figure, a naked little coolie boy. He moved slowly towards the
+bungalow, stopping every few minutes to look back to the huts, then
+advancing again with evident reluctance.
+
+Dermot watched him through the glass. The whole garrison was on the
+verandah.
+
+"He's a messenger. I see a letter in his hand," said the soldier. "Poor
+little devil, he's in an awful funk. None of the cowards dared do it
+themselves, so they beat this child and made him come."
+
+At last the frightened infant reached the bungalow, and Sher Afzul met him
+and took the letter from him. Fred tore it open. It was written by
+Chunerbutty and couched in the most offensive terms. If within half an hour
+Miss Daleham came willingly to the Rajah, her brother's life would be
+spared and he would be given a safe conduct to Calcutta. But everyone else
+in the bungalow would be put to death, including the white man reported to
+have entered it during the night. If the girl did not surrender, her
+brother would be killed with the rest and she herself taken by force.
+
+Dermot acquainted the Mohammedan servants with the contents, to show them
+that there was no hope for them, so that they would fight to the death. The
+little boy was told that there was no answer, and Daleham gave him a few
+copper coins; but the scared child dropped them as though they were red hot
+and scampered back to the village as fast as his little legs would carry
+him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE GOD OF THE ELEPHANTS
+
+At the end of the half hour a tempest of noise arose from the village;
+tom-toms were beaten, conch-shells blown and vigorous cheering was
+heard. Then from the huts long lines of coolies carrying weapons of
+every sort, rifles, old muskets, spears, and swords streamed out and
+encircled the bungalow at a distance. A little later the Rajah's twenty
+horsemen rode out of the village on their raw-boned stallions, followed
+by a hundred infantry soldiers who, Dermot observed, were now armed with
+rifles in place of their former muskets.
+
+The dismounted troops formed up before the bungalow but half a mile away,
+in two lines in open order. But the cavalry kept together in a body; and
+the officer, turning in his saddle to speak to his men, pointed to the
+house with his sword.
+
+"I believe they're going to charge us," said Dermot.
+
+He had divided up the garrison to the four sides of the bungalow; but now,
+leaving one man with the shot gun to keep a watch on the back, he collected
+the rest on the front verandah. Noreen was inside, feeding the hungry
+children and consoling the mothers.
+
+"Now, Daleham, don't fire until they are close, and then aim at the
+horses," said the Major, repeating the instruction to the servants in Urdu.
+
+The Punjaubis grinned and patted their rifles.
+
+The cavalry advanced. The _sowars_ ambled forward, brandishing their curved
+sabres and uttering fierce yells. Dermot, knowing Sher Afzul and another
+man to be good shots, ordered them to open fire when the horsemen were
+about four hundred yards away. He himself took a steady aim at the
+commander and pressed the trigger. The officer, shot through the body,
+threw up his arms and fell forward on his horse's head. The startled animal
+shied and bolted across the furrows; and the corpse, dropping from the
+saddle, was dragged along the ground, one foot being caught in a stirrup.
+The cavalry checked for an instant; and Dermot fired again. A _sowar_ fell.
+The rest cantered forward, yelling and waving their _tulwars_. Sher
+Afzul and the other servants opened fire. A second horseman dropped from
+his saddle, a stallion stumbled and fell, throwing its rider heavily.
+The firing grew faster. Two or three more horses were wounded and
+galloped wildly off. The rest of the cavalry came on, but, losing their
+nerve, checked their pace instead of charging home.
+
+Dermot, loading and firing rapidly, bringing a _sowar_ down with each shot,
+suddenly found Noreen crouching beside him behind the barricade. She was
+holding a revolver.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, get into the house, darling!" he cried.
+
+"No; I have Fred's pistol and know how to use it," she answered, calmly. "I
+have often practised with it."
+
+He could not stop to argue with her, for the troopers still came on. But
+they bunched together, knee to knee, in a frontal attack, instead of
+assaulting from all four sides at once. They made a splendid target and
+suffered heavily. But some brought their horses' heads almost against the
+verandah railing. All the garrison rose from behind the barricade and fired
+point-blank at them. The girl, steadying her hand on a box, shot one
+_sowar_ through the body. The few survivors turned and galloped madly away,
+leaving most of their number on the ground. To cover their retreat a ragged
+volley broke from the infantry; and a storm of bullets flew over and around
+the bungalow, ricocheted from the ground or struck the walls. But one young
+Mohammedan servant, who had incautiously exposed himself, dropped back shot
+through the lungs.
+
+Then from every side fire was opened, the coolies blazing wildly; but as
+none of them had ever had a rifle in his hands before, the firing was for
+the most part innocuous. Yet it served to encourage them, and they drew
+nearer. The garrison, with only one or two defenders to each side of the
+house, could not keep them at a distance. The infantry began to crawl
+forward. The circle of foes closed in on the bungalow and its doomed
+inhabitants. Shrieks and cries rose from the women and children inside.
+
+But although every bullet from the garrison found its billet, the issue was
+only a matter of time. Ill-directed as was the assailants' fire, the
+showers of bullets were too thick not to have some effect. Another servant
+was killed, a third wounded. Daleham was struck on the shoulder by a
+ricochet but only scratched. A rifle bullet, piercing the barricade, passed
+through Noreen's hair, as she crouched beside her lover, whom she
+resolutely refused to leave. The ring of enemies constricted.
+
+Suddenly a bugle sounded from the village; and after a little the firing
+from the attackers ceased. Dermot, who with Noreen and Sher Afzul, was
+defending the front verandah, looked cautiously over the barricade. A white
+flag appeared in the village. The Major shouted to the others in the house
+to hold their fire but be on their guard.
+
+After a pause the flag advanced, borne by a coolie. It was followed by a
+group of men; and Dermot through the glasses recognised the Rajah and
+Chunerbutty accompanied by several Brahmins. They advanced timidly towards
+the bungalow and stopped a hundred yards away. After some urging
+Chunerbutty stepped to the front and called for Daleham to appear.
+
+Fred came through the house from the back verandah, where his place was
+taken by Sher Afzul. He looked over the barricade. Chunerbutty came nearer
+and shouted:
+
+"Daleham, the Rajah gives you one more chance to surrender. You see your
+case is hopeless. You can have a quarter of an hour to think things over.
+If at the end of that time you and your sister don't come out, we'll rush
+the bungalow and finish you all."
+
+Standing under the white flag he drew out his watch.
+
+"Thank you," said Daleham; "and our reply is that if in a quarter of an
+hour you're still there, you'll get a bullet through you, white flag or no
+white flag."
+
+He turned to Dermot whose arm was around Noreen as she crouched beside him.
+
+"Well, Major, it's fifteen more minutes of life, that's all."
+
+"Yes, it's nearly the end now. I've only two cartridges left."
+
+"We're all in the same box. Getting near time we said good-bye. It was
+jolly good of you to stick by us, when you might have got away last night."
+
+Dermot gripped the outstretched hand.
+
+"If I go under first, you'll not let Noreen fall alive into the hands of
+those brutes, will you, sir?"
+
+The girl raised her revolver.
+
+"I'll keep the last cartridge for myself, dear," she said.
+
+She looked lovingly at Dermot whose arm was still about her. Her brother
+betrayed no surprise.
+
+"I'm not afraid to die, dear one," she whispered to her lover. "I couldn't
+live without you now. And I'm happy at this moment, happier than I've ever
+been, I think. But I wish you had saved yourself."
+
+He mastered his emotion with difficulty.
+
+"Darling, life without you wouldn't be possible for me either."
+
+He could not take his eyes from her; and the minutes were flying all too
+swiftly. At last he looked at his watch and held out his hand to the boy.
+
+"Good-bye, Daleham, you've got your wish. You're dying like a soldier for
+England," he said. "We've done our share for her. Now, we've three minutes
+more. If the Rajah and Chunerbutty come into view again I'll have them with
+my last two shots."
+
+He turned to the girl and took her in his arms for a last embrace.
+
+"Good-bye, sweetheart. Dear love of my heart. Pray that we may be together
+in the next world."
+
+He paused and listened.
+
+"Are they coming?"
+
+But he did not put her from him. One second now was worth an eternity.
+
+Then suddenly a distant murmur swelled through the strange silence. Daleham
+looked out over the barricade.
+
+"They're--No. What is it? What are they doing?"
+
+All round the circle of besiegers there was an eerie hush. No voice was
+heard. All--the Rajah, the flag-bearer, Brahmins, soldiers, coolies--had
+turned their faces away from the bungalow and were staring into the
+distance. And as the few survivors of the garrison looked up over the
+barricade an incredible sight met their eyes.
+
+From the far-off forest, bursting out at every point of the long-stretching
+wall of dark undergrowth that hemmed in the wide estate, wild elephants
+appeared. Over the furrowed acres they streamed in endless lines, trampling
+down the ordered stretch of green bushes. In scores, in hundreds, they
+came, silently, slowly; the great heads nodding to the rhythm of their
+gait, the trunks swinging, the ragged ears flapping, as they advanced.
+Converging as they came, they drew together in a solid mass that blotted
+out the ground, a mass sombre-hued, dark, relieved only by flashes of
+gleaming white. For on either side of every massive skull jutted out the
+sharp-pointed, curving ivory. Of all save one.
+
+For the mammoth that led them, the splendid beast that captained the
+oncoming array of Titans under the ponderous strokes of whose feet the
+ground trembled, had one tusk, one only. And as though the white flag were
+a magnet to him, he moved unerringly towards it, the immense, earth-shaking
+phalanx following him.
+
+The awestruck crowds of armed men, so lately flushed with fanatical lust of
+slaughter, stood as though turned to stone, their faces set towards the
+terrifying onset. Their pain unheeded, their groans silenced, the wounded
+staggered to their feet to look. Even the dying strove to raise themselves
+on their arms from the reddened soil to gaze, and, gazing, fell back dead.
+Slowly, mechanically, silently, the living gave way, the weapons dropping
+from their nerveless grip. Step by step they drew back as if compelled by
+some strange mesmeric power.
+
+And on the verandah the few survivors of the little band stood together,
+silent, amazed, scarce believing their eyes as they stared at the
+incredible vision. All but Dermot. His gaze was fixed on the leader of that
+terrible army; and he smiled, tenderly yet proudly. His arm drew the girl
+beside him still closer to him, as he murmured:
+
+"He comes to save us for each other, beloved!"
+
+Nothing was heard, save the dull thunder of the giant feet. Then from the
+village the high-pitched shriek of a woman pierced the air and shattered
+the eerie silence of the terror-stricken crowds. Murmurs, groans, swelled
+into shouts, wild yells, the appalling uproar of panic; and strong and
+weak, hale men and those from whose wounds the life-blood dripped, turned
+and fled. Fled past their dead brothers, past the little group of leaders
+whose power to sway them had vanished before this awful menace.
+
+Petrified, rooted to the ground as though their quaking limbs were
+incapable of movement, the Rajah and his satellites stood motionless before
+the oncoming elephants. But when the leader almost towered above him,
+Chunerbutty was galvanised to life again. In mad panic he raised a pistol
+in his trembling hand and fired at the great beast. The next instant the
+huge tusk caught him. He was struck to the earth, gored, and lifted high in
+air. An appalling shriek burst from his bloodless lips. He was hurled to
+the ground with terrific force and trodden under foot. The Rajah screamed
+shrilly and turned to flee. Too late! The earth shook as the great phalanx
+moved on faster and passed without checking over the white-clad group,
+blotting them out of all semblance to humanity.
+
+The dying yell of the renegade Hindu, arresting in its note of agony,
+caused the fleeing crowds to pause and turn to look. And as they witnessed
+the annihilation of their leaders they saw a yet more wondrous sight. For
+the dark array of monsters halted as the leader reached the house; and with
+the sea of twisted trunks upraised to salute him and a terrifying peal of
+trumpeting, they welcomed the white man who walked out from the shot-torn
+building towards the leader of the vast herd. Then in a solemn hush he was
+raised high in air and held aloft for all to see, beasts and men. And in
+the silence a single voice in the awestruck crowds cried shrilly:
+
+"_Hathi ka Deo ki jai!_ (Victory to the God of the Elephants!)"
+
+In wonder, in dread, in superstitious reverence, hundreds of voices took up
+the refrain: _"Hathi ka Deo! Hathi ka Deo ki jai!"_
+
+And leaving his thousand companions behind, the sacred elephant that all
+recognised now advanced towards the shrinking crowds, bearing the dread
+white god upon its neck. Had he not come invisibly among them again? Had
+they not witnessed the fate of those that opposed him? Had he not summoned
+from all Hindustan his man-devouring monsters to punish, to annihilate his
+enemies. Forgetful of their hate, their bloodthirst, their lust of battle,
+conscious only of their guilt, the terror-stricken crowds surged forward
+and flung themselves down in supplication on the earth. They wept, they
+wailed, they bared their heads and poured dust upon them, in all the
+extravagant demonstration of Oriental sorrow. Out from the village streamed
+the women and children to add their shrill cries to the lamentations.
+
+With uplifted hand, Dermot silenced them. An awful hush succeeded the
+tumult. He swept his eyes slowly over them all, and every head went down to
+the dust again. Then he spoke, solemnly, clearly; and his voice reached
+everyone in the prostrate mob.
+
+"My wrath is upon you and upon your children. Flee where you will, it shall
+overtake you. You have sinned and must atone. On those most guilty
+punishment has already fallen. Where are they that misled you? Go look for
+them under the feet of my elephants. Yet from you, ye poor deluded fools,
+for the moment I withhold my hand. But touch a single hair of those in your
+midst whom I protect, and you perish."
+
+Not a sound was heard.
+
+Then he said:
+
+"Men of Lalpuri, who have come among these fools in thirst for blood. You
+have heard of me. You have seen my power. You see me. Go back to your city.
+Tell them there that I, who fed my elephants on the flesh of your comrades
+in the forest, shall come to them riding on my steed sacred to _Gunesh_. If
+they spare the evil counselors among them, then them I will not spare. Of
+their city no stone shall remain. Go back to them and bear this message to
+all within and without the walls, 'The British _Raj_ shall endure. It is my
+will.' Tell them to engrave it on their hearts, on their children's
+hearts."
+
+He paused. Then he spoke again:
+
+"Rise, all ye people. Ye have my leave to go."
+
+Noiselessly they obeyed. He watched them move away in terrified silence.
+Not a whisper was heard.
+
+Then he smiled as he said to himself:
+
+"That should keep them quiet."
+
+He turned Badshah towards the bungalow.
+
+Forty miles away, when darkness fell on the mountains that night, the army
+of the invaders slept soundly in their bivouacs around the doomed post of
+Ranga Duar. On the morrow the last feeble resistance of its garrison must
+cease, and happy those of the defenders who died. Luckless they that lived.
+For the worst tortures that even China knew would be theirs.
+
+But when the morrow came there was no longer an investing army.
+Panic-stricken, the scattered remnants of the once formidable host
+staggered blindly up the inhospitable mountains only to perish in the
+snows of the passes. For in the dark hours annihilation had come upon
+the rest. Countless monsters, worse, far worse, than the legendary
+dragons of their native land, had come from the skies, sprung from the
+earth. And under their huge feet the army had perished.
+
+When the sun rose Dermot knelt beside the mattress on which Parker lay
+among the heaps of rubble that had once been the Fort. An Indian officer,
+the only one left, and a few haggard sepoys stood by. The rest of the few
+survivors of the gallant band had thrown themselves down to sleep haphazard
+among the ruins that covered the bodies of their comrades.
+
+"Is it all true, Major? Are they really gone?" whispered the subaltern
+feebly.
+
+"Yes, Parker, it's quite true. They've gone. You've helped to save India.
+You held them off--God knows how you did it. Your wound's a nasty one; but
+you'll get over it."
+
+He rose and held out his hands to the others. _"Shabash!_ (Well done!)
+_Subhedar Sahib_, Mohammed Khan, Gulab Khan, Shaikh Bakar, well done."
+
+And the men of the alien race pressed round him and clasped his hands
+gratefully.
+
+The defeat of the invaders in this little-known corner of the Indian Empire
+was but the forerunner of the disasters that befell the other enemies of
+the British dominion, though many months passed before peace settled on the
+land again. But Lalpuri had not so long to wait for Dermot to redeem his
+promise to visit it. When he did he rode on Badshah at the head of a
+British force. The gates were flung open wide; and he passed through
+submissive crowds to see the blackened ruins of the Palace that, stormed,
+looted, and burnt by its rebel soldiery, hid the ashes of the _Dewan_.
+
+A year had gone by. In the villages perched on the steep sides of the
+mountains the Bhuttia women rejoiced to know that the peace of the
+Borderland would never be broken again while the dread hand of a god lay on
+it. And in their bamboo huts they tried to hush their little children with
+the mention of his name. But the sturdy, naked babies had no fear of him.
+For they all knew him; and he was kind and far less terrible than the gods
+and demons that the old lama showed them in the painted Wheel of Life sent
+him from Tibet. Moreover, the white god's wife was kinder even than he. But
+that was because she was not a goddess. Only a girl.
+
+On the high hills, up above the villages, a couple stood. No god and
+goddess: just a man and a woman. And the woman looked down past the huts,
+down to the great Terai Forest lying like a vast billowy sea of foliage far
+below them. Then, as her husband's arm stole round her, she turned her eyes
+from it and gazed into his and whispered:
+
+"I love it more than even you do. For it gave you to me."
+
+A crashing in the clump of hill bamboos at their feet attracted their
+attention; and with a smile he pointed down to the great elephant with the
+single tusk who was dragging down the feathery plumes with his curving
+trunk.
+
+But Noreen looked up at Dermot again and said:
+
+"I love you more than even Badshah does."
+
+And their lips met.
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+_A Selection from the Catalogue of_
+
+G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+Complete Catalogues sent on application
+
+
+
+
+
+Rosa Mundi
+
+By
+
+Ethel M. Dell
+
+Author of
+
+"The Top of the World," "The Lamp in the Desert," "The Way of an Eagle,"
+etc.
+
+Some of the finest stories ever written by Miss Ethel M. Dell are gathered
+together in this volume. They are arresting, thrilling, tense with
+throbbing life, and of absorbing interest; they tell of romantic and
+passionate episodes in many lands--in the hill districts of India, in the
+burning heart of Africa, and in the colonial bush country. The author's
+vivid and vigorous style, skillfully developed plots, her intensely
+sympathetic treatment of emotional scenes, and the strongly delineated
+character sketches, are typical of Ethel M. Dell's best work, and this
+volume will be found to contain some of the most remarkable of her shorter
+romances.
+
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+New York London
+
+
+
+
+Prairie Flowers
+
+By
+
+James B. Hendryx
+
+Author of "The Texan"
+
+When Tex Benton said he'd do a thing, he _did_ it, as readers of "The
+Texan" will affirm. So when, after a year of drought, he announced his
+purpose of going to town to get thoroughly "lickered up," unsuspecting
+Timber City was elected as the stage for a most thorough and sensational
+orgy.
+
+But neither Tex nor Timber City could foresee the turbulent chain of
+events which were to result from his high, if indecorous, resolve, here
+set down--the wild tale of an untamed West.
+
+A well-known writer, who has served his apprenticeship in the cow country,
+said the other day, "I like Hendryx's stories--they're real. His boys are
+the boys I used to work with and know. His West is the West I learned to
+love."
+
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+New York  London
+
+
+
+
+
+The Ivory Fan
+
+By
+
+Adrian Heard
+
+When Lily Kellaway makes the observation, "It is better to be a slave to a
+man, which is natural, than to a woman, which is intolerable," she recites
+the text upon which the author of _The Ivory Fan_ has built up a novel
+that is at once humorous in its cynicism and cynical in its humor. At the
+same time he gives us a pastel of certain phases of life comprehensive in
+its coloring and bitterly uncompromising of line.
+
+This is an unconventional book, full of incident and plenty of clever
+dialogue.
+
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+New York  London
+
+
+
+
+
+Too Old for Dolls
+
+By
+
+Anthony M. Ludovici
+
+The story of a "flapper" too old for dolls, scarcely old enough for
+anything else, but capable of enraging her older sister and even her mother
+by the ease with which she secures the admiration of their male friends.
+
+"From a Mohawk, from a sexless savage with tangled hair and blotchy
+features, she had, by a stroke of the wand, become metamorphosed into a
+remarkably attractive young woman." And with the change came a
+disconcerting knowledge of power.
+
+A very real, very tense, and very modern novel.
+
+
+
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+New York London
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Elephant God, by Gordon Casserly
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<meta content="pg2html (binary v0.17)" name="generator" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of
+    The Elephant God,
+    by Gordon Gasserly
+</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[*/
+    <!--
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Elephant God, by Gordon Casserly
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Elephant God
+
+Author: Gordon Casserly
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2004 [EBook #14076]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ELEPHANT GOD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, David Garcia and the PG Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div style="height: 8em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h1>
+    THE ELEPHANT GOD
+</h1>
+<center><b>
+BY GORDON GASSERLY
+</b></center>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<center><small>
+NEW YORK<br />
+1921
+</small></center>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<center>
+    TO A CERTAIN ROGUE ELEPHANT RESIDENT IN THE TERAI FOREST
+<br />
+    THE SLAYER OF DIVERS MEN AND WOMEN
+<br />
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MUCH
+INSTRUCTION AND IN THE HOPE THAT SOME DAY IN THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS
+THEY MAY MEET AGAIN AND DECIDE THE ISSUE
+</center>
+
+<a name="L2H_FORE"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    FOREWORD TO AMERICAN EDITION
+</h2>
+<p>
+Twenty years ago I dedicated my first book, <i>The Land of the Boxers; or
+China Under the Allies</i>, to the American officers and soldiers of the
+expeditionary forces then fighting in the Celestial Empire&mdash;as well as to
+their British comrades. And when, some years afterwards, I was visiting
+their country, right glad I was that I had thus offered my slight tribute
+to the valour of the United States Army. For from the Pacific to the
+Atlantic I met with a hospitality and a kindness that no other land could
+excel and few could equal. And ever since then, I have felt deep in debt to
+all Americans and have tried in many parts of our Empire to repay to those
+who serve under the Star Spangled Banner a little of what I owe to their
+fellow-countrymen.
+</p>
+<p>
+Only those who have experienced that sympathetic American kindness can
+realise what it is. It is all that gives me courage to face the reading
+public as a writer of fiction and attempt to depict to it the fascinating
+world of an Indian jungle, the weird beasts that people it, and the
+stranger humans that battle with them in it. The magic pen of a Kipling
+alone could do justice to that wonderful realm of mountain and forest that
+is called the Terai&mdash;that fantastic region of woodland that stretches for
+hundreds of miles along the foot of the Himalayas, that harbours in its dim
+recesses the monsters of the animal kingdom, quaint survivals of a vanished
+race&mdash;the rhinoceros, the elephant, the bison, and the hamadryad, that
+great and terrible snake which can, and does, pursue and overtake a mounted
+man, and which with a touch of its poisoned fang can slay the most powerful
+brute. The huge Himalayan bear roams under the giant trees, feeding on
+fruit and honey, yet ready to shatter unprovoked the skull of a poor
+woodcutter. Those savage striped and spotted cats, the tiger and the
+panther, steal through it on velvet paw and take toll of its harmless
+denizens.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, if I cannot describe it as I would, at least I have lived the life of
+the wild in the spacious realm of the Terai. I would that I had the power
+to make others feel what I have felt, the thrill that comes when facing the
+onrush of the bloodthirstiest of all fierce brutes, a rogue elephant, or
+the joy of seeing a charging tiger check and crumple up at the arresting
+blow of a heavy bullet.
+</p>
+<p>
+I have followed day after day from dawn to dark and fought again and again
+a fierce outlaw tusker elephant that from sheer lust of slaughter had
+killed men, women, and children and carried on for years a career of crime
+unbelievable.
+</p>
+<p>
+No one that knows the jungle well will refuse to credit the strangest story
+of what wild animals will do. Of all the swarming herds of wild elephants
+in the Terai, the Mysore, or the Ceylon jungles no man, white or black, has
+ever seen one that had died a natural death. Yet many have watched them
+climbing up the great mountain rampart of the Himalayas towards regions
+where human foot never followed. The Death Place of the Elephants is a
+legend in which all jungle races firmly believe, but no man has ever found
+it. The mammoths live a century and a half&mdash;but the time comes when each of
+them must die. Yet no human eye watches its death agony.
+</p>
+<p>
+Those who know elephants best will most readily credit the strangest tales
+of their doings. And there are men&mdash;white men&mdash;whose power over wild beasts
+and wilder fellow men outstrips the novelist's imagination, the true tale
+of whose doings no resident in a civilised land would believe.
+</p>
+<p style="text-align: right;">
+GORDON CASSERLY.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CONTENTS
+</h2>
+
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2H_FORE">FOREWORD TO AMERICAN EDITION</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0001">CHAPTER I.&mdash;THE SECRET MISSION</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0002">CHAPTER II.&mdash;A ROGUE ELEPHANT</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0003">CHAPTER III.&mdash;A GIRL OF THE TERAI</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0004">CHAPTER IV.&mdash;THE MADNESS OF BADSHAH</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0005">CHAPTER V.&mdash;THE DEATH-PLACE</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0006">CHAPTER VI.&mdash;A DRAMATIC INTRODUCTION</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0007">CHAPTER VII.&mdash;IN THE RAJAH'S PALACE</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0008">CHAPTER VIII.&mdash;A BHUTTIA RAID</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0009">CHAPTER IX.&mdash;THE RESCUE OF NOREEN</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0010">CHAPTER X.&mdash;A STRANGE HOME-COMING</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0011">CHAPTER XI.&mdash;THE MAKING OF A GOD</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0012">CHAPTER XII.&mdash;THE LURE OF THE HILLS</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0013">CHAPTER XIII.&mdash;THE PLEASURE COLONY</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0014">CHAPTER XIV.&mdash;THE TANGLED SKEIN OF LOVE</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0015">CHAPTER XV.&mdash;THE FEAST OF THE GODDESS KALI</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0016">CHAPTER XVI.&mdash;THE PALACE OF DEATH</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0017">CHAPTER XVII.&mdash;A TRAP</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0018">CHAPTER XVIII.&mdash;THE CAT AND THE TIGER</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0019">CHAPTER XIX.&mdash;TEMPEST</a></p>
+<p class="toc"><a href="#L2HCH0020">CHAPTER XX.&mdash;THE GOD OF THE ELEPHANTS</a></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+<h1>
+    THE ELEPHANT GOD
+</h1>
+<a name="L2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER I
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE SECRET MISSION
+</h3>
+<p>
+"The letters, sahib," said the post orderly, blocking up the doorway of the
+bungalow.
+</p>
+<p>
+Kevin Dermot put down his book as the speaker, a Punjaubi Mohammedan in
+white undress, slipped off his loose native shoes and entered the room
+barefoot, as is the custom in India.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For this one a receipt is needed," continued the sepoy, holding out a long
+official envelope registered and insured and addressed, like all the
+others, to "The Officer Commanding, Ranga Duar, Eastern Bengal."
+</p>
+<p>
+Major Dermot signed the receipt and handed it to the man. As he did so the
+scream of an elephant in pain came to his ears.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is that?" he asked the post orderly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the <i>mahout</i>, Chand Khan, beating his <i>hathi</i> (elephant), sahib,"
+replied the sepoy looking out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot threw the unopened letters on the table, and, going out on the
+verandah of his bungalow, gazed down on the parade ground which lay a
+hundred feet below. Beyond it at the foot of the small hill on which stood
+the Fort was a group of trees, to two of which a transport elephant was
+shackled by a fore and a hind leg in such a way as to render it powerless.
+Its <i>mahout</i>, or driver, keeping out of reach of its trunk, was beating it
+savagely on the head with a bamboo. Mad with rage, the man, a grey-bearded
+old Mohammedan, swung the long stick with both hands and brought it down
+again and again with all his force. From the gateway of the Fort above the
+<i>havildar</i>, or native sergeant, of the guard shouted to the <i>mahout</i> to
+desist. But the angry man ignored him and continued to belabour his
+unfortunate animal, which, at the risk of dislocating its leg, struggled
+wildly to free itself and screamed shrilly each time that the bamboo fell.
+This surprised Dermont, for an elephant's skull is so thick that a blow
+even from the <i>ankus</i> or iron goad used to drive it, is scarcely felt.
+</p>
+<p>
+The puzzled officer re-entered the bungalow and brought out a pair of
+field-glasses, which revealed the reason of the poor tethered brute's
+screams. For they showed that in the end of the bamboo were stuck long,
+sharp nails which pierced and tore the flesh of its head.
+</p>
+<p>
+Major Dermot was not only a keen sportsman and a lover of animals, but he
+had an especial liking for elephants, of which he had had much experience.
+So with a muttered oath he put down the binoculars and, seizing his helmet,
+ran down the steep slope from his bungalow to the parade ground. As he went
+he shouted to the <i>mahout</i> to stop. But the man was too engrossed in his
+brutality to hear him or the <i>havildar</i>, who repeated the Major's order. It
+was not until Dermot actually seized his arm and dragged him back that he
+perceived his commanding officer. Dropping the bamboo he strove to justify
+his ill-treatment of the elephant by alleging some petty act of
+disobedience on its part.
+</p>
+<p>
+His excuses were cut short.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Choop raho!</i> (Be silent!) You are not fit to have charge of an animal,"
+cried the indignant officer, picking up and examining the cruel weapon. The
+sharp points of the nails were stained with blood, and morsels of skin and
+flesh adhered to them. Dermot felt a strong inclination to thrash the
+brutal <i>mahout</i> with the unarmed end of the bamboo, but, restraining
+himself, he turned to the elephant. With the instinct of its kind it was
+scraping a little pile of dust together with its toes, snuffing it up in
+its trunk and blowing it on the bleeding cuts on its lacerated head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You poor beast! You mustn't do that. We'll find something better for you,"
+said the Major compassionately.
+</p>
+<p>
+He called across the parade ground to his white-clad Mussulman butler, who
+was looking down at him from the bungalow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bring that fruit off my table," he said in Hindustani. "Also the little
+medicine chest and a bowl of water."
+</p>
+<p>
+When the servant had brought them Dermot approached the elephant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Khubbadar</i>&mdash;(take care)&mdash;sahib!" cried a coolie, the <i>mahout's</i>
+assistant. "He is suffering and angry. He may do you harm."
+</p>
+<p>
+But, while the rebuked <i>mahout</i> glared malevolently and inwardly hoped that
+the animal might kill him, Dermot walked calmly toward it, holding out his
+hand with the fruit. The elephant, regarding him nervously and suspiciously
+out of its little eyes, shifted uneasily from foot to foot, and at first
+shrank from him. But, as the officer stood quietly in front of it, it
+stretched out its trunk and smelled the extended hand. Then it touched the
+arm and felt it up to the shoulder, on which it let the tip of the trunk
+rest for a few seconds. At last it seemed satisfied that the white man was
+a friend and did not intend to hurt it.
+</p>
+<p>
+During the ordeal Dermot had never moved; although there was every reason
+to fear that the animal, either from sheer nervousness or from resentment
+at the ill-treatment that it had just received, might attack him and
+trample him to death. Indeed, many tame elephants, being unused to
+Europeans, will not allow white men to approach them. So the Hindu coolie
+stood trembling with fright, while the <i>havildar</i> and the butler were
+alarmed at their sahib's peril.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Dermot coolly peeled a banana and placed it in the elephant's mouth.
+The gift was tried and approved by the huge beast, which graciously
+accepted the rest of the fruit. Then the Major said to it in the <i>mahouts'</i>
+tongue:
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Buth!</i> (Lie down!)"
+</p>
+<p>
+The elephant slowly sank down to the ground and allowed the Major to
+examine its head, which was badly lacerated by the spikes. Dermot cleansed
+the wounds thoroughly and applied an antiseptic to them. The animal bore it
+patiently and seemed to recognise that it had found a friend; for, when it
+rose to its feet again, it laid its trunk almost caressingly on Dermot's
+shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer stroked it and then turned to the <i>mahout</i>, who was standing in
+the background.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Chand Khan, you are not to come near this elephant again," he said. "I
+suspend you from charge of it and shall report you for dismissal. <i>Jao!</i>
+(Go!)"
+</p>
+<p>
+The man slunk away scowling. Dermot beckoned to the Hindu, who approached
+salaaming.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you this animal's coolie?"
+</p>
+<p>
+(The Government of India very properly recognises the lordliness of the
+elephant and provides him in captivity with no less than two body-servants,
+a <i>mahout</i> and a coolie, whose mission in life is to wait on him.)
+</p>
+<p>
+The Hindu salaamed again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, <i>Huzoor</i> (The Presence)," he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How long have you been with it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Five years, <i>Huzoor</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is its name?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Badshah</i> (The King). And indeed he is a <i>badshah</i> among elephants. No one
+but a Mussulman would treat him with disrespect. Your Honour sees that he
+is a <i>Gunesh</i> and worthy of reverence."
+</p>
+<p>
+The animal, which was a large and well-shaped male, possessed only one
+tusk, the right. The other had never grown. Dermot knew that an elephant
+thus marked by Nature would be regarded by Hindus as sacred to <i>Gunesh</i>,
+their God of Wisdom, who is represented as having the head of an elephant
+with a single tusk, the right. Many natives would consider the animal to be
+a manifestation of the god himself and worship it as a deity. So the Major
+made no comment on the coolie's remark, but said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is your name?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ramnath, <i>Huzoor</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well, Ramnath. You are to have sole charge of Badshah until I can get
+someone to help you. You will be his <i>mahout</i>. Take this medicine that I
+have been using and put it on as you have seen me do. Don't let the animal
+blow dust on the cuts. Keep them clean, and bring him up tomorrow for me to
+see."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed the man the antiseptic and swabs. Then he turned to the elephant
+and patted it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good-bye, Badshah, old boy," he said. "I don't think that Ramnath will
+ill-treat you."
+</p>
+<p>
+The huge beast seemed to understand him and again touched him with the tip
+of its trunk.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Badshah knows Your Honour," said the Hindu. "He will regard you always now
+as his <i>ma-bap</i> (mother and father)."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot smiled at this very usual vernacular expression. He was accustomed
+to being called it by his sepoys; but he was amused at being regarded as
+the combined parents of so large an offspring.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Badshah has never let a white man approach him before today, <i>Huzoor</i>,"
+continued Ramnath. "He has always been afraid of the sahibs. But he sees
+you are his friend. <i>Salaam kuro</i>, Badshah!"
+</p>
+<p>
+And the elephant raised his trunk vertically in the air and trumpeted the
+<i>Salaamut</i> or royal salute that he had been taught to make. Then, at
+Ramnath's signal, he lowered his trunk and crooked it. The man put his bare
+foot on it, at the same time seizing one of the great ears. Then Badshah
+lifted him up with the trunk until he could get on to the head into
+position astride the neck. Then the new <i>mahout</i>, salaaming again to the
+officer, started his huge charge off, and the elephant lumbered away with
+swaying stride to its <i>peelkhana</i>, or stable, two thousand feet below in
+the forest at the foot of the hills on which stood the Fort of Ranga Duar.
+For this outpost, which was garrisoned by Dermot's Double Company of a
+Military Police Battalion, guarded one of the <i>duars</i>, or passes, through
+the Himalayas into India from the wild and little-known country of Bhutan.
+</p>
+<p>
+Its Commanding Officer watched the elephant disappear down the hill before
+returning to his little stone bungalow, which stood in a small garden
+shaded by giant mango and jack-fruit trees and gay with the flaming lines
+of bougainvillias and poinsettias.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dismissing the post orderly, who was still waiting, Dermot threw himself
+into a long chair and took up the letters that he had flung down when
+Badshah's screams attracted his attention. They were all routine official
+correspondence contained in the usual long envelopes marked "On His
+Majesty's Service." The registered one, however, held a smaller envelope
+heavily sealed, marked "Secret" and addressed to him by name. In this was a
+letter in cipher.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot got up from his chair and, going into his bedroom, opened a trunk
+and lifted out of it a steel despatch box, which he unlocked. From this he
+extracted a sealed envelope, which he carried back to the sitting-room.
+First examining the seals to make sure that they were intact, he opened the
+envelope and took from it two papers. One was a cipher code and on the
+other was the keyword to the official cipher used by the military
+authorities throughout India. This word is changed once a year. On the
+receipt of the new one every officer entitled to be in possession of it
+must burn the paper on which is written the old word and send a signed
+declaration to that effect to Army Headquarters.
+</p>
+<p>
+Taking a pencil and a blank sheet of paper Dermot proceeded to decipher the
+letter that he had just received. It was dated from the Adjutant General's
+Office at Simla, and headed "Secret." It ran:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sir:
+</p>
+<p>
+"In continuation of the instructions already given you orally, I have
+the honour to convey to you the further orders of His Excellency the
+Commander-in-Chief in India.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Begins: 'Information received from the Secretary to the Foreign
+Department, Government of India, confirms the intelligence that Chinese
+emissaries have for some time past been endeavouring to re-establish the
+former predominance of their nation over Tibet and Bhutan. In the former
+country they appear to have met with little success; but in Bhutan, taking
+advantage of the hereditary jealousies of the <i>Penlops</i>, the great feudal
+chieftains, they appear to have gained many adherents. They aim at
+instigating the Bhutanese to attempt an invasion of India through the
+<i>duars</i> leading into Eastern Bengal, their object being to provoke a war.
+The danger to this country from an invading force of Bhutanese, even if
+armed, equipped, and led by Chinese, is not great. But its political
+importance must not be minimised.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'For the most serious feature of the movement is that information received
+by the Political Department gives rise to the grave suspicion that, not
+only many extremists in Bengal, but even some of the lesser rajahs and
+nawabs, are in treasonable communication with these outside enemies.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Major Dermot, at present commanding the detachment of the Military
+Battalion stationed at Ranga Duar, has been specially selected, on account
+of his acquaintance with the districts and dialects of the <i>duars</i> and that
+part of the Terai Forest bordering on Bhutan, to carry out a particular
+mission. You are to direct him to inspect and report on the suitability,
+for the purposes of defence against an invasion from the north, of:
+</p>
+<p style="margin-left: 10%; text-indent: 0em;">
+  (<i>a</i>) The line of the mountain passes at an altitude of from 3000 to
+        6000 feet.
+</p>
+<p style="margin-left: 10%; text-indent: 0em;">
+  (<i>b</i>) A line established in the Terai Forest itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'In addition, if this officer in the course of his investigations
+discovers any evidence of communication between the disloyal elements
+inside our territory and possible enemies across the border, he will at
+once inform you direct.' Ends.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please note His Excellency's orders and proceed to carry them out
+forthwith. You can pursue your investigations under the pretence of big
+game shooting in the hills and jungle. The British officer next in
+seniority to you will command the detachment in your absences. You may
+communicate to him as much of the contents of this letter as you deem
+advisable, impressing upon him the necessity for the strictest secrecy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will in all matters communicate directly and confidentially with this
+office.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have the honour to be, Sir,
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your most obedient servant."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here followed the signature of one of the highest military authorities in
+India.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot stared at the letter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So that's it!" he thought. "It's a bigger thing than I imagined."
+</p>
+<p>
+He had known when he consented to being transferred from a staff
+appointment in Simla to the command of a small detachment of a Military
+Police Battalion garrisoning an unimportant frontier fort on the face of
+the Himalayas that he was being sent there for a special purpose. He had
+consented gladly; for to him the great attraction of his new post was that
+he would find himself once more in the great Terai Jungle. To him it was
+Paradise. Before going to Simla he had been stationed with a Double Company
+of the Indian Infantry Regiment to which he belonged in a similar outpost
+in the mountains not many miles away. This outpost had now been abolished.
+But while in it he used to spend all his spare time in the marvellous
+jungle that extended to his very door.
+</p>
+<p>
+The great Terai Forest stretches for hundreds of miles along the foot of
+the Himalayas, from Assam through Bengal to Garwhal and up into Nepal. It
+is a sportsman's heaven; for it shelters in its recesses wild elephants,
+rhinoceros, bison, bears, tigers, panthers, and many of the deer tribes.
+Dermot loved it. He was a mighty hunter, but a discriminating one. He did
+not kill for sheer lust of slaughter, and preferred to study the ways of
+the harmless animals rather than shoot them. Only against dangerous beasts
+did he wage relentless war.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot knew that he could very well leave the routine work of the little
+post to his Second in Command. The fort was practically a block of
+fortified stone barracks, easily defensible against attacks of badly armed
+hillmen and accommodating a couple of hundred sepoys. It was to hold the
+<i>duar</i> or pass of Ranga through the Himalayas against raiders from Bhutan
+that the little post had been built.
+</p>
+<p>
+For centuries past the wild dwellers beyond the mountains were used to
+swooping down from the hills on the less warlike plainsmen in search of
+loot, women, and slaves. But the war with Bhutan in 1864-5 brought the
+borderland under the English flag, and the Pax Britannica settled on it.
+Yet even now temptation was sometimes too strong for lawless men.
+Occasionally swift-footed parties of fierce swordsmen swept down through
+the unguarded passes and raided the tea-gardens that are springing up in
+the foothills and the forests below them. For hundreds of coolies work on
+these big estates, and large consignments of silver coin come to the
+gardens for their payment.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there was bigger game afoot than these badly-armed raiders. The task
+set Dermot showed it; and his soldier's heart warmed at the thought of
+helping to stage a fierce little frontier war in which he might come early
+on the scene.
+</p>
+<p>
+Carefully sealing up again and locking away the cipher code and keyword, he
+went out on the back verandah and shouted for his orderly. The dwellings of
+Europeans upcountry in India are not luxurious&mdash;far from it. Away from the
+big cities like Bombay, Calcutta, or Karachi, the amenities of civilisation
+are sadly lacking. The bungalows are lit only by oil-lamps, their floors
+are generally of pounded earth covered with poor matting harbouring fleas
+and other insect pests, their roofs are of thatch or tiles, and such
+luxuries as bells, electric or otherwise, are unknown. So the servants, who
+reside outside the bungalows in the compounds, or enclosures, are summoned
+by the simple expedient of shouting "Boy".
+</p>
+<p>
+Presently the orderly appeared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shaikh Ismail," said the Major, "go to the Mess, give my salaams to Parker
+Sahib, and ask him to come here."
+</p>
+<p>
+The sepoy, a smart young Punjabi Mussulman, clad in the white undress
+of the Indian Army, saluted and strode off up the hill to the pretty
+mess-bungalow of the British officers of the detachment. In it the
+subaltern occupied one room.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he received Dermot's message, this officer, a tall, good-looking man
+of about twenty-eight years of age, accompanied the orderly to his senior's
+quarters.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come in and have a smoke, Parker," said the Major cheerily.
+</p>
+<p>
+The subaltern entered and helped himself to a cigarette from an open box on
+the table before looking for a chair in the scantily-furnished room.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he struck a match he said,
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ismail Khan tells me you've just had trouble with that surly beast, Chand
+Khan".
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot told him what had occurred.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a <i>soor!</i> (swine!)" exclaimed Parker indignantly. "I always knew he
+was a cruel devil; but I didn't think he was quite such a brute. And to
+poor old Badshah too. It's a damned shame".
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's a good elephant, isn't he?" asked the senior.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A ripper. Splendid to shoot from and absolutely staunch to tiger," said
+the subaltern enthusiastically. "Major Smith&mdash;our Commandant before you,
+sir&mdash;was charged by a tiger he had wounded in a beat near Alipur Duar. He
+missed the beast with his second barrel. The tiger sprang at the howdah,
+but Badshah caught him cleverly on his one tusk and knocked him silly. The
+Major reloaded and killed the beast before it could recover."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good for Badshah. He seemed to me to be a fine animal," said Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One of the best. We all like him; though he'll never let any white man
+handle him. By the way, Ismail Khan says he permitted you to do it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I doctored up his cuts. Besides, I'm used to elephants."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All the same you're the first sahib I've heard Of that Badshah has allowed
+to touch him. Do you know, the Hindus worship him. He's a <i>Gunesh</i>&mdash;I
+supposed you noticed that. I've seen some of them simply go down on their
+faces in the dust before him and pray to him. There's a curious thing about
+Badshah, too. Have you heard?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. What is it?" asked the Major.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it's a rummy thing. He's usually awfully quiet and obedient. But
+sometimes he gets very restless, breaks loose, and goes off on his own into
+the jungle. After a week or two he comes back by himself, as quiet as a
+lamb. But when the fit's on him nothing will hold him. He bursts the
+stoutest ropes, breaks iron chains; and I believe he'd pull down the
+<i>peelkhana</i> if he couldn't get away."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, that often happens with domesticated male elephants," said Dermot.
+"They have periodic fits of sexual excitement&mdash;get <i>must</i>, you know&mdash;and go
+mad while these last."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no. It's not that," replied the subaltern confidently. "Badshah
+doesn't go <i>must</i>. It's something quite different. The jungle men around
+here have a quaint belief about it. You see, Badshah was captured by the
+Kheddah Department here years ago&mdash;twenty, I think. He's about forty now.
+He was taken away to other parts of India, Mhow for one&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, they used to have an elephant battery there," broke in the Major.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But somehow or other he got here eventually. Rather curious that he should
+have been sent back to his birthplace. Anyhow, the natives believe that
+when he breaks away he goes off to family reunions or to meet old pals."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shouldn't be surprised," remarked Dermot, meditatively. "They're strange
+beasts, elephants. No one really knows much about them. I expect the jungle
+calls to them, as it does to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+He lit a cigarette and went on,
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I've sent for you to talk over something important. Read that."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed Parker his transcription of the cipher letter. As the subaltern
+read it his eyes opened wider and wider. When he had finished he exclaimed
+joyfully,
+</p>
+<p>
+"By Jove, Major, that's great. Do you think there's anything in it? How
+ripping it'll be if they try to come in by this pass! Won't we just knock
+them! Couldn't we get some machine guns?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid we couldn't hold the Fort of Ranga Duar against a whole
+invading army, Parker. You know it isn't really defensible against a
+serious attack."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I say! Do you mean, sir, that we'd give it up to a lot of Chinks and
+bare-legged Bhuttias without firing a shot?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The Major smiled at his junior's indignation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must remember, Parker, that if an invasion comes off it will be on a
+scale that two hundred men won't stop. The Bhutanese are badly armed; but
+they are fanatically brave. They showed that in their war with us in '64
+and '65. They had only swords, bows, and arrows; but they licked one of our
+columns hollow and drove our men in headlong flight. But cheer up, Parker,
+if there is a show it won't be my fault if you and I don't have a good look
+in."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you, Major," said the subaltern gratefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+He smoked in silence for a while and then said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"D'you know, sir, I had an idea there was something up when Major Smith was
+suddenly ordered away and you, who didn't belong to us, were sent here from
+Simla. I'd heard of you before, not only as a great <i>shikari</i>&mdash;the natives
+everywhere in these jungles talk a lot about you&mdash;but also as a keen
+soldier. A fellow doesn't usually come straight from a staff job at Army
+Headquarters to a small outpost like this for nothing."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laughed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Unless he has got into trouble and is sent off as a punishment," he said.
+"But that didn't happen to be my case. However, I was delighted to leave
+Simla. Better the jungle a thousand times."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; Simla's rather a rotten place, I believe," remarked the subaltern
+meditatively. "Too many brass hats and women. They're the curse of India,
+each of them. And I'm sure the women do the most harm."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, steer clear of the latter, and don't become one of the former," said
+Dermot with a laugh, rising from his chair, "then you'll have a peaceful
+life&mdash;but you won't get on in your profession."
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER II
+</h2>
+<h3>
+A ROGUE ELEPHANT
+</h3>
+<p>
+The four transport elephants attached to the garrison of Ranga Duar for the
+purpose of bringing supplies for the men from the far distant railway were
+stabled in a <i>peelkhana</i> at the foot of the hills and a couple of thousand
+feet below the Fort. This building, a high-walled shed with thatched roof
+and brick standings for the animals, was erected beside the narrow road
+that zig-zagged down from the mountains into the forest and eventually
+joined a broader one leading to the narrow-gauge railway that pierced the
+jungle many miles away.
+</p>
+<p>
+One morning, about three weeks after Dermot's first introduction to
+Badshah, the Major tramped down the rough track to the <i>peelkhana</i>,
+carrying a rifle and cartridge belt and a haversack containing his food for
+the day. Nearing the stables he blew a whistle, and a shrill trumpeting
+answered him from the building, as Badshah recognised his signal. Ramnath,
+hurriedly entering the impatient elephant's stall, loosed him from the iron
+shackles that held his legs. Then the huge beast walked with stately tread
+out of the building and went straight to where Dermot awaited him. For
+during these weeks the intimacy between man and animal had progressed
+rapidly. Elephants, though of an affectionate disposition, are not
+demonstrative as a rule. But Badshah always showed unmistakable signs of
+fondness for the white man, whom he seemed to regard as his friend and
+protector.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot was in the habit of taking him out into the jungle every day, where
+he went ostensibly to shoot. After the first few occasions he displaced
+Ramnath from the guiding seat on Badshah's neck and acted as <i>mahout</i>
+himself. But, instead of using the <i>ankus</i>&mdash;the heavy iron implement shaped
+like a boat-hook head which natives use to emphasise their orders to their
+charges&mdash;the Major simply touched the huge head with his open hand. And his
+method proved equally, if not more, effective. He was soon able to dispense
+altogether with Ramnath on his expeditions, which was his object. For he
+did not want any witness to his secret explorations of the forest and the
+hills.
+</p>
+<p>
+An elephant, when used as a beast of burden or for shooting from in thick
+jungle, carries on its back only a "pad"&mdash;a heavy, straw-stuffed mattress
+reaching from neck to tail and fastened on by a rope surcingle passing
+round the body. On this pad, if passengers are to be carried, a wooden seat
+with footboards hanging by cords from it and called a <i>charjama</i> is placed.
+Only for sport in open country or high grass jungle is the cage-like howdah
+employed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot replaced Badshah's heavy pad by a small, light one, especially made,
+or else took him out absolutely bare. No shackles were needed to secure the
+elephant when his white rider dismounted from his neck, for he followed
+Dermot like a dog, came to his whistle, or stood without moving from the
+spot where he had been ordered to remain. The most perfect understanding
+existed between the two; and the superstitious Hindus regarded with awe the
+extraordinary subjection of their sacred and revered <i>Gunesh</i> to the white
+man.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, after a greeting and a palatable gift to Badshah, Dermot seized the
+huge ears, placed his foot on the trunk which was curled to receive it and
+was swung up on to the neck by the well-trained animal. Then, answering the
+<i>salaams</i> of the <i>mahouts</i> and coolies, who invariably gathered to witness
+and wonder at his daily meeting with Badshah, he touched the elephant under
+the ears with his toe and was borne away into the jungle.
+</p>
+<p>
+His object this day was not to explore but to shoot a deer to replenish the
+mess larder. Fresh meat was otherwise unprocurable in Ranga Duar; and an
+unvaried diet of tinned food was apt to become wearisome, especially as it
+was not helped out by bread and fresh vegetables. These were luxuries
+unknown to the British officers in this, as in many other, outposts.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sea of vegetation closed around Badshah and submerged him, as he turned
+off a footpath and plunged into the dense undergrowth. The trees were
+mostly straight-stemmed giants of teak, branchless for some distance from
+the ground. Each strove to thrust its head above the others through the
+leafy canopy overhead, fighting for its share of the life-giving sunlight.
+In the green gloom below tangled masses of bushes, covered with large,
+bell-shaped flowers and tall grasses in which lurked countless thorny
+plants obstructed the view between the tree-trunks. Above and below was a
+bewildering confusion of creepers forming an intricate network, swinging
+from the upper branches and twisting around the boles, biting deep into the
+bark, strangling the life out of the stoutest trees or holding up the
+withered, lifeless trunks of others long dead. They filled the space
+between the tree-tops and the undergrowth, entangled, crisscrossed,
+festooned, like a petrified mass of writhing snakes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through this maddening obstacle Badshah forced his way; while Dermot hacked
+at the impeding <i>lianas</i> with a sharp <i>kukri</i>, the heavy-bladed Gurkha
+knife. The elephant moved on at an easy pace, shouldering aside the surging
+waves of vegetation and bursting the clinging hold of the creepers. As he
+went he swept huge bunches of grass up in his trunk, tore down leafy trails
+or broke off small branches, and crammed them all impartially into his
+mouth. At a touch of Dermot's foot or the guiding pressure of his hand he
+swerved aside to avoid a tree or a particularly thorny bush.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was little life to be seen. But occasionally, with a whirring sound
+of rushing wings, a bright-plumaged jungle cock with his attendant bevy of
+sober-clad hens swept up with startled squawks from under the huge feet and
+flew to perch high up on neighbouring trees, chattering and clucking
+indignantly in their fright. The pretty black and white Giant Squirrel ran
+along the upper branches; or a troop of little brown monkeys leapt away
+among the tree tops.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was fascinating to be borne along without effort through the enchanted
+wood in the luminous green gloom that filled it, lulled by the swaying
+motion of the elephant's stride. The soothing silence of the woodland was
+broken only by the crowing of a jungle cock. The thick, leafy screen
+overhead excluded the glare of the tropic sunlight; and the heat was
+tempered to a welcome coolness by the dense shade.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, despite the soporific motion of his huge charger, Dermot's vigilant
+eye searched the apparently lifeless jungle as he was borne along.
+Presently it was caught by a warm patch of colour, the bright chestnut hide
+of a deer; and he detected among the trees the graceful form of a <i>sambhur</i>
+hind. Accustomed to seeing wild elephants the animal gazed without
+apprehension at Badshah and failed to mark the man on his neck. But females
+of the deer tribe are sacred to the sportsman; and the hunter passed on.
+Half a mile farther on, in the deepest shadow of the undergrowth, he saw
+something darker still. It was the dull black hide of a <i>sambhur</i> stag, a
+fine beast fourteen hands high, with sharp brow antlers and thick horns
+branching into double points. Knowing the value of motionlessness as a
+concealment the animal never moved; and only an eye trained to the jungle
+would have detected it. Dermot noted it, but let it remain unscathed; for
+he knew well the exceeding toughness of its flesh. What he sought was a
+<i>kakur</i>, or barking deer, a much smaller but infinitely more palatable
+beast.
+</p>
+<p>
+Hours passed; and he and Badshah had wandered for miles without finding
+what he wanted. He looked at his watch; for the sun was invisible. It was
+nearly noon. In a space free from undergrowth he halted the elephant and,
+patting the skull with his open hand, said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Buth!</i>"
+</p>
+<p>
+Badshah at the word sank slowly down until he rested on his breast and
+belly with fore and hind legs stuck out stiffly along the ground. Dermot
+slipped off his neck and stretched his cramped limbs; for sitting long
+upright on an elephant without any support to the back is tiring. Then
+he reclined under a tree with his loaded rifle beside him&mdash;for the
+peaceful-seeming forest has its dangers. He made a frugal lunch off a
+packet of sandwiches from his haversack.
+</p>
+<p>
+Eating made him thirsty. He had forgotten to bring his water-bottle with
+him; and he knew that there was no stream to be met with in the jungle for
+many miles. But he was aware that the forest could supply his wants.
+Rising, he drew his <i>kukri</i> and looked around him. Among the tangle of
+creepers festooned between the trees he detected the writhing coils of one
+with withered, cork-like bark, four-sided and about two inches in diameter.
+He walked over to it and, grasping it in his left hand, cut it through with
+a blow of his heavy knife. Its interior consisted of a white, moist pulp.
+With another blow he severed a piece a couple of feet long. Taking a metal
+cup from his haversack he cut the length of creeper into small pieces and
+held all their ends together over the little vessel. From them water began
+to drip, the drops came faster and finally little streams from the pulpy
+interior filled the cup to the brim with a cool, clear, and palatable
+liquid. The <i>liana</i> was the wonderful <i>pani-bêl</i>, or water-creeper.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot drank until his thirst was quenched, then sat down with his back
+against a tree and lit his pipe. He smoked contentedly and watched Badshah
+grazing. The elephant plucked the long grass with a scythe-like sweep of
+his trunk, tore down succulent creepers and broke off small branches from
+the trees, chewing the wood and leaves with equal enjoyment. From time to
+time he looked towards his master, but, receiving no signal to prepare to
+move on, continued his meal.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last the Major knocked out the ashes of his pipe, grinding them into the
+earth with his heel lest a chance spark might start a forest fire, and
+whistled to Badshah. The elephant came at once to him. From his haversack
+Dermot took out a couple of bananas and held them up. The snake-like trunk
+shot out and grasped them, then curving back placed them in the huge mouth.
+Dermot stood up and, slinging his rifle over his shoulder, seized Badshah's
+ears and was lifted again to his place astride the neck.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once more the jungle closed about them, as the elephant moved off. The
+rider, unslinging his rifle and laying it across his thighs, glanced from
+side to side as they proceeded. The forest grew more open. The undergrowth
+thinned; and occasionally they came to open glades carpeted with tall
+bracken and looking almost like an English wood. But the great boughs of
+the giant trees were matted thick with the glossy green leaves of orchid
+plants, from which drooped long trails of delicate mauve and white flowers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Just as they were emerging from dense undergrowth on to such a glade,
+Dermot's eye was caught by something moving ahead of them. He checked
+Badshah; and they remained concealed in in the thick vegetation. Then
+through the trees came a trim little <i>kakur</i> buck, stepping daintily in
+advance of his doe which followed a few yards behind. As they moved their
+long ears twitched incessantly, pointing now in this, now in that,
+direction for any sound that might warn them of danger. But they did not
+detect the hidden peril. Dermot noiselessly raised his rifle, aimed
+hurriedly at the leader's shoulder and fired. The loud report sounded like
+thunder through the silent forest. The stricken buck sprang convulsively
+into the air, then fell in a heap; while his startled mate leaped over his
+body and disappeared in bounding flight.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the touch of his rider's foot the elephant moved forward into the open;
+and without waiting for him to sink down Dermot slid to the ground. Old
+hunter that he was, the Major could never repress a feeling of pity when he
+looked on any harmless animal that he had shot; and he had long ago given
+up killing such except for food. He propped his rifle against a tree and,
+taking off his coat and rolling up his sleeves, drew his <i>kukri</i> and
+proceeded to disembowel and clean the <i>kakur</i>. While he was thus employed
+Badshah strayed away into the jungle to graze, for elephants feed
+incessantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Dermot had finished his unpleasant task, it still remained to bind the
+buck's legs together and tie him on to Badshah's back. For this he would
+need cords; but he relied on the inexhaustible jungle to supply him with
+these.
+</p>
+<p>
+While searching for the udal tree whose inner bark would furnish him with
+long, tough strips, he heard a crashing in the undergrowth not far away,
+but, concluding that it was caused by Badshah, he did not trouble to look
+round. Having got the cordage that he needed, he turned to go back to the
+spot where he had left the <i>kakur</i>. As he fought his way impatiently
+through the thorny tangled vegetation, he again heard the breaking of twigs
+and the trampling down of the undergrowth. He glanced in the direction of
+the sound, expecting to see Badshah appear.
+</p>
+<p>
+To his dismay his eyes fell on a strange elephant, a large double-tusker.
+It had caught sight of him and, contrary to the usual habit of its kind,
+was advancing towards him instead of retreating. This showed that it was
+the most terrible of all wild animals, a man-killing "rogue" elephant, than
+which there is no more vicious or deadly brute on the earth.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot instantly recognised his danger. It was very great. His rifle was
+some distance away, and before he could reach it the tusker would probably
+overtake him. He stopped and stood still, hoping that the rogue had not
+caught sight of him. But he saw at once that there was no doubt of this.
+The brute had its murderous little eyes fixed on him and was quickening its
+pace. The undergrowth that almost held the man a prisoner was no obstacle
+to this powerful beast.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot realised that it meant to attack him. His heart nearly stopped, for
+he knew the terrible death that awaited him. He had seen the crushed
+bodies, battered to pulp and with the limbs torn away, of men killed by
+rogue elephants. The only hope of escape, a faint one, lay in flight.
+</p>
+<p>
+Madly he strove to tear himself free from the clutching thorns and the grip
+of the entangling creepers that held him. He flung all his weight into his
+efforts to fight his way out clear of the malignant vegetation, that seemed
+a cruel, living thing striving to drag him to his death. The elephant saw
+his desperate struggles. It trumpeted shrilly and, with head held high,
+trunk curled up, and the lust of murder in its heart, it charged.
+</p>
+<p>
+The tangled network of interlaced undergrowth parted like gossamer before
+it. Small trees went down and the tallest bushes were trampled flat; the
+stoutest creepers broke like pack-thread before its weight.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot tore himself free from the clutch of the last clinging, curving
+thorns that rent his garments and cut deep into his flesh. Gaining
+comparatively open ground he ran for his life. But he had lost all sense of
+direction and could not remember where his rifle stood. Escape seemed
+hopeless. He knew only too well that in the jungle a pursuing elephant will
+always overtake a fleeing man. The trees offered no refuge, for the lowest
+branches were high above his reach and the trunks too thick and straight to
+climb. He fled, knowing that each moment might be his last. A false step, a
+trip over a root or a creeper and he was lost. He would be gored, battered
+to death, stamped out of existence, torn limb from limb by the vicious
+brute.
+</p>
+<p>
+The rogue was almost upon him. He swerved suddenly and with failing breath
+and fiercely beating heart ran madly on. But the respite was momentary. His
+head was dizzy, his legs heavy as lead, his strength almost gone. He could
+hear the terrible pursuer only a few yards behind him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Already the great beast's uncurled trunk was stretched out to seize its
+prey. Dermot's last moment had come when, with a fierce, shrill scream, a
+huge body burst out of the jungle and hurled itself at his assailant.
+Badshah had come to the rescue of his man.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before the rogue could swing round to meet him the gallant animal had
+charged furiously into it, driving his single tusk with all his immense
+weight behind it into the strange elephant's side. The shock staggered the
+murderous brute and almost knocked it to the ground. Only the fact of its
+having turned slightly at Badshah's cry, so that his tusk inflicted a
+somewhat slanting blow, had saved it from a mortal wound. Before it could
+recover its footing Badshah gored it again.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot, plucked at the last moment from the most terrible of deaths,
+staggered panting to a tree and tried to stand, supporting himself against
+the trunk. But the strain had been too great. He turned faint and sank
+exhausted to the earth, almost unconscious. But the remembrance of
+Badshah's peril from a better-armed antagonist&mdash;for the possession of two
+tusks gave the rogue a great advantage&mdash;nerved him. Holding on to the tree
+he dragged himself up and looked around for his rifle. He could not see it,
+and he dared not cross the arena in which the two huge combatants were
+fighting.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Badshah drew back to gain impetus for another charge, the rogue regained
+its feet and prepared to hurl itself on the unexpected assailant. Dermot
+was in despair at being unable to aid his saviour, who he feared must
+succumb to the superior weapons of his opponent. He gazed fascinated at the
+titanic combat.
+</p>
+<p>
+The rogue trumpeted a shrill challenge. Then it curled its trunk between
+its tusks out of harm's way and with ears cocked forward and tail erect
+rushed to the assault. But suddenly it propped on stiffened forelegs and
+stopped dead. It stared at Badshah, who was about to charge again, and
+backed slowly, seemingly panic-stricken. Then as the tame elephant moved
+forward to the attack the rogue screamed with terror, swung about, and with
+ears and tail dropped, bolted into the undergrowth.
+</p>
+<p>
+With a trumpet of triumph Badshah pursued. Dermot, left alone, could
+hardly credit the passing of the danger. The whole episode seemed a
+hideous nightmare from which he had just awaked. He could scarcely
+believe that it had actually taken place, although the trampled
+vegetation and the crashing sounds of the great animals' progress
+through the undergrowth were evidence of its reality. The need for
+action had not passed. The rogue might return, for a fight between wild
+bull-elephants often lasts a whole day and consists of short and
+desperate encounters, retreats, pursuits, and fresh battles. So he
+hurriedly searched for his rifle, which he eventually found some
+distance away. He opened the breach and replaced the soft-nosed bullets
+with solid ones, more suitable for such big game. Then, once more
+feeling a strong man armed, he waited expectantly. The sounds of the
+chase had died away. But after a while he heard a heavy body forcing a
+passage through the undergrowth and held his rifle ready. Then through
+the tangle of bushes and creepers Badshah's head appeared. The elephant
+came straight to him and touched him all over with outstretched trunk,
+just as mother-elephants do their calves, as if to assure himself of his
+man's safety.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot could have kissed the soft, snake-like proboscis, and he patted the
+animal affectionately and murmured his thanks to him. Badshah seemed to
+understand him and wrapped his trunk around his friend's shoulders. Then,
+apparently satisfied, he moved away and began to graze calmly, as if
+nothing out of the common had taken place.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot pulled himself together. Near the foot of the tree at which he had
+sunk down he found the cord-like strips of bark which he had cut. Picking
+them up he went to the carcase of the buck and tied its legs together. A
+whistle brought the elephant to him, and, hoisting the deer on to the pad,
+he fastened it to the surcingle. Then, grasping the elephant's ears, he was
+lifted to his place on the neck.
+</p>
+<p>
+Turning Badshah's head towards home he started off; but, as he went, he
+looked back at the trampled glade and thanked Heaven that his body was not
+lying there, crushed and lifeless.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER III
+</h2>
+<h3>
+A GIRL OF THE TERAI
+</h3>
+<p>
+"How beautiful! How wonderful!" murmured the girl on the verandah, her eyes
+turned to the long line of the Himalayas filling the horizon to the north.
+</p>
+<p>
+Clear against the blue sky the shining, ice-clad peaks of Kinchinjunga, a
+hundred miles away, towered high in air. Mystic, lovely, they seemed to
+float above the earth, as unsubstantial as the clouds from which they rose.
+They belonged to another world, a fairy world altogether apart from the
+rugged, tumbled masses, the awe-inspiring precipices and tremendous cliffs,
+of the nearer mountains. These were majestic, overpowering, but plainly of
+this earth, unlike the pure, white summits that seemed unreal, impossible
+in their beauty.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do come and look, Fred," said the girl aloud. "I've never seen the Snows
+so clearly."
+</p>
+<p>
+She spoke to the solitary occupant of the dining-room of the bungalow. The
+young man at the breakfast table answered laughingly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't want to look at those confounded hills, Sis. I've seen them,
+nothing but them, all through these long months, until I begin to hate the
+sight of them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but do come, dear!" she pleaded. "Kinchinjunga has never seemed so
+beautiful as it does this morning. And it looks so near. Who could believe
+that it was all those miles away?"
+</p>
+<p>
+With an air of pretended boredom and martyr-like resignation, her brother
+put down his coffee-cup and came out on the verandah.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't it like Fairyland?" said the girl in an awed voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+He put his arm affectionately round her, as he replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then it's where you belong, kiddie, for you look like a fairy this
+morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+The hackneyed compliment, unusual from the lips of a brother, was not
+far-fetched. If a dainty little figure, an exquisitely pretty dimpled
+face, a shell-pink complexion, violet eyes with long, thick lashes, and
+naturally wavy golden hair be the hallmarks of the fairies, then Noreen
+Daleham might claim to be one. Her face in repose had a somewhat sad
+expression, due to the pathetic droop of the corners of her little
+mouth and a wistful look in her eyes that made most men instinctively
+desire to caress and console her. But the sadness and the wistfulness
+were unconscious and untrue, for the girl was of a sunny and happy
+disposition. And the men that desired to pet her were kept at a distance
+by her natural self-respect, which made them respect her, too.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was, perhaps, somewhat unusual in her generation in that she did not
+indulge in flirtations and would have strongly objected to being the object
+of promiscuous caresses and light lovemaking. Her innate purity and
+innocence kept such things at a distance from her. It never occurred to her
+that a girl might indulge in a hundred flirtations without reproach.
+Without being sentimental she had her own inward, unexpressed feelings of
+romance and vague dreams of Love and a Lover&mdash;but not of loves and lovers
+in the plural.
+</p>
+<p>
+No one so far had shattered her belief in the chivalrous feeling of respect
+of the other sex for her own. Men as a rule, especially British men&mdash;though
+they are no more virtuous than those of alien nations&mdash;treat a woman as she
+inwardly wants them to treat her. And, although this girl was over twenty,
+she had never yet had reason to suspect that men could behave to her with
+anything but respect.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her small and shapely figure looked to advantage in the well-cut riding
+costume of khaki drill that she wore this morning. A cloth habit would
+have been too warm for even these early days of an Eastern Bengal hot
+weather. She was ready to accompany her brother in his early ride
+through the tea-garden (of which he was assistant manager) in the Duars,
+as this district of the Terai below the mountains is called. From the
+verandah on which they stood they could look over acres of trim and tidy
+bushes planted in orderly rows, a strong contrast to the wild disorder
+of the big trees and masses of foliage of the forest that lay beyond
+them and stretched to and along the foothills of the Himalayas only a
+few miles away.
+</p>
+<p>
+Daleham's father, a retired colonel, had died just as the boy was preparing
+to go up for the entrance examination for the Royal Military College at
+Sandhurst. To his great grief he was obliged to give up all hope of
+becoming a soldier, and, when he left school, entered an office in the
+city. Passionately desirous of an open-air and active life he had
+afterwards eagerly snatched at an offer of employment by one of the great
+tea companies that are dotting the Terai with their plantations and
+sweeping away glorious spaces of wild, primeval forest to replace the trees
+by orderly rows of tea-bushes and unsightly iron-roofed factories.
+</p>
+<p>
+Left with a small income inherited from her mother, Noreen Daleham, who was
+two years her brother's junior, had gladly given up the dulness of a home
+with an aunt in a small country town to accompany her brother and keep
+house for him.
+</p>
+<p>
+To most girls life on an Indian tea-garden would not seem alluring; for
+they would find themselves far from social gaieties and the society of
+their kind. Existence is lonely and lacking in the comforts, as well as the
+luxuries, of civilisation. Dances, theatres, concerts, even shops, are far,
+very far away. A woman must have mental resources to enable her to face
+contentedly life in a scantily-furnished, comfortless bungalow, dumped down
+in a monotonous stretch of unlovely tea-bushes. With little to occupy her
+she must rely for days at a time on the sole companionship of her man. To a
+young bride very much in love that may seem no hardship. But when the
+glamour has vanished she may change her mind.
+</p>
+<p>
+To Noreen, however, the isolation was infinitely preferable to the
+narrow-minded and unfriendly intimacy of society in a country town with
+its snobbery and cliques. To be mistress of her own home and to be able
+to look after and mother her dearly-loved brother was a pleasant change
+from her position as a cipher in the household of a crotchetty,
+unsympathetic, maiden aunt. And fortunately for her the charm of the
+silent forest around them, the romance of the mysterious jungle with its
+dangers and its wonders, appealed strongly to her, and she preferred
+them to all the pleasures that London could offer. And yet the delights
+of town were not unknown to her. Her father's first cousin, who had
+loved him but married a rich man, often invited the girl to stay with
+her in her house in Grosvenor Square. These visits gave her an insight
+into life in Mayfair with its attendant pleasures of dances in smart
+houses, dinners and suppers in expensive restaurants, the Opera and
+theatres, and afternoons at Ranelagh and Hurlingham. She enjoyed them
+all; she had enough money to dress well; and she was very popular.
+But London could not hold her. Her relative, who was childless, was
+anxious that Noreen should remain always with her, at least until she
+married&mdash;and the older woman determined that the girl should make an
+advantageous marriage. But the latter knew that her income was very
+welcome to her aunt and, with a spirit of self-sacrifice not usual in
+the young, gave up a gay, fashionable life for the dull existence of
+a paying drudge in the house of an ungrateful, embittered elderly
+spinster. Yet her heart rejoiced when she conscientiously felt that her
+brother needed her more and had a greater claim upon her; and gladly she
+went to keep house for him in India.
+</p>
+<p>
+And she was happier than he in their new life. For in this land that is
+essentially a soldier's country, won by the sword, held by the sword, in
+spite of all that ignorant demagogues in England may say, Fred Daleham felt
+all the more keenly the disappointment of his inability to follow the
+career that he would have chosen. However, he was a healthy-minded young
+man, not given to brooding and vain regrets.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you ready to start, dear?" he said to his sister now. "Shall I order
+the ponies?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am ready. But have you finished your coffee?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks, yes. We'll go off at once then, for I have a long morning's work,
+and we had better get our ride over while it's cool."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shouted to his "boy" to order the <i>syces</i>, or grooms, to bring the
+ponies.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where are we going today, dear?" asked the girl, putting on her pith
+helmet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To the nursery first. I want to see if the young plants have suffered much
+from that hailstorm yesterday."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wasn't it awful? What would people in England say if they got hailstones
+like that on their heads?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Chunerbutty and I measured one that I picked up outside the withering
+shed," said the brother. "It was a solid lump of clear ice two inches long
+and one and a half broad."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I couldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen them," observed the girl. "I
+wonder that everyone who is caught out in such a storm is not killed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Animals often are&mdash;and men, too, for that matter," replied Daleham.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen tapped her smart little riding-boot with her whip.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm glad we're going out to the nursery," she said. "It's my favourite
+ride."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know it is, but I don't like taking you there, Sis," replied her
+brother. "I always funk that short cut through the bit of jungle to it. I
+never feel sure that we won't meet a wild elephant in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh; but I don't believe they are dangerous; and I do love the ride through
+that exquisite patch of forest. The trees look so lovely, now that the
+orchids on them are in flower."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear girl, get that silly idea that elephants are not dangerous out of
+your head," said Daleham decidedly. "You ask any of the fellows."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Parry says they're not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Old Parr's never seen any elephant but a tame one, unless it's a pink or
+speckled one with a brass tail climbing up the wall of his room when he's
+got D.T's. He never went out shooting in the jungle in his life. But you
+ask Payne or Reynolds or any of the chaps on the other gardens who know
+anything of the jungle."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl was unwilling to believe that her beloved forest could prove
+perilous to her, and she feared lest her excursions into it should be
+forbidden.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, perhaps a rogue might be dangerous," she admitted grudgingly. "But I
+don't believe that even a rogue would attack you unprovoked."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wouldn't it? From all I've heard about them I'd be very sorry to give one
+of them the chance," said her brother. "I'd almost like you to meet one,
+just to teach you not to be such a cocksure young woman. Lord! wouldn't I
+laugh to see you trying to climb a tree&mdash;that is, if I were safe up one
+myself!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The arrival of the ponies cut short the discussion. Daleham swung his
+sister up into the saddle of her smart little countrybred and mounted his
+own waler.
+</p>
+<p>
+Out along the road through the estate they trotted in the cool northerly
+breeze that swept down from the mountains and tempered the sun's heat. The
+panorama of the Himalayas was glorious, although Kinchinjunga had now drawn
+up his covering of clouds over his face and the Snows had disappeared. The
+long orderly lines of tea-bushes were dotted here and there with splashes
+of colour from the bright-hued <i>puggris</i>, or turbans, of the men and the
+<i>saris</i> and petticoats of the female coolies, who were busy among the
+plants, pruning them or tending their wounds after the storm.
+</p>
+<p>
+The brother and sister quickened their pace and, racing along the soft
+earthern road, soon reached the patch of forest that intervened between the
+garden and the nursery.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I say, Noreen, I think we'd better go the long way round," said Daleham
+apprehensively, as he pulled up his waler.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no, Fred. Don't funk it. Do come on," urged the girl. "If you don't,
+I'll go on by myself and meet you at the nursery."
+</p>
+<p>
+The dispute was a daily occurrence and always ended in the man weakly
+giving in.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's a dear boy," said his sister consolingly, when she had gained her
+point.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, that's all very well," grumbled the brother. "You've got your own
+way, as usual. I hope you won't have cause to regret it one day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be silly, dear. Come on!" she replied, touching her pony with the
+whip. The animal seemed to dislike entering the forest as much as the man
+did. "Oh, do go on, Kitty. Don't be tiresome."
+</p>
+<p>
+The pony balked, but finally gave way under protest, and they rode on into
+the jungle. A bridle path wound through the undergrowth and between the
+trees, and this they followed.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was easy to understand the girl's enthusiasm and desire to be in the
+forest. After the tameness of the tea-garden the wild beauty of the giant
+trees, their huge limbs clothed in the green leaves and drooping trails of
+blossoms of the orchids, the tangled pattern of the interlaced creepers,
+the flower-decked bushes and the high ferns, looked all the lovelier in
+their untrammelled profusion.
+</p>
+<p>
+The nursery was visited and the damage done to the young plants inspected.
+Then they turned their ponies' heads towards home and went back through the
+strip of jungle. They rode over the whole estate, including the untidy
+ramshackle village of bamboo and palm-thatched huts of the garden coolies,
+where the little, naked, brown babies rushed out to salaam and smile at
+their friend Noreen.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they came in sight of the ugly buildings of the engine and drying-houses
+with their corrugated iron roofs and rusty stove-pipe chimneys, Daleham
+said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here, old girl, while I go to the factory, you'd better hurry on and
+see to the drinks and things we've got to send to the club. I hope you
+haven't forgotten that it's our day to be 'at home' there."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course I haven't, Fred. Is it likely?" exclaimed the justly-indignant
+housewife. "Long before you were awake I helped the cook to pack the cold
+meat and sweets and cakes, and they went off before we left the bungalow."
+</p>
+<p>
+They were referring to a custom that obtains in the colonies of
+tea-planters who are scattered in ones, twos, and threes on
+widely-separated estates. Their one chance of meeting others of their
+colour is at the weekly gathering in the so-called club of the district.
+This is very unlike the institutions known by that name to dwellers in
+civilised cities. No marble or granite palace is it, but a rough wooden
+shed with one or two rooms built out in the forest far from human
+habitations, but in a spot as central and equi-distant to all the
+planters of the district as possible. A few tennis courts are made
+beside it, or perhaps a stretch of jungle is cleared, the more obtrusive
+roots grubbed up, and the result is called a polo-ground, and on it the
+game is played fast and furiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+A certain day in the week is selected as the one which the planters from
+the gardens for ten or twenty miles around will come together to it. Across
+rivers, through forest, jungle, and peril of wild beasts they journey on
+their ponies to meet their fellow men. Some of them may not have seen
+another white face since the last weekly gathering.
+</p>
+<p>
+Each of them in turn acts as host. By lumbering bullock-cart or on the
+heads of coolies he sends in charge of his servants to the club-house miles
+away from his bungalow food and drink, crockery, cutlery, and glasses, for
+the entertainment of all who will foregather there.
+</p>
+<p>
+And for a few crowded hours this lonely spot in the jungle is filled with
+the sound of human voices, with laughter, friendliness, and good
+fellowship. Men who have been isolated for a week rub off the cobwebs,
+lunch, play tennis, polo, and cards, and swap stories at the bar until the
+declining sun warns them of the necessity for departing before night falls
+on the forest. After hearty farewells they swing themselves up into the
+saddle again and dash off at breakneck speed to escape being trapped by the
+darkness.
+</p>
+<p>
+Many and strange are the adventures that befall them on the rough roads or
+in the trackless wilds. Sometimes an elephant, a bear, or a tiger confronts
+them on their way. But the intrepid planter, and his not less courageous
+women-folk, if he has any to accompany him, gallops fearlessly by it or,
+perhaps, rides unarmed at the astonished beast and scares it by wild cries.
+Then on again to another week of lonely labour.
+</p>
+<p>
+This day it had fallen to the lot of the Dalehams to be the hosts of their
+community. Noreen had superintended the preparation and despatch of the
+supplies for their guests and could ride home now with a clear conscience
+to wait for her brother to return for their second breakfast. The early
+morning repast, the <i>chota hazri</i> of an Anglo-Indian household, is a very
+light and frugal one, consisting of a cup of coffee or tea, a slice of
+toast, and one or two bananas.
+</p>
+<p>
+As she pulled up her pony in front of the bungalow a man came down the
+steps of the verandah and helped her to dismount.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, thank you, Mr. Chunerbutty," she exclaimed, "and good morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good morning, Miss Daleham. Just back from your ride with Fred, I
+suppose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The newcomer was the engineer of the estate. The staff of the tea-garden of
+Malpura consisted of three persons, the manager, a hard-drinking old
+Welshman called Parry; the assistant manager, Daleham; and this man. As a
+rule the employees of these estates are Europeans. Chunerbutty was an
+exception. A Bengali Brahmin by birth, the son of a minor official in the
+service of a petty rajah of Eastern Bengal, he had chosen engineering
+instead of medicine or law, the two professions that appeal most to his
+compatriots. A certain amount of native money was invested in the company
+that owned the Malpura garden; and the directors apparently thought it good
+policy to employ an Indian on it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Like many other young Hindus who have studied in England, Chunerbutty
+professed to be completely Anglicised. In the presence of Europeans he
+sneered at the customs, beliefs, and religions of his fellow-countrymen and
+posed as an agnostic. It galled him that Englishmen in India thought none
+the more of him for foreswearing his native land, and he contrasted
+bitterly their manner to him with the reception that he had met with in the
+circles in which he moved in England. He had been regarded as a hero in
+London boarding-houses. His well-cut features and dark complexion had
+played havoc with the affections of shop-girls of a certain class and that
+debased type of young Englishwoman whose perverted and unnatural taste
+leads her to admire coloured men.
+</p>
+<p>
+In one of these boarding-houses he had met Daleham, when the latter was a
+clerk in the city. It was at Chunerbutty's suggestion and with an
+introduction from him that Fred had sought for and obtained employment in
+the tea company, and as a result the young Englishman had ever since felt
+in the Bengali's debt. He inspired his sister with the same belief, and in
+consequence Noreen always endeavoured to show her gratitude to Chunerbutty
+by frank friendliness. They had all three sailed to India in the same ship,
+and on the voyage she had resented what seemed to her the illiberal
+prejudice of other English ladies on board to the Hindu. And all the more
+since she had an uncomfortable suspicion that deep down in her heart she
+shared their feeling. So she tried to seem the friendlier to Chunerbutty.
+</p>
+<p>
+It said much for her own and her brother's popularity with the planters
+that their intimacy with him did not cause them to be disliked. These men
+as a class are not unjust to natives, but intimate acquaintance with the
+Bengali does not tend to make them love him. For the Dalehams' sake most of
+the men in the district received Chunerbutty with courtesy. But his
+manager, a rough Welshman of the bad old school, who openly declared that
+he "loathed all niggers," treated him with invariable rudeness.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the Hindu engineer and Noreen ascended the steps of the verandah
+together, the girl said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are coming to the club this afternoon, are you not?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Miss Daleham, that is why I have been waiting at your bungalow to see
+you. I wanted to ask if we'd ride over together."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course. We must start early, though. I want to see that the servants
+have everything ready."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think I'd be anxious to go if it were not <i>your</i> 'At Home' day,"
+said the Bengali, as they seated themselves in the drawing-room that Noreen
+had made as pretty as she could with her limited resources. "I don't like
+the club as a rule. The fellows are so stand-offish."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mustn't think so, Mr. Chunerbutty. They aren't really. You know
+Englishmen as a rule are not expansive. They often seem unfriendly when
+they don't mean to be."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, they mean it right enough here," replied the Hindu bitterly. "They all
+think they're better than I am, just because I am an Indian. It is that
+hateful prejudice of the English man and woman in this country. It is
+different in England. You know I was made a lot of in London. You saw how
+all the men in that boarding-house we stayed at before we sailed were my
+friends."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; that was so, Mr. Chunerbutty," replied Noreen, who was secretly tired
+of the subject, with which he regaled her every day.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And as for the women&mdash;Of course I don't want to boast, but all the girls
+were keen to have me take them out and were proud to be seen with me. I
+know that if I liked I could have picked up lots of ladies, real ladies, I
+mean, not shop-girls. You should have seen the way they ogled me in the
+street. I can assure you that little red-haired girl from Manchester in the
+boarding-house, Lily&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen broke in quickly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please don't tell me anything about her, Mr. Chunerbutty. You know that I
+don't like to hear you speak disrespectfully of ladies." Then, to change
+the disagreeable subject, she continued: "Fred will be back to breakfast
+soon. Will you stay for it? Then we can all ride together to the club."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you. I should like to," replied Chunerbutty. To show his freedom
+from caste prejudices he not only ate with Europeans, but even showed no
+objection to beef, much to the horror of all orthodox Hindus. That a
+Brahmin, of all men, should partake of the sacred flesh of the almost
+divine cow was an appalling sacrilege in their eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Leaving him with a book she attended to the cares of her household,
+disorganised by the absence of cook and butler, who had gone on ahead to
+the club with the supplies.
+</p>
+<p>
+When, after an eight miles' ride, the Dalehams and Chunerbutty reached the
+wooden shanty that was the rendezvous of the day, they found that they were
+not the first arrivals. Four or five young men swooped joyously down on
+Noreen and quarrelled over the right to help her from the saddle. While
+they were disputing vehemently and pushing each other away the laughing
+girl slipped unaided to the ground and ran up the wooden steps of the
+verandah. She was instantly pursued by the men, who followed her to the
+back verandah where she had gone to interview her servants. They clamoured
+to be allowed to help in any capacity, and she had to assume an indignation
+and a severity she was far from feeling to drive them away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, do go away, please," she said. "You are only in the way. How can I
+look after <i>tiffin</i> if you interfere with me like this? Now do be good boys
+and go off. There's Mrs. Rice arriving. Help her out of her trap."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went reluctantly to the aid of the only other lady of their little
+community, who was apparently unable to climb down from her bamboo cart
+without help. Her husband and Daleham were already proferring their
+services, but they were seemingly insufficient.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Rice belonged to the type of woman altogether unsuited to the life of
+a planter's wife. She was a shallow, empty-headed person devoid of mental
+resources and incapable of taking interest in her household or her
+husband's affairs. In her girlhood she had been pretty in a common style,
+and she refused to recognise that the days of her youth and good looks had
+gone by. On the garden she spent her time lounging in her bungalow in an
+untidy dressing-gown, skimming through light novels and the fashion papers
+and writing interminable letters to her family in Balham. Her elderly
+husband, a weak, easy-going man, tired of her constant reproaches for
+having dragged her away from the gay life of her London suburb to the
+isolation of a tea-garden, spent as much of his day as possible in the
+factory. In the bungalow he drank methodically and steadily until he was in
+a state of mellow contentment and indifferent to his wife's tongue.
+</p>
+<p>
+On club days Mrs. Rice was a different woman. She arrayed herself in the
+latest fashions, or the nearest approach to them that could be reached by a
+native tailor working on her back verandah with the guidance of the fashion
+plates in ladies' journals. Her face thickly coated with most of the
+creams, powders, and complexion beautifiers on the market, she swathed her
+head in a thick veil thrown over her sun-hat. Then, prepared for conquest,
+she climbed into the strong, country-built bamboo cart in which her husband
+was graciously permitted to drive her to the club. Fortunately for her a
+passable road to it ran from her bungalow, for she could not ride.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arrived at the weekly gathering-place she delighted to surround herself
+with all the men that she could cajole from the bar running down the
+side of the one room of the building. With the extraordinary power of
+self-deception of vain women she believed that most of them were
+secretly in love with her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen's arrival in the district the previous year and her instant
+popularity were galling to the older woman. But after a while, finding that
+her sneers and thinly-veiled bitter speeches against the girl had no effect
+on the men, she changed her tactics and pretended to make a bosom friend of
+her.
+</p>
+<p>
+When all the company had assembled at the club, luncheon was served at a
+long, rough wooden table. Beside Noreen sat the man she liked best in the
+little colony, a grey-haired planter named Payne. Many of the younger men
+had striven hard to win her favour, and several had wished to marry her;
+but, liking them all, none had touched her heart. She felt most at ease
+with Payne, who was a quiet, elderly man and a confirmed bachelor. And he
+cordially reciprocated her liking.
+</p>
+<p>
+During <i>tiffin</i> Fred Daleham called out from the far end of the table:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I say, Payne, I wish you'd convince that young sister of mine that wild
+elephants can be dangerous beasts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They can indeed," replied Payne, turning to Noreen. "Take my advice and
+keep out of their way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but isn't it only rogues that one need be afraid of?" the girl asked.
+"And aren't they rare?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"These jungles are full of them, Miss Daleham," said another planter.
+"We've had two men on our garden killed already this year."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Forest Officer told me that several guards and wood-cutters have been
+attacked lately," joined in another. "One brute has held up the jungles
+around Mendabari for months."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, don't tell us any more, Mr. Lane," cried Mrs. Rice with affected
+timidity. "I shall be afraid to leave the bungalow."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I heard that the fellow commanding the Military Police detachment at Ranga
+Duar was nearly killed by a rogue lately," remarked an engineer named
+Goddard. "Our <i>mahout</i> had the story from one of the <i>mahouts</i> of the Fort.
+He had a cock-and-bull yarn about the sahib being saved by his tame
+elephant, a single-tusker, which drove off the rogue. But, as the latter
+was a double tusker, it's not a very likely tale."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They've got a still more wonderful story about that fellow in Ranga Duar,"
+remarked a planter named Lulworth. "They say he can do anything with wild
+elephants, goes about the jungle with a herd and they obey him like a pack
+of hounds."
+</p>
+<p>
+The men near him laughed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good old Lulworth!" said one. "That beats Goddard's yarn. Did you make it
+up on the spot or did it take you long to think it out?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lulworth smiled good humouredly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, it's not an original lie," he replied. "I had it from a half-bred
+Gurkha living in the forest village near my garden."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who is commanding Ranga Duar?" asked Lane.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A fellow called Dermot; a Major," replied Goddard.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dermot? I wonder if by any chance it's a man who used to be in these parts
+before&mdash;commanded Buxa Duar when there was a detachment of an Indian
+regiment there," said Payne.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe it's the same," replied Goddard. "He knows these jungles well
+and did a lot of shooting in them. He bagged that <i>budmash</i> (rogue)
+elephant that killed so many people. You heard of it. He chased the brute
+for a fortnight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's the man," said Payne. "I'm glad he's back. We used to be rather
+pals and stay with each other."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, do ask him again, Mr. Payne, and bring him to the club," chimed in
+Mrs. Rice. "It would be such a pleasant change to have some of the officers
+here. They are so nice, such men of the world."
+</p>
+<p>
+A smile went round the table. All were so used to the lady's tactless
+remarks that they only amused. They had long lost the power to irritate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid Dermot wouldn't suit you, Mrs. Rice," said Payne laughing.
+"He's not a lady's man."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed? Is he married?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, he hasn't that reason to dislike your sex. At least, he wasn't married
+when I knew him. I wonder how he's escaped, for he's very well off for a
+man in the Indian Army and heir to an uncle who is a baronet. Good-looking
+chap, too. Clever beggar, well read and a good soldier, I believe. He has a
+wonderful way with animals. I had a pony that was a regular mad beast. It
+killed one <i>syce</i> and savaged another. It nearly did for me. I sent it to
+Dermot, and in a week he had it eating out of his hand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He seems an Admiral what-d'you-call-him&mdash;you know, that play they had in
+town about a wonderful butler," said Mrs. Rice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Admirable Crichton, wasn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, that was the name. Well, your Major seems a wonderful chap," she
+said. "Do ask him. Perhaps he'll bring some of his officers here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope he won't, Mrs. Rice," remarked Goddard. "If he does, it's evident
+that none of us will have a look in with you."
+</p>
+<p>
+She smirked, well pleased, as she caught Noreen's eye and rose from the
+table.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sets of tennis were arranged and the game was soon in full swing. Some of
+the men walked round to the back of the building to select a spot to be
+cleared to make a polo ground. Others gathered at the bar to chat.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen had a small court round her, Chunerbutty clinging closely to her all
+the afternoon, to her secret annoyance. For whenever he accompanied her to
+the club he seemed to make a point of emphasising the friendly terms on
+which they were for the benefit of all beholders. As a matter of fact he
+did so purposely, because he knew that it annoyed all the other men of the
+community to see him apparently on intimate terms with the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the afternoon, when at her request he had gone out to the back verandah
+to tell her servants to prepare tea, he called to her across the club and
+addressed her by her Christian name. Noreen took it to be an accidental
+slip, but she fancied that it made Mrs. Rice smile unpleasantly and several
+of the men regard her curiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+The day passed all too quickly for these exiled Britons, whose one bright
+spot of amusement and companionship it was in the week. The setting sun
+gave the signal for departure. After exchanging good-byes with their
+guests, the Malpura party mounted their ponies and cantered home.
+</p>
+<p>
+One morning, a week later, Noreen over-slept herself, and, when she came
+out of her room for her <i>chota hazri</i>, she found that her brother had
+already started off to ride over the garden. Ordering her pony she followed
+him. She guessed that he had gone first to the nursery, and when she
+reached the short cut through the forest she rejoiced at being able to
+enter it without the usual battle. She urged the reluctant Kitty on, and
+rode into it carelessly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly her pony balked and shied, flinging her to the ground. Then it
+turned and galloped madly home.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Noreen, half stunned by the fall, picked herself up stiffly and stood
+dazed and shaken, she shrieked in terror. She was in the middle of a herd
+of wild elephants which surrounded her on every side; and, as she gazed
+panic-stricken at them, they advanced slowly upon her.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IV
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE MADNESS OF BADSHAH
+</h3>
+<p>
+Badshah's rescue of Dermot from the rogue caused him to be more venerated
+than ever by the natives. The Mohammedan sepoys of the detachment, who
+should have had no sympathy with Hindu superstitions, began to regard him
+with awe, impressed by the firm belief in his supernatural nature held by
+their co-religionists among the <i>mahouts</i> and elephant coolies. Among the
+scattered dwellers in the jungle and the Bhuttias on the hills, his fame,
+already widespread, increased enormously; and these ignorant folk, partly
+devil-worshippers, looked on him as half-god, half-demon.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot's feelings towards the gallant animal deepened into strong
+affection, and the perfect understanding between the two made the sympathy
+between the best-trained horse and its rider seem a very small thing. The
+elephant loved the man; and when the Major was on his neck, Badshah seemed
+to need neither touch of hand or foot nor spoken word to make him
+comprehend his master's wishes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Such a state of affairs was very helpful to Dermot in the execution of his
+task of secret enquiry and exploration. He was thus able to dispense with
+any attendant for the elephant in his jungle wanderings, which sometimes
+lasted several days and nights without a return to the Fort. He wanted no
+witness to his actions at these times. Badshah needed no attention on these
+excursions. The jungle everywhere supplied him with food, and water was
+always to be found in gullies in the hills. It was unnecessary to shackle
+him at night when Dermot slept beside him in the forest. The elephant never
+strayed, but stayed by his man to watch over him through the dangerous
+hours of darkness. He either stood by the sleeper all night or else gently
+lay down near him with the same consummate carefulness that a cow-elephant
+uses when she lowers her huge body to the ground beside her young calf.
+When Badshah guarded Dermot no harm from beast of prey could come to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+While the forest provided sustenance for the animal, the soldier,
+accustomed though he was to roughing it, found it advisable to supplement
+its resources for himself. But with some ship's biscuits and a few tins of
+preserved meat he was ready to face the jungle for days. Limes and bananas
+grew freely in the foothills. Besides his rifle he usually carried a shot
+gun, for jungle fowl abounded in the forest, and <i>kalej</i>, the black and
+white speckled pheasant, in the lower hills, and both were excellent
+eating.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot carried out a thorough survey of the borderland between Bhutan and
+India, making accurate military sketches and noting the ranges of all
+positions suitable for defence, artillery, or observation. Mounted on
+Badshah's neck he ascended the steep hills&mdash;elephants are excellent
+climbers&mdash;and explored every known <i>duar</i> and defile.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the same time he kept a keen look-out for messengers passing between
+disloyal elements inside the Indian frontier and possible enemies beyond
+it. His knowledge of the language spoken by the Bhuttia settlers within
+the border, mostly refugees from Bhutan who had fled thither to escape
+the tyranny and exactions of the officials, enabled him to question the
+hill-dwellers as to the presence and purpose of any strangers passing
+through. He gradually established a species of intelligence department
+among these colonists, whose dread and hatred of their former rulers
+have made them very pro-British. Through them he was able to keep a
+check on the comings and goings of trans-frontier Bhutanese, who are
+permitted to enter India freely, although an English subject is not
+allowed by his own Government to penetrate into Bhutan. Despite this
+prohibition&mdash;so Dermot discovered&mdash;many Bengalis had lately passed
+backwards and forwards across the frontier, a thing hitherto unheard of.
+That members of this timorous race should venture to enter such a
+lawless and savage country as Bhutan and that, having entered it, they
+lived to come back proved that there must be a strong understanding
+between many Bhutanese officials and a certain disloyal element in
+India.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot was returning through the forest from one of his excursions in the
+hills, when an opportunity was afforded him of repaying the debt that he
+owed to Badshah for the saving of his life. They had halted at midday, and
+the man, seated on the ground with his back to a tree, was eating his
+lunch, while the elephant had strayed out of sight among the trees in
+search of food.
+</p>
+<p>
+Beside Dermot lay his rifle and a double-barrelled shot gun, both loaded.
+Having eaten he lit a cheroot and was jotting down in his notebook the
+information that he had gathered that morning, when a shrill trumpet from
+the invisible Badshah made him grasp his rifle. Skilled in the knowledge of
+the various sounds that elephants make he knew by the brassy note of this
+that the animal was in deadly fear. He sprang up to go to his assistance,
+when Badshah burst through the trees and came towards him at his fastest
+pace, his drooping ears and tail and outstretched trunk showing that he was
+terrified.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot, bringing his rifle to the ready, looked past him for the cause of
+his flight, but could see no pursuer. He wondered what could have so
+alarmed the usually courageous animal. Suddenly the knowledge came to him.
+As Badshah rushed towards him with every indication of terror the man saw
+that, moving over the ground with an almost incredible speed, a large
+serpent came in close pursuit. Even in the open across which Badshah was
+fleeing it was actually gaining on the elephant, as with an extraordinary
+rapidity it poured the sinuous curves of its body along the earth. It was
+evident that, if the chase were continued into the dense undergrowth which
+would hamper the animal more than the snake, the latter would prove the
+winner in the desperate race.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot recognised the pursuer. From its size and the fact that it was
+attacking the elephant it could only be that most dreadful and almost
+legendary denizen of the forest, the hamadryad, or king-cobra. All other
+big snakes in India are pythons, which are not venomous. But this, the
+deadliest, most terrible of all Asiatic serpents, is very poisonous and
+will wantonly attack man as well as animals. Badshah had probably disturbed
+it by accident&mdash;it might have been a female guarding its eggs&mdash;and in its
+vicious rage it had made an onslaught on him.
+</p>
+<p>
+The peril of the poisoned tooth is the sole one that a grown elephant need
+fear in the jungle, and Badshah seemed to know that only his man could save
+him. And so in his extremity he fled to Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+The soldier hurriedly put down his rifle and picked up the fowling-piece.
+The elephant rushed past him, and then the snake seemed to sense the
+man&mdash;its feeble sight would not permit it to see him. It swerved out of
+its course and came towards him. When but a few feet away it suddenly
+checked and, swiftly writhing its body into a coil from which its head
+and about five feet of its length rose straight up and waved menacingly
+in the air, it gathered impetus to strike.
+</p>
+<p>
+A deadly feeling of nausea and powerlessness possessed Dermot, as from the
+open mouth, in which the fatal fangs showed plainly while the protruding
+forked tongue darting in and out seemed to feel for him, came a fetid
+effluvia that had a paralysing effect on him. He was experiencing the
+extraordinary fascination that a snake exercises over its victims. His
+muscles seemed benumbed, as the huge head swayed from side to side and
+mesmerised him with its uncanny power. The gun almost dropped from his
+nerveless fingers. But with a fierce effort he regained the mastery of
+himself, brought the butt to his shoulder, and pressed both triggers.
+</p>
+<p>
+At that short range the shot blew the snake's head off, and Dermot sprang
+back as the heavy body fell forward and lashed and heaved with convulsive
+writhing of the muscles, while the tail beat the ground heavily.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the report of the gun Badshah stopped in his hurried retreat and turned.
+Then, still showing evidences of his alarm, he approached Dermot slowly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's all right, old boy," said the Major to him. "The brute is done for."
+</p>
+<p>
+The elephant understood and came to him. Dermot patted the quivering trunk
+outstretched to smell the dead snake and then went forward and grasped the
+hamadryad's tail with both hands, striving to hold it still. But it dragged
+him from side to side and the writhing coils of the headless body nearly
+enfolded him, so he let go and stepped back. As well as he could judge the
+king-cobra was more than seventeen feet long.
+</p>
+<p>
+It took some time to reassure Badshah, for the elephant was badly
+frightened and, when Dermot mounted him, set off from the spot with a haste
+unlike his usual deliberate pace.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+For a week after this occurrence the Major was busy in his bungalow in
+Ranga Duar drawing up reports for the Adjutant General and amplifying
+existing maps of the borderland, as well as completing his large-scale
+sketches of the passes. When his task was finished he filled his haversack
+with provisions one morning and, shouldering his rifle, descended the
+winding mountain road to the <i>peelkhana</i>. Long before this was visible
+through the trees of the foothills he was apprised by the trumpeting of the
+elephants and the loud shouts of men that there was trouble there. When he
+came out on the cleared stretch of ground in front of the stables he saw
+<i>mahouts</i> and coolies fleeing in terror in all directions, while the
+stoutly built <i>peelkhana</i> itself rocked violently as though shaken by an
+earthquake.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then forth from it, to the accompaniment of terrified squealing and
+trumpeting from the female elephants, Badshah stalked, ears cocked and tail
+up and the light of battle in his eyes, broken iron shackles dangling from
+his legs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Dewand hoyga</i> (he has gone mad)," cried the attendants, fleeing past the
+Major in such alarm that they almost failed to notice him. Last of all came
+Ramnath, who, recognising him, halted and salaamed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Khubbadar</i> (take care), sahib!" he cried in warning. "The fit is on him
+again. The jungle calls him. He is mad."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot paid no attention to him but hastened on to intercept the elephant
+which stalked on with ears thrust forward and tail raised, ready to give
+battle to any one that dared stop him.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Major whistled. Badshah checked in his stride, then as a well-known
+voice fell on his ear he faltered and looked about him. Dermot spoke his
+name and the elephant turned and went straight to him, to the amazement of
+the <i>peelkhana</i> attendants watching from behind trees on the hillside. Yet
+they feared lest his intention was to attack the sahib, for when a tame
+tusker is seized with a fit of madness, it often kills even its <i>mahout</i>,
+to whom ordinarily it is much attached.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot raised his hand. Badshah stopped and sank on his knees, while his
+master cast off the broken shackles and swung himself astride of his neck.
+Then the elephant rose again and of his own volition rolled swiftly forward
+into the jungle which closed around them and hid animal and man from the
+astounded watchers.
+</p>
+<p>
+One by one the <i>mahouts</i> and coolies stole from the shelter of the trees
+and gathered together.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Wah! Wah!</i> the sahib has gone mad, too," exclaimed an old Mohammedan.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He will never return alive," said another, shaking his head sorrowfully.
+"<i>Afsos hun</i> (I am sorry), for he was a good sahib. The <i>shaitan</i> (devil)
+has borne him away to <i>Eblis</i> (hell)."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Ramnath broke in indignantly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"My elephant is no <i>shaitan</i>. He is <i>Gunesh</i>, the god <i>Gunesh</i> himself. He
+will let no harm come to the sahib, who is safe under his protection."
+</p>
+<p>
+The other Hindus among the elephant attendants nodded agreement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Such bath</i> (true words)," they said. "Who knows what the gods purpose?
+Which of you has ever before seen any man stop a <i>dhantwallah</i> (tusker)
+when the madness was upon him? Which of ye has known a white man to have a
+power that even we have not, we whose fathers, whose forefathers for
+generations, have tended elephants?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ye speak true talk," said the first speaker. "The Prophet tells us there
+are no gods. But <i>afrits</i> there are, <i>djinns</i>&mdash;beings more than man. What
+know we of those with whom the sahib communes when he and Badshah go forth
+alone into the forest?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The sahib is not as other sahibs," broke in an old coolie. "I was with him
+before&mdash;in Buxa Duar. There is naught in the jungle that can puzzle him. He
+knows its ways, the speech of the men in it&mdash;ay, and of its animals, too.
+He was a great <i>shikari</i> (hunter) in those old days. Many beasts have
+fallen to his gun. Yet now he goes forth for days and brings back no heads.
+What does he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"For days, say you, Chotu?" queried another <i>mahout</i>. "Ay, for more than
+days. For nights. What man among us, what man even of these wild men around
+us, would willingly pass a night in the forest?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"True talk," agreed the old Mohammedan. "Which of us would care to lie down
+alone beside his elephant in the jungle all night? Yet the sahib sleeps
+there&mdash;if he does sleep&mdash;without fear. And no harm comes to him."
+</p>
+<p>
+Ramnath slowly shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The sahib does not sleep. Nor is there aught in the forest that can do him
+harm. Or my elephant either. The <i>budmash</i> tried to kill the sahib, and
+Badshah protected him. When the big snake attacked Badshah, the sahib saved
+him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what do they in the forest?" asked Chotu again. "Tell me that,
+Ramnath-<i>ji</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+Once more Ramnath shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What know we? We are black men. What knowledge have we of what the sahibs
+do, of what they can do? They go under the sea in ships, beneath the land
+in carriages. So say the sepoys who have been to <i>Vilayet</i> (Europe). They
+fly in the air like birds. That have I seen with my own eyes at Delhi&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I at Lahore," broke in the old Mohammedan.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I at Nucklao (Lucknow)," said a third.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But never yet was there a man, black man or sahib, who could hold a
+<i>dhantwallah</i> when the mad fit was on him, as our sahib has done,"
+continued Ramnath. "He is under the protection of the gods."
+</p>
+<p>
+Even the Mohammedans among his audience nodded assent. Their <i>mullah</i>
+taught them that the gods of the Hindu were devils. But who knew? Mecca was
+far away, and the jungle with its demons was very near them. Among the
+various creeds in India there is a wide tolerance and a readiness to
+believe that there may be something of truth in all the faiths that men
+profess. A Hindu will hang a wreath of marigolds on the tomb of a
+Mohammedan <i>pir</i>&mdash;a Mussulman saint&mdash;and recite a <i>mantra</i>, if he knows
+one, before it as readily as he will before the shrine of Siva.
+</p>
+<p>
+While the superstitious elephant attendants talked, Badshah was moving at a
+fast shambling pace along animal paths through the forest farther and
+farther away from the <i>peelkhana</i>. Wild beasts always follow a track
+through the jungle, even a man-made road, in preference to forcing a way
+through the undergrowth for themselves. As he was borne swiftly along, his
+rider felt that, although the elephant had allowed him to mount to his
+accustomed place, it would resent any attempts at restraint or guidance.
+But indeed Dermot had no wish to control it. He was filled with an immense
+desire to learn the mystery of Badshah's frequent disappearances. The Major
+was convinced that the animal had a definite objective in view, so
+purposeful was his manner. For he went rapidly on, never pausing to feed,
+unlike the usual habit of elephants which, when they can, eat all their
+waking time. But Badshah held straight on rapidly without stopping. He was
+proceeding in a direction that took him at an angle away from the line of
+the Himalayas, and the character of the forest altered as he went.
+</p>
+<p>
+Near the foot of the hills the graceful plumes of the bamboo and the broad
+drooping leaves of the plantain, the wild banana, were interspersed with
+the vivid green leaves and fruit of the limes. Then came the big trees,
+from which the myriad creepers hung in graceful festoons. Here the
+undergrowth was scanty and the ground covered with tall bracken in the open
+glades, which gave the jungle the appearance of an English wood.
+</p>
+<p>
+Farther on the trees were closer together and the track led through dense
+undergrowth. Then through a border of high elephant-grass with feathery
+tops it emerged on to a broad, dry river-bed of white sand strewn with
+rounded boulders rolled down from the hills. The sudden change from the
+pleasant green gloom of the forest to the harsh glare of the brilliant
+sunshine was startling. As they crossed the open Dermot looked up at the
+giant rampart of the mountains and saw against the dark background of their
+steep slopes the grey wall of Fort and bungalows in the little outpost of
+Ranga Duar high above the forest.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the jungle closed round them again, as Badshah plunged into the high
+grass bordering the far side of the river-bed, its feathery plumes sixteen
+feet from the ground. On through low thorny trees and scrub to the huge
+bulks and thick, leafy canopy of the giant <i>simal</i> and teak once more. The
+further they went from the hills the denser, more tropical became the
+undergrowth. The soil was damper and supported a richer, more luxuriant
+vegetation. Cane brakes through which even elephants and bison would find
+it hard to push a way, tree ferns of every kind, feathery bushes set thick
+with cruel hooked thorns, mingled with the great trees, between which the
+creepers rioted in wilder confusion than ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+The heat was intense. The air grew moist and steamy, and the sweat trickled
+down Dermot's face. The earth underfoot was sodden and slushy. Little
+streams began to trickle, for the water from the mountains ten miles away
+that sinks into the soil at the foot of the hills and flows to the south
+underground, here rises to the surface and gives the whole forest its
+name&mdash;Terai, that is, "wet."
+</p>
+<p>
+Slimy pools lurked in the undergrowth. In one the ugly snout of a small
+crocodile protruded from the muddy, noisome water, and the cold, unwinking
+eyes stared at elephant and man as they passed. The rank abundant foliage
+overhung the track and brushed or broke against Badshah's sides, as he
+shouldered his way through it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly, without warning, Badshah came out on a stretch of forest clear of
+undergrowth between the great tree-trunks, and to his amazement Dermot saw
+that it was filled with wild elephants. Everywhere, as far as the eye could
+range between the trees, they were massed, not in tens or scores, but in
+hundreds. On every side were vistas of multitudes of great heads with
+gleaming white tusks and restless-moving trunks, of huge bodies supported
+on ponderous legs. And with an unwonted fear clutching at his heart Dermot
+realised that all their eyes were turned in his direction.
+</p>
+<p>
+Did they see him? Were they aware that Badshah carried a man? Dermot knew
+that beasts do not quickly realise a man's presence on the neck or back of
+a tame elephant. He had seen in a <i>kheddah</i>, when the <i>mahouts</i> and noosers
+had gone on their trained elephants in among the host of terrified or angry
+captured wild ones, that the latter seemed not to observe the humans.
+</p>
+<p>
+So he hoped now that if he succeeded in turning his animal round and
+getting him away quickly, his presence would remain unnoticed. Grasping his
+rifle ready to fire if necessary, he tried with foot and hand to swing
+Badshah about. But his elephant absolutely ignored his efforts and for the
+first time in their acquaintance disobeyed him. Slowing down to a stately
+and deliberate pace the <i>Gunesh</i> advanced to meet the others.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, to Dermot's amazement, from the vast herd that now encompassed them
+on every side came the low purring that in an elephant denotes pleasure.
+Almost inaudible from one throat, it sounded from these many hundreds like
+the rumble of distant thunder. And in answer to it there came from
+Badshah's trunk a low sound, indicative of his pleasure. Then it dawned on
+Dermot that it was to meet this vast gathering of his kind that the animal
+had broken loose from captivity.
+</p>
+<p>
+And the multitude of huge beasts was waiting for him. All the swaying
+trunks were lifted together and pointed towards him to sense him, with a
+unanimity of motion that made it seem as if they were receiving him with a
+salute. And, as Badshah moved on into the centre of the vast herd and
+stopped, again the murmured welcome rumbled from the great throats.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot slung his rifle on his back. It would not be needed now. He resigned
+himself to anything that might happen and was filled with an immense
+curiosity. Was there really some truth in the stories about Badshah, some
+foundation for the natives' belief in his mysterious powers? This reception
+of him by the immense gathering of his kind was beyond credence Dermot knew
+that wild elephants do not welcome a strange male into a herd. He has to
+fight, and fight hard, for admission, which he can only gain by defeating
+the bull that is its leader and tyrant. But that several herds should come
+together&mdash;for that there were several was evident, since the greatest
+strength of a herd rarely exceeds a hundred individuals&mdash;to meet an escaped
+domesticated elephant, and apparently by appointment, was too fantastic to
+be credited by any one acquainted with the habits of these animals. Yet
+here it was happening before his eyes. The soldier gave up attempting to
+understand it and simply accepted the fact.
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked around him. There were elephants of every type, of all ages. Some
+were very old, as he could tell from their lean, fleshless skulls, their
+sunken temples and hollow eyes, emaciated bodies and straight, thin legs.
+And the clearest proof of their age was their ears, which lapped over very
+much at the top and were torn and ragged at the lower edges.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were bull-elephants in the prime of life, from twenty-five to
+thirty-five years old, with great heads, short, thick legs bowed out
+with masses of muscle, and bodies with straight backs sloping to the
+long, well-feathered tails. Most of them were tuskers&mdash;and the sight
+of one magnificent bull near Dermot made the sportsman's trigger-finger
+itch, so splendid were its tusks&mdash;shapely, spreading outward and upward
+in a graceful sweep, and each nearly six feet in length along the
+outside curve.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a large proportion of females and calves in the assemblage. The
+youngest ones were about four or five months old. A few had not shed their
+first woolly coat; and many of the male babies could not boast of even the
+tiniest tusks.
+</p>
+<p>
+Badshah was now completely surrounded, for the elephants had closed in on
+him from every side. He raised his trunk. At once the nearest animals
+extended theirs towards him. These he touched, and they in their turn
+touched those of their neighbours beyond his reach. They did the same to
+others farther away, and so the action was repeated and carried on
+throughout the herd by all except the youngest calves.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot was wondering whether this meant a greeting or a command from
+Badshah, when there was a sudden stir among the animals, and soon the whole
+mass was in motion. Then he saw that the elephants were moving into single
+file, the formation in which they always march. Badshah alone remained
+where he was.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the enormous gathering broke up and began to move. The oldest
+elephants led; and the line commenced to defile by Badshah, who stood as if
+passing them in review. As the first approached it lifted its trunk, and to
+Dermot's astonishment gently touched him on the leg with it. Then it passed
+on and the next animal took its place and in its turn touched the man. The
+succeeding ones did the same; and thus all the elephants defiled by their
+domesticated companion and touched or smelt Dermot as they went by.
+</p>
+<p>
+Throughout the whole proceeding Badshah remained motionless, and his rider
+began to believe that he had ordered his wild kindred to make themselves
+acquainted with his human friend. It seemed a ridiculous idea, but the
+whole proceeding was so wildly improbable that the soldier felt that
+nothing could surprise him further.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the elephants passed him he noticed on the legs of a few of them marks
+which were evidently old scars of chain or rope-galls. And the forehead of
+one or two showed traces of having been daubed with tar, while on the trunk
+of one very large tusker was an almost obliterated ornamental design in
+white paint, and his tusks were tipped with brass. So it was apparent that
+Badshah was not the only animal present that had escaped from captivity.
+The big tusker had probably belonged to the <i>peelkhana</i> of some rajah,
+judging by the pattern of the painted design.
+</p>
+<p>
+Slowly the seemingly endless line of great animals went by. Hours elapsed
+before the last elephant had passed; and Dermot, cramped by sitting still
+on Badshah's neck, was worn out with heat and fatigue long before the slow
+procession ended.
+</p>
+<p>
+When at last the almost interminable line had gone by, Badshah moved off at
+a rapid pace and passed the slow-plodding animals until he had overtaken
+the leaders. Dermot found that the herd was heading for the mountains and
+the oldest beasts were still in front. This surprised him, as it was
+altogether contrary to the custom of wild elephants. For usually on a march
+the cows with calves lead the way. This is logical and reasonable; because
+if an unencumbered tusker headed the line and set the pace, he would go too
+fast and too far for the little legs of the babies in the rear. They would
+fall behind; and, as their mothers would stay with them, the herd would
+soon be broken up.
+</p>
+<p>
+But as Badshah reached the head of the file and, taking the lead, set a
+very slow pace, Dermot quickly understood why the old elephants were
+allowed to remain in front. For all of them were exceedingly feeble, and
+some seemed at death's door from age and disease. He would not have been
+surprised at any of them falling down at any moment and expiring on the
+spot.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he remembered the curious but well-known fact that no man, white or
+coloured, has ever yet found the body of a wild elephant that has died in
+the jungle from natural causes. Though few corners of Indian or Ceylon
+forests remain unexplored, no carcases or skeletons of these animals have
+ever been discovered. And yet, although in a wild state they reach the age
+of a hundred and fifty years, elephants must die at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot was meditating on this curious fact of natural history when Badshah
+came out on the high bank of an empty river-bed and cautiously climbed down
+it. Ahead of them rose the long line of mountains clear and distinct in the
+rays of the setting sun. As he reached the far bank Dermot turned round to
+look back. Behind them stretched the procession of elephants in single
+file, each one stepping into the huge footprints of those in front of it.
+When Badshah plunged into the jungle again the tail of the procession had
+not yet come out on the white sand of the river-bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+And when the sun went down they were still plodding on towards the hills.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER V
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE DEATH-PLACE
+</h3>
+<p>
+An hour or two after night had fallen on the jungle Badshah stopped
+suddenly and sank down on his knees. Dermot took this as an invitation to
+dismount, and slid to the ground. When Badshah stopped, the long-stretching
+line behind him halted, too, and the elephants broke their formation and
+wandered about feeding. Soon the forest resounded with the noise of
+creepers being torn down, branches broken off, and small trees uprooted so
+that the hungry animals could reach the leafy crowns. Dermot realised that
+in the darkness he was in danger of being trodden underfoot among the
+hundreds of huge animals straying about. But Badshah knew it, too, and so
+he remained standing over his man, while the latter sat down on the ground,
+rested his aching back against a tree, and made a meal from the contents of
+his haversack. Badshah contented himself with the grass and leaves that he
+could reach without stirring from the spot, and then cautiously lowered
+himself to the ground and stretched his huge limbs out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot lay down beside him, as he had so often done before in the nights
+spent in the jungle. But, exhausted as he was, he could not sleep at first.
+The strangeness of the adventure kept him awake. To find his presence
+accepted by this vast gathering of wild elephants, animals which are
+usually extremely shy of human beings, was in itself extraordinary. Much as
+he knew of the jungle he had never dreamt of this. In Central Indian
+villages he had been told legends of lost children being adopted by wolves.
+But for elephants to admit a man into their herd was beyond belief. That it
+was due to Badshah's affection for him was little less remarkable than the
+fact itself. For it opened up the question of the animal's extraordinary
+power over his kind. And that was an unfathomable mystery.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot found the riddle too difficult to solve. He ceased to puzzle over
+it. The noises in the forest gradually died down, and the intense silence
+that followed was broken only by the harsh call of the barking-deer or the
+wailing cry of the giant owl. Fatigue overcame him, and he slept.
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed to him that he had scarcely lost consciousness when he was
+awakened by a touch on his face. It was still dark; but, when he sprang up
+hastily, he could vaguely make out Badshah standing beside him. The
+elephant touched him with his trunk and then sank down on his knees. The
+invitation to mount was unmistakable; and Dermot slung his rifle on his
+back and climbed on to the elephant's neck. Badshah rose up and moved off,
+and apparently the other elephants followed him, for the noises that had
+filled the forest and showed them to be awake and feeding, ceased abruptly.
+Dermot could just faintly distinguish the soft footfall of the animal
+immediately behind him.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Badshah reached the lowest hills and left the heavy forest behind the
+sky became visible, filled with the clear and vivid tropic starlight. An
+animal track led up between giant clumps of bamboos, by long-leaved
+plantain trees and through thick undergrowth of high, tangled bushes that
+clothed the foothills. Up this path, as a paling in the east betokened the
+dawn, the long line of elephants climbed in the same order of march as on
+the previous day. Badshah led; and behind him followed the oldest
+elephants, on which the steep ascent told heavily.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two thousand feet above the forest the track led close to a Bhuttia
+village. As the rising sun streaked the sky with rose, the head of the long
+line neared the scattered bamboo huts perched on piles on the steep slopes.
+The track was not visible from the village, but a party of wood-cutters
+from the hamlet had just reached it on their way to descend to their day's
+work in the jungle below. They saw the winding file of ascending elephants
+some distance beneath them and in great alarm climbed up a big rubber tree
+growing close to the path. Hidden among its broad and glossy green leaves
+they watched the approaching elephants.
+</p>
+<p>
+From their elevated perch they had a good view of the serpentining line.
+To their amazement they saw that a white man sat astride the neck of the
+first animal and was apparently conducting the enormous herd. One of the
+wood-cutters recognised Dermot, who had once visited this very village
+and interrogated this man among others. Petrified with fright, the
+Bhuttia and his companions watched the long line go by, and for fully an
+hour after the last elephant had disappeared they did not venture to
+descend from the tree.
+</p>
+<p>
+When at last they did so there was no longer any thought of work. Instead,
+they fled hotfoot to the village to spread their strange news; and next
+day, when they went to their work below and explained to the enraged Gurkha
+overseer the reason of their absence on the previous day, they told him the
+full tale. No story is too incredible for the average native of India, and
+the overseer and various forest guards who also heard the narrative fully
+believed it and spread it through the jungle villages. It grew as it passed
+from tongue to tongue, until the story finally rivalled the most marvellous
+of the exploits of Krishna, that wonderful Hindu god.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile Dermot and his mammoth companions were climbing steadily higher
+and ever higher into the mountains. A panther, disturbed by them in his
+sleep beside the bones of a goat, rose growling from the ground and slunk
+sullenly away. A pair of brilliantly-plumaged hornbills flew overhead with
+a loud and measured beat of wings. <i>Kalej</i> pheasants scuttled away among
+the bushes.
+</p>
+<p>
+But soon the jungle diminished to low scrub and finally fell away behind
+the ascending elephants, and they entered a region of rugged, barren
+mountains cloven by giant chasms and seamed by rocky <i>nullahs</i> down which
+brawling streams rushed or tumbled over falls. A herd of <i>gooral</i>&mdash;the
+little wild goat&mdash;rushed away before their coming and sprang in dizzy leaps
+down almost sheer precipices.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the mountains closed in upon him in a narrow passage between beetling
+cliffs thousands of feet high, Dermot's interest quickened. For he knew
+that he was nearing the border-line between India and Bhutan; and this was
+apparently a pass from one country into the other, unknown and unmarked in
+the existing maps, one of which he carried in his haversack. He took it out
+and examined it. There was no doubt of it; he had made a fresh discovery.
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned round on Badshah's neck and looked down on all India spread out
+beneath him. East and west along the foot of the mountains the sea of
+foliage of the Terai swept away out of sight. Here and there lighter
+patches of colour showed where tea-gardens dotted the darker forest. Thirty
+odd miles to the south of the foothills the jungle ended abruptly, and
+beyond its ragged fringe lay the flat and fertile fields of Eastern Bengal.
+A dark spot seen indistinctly through the hot-weather haze marked where the
+little city of Cooch Behar lay. Sixty miles and more away to the south-east
+the Garo Hills rose beyond the snaky line of the Brahmaputra River
+wandering through the plains of Assam.
+</p>
+<p>
+A sharp turn in the narrow defile shut out the view of everything except
+the sheer walls of rock that seemed almost to meet high overhead and hide
+the sky. Even at noon the pass was dark and gloomy. But it came abruptly to
+an end, and as through a gateway the leading elephants emerged suddenly on
+a narrow jungle-like valley. The first line of mountains guarding Bhutan
+had been traversed. Beyond the valley lay another range, its southern face
+covered with trees.
+</p>
+<p>
+Badshah halted, and the elephants behind him scattered as they came out of
+the defile. The aged animals among them, as soon as they had drunk from a
+little river running midway between the mountain chains and fed by streams
+from both, lay down to rest, too exhausted to eat. But the others spread
+out in the trees to graze.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot, who had begun to fear that the supply of food in his haversack
+might run short, found a plantain tree and gathered a quantity of the
+fruit. After a frugal meal he wrote up his notes on the pass through which
+he had just come and made rough military sketches of it. Then he strolled
+among the elephants grazing near Badshah. They showed no fear or hostility
+as he passed, and some of the calves evinced a certain amount of curiosity
+in him. He even succeeded in making friends with one little animal about a
+year old, marked with whitish blotches on its forehead and trunk, which
+allowed him to touch it and, after due consideration, accepted the gift of
+a peeled banana. Its mother stood by during the proceeding and regarded the
+fraternising with her calf dubiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+Not until dawn on the following day did the herd resume its onward
+movement. Dermot was awake even before Badshah's trunk touched his face to
+arouse him, and as soon as he was mounted the march began again. The route
+lay through the new mountain range; and all day, except for a couple of
+hours' halt at noon, the long line wound up a confusing jumble of ravines
+and passes. When night fell a plateau covered with tall deodar trees had
+been reached, and here the elephants rested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Daybreak on the third morning found Badshah leading the line through a
+still more bewildering maze of narrow defiles and a forest with such dense
+foliage that, when the sun was high in the heavens, its rays scarcely
+lightened the gloom between the tree-trunks. Dermot wondered how Badshah
+found his way, for there was no sign of a track, but the elephant moved on
+steadily and with an air of assured purpose.
+</p>
+<p>
+At one place he plunged into a deep narrow ravine filled with tangled
+undergrowth that constantly threatened to tear Dermot from his seat.
+Indeed, only the continual employment of the latter's <i>kukri</i>, with which
+he hacked at the throttling creepers and clutching thorny branches, saved
+him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Darker and gloomier grew the way. The sides of the <i>nullah</i> closed in until
+there was scarcely room for the animals to pass, and then Dermot found
+Badshah had entered a natural tunnel in the mountain side. The interior was
+as black as midnight, and the soldier had to lie flat on the elephant's
+skull to save his own head.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly a blinding light made him close his eyes, as Badshah burst out of
+the darkness of the tunnel into the dazzling glare of the sunshine.
+</p>
+<p>
+When his rider looked again he found that they were in an almost circular
+valley completely ringed in by precipitous walls of rock rising straight
+and sheer for a couple of thousand feet. Above these cliffs towered giant
+mountain peaks covered with snow and ice.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the end of the valley farthest from them was a small lake. Near the
+mouth of the tunnel the earth was clothed with long grass and flowering
+bushes and dotted with low trees. But elsewhere the ground was dazzlingly
+white, as though the snow lay deep upon it. Badshah halted among the trees,
+and the old elephants passed him and went on in the direction of the lake.
+Dermot noticed that they seemed to have suddenly grown feebler and more
+decrepit.
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked down at the white ground. To his surprise he found that from here
+to the lake the valley was floored with huge skulls, skeletons, scattered
+bones, and tusks. It was the elephants' Golgotha. He had penetrated to a
+spot which perhaps no other human being had ever seen&mdash;the death-place of
+the mammoths, the mysterious retreat to which the elephants of the Terai
+came to die.
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked instinctively towards the aged animals, which alone had
+gone forward among the bones. And, as he gazed, one of them stumbled,
+recovered its footing, staggered on a few paces, then stopped and slowly
+sank to the ground. It laid its head down and stretched out its limbs.
+Tremors shook the huge body; then it lay still as though asleep.
+A second old elephant, and a third, stood for a moment, then slowly
+subsided. Another and another did the same; until finally all of them
+lay stretched out motionless&mdash;lifeless, dark spots on the white floor
+that was composed of bones of countless generations of their kind.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a strange impressiveness about the solemn passing of these great
+beasts. It affected the human spectator almost painfully. The hush of this
+fatal valley, the long line of elephants watching the death of their
+kindred, the pathos of the end of the stately animals which in obedience to
+some mysterious impulse, had struggled through many difficulties only to
+lie down here silently, uncomplainingly, and give up their lives, all
+stirred Dermot strangely. And when the thought of the incalculable wealth
+that lay in the vast quantity of ivory stored in this great charnel-house
+flashed through his mind, he felt that it would be a shameful desecration,
+inviting the wrath of the gods, to remove even one tusk of it.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was not left long to gaze and wonder at the weird scene. To his relief
+Badshah suddenly turned and passed through the trees again towards the
+tunnelled entrance, and the hundreds of other elephants followed him in
+file. In a few minutes Dermot found himself plunged into darkness once
+more, and the Valley of Death had disappeared.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they had passed through the tunnel, the elephants slipped and stumbled
+down the rock-encumbered ravines, for elephants are far less sure-footed in
+descent than when ascending. But they travelled at a much faster pace,
+being no longer hampered by the presence of the old and decrepit beasts. It
+seemed to take only a comparatively short time to reach the valley between
+the two mountain ranges. And here they stopped to feed and rest.
+</p>
+<p>
+When morning came, Dermot found that the big assembly of elephants was
+breaking up into separate herds of which it was composed. The greater
+number of these moved off to the east and north, evidently purposing to
+remain for a time in Bhutan, where the young grass was springing up in the
+valleys as the lower snows melted. Only three herds intended to return to
+India with Badshah, of which the largest, consisting of about a hundred
+members, seemed to be the one to which he particularly belonged.
+</p>
+<p>
+During the descent from the mountains into the Terai, Dermot wondered what
+would happen with Badshah when they reached the forest. Would the elephant
+persist in remaining with the herd or would it return with him to the
+<i>peelkhana</i>?
+</p>
+<p>
+Night had fallen before they had got clear of the foothills, so that
+when they arrived in the jungle once more they halted to rest not far
+from the mountains. When Dermot awoke next morning he found that he and
+Badshah were alone, all the others having disappeared, and the animal
+was standing patiently awaiting orders. He seemed to recognise that his
+brief hour of authority had passed, and had become once more his usual
+docile and well-disciplined self. At the word of command he sank to
+his knees to allow his master to mount; and then, at the touch of his
+rider's foot, turned his head towards home and started off obediently.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they approached the <i>peelkhana</i> a cry was raised, and the elephant
+attendants rushed from their huts to stare in awe-struck silence at animal
+and man. Ramnath approached with marked reverence, salaaming deeply at
+every step.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Dermot dismounted it was hard for him to bid farewell to Badshah. He
+felt, too, that he could no longer make the elephant submit to the ignominy
+of fetters. So he bade Ramnath not shackle nor bind him again. Then he
+patted the huge beast affectionately and pointed to the empty stall in the
+<i>peelkhana</i>; and Badshah, seeming to understand and appreciate his being
+left unfettered, touched his white friend caressingly with his trunk and
+walked obediently to his brick standing in the stable. The watching
+<i>mahouts</i> and coolies nodded and whispered to each other at this, but
+Ramnath appeared to regard the relations between his elephant and the sahib
+as perfectly natural.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot shouldered his rifle and started off on the long and weary climb to
+Ranga Duar. When he reached the parade ground he found the men of the
+detachment falling out after their morning drill. His subaltern, Parker,
+who was talking to the Indian officers of the Double Company, saw him and
+came to meet him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hullo, Major; I'm glad to see you back again," he said, saluting. "I
+hardly expected to, after the extraordinary stories I've heard from the
+<i>mahouts</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really? What were they?" asked his senior officer, leading the way to his
+bungalow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, the simplest was that Badshah had gone mad and bolted with you into
+the jungle," replied the subaltern. "Another tale was that he knelt down
+and worshipped you, and then asked you to go off with him on some
+mysterious mission."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot had resolved to say as little as possible about his experiences.
+Europeans would not credit his story, and he had no desire to be regarded
+as a phenomenal liar. Natives would believe it, for nothing is too
+marvellous for them; but he had no wish that any one should know of the
+existence of the Death Place, lest ivory-hunters should seek to penetrate
+to it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nonsense. Badshah wasn't mad," he replied. "It was just as I guessed when
+you first told me of these fits of his&mdash;merely the jungle calling him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, sir. But the weirdest tale of all was that you were seen leading an
+army of elephants, just like a Hindu god, to invade Bhutan."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where did you hear that?" asked Dermot in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, the yarn came from the <i>mahouts</i>, who heard it from some of the forest
+guards, who said they'd been told it by Bhuttias from the hills. You know
+how natives spread stories. Wasn't it a silly tale?" And Parker laughed at
+the thought of it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, rather absurd," agreed the Major, forcing a smile. "Yes, natives are
+really&mdash;Hello! who's done this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+They had reached the garden of his bungalow. The little wooden gate-posts
+at the entrance were smeared with red paint and hung with withered wreaths
+of marigolds.
+</p>
+<p>
+When a Hindu gets the idea into his head that a certain stone or tree or
+place is the abode of a god or godling or is otherwise holy, his first
+impulse is to procure marigolds and red paint and make a votive offering of
+them by making wreaths of the one and daubing everything in the vicinity
+with the other.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By Jove, Major, I expect that some of the Hindus in the bazaar have heard
+these yarns about you and mean to do <i>poojah</i> (worship) to you," said
+Parker with a laugh. "I told you they regard Badshah as a very holy animal.
+I suppose some of his sacredness has overflowed on to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot realised that there was probably some truth in the suggestion. He
+was annoyed, as he had no desire to be looked on by the natives as the
+possessor of supernatural powers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must see that my boy has the posts cleaned," he said. "When you get to
+the Mess, Parker, please tell them I'll be up to breakfast as soon as I've
+had a tub and a shave."
+</p>
+<p>
+Two hours later Dermot showed Parker the position of the defile on the map
+and explained his notes and sketches of it; for it was important that his
+subordinate should know of it in the event of any mishap occurring to
+himself. But before he acquainted Army Headquarters in India with his
+discovery, he went to the pass again on Badshah to examine and survey it
+thoroughly. When this was done and he had despatched his sketches and
+report to Simla, he felt free to carry out a project that interested him.
+This was to seek out the herd of wild elephants with which Badshah seemed
+most closely associated and try to discover the secret of his connection
+with them.
+</p>
+<p>
+Somewhat to his surprise he experienced no difficulty in finding them; as,
+when he set out from the <i>peelkhana</i> in search of them, Badshah seemed to
+know what he wanted and carried him straight to them. For each day the
+animal appeared to understand his man's inmost thoughts more and more, and
+to need no visible expression of them.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they reached the herd, the elephants received Badshah without any
+demonstration of greeting, unlike the previous occasion. They showed no
+objection to Dermot's presence among them. The little animal with the
+blotched trunk recognised him at once and came to him, and the other calves
+soon followed its example and made friends with him. The big elephants
+betrayed no fear, and allowed him to stroll on foot among them freely.
+</p>
+<p>
+This excursion was merely the first of many that Dermot made with the herd,
+with which he often roamed far and wide through the forest. And sometimes,
+without his knowing it, he was seen by some native passing through the
+jungle, who hurriedly climbed a tree or hid in the undergrowth to avoid
+meeting the elephants. From concealment the awed watcher gazed in
+astonishment at the white man in their midst, of whom such wonderful tales
+were told in the villages. And when he got back safely to his own hamlet
+that night the native added freely to the legends that were gathering
+around Dermot's name among the jungle and hill-dwellers.
+</p>
+<p>
+On one occasion Dermot, seated on Badshah's neck, was following in rear of
+the herd when it was moving slowly through the forest a few miles from the
+foot of the hills. A sudden halt in the leisurely progress made him wonder
+at the cause. Then the elephants in front broke their formation and crowded
+forward in a body, and Dermot suddenly heard a human cry. Fearing that they
+had come unexpectantly on a native and might do him harm, he urged Badshah
+forward through the press of animals, which parted left and right to let
+him through. To his surprise he found the leading elephants ringed round a
+girl, an English girl, who, hatless and with her unpinned hair streaming on
+her shoulders, stood terrified in their midst.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VI
+</h2>
+<h3>
+A DRAMATIC INTRODUCTION
+</h3>
+<p>
+When Noreen Daleham rose half-stunned from the ground where her pony had
+flung her and realised that she was surrounded by wild elephants she was
+terrified. The stories of their ferocity told her at the club flashed
+across her mind, and she felt that she was in danger of a horrible death.
+When the huge animals closed in and advanced on her from all sides she gave
+herself up for lost.
+</p>
+<p>
+At that awful moment a voice fell on her ears and she heard the words:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be alarmed. You are in no danger."
+</p>
+<p>
+In bewilderment she looked up and saw to her astonishment and relief a
+white man sitting on the neck of one of the great beasts.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I am so glad!" she exclaimed. "I was terrified. I thought that these
+were wild elephants."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So they are," he said. "But they won't hurt you. Can I help you? What are
+you doing here? Have you lost your way in the jungle?"
+</p>
+<p>
+By this time Noreen had recovered her presence of mind and began to realise
+the situation. It was natural that this man should be astonished to find an
+Englishwoman alone and in distress in the forest. Her appearance was
+calculated to cause him to wonder&mdash;and a feminine instinct made her hands
+go up to her untidy hair, as she suddenly thought of her dishevelled state.
+She picked up her hat and put it on.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've had a fall from my pony," she explained, trying to reduce her unruly
+tresses to order. "It shied at the elephants and threw me. Then I suppose
+it bolted."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked around but could see nothing except elephants, which were
+regarding her solemnly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But where have you come from? Are you far from your camp?" persisted
+Dermot. "Shall I take you to it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, we are not in camp," replied Noreen. "I live on a tea-garden. It is
+quite near. I can walk back, thank you, if you are sure that the elephants
+won't do me any harm."
+</p>
+<p>
+But as she spoke she felt her knees give way under her from weakness, and
+she was obliged to sit down on the ground. The shock of the fall and the
+fright had affected her more than she realised.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laid his hand on Badshah's head, and the animal knelt down.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid you are not fit to walk far," said Dermot. "I must take you
+back."
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke he slipped to the ground. From a pocket in the pad he extracted
+a flask of brandy, with which he filled a small silver cup.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Drink this," he said, holding it to her lips. "It will do you good."
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen obeyed and drank a little of the spirit. Then, before she could
+protest, she was lifted in Dermot's arms and placed on the pad on Badshah's
+back. This cool disposal of her took her breath away, but to her surprise
+she felt that she rather liked it. There was something attractive in her
+new acquaintance's unconsciously authoritative manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+Replacing the flask he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you used to riding elephants?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then hold on to this rope across the pad, otherwise you may slip off when
+Badshah rises to his feet. You had better keep your hand on it as we go
+along, though there isn't much danger of your falling."
+</p>
+<p>
+As he got astride the elephant's neck he continued: "Now, be ready. Hold on
+tightly. Uth, Badshah!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Despite his warning Noreen nearly slipped off the pad at the sudden and
+jerky upheaval when the elephant rose.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now please show me the direction in which your garden lies, if you can,"
+said Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, it is quite near," Noreen answered. "That is the road to it."
+</p>
+<p>
+She let the rope go to point out the way, but instantly grasped it again.
+Dermot turned Badshah's head down the track.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, what about all these other elephants?" asked the girl apprehensively,
+looking at them where they were grouped together, gazing with curiosity at
+Badshah's passengers. "Will they come too?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," said Dermot reassuringly, "you needn't be afraid. They won't follow.
+We'd create rather too much of a sensation if we arrived at your bungalow
+at the head of a hundred <i>hathis</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But are they really wild?" she asked. "They look so quiet and inoffensive
+now; though when I was on the ground they seemed very dreadful indeed. But
+I was told that wild elephants are dangerous."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some of them undoubtedly are," replied Dermot. "But a herd is fairly
+inoffensive, if you don't go too near it. Cow-elephants with young calves
+can be very vicious, if they suspect danger to their offspring."
+</p>
+<p>
+A turn in the road through the jungle shut out the sight of the huge
+animals behind them, and Noreen breathed more freely. She began to wonder
+who her rescuer was and how he had come so opportunely to her relief. Their
+dramatic meeting invested him in her eyes with more interest than she would
+have found in any man whose acquaintance she had made in a more unromantic
+and conventional manner. And so she bestowed more attention on him and
+studied his appearance more closely than she would otherwise have done. He
+struck her at once as being exceedingly good looking in a strong and manly
+way. His profile showed clear-cut and regular features, with a mouth and
+chin bespeaking firmness and determination. His face in repose was grave,
+almost stern, but she had seen it melt in sudden tenderness as he sprang to
+her aid when she had felt faint. She noticed that his eyes were very
+attractive and unusually dark&mdash;due, although she did not know it, to the
+Spanish strain in him as in so many other Irish of the far west of
+Connaught&mdash;and with his darker hair, which had a little wave in it, and his
+small black moustache they gave him an almost foreign look. The girl had a
+sudden mental vision of him as a fierce rover of bygone days on the Spanish
+Main. But when, in a swift transition, little laughter-wrinkles creased
+around his eyes that softened in a merry smile, she wondered how she could
+have thought that he looked fierce or stern. Although, like many of her
+sex, she was a little prejudiced against handsome men, and he certainly was
+one, yet she was strongly attracted by his appearance. Probably the very
+contrast in colouring and type between him and her made him appeal to her.
+He was as dark as she was fair. And when he was standing on the ground she
+had seen that he was well above middle height with a lithe and graceful
+figure displayed to advantage by his careless costume of loose khaki shirt
+and Jodpur breeches. The breadth of his shoulders denoted strength, and his
+rolled-up sleeves showed muscular arms burned dark by the sun.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How did you manage to come up just at the right moment to rescue me?" she
+asked. "I have not thanked you yet for saving me, but I do so now most
+heartily. I can't tell you how grateful I feel. I am sure, no matter what
+you say, that those elephants would have killed me if you hadn't come."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laughed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid I cannot pose as a heroic rescuer. I daresay there might have
+been some danger to you, had I not been with them. For one can never tell
+what elephants will do. Out of sheer nervousness and fright they might have
+attacked you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You were with them?" she echoed in surprise. "But you said that these were
+wild ones."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So they are. But this animal we are on is a tame one and was captured
+years ago in the jungle about here. I think he must have belonged to this
+particular herd, for they accept him as one of themselves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, they have made me a sort of honorary member of the herd for his sake,
+I think. He and I are great pals," and Dermot laid his hand affectionately
+on Badshah's head. "He saved my life not long ago when I was attacked by a
+vicious rogue."
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen suddenly remembered the conversation at the club lunch.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, are you the officer from the Fort up at Ranga Duar?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One of them. I am commanding the detachment of Military Police there," he
+answered. "My name is Dermot."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I've heard of you. I understand now. They said that you could do
+wonderful things with wild elephants, that you went about the forest with a
+herd of them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>They</i> said?" he exclaimed. "Who are 'they'?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The men at the club. We have a planters' club for the district, you know.
+At our last weekly meeting they spoke of you and said that you had nearly
+been killed by a rogue. Mr. Payne told us that he used to know you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What? Payne of Salchini? I knew him well. Awfully good chap."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, isn't he? I like him so much."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I saw a lot of him when I was stationed at Buxa Duar with my Double
+Company. Hullo! here we are at a tea-garden."
+</p>
+<p>
+They had suddenly come out of the forest on to the open stretch of furrowed
+land planted with the orderly rows of tidy bushes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; it is ours. It's called Malpura," said Noreen. "My brother is the
+assistant manager. Our name is Daleham."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here comes somebody in a hurry," remarked Dermot, pointing to where, on
+the road ahead of them, a man on a pony was galloping towards them with a
+cloud of dust rising behind him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it's my brother. Oh, what's happening?" she exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+For as he approached his pony scented the elephant and stopped dead
+suddenly, nearly throwing its rider over its head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fred! Fred! Here I am!" she cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Daleham's animal was unused to elephants and positively refused to
+approach Badshah. In vain its rider strove to make it go on. It suddenly
+put an end to the dispute between them by swinging round and bolting back
+the way that it had come, despite its master's efforts to hold it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen looked after the pair anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You needn't be alarmed, Miss Daleham," said Dermot consolingly. "Your
+brother is quite all right. Once he gets to a safe distance from Badshah
+the pony will pull up. Horses are always afraid of elephants until they get
+used to them. See, he is slowing up already."
+</p>
+<p>
+When the girl was satisfied that her brother was in no danger she smiled at
+the dramatic abruptness of his departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Poor Fred! He must have been awfully worried over me," she said. "He
+probably thought I was killed or at least had met with a bad accident. And
+now the poor boy can't get near me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I daresay he was alarmed if your pony went home riderless."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it must have done so. Naughty Kitty. It must have bolted back to its
+stable and frightened my poor brother out of his wits."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, he'll soon have you back safe and sound," said Dermot. "Hold on
+tightly now, and I'll make Badshah step out. <i>Mul!</i>"
+</p>
+<p>
+The elephant increased his pace, and the motion sorely tried Noreen. As
+they passed through the estate the coolies bending over the tea-bushes
+stopped their work to stare at them. Noreen remarked that they appeared
+deeply interested at the sight of the elephant, and gathered together to
+talk volubly and point at it.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they neared the bungalow they saw Daleham standing on the steps of the
+verandah, waiting for them. He had recognised the futility of struggling
+with his pony and had returned with it.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they arrived he ran down the steps to meet them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good gracious, Noreen, what has happened to you?" he cried, as Badshah
+stopped in front of the house. "I've been worried to death about you. When
+the servants came to the factory to say that Kitty had galloped home with
+broken reins and without you, I thought you had been killed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Fred, I've had such an adventure," she cried gaily. "You'll say it
+served me right. Wait until I get down. But how am I to do so, Major
+Dermot?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The elephant will kneel down. Hold on tightly," he replied. "<i>Buth</i>,
+Badshah." He unslung his rifle as he dismounted.
+</p>
+<p>
+When her brother had lifted her off the pad, the girl kissed him and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm so glad to get back to you, dear. I thought I never would. I know
+you'll crow over me and and say, 'I told you so.' But I must introduce you
+to Major Dermot. This is my brother, Major. Fred, if it had not been for
+Major Dermot, you wouldn't have a sister now. Just listen."
+</p>
+<p>
+The men shook hands as she began her story. Her brother interrupted her to
+suggest their going on to the verandah to get out of the sun. When they
+were all seated he listened with the deepest interest.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the end of her narrative he could not help saying:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I warned you, young woman. What on earth would have happened to you if
+Major Dermot had not been there?" He turned to their visitor and continued:
+"I must thank you awfully, sir. There's no doubt that Noreen would have
+been killed without your help."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, perhaps not. But certainly you were right in advising her not to enter
+the forest alone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There, you see, Noreen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl pouted a little.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it really so dangerous, Major Dermot?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, one ought never to go into it without a good rifle," he replied.
+"You might pass weeks, months, in it without any harm befalling you; but on
+the other hand you might be exposed to the greatest danger on your very
+first day in it. You've just had a sample."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You were attacked yourself by a rogue, weren't you?" asked the girl. "You
+said that your elephant saved you? Was this the one? Do tell us about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot briefly narrated his adventure with the rogue. Brother and sister
+punctuated the tale with exclamations of surprise and admiration, and at
+the conclusion of it, turned to look at Badshah, who had taken refuge from
+the sun's rays under a tree and was standing in the shade, shifting his
+weight from leg to leg, flapping his ears and driving away the flies by
+flicking his sides with a small branch which he held in his trunk. Dermot
+had taken off his pad.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You dear thing!" cried the girl to him. "You are a hero. I'm very proud to
+think that I have been on your back."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was really wonderful," said Daleham. "How I should have liked to see
+the fight! I say, all our servants have come out to look at him. By Jove!
+any amount of coolies, too. One would think that they'd never seen an
+elephant before."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sure they've never seen such a splendid one," said his sister
+enthusiastically. "He is well worth looking at. But&mdash;oh, what is that man
+doing?"
+</p>
+<p>
+One of the crowd of coolies that had collected had gone down on his knees
+before Badshah and touched the earth with his forehead. Then another and
+another imitated him, until twenty or thirty of them were prostrate in the
+dust, worshipping him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must stop this," exclaimed Daleham. "If old Parr sees them he'll be
+furious. They ought to be at their work."
+</p>
+<p>
+He ran down the steps of the verandah and ordered them away. His servants
+disappeared promptly, but the coolies went slowly and reluctantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What were they doing, Major Dermot?" asked Noreen. "They looked as if they
+were praying to your elephant. Hadn't they ever seen one before?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He explained the reason of the reverence paid to Badshah. Daleham,
+returning, renewed his thanks as his sister went into the bungalow to see
+about breakfast. When she returned to tell them that it was ready, Dermot
+hardly recognised in the dainty girl, clad in a cool muslin dress, the
+terrified and dishevelled damsel whom he had first seen standing in the
+midst of the elephants.
+</p>
+<p>
+During the meal she questioned him eagerly about the jungle and the ways of
+the wild animals that inhabit it, and she and her brother listened with
+interest to his vivid descriptions. A chance remark of Daleham's on the
+difficulty of obtaining labour for the tea-gardens in the Terai interested
+Dermot and set him trying to extract information from his host.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you know, sir, that as these districts are so sparsely populated
+and the Bhuttias on the hills won't take the work, we have to import the
+thousands of coolies needed from Chota Nagpur and other places hundreds of
+miles away," said Daleham. "Lately, however, we have begun to get men from
+Bengal."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What? Bengalis?" asked Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. Very good men. Quite decent class. Some educated men among them. Why,
+I discovered by chance that one is a B.A. of Calcutta University."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean for your clerical work, as <i>babus</i> and writers?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. These chaps are content to do the regular coolie work. Of course we
+make them heads of gangs. I believe they're what are called Brahmins."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Impossible! Brahmins as tea-garden coolies?" exclaimed Dermot in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. I'm told that they are Brahmins, though I don't know much about
+natives yet," replied his host.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot was silent for a while. He could hardly believe that the boy was
+right. Brahmins who, being of the priestly caste, claim to be semi-divine
+rather than mere men, will take up professions or clerical work, but with
+all his experience of India he had never heard of any of them engaging in
+such manual labour.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do you get them?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, they come here to ask for employment themselves," replied Daleham.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do they get them on many gardens in the district?" asked Dermot, in whose
+mind a vague suspicion was arising.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are one or two on most of them. The older planters are surprised."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't wonder," commented Dermot grimly. "It's something very unusual."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have got most, though," added his host. "I daresay it's because our
+engineer is a Hindu. His name is Chunerbutty."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sounds as if he were a Bengali Brahmin himself," said Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is. His father holds an appointment in the service of the Rajah of
+Lalpuri, a native State in Eastern Bengal not far from here. The son is an
+old friend of ours. I met him first in London."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In fact, it was through Mr. Chunerbutty that we came here," said Noreen.
+"He gave Fred an introduction to this company."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot reflected. He felt that if these men were really Bengali Brahmins,
+their coming to the district to labour as coolies demanded investigation.
+Their race furnishes the extremist and disloyal element in India, and any
+of them residing on these gardens would be conveniently placed to act as
+channels of communication between enemies without and traitors within. He
+felt that it would be advisable for him to talk the matter over with some
+of the older planters.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who is your manager here?" he enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A Welshman named Parry."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you far from Salchini?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean Payne's garden? Yes; a good way. He's a friend of yours, isn't
+he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; I should like to see him again. I must pay him a visit."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, look here, Major," said Daleham eagerly. I've got an idea. Tomorrow is
+the day of our weekly meeting at the club. Will you let me put you up for
+the night, and we'll take you tomorrow to the club, where you will meet
+Payne?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you; it's very kind of you; but&mdash;" began Dermot dubiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen joined in.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, do stay, Major Dermot. We'd be delighted to have you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot needed but little pressing, for the plan suited him well.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Excellent," said Daleham. "You'll meet Chunerbutty at dinner then. You'll
+find him quite a good fellow."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'd like to meet him," answered the soldier truthfully. He felt that the
+Bengali engineer might interest him more than his host imagined.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll tell the boy to get your room ready," said Noreen. "Oh, what will you
+do with your elephant?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Badshah will be all right. I'll send him back to the herd."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What, will he go by himself?" exclaimed Daleham. "How will you get him
+again?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think he'll wait for me," replied Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+They had finished breakfast by now and rose from the table. The Major went
+to Badshah, touched him and made him turn round to face in the direction
+whence they had come.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go now, and wait for me there," he said pointing to the forest.
+</p>
+<p>
+The elephant seemed to understand, and, touching his master with his trunk,
+started off at once towards the jungle.
+</p>
+<p>
+Daleham and his sister watched the animal's departure with surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I'm blessed, Major. You certainly have him well trained," said Fred.
+"Now, will you excuse me, sir? I must go to the factory. Noreen will look
+after you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rose and took up his sun-hat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, by the way, there is one of the fellows I told you of," he continued.
+"He is the B.A."
+</p>
+<p>
+He pointed to a man passing some distance away from the bungalow. Dermot
+looked at him with curiosity. His head was bare, and his thick black hair
+shone with oil. He wore a European shirt and a <i>dhoti</i>, or cotton cloth
+draped round his waist like a divided skirt. His legs were bare except for
+gay-coloured socks and English boots. Gold-rimmed spectacles completed an
+appearance as unlike that of the ordinary tea-garden coolie as possible. He
+was the typical Indian student as seen around Gower Street or South
+Kensington, in the dress that he wears in his native land. There was no
+doubt of his being a Bengali Brahmin.
+</p>
+<p>
+Daleham called him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi! I say! Come here!"
+</p>
+<p>
+When the man reached the foot of the verandah steps the assistant manager
+said to him:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have told this sahib that you are a graduate of Calcutta University."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Bengali salaamed carelessly and replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oah, yess, sir. I am B.A."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really? What is your name?" asked Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Narain Dass, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sorry, Mr. Dass, that a man of your education cannot get better
+employment than this," remarked Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Bengali smiled superciliously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oah, yess, I can, of course. This&mdash;" He checked himself suddenly, and his
+manner became more cringing. "Yess, sir, I can with much facility procure
+employment of sedentary nature. But for reasons of health I am stringently
+advised by medical practitioner to engage in outdoor occupation. So I adopt
+policy of 'Back to the Land.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see, Mr. Dass. Very wise of you," remarked Dermot, restraining an
+inclination to smile. "You are a Brahmin, aren't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yess, sir," replied the Bengali with pride.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Mr. Dass, I hope that your health will improve in this bracing air.
+Good-morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good-morning, sir," replied the Bengali, and continued on his way.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot watched his departing figure meditatively. He felt that he had got
+hold of a thread, however slender, of the conspiracy against British rule.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You seem very interested in that coolie, Major Dermot," remarked Noreen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Eh? Oh, I beg your pardon," he said, turning to her. "Yes. You see, it is
+very unusual to find such a man doing this sort of work."
+</p>
+<p>
+He did not enter into any further explanation. The suspicion that he
+entertained must for the present be kept to himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Daleham left them the girl felt curiously shy. Perfectly at her
+ease with men as a rule, she now, to her surprise, experienced a
+sensation of nervousness, a feeling almost akin to awe of her guest. Yet
+she liked him. He impressed her as being a man of strong personality.
+The fact that&mdash;unlike most men that she met&mdash;he made no special effort
+to please her interested her all the more in him. Gradually she grew
+more at her ease. She enjoyed his tales of the jungle, told with such
+graphic power of narrative that she could almost see the scenes and
+incidents that he depicted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dinner-time brought Chunerbutty, who did not conduce to harmony in the
+little party. Dermot regarded him with interest, for he wished to discover
+if the engineer played any part in the game of conspiracy and treason.
+Although the Hindu was ignorant of this, it was evident that he resented
+the soldier's presence, partly from racial motives, but chiefly from
+jealousy over Noreen. He was annoyed at her interest in Dermot and objected
+to her feeling grateful for her rescue. He tried to make light of the
+adventure and asserted that she had been in no danger. Gradually he became
+so offensive to the Major that Noreen was annoyed, and even her brother,
+who usually saw no fault in his friend, felt uncomfortable at Chunerbutty's
+incivility to their guest.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot, however, appeared not to notice it. He behaved with perfect
+courtesy to the Hindu, and ignored his attempts at impertinence, much to
+Daleham's relief, winning Noreen's admiration by his self-control. He
+skilfully steered the conversation to the subject of the Bengalis employed
+on the estate. The engineer at first denied that there were Brahmins among
+them, but when told of Narain Dass's claim to be one, he pretended
+ignorance of the fact. This obvious falsehood confirmed Dermot's suspicion
+of him.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Dalehams were not sorry when Chunerbutty rose to say good-night shortly
+after they had left the dining-room. He was starting at an early hour next
+morning on a long ride to Lalpuri to visit his father, of whose health he
+said he had received disquieting news.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Noreen went to bed that night she lay awake for some time thinking of
+their new friend. In addition to her natural feeling of gratitude to him
+for saving her from deadly peril, there was the consciousness that he was
+eminently likable in himself. His strength of character, his manliness, the
+suggestion of mystery about him in his power over wild animals and the
+fearlessness with which he risked the dangers of the forest, all increased
+the attraction that he had for her. Still thinking of him she fell asleep.
+</p>
+<p>
+And Dermot? Truth to tell, his thoughts dwelt longer on Chunerbutty and
+Narain Dass than on Miss Daleham. He liked the girl, admired her nature,
+her unaffected and frank manner, her kind and sunny disposition. He
+considered her decidedly pretty; but her good looks did not move him much,
+for he was neither impressionable nor susceptible, and had known too many
+beautiful women the world over to lose his heart readily. Possibly under
+other circumstances he might not have given the girl a second thought, for
+women had never bulked largely in his life. But the strange beginning of
+their acquaintance had given her, too, a special interest.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Dalehams' arrival at the club the next day with their guest caused
+quite a sensation. At any time a stranger was a refreshing novelty to this
+isolated community. But in addition Dermot had the claim of old friendship
+with one of their members, and the other men knew him by repute. So he was
+welcomed with the open-hearted hospitality for which planters are
+deservedly renowned.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Rice took complete possession of him as soon as he was introduced to
+her, insisted on his sitting beside her at lunch and monopolised him after
+it. Noreen, rather to her own surprise, felt a little indignant at the calm
+appropriation of her new friend by the older woman, and a faint resentment
+against Dermot for acquiescing in it. She was a little hurt, too, at his
+ignoring her.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the soldier had not come there to talk to ladies. He soon managed to
+escape from Mrs. Rice's clutches in order to have a serious talk with his
+old friend Payne, which resulted in the latter adroitly gathering the older
+and more dependable men together outside the building on the pretext of
+inspecting the future polo ground. In reality it was to afford Dermot an
+opportunity of disclosing to them as much of the impending peril of
+invasion as he judged wise. The planters would be the first to suffer in
+such an event. He wanted to put them on their guard and enlist their help
+in the detection of a treacherous correspondence between external and
+internal foes. This they readily promised, and they undertook to watch the
+Bengalis among their coolies.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Dalehams and their guest did not reach Malpura until after sundown, and
+Dermot was persuaded to remain another night under their roof.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the following morning the brother and sister rode out with him to the
+scene of Noreen's adventure. He was on foot and was accompanied by two
+coolies carrying his elephant's pad. The girl was not surprised, although
+Fred Daleham was, at Badshah's appearance from the forest in response to a
+whistle from his master. And when, after a friendly farewell, man and
+animal disappeared in the jungle, Noreen was conscious of the fact that
+they had left a little ache in her heart.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+IN THE RAJAH'S PALACE
+</h3>
+<p>
+A rambling, many-storied building, a jumbled mass of no particular design
+or style of architecture, with blue-washed walls and close-latticed
+windows, an insanitary rabbit-warren of intricate passages, unexpected
+courtyards, hidden gardens, and crazy tenements kennelling a small army of
+servants, retainers, and indefinable hangers-on&mdash;such was the palace of the
+Rajah of Lalpuri. Here and there, by carved doors or iron-studded gates
+half off their hinges, lounged purposeless sentries, barefooted, clad in
+old and dirty red coatees, white cross-belts and ragged blue trousers. They
+leant on rusty, muzzle-loading muskets purchased from "John Company" in
+pre-Mutiny years, and their uniforms were modelled on those worn by the
+Company's native troops before the days of Chillianwallah.
+</p>
+<p>
+The outer courtyard swarmed with a mob of beggars, panders, traders,
+servants, and idlers, through which occasionally a ramshackle carriage
+drawn by galled ponies, their broken harness tied with rope, and conveying
+some Palace official, made its way with difficulty. Sometimes the vehicle
+was closely shuttered or shrouded with white cotton sheets and contained
+some high-caste lady or brazen, jewel-decked wanton of the Court.
+</p>
+<p>
+On one side were the tumble-down stables, near which a squealing white
+stallion with long, red-dyed tail was tied to a <i>peepul</i> tree. Its rider, a
+blue-coated <i>sowar</i>, or cavalryman, with bare feet thrust into heelless
+native slippers, sat on the ground near it smoking a hubble-bubble. A
+chorus of neighing answered his screaming horse from the filthy stalls,
+outside which stood foul-smelling manure-heaps, around which mangy pariah
+dogs nosed. In the blazing sun a couple of hooded hunting-cheetahs lay
+panting on the bullock-cart to which they were chained.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Palace stood in the heart of the city of Lalpuri, a maze of narrow,
+malodorous streets off which ran still narrower and fouler lanes. The
+gaudily-painted houses, many stories high, with wooden balconies and
+projecting windows, were interspersed with ruinous palm-thatched bamboo
+huts and grotesquely decorated temples filled with fat priests and hideous,
+ochre-daubed gods, and noisy with the incessant blare of conch shells and
+the jangling of bells. Lalpuri was a byword throughout India and was known
+to its contemptuous neighbours as the City of Harlots and Thieves. Poverty,
+debauchery, and crime were rife. Justice was a mockery; corruption and
+abuses flourished everywhere. A just magistrate or an honourable official
+was as hard to find as an honest citizen or a virtuous woman.
+</p>
+<p>
+Like people, like rulers. The State had been founded by a Mahratta
+free-booter in the days when the Pindaris swept across Hindustan from
+Poona almost to Calcutta. His successor at the time of the Mutiny was a
+clever rascal, who refused to commit himself openly against the British
+while secretly protesting his devotion to their enemies. He balanced
+himself adroitly on the fence until it was evident which side would
+prove victorious. When Delhi fell and the mutineers were scattered, he
+offered a refuge in his palace to certain rebel princes and leaders
+who were fleeing with their treasures and loot to Burmah. But the
+treacherous scoundrel seized the money and valuables and handed the
+owners over to the Government of India.
+</p>
+<p>
+The present occupant of the <i>gadi</i>&mdash;which is the Hindustani equivalent of a
+throne&mdash;was far from being an improvement on his predecessors. He exceeded
+them in viciousness, though much their inferior in ability. As a rule the
+Indian reigning princes of today&mdash;and especially those educated at the
+splendid Rajkumar College, or Princes' School&mdash;are an honour to their high
+lineage and the races from which they spring. In peace they devote
+themselves to the welfare of their subjects, and in war many of them have
+fought gallantly for the Empire and all have given their treasures or their
+troops loyally and generously to their King-Emperor.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah of Lalpuri was an exception&mdash;and a bad one. Although not thirty
+years of age he had plumbed the lowest depths of vice and debauchery.
+Cruelty and treachery were his most marked characteristics, lust and liquor
+his ruling passions.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of Mahratta descent he was of course a Hindu. While in drunken moments
+professing himself an atheist and blaspheming the gods, yet when
+suffering from illness caused by his excesses he was a prey to
+superstitious fears and as wax in the hands of his Brahmin priests.
+Although his territory was small and unimportant, yet the ownership of
+a Bengal coalfield and the judicious investment by his father of the
+treasure stolen from the rebel princes in profitable Western enterprises
+ensured him an income greater than that enjoyed by many far more
+important maharajahs. But his revenue was never sufficient for his
+needs, and he ground down his wretched subjects with oppressive taxes
+to furnish him with still more money to waste in his vices. All men
+marvelled that the Government of India allowed such a debauchee and
+wastrel to remain on the <i>gadi</i>. But it is a long-suffering Government
+and loth to interfere with the rulers of the native states. However,
+matters were fast reaching a crisis when the Viceroy and his advisers
+would be forced to consider whether they should allow this degenerate to
+continue to misgovern his State. This the Rajah realised, and it filled
+him with feelings of hostility and disloyalty to the Suzerain Power.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the real ruler of Lalpuri State was the <i>Dewan</i> or Prime Minister, a
+clever, ambitious, and unscrupulous Bengali Brahmin, endowed with all the
+talent for intrigue and chicanery of his race and caste as well as with
+their hatred of the British. He had persuaded himself that the English
+dominion in India was coming to an end and was ready to do all in his power
+to hasten the event. For he secretly nourished the design of deposing the
+Rajah and making himself the nominal as well as the virtual ruler of the
+State, and he knew that the British would not permit this. His was the
+brain that had conceived the project of uniting the disloyal elements of
+Bengal with the foreign foes of the Government of India, and he was the
+leader of the disaffected and the chief of the conspirators.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Chunerbutty arrived in Lalpuri he rode with difficulty through the
+crowded, narrow streets. His sun-helmet and European dress earned him
+hostile glances and open insults, and more than one foul gibe was hurled at
+him as he went along by some who imagined him from his dark face and
+English clothes to be a half-caste. For the native, however humble, hates
+and despises the man of mixed breed.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he reached the Palace he made his way through the throng of beggars,
+touts, and hangers-on in the outer courtyard, and, passing the sentries,
+all of whom recognised him, entered the building. Through the maze of
+passages and courts he penetrated to the room occupied by his father in
+virtue of his appointment in the Rajah's service.
+</p>
+<p>
+He found the old man sitting cross-legged on a mat in the dirty, almost
+bare apartment. He was chewing betel-nut and spitting the red juice into a
+pot. He looked up as his son entered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Among the other out-of-date customs and silly superstitions that the
+younger Chunerbutty boasted of having freed himself from, were the
+respect and regard due to parents&mdash;usually deep-rooted in all races of
+India, and indeed of the East generally. So without any salutation or
+greeting he sat down on the one ricketty chair that the room contained,
+and said ill-temperedly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here I am, having ridden miles in the heat and endured discomfort for
+some absurd whim of thine. Why didst thou send for me? I told thee never
+to do so unless the matter were very important. I had to eat abuse from
+that drunken Welshman to get permission to come. I had to swear that
+thou wert on the point of death. Then he consented, but only because, as
+he said, I might catch thy illness and die too. May jackals dig him from
+his grave and devour his corpse!"
+</p>
+<p>
+As the father and son sat confronting each other the contrast between them
+was significant of the old Bengal and the new. The silly, light-minded
+girls in England who had found the younger man's attractions irresistible
+and raved over his dark skin and the fascinating suggestion of the Orient
+in him, should have seen the pair now. The son, ultra-English in his
+costume, from his sun-hat to his riding-breeches and gaiters, and the old
+Bengali, ridiculously like him in features, despite his shaven crown with
+one oiled scalp-lock, his bulbous nose and flabby cheeks, and teeth stained
+red by betel-chewing. On his forehead were painted three white horizontal
+strokes, the mark of the worshippers of Siva the Destroyer. His only
+garment was a dirty old <i>dhoti</i> tied round his fat, naked paunch.
+</p>
+<p>
+He grinned at his son's ill-temper and replied briefly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Rajah wishes to see thee, son."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why? Is there anything new?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do not know. Thou art angry at being torn from the side of the English
+girl. Art thou to marry her? Why not be satisfied to wed one of thine own
+countrywomen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The younger man spat contemptuously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I would not be content with a fat Hindu cow after having known English
+girls. Thou shouldest see those of London, old man. How they love us of
+dark skin and believe our tales that we are Indian princes!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The father leered unpleasantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thou hast often told me that these white women are shameless. Is it
+needful to pay the price of marriage to possess this one?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I want her, if only to anger the white men among whom I live," replied his
+son sullenly. "Like all the English out here they hate to see their women
+marry us black men."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a white man in the Palace who is not like that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A white man in the Palace?" echoed his son. "Who is he? What does he
+here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"A Parliamentary-<i>wallah</i>, who is visiting India and will go back to tell
+the English monkeys in his country what we are not. He comes here with
+letters from the <i>Lat Sahib</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+"From the Viceroy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; thou knowest that any fool from their Parliament holds a whip over
+the back of the <i>Lat Sahib</i> and all the white men in this land. This one
+hath no love for his own country."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How knowest thou that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because the <i>Dewan Sahib</i> loves him. Any foe of England is as welcome to
+the <i>Dewan</i> as the monsoon rain to the <i>ryot</i> whose crops are dying of
+drought. Thou wilt see this one, for he is ever with the <i>Dewan</i>, who has
+ordered that thou goest to him before seeing the Rajah.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ordered? I am sick of his orders," replied the son, petulantly. "Am I his
+dog that he should order me? I am not a Lalpuri now. I am a British
+subject."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thy father eats the Rajah's salt. Thou forgettest that the <i>Dewan</i> found
+the money to send thee across the Black Water to learn thy trade."
+</p>
+<p>
+The younger man frowned discontentedly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I see not the colour of his money now. Why should I obey him? I will
+not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Softly, softly, son. There be many knives in the bazaars of the city that
+will seek out any man's heart at the <i>Dewan's</i> bidding. Thou art a man of
+Lalpuri still."
+</p>
+<p>
+His son rose discontentedly from his chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Kali</i> smite him with smallpox. I suppose it were better to see what he
+wants. I shall go."
+</p>
+<p>
+Admitted to the presence of the <i>Dewan</i>, Chunerbutty's defiant manner
+dropped from him, for he had always held that official in awe. His swagger
+vanished; he bent low and his hand went up to his head in a salaam. The
+Premier of the State, a wrinkled old Brahmin, was seated on the ground
+propped up by white bolsters, with a small table, a foot high, crowded with
+papers in front of him. He was dressed simply and plainly in white cotton
+garments, a small coloured <i>puggri</i> covering his shaved head. Although
+reputed the possessor of finer jewels than the Rajah he wore no ornaments.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sprawling in an easy chair opposite him was a fat European in a tight white
+linen suit buttoned up to the neck. He evidently felt the heat acutely, and
+with a large coloured handkerchief he incessantly wiped his red face, down
+which the sweat rolled in oily drops, and mopped his bald head.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Chunerbutty entered the apartment the <i>Dewan</i>, without any greeting
+indicated him, saying:
+</p>
+<p>
+"This, Mr. Macgregor, is an example of what all we Indians shall be when
+relieved of the tyranny of British officials and allowed to govern
+ourselves."
+</p>
+<p>
+His English was perfect.
+</p>
+<p>
+The bearer of the historic Highland name, whose appearance suggested rather
+a Hebrew patronymic, removed from his mouth the cigar that he was smoking
+and asked in a guttural voice:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who is the young man?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Dewan</i> briefly explained, then, turning to Chunerbutty, he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is Mr. Donald Macgregor, M.P., a member of the Labour Party and a
+true friend of India. You may speak freely before him. Sit down."
+</p>
+<p>
+The engineer looked around in vain for another chair. The <i>Dewan</i> said
+sharply in Bengali, using the familiar, and in this case contemptuous,
+"thou":
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sit on the floor, as thy fathers before thee have done, as thou didst
+thyself before thou began to think thyself an Englishman and despise thy
+country and its ways."
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty collapsed and sat down hastily on a mat. Then in English the
+<i>Dewan</i> continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you any news?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I have forwarded as they came all letters and messengers from Bhutan.
+The troops&mdash;" He stopped and looked at the Member of Parliament.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Continue. There is no need of secrecy before Mr. Macgregor," said the
+<i>Dewan</i>. "I have said that he is a friend of India."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's all right, my boy," added the Hebrew Highlander encouragingly. "I am
+a Pacifist and a socialist. I don't hold with soldiers or with keeping
+coloured races enslaved. 'England for English and India for the Indians' is
+my motto."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I have already informed you that there is no truth in the reports
+that troops were to be sent again to Buxa Duar," said Chunerbutty,
+reassured. "On the frontier there are only the two hundred Military Police
+at Ranga Duar. They are Punjaubi Mohammedans. I made the acquaintance of
+the officer commanding them last night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah! What is he like?" enquired the <i>Dewan</i>, interested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Inquisitive, but a fool&mdash;like all these officers," replied the engineer
+contemptuously. "He noticed Narain Dass on our garden and saw that he was a
+Bengali. He learned that others of us were employed on our estate and was
+surprised that Brahmins should do coolie work. But he suspected nothing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are sure?" asked the <i>Dewan</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite certain."
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Dewan</i> shook his head doubtfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These English officers are not always the fools they seem," he observed.
+"We must keep an eye on this inquisitive person. Now, how goes the work
+among the garden coolies? Are they ripe for revolt?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not yet on all the estates. They are ignorant cattle, and to them the
+Motherland means nothing. But on our garden our greatest helper is the
+manager, a drunken bully. He ill-treats the coolies and nearly kicked one
+to death the other day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's how the Englishman always treats the native, isn't it?" asked the
+Hebrew representative of an English constituency.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Always and everywhere," replied the engineer unhesitatingly, wondering if
+Macgregor were really fool enough to believe the libel, which one day's
+experience in India should have shown him to be false. But this foreign Jew
+turned Scotchman hated the country of his adoption, as only these gentry
+do, and was ready to believe any lie against it and eager to do all in his
+power to injure it.
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Dewan</i> said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Macgregor has been sent to tell us that his party pledges itself to
+help us in Parliament."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, you need have no fear. We'll see that justice is done you," began the
+politician in his best tub-thumping manner. "We Socialists and Communists
+are determined to put an end to tyranny and oppression, whether of the
+downtrodden slaves of Capitalism at home or our coloured brothers abroad.
+The British working-man wants no colonies, no India. He is determined to
+change everything in England and do away with all above him&mdash;kings, lords,
+aristocrats, and the <i>bourgeoisie</i>. He demands Revolution, and we'll give
+it him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pardon me, Mr. Macgregor," remarked the engineer. "I've lived among
+British working-men, when I was in the shops, but I never found that they
+wanted revolution."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Member of Parliament looked at him steadily for a moment and grinned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're no fool, Mr. Chunerbutty. You're a lad after my own heart. You know
+a thing or two. Perhaps you're right. But the British working-man lets us
+represent him, and we know what's good for him, if he don't. We Socialists
+run the Labour Party, and I promise you we'll back you up in Parliament if
+you rebel and drive the English out of India."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We shall do it, Mr. Macgregor," said the <i>Dewan</i>, confidently, "We are
+co-ordinating all the organisations in the Punjaub, Bombay, and Bengal,
+and we shall strike simultaneously. Afghan help has been promised, and
+the Pathan tribesmen will follow the Amir's regiments into India. As I
+told you, the Chinese and Bhutanese invasion is certain, and there are
+neither troops nor fortifications along this frontier to stop it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's right. You'll do it," said Macgregor. "The General Election
+comes off in a few months, and our party is sure of victory. I am
+authorised to assure you that our first act will be to give India
+absolute independence. So you can do what you like. But don't kill the
+white women and children&mdash;at least, not openly. They might not like it
+in England, though personally I don't care if you massacre every damned
+Britisher in the country. From what I've seen of 'em it's only what
+they deserve. The insolence I've met with from those whipper-snapper
+officers! And the civil officials would be as bad, if they dared.
+Then their women&mdash;I wouldn't like to say what I think of <i>them</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Dewan</i> turned to Chunerbutty.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go now; you have my leave. His Highness wishes to see you. I have sent him
+word that you are here."
+</p>
+<p>
+The engineer rose and salaamed respectfully. Then, with a nod to Macgregor,
+he withdrew full of thought. He had not known before that the conspiracy to
+expel the British was so widespread and promising. He had not regarded it
+very seriously hitherto. But he had faith in the <i>Dewan</i>, and the pledge of
+the great political party in England was reassuring.
+</p>
+<p>
+Admitted to the presence of the Rajah, Chunerbutty found him reclining
+languidly on a pile of soft cushions on the floor of a tawdrily-decorated
+room. The walls were crowded with highly-coloured chromos of Hindu gods and
+badly-painted indecent pictures. A cut-glass chandelier hung from the
+ceiling, and expensive but ill-assorted European furniture stood about the
+apartment. French mechanical toys under glass shades crowded the tables.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah was a fat and sensual-looking young man, with bloated face and
+bloodshot that eyes spoke eloquently of his excesses. On his forehead was
+painted a small semicircular line above the eyebrows with a round patch in
+the middle, which was the sect-mark of the <i>Sáktas</i>. His white linen
+garments were creased and dirty, but round his neck he wore a rope of
+enormous pearls. His feet were bare. On a gold tray beside him were two
+liqueur bottles, one empty, the other only half full, and two or three
+glasses.
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked up vacantly as Chunerbutty entered, then, recognising him, said
+petulantly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where have you been? Why did you not come before?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The engineer salaamed and seated himself on the carpet near him without
+invitation. He held the Rajah far less in awe than the Prime Minister, for
+he had been the former's boon-companion in his debauches too often to have
+much respect for him.
+</p>
+<p>
+He answered the prince carelessly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The <i>Dewan</i> sent for me to see him before I came to you, <i>Maharaj Sahib</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why? What for? That man thinks that he is the ruler of Lalpuri, not I,"
+grumbled the Rajah. "I gave orders that you were to be sent to me as soon
+as you arrived. I want news of the girl. Is she still there?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; she is still there."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Listen to me," the Rajah leant forward and tapped him on the knee. "I must
+have that girl. Ever since I saw her at the <i>durbar</i> at Jalpaiguri I have
+wanted her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your Highness knows that it is difficult to get hold of an Englishwoman in
+India."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know. But I do not care. I must have her. I <i>will</i> have her." He filled
+a tumbler with liqueur and sipped it. "I have sent for you to find a way.
+You are clever. You know the customs of these English. You have often told
+me how you did as you wished with the white women in England."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is very different. It is easy there," and Chunerbutty smiled at
+pleasant memories. "There the women are shameless, and they prefer us to
+their own colour. And the men are not jealous. They are proud that their
+daughters and sisters should know us."
+</p>
+<p>
+He helped himself to the liqueur.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why do you not go to England?" he continued. "There every woman would
+throw herself at your feet. They make much of the Hindu students, the sons
+of fat <i>bunniahs</i> and shopkeepers in Calcutta, because they think them all
+Indian princes. For you who really are one they would do anything."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah sat up furious and dashed his glass down on the tray so violently
+that it shivered to atoms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go to England? Have I not tried to?" he cried. "But every time I ask, the
+Viceroy refuses me permission. I, a rajah, the son of rajahs, must beg
+leave like a servant from a man whose grandfather was a nobody&mdash;and be
+refused. May his womenkind be dishonoured! May his grave be defiled!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He filled another glass and emptied it before continuing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, I tell you, I want this girl. I must have her. You must get her for
+me. Can you not carry her off and bring her here? You can have all the
+money you want to bribe any one. You said there are only two white men on
+the garden. I will send you a hundred soldiers."
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty looked alarmed. He had no wish to be dragged into such a mad
+proceeding as to attempt to carry off an Englishwoman by force, and in a
+place where he was well known. For the girl in question was Noreen Daleham.
+The Rajah had seen her a few months before at a <i>durbar</i> or reception of
+native notables held by the Lieutenant Governor of Eastern Bengal, and been
+fired with an insane and unholy passion for her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your Highness, it is impossible. Quite impossible. Do you not see that all
+the power of the <i>Sirkar</i> (the Government) would be put forth to punish us?
+You would be deposed, and I&mdash;I would be sent to the convict settlement in
+the Andaman Islands, if I were not hanged."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah abused the hated English, root and branch. But he was forced to
+admit that Chunerbutty was right. Open violence would ruin them.
+</p>
+<p>
+He sank back on the cushions, exhausted by his fit of anger. Draining his
+glass he filled it up again. Then he clapped his hands. A servant entered
+noiselessly on bare feet, bringing two full bottles of liqueur and fresh
+tumblers. There was little difficulty in anticipating His Highness's
+requirements. The <i>khitmagar</i> removed the empty bottles and the broken
+glass and left the apartment.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah drank again. The strong liqueur seemed to have no effect on him.
+Then he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, find a plan yourself. But I must get the girl."
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty pretended to think. Then he began to expose tentatively, as if
+it were an idea just come to him, a plan that he had conceived weeks
+before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Maharaj Sahib</i>, if I could make the girl my wife&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah half rose up and spluttered out furiously:
+</p>
+<p>
+"You dog, wouldst thou dare to rival me, to interfere between me and my
+desires?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The engineer hastened to pacify the angry man.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, no, Your Highness. You misunderstand me. Surely you know that you can
+trust me. What I mean is that, if I married her, she would have to obey me,
+and&mdash;" he smiled insinuatingly and significantly&mdash;"I am a loyal subject of
+Your Highness."
+</p>
+<p>
+The fat debauchee stared at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments. Then
+understanding dawned, and his bloated face creased into a lascivious smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see. I see. Then marry her," he said, sinking back on the cushions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your Highness forgets that the salary they pay a tea-garden engineer is
+not enough to tempt a girl to marry him nor support them if she did."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is true," replied the Rajah thoughtfully. He was silent for a little,
+and then he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will give you an appointment here in the Palace with a salary of a
+<i>lakh</i> of rupees a year."
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty's eyes glistened. A <i>lakh</i> is a hundred thousand, and at par
+fifteen rupees went to an English sovereign.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you, Your Highness," he said eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah held up a fat forefinger warningly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But not until you have married her," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty smiled confidently. Much as he had seen of Noreen Daleham he
+yet knew her so little as to believe that the prospect of such an income,
+joined to the favour in which he believed she held him, would make it an
+easy matter to win her consent.
+</p>
+<p>
+He imagined himself to be in love with the girl, but it was in the
+Oriental's way&mdash;that is, it was merely a matter of sensual desire. Although
+as jealous as Eastern men are in sex questions, the prospect of the money
+quite reconciled him to the idea of sharing his wife with another. His
+fancy flew ahead to the time, which he knew to be inevitable, when
+possession would have killed passion and the money would bring new, and so
+more welcome, women to his arms. The Rajah would only too readily permit,
+nay encourage him to go to Europe&mdash;alone. And he gloated over the thought
+of being again in London, but this time with much money at his command.
+What was any one woman compared with fifty, with a hundred, others ready to
+replace her?
+</p>
+<p>
+So he calmly discussed with the Rajah the manner of carrying out their
+nefarious scheme; and His Highness, to show his appreciation, invited him
+to share his orgies that night. And in the smiles and embraces of a
+Kashmiri wanton, Chunerbutty forgot the English girl.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VIII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+A BHUTTIA RAID
+</h3>
+<p>
+Dermot's friendship with the Dalehams made rapid progress, and in the
+ensuing weeks he saw them often. In order to verify his suspicions as to
+the Bengalis, he made a point of cultivating the acquaintance of the
+planters, paid several visits to Payne and other members of the community,
+and was a frequent guest at the weekly gatherings at the club.
+</p>
+<p>
+On one of his visits to Malpura he found Fred recovering from a sharp bout
+of malarial fever, and Dermot was glad of an opportunity of requiting their
+hospitality by inviting both the Dalehams to Ranga Duar to enable Fred to
+recuperate in the mountain air.
+</p>
+<p>
+The invitation was gladly accepted. Their host came to fetch them himself
+with two elephants; Badshah, carrying a <i>charjama</i>, conveying them, while
+the other animal bore their luggage and servants. With jealous rage in his
+heart Chunerbutty watched them go.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen enjoyed the journey through the forest and up the mountains, with
+Dermot sitting beside her to act as her guide, for on this occasion
+Ramnath drove Badshah. As they climbed the steep, winding road among the
+hills and rose out of the damp heat of the Plains, Fred declared that he
+felt better at once in the cool refreshing breezes that swept down from
+the lofty peaks above. The forest fell away behind them. The great teak
+and <i>sal</i> trees gave place to the lighter growths of bamboo, plantain,
+and sago-palm. A troop of small brown monkeys, feasting on ripe bananas,
+sprang away startled on all fours and vanished in all directions. A
+slim-bodied, long-tailed mongoose, stealing across the road, stopped in
+the middle of it to rise up on his hind legs and stare with tiny pink
+eyes at the approaching elephants. Then, dropping to the ground again
+with puffed-out, defiant tail, he trotted on into the undergrowth angry
+and unafraid.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arrived at Ranga Duar the brother and sister exclaimed in admiration at the
+beauty of the lonely outpost nestling in the bosom of the hills. They gazed
+with interest at the stalwart sepoys of the detachment in khaki or white
+undress whom they passed and who drew themselves up and saluted their
+commanding sahib smartly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot had given up his small bungalow to his guests and gone to occupy
+the one vacant quarter in the Mess. Noreen was to sleep in his bedroom,
+and, as the girl looked round the scantily-furnished apartment with
+its small camp-bed, one canvas chair, a table, and a barrack chest of
+drawers, she tried to realise that she was actually to live for a while
+in the very room of the man who was fast becoming her hero. For indeed
+her feeling for Dermot so far savoured more of hero-worship than of
+love. She looked with interest at his scanty possessions, his sword,
+the line of riding-boots against the wall, the belts and spurs hung on
+nails, the brass-buttoned greatcoat hanging behind the door. In his
+sitting-room she read the names of the books on a roughly-made stand to
+try to judge of his taste in literature. And with feminine curiosity she
+studied the photographs on the walls and tables and wondered who were
+the originals of the portraits of some beautiful women among them and
+what was their relation to Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+While her brother, who picked up strength at once in the pure air,
+delighted in the military sights and sounds around him, the girl revelled
+in the loveliness of their surroundings, the beauty of the scenery, the
+splendour of the hills, and the glorious panorama of forest and plains
+spread before her eyes. To Parker, who had awaited their arrival at
+Dermot's gate and hurried forward to help down from Badshah's back the
+first Englishwoman who had ever visited their solitary station, she took an
+instant liking, which increased when she found that he openly admired his
+commanding officer as much as she did secretly.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the days that followed it seemed quite natural that the task of
+entertaining Noreen should fall to the senior officer's lot, while the
+junior tactfully paired off with her brother and took him to shoot on the
+rifle range or join in games of hockey with the sepoys on the parade
+ground, which was the only level spot in the station.
+</p>
+<p>
+Propinquity is the most frequent cause of love&mdash;for one who falls headlong
+into that passion fifty drift into it. In the isolation of that solitary
+spot on the face of the giant mountains, Kevin Dermot and Noreen Daleham
+drew nearer to each other in their few days together there than they ever
+would have done in as many months of London life. As they climbed the hills
+or sat side by side on the Mess verandah and looked down on the leagues of
+forest and plain spread out like a map at their feet, they were apt to
+forget that they were not alone in the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+The more Dermot saw of Noreen, the more he was attracted by her naturalness
+and her unconscious charm of manner. He liked her bright and happy
+disposition, full of the joy of living. On her side Noreen at first hardly
+recognised the quiet-mannered, courteous man that she had first known in
+the smart, keen, and intelligent soldier such as she found Dermot to be in
+his own surroundings. Yet she was glad to have seen him in his little world
+and delighted to watch him with his Indian officers and sepoys, whose
+liking and respect for him were so evident.
+</p>
+<p>
+When she was alone her thoughts were all of him. As she lay at night
+half-dreaming on his little camp-bed in his bare room she wondered what
+his life had been. And, to a woman, the inevitable question arose in her
+mind: Had he ever loved or was he now in love with someone? It seemed to
+her that any woman should be proud to win the love of such a man. Was
+there one? What sort of girl would he admire, she wondered. She had
+noticed that in their talks he had never mentioned any of her sex or
+given her a clue to his likes and dislikes. She knew little of men. Her
+brother was the only one of whose inner life and ideas she had any
+knowledge, and he was no help to her understanding of Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+It never occurred to Noreen that there was anything unusual in her interest
+in this new friend, nor did she suspect that that interest was perilously
+akin to a deeper feeling. All she knew was that she liked him and was
+content to be near him. She had not reached the stage of being miserable
+out of his presence. The dawn of a woman's love is the happiest time in its
+story. There is no certain realisation of the truth to startle, perhaps
+affright, her, no doubts to depress her, no jealous fears to torture her
+heart&mdash;only a vague, delicious feeling of gladness, a pleasant rose-tinted
+glow to brighten life and warm her heart. The fierce, devouring flames come
+later.
+</p>
+<p>
+The first love of a young girl is passionless, pure; a fanciful, poetic
+devotion to an ideal; the worship of a deified, glorious being who does
+not, never could, exist. Too often the realisation of the truth that the
+idol has feet of clay is enough to burst the iridescent glowing bubble. Too
+seldom the love deepens, develops into the true and lasting devotion of the
+woman, clear-sighted enough to see the real man through the mists of
+illusion, but fondly wise enough to cherish him in spite of his faults,
+aye, even because of them, as a mother loves her deformed child for its
+very infirmity.
+</p>
+<p>
+So to Noreen love had come&mdash;as it should, as it must, to every daughter of
+Eve, for until it comes no one of them will ever be really content or feel
+that her life is complete, although when it does she will probably be
+unhappy. For it will surely bring to her more grief than joy. Life and
+Nature are harder to the woman than to the man. But in those golden days in
+the mountains, Noreen Daleham was happy, happier far than she had ever
+been; albeit she did not realise that love was the magician that made her
+so. She only felt that the world was a very delightful place and that the
+lonely outpost the most attractive spot in it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Even when the day came to quit Ranga Duar she was not depressed. For was
+not her friend&mdash;so she named him now in her thoughts&mdash;to bring her on his
+wonderful elephant through the leagues of enchanted forest to her home? And
+had he not promised to come to it again very soon to visit&mdash;not her, of
+course, but her brother? So what cause was there for sadness?
+</p>
+<p>
+Long as was the way&mdash;for forty miles of jungle paths lay between Malpura
+and Ranga Duar&mdash;the journey seemed all too short for Noreen. But it came
+to an end at last, and they arrived at the garden as the sun set and
+Kinchinjunga's fairy white towers and spires hung high in air for a
+space of time tantalisingly brief. Before they reached the bungalow the
+short-lived Indian twilight was dying, and the tiny oil-lamps began to
+twinkle in the palm-thatched huts of the toilers' village on the estate.
+And forth from it swarmed the coolies, men, women, children, not to
+welcome them, but to stare at the sacred elephant. Many heads bent low,
+many hands were lifted to foreheads in awed salutation. Some of the
+throng prostrated themselves to the dust, not in greeting to their own
+sahib but in reverence to the marvellous animal and the mysterious white
+man bestriding his neck who was becoming identified with him.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Dermot rode away on Badshah the next morning the same scenes were
+repeated. The coolies left their work among the tea-bushes to flock to the
+side of the road as he passed. But he paid as little attention to them as
+Badshah did, and turned just before the Dalehams' bungalow was lost to
+sight to wave a last farewell to the girl still standing on the verandah
+steps. It was a vision that he took away with him in his heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, as the elephant bore him away through the forest, Noreen faded from
+his mind, for he had graver, sterner thoughts to fill it. Love can never be
+a fair game between the sexes, for the man and the woman do not play with
+equal stakes. The latter risks everything, her soul, her mind, her whole
+being. The former wagers only a fragment of his heart, a part of his
+thoughts. Yet he is not to blame; it is Nature's ordinance. For the world's
+work would never go on if men, who chiefly carry it on, were possessed,
+obsessed, by love as women are.
+</p>
+<p>
+So Dermot was only complying with that ordinance when he allowed the
+thoughts of his task, which indeed was ever present with him, to oust
+Noreen from his mind. He was on his way to Payne's bungalow to meet the
+managers of several gardens in that part of the district, who were to
+assemble there to report to him the result of their investigations.
+</p>
+<p>
+His suspicions were more than confirmed. All had the same tale to tell&mdash;a
+story of strange restlessness, a turbulent spirit, a frequent display of
+insolence and insubordination among the coolies ordinarily so docile and
+respectful. But this was only in the gardens that numbered Brahmins in
+their population. The influence of these dangerous men was growing daily.
+This was not surprising to any one who knows the extraordinary power of
+this priestly caste among all Hindus.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was evidence of constant communication between the Bengalis on the
+other estates and Malpura, which pointed to the latter as being the
+headquarters of the promoters of disaffection. But few of the planters were
+inclined to agree with Dermot in suspecting Chunerbutty as likely to prove
+the leader, for they were of opinion that his repudiation and disregard of
+all the beliefs and customs of the Brahmins would render him obnoxious to
+them.
+</p>
+<p>
+From Payne's the Major went on to visit some other gardens. Everywhere he
+heard the same story. All the planters were convinced that the heart and
+the brain of the disaffection was to be found in Malpura. So Dermot
+determined to return there and expose the whole matter to Fred Daleham at
+last, charging him on his loyalty not to give the faintest inkling to
+Chunerbutty.
+</p>
+<p>
+A delay in the advent of the rain, which falls earlier in the district of
+the Himalayan foothills than elsewhere in India, had rendered the jungle
+very dry. Consequently when Dermot on Badshah's neck emerged from it on to
+the garden of Malpura, he was not surprised to see at the far end of the
+estate a column of smoke which told of a forest fire. The wide, open
+stretch of the plantation was deserted, probably, so Dermot concluded,
+because all the coolies had been collected to beat out the flames. But, as
+he neared the Daleham's bungalow, he saw a crowd of them in front of it.
+Before the verandah steps a group surrounded something on the ground, while
+the servants were standing together talking to a man in European clothes,
+whom Dermot, when he drew nearer, recognised as Chunerbutty.
+</p>
+<p>
+The group near the steps scattered as he approached, and Dermot saw that
+the object on the ground was a native lying on his back, covered with blood
+and apparently dead.
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty rushed forward. He was evidently greatly agitated.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Major Dermot! Major Dermot! Help! Help!" he cried excitedly. "A
+terrible thing has happened. Miss Daleham has been carried off by a party
+of Bhuttia raiders."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Carried off? By Bhuttias?" exclaimed the soldier. "When?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He made the elephant kneel and slipped off to the ground.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Barely two hours ago," replied the engineer. "A fire broke out in the
+jungle at the south edge of the garden&mdash;probably started purposely to draw
+everyone away from the bungalows and factory. The manager, Daleham, and I
+went there to superintend the men fighting the flames. In our absence a
+party of ten or twenty Bhuttia swordsmen rushed the house. Miss Daleham had
+just returned from her ride. Poor girl!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He broke down and began to cry.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pull yourself together man!" exclaimed Dermot in disgust. "Go on. What
+happened?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They seized and bound her," continued the Bengali, mastering his emotion.
+"These cowards"&mdash;with a wave of his hand he indicated the servants&mdash;"did
+nothing to protect her. Only the <i>syce</i> attempted to resist, and they
+killed him."
+</p>
+<p>
+He pointed to the prostrate man.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They tried to bear her off on her pony, but it took fright and bolted.
+Then they tied poles to a chair brought from the bungalow and carried her
+away in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Didn't the servants give the alarm?" asked Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; they remained hiding in their quarters until we came. A coolie woman,
+who saw the raiders from a distance, ran to us and told us. Fred went mad,
+of course. He wanted to follow the Bhuttias, but I pointed out that it was
+hopeless."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hopeless? Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There were only three of us, and they were a large party," replied
+Chunerbutty.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but you had rifles and should have been a match for fifty."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Bengali shrugged his shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We did not know in which way they had gone," he said. "We could not track
+them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose not. Well?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fred and Mr. Parry have ridden off in different directions to the
+neighbouring gardens to summon help. We sent two coolies with a telegram to
+you or any officer at Ranga Duar, to be sent from the telegraph office on
+the Barwahi estate. Then you came."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot observed him narrowly. He was always suspicious of the Hindu; but,
+unless the engineer was a good actor, there was no doubt that he was
+greatly affected by the outrage. His distress seemed absolutely genuine.
+And certainly there seemed no reason for suspecting his complicity in the
+carrying off of Miss Daleham. So the Major turned to the servants and,
+taking them apart one by one, questioned them closely. Chunerbutty had
+given their story correctly. But Dermot elicited two new facts which they
+had not mentioned to the engineer. One raider at least was armed with a
+revolver, which was unusual for a Bhuttia, the difficulty of procuring
+firearms and ammunition in Bhutan being so great that even the soldiers of
+the Maharajah are armed only with swords and bows. The Dalehams'
+<i>khansamah</i>, or butler, stated that this man had threatened all the
+servants with this weapon, bidding them under pain of death remain in their
+houses without raising an alarm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know Bhutanese?" asked Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, sahib. But he spoke Bengali," replied the servant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Spoke it well?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, sahib, not well, but sufficiently for us to understand him."
+</p>
+<p>
+Another servant, on being questioned, mentioned the curious fact that the
+man with the revolver conversed with another of the raiders in Bengali.
+This struck Dermot as being improbable, but others of the servants
+confirmed the fact. Having gathered all the information that they could
+give him he went over to look at the dead man.
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>syce</i>, or groom, was lying on his back in a pool of blood. He had been
+struck down by a blow from a sword which seemed to have split the skull.
+But, on placing his ear to the poor wretch's chest, Dermot thought that he
+could detect a faint fluttering of the heart. Holding his polished silver
+cigarette case to the man's mouth he found its brightness slightly clouded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, he is still living," exclaimed the soldier. "Quick! Bring water."
+</p>
+<p>
+He hastily applied his flask to the man's lips. Although he grudged the
+time, Dermot felt that the wounded man's attempt to defend Noreen entitled
+him to have his wound attended to even before any effort was made to rescue
+her. So he had the <i>syce</i> carried to his hut, and then, taking out his
+surgical case, he cleansed and sewed up the gash. But his thoughts were
+busy with Noreen's peril. The occurrence astonished him. Bhuttias from the
+hills beyond the border occasionally raided villages and tea-gardens in
+British territory in search of loot, but were generally careful to avoid
+Europeans. Such an outrage as the carrying off of an Englishwoman had never
+been heard of on the North-East Frontier.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no time to be lost if the raiders were to be overtaken before
+they crossed the border. Indeed, with the start that they had, pursuit
+seemed almost hopeless. Nevertheless, Dermot resolved to attempt it, and
+single-handed. For he could not wait for the planters to gather, and
+summoning his men from Ranga Duar was out of the question. He did not
+consider the odds against him. Had Englishmen stopped to do so in India,
+the Empire would never have been founded. With his rifle and the prestige
+of the white race behind him he would not have hesitated to face a hundred
+such opponents. His blood boiled at the thought of the indignity offered to
+the girl; though he was not seriously concerned for her safety, judging
+that she had been carried off for ransom. But he pictured the distress and
+terror of a delicately nurtured Englishwoman at finding herself in the
+hands of a band of savage outlaws dragging her away to an unknown and awful
+fate. She was his friend, and he felt that it was his right as well as his
+duty to rescue her.
+</p>
+<p>
+With a grim determination to follow her abductors even to Punaka, the
+capital of Bhutan, he swung his leg across Badshah's neck and set out,
+having bade Chunerbutty inform Daleham and the planters that he had started
+in pursuit.
+</p>
+<p>
+The raiders had left the garden by a path leading to the north and headed
+for the mountains. When Dermot got well clear of the bungalow and reached
+the confines of the estate, he dismounted and examined the ground over
+which they had passed. In the dust he found the blurred prints of a number
+of barefooted men and in one place four sharply-defined marks which showed
+where they had set down the chair in which Noreen was being carried,
+probably to change the bearers. A mile or two further on the track crossed
+the dry bed of a small stream. In the sand Dermot noticed to his surprise
+the heel-mark of a boot among the footprints of the raiders, it being most
+unusual for Bhuttias to be shod.
+</p>
+<p>
+As his rider knelt down to examine the tracks, Badshah stretched out his
+trunk and smelt them as though he understood the object of their mission.
+And, as soon as Dermot was again on his neck, he moved on at a rapid pace.
+It was necessary, however, to check constantly to search for the raiders'
+tracks. The Bhuttias had followed an animal path through the jungle, and
+Dermot seated on his elephant's neck with loaded rifle across his knees,
+scanned it carefully and watched the undergrowth on either side, noting
+here and there broken twigs or freshly-fallen leaves which marked the
+passage of the chair conveying Noreen. Such signs were generally to be
+found at sharp turnings of the path. Wherever the ground was soft enough or
+sufficient dust lay to show impressions he stopped to examine the spot
+carefully for footprints. Occasionally he detected the sharp marks of the
+chair-legs or of the boot.
+</p>
+<p>
+The trial led towards the mountains, as was natural. But after several
+hours' progress Badshah turned suddenly to the left and endeavoured to
+continue on towards the west. Dermot was disappointed, for he had persuaded
+himself that the elephant quite understood the quest and was following the
+trail. He headed Badshah again towards the north, but with difficulty, for
+the animal obstinately persisted in trying to go his own way. When Dermot
+conquered finally they continued towards the mountains. But before long the
+soldier found that he had lost all traces of the raiding party. He cast
+around without success and wasted much time in endeavouring to pick up the
+trail again. At last to his annoyance he was forced to turn back and
+retrace his steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the spot where the conflict of opinion between him and the elephant had
+taken place he cast about and found the track again. It led in the
+direction in which Badshah had tried to take him. The elephant had been
+wiser than he. Now, with an apologetic pat on the head, Dermot let him
+follow the new path, wondering at the change of route, for it was only
+natural to expect that the Bhuttias would have made for the hills by the
+shortest way to the nearest pass into Bhutan. As the elephant moved along
+his rider's eye was quick to recognise the traces of the passing of the
+raiders, where no sign would have been visible to one unskilled in
+tracking.
+</p>
+<p>
+All at once Badshah slackened his pace and began to advance with the
+caution of a tusker stalking an enemy. Confident in the animal's
+extraordinary intelligence Dermot cocked his rifle. The elephant suddenly
+turned off the path and moved noiselessly through the undergrowth for a few
+minutes. Then he stopped on the edge of an open glade in the forest.
+</p>
+<p>
+Scattered about in it, sitting or lying down half-asleep, were a number of
+short, sturdy, brown-faced men with close cropped bare heads. Each was clad
+in a single garment shaped like a Japanese <i>kimono</i> and kilted up to expose
+thick-calved, muscular bare legs by a girdle from which hung a <i>dah</i>&mdash;a
+short, straight sword. A little apart from them sat Noreen Daleham in a
+chair in which she was securely fastened and to which long carrying-poles
+were tied. She was dressed in riding costume and wore a sun-helmet.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl was pale, weary, and dejected, and looked so frail and unfitted to
+cope with so terrifying a situation that a feeling of immense tenderness
+and an instinctive desire to protect her filled Dermot as he watched her.
+Then passionate anger welled up in him as he turned his eyes again to her
+captors; and he longed to make them pay dearly for the suffering that she
+had endured.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, despite his rage, he deliberated coolly enough on the best mode of
+attack, as he counted the number of the raiders. There were twenty-two. The
+soldier's quick eye instantly detected that one of them, although garbed
+similarly to the rest, was in features unlike a Bhuttia and had not the
+sturdy frame of a man of that race. He was wearing shoes and socks and was
+the only one of the party not carrying a <i>dah</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot's first idea was to open fire suddenly on the raiders and continue
+firing while moving about in cover from place to place on the edge of the
+glade, so as to give the impression of a numerous force. But he feared that
+harm might come to the girl in the fight if any of the Bhuttias carried
+fire-arms, for they would probably fire wildly, and a stray bullet might
+hit the girl. So he resolved on a bolder policy. While the raiders, who had
+put out no sentries, lay about in groups unconscious of the proximity of an
+enemy, Dermot touched Badshah with his hand, and the elephant broke
+noiselessly out of the undergrowth and suddenly appeared in their midst.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IX
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE RESCUE OF NOREEN
+</h3>
+<p>
+There was a moment's consternation among the Bhuttias. Then they sprang to
+their feet and began to draw their <i>dahs</i>. But suddenly one cried:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The demon elephant! The devil man!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Another and another took up the cry. Then all at once in terror they turned
+and plunged panic-stricken into the undergrowth. All but two&mdash;the wearer of
+shoes and a man with a scarred face beside him. While the rest fled they
+stood their ground and called vainly to their companions to come back. When
+they found themselves deserted the wearer of shoes pulled out a revolver
+and fired at Dermot, while his scarred comrade drew his sword and ran
+towards Noreen.
+</p>
+<p>
+The soldier, ignoring his own danger but fearing for the girl's life, threw
+his rifle to his shoulder and sent a bullet crashing through her
+assailant's skull, then with his second barrel he shot the man with the
+pistol through the heart. The first raider collapsed instantly and fell in
+a heap, while the other, dropping his weapon, swayed for a moment,
+staggered forward a few feet, and fell dead.
+</p>
+<p>
+Only then could Dermot look at Noreen. In the dramatic moment of his
+appearance the girl had uttered no sound, but sat rigid with her eyes fixed
+on him. When the swordsman rushed at her she seemed scarcely conscious of
+her peril but she started in terror and grew deadly pale when his companion
+fired at her rescuer. When both fell her tension relaxed. She sank back
+half-fainting in her chair and closed her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+When she opened them again Badshah was kneeling a few yards away and Dermot
+stood beside her cutting the cords that bound her.
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked up at him and said simply:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I knew you would come."
+</p>
+<p>
+With an affectation of light-heartedness that he was far from feeling he
+replied laughing:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course you did. I am bound to turn up like the clown in the pantomime,
+saying, 'Here we are again.' Oh, I forgot. I am a bit late. I should have
+appeared on the scene when those beggars got to your bungalow."
+</p>
+<p>
+He pretended to treat the whole affair lightly and made no further allusion
+to her adventure, asking no questions about it. He was afraid lest she
+should break down in the sudden relief from the strain and anxiety. But
+there was no cause to fear it. The girl was quietly brave and imitated his
+air of unconcern, behaving after the first moment as if they were meeting
+under the most ordinary circumstances. She smiled, though somewhat feebly,
+as she said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, not a clown, Major Dermot. Rather the hero of a cinema drama, who
+always appears in time to rescue the persecuted maiden. I am beginning to
+feel quite like the unlucky heroine of a film play."
+</p>
+<p>
+The cords fastening her had now been cut, so she tried to stand up but
+found no strength in her numbed limbs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm&mdash;I'm rather stiff," she said, sinking back into the
+chair again. She felt angry at her weakness, but she was almost glad of it
+when she saw Dermot's instant look of concern.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are cramped from being tied up," he said. "Don't hurry."
+</p>
+<p>
+The cords had chafed her wrists cruelly. He stooped to examine the
+abrasions, and the girl thrilled at his gentle touch. A feeling of shyness
+overcame her, and she turned her eyes away from his face. They fell on the
+bodies of the dead raiders, and she hastily averted her gaze.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hadn't we better hurry away from here?" she asked, apprehensively.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I don't think there is any necessity. The men who ran away seemed too
+scared to think of returning. But still, we'll start as soon as you feel
+strong enough."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was it that they cried out?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, merely an uncomplimentary remark about Badshah and me," he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl made another attempt to rise and succeeded with his assistance. He
+lifted her on to Badshah's pad and went over to examine the dead men. After
+his first casual glance at the wearer of shoes he knelt down and looked
+closely into the face of the corpse. Then he pulled open the single
+garment. A thin cord consisting of three strings of spun cotton was round
+the body next the skin, passing over the left shoulder and under the right
+arm. This Dermot cut off. From inside the garment he took out some other
+articles, all of which he pocketed. He then searched the corpse of the
+scarred Bhuttia, taking a small packet tied up in cloth from the breast of
+the garment. Noreen watched him with curiosity and marvelled at his courage
+in handling the dead bodies.
+</p>
+<p>
+He returned to the kneeling elephant and took his place on the neck.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hold on now, Miss Daleham," he said. "Badshah's going to rise. <i>Uth</i>"
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen gripped the surcingle rope tightly as the elephant heaved up his big
+body and set off along a track through the jungle at a rapid pace.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now we are safe enough," said Dermot, turning towards his companion. "I
+have not asked you yet about your adventures. Tell me all that happened to
+you, if you don't mind talking about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, it was awful," she answered, shuddering at the remembrance. "And it
+was all so sudden. There was a fire in the jungle near the garden, and Fred
+went with the others to put it out. He wouldn't let me accompany him, but
+told me to go for my ride in the opposite direction. I didn't stay away
+long. I had just returned to the bungalow and dismounted and was giving my
+pony a piece of sugar, when several Bhuttias rushed at me from behind the
+house and seized me. Poor Lalla, my <i>syce</i>, tried to keep them off with his
+bare hands, but one brute struck him on the head with his sword. The poor
+boy fell, covered with blood. I'm afraid he was killed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, he isn't dead," remarked Dermot. "I saw him, and I think that he'll
+live."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I'm so glad to hear it," exclaimed the girl. "Ever since I saw it I've
+had before my eyes the dreadful sight of the poor lad lying on the ground
+covered with blood and apparently lifeless. Well, to go on. I called the
+other servants, but no one came. The Bhuttias tied my hands and tried to
+lift me on to my pony's back, but Kitty got frightened and bolted. Then
+they didn't seem to know what to do, and one went to a man who had remained
+at a distance from us and spoke to him. He apparently told them to fetch a
+chair from the bungalow and put me into it. I tried to struggle, but I was
+powerless in their grasp. I was fastened to the chair, poles were tied to
+it, and at a sign from the man who stood alone&mdash;he seemed to be the
+leader&mdash;I was lifted up and carried off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you notice anything about this man&mdash;the leader?" asked Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, he was not like the others in face. He didn't seem to me to be a
+Bhuttia at all. He was one of the two that you shot&mdash;the man with shoes. It
+seems absurd, but do you know, his face appeared rather familiar to me
+somehow. But of course I could never have seen him before."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you sure that you hadn't? Think hard," said Dermot eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's no use. I puzzled over the likeness most of the time that I was in
+their hands, but I couldn't place him."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot looked disappointed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"We went through the forest for hours without stopping, except to change
+the bearers of my chair. I noticed that the leader spoke to one man only,
+the man with the scars on his face whom you shot, too, and he passed on the
+orders."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Could you tell in what language these two spoke to each other?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; they never talked in my hearing. In fact I noticed that the man with
+shoes always avoided coming near me. Well, we went on and on and never
+halted until we reached the place where you found us. It seemed to be a
+spot that they had aimed for. I saw the scarred man examining some marks on
+the trees in it and pointing them out to the leader, who then gave the
+order to stop."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How did they behave to you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No one took any notice of me. They simply carried me, lifted me up, and
+dumped me down as if I were a tea-chest," replied the girl. "Well, that is
+all my adventure. But now please tell me how you came so opportunely to my
+rescue. Was it by chance or did you follow us? Oh, I forgot. You said you
+saw Lalla, so you must have been at Malpura. Did Fred send you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot briefly related all that had happened. When he told her of his
+dispute with Badshah about the route to be followed and how the elephant
+proved to be in the right she cried enthusiastically:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, the dear thing! He's just the most wonderful animal in the world.
+Forgive me for interrupting. Please go on."
+</p>
+<p>
+When he had finished his tale there was silence between them for a little.
+Then Noreen said in a voice shaking with emotion:
+</p>
+<p>
+"How can I thank you? Again you have saved me. And this time from a fate
+even more dreadful than the first. I'd sooner be killed outright by the
+elephants than endure to be carried off to some awful place by those
+wretches. Who were they? Were they brigands, like one reads of in Sicily?
+Was I to be killed or to be held to ransom?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, the latter, I suppose," replied Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there was a doubtful tone about his words. In fact, he was at a loss to
+understand the affair. It was probably not what he had thought it at
+first&mdash;an attempt on the part of enterprising Bhuttia raiders to carry off
+an Englishwoman for ransom. For when he overtook them they were on a path
+that led away from the mountains, so they were not making for Bhutan. And
+the identity of the leader perplexed him.
+</p>
+<p>
+There could be no political motive for the outrage. The affair was a
+puzzle. But he put the matter aside for the time being and began to
+consider their position. The sun was declining, for the afternoon was well
+advanced. As far as he could judge they were a long way from Malpura, and
+it seemed to him that Badshah was not heading directly for the garden. But
+he had sufficient confidence in the animal's intelligence to refrain from
+interfering with him again. The pangs of hunger reminded him that he had
+had no food since the early morning cup of tea at the planter's bungalow
+where he had passed the night, for he had hoped to breakfast at Malpura. It
+occurred to him that his companion must be in the same plight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you hungry, Miss Daleham?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hungry? I don't know. I haven't had time to think about food," she
+replied. "But I'm very thirsty."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Would you like a cup of tea?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, don't tantalise me, Major," she replied laughing. "I feel I'd give
+anything for one now. But unfortunately there aren't any tea-rooms in this
+wonderful jungle of yours."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps it could be managed," he said. "What I am concerned about is how
+to get something substantial to eat, for I foolishly came away from
+Granger's bungalow, where I stayed last night, without replenishing my
+stores, which had run low. I intended asking you for enough to carry me
+back to Ranga Duar. But when I heard what had happened&mdash;Hullo! with luck
+there's our dinner."
+</p>
+<p>
+He broke off suddenly, for a jungle cock had crowed in the forest not far
+away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wish I had a shot gun," he whispered. "But my rifle will have to do.
+<i>Mul</i>, Badshah."
+</p>
+<p>
+He guided the elephant quietly and cautiously in the direction from which
+the sound had come. Presently they came to an open glade and heard the fowl
+crow again. Dermot halted Badshah in cover and waited. Presently there was
+a patter over the dry leaves lying on the ground, and a jungle cock, a bird
+similar to an English bantam, stalked across the glade twenty yards away.
+It stopped and began to peck. Dermot quietly raised his rifle and took
+careful aim at its head. He fired, and the body of the cock fell to the
+earth headless.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a good shot, Major!" exclaimed Noreen, who had been quite excited.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was an easy one, for this rifle's extremely accurate and the range was
+very short. I fired at the head, for if I had hit the body with such a big
+bullet there wouldn't have been much dinner left for us. Now I think that
+we shall have to halt for a little time. I know that you must be eager to
+get back home and relieve your brother's anxiety. But Badshah has been
+going for many hours on end and has not delayed to graze on the way, so it
+would be wise to give him a rest and a feed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, indeed," said the girl. "He thoroughly deserves it."
+</p>
+<p>
+She was not unwilling that the time spent in Dermot's company should be
+prolonged. It was a sweet and wonderful experience to be thus alone with
+him in the enchanted jungle. She had forgotten her fears; and the
+remembrance of her recent unpleasant adventure vanished in her present
+happiness. For she was subtly conscious of a new tenderness in his manner
+towards her.
+</p>
+<p>
+The elephant sank down, and Dermot dismounted and lifted the girl off
+carefully. Noreen felt herself blushing as he held her in his arms, and she
+was thankful that he did not look at her, but when he had put her down,
+busied himself in taking off Badshah's pad and laying it on the ground.
+Unstrapping his blankets he spread one and rolled the other up as a pillow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now please lie down on this, Miss Daleham," he said. "A rest will do you
+good, too. I am going to turn cook and show you how we fare in the jungle."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl took off her hat and was only too glad to stretch herself on the
+pad, which made a comfortable couch, for the emotions of the day had worn
+her out. She watched Dermot as he moved about absorbed in his task. From
+one pocket of the pad he took out a shallow aluminium dish and a small,
+round, convex iron plate. From another he drew a linen bag and a tin
+canister.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You said that you would like tea, Miss Daleham," he remarked. "Well, you
+shall have some presently."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but how can you make it?" she asked. "There's no water in the
+jungle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Plenty of it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are we near a stream, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; the water is all round us, waiting for me to draw it off."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl looked about her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you mean? I don't see any. Where is the water?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hanging from the trees," he replied, laughing. "I'll admit you into one of
+the secrets of the jungle. But first I want a fire."
+</p>
+<p>
+He gathered dried grass and sticks, cleared a space of earth and built
+three fires, two on the ground with a large lump of hard clay on either
+side of each, the third in a hole that he scraped out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To be consistent I ought to produce fire by rubbing two pieces of dried
+wood together, as they do in books of adventure," he said, turning to the
+interested girl. "It can be done. I have seen natives do it; but it is a
+lengthy process and I prefer a match."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took out a box and lit the fires.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now," he said, "if you'll see to these for me, I'll go and get the kettle
+and crockery."
+</p>
+<p>
+At the far end of the glade was a clump of bamboos. Dermot selected the
+biggest stem and hacked it down with his <i>kukri</i>. From the thicker end he
+cut off a length from immediately below a knot to about a foot above it,
+trimmed the edges and brought it to Noreen. It made a beautifully clean and
+polished pot, pale green outside, white within.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is your kettle and tea-pot," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+From a thinner part he cut off similarly two smaller vessels to serve as
+cups.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now then for the water to fill the kettle," he said, looking around among
+the creepers festooning the trees for the <i>pani bêl</i>. When he found the
+plant he sought, he cut off a length and brought it to the girl, who had
+never heard of it. Asking her to hold the bamboo pot he filled it with
+water from the creeper, much to her astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How wonderful!" she cried. "Is it really good to drink?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how are you going to boil it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In that bamboo pot."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But surely that will burn?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, the water will boil long before the green wood begins to be charred,"
+replied Dermot, placing the pot over the first fire on the two lumps of
+clay, so that the flames could reach it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he opened the linen bag, which Noreen found to contain <i>atta</i>, or
+native flour. Some of this he poured into the round aluminium dish and with
+water from the <i>pani bêl</i> he mixed dough, rolled it into balls, and patted
+them into small flat cakes. Over the second fire he placed the iron plate,
+convex side up, and when it grew hot put the cakes on it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How clever of you! You are making <i>chupatis</i> like the natives do,"
+exclaimed Noreen. "I love them. I get the cook to give them to us for tea
+often."
+</p>
+<p>
+She watched him with interest and amusement, as he turned the cakes over
+with a dexterous flip when one side browned; then, when they were done, he
+took them off and piled them on a large leaf.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who would ever imagine that you could cook?" Noreen said, laughing. "Do
+let me help. I feel so lazy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well. Look after the <i>chupatis</i> while I get the fowl ready," he
+replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+He cleaned the jungle cock, wrapped it up in a coating of wet clay and laid
+it in the hot ashes of the third fire, covering it over with the red
+embers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Just as he had finished the girl cried: "The water is actually boiling? Who
+would have believed it possible?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now we are going to have billy tea as they make it in the bush in
+Australia," said Dermot, opening the canister and dropping tea from it into
+the boiling water.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen gathered up a pile of well-toasted <i>chupatis</i> and turned a smiling,
+dimpled face to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is the jolliest picnic I've ever had," she cried. "It was worth being
+carried off by those wretches to have all these delightful surprises. Now,
+tea is ready, sir. Please may I pour it out?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He wrapped his handkerchief round the pot before handing it to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you haven't a dairy in your wonderful jungle?" she asked,
+laughing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I'm sorry to say that you must put up with condensed milk," he
+replied, producing a tin from a pocket of the pad and opening it with his
+knife.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a pity! That spoils the illusion," declared the girl. "I ought to
+refuse it; but I'll pass it for this occasion, as I don't like my tea
+unsugared and milkless. No, I refuse to have a spoon." For he took out a
+couple and some aluminium plates from the inexhaustible pad. "I'll stir my
+tea with a splinter of bamboo and eat my <i>chupatis</i> off leaves. It is more
+in keeping with the situation."
+</p>
+<p>
+Like a couple of light-hearted children they sat side by side on the pad,
+drank their tea from the rude bamboo cups and devoured the hot <i>chupatis</i>
+with enjoyment; while, invisible in the dense undergrowth, Badshah twenty
+yards away betrayed his presence by tearing down creepers and breaking off
+branches. In due time Dermot took from the hot ashes a hardened clay ball,
+broke it open and served up the jungle fowl, from which the feathers had
+been stripped off by the process of cooking. Noreen expressed herself
+disappointed when her companion produced knives and forks from the magic
+pockets of the pad.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We ought to be consistent and use our fingers," she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they had finished their meal, which the girl declared was the most
+enjoyable one that she had ever had, Dermot made her rest again on the pad
+while he cleaned and replaced his plates, cutlery, and cooking vessels.
+Then, leaning his back against a tree, he filled and lit his pipe, while
+Noreen watched him stealthily and admiringly. In the perfect peace and
+silence of the forest encompassing them she felt reluctant to leave the
+enchanted spot.
+</p>
+<p>
+But suddenly the charm was rudely dispelled. A shot rang out close by, and
+Dermot's hat was knocked from his head as a bullet passed through it and
+pierced the bark of the tree half an inch above his hair. As though the
+shot were a signal, fire was opened on the glade from every side, and for a
+moment the air seemed full of whistling bullets. The soldier sprang to
+Noreen, picked her up like a child in his arms, and ran with her to an
+enormously thick <i>simal</i> tree, behind which he placed her. Then he gathered
+up the pad and piled it on her exposed side as some slight protection. At
+least it hid her from sight.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he did so the firing redoubled in intensity and bullets whistled and
+droned through the glade. One grazed his cheek, searing the flesh as with a
+red-hot iron. Another wounded him slightly in the neck, while a third cut
+the skin of his thigh. He seemed to bear a charmed life; and the girl
+watching him felt her heart stop, as the blood showed on his face and neck.
+The flying lead sent leaves fluttering to the ground, cut off twigs, and
+struck the tree-trunks with a thud. Flinging himself at full length on the
+ground Dermot reached his rifle, then crawled to shelter behind another
+tree.
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked eagerly around for his assailants. At first he could see no one.
+Suddenly through the undergrowth about thirty yards away the muzzle of an
+old musket was pushed out, and then a dark face peered cautiously behind
+it. The eyes in it met Dermot's, but that glance was their last. The
+soldier's rifle spoke, and the face disappeared as its owner's body pitched
+forward among the bushes and lay still. At the sharp report of the white
+man's weapon the firing all around ceased suddenly. But the intense silence
+that followed was broken by a strange sound like the shrill blast of a
+steam whistle mingled with the crackling of sheets of tin rapidly shaken
+and doubled. Noreen, crouching submissively in the shelter where Dermot had
+placed her, thrilled and wondered at the uncanny sound.
+</p>
+<p>
+The soldier knew well what it was. It was Badshah's appeal for help, and he
+wondered why the animal had given it then, so late. But far away a wild
+elephant trumpeted in reply. There was a crashing in the undergrowth as
+Badshah dashed away and burst through the cordon of enemies encircling
+them. Dermot's heart sank; for, although he rejoiced that his elephant was
+out of danger, his sole hope of getting Noreen and himself away had lain in
+running the gauntlet on the animal's back through their invisible foes.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he gripped his rifle, keenly alert for a mark to aim at, his thoughts
+were busy. He was amazed at this unexpected attack and utterly unable to
+guess who their assailants could be. They were not the Bhuttias again, for
+those had no guns. And the man that he had just shot was not a mountaineer.
+Although it was evident that the firearms used were mostly old smooth-bore
+muskets, and the smoke from the powder rose in clouds over the undergrowth
+and drifted to the tree-tops, he had detected the sharp crack of a modern
+rifle occasionally among the duller reports of the more ancient weapons.
+The mysterious attackers were apparently numerous and completely surrounded
+them. Dermot cursed himself for his folly in halting for food instead of
+pushing on to safety without a stop. But he had calculated on the
+superstitious fears of the Bhuttias who had been scared away by the sight
+of him and Badshah; and indeed to all appearance he was right in so doing.
+He could not reckon on new enemies springing up around them. Who could they
+be? It was almost inconceivable that in this quiet corner of the Indian
+Empire two English people could be thus assailed. The only theory that he
+could form was that the attackers were a band of Bengali political
+<i>dacoits</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+The firing started again. Dermot appeared to be so well hidden that none of
+their enemies had discovered him, except the one unlucky wretch whose
+courage had proved his ruin. The shots were being fired at random and all
+went high. But there seemed no hope of escape; for it was evident from the
+sounds and the smoke that the girl and he were completely surrounded. For
+one wild moment he thought of rising suddenly to his feet and making a dash
+through the cordon, hoping to draw all their enemies after him and give his
+companion a chance of escape. But the plan was futile; for she would never
+find her way alone through the jungle and would fall at once into the hands
+of her foes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly a heavy bullet struck the tree a foot above his head, evidently
+fired from behind him. He instantly rolled over on his back and lay
+motionless with his eyes half-closed, looking in the direction from which
+the shot must have come. The bushes not ten yards away were parted quietly;
+and a head was thrust out. With a swift motion Dermot swung his rifle round
+until the muzzle pointed over his toes and, holding the weapon in one hand
+like a pistol, fired point-blank at the assailant who had crept up quietly
+behind him. Shot through the head the man pitched forward on his face,
+almost touching the soldier's feet. Dermot saw that the corpse was that of
+a low-caste Hindu, clad only in a dirty cotton <i>koorta</i> and <i>dhoti</i>. A
+Tower musket lay beside him.
+</p>
+<p>
+The wild firing died down again. The sun was setting; and the soldier
+judged that the attackers were probably waiting for darkness to rush him.
+Why they did not do so at once, since they were so numerous, surprised him;
+but he surmised that it was lack of courage. It was maddening to be obliged
+to await their pleasure. He was far more concerned about the girl than for
+himself. A feeling of dread pity filled his heart when he thought of what
+her fate would be when he was no longer alive to protect her. Should he
+kill her, he asked himself, and give her a swift and merciful death instead
+of the horrors of outrage and torture that would probably be her lot if she
+fell alive into the hands of these murderous scoundrels? In those moments
+of tension and terrible strain he realised that she was very dear to him,
+that she evoked in his heart a feeling that no other woman had ever aroused
+in him.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sun was going down; and with it Dermot felt that his life was passing.
+He grudged losing it in an obscure and causeless scuffle, instead of on an
+honourable field of battle as a soldier should. He wished that he had a
+handful of his splendid sepoys with him. They would have made short work of
+a hundred of such ruffians as now threatened him. But it was useless to
+long for them. He drew his <i>kukri</i> and laid it on the ground beside him,
+ready for the last grim struggle. He had resolved to crawl to the girl when
+darkness settled on the forest, and, before the rush came, give her the
+chance of a swift and honourable death, shoot her if she chose it&mdash;as he
+was confident that she would&mdash;then close with his foes until death came.
+</p>
+<p>
+The light grew fainter. Dermot nerved himself for the terrible task before
+him and was about to move, when with a light and unfaltering step Noreen
+came to him.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER X
+</h2>
+<h3>
+A STRANGE HOME-COMING
+</h3>
+<p>
+Dermot dragged the girl down to the ground beside him as a shot rang out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose they will kill us, Major Dermot," she said calmly. "But couldn't
+you manage to get away in the darkness? You know the jungle so well. Please
+don't hesitate to leave me, for I should only hamper you. Won't you go?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Emotion choked the soldier for a moment. He gripped her arm and was about
+to speak when suddenly the forest on every side of them resounded to a
+pandemonium of noise: a chorus of wild shrieks, shots, the crashing of
+trampled undergrowth, the death-yells of men amid the savage screams and
+fierce trumpetings of a herd of elephants.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, what's that? What terrible thing is happening?" cried the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot seized her and dragged her close against the trunk of the tree. In
+the gloom they saw men flying madly past them pursued by elephants. One
+wretch not ten yards from them was overtaken by a great tusker, which
+struck him to the ground, trampled on him, kicked and knelt upon his
+lifeless body until it was crushed to a pulp, then placing one forefoot on
+the man's chest, wound his trunk round the legs and seized them in his
+mouth, tore them from the body, and threw them twenty yards away. All
+around similar tragedies were being enacted; for the herd of wild elephants
+had charged in among the attackers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot gathered the terrified girl in his arms and held her face against
+his breast, so that she should be spared the horror of the sights about
+them; but he could not shut out the terrible sounds, the agonised shrieks,
+the despairing yells of the wretches who were meeting with an awful fate.
+He remained motionless against the tree, hoping to escape the notice of the
+fierce animals, whom he could see plunging through the jungle in pursuit of
+their prey, for they were hunting the men down. Suddenly one elephant came
+straight towards them with trunk uplifted. Dermot put the girl behind him
+and raised his rifle; but with a low murmur from its throat the animal
+lowered its trunk, and he recognised it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank God! we are saved," he said. "It's Badshah. He has brought his herd
+to our rescue."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl clung to him convulsively and scarcely heard him; for the tumult
+in the jungle still continued, though the terrible pursuit seemed to be
+passing farther away. The giant avengers were still crashing through the
+jungle after their prey; and an occasional heartrending shriek told of
+another luckless wretch who had met his doom.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot gently disengaged the clinging hands and repeated his words. The
+girl, still shuddering, made an effort and rose to her knees.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot went forward and laid his hand on the elephant's trunk.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you, Badshah," he said. "I am in your debt again."
+</p>
+<p>
+The tip of the trunk touched his face in a gentle caress. Then he stepped
+back and said: "Now we'll go at once, Miss Daleham. We won't stop this time
+until we reach your bungalow."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl had already recovered her courage and stood beside him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you are wounded. There's blood on your face and on your neck. Are you
+badly hurt?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laughed reassuringly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To tell you the truth I had forgotten all about it. They are only
+scratches. The skin is cut, that's all. Come, we mustn't delay any longer."
+</p>
+<p>
+At a word from him Badshah knelt. He hurriedly threw the pad on the
+elephant's back and made him rise so that the surcingle rope could be
+fixed. Then he brought the animal to his knees again and lifted Noreen on
+to the pad. But before he took his own seat he searched the undergrowth
+around the glade and found many corpses of men almost unrecognisable as
+human bodies, so crushed and battered were they. From the number that he
+came upon it was evident that most of their assailants had been slain. But
+all the elephants except his had disappeared; and the sounds of the
+massacre were dying away.
+</p>
+<p>
+Slinging his rifle he climbed on to the pad; and Badshah rose and went
+swiftly along a track that seemed to Dermot to lead towards Malpura. He did
+not attempt to guide the elephant, but placed himself so that his body
+would shield the girl from the danger of being struck by overhanging
+boughs. He held her firmly as they were borne through the darkness that now
+filled the forest; for the swift-coming Indian night had fallen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Keep well down, Miss Daleham," he said. "You must be on your guard against
+being swept off the pad by the low branches."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Major Dermot," cried the girl with a shudder, "have all these terrible
+things really happened in the last few hours or has it all been a hideous
+nightmare?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please try not to think of them," he answered. "You are safe now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but you? You have to face these dangers again, since you are so much
+in the jungle. Oh, my forest that I thought a fairyland! That such terrible
+things can happen in it!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can assure you that they are very unusual," he replied with a cheery
+laugh. "You have been very fortunate; for you have crammed more excitement
+and adventure into one day than I have seen previously in all my time in
+the jungle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It all seems so incredible," she said. "Did you really mean that Badshah
+brought his herd to our rescue? But I know he did. I heard him call them.
+When he ran off I thought that he was frightened and had abandoned us. But
+I did him a great injustice."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her companion was silent for a moment. Then he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here, Miss Daleham, we had better not tell that tale of Badshah quite
+in that way. It would seem impossible, and no European would credit it.
+Natives would, of course, for as it is they seem to look upon him as a god
+already."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but you think as I do, don't you?" she exclaimed in surprise. "Surely
+you believe that he did bring the other elephants to save us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I do. I know that he did, for I&mdash;well, between ourselves I have seen
+him do even more wonderful things. But others wouldn't believe us, and I
+don't want to emphasise the marvellous part of the story. I'd rather people
+thought that the <i>dacoits</i>, or whoever those men were who attacked us,
+accidentally fell foul of a herd of wild elephants."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps you are right. But <i>we</i> know. It will be just our own secret and
+Badshah's," she said dreamily.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then she relapsed into silence. In spite of the terrible experiences
+through which she had just passed she felt happy at the pressure of
+Dermot's arm about her and the sensation of being utterly alone with him in
+a world of their own, as they were borne on through the darkness. Fatigue
+made her drowsy, and the swaying motion of the elephant's pace lulled her
+to sleep.
+</p>
+<p>
+She woke suddenly and for an instant wondered where she was. Then
+remembrance came and she felt the warm blood mantle her face as she
+realised that she was nestling in Dermot's arms. But, drowsy and content,
+she did not move. Looking up she saw the stars overhead. They were out of
+the forest.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must have been asleep," she said. "Where are we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"At Malpura. There are the lights of your bungalow," replied Dermot. He
+said it almost with regret, for he had found the long miles through the
+forest almost short, while the girl nestled confidingly, though
+unconsciously, in his arms and he held her against his heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the elephant neared the house Dermot gave a loud shout.
+</p>
+<p>
+Instantly the verandah filled with men who rushed out of the lighted rooms
+and tried to pierce the darkness. A little distance from the bungalow a
+large number of coolies, seated on the ground, rose up and pressed forward
+to the road. From behind the house several white-clad servants ran out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot shouted again and called out Daleham's name.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a frantic rush down the verandah steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hurrah! it's the Major," cried a planter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And&mdash;and&mdash;yes, Miss Daleham's with him. Hooray!" yelled another.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good old Dermot!" came in Payne's voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the throng of shouting, excited men the girl's brother broke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Noreen! Noreen! My God, are you there? Are you safe?" he cried
+frantically.
+</p>
+<p>
+Almost before Badshah sank to the ground, the girl, with a little sob,
+sprang into her brother's arms and clung to him, while Dermot was dragged
+off the pad by the eager hands of a dozen men who thumped him on the back,
+pulled him from one to another, and nearly shook his arm off. The servants
+had brought out lamps to light up the scene.
+</p>
+<p>
+From the verandah steps Chunerbutty looked jealously on. He had been
+relieved at knowing that the girl had returned, but in his heart he cursed
+the man who had saved her. He was roughly thrust aside by Parry, who dashed
+up the steps, ran into the house, and emerged a minute later holding a
+large tumbler in his hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is he, where is he? Look you, I know what he wants. Here's what will
+do you good, Major," he shouted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laughed and, taking the tumbler, drank its contents gratefully,
+though their strength made him cough, for the bibulous Celt had mixed it to
+his own taste.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Major, Major, how can we thank you?" said Fred Daleham, coming to him with
+his sister clinging to his arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+But she had to release him and shake hands over and over again with all the
+planters and receive their congratulations and expressions of delight at
+seeing her safe and sound. Meanwhile her brother was endeavouring in the
+hubbub to thank her rescuer. But Dermot refused to listen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, there's nothing to make a fuss about I assure you, Daleham," he said.
+"It was just that I had the luck to be the first to follow the raiders. Any
+one else would have done the same."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, nonsense, old man," broke in Payne, clapping him on the back. "Of
+course we'd all have liked to do it, but none of us could have tracked the
+scoundrels like you could. How did you do it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; tell us what happened, Major."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How did you find her, Dermot?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What occurred, Miss Daleham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did they put up a fight, sir?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The eager mob of men poured a torrent of questions on the girl and her
+rescuer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Easy on, you fellows," said Dermot, laughing. "Give us time. We can't
+answer you all at once."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, give them a chance, boys. Don't crowd," cried one planter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here! We can't see them. Let's have some light," shouted another.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where are those servants? Bring out all the lamps!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lamps be hanged! Let's have a decent blaze. We'll have a bonfire."
+</p>
+<p>
+Several of the younger planters ran to the stable and outhouses and brought
+piles of straw, old boxes, anything that would burn. Others despatched
+coolies to the factory near by to fetch wood, broken chests, and other
+fuel. Several bonfires were made and the flames lit up the scene with a
+blaze of light.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, you're wounded, Dermot!" exclaimed Payne.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no. Just a scratch."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, he is wounded, but he pretends it's nothing," said Noreen. "Do see if
+it's anything serious, Mr. Payne."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I assure you it's nothing," protested the soldier, resisting eager and
+well-meant attempts to drag him into the house and tend his hurts by force.
+But attention was diverted when a planter cried:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good Heavens! what's this? The elephant's tusk is covered with blood."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tusk! Why, he's blood to the eyes," exclaimed another.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the leaping flames revealed the fact that Badshah's tusk, trunk, and
+legs were covered with freshly-dried blood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good Heavens! he's been wading in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What's that on his tusk? Why, it's fragments of flesh. Oh, the deuce!"
+</p>
+<p>
+There were exclamations of surprise and horror from the white men. But the
+mass of coolies, who had been pressing forward to stare, drew back into the
+darkness and muttered to each other.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The god! The god! Who can withstand the god?" they whispered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Arhé, bhai</i>! (Aye, brother!) But which is the god? The elephant or his
+rider? Tell me that!" exclaimed a grey-haired coolie.
+</p>
+<p>
+Among the Europeans the questions showered on Dermot redoubled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here, you fellows. I can't answer you all at once," he expostulated.
+"It's a long story. But please remember that Miss Daleham has had a tiring
+day and must be worn out."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no, I'm not," exclaimed the girl. "Not now. I was fatigued, but I'm
+too excited to rest yet."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come into the bungalow everyone and we'll have the whole story there,"
+said her brother. "The servants will get supper ready for us. We must
+celebrate tonight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed, yes. Look you, it shall be very wet tonight in Malpura,
+whateffer," cried Parry, who was already half drunk. "Here, boy! Boy! Where
+is that damned black beastie of mine? Boy!"
+</p>
+<p>
+His <i>khitmagar</i> disengaged himself from the group of servants and
+approached apprehensively, keeping out of reach of his master's fist.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go to the house," said Parry to him in Bengali. "Bring liquor here. All
+the liquor I have. Hurry, you dog!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He aimed a blow at him, which the <i>khitmagar</i> dodged with the ease of long
+practice and ran to execute his master's bidding.
+</p>
+<p>
+Daleham gave directions to his butler and cook to prepare supper, and led
+the way into the house with his arm round his sister, who, woman-like,
+escaped to change her dress and make herself presentable, as she put it.
+She had already forgotten the fatigues of the day in the hearty welcome and
+the joy of her safe home-coming.
+</p>
+<p>
+But before Dermot entered the bungalow he had water brought and washed from
+Badshah's head and legs the evidences of the terrible vengeance that he had
+taken upon their assailants. And from the verandah the planters looked at
+animal and master and commented in low tones on the strange tales told of
+both, for the reputation of mysterious power that they enjoyed with natives
+had reached every white man of the district.
+</p>
+<p>
+The crowd of coolies drifted away to their village on the tea-garden, and
+there throughout the hot night hours the groups sat on the ground outside
+the thatched bamboo huts and talked of the animal and the man.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is not well to cross this sahib who is not as other sahibs," said a
+coolie, shaking his head solemnly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sahib, say you? Is he only a sahib?" asked an old man. "Is he truly of the
+<i>gora logue</i> (white folk)?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, what else is he? Is not his skin white?" said a youth,
+presumptuously thrusting himself into the conclave of the elders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Peace! Since when was it meet for children to prattle in the presence of
+their grandsires?" demanded a grey-haired coolie contemptuously. "Know,
+boy, that Shri Krishn's skin was of the same colour when he moved among us
+on earth."
+</p>
+<p>
+Krishna, the Second Person of the Hindu Trinity, the best-loved god of all
+their mythological heaven, is represented in the cheap coloured oleographs
+sold in the bazaars in India as being of fair complexion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is he Krishna himself?" asked a female coolie eagerly, the glass bangles
+on her arm rattling as she raised her hand to draw her <i>sari</i> over her face
+when she thus addressed men. "Is he Krishna, think you? He is handsome
+enough to be the Holy One."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who knows, daughter? It may be. Shri Krishn has many incarnations," said
+the old man solemnly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nay, I do not think that he is Krishna," remarked an elderly coolie. "It
+may be that he is another of the Holy Ones."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps he is <i>Gunesh</i>," ventured a younger man.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; he bestrides <i>Gunesh</i>. I think he must be Krishna," chimed in another.
+"What lesser god would dare to use Gunesh as his steed?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is <i>Gunesh</i> himself," asserted a grey-beard. "Does he not range the
+jungle and the mountains at the head of all the elephants of the Terai? Can
+he not call them to his aid as Hanuman did the monkeys?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is certainly a Holy One or else a very powerful demon," declared the
+old man. "It is an evil and a dangerous thing to molest those whom he
+protects. The Bhuttias, ignorant pagans that they are, carried off the
+missie <i>baba</i> he favours. What, think ye, has been their fate? With your
+own eyes ye have all seen the blood and the flesh of men upon the tusk and
+legs of his sacred elephant."
+</p>
+<p>
+And so through the night the shuttle of superstitious talk went backward
+and forward and wove a still more marvellous garment of fancy to drape the
+reputation of elephant and man. The godship that the common belief had long
+endowed Badshah with was being transferred to his master; and a mere Indian
+Army Major was transformed into a mysterious Hindu deity.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile in the well-lighted bungalow in which all the sahibs were
+gathered together the servants were hurriedly preparing a supper such as
+lonely Malpura had never known. And Noreen's pretty drawing-room was
+crowded with men in riding costume or in uniform&mdash;for most of the planters
+belonged to a Volunteer Light Horse Corps, and some of them, expecting a
+fight, had put on khaki when they got Daleham's summons. Their rifles,
+revolvers, and cartridge belts were piled on the verandah. Chunerbutty,
+feeling that his presence among them would not be welcomed by the white men
+that night, had gone off to his own bungalow in jealous rage. And nobody
+missed him. Dermot, despite his protests, had been dragged off to have his
+hurts attended to, and it was then seen that he had been touched by three
+bullets.
+</p>
+<p>
+When all were assembled in the room the planters demanded the tale of
+Noreen's adventures; and the girl, looking dainty and fresh in a white
+muslin dress, unlike the heroine of her recent tragic experience, smilingly
+complied and told the story up to the point of Dermot's unexpected and
+dramatic intervention.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now you must go on, Major," she said, turning to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, yes, Dermot. Carry on the tale," was the universal cry.
+</p>
+<p>
+Everyone turned an expectant face towards where the soldier sat, looking
+unusually embarrassed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, there's nothing much to tell," he said. "The raiders&mdash;they were
+Bhuttias&mdash;had left a trail easy enough to see, though I confess that I
+would have lost it once but for my elephant. When I came up to them, as
+Miss Daleham has just told you, they all ran away except two."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What did these two do?" asked Granger, his host of the previous night.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not much. They tried to stand their ground, but didn't really give much
+trouble. So I took Miss Daleham up on my elephant and we started back. But
+like a fool I stopped on the way to have grub, and somebody began shooting
+at us from the jungle, until wild elephants turned up and cleared them off.
+Then we came on here. That's all."
+</p>
+<p>
+These was a moment's silence. Then Granger, in disgusted tones, exclaimed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Major, of all the poor story-tellers I've ever heard, you're the
+very worst. One would think you'd only been for a stroll in a quiet English
+lane. 'Then we came on here. That's all.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes, you can't ask us to believe it was as tame as that, Major," said
+another planter. "We expected to hear something a little more exciting."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You go out after thirty or forty raiders&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, only twenty-two all told," corrected Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All right, only twenty-two, come back with three hits on you and your
+elephant up to his eyes in blood and&mdash;and&mdash;well, hang it all, Major, let's
+have some more details."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come, Miss Daleham," Payne broke in, "you tell us what happened. I know
+Dermot, and we won't get any more out of him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; let's hear all about it, Noreen," said her brother. "I'm sure it
+wasn't as tame as the Major says."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tame?" echoed the girl, smiling. "I've had enough excitement to last me
+all my life, dear. I think that Major Dermot has put it rather mildly. I'm
+sure even I could tell the story better."
+</p>
+<p>
+She narrated their adventures, giving her rescuer, despite his protests,
+full credit for his courage and resource, only omitting the details of
+their picnic meal and slurring over their relief by the wild elephants. The
+planters listened eagerly to her tale, breaking into applause at times.
+When she had finished Parry laid a heavy hand on Dermot's shoulder and said
+solemnly, though thickly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look you, you are a bad liar, Major Dermot. Your story would not deceive a
+child, whateffer. But I am proud of you. You should have been a Welshman."
+</p>
+<p>
+The rest overwhelmed the soldier with compliments and congratulations, much
+to his embarrassment, and when Noreen left the room to supervise the
+arrangement of the supper-table they plied him with questions without
+extracting much more information from him. But when a servant came to
+announce that the meal was ready and the planters rose to troop to the
+dining-room, Dermot reached the door first and held up his hand to stop
+them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gentlemen, one moment, please," he said. Then he looked out to satisfy
+himself that the domestic was out of hearing and continued: "I'd be obliged
+if during supper you'd make no allusion before the servants to what has
+happened today. Afterwards I shall have something to say to you in
+confidence that will explain this request of mine."
+</p>
+<p>
+The others looked at him in surprise but readily agreed. Before they left
+the room Daleham noticed the Hindu engineer's absence for the first time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By Jove, I'd forgotten Chunerbutty," he exclaimed. "I wonder where he is?
+Perhaps he doesn't know we're going to have supper. I'd better send the boy
+to tell him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed no, he is fery well where he is," hiccoughed Parry, who, seated by
+a table on which drinks had been placed, had not been idle. "This is not a
+night for black men, look you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Daleham, Parry's right," said Granger. "Let us keep to our own colour
+tonight. Things might be said that wouldn't be pleasant for an Indian to
+hear."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Forgive my putting a word in, Daleham," added Dermot. "But I have a very
+particular reason, which I'll explain afterwards, for asking you to leave
+Chunerbutty out."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, we don't want a damned Bengali among us tonight, Fred," said a young
+planter bluntly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, very well; if you fellows would rather I didn't ask him I won't,"
+replied their host. "But I'm afraid his feelings will be hurt at being left
+out when we're celebrating my sister's safe return. He's such an old
+friend."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, hang his feelings! Think of ours," cried another of the party.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All right. Have it your own way. Let's go in to supper," said the host.
+</p>
+<p>
+The hastily improvised meal was a merry feast, and the loud voices and the
+roars of laughter rang out into the silent night and reached the ears of
+Chunerbutty sitting in his bungalow eating his heart out in bitterness and
+jealousy. Noreen, presiding at one end of the long table, was the queen of
+the festival and certainly had never enjoyed any supper in London as much
+as this impromptu meal. General favourite as she always was with every man
+in the district, this night there was added universal gladness at her
+escape and the feeling of satisfaction that the outrage on her had been so
+promptly avenged. While the girl was pleased with the warmth and sincerity
+of the congratulations showered upon her, she was secretly delighted to see
+the high esteem in which all the other men held Dermot. He was seated
+beside her and shared with her the good wishes of the company. His health
+was drunk with all the honours after hers, and the planters did not spare
+his blushes in their loudly-expressed praises of his achievements.
+Cordiality and good humour prevailed, and, although the fun was fast and
+furious, Parry was the only one who drank too much. Before he became
+objectionable, for he was usually quarrelsome in his cups, he was
+dexterously cajoled out of the room and safely shepherded to his bungalow.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XI
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE MAKING OF A GOD
+</h3>
+<p>
+Parry's departure served as a hint to Noreen that it was time for her to
+say good-night to her guests and withdraw. As soon as she left the room
+there was an instant hush of expectancy, and all eyes were turned to
+Dermot. The servants had long since gone, but, after asking his host's
+permission, he rose from his place and strolled with apparent carelessness
+to each doorway in turn and satisfied himself that there were no
+eavesdroppers. Then he shut the doors and asked members of the party to
+station themselves on guard at each of them. The planters watched these
+precautions with surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+Having thus made sure that he would not be overheard Dermot said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gentlemen, a few of you already know something of what I am going to tell
+you. I want you to understand that I am now speaking officially and in
+strict confidence."
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned to his host.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must ask you, Mr. Daleham (Fred looked up in surprise at the formality
+of the mode of address) to promise to divulge nothing of what I say to your
+friend, Mr. Chunerbutty."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not tell Chunerbutty, sir?" repeated the young planter in astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; the matter is one which must not be mentioned to any but Europeans."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but I assure you, Major, Chunerbutty's thoroughly loyal and reliable,"
+said Daleham warmly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I repeat that you are not to give him the least inkling of what I am going
+to say," replied Dermot in a quiet but stern voice. "As I have already told
+you, I am speaking officially."
+</p>
+<p>
+The boy was impressed and a little awed by his manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, certainly, sir. I give you my word that I shan't mention it to him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well. The fact is, gentlemen, that we are on the track of a vast
+conspiracy against British rule in India, and have reason to believe that
+the activity of the disloyalists in Bengal has spread to this district. We
+suspect that the Brahmins who, very much to the surprise of any one
+acquainted with the ways of their caste, are working as coolies on your
+gardens, are really emissaries of the seditionists."
+</p>
+<p>
+"By George, is that really so, Major?" asked a young planter in a doubting
+tone. "We have a couple of these Bengalis on our place, and they seem such
+quiet, harmless chaps."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Major is quite right. I know it," said one of the oldest men present.
+"I confess that it didn't occur to me as strange that Brahmins should take
+such low-caste work until he told me. But I have found since, as others of
+us have, that these men are the secret cause of all the trouble and unrest
+that we have had lately among our coolies, to whom they preach sedition and
+revolution."
+</p>
+<p>
+Several other estate managers corroborated his statement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But surely, sir, you don't suspect Chunerbutty of being mixed up in this?"
+asked Daleham. "He's been a friend of mine for a long time. I lived with
+him in London, and I'm certain he is quite loyal and pro-British."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know nothing of him, Daleham," replied the soldier. "But he is a Bengali
+Brahmin, one of the race and caste that are responsible for most of the
+sedition in India, and we must take precautions."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'd stake my life on him," exclaimed the boy hotly. "He's been a good
+friend to me, and I'll answer for him."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot did not trouble to argue the matter further with him, but said to
+the company generally:
+</p>
+<p>
+"This outrageous attempt to carry off Miss Daleham&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but you said yourself, sir, that the ruffians were Bhuttias," broke in
+the boy, still nourishing a grievance at the mistrust of his friend.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot turned to him again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do Bhuttias talk to each other in Bengali? The leader gave his orders
+in that language to one man&mdash;who, by the way, was the only one he spoke
+to&mdash;and that man passed them on to the others in Bhutanese."
+</p>
+<p>
+This statement caused a sensation in the company.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By Jove, is that a fact, Dermot?" cried Payne.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. These two were the men I shot. Do Bhuttias, unless they have just
+looted a garden successfully&mdash;and we know these fellows had not&mdash;carry sums
+like this?" And Dermot threw on the supper-table a cloth in which coins
+were wrapped. "Open that, Payne, and count the money, please."
+</p>
+<p>
+All bent forward and watched as the planter opened the knot fastening the
+cloth and poured out a stream of bright rupees, the silver coin of India
+roughly equivalent to a florin. There was silence while he counted them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A hundred," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laid on the table a new automatic pistol and several clips of
+cartridges.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bhuttias from across the border do not possess weapons like these, as you
+know. Nor do they carry English-made pocket-books with contents like those
+this one has."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed a leather case to Granger who opened it and took out a packet of
+bank notes and counted them. "Eight hundred and fifty rupees," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+The men around him looked at the notes and at each other. A young engineer
+whistled and said: "Whew! It pays to be a brigand. I'll turn robber myself,
+I think. Poor but honest man that I am I have never gazed on so much wealth
+before. Hullo! What's that bit of string?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot had taken from his pocket the cord that he had cut from the corpse
+of the second raider and laid it on the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps some of you may not be sufficiently well acquainted with Indian
+customs to know what this is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm blessed if I am, Major," said the engineer. "What is it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's the <i>janeo</i>, or sacred cord worn by the three highest of the
+original Hindu castes as a symbol of their second or spiritual birth and
+to mark the distinction between their noble twice-born selves and the
+lower caste once-born Súdras. You see it is made up of three strings of
+spun cotton to symbolise the Hindu <i>Trimurti</i> (Trinity), Brahma, Vishnu,
+and Siva, and also Earth, Air, and Heaven, the three worlds pervaded by
+their essence."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I see. But where did you get it?" asked the engineer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Off the body of the second man that I shot, together with the pistol and
+pocket-book. Now, Bhuttias do not wear the <i>janeo</i>, not being Hindus. But
+high-caste Hindus do&mdash;and a Brahmin would never be without it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no. So you mean that the man wasn't a Bhuttia?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is the last exhibit, as they say in the Law Courts," said Dermot,
+producing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. "You don't find Bhuttias
+wearing these."
+</p>
+<p>
+"By Jove, no," said Granger, taking them up and trying them. "Damned good
+glasses, these, and cost a bit, too."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot turned towards Daleham.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you remember showing me on this garden one day a coolie whom you said
+was a B.A. of Calcutta University?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; he was called Narain Dass," replied Fred. "We spoke to him, you
+recollect, Major? He talked excellent English of the <i>babu</i> sort."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What has happened to him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know. He disappeared a short time ago. Deserted, I suppose, though
+I don't see why he should. He was getting on well here."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot smiled grimly and touched the cord and spectacles.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The man who wore these, who led the Bhuttias in the raid, was Narain
+Dass."
+</p>
+<p>
+These was a moment's amazed silence in the room. Then a hubbub arose, and
+there was a chorus of exclamations and questions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good Heavens, is it possible, Major? He appeared to be such a decent,
+civil chap," exclaimed Daleham.
+</p>
+<p>
+"His face seemed familiar to me, as he lay dead on the ground," replied
+Dermot. "I couldn't place him, though, until I found the spectacles. I put
+them on his nose, and then I knew him. His hair was cropped close, he was
+wearing Bhuttia clothes, but it was Narain Dass, the University graduate
+who was working as a coolie for a few <i>annas</i> a day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And he had eight hundred and fifty rupees on him," added the young
+engineer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; and if all the Bhuttias had as much as the one shot that meant over
+two thousand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where did they get it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who is behind all this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The seditionists, of course," said an elderly planter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but today it isn't a question of an isolated outrage on one
+Englishwoman, nor of a few Bengali lawyers in Calcutta and their dupes
+among hot-headed students and ignorant peasants," said Dermot. "It's the
+biggest thing we've ever had to face yet in India. What we want to get at
+is the head and brains of the conspiracy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you make of this attempt on Miss Daleham?" asked Granger. "What
+was the object of it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Probably just terrorism. They wanted to show that no one is secure under
+our rule. It may be that Narain Dass, who had worked on this garden and
+seen Miss Daleham, suggested it. They may have thought that the carrying
+off of an Englishwoman would make more impression than the mere bombing of
+a police officer or a magistrate&mdash;we are too used to that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But why employ Bhuttias?" asked Payne.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To throw the pursuers off the track and prevent their being run down. The
+search would stop if we thought they'd gone across the frontier, so they
+could get away easily. When they had got Miss Daleham safely hidden away in
+the labyrinths of a native bazaar, perhaps in Calcutta, they'd have let
+everyone know who had carried her off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who was the other fellow with Narain Dass&mdash;the chap who talked Bengali?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Probably a Bhuttia who knew the language was given the Brahmin as an
+interpreter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I say, Major," cried a planter, "who the devil were the lot that
+attacked you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm hanged if I know," Dermot answered. "I have been inclined to believe
+them to be a gang of political <i>dacoits</i>, probably coming to meet the
+Bhuttias and take Miss Daleham from them, but in that case they would have
+been young Brahmins and better armed. This lot were low-caste men and their
+weapons were mostly old muzzle-loading muskets."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps they were just ordinary <i>dacoits</i>," hazarded a planter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Possibly; but they must have been new to the business," replied the Major.
+"For there wouldn't be much of an opening for robbers in the middle of the
+forest."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a puzzle. I can't make it out," said Granger, shaking his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+The others discussed the subject for some time, but no one could elucidate
+the mystery. At length Dermot said to Daleham:
+</p>
+<p>
+"No answer has come to that telegram you sent to Ranga Duar, I suppose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, Major; though there's been plenty of time for a reply."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's strange. Parker would have answered at once if he'd got the wire, I
+know," said Dermot. "But did he? Most of the telegraph clerks in this
+Province are Brahmins&mdash;I don't trust them. Anyhow, if Parker did receive
+the wire, he'd start a party off at once. It's a long forty miles, and
+marching through the jungle is slow work. They couldn't get here before
+dawn. And the men would be pretty done up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I bet they would if they had to go through the forest in the dark," said a
+planter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I want to start at daybreak to search the scene of the attack on us
+and the place where I came on the Bhuttias. Will some of you fellows come
+with me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rather. We'll all go," was the shout from all at the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks. We may round up some of the survivors."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I say, Major, would you tell us a thing that's puzzled me, and I daresay
+more than me?" ventured a young assistant manager, voicing the thoughts of
+others present. "How the deuce did those wild elephants happen to turn up
+just in the nick of time for you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They were probably close by and the firing disturbed them," was the
+careless answer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"H'm; very curious, wasn't it, Major?" said Granger. "You know the habits
+of the <i>jungli hathi</i> better than most other people. Wouldn't they be far
+more likely to run away from the firing than right into it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"As a rule. But when wild elephants stampede in a panic they'll go through
+anything."
+</p>
+<p>
+The assistant manager was persistent.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how did your elephant chance to join up with them?" he asked. "Judging
+by the look of him he took a very prominent part in clearing your enemies
+off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Badshah is a fighter. I daresay if there was a scrap anywhere near him
+he'd like to be in it," replied Dermot lightly, and tried to change the
+conversation.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the others insisted on keeping to the subject. They had all been
+curious as to the truth of the stories about Dermot's supposed miraculous
+power over wild elephants, but no one had ever ventured to question him on
+the subject before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you know, Major, that the natives have some wonderful tales
+about Badshah?" said a planter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; and of you, too, sir," said the young assistant manager. "They think
+you both some special brand of gods."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not surprised," said the Major with assumed carelessness. "They're
+ready to deify anything. They will see a god in a stone or a tree. You know
+they looked on the famous John Nicholson during the Mutiny as a god, and
+made a cult of him. There are still men who worship him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're prepared to do that to you, Major," said Granger frankly. "Barrett
+is quite right. They call you the Elephant God."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laughed and stood up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, natives will believe anything," he said. "If you'll excuse me now,
+Daleham, I'll turn in&mdash;or rather, turn out. I'd like to get some sleep, for
+we've an early start before us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, we'd better all do the same," said Granger, rising too. "How are you
+going to bed us all down, Daleham? Bit of a job, isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll manage all right," replied the young host. "I told the servants to
+spread all the mattresses and charpoys that they could raise anywhere out
+on the verandah and in the spare rooms. I'm short of mosquito curtains,
+though. Some of you will get badly bitten tonight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll go to old Parr's bungalow and steal his," said Granger. "He's too
+drunk to feel any 'skeeter biting him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I pity the mosquito that does," joined in a young planter laughing. "The
+poor insect would die of alcoholic poisoning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've given you my room, Major," said Daleham. "I know the other fellows
+won't mind."
+</p>
+<p>
+No persuasion, however, could make Dermot accept the offer. While
+the others slept in the bungalow, he lay under the stars beside his
+elephant. The house was wrapped in darkness. In the huts in the compound
+the servants still gossiped about the extraordinary events of the day,
+but gradually they too lay down and pulled their blankets over their
+heads, and all was silence. But a few hundred yards away a lamp still
+burned in Chunerbutty's bungalow where the Hindu sat staring at the wall
+of his room, wondering what had happened that day and what had been
+said in the Dalehams' dining-room that night. For he had prowled about
+their house in the darkness and seen the company gathered around the
+supper-table. And he had watched Dermot shut the door between the room
+and the verandah, and guessed that things were to be said that Indians
+were not meant to hear. So through the night he sat motionless in his
+chair with mind and heart full of bitterness, cursing the soldier by all
+he held unholy.
+</p>
+<p>
+Long before dawn Noreen, refreshed by sleep and quite recovered from the
+fatigues and alarms of the previous day, was up to superintend the early
+meal that her servants prepared for the departing company. No one but her
+brother was returning to Malpura, the others were to scatter to their own
+gardens when Dermot had finished with them.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the girl said good-bye to the planters she warmly thanked each one for
+his chivalrous readiness to come to her aid. But to the soldier she found
+it hard, impossible, to say all that was in her heart, and to an onlooker
+her farewell to him would have seemed abrupt, almost cold. But he
+understood her, and long after he had vanished from sight she seemed to
+feel the friendly pressure of his hand on hers. When she went to her rooms
+the tears filled her eyes, as she kissed the fingers that his had held.
+</p>
+<p>
+Out in the forest the Major led the way on Badshah, the ponies of his
+followers keeping at a respectful distance from the elephant. When nearing
+the scene of the fight the tracks of the avenging herd were plain to see,
+and soon the party came upon ghastly evidences of the tragedy. The buzzing
+of innumerable flies guided the searchers to spots in the undergrowth where
+the scattered corpses lay. As each was reached a black cloud of blood-drunk
+winged insects rose in the air from the loathsome mass of red, crushed
+pulp, but trains of big ants came and went undisturbed. The dense foliage
+had hidden the battered, shapeless bodies from the eyes of the soaring
+vultures high up in the blue sky, otherwise nothing but scattered bones
+would have remained. Now the task of scavenging was left to the insects.
+</p>
+<p>
+Over twenty corpses were found. When an angry elephant has wreaked his rage
+on a man the result is something that is difficult to recognise as the
+remains of a human being. So out of the twenty, the attackers shot by
+Dermot were the only ones whose bodies were in a fit state to be examined.
+But they afforded no clue to the identity of the mysterious assailants. The
+men appeared to have been low-caste Hindus of the coolie class. They
+carried nothing on their persons except a little food&mdash;a few broken
+<i>chupatis</i>, a handful of coarse grain, an onion or two, and a few
+<i>cardamoms</i> tied up in a bit of cloth. Each had a powder-flask and a small
+bag with some spherical bullets in it hung on a string passed over one
+shoulder. The weapons found were mostly old Tower muskets, the marks on
+which showed that at one time they had belonged to various native regiments
+in the service of the East India Company. But there were two or three
+fairly modern rifles of French or German make.
+</p>
+<p>
+These latter Dermot tied on his elephant, and, as there was nothing further
+to be learned here, he led the way to the other spot which he wished to
+visit. But when, after a canter along the narrow, winding track through the
+dense undergrowth, jumping fallen trees and dodging overhanging branches,
+the party drew near the open glade in which Dermot had overtaken the
+raiders, a chorus of loud and angry squawks, the rushing sound of heavy
+wings and the rustling of feathered bodies prepared them for
+disappointment. When they entered it there was nothing to be seen but two
+struggling groups of vultures jostling and fighting over what had been
+human bodies. For the glade was open to the sky and the keen eyes of the
+foul scavengers had detected the corpses, of which nothing was left now but
+torn clothing, mangled flesh, and scattered bones. So there was no
+possibility of Daleham's deciding if Dermot had been right in believing
+that one of the two raiders that he had killed was the Calcutta Bachelor of
+Arts. On the whole the search had proved fruitless, for no further clue to
+the identity of either body of miscreants was found.
+</p>
+<p>
+So the riders turned back. At various points of the homeward journey
+members of the party went off down tracks leading in the direction of their
+respective gardens, and there was but a small remnant left when Dermot said
+good-bye, after hearty thanks from Daleham and cheery farewells from the
+others.
+</p>
+<p>
+He did not reach the Fort until the following day. There he learned that
+Parker had never received the telegram asking for help. Subsequent
+enquiries from the telegraph authorities only elicited the statement that
+the line had been broken between Barwahi and Ranga Duar. As where it passed
+through the forest accidents to it from trees knocked down by elephants or
+brought down by natural causes were frequent, it was impossible to discover
+the truth, but the fact that nearly all the telegraph officials were
+Bengali Brahmins made Dermot doubtful. But he was able to report the
+happenings to Simla by cipher messages over the line.
+</p>
+<p>
+Parker was furious because the information had failed to reach him. He had
+missed the opportunity of marching a party of his men down to the rescue of
+Miss Daleham and his commanding officer, and he was not consoled by the
+latter pointing out to him that it would have been impossible for him to
+have arrived in time for the fight.
+</p>
+<p>
+Two days after Dermot's return to the Fort he was informed that three
+Bhuttias wanted to see him. On going out on to the verandah of his bungalow
+he found an old man whom he recognised as the headman of a mountain village
+just inside the British border, ten miles from Ranga Duar. Beside him stood
+two sturdy young Bhuttias with a hang-dog expression on their Mongol-like
+faces.
+</p>
+<p>
+The headman, who was one of those in Dermot's pay, saluted and, dragging
+forward his two companions, bade them say what they had come there to say.
+Each of the young men pulled out of the breast of his jacket a little
+cloth-wrapped parcel, and, opening it, poured a stream of bright silver
+rupees at the feet of the astonished Major. Then they threw themselves on
+their knees before him, touched the ground with their foreheads, and
+implored his pardon, saying that they had sinned against him in ignorance
+and offered in atonement the price of their crime.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot turned enquiringly to the headman, who explained that the two had
+taken part in the carrying off of the white <i>mem</i>, and being now convinced
+that they had in so doing offended a very powerful being&mdash;god or devil&mdash;had
+come to implore his pardon.
+</p>
+<p>
+Their story was soon told. They said that they had been approached by a
+certain Bhuttia who, formerly residing in British territory, had been
+forced to flee to Bhutan by reason of his many crimes. Nevertheless, he
+made frequent secret visits across the border. For fifty rupees&mdash;a princely
+sum to them&mdash;he induced them to agree to join with others in carrying off
+Miss Daleham. They found subsequently that the real leader of the
+enterprise was a Hindu masquerading as a Bhuttia.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they had succeeded in their object they were directed to go to a
+certain spot in the jungle where they were to be met by another party to
+which they were to hand over the Englishwoman. Having reached the place
+first they were waiting for the others when Dermot appeared. So terrible
+were the tales told in their villages about this dread white man and his
+mysterious elephant that, believing that he had come to punish them for
+their crime, all but the two leaders fled in panic. Several of the
+fugitives ran into the party of armed Hindus which they were to meet, a
+member of which spoke a certain amount of Bhutanese. Having learned what
+had happened he ordered them to guide the newcomers' pursuit.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the attack began the Bhuttias, having no fire-arms, took refuge in
+trees. So when the herd swept down upon the assailants all the hillmen
+escaped. But they were witnesses of the terrible vengeance of the powerful
+devil-man and devil-elephant. When at last they had ventured to descend
+from the trees that had proved their salvation and returned to their
+villages these two confided the story to their headman. At his orders they
+had come to surrender the price of their crime and plead for pardon.
+</p>
+<p>
+Their story only deepened the mystery, for, when Dermot eagerly
+questioned them as to the identity of the Hindus, he was again brought
+up against a blank wall, for they knew nothing of them. He deemed it
+politic to promise to forgive them and allow them to keep the money that
+they had received, after he had thoroughly impressed upon them the
+enormity of their guilt in daring to lay hands upon a white woman. He
+ordered them as a penance to visit all the Bhuttia villages on each side
+of the border and tell everyone how terrible was the punishment for such
+a crime. They were first to seek out their companions in the raid and
+lay the same task on them. He found afterwards that these latter had
+hardly waited to be told, for they had already spread broadcast the
+tale, which grew as it travelled. Before long every mountain and jungle
+village had heard how the Demon-Man had overtaken the raiders on his
+marvellous winged elephant, slain some by breathing fire on them and
+called up from the Lower Hell a troop of devils, half dragons, half
+elephants, who had torn the other criminals limb from limb or eaten them
+alive. So, not the fear of the Government, as Dermot intended, but the
+terror of him and his attendant devil Badshah, lay heavy on the
+border-side.
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty, kept at the soldier's request in utter ignorance of more
+than the fact that Noreen had been rescued by him from the raiders, had
+concluded at first that the crime was what it appeared on the surface&mdash;a
+descent of trans-frontier Bhuttias to carry off a white woman for ransom.
+But when these stories reached the tea-garden villages and eventually came
+to his ears he was very puzzled. For he knew that, in spite of their
+extravagance, there was probably a grain of truth somewhere in them. They
+made him suspect that some other agency had been at work and another reason
+than hope of money had inspired the outrage.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the Palace at Lalpuri a tempest raged. The Rajah, mad with fury and
+disappointed desire, stormed through his apartments, beating his servants
+and threatening all his satellites with torture and death. For no news had
+come to him for days as to the success or failure of a project that he had
+conceived in his diseased brain. Distrusting Chunerbutty, as he did
+everyone about him, he had sent for Narain Dass, whom he knew as one of the
+<i>Dewan's</i> agents, and given him the task of executing his original design
+of carrying off Miss Daleham. To the Bengali's subtle mind had occurred the
+idea of making the outrage seem the work of Bhuttia raiders. But for
+Dermot's prompt pursuit his plan would have been crowned with success. The
+girl, handed over as arranged to a party of the Rajah's soldiers in
+disguise, would have been taken to the Palace at Lalpuri, while everyone
+believed her a captive in Bhutan.
+</p>
+<p>
+At length a few poor wretches, who had escaped their comrades' terrible
+doom under the feet of the wild elephants and, mad with terror, had
+wandered in the jungle for days, crept back starved and almost mad to the
+capital of the State. Only one was rash enough to return to the Palace,
+while the others, fearing to face their lord when they had only failure to
+report, hid in the slums of the bazaar. This one was summoned to the
+Rajah's presence. His tale was heard with unbelief and rage, and he was
+ordered to be trampled to death by the ruler's trained elephants. Search
+was made through the bazaar for the other men who had returned, and when
+they were caught their punishment was more terrible still. Inconceivable
+tortures were inflicted on them and they were flung half-dead into a pit
+full of live scorpions and cobras. Even in these enlightened days there are
+dark corners in India, and in some Native States strange and terrible
+things still happen. And the tale of them rarely reaches the ear of the
+representatives of the Suzerain Power or the columns of the daily press.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE LURE OF THE HILLS
+</h3>
+<p>
+A dark pall enveloped the mountains, and over Ranga Duar raged one of
+the terrifying tropical thunderstorms that signalise the rains of India.
+Unlike more temperate climes this land has but three Seasons. To her the
+division of the year into Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter means
+nothing. She knows only the Hot Weather, the Monsoon or Rains, and the
+Cold Weather. From November to the end of February is the pleasant time
+of dry, bright, and cool days, with nights that register from three to
+sixteen degrees of frost in the plains of Central and Northern India.
+In the Himalayas the snow lies feet deep. The popular idea that
+Hindustan is always a land of blazing sun and burning heat is entirely
+wrong. But from March to the end of June it certainly turns itself into
+a hell of torment for the luckless mortals that cannot fly from the
+parched plains to the cool mountains. Then from the last days of June,
+when the Monsoon winds bring up the moisture-laden clouds from the
+oceans on the south-west of the peninsula, to the beginning or middle
+of October, India is the Kingdom of Rain. From the grey sky it falls
+drearily day and night. Outside, the thirsty soil drinks it up gladly.
+Green things venture timidly out of the parched earth, then shoot up as
+rapidly as the beanstalk of the fairy tale. But inside houses dampness
+reigns. Green fungus adorns boots and all things of leather, tobacco
+reeks with moisture, and the white man scratches himself and curses the
+plague of prickly heat.
+</p>
+<p>
+But while tens of thousands of Europeans and hundreds of millions of
+natives suffer greatly in the tortures of Heat and Wet for eight weary
+months of the year in the Plains of India, up in the magic realm of the
+Hills, in the pleasure colonies like Simla, Mussourie, Naini Tal,
+Darjeeling, and Ootacamund, existence during those same months is one long
+spell of gaiety and comfort for the favoured few. These hill-stations make
+life in India worth living for the lucky English women and men who can take
+refuge in them. And incidentally they are responsible for more domestic
+unhappiness in Anglo-Indian households than any other cause. It is said
+that while in the lower levels of the land many roads lead to the Divorce
+Court, in the Hills <i>all</i> do.
+</p>
+<p>
+For wives must needs go alone to the hill-stations, as a rule. India is not
+a country for idlers. Every white man in it has work to do, otherwise he
+would not be in that land at all. Husbands therefore cannot always
+accompany their spouses to the mountains, and, when they do, can rarely
+contrive to remain there for six months or longer of the Season.
+Consequently the wives are often very lonely in the big hotels that abound
+on the hill-tops, and sometimes drift into dependence on bachelors on leave
+for daily companionship, for escort to the many social functions, for
+regular dancing partners. And so trouble is bred.
+</p>
+<p>
+Major Dermot was no lover of these mountain Capuas of Hindustan, and had
+gladly escaped from Simla, chiefest of them all. Yet now he sat in his
+little stone bungalow in Ranga Duar, while the terrific thunder crashed and
+roared among the hills, and read with a pleased smile an official letter
+ordering him to proceed forthwith to Darjeeling&mdash;as gay a pleasure colony
+as any&mdash;to meet the General Commanding the Division, who was visiting the
+place on inspection duty. For the same post had brought him a letter from
+Noreen Daleham which told him that she was then, and had been for some
+time, in that hill-station.
+</p>
+<p>
+The climate of the Terai, unpleasantly but not unbearably hot in the summer
+months, is pestilential and deadly during the rains, when malaria and the
+more dreaded black-water fever take toll of the strongest. Noreen had
+suffered in health in the hot weather, and her brother was seriously
+concerned at the thought of her being obliged to remain in Malpura
+throughout the Monsoon. He could not take her to the Hills; it was
+impossible for him to absent himself even for a few days from the garden,
+for the care and management of it was devolving more and more every day on
+him, owing to the intemperate habits of Parry.
+</p>
+<p>
+Fred Daleham's relief was great when his sister unexpectedly received a
+letter from a former school-friend who two years before had married a man
+in the Indian Civil Service. Noreen, who was a good deal her junior, had
+corresponded regularly with her, and she now wrote to say that she was
+going to Darjeeling for the Season and suggested that Noreen should join
+her there. Much as the prospect of seeing a friend whom she had idolised,
+appealed to the girl (to say nothing of the gaieties of a hill-station and
+the pleasure of seeing shops, real shops, again), she was nevertheless
+unwilling to leave her brother. But Fred insisted on her going.
+</p>
+<p>
+From Darjeeling she told Dermot in a long and chatty epistle all her
+sensations and experiences in this new world. It was her first real letter
+to him, although she had written him a few short notes from Malpura. It was
+interesting and clever, without any attempt to be so, and Dermot was
+surprised at the accuracy of her judgment of men and things and the
+vividness of her descriptions. He noticed, moreover, that the social
+gaieties of Darjeeling did not engross her. She enjoyed dancing, but the
+many balls, At Homes, and other social functions did not attract her so
+much as the riding and tennis, the sight-seeing, the glimpses of the
+strange and varied races that fill the Darjeeling bazaar, and, above all,
+the glories of the superb scenery where the ice-crowned monarch of all
+mountains, Kinchinjunga, forty miles away&mdash;though not seeming five&mdash;and
+twenty-nine thousand feet high, towers up above the white line of the
+Eternal Snows.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot was critically pleased with the letter. Few men&mdash;and he least of
+all&mdash;care for an empty-headed doll whose only thoughts are of dress and
+fashionable entertainments. He liked the girl for her love of sport and
+action, for her intelligence, and the interest she took in the varied
+native life around her. He was almost tempted to think that her letter
+betrayed some desire for his companionship in Darjeeling, for in it she
+constantly wondered what he would think of this, what he would say of that.
+</p>
+<p>
+But he put the idea from him, though he smiled as he re-read his orders and
+thought of her surprise when she saw him in Darjeeling. Would she really be
+pleased to meet her friend of the jungle in the gay atmosphere of a
+pleasure colony? Like most men who are not woman-hunters he set a very
+modest value on himself and did not rate highly his power of attraction for
+the opposite sex. Therefore, he thought it not unlikely that the girl might
+consider him as a desirable enough acquaintance for the forest but a bore
+in a ballroom. In this he was unjust to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was surprised to discover that he looked forward with pleasure to seeing
+her again, for women as a rule did not interest him. Noreen was the first
+whom he had met that gave him the feeling of companionship, of comradeship,
+that he experienced with most men. She was not more clever, more talented,
+or better educated than most English girls are, but she had the capacity of
+taking interest in many things outside the ordinary range of topics. Above
+all, she inspired him with the pleasant sense of "chum-ship," than which
+there is no happier, more durable bond of union between a man and a woman.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Season brought the work in which Dermot was engaged to a standstill,
+and, keen lover of sport as he was, he was not tempted to risk the
+fevers of the jungle. Life in the small station of Ranga Duar was dull
+indeed. Day and night the rain rattled incessantly on the iron roofs
+of the bungalows&mdash;six or eight inches in twenty-four hours being not
+unusual. Thunderstorms roared and echoed among the hills for twenty or
+thirty hours at a stretch. All outdoor work or exercise was impossible.
+The outpost was nearly always shrouded in dense mist. Insect pests
+abounded. Scorpions and snakes invaded the buildings. Outside, from
+every blade of grass, every leaf and twig, a thin and hungry leech waved
+its worm-like, yellow-striped body in the air, seeming to scent any
+approaching man or beast on which it could fasten and gorge itself fat
+with blood. Certainly a small station on the face of the Himalayas is
+not a desirable place of residence during the rains, and to persons
+of melancholy temperament would be conducive to suicide or murder.
+Fortunately for themselves the two white men in Ranga Duar took life
+cheerily and were excellent friends.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+By this time Noreen considered herself quite an old resident of Darjeeling.
+But she had felt the greatest reluctance to go when her brother had helped
+her into the dogcart for the long drive to the railway. Fred was unable to
+take her even as far as the train, for his manager had one of his periodic
+attacks of what was euphemistically termed his "illness." But Chunerbutty
+volunteered to escort Noreen to the hills, as he had been summoned again to
+his sick father's side, the said parent being supposed to be in attendance
+on his Rajah who had taken a house in Darjeeling for the season. As a
+matter of fact his worthy progenitor had never left Lalpuri. However,
+Daleham knew nothing of that, and, being empowered to do so when Parry was
+incapacitated, gladly gave him permission to go and gratefully accepted his
+offer to look after the girl on the journey.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen would much have preferred going alone, but her brother refused to
+entertain the idea. Although she knew nothing of the suspicions of her
+Bengali friend entertained by Dermot, she sensed a certain disapproval on
+his part of Fred's and her intimacy with Chunerbutty, and it affected her
+far more than did the open objection of the other planters to the Hindu.
+Besides, she was gradually realising the existence of the "colour bar,"
+illiberal as she considered it to be. But it will always exist, dormant
+perhaps but none the less alive in the bosoms of the white peoples. It is
+Nature herself who has planted it there, in order to preserve the
+separation of the races that she has ordained. So Noreen, though she hated
+herself for it, felt that she would rather go all the way alone than travel
+with the Hindu.
+</p>
+<p>
+The thirty miles' drive to the station of the narrow-gauge branch railway
+which would convey them to the main line did not seem long. For several
+planters who resided near her road had laid a <i>dâk</i> for her, that is, had
+arranged relays of ponies at various points of the way to enable the
+journey to be performed quickly. Noreen's heavy luggage had gone on ahead
+by bullock cart two days before, so the pair travelled light.
+</p>
+<p>
+After her long absence from civilisation the diminutive engine and
+carriages of the narrow-gauge railway looked quite imposing, and it
+seemed to the girl strange to be out of the jungle when the toy train
+slid from the forest into open country, through the rice-fields and by
+the trim palm-thatched villages nestling among giant clumps of bamboo.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the evening the train reached the junction where Noreen and Chunerbutty
+had to transfer to the Calcutta express, which brought them early next
+morning to Siliguri, the terminus of the main line at the foot of the
+hills, whence the little mountain-railway starts out on its seven thousand
+feet climb up the Himalayas.
+</p>
+<p>
+Out of the big carriages of the express the passengers tumbled reluctantly
+and hurried half asleep to secure their seats in the quaint open
+compartments of the tiny train. White-clad servants strapped up their
+employers' bedding&mdash;for in India the railway traveller must bring his own
+with him&mdash;and collected the luggage, while the masters and mistresses
+crowded into the refreshment room for <i>chota hazri</i>, or early breakfast.
+Noreen was unpleasantly aware of the curious and semi-hostile looks cast at
+her and her companion by the other Europeans, particularly the ladies, for
+the sight of an English girl travelling with a native is not regarded with
+friendly eyes by English folk in India.
+</p>
+<p>
+But she forgot this when the toy train started. As they climbed higher the
+vegetation grew smaller and sparser, until it ceased altogether and the
+line wound up bare slopes. And as they rose they left the damp heat behind
+them, and the air grew fresher and cooler.
+</p>
+<p>
+The train twisted among the mountains and crawled up their steep sides on a
+line that wound about in bewildering fashion, in one place looping the loop
+completely in such a way that the engine was crossing a bridge from under
+which the last carriage was just emerging. Noreen delighted in the journey.
+She chatted gaily with her companion, asking him questions about anything
+that was new to her, and striving to ignore the looks of curiosity, pity,
+or disgust cast at her by the other European passengers, among whom
+speculation was rife as to the relationship between the pair.
+</p>
+<p>
+The leisurely train took plenty of time to recover its breath when it
+stopped at the little wayside stations, and many of its occupants got out
+to stretch their legs. Two of them, Englishmen, strolled to the end of the
+platform at a halt. One, a tall, fair man, named Charlesworth, a captain in
+a Rifle battalion quartered in Lebong, the military suburb of Darjeeling,
+remarked to his companion:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder who is the pretty, golden-haired girl travelling with that
+native. How the deuce does she come to be with him? She can't be his wife."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You never know," replied the other, an artillery subaltern named Turner.
+"Many of these Bengali students in London marry their landladies' daughters
+or girls they've picked up in the street, persuading the wretched women by
+their lies that they are Indian princes. Then they bring them out here to
+herd with a black family in a little house in the native quarter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but that girl is a lady," answered Charlesworth impatiently. "I heard
+her speak on the platform at Siliguri."
+</p>
+<p>
+"She certainly looks all right," admitted his friend. "Smart and
+well-turned out, too. But one can never tell nowadays."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let's stroll by her carriage and get a nearer view of her," said
+Charlesworth.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they passed the compartment in which Noreen was seated, the girl's
+attention was attracted by two gaily-dressed Sikkimese men with striped
+petticoats and peacocks' feathers stuck in their flowerpot-shaped hats, who
+came on to the platform.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Mr. Chunerbutty, look at those men!" she said eagerly. "What are
+they?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The Hindu had got out and was standing at the door of the compartment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you notice that?" said Charlesworth, when he and Turner had got beyond
+earshot. "She called him Mr. Something-or-other."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; deuced glad to hear it, too," replied the gunner. "I'd hate to see a
+white woman, especially an English lady, married to a native. I wonder how
+that girl comes to be travelling with the beggar at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'd like to meet her," said Charlesworth, who was returning from ten days'
+leave in Calcutta. "If I ever do, I'll advise her not to go travelling
+about with a black man. I suppose she's just out from England and knows no
+better."
+</p>
+<p>
+"She'd probably tell you to mind your own business," observed his friend.
+"Hullo! it looks as if the engine-driver is actually going to get a move on
+this old hearse. Let's go aboard."
+</p>
+<p>
+More spiteful comments were made on Noreen by the Englishwomen on the
+train, and the girl could not help remarking their contemptuous glances at
+her and her escort.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the train ran into the station at Darjeeling she saw her friend, Ida
+Smith, waiting on the platform for her. As the two embraced and kissed each
+other effusively Charlesworth muttered to Turner:
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's all right, old chap. I'll be introduced to that girl before this time
+tomorrow, you bet. I know her friend. She's from the Bombay side&mdash;wife of
+one of the Heaven Born."
+</p>
+<p>
+By this lofty title are designated the members of the Indian Civil Service
+by lesser mortals, such as army officers&mdash;who in return are contemptuously
+termed "brainless military popinjays" by the exalted caste.
+</p>
+<p>
+Their greeting over, Noreen introduced Chunerbutty to Ida, who nodded
+frigidly and then turned her back on him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, dear, point out your luggage to my servant and he'll look after it
+and get it up to the hotel. Oh, how do you do, Captain Charlesworth?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rifleman, determined to lose no time in making Noreen's acquaintance,
+had come up to them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had quite a shock, Mrs. Smith, when I saw you on the platform, for I was
+afraid that you were leaving us and had come to take the down train."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no; I am only here to meet a friend," she replied. "Have you just
+arrived by this train? Have you been away?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Charlesworth laughed and replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"What an unkind question, Mrs. Smith! It shows that I haven't been missed.
+Yes, I've been on ten days' leave to Calcutta."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How brave of you at this time of year! It must have been something
+very important that took you there. Have you been to see your tailor?"
+Then, without giving him time to reply, she turned to Noreen. "Let me
+introduce Captain Charlesworth, my dear. Captain Charlesworth, this is
+Miss Daleham, an old school-friend, who has come up to keep me company.
+We poor hill-widows are so lonely."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rifleman held out his hand eagerly to the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How d'you do, Miss Daleham? I hope you've come up for the Season."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I think so," she replied. "It's a very delightful change from down
+below. This is my first visit to a hill-station."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you'll be sure to enjoy it. Are you going to the
+Lieutenant-Governor's ball on Thursday?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't suppose so. I don't know anything about it," she replied.
+"You see, I've only just arrived."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are, dear," said Ida. "I told Captain Craigie, one of the A.D.C.'s,
+that you were coming up, and he sent me your invitation with mine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, how jolly!" exclaimed the girl. "I do hope I'll get some partners."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please accept me as one," said Charlesworth. Then he tactfully added to
+Ida, "I hope you'll spare me a couple of dances, Mrs. Smith."
+</p>
+<p>
+"With pleasure, Captain Charlesworth," she replied. "But do come and see us
+before then."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall be delighted to. By the way, are you going to the gymkhana on the
+polo-ground tomorrow?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, we are."
+</p>
+<p>
+Charlesworth turned to Noreen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In that case, Miss Daleham, perhaps you'll be good enough to nominate me
+for some of the events. As you have only just got here you won't have been
+snapped up yet by other fellows. I know it's hopeless to expect Mrs. Smith
+not to be."
+</p>
+<p>
+Ida smiled, well pleased at the flattery, although, as a matter of fact, no
+one had yet asked her to nominate him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid I wouldn't know what to do," answered Noreen. "I've never been
+to a gymkhana in India. I haven't seen or ridden in any, except at
+Hurlingham and Ranelagh."
+</p>
+<p>
+Charlesworth made a mental note of this. If the girl had taken part in
+gymkhanas at the London Clubs she must be socially all right, he thought.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're just the same," he said. "In England they've only copied India in
+these things. Have you brought your habit with you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; Mrs. Smith told me in her letters that I could get riding up here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good. I've got a ripping pony for a lady. I'll raise a saddle for you
+somewhere, and we'll enter for some of the affinity events."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl's eyes sparkled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, how delightful. Could I do it, Ida?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, certainly, dear."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should love to. It's very kind of you, Captain Charlesworth. Thank you
+ever so much. It will be splendid. I hope I shan't disgrace you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sure you won't. I'll call for you and bring you both down to Lebong if
+I may, Mrs. Smith."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you lunch with us then?" asked Ida. "You know where I am staying&mdash;the
+Woodbrook Hotel. Noreen is coming there too."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you, I'll be delighted," replied the Rifleman.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well. One o'clock sharp. Now we'll say good-bye for the present."
+</p>
+<p>
+Charlesworth shook hands with both ladies and strode off in triumph to
+where Turner was awaiting him impatiently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, dear, we'll go," said Ida. "I have a couple of <i>dandies</i> waiting for
+us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Dandies</i>?" echoed the girl in surprise. "What do you mean?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The older woman laughed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, not dandies like Captain Charlesworth. These are chairs in which
+coolies carry you. In Darjeeling you can't drive. You must go in
+<i>dandies</i>, or rickshas, unless you ride. Here, Miguel! Have you got the
+missie <i>baba's</i> luggage?" This to her Goanese servant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, <i>mem sahib</i>. All got," replied the "boy," a native Christian with the
+high sounding name of Miguel Gonsalves Da Costa from the Portugese Colony
+of Goa on the West Coast of India below Bombay. In his tweed cap and suit
+of white ducks he did not look as imposing as the Hindu or Mohammedan
+butlers of other Europeans on the platform with their long-skirted white
+coats, coloured <i>kamarbands</i>, and big <i>puggris</i>, or turbans, with their
+employers' crests on silver brooches pinned in the front. But Goanese
+servants are excellent and much in demand in Bombay.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All right. You bring to hotel <i>jeldi</i> (quickly). Come along, Noreen," said
+Mrs. Smith, walking off and utterly ignoring the Hindu engineer who had
+stood by unnoticed all this time with rage in his heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen, however, turned to him and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"What are you going to do, Mr. Chunerbutty? Where are you staying?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am going to my father at His Highness's house," he replied. "I should
+not be very welcome at your hotel or to your friends, Miss Daleham."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, of course you would," replied the girl, feeling sorry for him but
+uncertain what to say. "Will you come and see me tomorrow?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You forget. You are going to the gymkhana with that insolent English
+officer."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now don't be unjust. I'm sure Captain Charlesworth wasn't at all insolent.
+But I forgot the gymkhana. You could come in the morning. Yet, perhaps, I
+may have to go out calling with Mrs. Smith," she said doubtfully. "And how
+selfish of me! You have your own affairs to see to. I do hope that you'll
+find your father much better."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you. I hope so."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do let me know how he is. Send me a <i>chit</i> (letter) if you have time. I am
+anxious to hear. Now I must thank you ever so much for your kindness in
+looking after me on the journey. I don't know what I'd have done without
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was nothing. But you had better go. Your haughty friend is looking back
+for you, angry that you should stop here talking to a native," he said
+bitterly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ida was beckoning to her; even at that distance they could see that she was
+impatient. So Noreen could only reiterate her thanks to the Hindu and hurry
+after her friend, who said petulantly when she came up:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do wish you hadn't travelled up with that Indian, Noreen. It isn't nice
+for an English girl to be seen with one, and it will make people talk. The
+women here are such cats."
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen judged it best to make no reply, but followed her irate friend in
+silence. Their <i>dandies</i> were waiting outside the station, and as the girl
+got into hers and was lifted up and carried off by the sturdy coolies on
+whose shoulders the poles rested, she thought with a thrill of the last
+occasion on which she had been borne in a chair.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XIII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE PLEASURE COLONY
+</h3>
+<p>
+A town on the hill-tops; a town of clubs, churches, and hotels, of luxury
+shops, of pretty villas set in lovely gardens bright with English flowers
+and shaded by great orchid-clad trees; of broad, well-kept roads&mdash;such is
+Darjeeling, seven thousand feet above the sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+At first sight there is nothing Oriental about it except the Gurkha
+policemen on point duty or the laughing groups of fair-skinned,
+rosy-cheeked Lepcha women that go chattering by him. But on one side the
+steep hills are crowded with the confused jumble of houses in the native
+bazaar, built higgledy-piggledy one on top of the other and lining the
+narrow streets and lanes that are thronged all day by a bright-garbed
+medley of Eastern races&mdash;Sikkimese, Bhuttias, Hindus, Tibetans, Lepchas.
+Set in a beautiful glen are the lovely Botanical Gardens, which look
+down past slopes trimly planted with rows of tea-bushes into the deep
+valleys far below.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Noreen was borne along in her <i>dandy</i> she thought that she had never
+seen a more delightful spot. Everything and everyone attracted her
+attention&mdash;the scenery, the buildings, the varied folk that passed her on
+the road, from well set-up British soldiers in red coats and white helmets,
+smartly-dressed ladies in rickshas, Englishmen in breeches and gaiters
+riding sleek-coated ponies, to yellow-gowned lamas and Lepcha girls with
+massive silver necklaces and turquoise ornaments. She longed to turn her
+chair-coolies down the hill and begin at once the exploration of the
+attractive-looking native bazaar&mdash;until she reached the English shops with
+the newest fashions of female wear from London and Paris, set out behind
+their plate-glass windows. Here she forgot the bazaar and would willingly
+have lingered to look, but Ida's <i>dandy</i> kept steadily alongside hers and
+its occupant chattered incessantly of the many forth-coming social
+gaieties, until they turned into the courtyard of their hotel and stepped
+out of their chairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Ida had shown her friend into the room reserved for her she said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Take off your hat, dear, and let me see how you look after all these
+years. Why, you've grown into quite a pretty girl. What a nice colour your
+hair is! Do you use anything for it? I don't remember its being as golden
+as all that at school."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl laughed and shook the sunlit waves of it down, for it had got
+untidy under her sun-hat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, Ida darling, of course I don't use anything. The colour is quite
+natural, I assure you. Have you forgotten you used sometimes to call me
+Goldylocks at school?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did I? I don't remember. I say, Noreen, you're a lucky girl to have made
+such a hit straight away with Captain Charlesworth. He's quite the rage
+with the women here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is he? Why?" asked the girl carelessly, pinning up her hair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why? My dear, he's the smartest man in a very smart regiment. Very well
+off; has lots of money and a beautiful place at home, I believe. Comes from
+an excellent family. And then he's so handsome. Don't you think so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; he's rather good-looking. But he struck me as being somewhat
+foppish."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, he's always beautifully dressed, if that's what you mean. You saw
+that, even when he had just come off a train journey. He's a beautiful
+dancer. I'm so glad he asked me for a couple of dances at the L.G.'s ball.
+I'll see he doesn't forget them. I'll keep him up to his word, though
+Bertie won't like it. He's fearfully jealous of me, but I don't care."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bertie? Who is&mdash;? I thought that your husband's name was William?" said
+Noreen wonderingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ida burst into a peal of laughter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good gracious, child! I'm not talking of my husband. Bill's hundreds of
+miles away, thank goodness! I wouldn't mind if he were thousands. No; I'm
+speaking of Captain Bain, a great friend of mine from the Bombay side. He's
+stationed in Poona, which is quite a jolly place in the Season, though of
+course not a patch on this. But he got leave and came here because I did."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes, I see," replied Noreen vaguely, puzzled by Ida's remark about her
+husband. She had seen the Civil Servant at the wedding and remembered him
+as a stolid, middle-aged, and apparently uninteresting individual. But the
+girl was still ignorant enough of life not to understand why a woman after
+two years of marriage should be thankful that her husband was far away from
+her and wish him farther.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I'm not going to let Bertie monopolise me up here," continued Mrs.
+Smith, taking off her hat and pulling and patting her hair before the
+mirror. "I like a change. I've come here to have a good time. I think I'll
+go in and cut you out with Captain Charlesworth. He's awfully attractive."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are quite welcome to him, dear," said the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, wait until you see the fuss the other women make of him. He's a great
+catch; and all the mothers here with marriageable daughters and the spins
+themselves are ready to scratch each other's eyes out over him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be uncharitable, Ida dearest."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a fact, darling. But I warn you that he's not a marrying man. He has
+the reputation of being a terrible flirt. I don't think you'll hold him
+long. He's afraid of girls&mdash;afraid they'll try to catch him. He prefers
+married women. He knows we're safe."
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen said nothing, but began to open and unpack her trunks. In India, the
+land of servants, where a bachelor officer has seven or more, a lady has
+usually to do without a maid, for the <i>ayah</i>, or native female domestic, is
+generally a failure in that capacity. In the hotels Indian "boys" replace
+the chambermaids of Europe.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ida rattled on.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course, Bertie's awfully useful. A tame cat&mdash;and he's a well-trained
+one&mdash;is a handy thing to have about you, especially up here. You need
+someone to take you to races and gymkhanas and to fill up blanks on your
+programme at dances, as well as getting your ricksha or <i>dandy</i> for you
+when they're over."
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen laughed, amused at the frankness of the statement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And where is the redoubtable Captain Bain, dear?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll see him soon. I let him off today until it's time for him to call
+to take us to the Amusement Club. He was anxious to see you. He wanted to
+come with me to the station, but I said he'd only be in the way. I knew
+Miguel would be much more useful in getting your luggage. Bertie's so slow.
+Still, he's rather a dear. Remember, he's my property. You mustn't poach."
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen laughed again and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"If he admires you, dear, I'm sure no one could take him from you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear girl, you never can trust any man," said her friend seriously.
+Then, glancing at herself in the mirror, she continued modestly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know I'm not bad-looking, and lots of men do admire me. Bertie says I'm
+a ripper."
+</p>
+<p>
+She certainly was decidedly pretty, though of a type of beauty that would
+fade early. Vain and empty-headed, she was, nevertheless, popular with the
+class of men who are content with a shallow, silly woman with whom it is
+easy to flirt. They described her as "good fun and not a bit strait-laced."
+Noreen knew nothing of this side of her friend, for she had not seen her
+since her marriage, and honestly thought her beautiful and fascinating.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ida picked up her hat and parasol and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now I'll leave you to get straight, darling child, and come back to you
+later on."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked into the glass again and went on:
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's so nice to have you here. A woman alone is rather out of it,
+especially if she comes from the other side of India and doesn't know
+Calcutta people. Now it'll be all right when there are two of us. The cats
+can't say horrid things about me and Bertie&mdash;though it's only the old
+frumps that can't get a man who do. I <i>am</i> glad you've come. We'll have
+such fun."
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Captain Bain, a dapper little man, designed by Nature to be the "tame cat"
+of some married woman, was punctual when the time came to take the two
+ladies to the Amusement Club. Noreen had very dubiously donned her smartest
+frock which, having just been taken out of a trunk after a long journey,
+seemed very crushed, creased, and dowdy compared with the freshness and
+daintiness of Ida's <i>toilette.</i> Men as a rule understand nothing of the
+agonies endured by a woman who must face the unfriendly stares of other
+women in a gown that she feels will invite pitiless criticism.
+</p>
+<p>
+But for the moment the girl forgot her worries as they turned out of the
+hotel gate and reached the Chaurasta, the meeting of the "four-ways,"
+nearly as busy a cross-roads as (and infinitely more beautiful than) Carfax
+at Oxford or the Quattro Canti in Palermo. To the east the hill of
+Jalapahar towered a thousand feet above Darjeeling, crowned with bungalows
+and barracks. To the north the ground fell as sharply; and a thousand feet
+below Darjeeling lay Lebong, set out on a flattened hilltop. On three sides
+of this military suburb the hill sloped steeply to the valleys below. But
+beyond them, tumbled mass upon mass, rose the great mountains barring the
+way to Sikkim and Tibet, towering to the clouds that hid the white summits
+of the Eternal Snows.
+</p>
+<p>
+Bain walked his pony beside Noreen's chair and named the various points of
+the scenery around them. Then, when Noreen had inscribed her name in the
+Visitors' Book at Government House, they entered the Amusement Club.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen was overcome with shyness at finding herself, after her months
+of isolation, among scores of white folk, all strangers to her. Ida
+unconcernedly led the way into the large hall which was used as a
+roller-skating rink, along one side of which were set out dozens of
+little tables around which sat ladies in smart frocks that made the girl
+more painfully conscious of what she considered to be the deficiencies
+of her own costume. She saw one or two of the women that had travelled
+up in the train that day stare at her and then lean forward and make
+some remark about her to their companions at the table. She was
+profoundly thankful when the ordeal was over and, in Ida's wake, she had
+got out of the rink. Conscious only of the critical glances of her own
+sex, she was not aware of the admiring looks cast at her by many men in
+the groups around the tables.
+</p>
+<p>
+But later on in the evening she found herself seated at one of those same
+tables that an hour before had seemed to her a bench of stern judges. She
+formed one of a laughing, chattering group of Ida's acquaintances. More at
+ease now, the girl watched the people around her with interest. For a year
+she had seen no larger gathering of her own race than the weekly meetings
+at the planters' little club in the jungle, with the one exception of a
+<i>durbar</i> at Jalpaiguri.
+</p>
+<p>
+Yet despite Ida's company she was feeling lonely and a little depressed, a
+stranger in a crowd, when she saw Captain Charlesworth enter the rink,
+accompanied by another man. Recent as had been their meeting, he seemed
+quite an old friend among all these unknown people about her, and she
+almost hoped that he would come and speak to her. He sauntered through the
+hall, bowing casually to many ladies, some of whom, the girl noticed, made
+rather obvious efforts to detain him. But he ignored them and looked
+around, as if in search of some particular person. Suddenly his eyes met
+Noreen's, and he promptly came straight to her table. He shook hands with
+Mrs. Smith and bowed to the other ladies in the group, introduced his
+companion, a new arrival to his battalion, and, securing a chair beside
+Noreen, plunged into a light and animated conversation with her. The girl
+could not help feeling a little pleased when she saw the looks of surprise
+and annoyance on the faces of some of the women at the other tables. But
+Charlesworth was not allowed to have it all his own way with her. Bain and
+an Indian Army officer named Melville also claimed her attention. The
+knowledge that we are appreciated tends to make most of us appear at our
+best, and Noreen soon forgot her shyness and loneliness and became her
+usual natural, bright self. Ida looked on indulgently and smiled at her
+patronisingly, as though Noreen's little personal triumph were due to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen slept soundly that night, and although she had meant to get up early
+and see Kinchinjunga and the snows when the sun rose, it was late when her
+hostess came to her room. After breakfast Ida took her out shopping. Only a
+woman can realise what a delight it was to the girl, after being divorced
+for a whole year from the sight of shops and the possibility of
+replenishing her wardrobe, or purchasing the thousand little necessities of
+the female toilet, to enter milliners' and dressmakers' shops where the
+latest, or very nearly the latest, <i>modes</i> of the day in hats and gowns
+were to be seen.
+</p>
+<p>
+Charlesworth came to lunch in a smart riding-kit, looking particularly
+well-groomed and handsome. The girl was quite excited about the gymkhana,
+and plied him with innumerable questions as to what she would have to do.
+She learned that they were to enter for two affinity events. In one of
+these the lady was to tilt with a billiard-cue at three suspended rings,
+while the man, carrying a spear and a sword, took a tent-peg with the
+former, threw the lance away, cut off a Turk's head in wood with the sword,
+and then took another peg with the same weapon. The other competition was
+named the Gretna Green Stakes, and in it the pair were to ride hand in hand
+over three hurdles, dismount and sign their names in a book, then mount
+again and return hand in hand over the jumps to the winning-post.
+</p>
+<p>
+The polo-ground at Lebong that afternoon presented an animated scene,
+filled with colour by the bright-hued garments of the thousands of native
+spectators surrounding it, the uniforms of the British soldiers in the
+crowd, and the frocks of the English ladies in the reserved enclosure,
+where in large white marquees the officers of Charlesworth's regiment acted
+as hosts to the European visitors. Down the precipitous road to it from
+Darjeeling came swarms of mixed Eastern races in picturesque garb, Gurkha
+soldiers in uniform, and British gunners from Jalapahar; and through the
+throngs Englishmen on ponies, and <i>dandies</i> and rickshas carrying ladies in
+smart summer frocks, could scarcely make their way.
+</p>
+<p>
+When Mrs. Smith's party reached the enclosure and shook hands with the wife
+of the Colonel of the Rifles, who was the senior hostess, Noreen was not
+troubled by the feeling of shyness that had assailed her at the Club on the
+previous evening. She had the comforting knowledge that her habit and boots
+from the best West End makers were beyond cavil. But she was too excited at
+the thought of the approaching contests to think much of her appearance.
+Charlesworth took her to see the pony that she was to ride, and, as she
+passed through the enclosure, she did not hear the admiring remarks of many
+of the men and, indeed, of some of the women. For in India even an
+ordinarily pretty girl will be thought beautiful, and Noreen was more than
+ordinarily pretty. Her mount she found to be a well-shaped, fourteen-two
+grey Arab, with the perfect manners of his race; and she instantly lost her
+heart to him as he rubbed his velvety muzzle against her cheek.
+</p>
+<p>
+The gymkhana opened with men's competitions, the first event in which
+ladies were to take part, the Tilting and Tent-pegging, not occurring until
+nearly half-way down the programme. Noreen was awaiting it too anxiously to
+enjoy, as she otherwise would, the novel scene, the gaiety, the band in the
+enclosure, the well-dressed throngs of English folk, the gaudy colours of
+the crowds squatting round the polo-ground and wondering at the strange
+diversions of the sahib-<i>logue</i>. Charlesworth did well in the men's event,
+securing two first prizes and a third, and Noreen could not help admiring
+him in the saddle. He was a graceful as well as a good rider. Indeed, he
+was No. 2 in the regimental polo team, which was one of the best in India
+at the time.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the moment for their competition came at last and he swung her
+up into her saddle, Noreen's heart beat violently and her bridle-hand
+shook. But when, after other couples had ridden the course, their names
+were called and a billiard-cue given her, the girl's nerves steadied at
+once and she was perfectly cool as she reined back her impatient pony at
+the starting-line. The signal was given, and she and her partner dashed
+down the course at a gallop. They did well, Charlesworth securing the
+two pegs and cutting the Turk's head, while his affinity carried off two
+rings and touched the third. No others had been as fortunate, and cheers
+from the soldiers and plaudits from the enclosure greeted their success.
+Noreen was encouraged, and a becoming colour flushed her face at the
+applause. The last couple to ride tied with them, the lady taking all
+the rings, her partner getting the Turk's head and one peg and touching
+the second. The tie was run off at once. Noreen, to her delight, found
+the three rings on her cue when she pulled up at the end of the course,
+although she hardly remembered taking them, while Charlesworth had made
+no mistake. Daunted by this result, their rivals lost their heads and
+missed everything in their second run.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen, on her return to the enclosure, was again loudly cheered by the
+men, the applause of the ladies being noticeably fainter, possibly because
+they resented a new arrival's success. But the girl was too pleasantly
+surprised at her good luck to observe this, and responded gratefully to the
+congratulations showered on her. She was no longer too excited to notice
+her surroundings, and now was able to enjoy the scenery, the music, the gay
+crowds, the frocks, as well as her tea when Charlesworth escorted her to
+the Mess Tent.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the Gretna Green Stakes she and her partner were not so fortunate. Over
+the second hurdle in the run home Charlesworth's pony blundered badly and
+he was forced to release his hold on the girl's hand. When the event came
+for which he had originally requested her to nominate him, she suggested
+that he should ask Mrs. Smith to do so instead. He was skilled enough in
+the ways of women not to demur, and he did as he was wanted so tactfully
+that Ida believed it to be his own idea. So, when the gymkhana ended and
+Noreen and her chaperone said good-bye, he felt that he had advanced a good
+deal in the girl's favour.
+</p>
+<p>
+During the afternoon Noreen caught sight of Chunerbutty talking to a fat
+and sensual-looking native in white linen garments with a string of
+roughly-cut but very large diamonds round his neck and several obsequious
+satellites standing behind him. They were covertly watching her, but when,
+catching the engineer's eye, she bowed to him, the fat man leant forward
+and stared boldly at her. She guessed him to be the Rajah of Lalpuri, who
+had been pointed out to her once at the Lieutenant-Governor's <i>durbar</i> at
+Jalpaiguri.
+</p>
+<p>
+That evening a note from Chunerbutty, telling her that his father was
+better though still in a precarious state, was left at her hotel. But the
+engineer did not call on her.
+</p>
+<p>
+The ball on the Thursday night at Government House was all that Noreen
+anticipated it would be. Among the hundreds of guests there were a few
+Indian men of rank and a number of Parsis of both sexes&mdash;the women adding
+bright colours to the scene by the beautiful hues of their <i>saris</i>, as the
+silk shawls worn over their heads are called. During the evening Noreen saw
+Chunerbutty standing at the door of the ballroom with the fat man, who was
+now adorned with jewels and wearing a magnificent diamond <i>aigrette</i> in his
+<i>puggri,</i> and gloating with a lustful gaze over the bared necks and bosoms
+of the English ladies. The native of India, where the females of all races
+veil their faces, looks on white women, who lavishly display their charms
+to the eyes of all beholders, as immodest and immoral. And he judges
+harshly the freedom&mdash;the sometimes extreme freedom&mdash;of intercourse between
+English wives and men who are not their husbands.
+</p>
+<p>
+Later in the evening, when Noreen was sitting in the central lounge with
+Captain Bain during an interval, Chunerbutty approached her with the fat
+man. Coming up to her alone the engineer said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Miss Daleham, may I present His Highness the Rajah of Lalpuri to you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen felt Captain Bain stiffen, but she replied courteously:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly, Mr. Chunerbutty."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah stepped forward, and on being introduced held out a fat and
+flabby hand to her, speaking in stiff and stilted English, for he did not
+use it with ease. He spoke only a few conventional sentences, but all the
+while Noreen felt an inward shiver of disgust. For his bloodshot eyes
+seemed to burn her bared flesh, as he devoured her naked shoulders and
+breast with a hot and lascivious stare. After replying politely but briefly
+to him she turned to the engineer and enquired after his father's health.
+The music beginning in the ball-room for the next dance gave her a welcome
+excuse for cutting the interview short, as Bain sprang up quickly and
+offered her his arm. Bowing she moved away with relief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose that fellow in evening dress was the man from your garden, Miss
+Daleham?" asked Bain, as they entered the ballroom.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; that was Mr. Chunerbutty, who escorted me to Darjeeling," she
+answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, if he's a friend of your brother, he ought to know better than to
+introduce that fat brute of a rajah to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, he is staying at the Rajah's house here, as his father, who is ill, is
+in His Highness's service."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't care. That beast Lalpuri is a disreputable scoundrel. There are
+awful tales of his behaviour up here. It's a wonder that the L.G. doesn't
+order him out of the place."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; he's a disgraceful blackguard. None of the other Rajahs of the
+Presidency will have anything to do with him, I believe; and the two or
+three of them up here now who are really splendid fellows, refuse to
+acknowledge him. Everybody wonders why the Government of India allows him
+to remain on the <i>gadi</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah had watched Noreen with a hungry stare as she walked towards the
+ballroom. When she was lost to sight in the crowd of dancers he turned to
+Chunerbutty and seized his arm with a grip that made the engineer wince.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She is more beautiful than I thought," he muttered. "O you fools! You
+fools, who have failed me! But I shall get her yet."
+</p>
+<p>
+He licked his dry lips and went on:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let us go! Let us go from here! I am parched. I want liquor. I want
+women."
+</p>
+<p>
+And they returned to a night of revolting debauchery in the house that was
+honoured by being the temporary residence of His Highness the Rajah of
+Lalpuri, wearer of an order bestowed upon him by the Viceroy and ruler of
+the fate of millions of people by the grace and under the benign auspices
+of the Government of India.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0014"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XIV
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE TANGLED SKEIN OF LOVE
+</h3>
+<p>
+The Lieutenant-Governor's ball was for Noreen but the beginning of a long
+series of social entertainments, of afternoon and evening dances,
+receptions, dinner and supper parties, concerts, and amateur theatrical
+performances that filled every date on the calendar of the Darjeeling
+Season. Only in winter sport resorts like St. Moritz and Mürren had she
+ever seen its like. But in Switzerland the visitors come from many lands
+and are generally strangers to each other, whereas in the Hills in India
+the summer residents of the villas and the guests at the big hotels are of
+the same race and class, come from the same stations in the Plains or know
+of each other by repute. For, with the exception of the comparatively few
+lawyers, planters, merchants, or railway folk, the names of all are set
+forth in the two Golden Books of the land, the Army List and the Civil
+Service List; and hostesses fly with relief to the blessed "Table of
+Precedence" contained in them, which tells whether the wife of Colonel This
+should go in to dinner before or after the spouse of Mr. That. The great
+god Snob is the supreme deity of Anglo-India.
+</p>
+<p>
+Many hill-stations are the Hot Weather headquarters of some important
+Government official, such as the Governor of the Presidency or the
+Lieutenant-Governor or Chief Commissioner of the Province. These are great
+personages indeed in India. They have military guards before their doors.
+The Union Jack waves by command above their august heads. They have Indian
+Cavalry soldiers to trot before their wives' carriages when these good
+ladies drive down to bargain in the native bazaar. But to the hill visitors
+their chief reason for existing is that their position demands the giving
+of official entertainments to which all of the proper class (who duly
+inscribe their names in the red-bound, gold-lettered book in the hall of
+Government House) have a prescriptive right to be invited.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen revelled in the gaieties. Her frank-hearted enjoyment was like a
+child's, and made every man who knew her anxious to add to it. She could
+not possibly ride all the ponies offered to her nor accept half the
+invitations that she got. Even among the women she was popular, for none
+but a match-making mother or a jealous spinster could resist her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Proposals of marriage were not showered on her, as persons ignorant of
+Anglo-Indian life fondly believe to be the lot of every English girl there.
+While a dowerless maiden still has a much better chance of securing a
+husband in a land where maidens are few and bachelors are many, yet the day
+has long gone by when every spinster who had drawn a blank in England could
+be shipped off to India with the certainty of finding a spouse there.
+Frequent leave and fast steamers have altered that. When a man can go home
+in a fortnight every year or second year he is not as anxious to snatch at
+the first maiden who appears in his station as his predecessor who lived in
+India in the days when a voyage to England took six months. And men in the
+East are as a rule not anxious to marry. A wife out there is a handicap at
+every turn. She adds enormously to his expenses, and her society too often
+lends more brightness to the existence of his fellows than his own.
+Children are ruinous luxuries. Bachelor life in Mess or club is too
+pleasant, sport that a single man can enjoy more readily than a married one
+too attractive, rupees too few for what Kipling terms "the wild ass of the
+desert" to be willing to put his head into the halter readily.
+</p>
+<p>
+Yet men do marry in India&mdash;one wonders why!&mdash;and a girl there has so many
+opportunities of meeting the opposite sex every day, and so little rivalry,
+that her chances in the matrimonial market are infinitely better than at
+home. In stations in the Plains there are usually four or five men to every
+woman in its limited society, and the proportion of bachelors to spinsters
+is far greater. Sometimes in a military cantonment with five or six
+batteries and regiments in it, which, with departmental officers, may
+furnish a total of eighty to a hundred unmarried men from subalterns to
+colonels, there may be only one or two unwedded girls. The lower ranks are
+worse off for English spinster society; for the private soldier there is
+none.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen's two most constant attendants were Charlesworth and Melville. The
+Indian Army officer's devotion and earnestness were patent to the world,
+but the Rifleman's intentions were a problem and a source of dispute among
+the women, who in Indian stations not less than other places watch the
+progress of every love-affair with the eyes of hawks. It was doubtful if
+Charlesworth himself knew what he wanted. He was a man who loved his
+liberty and his right to make love to each and every woman who caught his
+fancy. Noreen's casual liking for him but her frank indifference to him in
+any other capacity than that of a pleasant companion with whom to ride,
+dance, or play tennis, piqued him, but not sufficiently to make him risk
+losing his cherished freedom.
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty left Darjeeling after a week's stay. Parry, having become
+sufficiently sober to enquire after him and learn of his absence,
+demanded his instant return in a telegram so profanely worded that it
+shocked even the Barwahi post-office <i>babu.</i> The engineer called on
+Noreen to say good-bye, and offered to be the bearer of a message to her
+brother. He kept up to the end the fable of his sick father.
+</p>
+<p>
+He could not tell her the real reason of his coming to Darjeeling. The
+truth was that he had learned that the Rajah had inspired the attempt by
+the Bhuttias to carry off Noreen and wanted to see and upbraid him for his
+deceit and treachery to their agreement. There had been a furious quarrel
+when the two accomplices met. The Rajah taunted the other with his lack of
+success with Noreen and the failure of his plan to persuade her to marry
+him. Chunerbutty retorted that he had not been allowed sufficient time to
+win the favour of an English girl, who, unlike Indian maidens, was free to
+choose her own husband. And he threatened to inform the Government if any
+further attempt against her were made without his knowledge and approval.
+But the quarrel did not last long. Each scoundrel needed the help of the
+other. Still, Chunerbutty judged it safer to remove himself from the
+Rajah's house and find a lodging elsewhere, lest any deplorable accident
+might occur to him under his patron's roof.
+</p>
+<p>
+After the engineer's departure Noreen seldom saw the Rajah, and then only
+at official entertainments, to which his position gained him invitations.
+He spoke to her once or twice at these receptions, but as a rule she
+contrived to elude him.
+</p>
+<p>
+So far she had got on very well with Mrs. Smith. Their wills had never
+clashed, for the girl unselfishly gave in to her friend whenever the latter
+demanded it, which was often enough. Ida's ways were certainly not
+Noreen's, and the latter sometimes felt tempted to disapprove of her
+excessive familiarity with Captain Bain and one or two others. But the next
+moment she took herself severely to task for being censorious of the elder
+woman, who must surely know better how to behave towards men than a young
+unmarried girl who had been buried so long in the jungle. And Ida did not
+guess why sometimes her repentant little friend's caresses were so fervent
+and her desire to please her so manifest, and ascribed it all to her own
+sweetness of nature.
+</p>
+<p>
+The coming of the Rains did not check the gaiety of the dwellers on the
+mountain-tops, though torrential downpours had to be faced on black nights
+in shrouded rickshas and dripping <i>dandies</i>, though incessant lightning lit
+up the road to the club or theatre, and the thunder made it difficult to
+hear the music of the band in the ballroom. Noreen missed nothing of the
+revels. But in all the whirl of gaiety and pleasure in which her days were
+passed her thoughts turned more and more to the great forest lying
+thousands of feet below her, and the man who passed his lonely days
+therein.
+</p>
+<p>
+Little news of him came to her. He never wrote, and her brother seldom
+mentioned him in his letters; for during Parker's absence on two months'
+privilege leave from Ranga Duar Dermot did not quit it often and very
+rarely visited the planters' club or the bungalows of any of its members.
+And Noreen wanted news of him. Much as she saw of other men now&mdash;many of
+them attractive and some of whom she frankly liked&mdash;none had effaced
+Dermot's image or displaced him from the shrine that she had built for him
+in her inmost heart. Mingled with her love was hero-worship. She dared
+not hope that he could ever be interested in or care for any one as
+shallow-minded as she. She could not picture him descending from the
+pedestal on which she had placed him to raise so ordinary a girl to his
+heart. She could not fancy him in the light, frothy life of Darjeeling.
+She judged him too serious to care for frivolities, and it inspired her
+with a little awe of him and a fear that he would despise her as a
+feather-brained, silly woman if he saw how she enjoyed the amusements
+of the hill-station. But she felt that she would gladly exchange the
+gaieties and cool climate of Darjeeling for the torments of the Terai
+again, if only it would bring him to her side. For sometimes the longing
+to see him grew almost unbearable.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the days went by the power of the gay life of the Hills to satisfy her
+grew less, while the ache in her heart for her absent friend increased. If
+only she could hear from him she thought she could bear the separation
+better. From her brother she learned by chance that he was alone in Ranga
+Duar, the only news that she had had of him for a long time. The Rains had
+burst, and she pictured the loneliness of the one European in the solitary
+outpost, cut off from his kind, with no one of his race to speak to,
+deprived of the most ordinary requirements, necessities, of civilisation,
+without a doctor within hundreds of miles.
+</p>
+<p>
+At that thought her heart seemed to stop beating. Without a doctor! He
+might be ill, dying, for all she knew, with no one of his colour to tend
+him, no loving hand to hold a cup to his fevered lips. Even in the short
+time that she had been in India she had heard of many tragedies of
+isolation, of sick and lonely Englishmen with none but ignorant, careless
+native servants to look after them in their illness, no doctor to alleviate
+their sufferings, until pain and delirium drove them to look for relief and
+oblivion down the barrel of a too-ready pistol.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus the girl tortured herself, as a loving woman will do, by imagining all
+the most terrible things happening to the man of her heart. She feared no
+longer the perils of the forest for him. She felt that he was master of man
+or beast in it. But fever lays low the strongest. It might be that while
+she was dancing he was lying ill, dying, perhaps dead. And she would not
+know. The dreadful idea occurred to her after her return from a ball at
+which she had been universally admired and much sought after. But, as she
+sat wrapped in her blue silk dressing-gown, her feet thrust into satin
+slippers of the same colour, her pretty hair about her shoulders, instead
+of recalling the triumphs of the evening, the compliments of her partners,
+and the unspoken envy of other girls, her thoughts flew to one solitary man
+in a little bungalow, cloud-enfolded and comfortless, in a lonely outpost.
+The sudden dread of his being ill chilled her blood and so terrified her
+that, if the hour had not made it impossible, she would have gone out at
+once and telegraphed to him to ask if all were well.
+</p>
+<p>
+Yet the next instant her face grew scarlet at the thought. She sat for a
+long time motionless, thinking hard. Then the idea occurred to her of
+writing to him, writing a chatty, almost impersonal letter, such as one
+friend could send to another without fear of her motives being
+misunderstood. She had too high an opinion of Dermot to think that he would
+deem her forward, yet it cost her much to be the first to write. But her
+anxiety conquered pride. And she wrote the letter that Dermot read in his
+bungalow in Ranga Duar while the storm shook the hills.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl counted the days, the hours, until she could hope for an answer.
+Would he reply at once, she wondered. She knew that, even shut up in his
+little station, he had much work to occupy him. He could not spare time,
+perhaps, for a letter to a silly girl. And the thought of all that she had
+put in hers to him made her face burn, for it seemed so vapid and frivolous
+that he was sure to despise her.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the fourth day after she had written to Dermot she was engaged to ride
+in the afternoon with Captain Charlesworth. But in the morning a note came
+to her from him regretting his inability to keep the appointment, as the
+Divisional General had arrived in Darjeeling and intended to inspect the
+Rifles after lunch. Noreen was not sorry, for she was going to a dance that
+evening and did not wish to tire herself before it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Distracted and little in the mood for gaiety as she felt that night, yet
+when she entered the large ballroom of the Amusement Club she could not
+help laughing at the quaint and original decorations for the occasion. For
+the entertainment was one of the great features of the Season, the
+Bachelors' Ball, and the walls were blazoned with the insignia of the Tribe
+of the Wild Ass. Everywhere was painted its coat-of-arms&mdash;a bottle,
+slippers, and a pipe crossed with a latch-key, all in proper heraldic
+guise. Captain Melville, who was a leading member of the ball committee and
+who was her particular host that night, spirited her away from the crowd of
+partner-seeking men at the doorway and took her on a tour of the room to
+see and admire the scheme of decoration. She was laughing at one original
+ornamentation when a well-known voice behind her said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"May I hope for a dance tonight, Miss Daleham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl started and turned round incredulously, feeling that her ears had
+deceived her. To her astonishment Dermot stood before her. For a few
+seconds she could not trust herself to reply. She felt that she had grown
+pale. At last she said, and her voice sounded strange in her own ears:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Major Dermot! Is it possible? I&mdash;I thought you&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+She could not finish the sentence. But neither man observed her emotion,
+for Melville had suddenly seized Dermot's hand and was shaking it warmly.
+They had been on service together once and had not met since. The next
+moment, a committee man being urgently wanted, Melville was called away and
+left Dermot and the girl together.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you thought me shut up in my mountain home," the man said, "and
+probably wondered why I had not answered your very interesting letter. It
+was so kind of you in all your gaiety here to think of me in my
+loneliness."
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen had quite recovered from her surprise and smiled brightly at him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I believed you to be in Ranga Duar," she said. "How is it you are
+here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"An unexpected summons reached me at the same time as your letter. Four
+days ago I had no idea that I should be coming here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How could you bear to leave your beloved jungle and that dear Badshah? I
+know you dislike hill-stations," said the girl, laughing and tremulously
+happy. The world seemed a much brighter place than it did five minutes
+before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My beloved jungle has no charm for me at this season," he said. "But
+Badshah&mdash;ah, that was another matter. I have seldom felt parting with a
+human friend as much as I did leaving him. The dear old fellow seemed to
+know that I was going away from him. But I was very pleased to come here to
+see how you were enjoying yourself in this gay spot. I was glad to know
+that you were out of the Terai during the Rains."
+</p>
+<p>
+So he had wanted to see her again. Noreen blushed, but Dermot did not
+observe her heightened colour, for he had taken her programme out of her
+hand in his usual quiet, masterful manner and was scrutinising it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You haven't said yet if I may have a dance," he continued. "But I know
+that on an occasion like this I must lose no time if I want one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, do you dance?" she asked in surprise. Somehow she had never associated
+him with ballrooms and social frivolities.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laughed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You forget that I was on the Staff in Simla. I shouldn't have been kept
+there a day if I hadn't been able to dance. What may I have?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen felt tempted to bid him take all her programme.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I'm engaged for several. They are all written down. Take any of the
+others you like," she said demurely, but her heart was beating fast at the
+thought of dancing with him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"H'm; I see that all the first ones are booked. May I&mdash;oh, I see you have
+the supper dances free. May I take you in to supper?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, do, please. We haven't met for so long, and I have heaps to tell
+you," the girl said. "We can talk ever so much better at the supper-table
+than in an interval."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you. I'll take the supper dances then."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wouldn't you care for any others?" she asked timidly. What would he think
+of her? Yet she didn't care. He was with her again, and she wanted to see
+all she could of him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should indeed. May I have this&mdash;and this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"With pleasure. Is that enough?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll be greedy. After all, the men up here have had dances from you all
+the Season, and I have never danced with you yet. I'll take these, too, if
+you can spare them."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him earnestly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I owe you more than a few dances can pay," she said simply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you, little friend," he said, and a happy feeling thrilled her at
+his words. He had not forgotten her, then. He used to call her that
+sometimes in Ranga Duar. She was still his little friend. What a delightful
+place the world was after all!
+</p>
+<p>
+As he pencilled his initials on her programme a horde of dance-hungry men
+swooped down on Noreen and almost pushed him aside. He bowed and strolled
+away to watch the dancing. He had no desire to obtain other partners and
+was content to watch his little friend of the forest, who seemed to have
+suddenly become a very lovely woman. She seemed very gay and happy, he
+thought. He noticed that she danced oftenest with Melville and a tall, fair
+man whom he did not know.
+</p>
+<p>
+Never had the early part of a ball seemed to Noreen to drag so much as this
+one did. She felt that her partners must find her very stupid indeed, for
+she paid no attention to what they said and answered at random.
+</p>
+<p>
+At last almost in a trance of happiness she found herself gliding round the
+room with Dermot's arm about her. The band was playing a dreamy waltz, and
+her partner danced perfectly. Neither of them spoke. Noreen could not; she
+felt that all she wanted was to float, on air it seemed, held close to
+Dermot's breast. She gave a sigh when the dance ended. In the interval she
+did not want to talk; it was enough to look at his face, to hear his voice.
+She hated her next partner when he came to claim her.
+</p>
+<p>
+But she had two more dances with Dermot before the band struck up "The
+Roast Beef of Old England," and the ballroom emptied. At supper he
+contrived to secure a small table at which they were alone; so they were
+able to talk without constraint. She began to wonder how she had ever
+thought him grave and stern or felt in awe of him. For in the gay
+atmosphere his Irish nature was uppermost; he was as light-hearted as a
+boy, and his conversation was almost frivolous.
+</p>
+<p>
+During supper Noreen saw Ida watching her across the room, and later on,
+when the dancing began again, her friend cornered her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I say, darling, who is the new man you've been dancing with such a lot
+tonight? You had supper with him, too. I've never seen him before. He's
+awfully good-looking."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, that is&mdash;I suppose you mean Major Dermot," replied the girl, feeling
+suddenly shy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Major Dermot? Who's he? What is&mdash;Oh, is it the wonderful hero from the
+Terai, the man you told me so much about when you came up?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; he is the same."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really? How interesting! He's so distinguished-looking. When did he come
+up? Why didn't you tell me he was coming?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't know it myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should love to meet him. Introduce him to me. Now, at once."
+</p>
+<p>
+With a hurried apology to her own partner and Noreen's she dragged the girl
+off in search of the fresh man who had taken her fancy, and did not give up
+the chase until, with Melville's aid, Dermot was run to earth in the
+cardroom and introduced to her. Ida did not wait for him to ask her to
+dance but calmly ran her pencil through three names on the programme and
+bestowed the vacancies thus created on him in such a way that he could not
+refuse them. Dermot, however, did not grumble. She was Noreen's friend; if
+not the rose, she was near the rose.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ida was not the only one who noticed how frequently the girl had danced
+with him. Charlesworth, disappointed at finding vacancies on her programme,
+for which he had hoped, already filled, commented on it and asked who the
+stranger was in a supercilious tone that made her furious and gained for
+him a well-merited snubbing.
+</p>
+<p>
+Indifferent to criticism, kind or otherwise, Noreen gave herself up for the
+evening to the happiness of Dermot's presence, trying to trick herself into
+the belief that he was still only a dear friend to whom she owed an immense
+debt of gratitude for saving her life and her honour. Never had a ball
+seemed so enjoyable&mdash;not even her first. Never had she had a partner who
+suited her so well. Certainly he danced to perfection, but she knew that if
+he had been the worst dancer in the room she still would have preferred him
+to all others. And never had she hated the ending of an entertainment so
+much. But Dermot walked beside her <i>dandy</i> to the gate of her hotel, calmly
+displacing Charlesworth, much to the fury of the Rifleman, who had begun to
+consider this his prerogative.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ida and she sat up for hours in her room discussing the ball and all its
+happenings, but the older woman's most constant topic was Dermot. It was a
+subject of which Noreen felt that she could never weary; and she drew her
+friend on to talk of him, if the conversation threatened to stray to
+anything less interesting. The girl was used to Ida's sudden fancies for
+men, for the married woman was both susceptible and fickle, and Noreen
+judged that this sudden predilection for Dermot would die as quickly as a
+hundred others before it. But this time she was wrong.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Major was not to remain many days in Darjeeling, but Noreen hoped that
+he would give her much of his spare time while there. She was disappointed,
+however, to find that although he was frequently in her and Ida's company
+at the Amusement Club or elsewhere, he made no effort to compete with
+Charlesworth or Melville or any other man who sought to monopolise her, but
+drew back and allowed him to have a clear field while he himself seemed
+content to talk to Mrs. Smith. At first she was hurt. He was her friend,
+not Ida's. But he never sought to be alone with her, never asked her to
+ride with him, or do anything that would take her away from the others.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then she grew piqued. If he did not value her society he should see that
+others did, and she suddenly grew more gracious to Charlesworth, who seemed
+to sense in Dermot a more dangerous rival than was Melville or any of the
+others and began to be more openly devoted and to put more meaning into his
+intentions.
+</p>
+<p>
+One hateful night when she had been with Charlesworth to a private dance to
+which Ida had refused to go, dining instead with Dermot, who had no
+invitation to the affair, the blow fell. After her return to the hotel her
+treacherous friend had crept into her room, weeping and imploring her
+sympathy. Too late, she sobbed on Noreen's shoulder, she had found her
+soul-mate, the man destined for her through the past æons, the one man who
+could make her happy and whose existence she alone could complete. Why had
+she met Dermot too late? Why was she tied to a clod, mated to a clown? Why
+were two lives to be wrecked?
+</p>
+<p>
+As Noreen listened amazed an icy hand seemed to clutch her shrinking heart.
+Was this true? Did Dermot really care for Ida? Could the man whom she had
+revered as a white-souled knight be base enough to make love to another
+man's wife?
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the demon of jealousy poisoned her soul. She got the weeping Ida back
+to her bed, and sat in her own dark room until the dawn came, her brain in
+a whirl, her heart filled with a fierce hatred of Dermot. And when next
+day, his business finished, he had to leave Darjeeling, she made a point of
+absenting herself with Charlesworth from the hotel at the time when Dermot
+had arranged to come to say good-bye.
+</p>
+<p>
+But long before the train in which he travelled down to the Plains was
+half-way to Siliguri, the girl lay on her bed, her face buried in her
+pillow, her body shaken with silent but convulsive sobs.
+</p>
+<p>
+And Dermot stared out into the thick mist that shrouded the mountains and
+enfolded his downward-slipping train and wondered if his one-time little
+friend of the forest would be happy in the new life that, according to her
+bosom-friend and confidant, Mrs. Smith, would open to her as Charlesworth's
+wife as soon as she spoke the word that was trembling on her lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+And he sighed unconsciously. Then he frowned as the distasteful memory
+recurred to him of the previous night, when a wanton woman, misled by
+vanity and his courteous manner, had shamelessly offered him what she
+termed her love and forced him to play the Joseph to a modern Mrs.
+Potiphar.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0015"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XV
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE FEAST OF THE GODDESS KALI
+</h3>
+<p>
+The Rains were nearing their end, and with them the Darjeeling Season was
+drawing to a close. To Noreen Daleham it had lost its savour since Dermot's
+departure. Her feelings towards Ida had undergone a radical change; her
+admiration of and affection for her old schoolfellow had vanished. Her eyes
+were opened, and she now saw plainly the true character of the woman whom
+once she was proud to call her friend. The girl wondered that she could
+have ever been deceived, for she now understood the many innuendoes that
+had been made in her hearing against Mrs. Smith, as well as many things in
+that lady's own behaviour that had perplexed her at the time.
+</p>
+<p>
+But towards the man her feelings were frankly anger and contempt. He had
+rudely awakened her from a beautiful dream; for that she could never
+forgive him. Her idol was shattered, never again to be made whole, so she
+vowed in the bitterness of her desolate soul. It was not friendship that
+she had felt for him&mdash;she realised that now. It was love. She had given him
+her whole heart in a girl's first, pure, ideal love. And he had despised
+the gift and trampled it in the mire of unholy passion. She knew that it
+was the love of her life. Never could any man be to her what he had been.
+</p>
+<p>
+But what did it matter to Dermot? she thought bitterly. She had passed out
+of his life. She had never been anything in it. He had been amused for an
+idle moment by her simplicity, tool that she was. What he had done, had
+risked for her, he would have done and risked for any other woman. Why did
+he not write to her after his departure as he might have done? She almost
+hoped that he would, so that she could answer him and pour out on him, if
+only on paper, the scorn and disgust that filled her. But no; she would not
+do that. The more dignified course would be to ignore his letter
+altogether. If only she could hurt him she felt that she would accept any
+other man's offer of marriage. But even then he wouldn't care. He had
+always stood aside in Darjeeling and let others strive for her favour. And
+she was put to the test, for first Charlesworth and then Melville had
+proposed to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Though Noreen's heart was frozen towards her quondam friend, Ida never
+perceived the fact. For the elder woman was so thoroughly satisfied with
+herself that it never occurred to her that any one whom she honoured with
+her liking could do aught but be devoted to her in return. And against the
+granite of her self-sufficiency the iron of the girl's proud anger broke
+until at length, baffled by the other's conceit, Noreen drifted back into
+the semblance of her former friendliness. And Ida never remarked any
+difference.
+</p>
+<p>
+A hundred miles away Dermot roamed the hills and forest again. The
+interdict of the Rains was lifted, and the game was afoot once more.
+</p>
+<p>
+The portents of the coming storm were intensified. Much that the Divisional
+Commander, General Heyland, had revealed to him in their confidential
+interviews at Darjeeling was being corroborated by happenings in other
+parts of the Peninsula, in Afghanistan, in China, and elsewhere. Signs were
+not wanting on the border that Dermot had to guard. Messengers crossing and
+re-crossing the Bhutan frontier were increasing in numbers and frequency;
+and he had at length succeeded in tracking some of them to a destination
+that first gave him a clue to the seat and identity of the organisers of
+the conspiracy in Bengal.
+</p>
+<p>
+For one or two Bhutanese had been traced to the capital of the Native State
+of Lalpuri, and others, having got into Indian territory, had been met by
+Hindus who were subsequently followed to the same ill-famed town. But once
+inside the maze of its bazaars their trail was hopelessly lost. It was
+useless to appeal to the authorities of the State. Their reputation and the
+character of their ruler were so bad that it was highly probable that the
+Rajah and all his counsellors were implicated in the plot. But how to bring
+it home to them Dermot did not know. By his secret instructions several of
+the messengers to and from Bhutan were the victims of apparent highway
+robbery in the hills. But no search of them revealed anything compromising,
+no treasonable correspondence between enemies within and without. The men
+would not speak, and he could not sanction the proposals made to him by
+which they should be induced so to do.
+</p>
+<p>
+The planters began to report to him a marked increase in the mutinous
+spirit exhibited by their coolies; arms were found in the possession of
+these men, and there was reason to fear a combined rising of the labourers
+on all the estates of the Duars. Dermot advised Rice to send his wife to
+England, but the lady showed no desire to return to her loudly-regretted
+London suburb.
+</p>
+<p>
+Every time that the Major met Daleham he expected to be told of Noreen's
+engagement, perhaps even her wedding. But he heard nothing. When he
+found that Fred was beginning to arrange for her return to Malpura and
+that&mdash;instigated by Chunerbutty&mdash;he refused to consider the advisability
+of her remaining away until conditions were better in the Terai, Dermot
+persuaded him to replace his untrustworthy Bengali house-servants by
+reliable Mussulman domestics, warlike Punjaubis, whom the soldier
+procured. They were men not unused to firearms, and capable of defending
+the bungalow if necessary.
+</p>
+<p>
+He and Badshah, who was happy to have his man with him again, kept
+indefatigable watch and ward along the frontier. Sometimes Dermot assembled
+the herd, which had learned to obey him almost like a pack of hounds, and,
+concealed among them, penetrated across the border into Bhutan and explored
+hidden spots where hostile troops might be concentrated. Only rarely a
+wandering Bhuttia chanced to see him, and then the terrified man would veil
+his eyes, fearing to behold the doings of the terrible Elephant God.
+</p>
+<p>
+The constant work and preoccupation kept Dermot from dwelling much on
+Noreen. Nevertheless, he thought often of the girl and hoped that she would
+be happy when she married the man she was said to have chosen. He felt no
+jealousy of Charlesworth; on the contrary, he admired him as a good
+sportsman and a manly fellow, as well as he could judge from the little
+that he had seen of him. The very fact that the girl who was his friend had
+chosen the Rifleman as her husband, according to Mrs. Smith, made him ready
+to like the man. He was not in love with the girl and had no desire to
+marry, for he was wedded to his profession and had always held that a
+soldier married was a soldier marred.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus while Dermot thought far seldomer of Noreen, whom he acknowledged to
+himself he liked more than any other woman he had ever met, she, who
+assured herself every day that she hated and despised him, could not keep
+him out of her mind. And all the more so as she began to have doubts of the
+truth of Ida's story. For the girl, who could not resist watching her
+friend's post every day, much as she despised herself for doing it,
+observed that no letter ever came to Mrs. Smith in Dermot's handwriting.
+And, although Ida had talked much and sentimentally of him for days after
+his departure, she appeared to forget him soon, and before long was
+engrossed in a good-looking young civilian from Calcutta. Bain had long
+since left Darjeeling.
+</p>
+<p>
+Could it all have been a figment of the woman's imagination and
+vanity?&mdash;for Noreen now realised how colossally vain she was. Had she
+misunderstood or, worse still, misrepresented him? But that thought was
+almost more painful to the girl than the certainty of his guilt. For if
+it were true, how cruelly, how vilely unjust she had been to the man who
+had saved her at the peril of his life, the man who had called her his
+friend, who had trusted in her loyalty! No, no; better that he were
+proved worthless, dishonourable. That thought were easier to bear.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sometimes the girl almost wished that she could see him again so that she
+might ask him the truth. She could learn nothing now from Ida, who calmly
+ignored all attempts to extract information from her. Yet how could she
+question him, Noreen asked herself. She could not even hint to him that she
+had any knowledge of the affair, for her friend had divulged it to her in
+confidence. If only she were back at Malpura! He might come to her again
+there and perhaps of his own free will tell her what to believe of him. But
+when in a letter she broached the subject of her return to her brother,
+Fred bade her wait, for he hoped that he might be able to join her in
+Darjeeling for a few days during the Puja holidays.
+</p>
+<p>
+During the great festival of Durgá-Puja, or the Dússera, as it is variously
+called, no Hindu works if he can help it, especially in Bengal. As all
+Government and private offices in Calcutta are closed for it, every
+European there, who can, escapes to Darjeeling, twenty-four hours away by
+rail, and the Season in that hill-station dies in a final blaze of
+splendour and gaiety in the mad rush of revelry of the Puja holidays. And
+Fred hoped that he might he there to see its ending, if Parry would keep
+sober long enough to let his assistant get away for a few days. When he
+returned, Daleham wrote, he would bring Noreen back with him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot's activities on the frontier were not passing unmarked by the chief
+conspirators in Lalpuri. His measures against their messengers focussed
+attention on him. The <i>Dewan</i>, a far better judge of men and things than
+Chunerbutty, did not make the mistake of despising him merely because he
+was a soldier. The old man realised that it was not wise to count British
+officers fools. He knew too well how efficient the Indian Military
+Intelligence Department had proved itself. So he began to collect
+information about this white man who might seriously inconvenience them or
+derange their plans. And he came to the conclusion that the inquisitive
+soldier must be put out of the way.
+</p>
+<p>
+Assassination can be raised to a fine art in a Native State&mdash;where a man's
+life is worth far less than a cow's if the State be a Hindu one&mdash;provided
+that the prying eyes of British Political Officers are not turned that way.
+True, Dermot was in British territory, but in such an uncivilised part of
+it that his removal ought not to be difficult considering his habit of
+wandering alone about the hills and jungle.
+</p>
+<p>
+So thought the <i>Dewan</i>. But the old man found to his surprise that it
+was very difficult to put his hand on any one willing to attempt
+Dermot's life. No sum however large could tempt any Bhuttia on either
+side of the border-line, or any Hindu in the Duars. Even the Brahmin
+extremists acting as missionaries on the tea-gardens fought shy of him.
+Superstition was his sure shield.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the <i>Dewan</i> fell back on the bazaar of Lalpuri City. But in that den
+of criminals there was not one cut-throat that did not know of the terrible
+Elephant God-Man and the appalling vengeance that he had wreaked on the
+Rajah's soldiers in the forest. The <i>Dewan</i> might cajole or threaten, but
+there was not one ruffian in the bazaar who did not prefer to risk his
+anger to the certainty of the hideous fate awaiting the rash mortal that
+crossed the path of this dread being who fed his magic elephants on the
+living flesh of his foes.
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Dewan</i> was not baffled. If the local villains failed him an assassin
+must be imported from elsewhere. So the extremist leaders in Calcutta,
+being appealed to, sent more than one fanatical young Brahmin from that
+city to Lalpuri, where they were put in the way to remove Dermot. But when
+in bazaar or Palace his reputation reached their ears they drew back. One
+was sent direct from Calcutta to the Terai, so that he would not be scared
+by the foolish tales of the men of Lalpuri. But his first enquiries among
+the countryfolk as to where to find Dermot brought him such illuminating
+information that, not daring to return unsuccessful to those who had sent
+him, he turned against his own breast the weapon that he had meant for the
+British officer.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the <i>Dewan</i> sent for Chunerbutty and took counsel with him, as being
+more conversant with European ways. And the result was a cunning and
+elaborate plot, such as from its very tortuousness and complexity would
+appeal to the heart of an Oriental.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah of Lalpuri, being of Mahratta descent, tried to copy in many
+things the great Mahratta chiefs in other parts of India, such as the
+Gaekwar of Baroda and the Maharajah Holkar of Indore. He had long been
+anxious to imitate Holkar's method of celebrating the Dússera or Durgá
+Festival, particularly that part of it where a bull is sacrificed in public
+by the Maharajah on the fourth day of the feast. The <i>Dewan</i> had always
+opposed it, but now he suddenly veered round and suggested that it should
+be done. In Indore all the Europeans of the cantonment and many of the
+ladies and officers from the neighbouring military station of Mhow were
+always invited to be present on the fourth day. The old plotter proposed
+that, similarly, some of the English community of the Duars, the Civil
+Servants and planters, should receive invitations to Lalpuri. It would seem
+only natural to include the Officer Commanding Ranga Duar. And to tempt
+Dermot into the trap Chunerbutty suggested Noreen as a bait, undertaking to
+persuade her brother to bring her.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah was delighted at the thought of her presence in the Palace. The
+<i>Dewan</i> smiled and quoted two Hindu proverbs:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where the honey is spread there will the flies gather," said he. "Any lure
+is good that brings the bird to the net."
+</p>
+<p>
+The consequence of the plotting was that Noreen Daleham, fretting in
+Darjeeling at having to wait for her brother to come there for the Puja
+holidays, received a letter from him saying that he had changed his mind
+and had accepted an invitation from the Rajah of Lalpuri for her and
+himself to be present at the celebrations of the great Hindu festival at
+the Palace. She was to pack up and leave at once by rail to Jalpaiguri,
+where he would meet her with a motor-car lent him for the purpose by the
+Lalpuri Durbar, or State Council. If Mrs. Smith cared to accompany her an
+invitation for her would be at once forthcoming. Fred added that he was
+making up a party from their district which included Payne, Granger, and
+the Rices. From Lalpuri Noreen would return with him to Malpura.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl was delighted at the thought of leaving Darjeeling sooner than she
+had expected. To her surprise Ida announced her intention of accompanying
+her to Lalpuri. But the fact that her Calcutta friend was returning to the
+city on the Hoogly and that by going with Noreen she could travel with him
+as far as Jalpaiguri explained it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty, deputed by the Rajah to act as host to his European guests,
+met Daleham's party when they arrived at the gates of Lalpuri and
+conducted them to the Palace. They passed through the teeming city with
+its thronged bazaar, its narrow, winding streets hemmed in by the
+overhanging houses with their painted walls and closely-latticed windows
+through which thousands of female eyes peered inquisitively at the white
+women, the brightly dressed crowds flattening themselves against the
+walls to get out of the way of the two cavalry soldiers of the Rajah's
+Bodyguard who galloped recklessly ahead of the car. Soon they reached
+the <i>Nila Mahal</i>, or Blue Palace, as His Highness's residence was
+called, with its iron-studded gates, carved doors, and countless wooden
+balconies. A swarm of retainers in magnificent, if soiled, gold-laced
+liveries filled the courtyards, and bare-footed sepoys in red coats,
+generally burst at the seams and lacking buttons, and old shakoes with
+white cotton flaps hanging down behind, guarded the entrance.
+</p>
+<p>
+A wing of the Palace had been cleared out and hastily furnished in an
+attempt to suit European tastes. The guests were accommodated in rooms
+floored with marble, generally badly stained or broken. Two large chambers
+tiled and wainscoted with wonderfully carved blackwood panels were
+apportioned as dining-hall and sitting-room for the English visitors. All
+the windows of the wing, many of them closely screened, looked on an inner
+courtyard which was bounded on two sides by other buildings of the Palace.
+The fourth side was divided off from another courtyard by a high blank wall
+pierced by a large gateway, the leaves of the gate hanging broken and
+useless from the posts.
+</p>
+<p>
+Ida and Noreen were given rooms beside each other and were amused at the
+heterogeneous collection of odd pieces of furniture in them. The old
+four-posted beds with funereal canopies and moth-eaten curtains had
+probably been brought from England a hundred years before. In small
+chambers off their rooms, with marble walls and floors, and windows
+filled with thin slabs of alabaster carved in the most exquisite tracery
+as delicate as lace, galvanised iron tubs to be used as baths looked
+sadly out of place.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they had freshened themselves up after their long motor drive they
+went down to the dining-hall, where lunch was to be served. And when she
+entered the room the first person that Noreen saw was Dermot, seated at a
+small table with Payne and Granger.
+</p>
+<p>
+On his return from a secret excursion across the Bhutan border the Major
+had found awaiting him at Ranga Duar the official invitation of the Lalpuri
+Durbar. He was very much surprised at it; for he knew that the State had
+never encouraged visits from Europeans, and had, when possible, invariably
+refused admission to all except important British officials, who could not
+be denied. Such a thing as actually entertaining Englishmen of its own
+accord was unknown in its annals. So he stared at the large card printed in
+gold and embossed with the coat-of-arms of Lalpuri in colours, and wondered
+what motive lay behind the invitation. That it betokened a fresh move in
+the conspiracy he was certain; but be the motive what it might he was glad
+of the unexpected opportunity of visiting Lalpuri and meeting those whom he
+believed to be playing a leading part in the plot. So he promptly wrote an
+acceptance.
+</p>
+<p>
+He reached the Palace only half an hour before Daleham's party arrived from
+another direction, and had just met his two planter friends when Noreen
+entered the room. He had not known that she was to be at Lalpuri. The three
+men rose and bowed to her, and Dermot looked to see if Charlesworth were
+with her. But only the two women and Daleham followed Chunerbutty as he led
+the way to a table at the far end of the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were about twenty English guests altogether, eight or nine of whom
+were from the district in which Malpura was situated, the Rices among them.
+The rest were planters from other parts of the Duars, a few members of the
+Indian Civil Service or Public Works Departments, and a young Deputy
+Superintendent of Police from Jalpaiguri.
+</p>
+<p>
+At Chunerbutty's table the party consisted of the Rices, one of the Civil
+Servants, the Dalehams, and Noreen's friend. The planter's wife neglected
+the man beside her to stare at Mrs. Smith, taking in every detail of her
+dress, while Ida chattered gaily to Fred, whose good looks had attracted
+her the moment that she first saw him on the platform of Jalpaiguri
+station. She was already apparently quite consoled for the loss of her
+Calcutta admirer.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen sat pale and abstracted beside Chunerbutty, answering his remarks in
+monosyllables, eating nothing, and alleging a headache as an explanation of
+her mood. The unexpected sight of Dermot had shaken her, and she dreaded
+the moment when she must greet him. Yet she was anxious to witness his
+meeting with Ida, hoping that she might glean from it some idea of how
+matters really stood between them.
+</p>
+<p>
+After <i>tiffin</i> a move was made into the long chamber arranged as the
+guests' lounge. Here introductions between those who had not previously
+known each other and meetings between old acquaintances took place; and
+with an inward shrinking Noreen saw Dermot approaching. She was astonished
+to observe that Ida's careless and indifferent greeting was responded to by
+him in a coldly courteous manner almost indicative of strong dislike. The
+girl wondered if they were both consummate actors. Dermot turned to her. He
+spoke in his usual pleasant and friendly manner; but she seemed to detect a
+trace of reserve that he had never showed before. She was almost too
+confused to reply to him and turned with relief to shake hands with Payne
+and Granger, who had come up with him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty played the host well, introduced those who were strangers to
+each other, and saw that the Palace servants, who were unused to European
+habits, brought the coffee, liqueurs, and smokes to all the guests, where
+they gathered under the long punkah that swung lazily from the painted
+ceiling and barely stirred the heated air.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as it was cool enough to drive out in the State carriages and
+motor-cars that waited in the outer courtyard, the afternoon was devoted to
+sight-seeing. Chunerbutty, in the leading car with Noreen and the District
+Superintendent of Police, acted as guide and showed them about the city.
+Dermot noted the lowering looks of many of the natives in the narrow
+streets, and overhead more than one muttered insult to the English race
+from men huddling against the houses to escape the carriages.
+</p>
+<p>
+The visitors were invited by Chunerbutty to enter an ornate temple of
+Kali, in which a number of Hindu women squatted on the ground before a
+gigantic idol representing the goddess in whose honour the Puja festival
+is held. The image was that of a fierce-looking woman with ten arms,
+each hand holding a weapon, her right leg resting on a lion, her left on
+a buffalo-demon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I say, Chunerbutty, who's the lady?" asked Granger. "I can't say I like
+her looks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, she certainly isn't a beauty," said the Brahmin with a contemptuous
+laugh. "Yet these superstitious fools believe in her, ignorant people that
+they are."
+</p>
+<p>
+He indicated the female worshippers, who had been staring with malevolent
+curiosity at the English ladies, the first that most of them had ever seen.
+So these were the <i>mem-logue</i>, they whispered to each other, these
+shameless white women who went about openly with men and met all the world
+brazenly with unveiled countenances. And the whisperers modestly drew their
+<i>saris</i> before their own faces.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She is the goddess Kali or Durgá, the wife of Shiva, one of the Hindu
+Trinity. She is supposed to be the patron of smallpox and lots of other
+unpleasant things, so no wonder she is ugly," continued Chunerbutty.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, you have goddesses then in the Hindu religion," observed Ida
+carelessly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Mrs. Smith; but these are the sort we have in India," he answered
+with an unpleasant leer. "The English people are more fortunate, for they
+have you ladies."
+</p>
+<p>
+The remark was one that would have gained him smiles and approbation from
+his female acquaintances in the Bayswater boarding-house, but Ida glared
+haughtily at him and most of the men longed to kick him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dreading a cutting and sarcastic speech from her friend, Noreen hurriedly
+interposed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't the Puja festival in her honour, Mr. Chunerbutty?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Miss Daleham, it is. It is another of these silly superstitions of
+the Hindus that make one really ashamed of being an Indian. The festival is
+meant to commemorate the old lady's victory over a buffalo-headed demon.
+Hence the weird-looking beast under her left leg."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And do these people really believe in that sort of rot?" asked Mrs. Rice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes, lots of the ignorant, uneducated lower class do," replied the
+atheistical Brahmin. "Durgá is the favourite deity. Her husband and Krishna
+and old Brahma are back numbers. The fact is that the common people are
+afraid of Kali. They think she can do them such a lot of harm."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What does the festival consist of, old chap?" asked Daleham. "What do the
+Hindus do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, the image is worshipped for nine days and then chucked into the
+water," replied the engineer. "Tomorrow, the fourth day, is the one on
+which the sacrifices are made&mdash;sheep, buck goats, and buffaloes are used.
+Their heads are cut off before this idol and their heads and blood are
+offered to it. Tomorrow you'll see the Rajah kill the bull that is to be
+the sacrifice. At least, he'll start the killing of it. Now, we'll go along
+back to the Palace."
+</p>
+<p>
+The visitors' dinner that night was quite a magnificent affair. The
+catering for the time of their stay had been confided to an Italian firm
+in Calcutta. The cooking was excellent, but the waiting by the awkward
+Palace retainers was very bad. The food was eaten off the Rajah's State
+silver service, made in London for his father for the entertainment of a
+Viceroy. The wine was very good. So the guests enjoyed their meal, and
+most of them were quite prepared to think the Rajah a most excellent
+fellow when, at the conclusion of the meal, he entered the dining-room
+and came to the long table to propose and drink the health of the
+King-Emperor. He left the room immediately afterwards. This is the usual
+procedure on the part of Hindu rulers in India, since they are precluded
+by their religion and caste-customs from eating with Europeans.
+</p>
+<p>
+After dinner the guests went to the lounge, where coffee was served. They
+broke up into groups or pairs and sat or stood about the room chatting.
+Mrs. Rice, who had been much impressed by Ida's appearance and expensive
+gowns, secured a chair beside her and endeavoured to monopolise her,
+despite many obvious snubs. At last Ida calmly turned her back on her and
+called Daleham to talk to her. Then the planter's wife espied Dermot
+sitting alone and pounced on him. He had tried to speak to Noreen after
+dinner, but it was so apparent that she wished to avoid him that he gave up
+the attempt. He endured Mrs. Rice's company with admirable resignation, but
+was thankful when the time for "good-night" came at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+The men stayed up an hour or two later, and then after a final "peg" went
+off to bed. Dermot walked upstairs with Barclay, the young police officer,
+who was his nearest neighbour, although the Major's room was at the end of
+the building and separated from his by a long, narrow passage and several
+empty chambers.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0016"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XVI
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE PALACE OF DEATH
+</h3>
+<p>
+When they reached the door of the police officer's apartment Dermot wished
+him good-night and proceeded down the passage, which was lit only by a
+feeble lamp placed in a niche high up in the wall. He had to grope his way
+through the outer chambers by the aid of matches, and when he reached his
+room, was surprised to find it in darkness, for he had left a light burning
+in it. He struck more matches, and was annoyed to discover that his lamp
+had been taken away. Being very tired he felt inclined to undress and go to
+bed in the dark, but, suddenly remembering the small light in the passage,
+determined to fetch it. Making his way back to the passage he tried to take
+the little lamp down. But it was too high up, and the noise that he made in
+his efforts to reach it brought Barclay to his door.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he heard of Dermot's difficulty he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not sleepy yet, Major, so I'll bring my lamp along to your room and
+smoke a cheroot while you undress. Then I'll go off with it as soon as
+you've turned in."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot thanked him, and the young policeman went with him, carrying the
+lamp, which had a double wick and gave a good light. Putting it down on the
+dressing-table he lit a cheroot and proceeded to seat himself in a chair
+beside the bed. Like the room itself and the rest of the furniture, it was
+covered with dust.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By George, what dirty quarters they've given you, sir," he exclaimed.
+"Just look at the floor. I'll bet it's never been swept since the Palace
+was built. The dust is an inch deep near the bed." He polished the seat of
+the chair carefully before he sat down.
+</p>
+<p>
+The heat in the room was stifling, and the police officer, even in his
+white mess uniform, felt it acutely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By Jove, it's steamy tonight," he remarked, wiping his face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I hate October," replied Dermot. "It's the worst month in the year, I
+think. Its damp heat, when the rain is drying up out of the ground, is more
+trying than the worst scorching we get in May and June."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, you don't seem to find it too hot, Major," said the other laughing.
+"It looks as if you'd got a hot-water bottle in the foot of your bed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hot-water bottle? What do you mean?" asked Dermot in surprise, throwing
+the collar that he had just taken off on to the dressing-table and turning
+round.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, don't you see? Under the clothes at the foot," said his companion,
+pointing with the Major's cane to a bulge in the thin blanket and sheet
+covering the bed. He got up and strode across to it. "What on earth have
+you got there? It does look&mdash;Oh, good heavens, keep back!" he cried
+suddenly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot was already bending over the bed, but the police officer pushed him
+forcibly back and snatched up the cane which he had laid down. Then,
+cautiously seizing the top of the blanket and sheet near the pillow, he
+whisked them off with a sudden vigorous jerk. At the spot where the bulge
+had betrayed it a black cobra, one of the deadliest snakes in India, lifted
+its head and a foot of its length from its shining coils. The forked tongue
+darted and quivered incessantly, and the unwinking eyes glistened as with a
+loud hiss it raised itself higher and poised its head to strike.
+</p>
+<p>
+Barclay struck it sharply with the cane, and it fell writhing on the bed,
+its spine broken. The coils wound and unwound vigorously, the tail
+convulsively lashing the sheet. He raised the stick to strike it again,
+but, paused with arm uplifted, for the snake could not move away or raise
+its head.
+</p>
+<p>
+Seeing that it was powerless the young Superintendent swung round to
+Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you a pistol, Major?" he whispered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Without a word the soldier unlocked his despatch-box and took out a small
+automatic.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Loaded?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The soldier nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Give it to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Taking the weapon he tiptoed to the door, listened awhile, then opened it
+sharply. But there was no one there.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bring the lamp," he whispered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot complied, and together they searched the ante-rooms and passages.
+They were empty. Then they looked into the small room in which the zinc
+bath-tub stood. There was no one there.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Deputy Superintendent closed the door again, and, as it had neither
+lock nor bolt, placed a heavy chair against it. Taking the lamp in his hand
+he bent down and carefully examined the dusty floor under and around the
+bed. Then he put down the lamp and drew Dermot into the centre of the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Has your servant any reason to dislike you?" he asked in a low voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot answered him in the same tone:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have not brought one with me."
+</p>
+<p>
+The D.S.P. whistled faintly, then looked apprehensively round the room and
+whispered:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you any enemies in the Palace or in Lalpuri?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very probably," he replied. Then in a low voice he continued: "Look here,
+Barclay, do you know anything of the state of affairs in this province? I
+mean, politically."
+</p>
+<p>
+The police officer nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do. I'm here in Lalpuri to try to find out things. The root of the
+trouble in Bengal is here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I can tell you that I have been sent on a special mission to the
+border and have come to this city to try to follow up a clue."
+</p>
+<p>
+The D.S.P. drew a deep breath.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That accounts for it. Look here, Major, I've seen this trick with the
+snake before. Not long ago I tried to hang the servant of a rich <i>bunniah</i>
+for murdering his master by means of it, but the Sessions Judge wouldn't
+convict him. If you look you'll see that that brute"&mdash;he pointed to the
+cobra writhing in agony on the bed and sinking its fangs into its own
+flesh&mdash;"never got up there by itself. It was put there. Otherwise it would
+have left a clear trail in the thick dust on the floor, but there isn't a
+sign."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I spotted that," said Dermot, lighting a cigarette over the lamp
+chimney. "I see the game. My lamp&mdash;which was here, for I dressed for dinner
+by its light&mdash;was taken away, so that I'd have to go to bed in the dark;
+and, by Jove, I very nearly did! Then I'd have kicked against the cobra as
+I got in, and been bitten. The lamp would have been put back in the morning
+before I was 'found.' Look here, Barclay, I owe you a lot. Without you I'd
+be dead in two hours."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Or less. Sometimes the bite is fatal in forty minutes. Yes, there's no
+doubt of it, you'd have been done for. Lucky thing I hadn't gone to bed and
+heard you. Now, what'll we do with the brute?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at the writhing snake.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wait a minute. Where are the matches?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He picked up a box from the dressing-table, moved the chair from the door
+and left the room. In a minute or two he returned, carrying an old
+porcelain vase, and shut the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I found this stuck away with a lot of rubbish in the outer room," he said.
+"I don't suppose any one will miss it."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot watched him with curiosity as he placed the vase on the floor near
+the bed and picked up the cane. Putting its point under the cobra he lifted
+the wriggling body on the stick and with some difficulty dropped the snake
+into the vase, where they heard its head striking the sides with furious
+blows.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope it won't break the damned thing just when I'm carrying it," he
+said, regarding the vase anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What are you doing that for?" asked Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+The police officer lowered his voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Major, we don't want these would-be murderers to know how their
+trick failed. That's the reason I didn't pound the brute to a jelly on the
+bed, for it would have made such a mess on the sheet. Now there isn't a
+speck on it. I'll take the vase with me into my room and finish the cobra
+off. In the morning I'll get rid of its body somehow. When these devils
+find tomorrow that you're not dead, they'll be very puzzled. Now, the
+question is, what are you going to do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Going to bed," answered Dermot, continuing to undress. "There's nothing
+else to be done at this hour, is there?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The police officer looked at him with admiration.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By George, sir, you've got pluck. If it were I, I'd want to sit up all
+night with a pistol."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not you. Otherwise you wouldn't be in the place at all. Besides you are
+qualifying for delicate little attentions like this." And Dermot flicked
+the ash of his cigarette into the vase in which the cobra still writhed and
+twisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, well, they haven't tumbled to me yet," said the young police officer,
+making light of his own courage. "I suppose you won't make any fuss about
+this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course not. We've got no proof against any one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But do you think it wise for you to stay on here, sir? They'll only try
+again."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot lit a fresh cigarette.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it can't be helped. It's all in the day's work. I'm due to stay here
+two days more, and I'm damned if I'm going to move before then. As you
+know, it doesn't do to show these people the white feather. Besides, I'm
+rather interested to see what they'll try next."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're a cool hand, Major. Well, since you look at it that way, there's
+nothing more to be said. I see you're ready for bed, so I'll take my lamp
+and bit of pottery, and trek."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, just one moment, Barclay." Dermot sank his voice. "Did you notice the
+Rajah's catch-'em-alive-ohs on sentry?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean his soldiers? No, I can't say I did."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, just have a look at them tomorrow. I want to have a talk with you
+about them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'd like to strip these bed-clothes off. I don't fancy them after the
+snake. Luckily it's so hot that one doesn't want even a sheet tonight. Let
+me see if there's another cobra under the pillow. It's said that they
+generally go about in pairs." He turned over the pillow. "No; that's all
+right."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hold on a minute," whispered Barclay, raising the lamp above his head with
+his left hand. "Let's see if there's any concealed entrance to the room. I
+daresay these old palaces are full of secret passages and masked doors."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sounded the walls and floors and examined them carefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Seems all right. I'll be off now. Good-night, Major. I hope you'll not be
+disturbed. If there's any trouble fire a shot and I'll be here in two
+shakes. I've got a pistol, and by Jingo I'll have it handy tonight. Keep
+yours ready, too."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall. Now a thousand thanks for your help, Barclay," said the soldier,
+shaking his friend's hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he closed the door behind the police officer and by the light of a
+match piled chairs against it. Then he lay down on the bed, put the pistol
+under the edge of the mattress and ready to his hand, and fell asleep at
+once.
+</p>
+<p>
+Early in the morning he was aroused by a vigorous knocking and heard
+Barclay's voice outside the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you all right, Major?" it said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, thanks. Good-morning," replied the soldier. "Come in. No, wait a
+minute."
+</p>
+<p>
+He jumped out of bed and removed the barricade. Barclay entered in his
+pyjamas. Lowering his voice he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anything happen during the night?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think so. I slept soundly and heard nothing. You're up early,"
+replied the soldier, picking up the blankets and sheets from the floor and
+spreading them carelessly on the bed to make it look as if he had used
+them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; those infernal birds make such a confounded row. It's like being in
+an aviary," said Barclay.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot threw open the wooden shutters. Outside the window was a small
+balcony. On the roofs and verandahs of the Palace scores of grey-hooded
+crows were perched, filling the air with discordant sounds. Up in the pale
+blue sky the wheeling hawks whistled shrilly. Down in the courtyard below
+yellow-beaked <i>mynas</i> chattered volubly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't they make a beastly row? How is a fellow to sleep?" grumbled
+Barclay. "Look at that cheeky beggar."
+</p>
+<p>
+A hooded crow perched on the railing of the balcony and, apparently
+resenting his remarks, cawed defiantly at him. The Deputy Superintendent
+picked up one of Dermot's slippers and was about to hurl it at the bird,
+when a voice from the doorway startled him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Char, Huzoor!</i> (Tea, Your Excellency!)"
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked round. One of the Palace servants stood at the door holding a
+tray containing tea and buttered toast.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot directed the man to put the tray on the dressing-table, and when the
+servant had salaamed and left the room, he walked over to it and looked at
+the food.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, is it safe to eat that?" he said. "I've no fear of the grub they
+serve in the dining-hall, for they wouldn't dare to poison us all. But
+somehow I have my doubts about any nice little meal prepared exclusively
+for me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think you're right there, Major," said Barclay, who was sitting on the
+edge of the bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll see. There isn't the usually handy pi-dog to try it on. But we'll
+make use of our noisy friend here. He won't be much loss to the world if it
+poisons him," and Dermot broke off a piece of the toast and threw it on the
+floor of the balcony. The crow stopped his cawing, cocked his head on one
+side, and eyed the tempting morsel. Buttered toast did not often come his
+way. He dropped down on to the balcony floor, hopped over to the toast,
+pecked at it, picked it up in his strong beak, and flew with it to the roof
+of the building opposite. In silence the two men watched him devour it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That seems all right, Major," said the police officer. "You've made him
+your friend for life. He's coming back for more."
+</p>
+<p>
+The crow perched on the rail again and cawed loudly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, shut up, you greedy bird. Here's another bit for you. That's all
+you'll have. I want the rest myself," said Dermot, laughing. He broke off
+another piece and threw it out on to the balcony.
+</p>
+<p>
+The crow looked at it, ruffled its feathers, shook itself&mdash;and then fell
+heavily to the floor of the balcony and lay still.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good heavens! What an escape!" ejaculated Barclay, suddenly pale.
+</p>
+<p>
+The two men stared at each other and the dead bird in silence. Then Dermot
+murmured:
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is getting monotonous. Hang it! They <i>are</i> in a hurry. Why, they
+couldn't even know whether I was alive or not. If the snake trick had come
+off, I'd be a corpse now and this nice little meal would have been wasted.
+Really, they are rather crowding things on me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're taking no chances, the devils," said the younger man, who was more
+upset by the occurrence than his companion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I'll have to do without my <i>chota hazri</i>; and I do like a cup of tea
+in the morning," said the soldier; and he began to shave. Glancing out of
+the window he continued: "They've got a fine day for the show anyway."
+</p>
+<p>
+Barclay sprang up from the chair on which he had suddenly sat down. His
+nerve was shaken by the two attempts on his companion's life.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Damn them and their shows, the infernal murderers," he muttered savagely,
+and rushed out of the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Amen!" said Dermot, as he lathered his face. Death had been near him too
+often before for him to be disturbed now. So he went on shaving.
+</p>
+<p>
+Before he left the room he poured tea into the cup on the tray and got rid
+of the rest of the toast, to make it appear that he had freely partaken of
+the meal. He wrapped up the dead crow in paper and locked it in his
+despatch-case, until he could dispose of it that evening after dark.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen had slept little during the night. All through the weary hours of
+darkness she had tossed restlessly on her bed, tortured by thoughts that
+revolved in monotonous circles around Dermot. What was she to believe of
+him? What were the relations between him and her friend? He had seemed very
+cold to Ida when they met and had avoided her all day. And she did not
+appear to mind. What had happened between them? Had they quarrelled? It did
+not disturb Ida's rest, for the girl could hear her regular breathing all
+night long, the door between their rooms being open. Was it possible that
+she and Dermot were acting indifference to deceive the people around them?
+</p>
+<p>
+Only towards morning did Noreen fall into a troubled, broken sleep, and she
+dreamt that the man she loved was in great danger. She woke up in a fright,
+then dozed again. She was hollow-eyed and unrefreshed when a bare-footed
+native "boy" knocked at her door and left a tray with her <i>chota hazri</i> at
+it. She could not eat, but she drank the tea thirstily.
+</p>
+<p>
+Pleading fatigue she remained in her room all the morning and refused to go
+down to <i>tiffin</i>. When the other guests were at lunch in the dining-hall a
+message was brought her that Chunerbutty begged to see her urgently. She
+went down to the lounge, where he was waiting. Struck by her want of
+colour, he enquired somewhat tenderly what ailed her. She replied
+impatiently that she was only fatigued by the previous day's journey, and
+asked rather crossly why he wanted to see her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have something nice for you," he said smiling. "Something I was to give
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Glancing around to make sure that they were unobserved, he opened a
+sandalwood box that he held in his hand and took out a large, oval
+leather case, which he offered to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is this?" she asked in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Open it and see," he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl did so unsuspectingly. It was lined with blue velvet, and resting
+in it was a necklace of diamonds in quaint and massive gold setting,
+evidently the work of a native jeweller. The stones, though badly cut, were
+very large and flashed and sparkled with coloured fires. The ornament was
+evidently extremely valuable. Noreen stared at it and then at Chunerbutty
+in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What does this mean?" she demanded, an ominous ring in her voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just a little present to you from a friend," replied the Hindu, evidently
+thinking that the girl was pleased with the magnificent gift.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For me? Are these stones real?" she asked quietly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rather. Why, that necklace must be worth thousands of pounds. The fact is
+that it's a little present from the Rajah, who admires you awfully. He&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen's eyes blazed, and she was on the point of bursting into angry
+words; but, controlling herself with an effort, she thrust the case back
+into his hands and said coldly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know little of English women, Mr. Chunerbutty, if you think that they
+accept presents like that from strangers. This may be the Rajah's
+ignorance, but it looks more like insolence."
+</p>
+<p>
+She turned to go; but, stopping her, he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but you don't understand. He's a great friend of mine and he knows
+that I'm awfully fond of you, little girl. So he's ready to do anything for
+us and give me a&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+She walked past him, her eyes blazing with anger, with so resolute an air
+that he drew back and watched her go. She went straight to her room and
+remained there until Ida came to tell her that it was time to dress for the
+celebration of the Puja festival.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+In the outer courtyard of the Palace six of the Rajah's State elephants,
+their tusks gilded and foreheads gaudily painted, caparisoned with rich
+velvet housings covered with heavy gold embroidery trailing almost to the
+ground, bearing on their backs gold or silver howdahs fashioned in the
+shape of temples, awaited the European guests. Chunerbutty, when allotting
+positions as Master of Ceremonies, took advantage of his position to
+contrive that Noreen should accompany him on the elephant on which he was
+to lead the line. The girl discovered too late that they were to be alone
+on it, except for the <i>mahout</i> on its neck. Dermot and Barclay managed to
+be together on another animal.
+</p>
+<p>
+When all were in position in the howdahs, to which they climbed by ladders,
+the gates were thrown open, and through a mob of salaaming retainers the
+elephants emerged with stately tread on the great square in front of the
+Palace and proceeded through the city. The houses were gaily decorated.
+Flags and strips of coloured cloth fluttered from every building; gaudy
+carpets and embroideries hung from the innumerable balconies and windows.
+The elephants could scarcely force a passage through the narrow streets, so
+crowded were they with swarms of men, women, and children in holiday
+attire, all going in one direction. Their destination was the park of the
+<i>Moti Mahal</i> or Pearl Palace, the Rajah's summer residence outside the
+walls of the city.
+</p>
+<p>
+There the enormous crowd was kept back by red-robed retainers armed with
+<i>tulwars</i>&mdash;native curved swords&mdash;leaving clear a wide stretch of open
+ground, in the centre of which on a gigantic altar was the image of the
+Goddess Kali. Before it a magnificent bull was firmly secured by chains and
+ropes to stout posts sunk deep in the earth. The animal's head drooped and
+it could hardly stand up, for it had been heavily drugged for the day's
+ceremony and was scarcely conscious.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah's army was drawn up in line fronting the altar, but some distance
+away from it. Two old muzzle-loading nine-pounder guns, their teams of
+powerful bullocks lying contentedly behind on the grass, formed the right
+of the line. Then came the cavalry, consisting of twenty <i>sowars</i> on
+squealing white stallions with long tails dyed red. Left of them was the
+infantry, two hundred sepoys in shakoes, red coatees, white trousers, and
+bare feet, leaning on long percussion-capped muskets with triangular
+bayonets.
+</p>
+<p>
+Shortly after the Europeans had arrived and their elephants taken up their
+position on one side of the ground, cheering announced the coming of the
+Rajah. The cannons were discharged by slow matches and the infantrymen,
+raising their muskets, fired a ragged volley into the air. Then towards the
+altar of Kali the Rajah was seen approaching in a long gilded car shaded by
+a canopy of cloth-of-gold and drawn by an enormous elephant, richly
+caparisoned. Two gold-laced, scarlet-clad servants were perched on the back
+of the car, waving large peacock-feather fans over their monarch. A line of
+carriages followed, conveying the <i>Dewan</i>, the Durbar officials, the
+Ministers of the State and the leading nobles of Lalpuri. After the first
+volley, which scattered the horses of the cavalry, the artillery and
+infantry loaded and fired independently as fast as their antiquated weapons
+permitted, until the air was filled with smoke and the acrid smell of
+gunpowder.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah, hemmed in by spearmen with levelled points and followed by all
+his suite with drawn swords, timidly approached the bull, <i>tulwar</i> in hand.
+The animal was too dazed to lift its head. The Rajah raised his gleaming
+blade and struck at the nape of its neck, and at the same moment two
+swordsmen hamstrung it. Immediately the <i>Dewan</i>, Ministers, and nobles
+crowded in and hacked at the wretched beast as it lurched and fell heavily
+to the ground. The warm blood spurted out in jets and covered the officials
+and nobles as they cut savagely at the feebly struggling carcase, and the
+red liquid splashed the Rajah as he stood gloating over the gaping wounds
+and the sufferings of the poor sacrifice, his heavy face lit up by a
+ghastly grin of delight.
+</p>
+<p>
+The horrible spectacle shocked and disgusted the European spectators. Ida
+nearly fainted, and Mrs. Rice turned green. Noreen shuddered at
+Chunerbutty's fiendish and bestial expression, as he leaned forward in the
+howdah, his face working convulsively, his eyes straining to lose no detail
+of the repulsive sight. He was enjoying it, like the excited, enthralled
+mobs of Indians of all ages around, who pressed forward, gradually pushing
+back the line of retainers struggling to keep the ground.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly the swarming thousands broke loose. They surged madly forward,
+engulfing and sweeping the soldiers along with them, and rushed on the
+dying bull. They fought savagely to reach it. Those who succeeded threw
+themselves on the quivering carcase and with knives or bare hands tore
+pieces of still living flesh from it and thrust them into their mouths.
+Then, blooded to the eyes, they raised their reddened arms aloft, while
+from thousands of throats rang out the fanatical cry:
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Kali Ma ki jai!</i> (Victory to Mother Kali!)"
+</p>
+<p>
+They surged around the altar. The Rajah was knocked down and nearly
+trampled on by the maddened, hysterical crowd. <i>Dewan</i>, Ministers,
+officials, guards were hustled and swept aside. The cavalry commander saw
+his ruler's danger and collecting a dozen of his <i>sowars</i> charged the
+religious-mad mob and rescued the Rajah from his dangerous position, riding
+down and sabring men, women, and children, the fierce stallions savaging
+everyone within reach with their bared teeth.
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty, in whom old racial instincts were rekindled, had scarcely been
+able to restrain himself from climbing down and joining in the frenzied
+rush on the bull. But the turn of events sobered him and induced him to
+listen at last to Noreen's entreaties and angry demands from the Englishmen
+who bade him order the <i>mahouts</i> to take the visitors away from the
+horrible spectacle. As they left they saw the Rajah's golden chariot and
+the carriages of the officials being driven helter-skelter across the grass
+with their blood-stained and terrified occupants. And the madly fanatical
+crowds surged wildly around the altar, while their cries to Kali rent the
+air.
+</p>
+<p>
+The elephants lumbered swiftly in file through the deserted city, for it
+was now emptied of its inhabitants. Merchants, traders, shopkeepers,
+workers, harlots, and criminals, all had flocked to the <i>Moti Mahal</i> to
+witness the sacrifice.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they entered the Palace gates the <i>mahout</i> of the animal carrying
+Barclay, Dermot, and two planters called to a native standing idly in the
+courtyard:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why wert thou not out with thy elephant, Ebrahim?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The man addressed, a grey-bearded Mussulman, replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shiva-<i>ji</i> is bad today. I fear him greatly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it the madness of the <i>dhantwallah</i>?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the madness."
+</p>
+<p>
+And the speaker cracked his finger-joints to avert evil luck.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dinner was not a very jovial meal among the English guests that night. Much
+to their relief the Rajah did not come in to them. The ladies retired early
+to their rooms, and the men were not long in following their example.
+</p>
+<p>
+Barclay and Dermot, who were the only occupants of the floor on which their
+rooms were situated&mdash;it was the top one of the wing&mdash;went upstairs
+together. At the Deputy Superintendent's door a man squatted and, as they
+approached, rose, and saluted them in military fashion. It was Barclay's
+police orderly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hast got it?" asked his master in the vernacular.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have got it, Sahib. It is here," and the man placed a small covered
+basket in his hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Bahut atcha. Ruksat hai</i>" (very good. You have leave to go), said his
+officer, using the ordinary Indian formula for dismissing a subordinate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Salaam, Sahib."
+</p>
+<p>
+The orderly saluted and went away down the passage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wait a moment, Major; I'm going with you to your room," said the Deputy
+Superintendent, opening his door. "Do you mind bringing my light along, as
+yours may be gone again. My hands are full with this basket."
+</p>
+<p>
+When they reached Dermot's apartment they found a lamp burning feebly in
+it, smoking, and giving little light.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Looks as if there's a fresh game on tonight," said Dermot in a low voice.
+"This is not the lamp I had before dinner. That was a large and brilliant
+one. I'm glad we brought yours along."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Barricade the door, Major," whispered Barclay. "Are the shutters closed?
+Yes; that's all right."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What have you got in that mysterious basket?" his companion asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll see presently."
+</p>
+<p>
+He set it down on the floor and raised the lid. A small, sharp-muzzled head
+with fierce pink eyes popped up and looked about suspiciously. Then its
+owner climbed cautiously out on to the floor. It was a slim, long-bodied
+little animal like a ferret, with a long, furry tail.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hullo! A mongoose? You think they'll try the same trick again?" asked
+Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+He glanced at the bed and picked up his cane.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just stand still, Major, and watch. If there's anything in the snake line
+about our young friend here will attend to it."
+</p>
+<p>
+The mongoose trotted forward for a few steps, then sat down and scratched
+itself. It rose, yawned, stretched its legs, and looked up at the two men,
+betraying no fear of them. Then it lifted its sharp nose into the air,
+sniffed, and pattered about the room, stopping to smell the legs of the
+dressing-table and a cap of Dermot's lying on the floor. It investigated
+several rat-holes at the bottom of the walls and approached the bed. Under
+it a pair of the soldier's slippers were lying. The mongoose, passing by
+them, turned to smell them. Suddenly it sprang back, leaping a couple of
+feet into the air. When it touched the floor it crouched with bared teeth,
+the hair on its back bristling and its tail fluffed out until it was bigger
+than the body of the fierce little animal.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By Jove, it has found something!" exclaimed Barclay.
+</p>
+<p>
+The two men leant forward and watched intently. The mongoose approached the
+slippers again in a series of bounds, jumped around them, crouched, and
+then sprang into the air again.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly there was a rush and a scurry. The mongoose had pounced on one
+slipper and was shaking it savagely, beating it on the floor, rolling over
+and over and leaping into the air with it. Its movements were so rapid that
+for a few moments the watchers could distinguish nothing in the miniature
+cyclone of slipper and ball of fluffy hair inextricably mingled. Then there
+was a pause. The mongoose stood still, then backed away with stiffened
+legs, its sharp teeth fixed in the neck of a small snake about ten inches
+long, which it was trying to drag out of the slipper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good heavens! This is worse than last night," cried Barclay. "It's a
+<i>karait</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+This reptile is almost more poisonous than a cobra, and, as it is thin and
+rarely exceeds twelve inches in length, it can hide anywhere and is an even
+deadlier menace in a house.
+</p>
+<p>
+The mongoose backed across the room, dragging the snake and with it the
+slipper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why the deuce doesn't it pull the <i>karait</i> out?" said Dermot, bending down
+to look more closely, as the mongoose paused. "By George! Look at this,
+Barclay. The snake's fastened to the inside of the slipper by a loop and a
+bit of thin wire."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a devilish trick!" cried Barclay.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I hope that concludes the entertainment for tonight," said Dermot.
+"Enough is as good as a feast."
+</p>
+<p>
+When next morning the servant brought in his tray, Dermot was smoking a
+cigarette in an easy chair, and he fancied that there was a scared
+expression in the man's eyes, as the fellow looked covertly at the slippers
+on the Major's feet.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0017"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XVII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+A TRAP
+</h3>
+<p>
+In the forenoon of the fifth day of the Durgá-Puja Festival the <i>Dewan</i> and
+Chunerbutty sat on the thick carpet of the Rajah's apartment, which was in
+that part of the Palace facing the wing given up to the visitors. It formed
+one of the sides of the square surrounding the paved courtyard below, which
+was rarely entered. Only one door led into it from the buildings which
+lined it on three sides, a door under the Rajah's suite of apartments.
+</p>
+<p>
+That potentate was sprawling on a pile of soft cushions, glaring
+malevolently at his Chief Minister, whom he hated and feared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Curses on thee, <i>Dewan-ji</i>!" he muttered, turning uneasily and groaning
+with the pain of movement. For he was badly bruised, sore, and shaken, from
+his treatment by the crowd on the previous day.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why on me, O Maharaj?" asked the <i>Dewan</i>, looking at him steadily and with
+hardly-veiled contempt.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because thine was the idea of this foolish celebration yesterday. Mother
+Durgá was angry with me for introducing this foreign way of worship,"
+answered the superstitious atheist, conveniently forgetting that the idea
+was his own. "It will cost me large sums to these greedy priests, if she is
+not to punish me further."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not for that reason, but for another, is the Holy Mother enraged, O
+Maharaj," replied his Minister. "For the lack of a sweeter sacrifice than
+we offered her yesterday."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is that?" demanded the Rajah suspiciously. He distrusted his <i>Dewan</i>
+more than any one else in his service.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Canst thou ask? Thou who bearest on thy forehead the badge of the Sáktas?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thou meanest a human sacrifice?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have given Durgá many," grumbled the Rajah. "But if she be greedy, let
+her have more. There are girls in my <i>zenana</i> that I would gladly be rid
+of."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Holy Mother demands a worthier offering than some wanton that thou
+hast wearied of."
+</p>
+<p>
+Chunerbutty spoke for the first time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She wants the blood of one of the accursed race; of a <i>Feringhi</i>; of this
+soldier and spy."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah shifted uneasily on his cushions. He hated but he feared the
+white men, and he had not implicit faith in the <i>Dewan's</i> talk of their
+speedy overthrow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mother Durgá has rejected him," he said. "Have ye not all tried to slay
+him and failed?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Dewan</i> nodded his head slowly and stared at the carpet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is some strange and evil influence that sets my plans at naught."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The gods, if there be gods as you Brahmins say, protect him. I think evil
+will come to us if we harm him. And can we? Did he not lie down with the
+hooded death itself, a cobra, young, active, full of venom, and rise
+unhurt?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"True. But perhaps the snake had escaped from the bed before the
+<i>Feringhi</i> entered it," said the <i>Dewan</i> meditatively.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To guard against that, did they not fasten the <i>karait</i> in his shoe?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He may have discovered it in time," said the engineer. "Englishmen fear
+snakes greatly and always look out for them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha! and did he not eat and drink the poisoned meal prepared for him by our
+skilfullest physician?"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no answer to this. The mystery of Dermot's escape from death was
+beyond their understanding.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is certainly something strange about him," said Chunerbutty. "At
+least, so it is reported in our district, though to me he seems a fool. But
+there all races and castes fear him. Curious tales are told of him. Some
+say that <i>Gunesh</i>, the Elephant-headed One, protects him. Others hold that
+he is <i>Gunesh</i> himself. Can it be so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Dewan</i> smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Since when hast thou believed in the gods again?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it is hard to know what is true or false. If there be no gods,
+perhaps there are devils. My Christian friends are more impressed by the
+latter."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Rajah shook his head doubtfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps he is a devil. Who knows? They told me that he summoned a host of
+devils in the form of elephants to slay my soldiers. Pah! it is all
+nonsense. There are no such things."
+</p>
+<p>
+With startling distinctness the shrill trumpeting of an elephant rang
+through the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mother Kali preserve me!" shrieked the superstitious Rajah, flinging
+himself in terror on his face. "That was no mortal elephant. Was it
+<i>Gunesh</i> that spoke?" He lifted his head timidly. "It is a warning. Spare
+the <i>Feringhi</i>. Let him go."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Spare him? Knowest thou, O Maharaj, that the girl thou dost desire loves
+him? But an hour ago I heard her tell him that she wished to speak with him
+alone," said Chunerbutty.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Alone with him? The shameless one! Curses on him! Let him die," cried the
+jealous Rajah, his fright forgotten.
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Dewan</i> smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There was no need to fear the cry of that elephant," he said. "It was your
+favourite, Shiva-<i>ji</i>. He is seized with the male-madness. They have penned
+him in the stone-walled enclosure yonder. He killed his <i>mahout</i> this
+morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Killed Ebrahim? Curse him! If he had not cost me twenty thousand rupees I
+would have him shot," growled the Rajah savagely. "Killed Ebrahim, my best
+<i>mahout</i>? Why could he not have slain this accursed <i>Feringhi</i> if he had
+the blood-lust on him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the name of Siva the Great One!" exclaimed the <i>Dewan</i> piously. "It is
+a good thought. Listen to me, Maharaj! Listen, thou renegade" (this to
+Chunerbutty, who dared not resent the old man's insults).
+</p>
+<p>
+The three heads came together.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+After lunch that day Dermot sat smoking in his room. Although it had no
+punkah and the heat was great, he had escaped to it from the crowded lounge
+to be able to think quietly. But his thoughts were not of the attempts on
+his life and the probability that they would be repeated. His mind was
+filled with Noreen to the temporary exclusion of all other subjects. She
+puzzled him. He had supposed her engaged, or practically engaged, to
+Charlesworth. Yet she had come away from Darjeeling at its gayest time and
+here seemed to be engrossed with Chunerbutty. She was always with him or he
+with her. He never left her side. She sat by him at every meal. She had
+gone alone with him in his howdah to the <i>Moti Mahal</i>, when every other
+elephant had carried more than two persons. He knew that she had always
+regarded the Hindu as a friend, but he had not thought that she was so
+attracted to him. Certainly now she did not appear content away from him.
+What would Charlesworth, who hated natives, think of it?
+</p>
+<p>
+As for himself, their former friendship seemed dead. He had naturally been
+hurt when she had not waited in the hotel at Darjeeling, though she knew
+that he was coming to say good-bye to her. But perhaps Charlesworth had
+kept her out, so he could not blame her. But why had she deliberately
+avoided him here in the Palace? What was the reason of her unfriendliness?
+Yet that morning in the lounge after breakfast he had chanced to pass her
+where she stood beside Chunerbutty, who was speaking to a servant. She had
+detained him for a moment to tell him that she wished to see him alone some
+time, for she wanted his advice. She seemed rather mysterious about it, and
+he remembered that she had spoken in a low tone, as if she did not desire
+any one else to hear what she was saying.
+</p>
+<p>
+What did it all mean? Well, if he could help her with advice or anything
+else he would. He had not realised how fond he was of her until this
+estrangement between them had arisen.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he sat puzzling over the problem the servant who waited on him entered
+the room and salaamed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Ghurrib Parwar!</i> (Protector of the Poor.) I bring a message for Your
+Honour. The English missie <i>baba</i> sends salaams and wishes to speak with
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot sprang up hastily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is she, Rama? In the lounge?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, <i>Huzoor</i>. The missie <i>baba</i> is in the Red Garden."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the Rajah's own private garden, through there." The servant pointed
+down to the gateway in the high wall of the courtyard below. He had opened
+the shutter of the window by which they were standing. "I will guide Your
+Honour. We must go through that door over there under His Highness's
+apartments."
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Bahut atcha</i>, Rama. I will come with you. Give me my <i>topi</i>," cried
+Dermot, feeling light-hearted all at once. Perhaps the misunderstanding
+between Noreen and him would be cleared up now. He took his sun-hat from
+the man and followed him out of the room.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Noreen was greatly perplexed about the insult, as she considered it, of the
+Rajah's offer of the necklace. She feared to tell her brother, who might be
+angry with her for suspecting his friend of condoning an impertinence to
+her. Equally she felt that she could not confide in Ida or any one else,
+lest she should be misjudged and thought to have encouraged the engineer
+and his patron. To whom could she turn, sure of not being misunderstood? If
+only Dermot had remained her friend!
+</p>
+<p>
+She was torn with longings to know the truth about his relations with Ida.
+The uncertainty was unbearable. That morning in her room she had boldly
+attacked Ida and asked her frankly. The other woman made light of the whole
+affair, pretended that Noreen had misunderstood her on that night in
+Darjeeling, and laughed at the idea of any one imagining that she had ever
+been in love with Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl was more puzzled than ever. Her heart ached for an hour or two
+alone with her one-time friend of the forest. O to be out with him on
+Badshah in the silent jungle, no matter what dangers encircled them!
+Perhaps there the cloud between them would vanish. But could she not speak
+to him here in the Palace? He seemed to be no longer fascinated with Ida,
+if indeed he ever had been. She could tell him of the Rajah's insult. He
+would advise her what to do, for she was sure that he would not misjudge
+her. And perhaps&mdash;who knew?&mdash;her confiding in him might break down the wall
+that separated them. She forgot that it had been built by her own
+resentment and anger, and that she had eluded his attempts to approach her.
+Even now she felt that she could not speak to him before others.
+</p>
+<p>
+Growing desperate, she had that morning snatched at the opportunity to ask
+him for an interview. Chunerbutty, who seemed always to cling to her now
+with the persistence of a leech, had as usual been with her, but his
+attention had been distracted from her for a moment. She hoped that the
+Hindu had not overheard her. Yet what did it matter if he had? Dermot had
+understood and nodded, as he passed on with the old, friendly look in his
+eyes. Perhaps all would come right.
+</p>
+<p>
+She had seen him leave the lounge after lunch, but she remained there
+confident that he would return. She felt she could not talk to the others
+so she withdrew to a table near one of the shuttered windows and pretended
+to read the newspapers on it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Payne was there, deep in the perusal of an article in an English journal on
+the disturbed state of India. Mrs. Rice, impervious to snubs, was trying to
+impress the openly bored Ida with accounts of the gay and fashionable life
+of Balham. The men were scattered about the room in groups, some discussing
+in low tones the occurrences of the day before at the <i>Moti Mahal</i>, others
+talking of the illuminations and fireworks which were to wind up their
+entertainment in Lalpuri on this the last night of their stay. For all were
+leaving on the morrow.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly there was a wild outcry outside. Loud cries, the shouts of men,
+the terrifying trumpeting of an elephant, resounded through the courtyard
+below and echoed weirdly from the walls of the buildings. A piercing shriek
+of agony rang high above the tumult of sound and chilled the blood of the
+listeners in the lounge.
+</p>
+<p>
+Payne tore fiercely at the stiff wooden shutters of the window near him,
+which led out to the long balcony. Suddenly they burst open and he sprang
+out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good God!" he cried in horror. "Look! Look! Dermot's done for!"
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+The soldier had followed Rama, who led him through an unfamiliar part of
+the Palace along low passages, down narrow winding staircases, through
+painted rooms, in some of which female garments flung carelessly on the
+cushions seemed to indicate that they were passing through a portion of the
+<i>zenana</i>. Finally they reached a marble-paved hall on the ground-floor,
+where two attendants, the first persons whom they had seen on their way,
+lounged near a small door. They were evidently the porters and appeared to
+expect them, for they opened the door at Rama's approach. Through it Dermot
+followed his guide out into the courtyard on which he had often looked from
+the balcony of his room. He looked up at the lounge, two stories above his
+head, its long casements shuttered against the heat. Then he noticed that
+in none of the buildings surrounding the court were there any windows lower
+than the second story, and the only entrance into it from the Palace was
+the small door through which he had just passed. Almost at the moment he
+stepped into the courtyard a familiar sound greeted his ears. It was the
+trumpeting of an elephant. But there was a strange note of rage and
+excitement in it, and he thought of the remarks of the <i>mahouts</i> the
+previous day on the return from the <i>Moti Mahal</i>. Probably the <i>must</i>
+elephant of which they spoke was chained somewhere close by.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he crossed the courtyard he chanced to glance up at the shuttered
+windows of the apartments which he had been told were occupied by the
+Rajah. At that moment one of them was opened and a white cloth waved from
+it by an unseen hand. He wondered was it a signal. He stooped to fasten a
+bootlace, and Rama, who was making for the gateway in the high wall forming
+the fourth side of the courtyard, called impatiently to him to hasten. The
+servant's tone was impertinent, and Dermot looked up in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then suddenly Hell broke loose. From the direction in which they were
+proceeding came fierce shouts of men, yells of terror, and the angry
+trumpeting of an elephant mingled with the groaning of iron dragged over
+stone and the crashing of splintered wood. Rama, who was a few yards ahead,
+turned and ran past the white man, his face livid. Dermot looked after him
+in surprise. The man had dashed back to the little door and was beating on
+it madly with his fists. It was opened to admit him and then hastily
+closed. The soldier heard the rusty bolts grinding home in their sockets.
+</p>
+<p>
+Scenting danger and fearing a trap he stood still in the middle of the
+courtyard.
+</p>
+<p>
+The uproar continued and drew nearer. Suddenly it was dominated by a
+blood-curdling shriek of agony. Through the wide gateway he saw five or
+six men fleeing across the farther courtyard, which was surrounded by a
+high wall. Behind them rushed a huge tusker elephant, ears and tail
+cocked, eyes aflame with rage. He overtook one man, struck him down with
+his trunk, trod him to pulp, and then pursued the others. Some of them,
+crazed with terror, tried to climb the walls. The savage brute struck
+them down one after another, gored them or trampled them to death.
+</p>
+<p>
+Three terrified wretches fled through the gateway into the courtyard in
+which Dermot was standing. One stumbled and the elephant caught him up. The
+demented man turned on it and tried to beat it off with his bare hands.
+With a scream of fury the maddened beast drove his blood-stained tusk into
+the wretch's body, pitched him aloft, then hurled him to the ground and
+gored him again and again. The dying shriek that burst from the labouring
+lungs turned Dermot's blood cold. The body was kicked, trampled on, and
+then torn limb from limb.
+</p>
+<p>
+The two other men had dashed wildly across the courtyard. One reached the
+small door and was beating madly on it with bleeding knuckles, but it
+remained implacably closed. The other, driven mad by fear, was running
+round and round the courtyard like a caged animal, stopping occasionally to
+raise imploring hands and eyes to the windows of the Palace, which were now
+filled with spectators. Even the roofs were crowded with natives looking
+down on the tragedy being enacted below.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot realised that he had been trapped. There was no escape. He looked up
+at the Rajah's windows. One had been pushed open, and he thought that he
+could see the <i>Dewan</i> and his master watching him. He determined that he
+would not afford them the gratification of seeing him run round and round
+the walls of the courtyard like a rat in a trap until death overtook him.
+So, when the elephant at last drew off from its victim and stood irresolute
+for a moment, he turned to face it.
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed to him that he heard his voice called, faintly and from far away,
+but all his faculties were intent on watching the death that approached him
+in such hideous guise. Dermot's thoughts flew to Badshah for a moment, but
+swung back to centre on the coming annihilation. With flaming eyes, trunk
+curled, and head thrown up, the elephant charged.
+</p>
+<p>
+For one brief instant the man felt an insane desire to flee but, mastering
+it, he faced the on-rushing brute. A minute more, and all would be over.
+The soldier was unconscious of the shouts that rent the air, of the
+spectators crowding the balconies and windows. He felt perfectly cool now
+and had but one regret&mdash;that he had not been able to see Noreen again, as
+she had wished, before he died.
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew a deep breath, his last perhaps before Death reached him, and took
+a step forward to meet his doom.
+</p>
+<p>
+But at his movement a miracle happened. Not five yards from him the
+charging elephant suddenly tried to check its rush, flung all its weight
+back and, unable to halt, slid forward with stiffened fore-legs over the
+paving-stones. When at last it stopped one tusk was actually touching the
+man. Tail, ears, and trunk drooped, and it backed with every evidence of
+terror. Some instinct had warned it at the last moment that this man was
+sacred to the mammoth tribe.
+</p>
+<p>
+Like a flash enlightenment came to Dermot. Once again a mysterious power
+had saved him. The elephant knew and feared him. Yet he seemed as one in a
+dream. He looked up at the native portion of the Palace and became aware of
+the spectators on the roofs, the staring faces at the windows, the eyes of
+the women peering at him through the latticed casements of the <i>zenana</i>.
+The Rajah and the <i>Dewan</i>, all caution forgotten in their excitement, had
+thrown open the shutters from behind which they had hoped to witness his
+death, and were leaning out in full view.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot laughed grimly, and the thought came to him to impress these
+treacherous foes more forcibly. He walked towards the shrinking elephant,
+raised his hand, and commanded it to kneel. The animal obeyed submissively.
+The soldier swung himself on to its neck, and the animal rose to its feet
+again.
+</p>
+<p>
+He guided it across the courtyard until it stood under the window from
+which the Rajah and the <i>Dewan</i> stared down at him in amazement and
+superstitious dread. Then he said to the animal:
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Salaam kuro!</i> (Salute!)"
+</p>
+<p>
+It raised its trunk and trumpeted in the royal salutation. With a mocking
+smile, Dermot lifted his hat to the shrinking pair of murderers and turned
+the elephant away.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then for the first time he became aware that the balcony of the lounge was
+crowded with his fellow-countrymen. Ida and Mrs. Rice were sobbing
+hysterically on each other's shoulders. Noreen, clinging to her brother,
+whose arm was about her, was staring down at him with a set, white face.
+And as he looked up and saw them the men went mad. They burst into a roar
+of cheering, of greeting, and applause that drove the Rajah and his
+Minister into hiding again, for the shouts had something of menace in them.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot took off his hat in acknowledgment of the cheers and, seeing the
+Hindu engineer shrinking behind the others with an expression of amazed
+terror on his face, called to him:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Would you kindly send one of your friends to open the door, Mr.
+Chunerbutty? It seems to have got shut by some unfortunate accident."
+</p>
+<p>
+He brought the elephant to its knees and dismounted. Then as it rose he
+pointed to the gateway and said in the <i>mahout's</i> tongue:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Return to your stall."
+</p>
+<p>
+The animal walked away submissively. The two surviving natives shrank
+against the buildings in deadly fear, but the animal disappeared quietly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot went to the door and waited. Soon he heard the key turned in the
+lock and the rusty bolts drawn back. The door was then flung open by one of
+the porters, while the others huddled against the wall, for Barclay stood
+in front of them with a pistol raised. He sprang forward and seized
+Dermot's hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Heaven and earth! How are you alive?" he cried. "I thought the devils had
+got you this time. I was tempted to shoot these swine here for being so
+long in opening the door."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a clatter of boots on the marble floor, as Payne and Granger,
+followed by the rest of the Englishmen, ran up the hall, cheering. They
+crowded round Dermot, nearly shook his arm off, thumped him on the back,
+and overwhelmed him with congratulations.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Dermot thanked them he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't know that you fellows were looking on, otherwise I wouldn't have
+done that little bit of gallery-play. But I had a reason for it." "Yes; we
+know," said Payne significantly. "Barclay told us."
+</p>
+<p>
+Then they dragged him protesting upstairs to the lounge, that the women
+might congratulate him too; which they did each in her own fashion. Ida was
+effusive and sentimental, Mrs. Rice fatuous, and Noreen timid and almost
+stiff. The girl, who had endured an agony worse than many deaths, could not
+voice her feelings, and her congratulations seemed curt and cold to others
+besides Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+She had no opportunity of speaking to him apart, even for a minute, for the
+men surrounded him and insisted on toasting him and questioning him until
+it was time to dress for dinner. And even then they formed a guard of
+honour and escorted him to his room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen, utterly worn out by her sleepless nights and the storm of emotions
+that had shaken her, was unable to come down to dinner, and at her
+brother's wish went to bed instead. And so she did not learn that Dermot
+was leaving the Palace at the early hour of four o'clock in the morning.
+</p>
+<p>
+That night as Dermot and Barclay went upstairs together the police officer
+said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder if they'll dare to try anything against you tonight, Major. I
+should say they'd give you a miss in baulk, for they must believe you
+invulnerable. Still, I'm going with you to your room to see."
+</p>
+<p>
+When they reached it and threw open the door a figure half rose from the
+floor. Barclay's hand went out to it with levelled pistol, but the words
+arrested him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Khodawund!</i> (Lord of the World!) Forgive me! I did not know. I did not
+know."
+</p>
+<p>
+It was the treacherous Rama who had tried to lead Dermot to his death. He
+lay face to the ground.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Damned liar!" growled Barclay in English.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did not know that thou wert leading me under the feet of the <i>must</i>
+elephant?" demanded Dermot incredulously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aye, that I knew of course, <i>Huzoor</i>. How can I deceive thee? But thee I
+knew not; though the elephant Shiva-<i>ji</i> did, even in his madness. It is
+not my fault. I am not of this country. I am a man of the Punjaub. I know
+naught of the gods of Bengal."
+</p>
+<p>
+Barclay had heard from the planters the belief in Dermot's divinity which
+was universal in their district, and perceived that the legend had reached
+this man. He was quick to see the advantages that they could reap from his
+superstitious fears. He signed to Dermot to be silent and said in solemn
+tones:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rama, thou hast grievously offended the gods. Thou knowest the truth at
+last?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do, Sahib. The talk through the Palace, aye, throughout the city, is all
+of the God of the Elephants, of the Terrible One who feeds his herd of
+demons on the flesh of men. The temple of <i>Gunesh</i> will be full indeed
+tonight. But alas! I am an ignorant man. I knew not that the holy one took
+form among the <i>gora-logue</i> (white folk)."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The gods know no country. The truth, Rama, the truth," said Barclay
+impressively. "Else thou art lost. Shiva-<i>ji</i>, mayhap, is hungry and needs
+his meal of flesh."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ai! sahib, say not so," wailed the terror-stricken man. "He has feasted
+well today. With my own eyes I saw him feed on Man Singh the Rajput."
+</p>
+<p>
+Natives believe that an elephant, when it seizes in its mouth the limbs
+of a man that it has killed and is about to tear in pieces, eats his
+flesh. In dread of a like doom, of the terrible vengeance of this
+mysterious Being, god, man, or demon, perhaps all three, from whom
+death shrank aside, whom neither poison of food nor venom of snake could
+harm, who used mad, man-slaying elephants as steeds, Rama unburdened his
+soul. He told how the <i>Dewan's</i> confidential man had bade him carry out
+the attempts on Dermot's life. He showed them that the Major's
+suspicions when he saw the Rajah's soldiery were correct, and that from
+Lalpuri came the inspiration of the carrying-off of Noreen. He told them
+of a party of these same soldiers that had gone on a secret mission into
+the Great Jungle, from which but a few came back after awful sufferings,
+and the strange tales whispered in the bazaar as to the fate of their
+comrades.
+</p>
+<p>
+He disclosed more. He spoke of mysterious travellers from many lands that
+came to the Palace to confer with the <i>Dewan</i>&mdash;Chinese, Afghans, Bhutanese,
+Indians of many castes and races, white men not of the sahib-<i>logue</i>. He
+said enough to convince his hearers that many threads of the world-wide
+conspiracy against the British Raj led to Lalpuri. There was not proof
+enough yet for the Government of India to take action against its rulers,
+perhaps, but sufficient to show where the arch-conspirators of Bengal were
+to be sought for.
+</p>
+<p>
+Rama left the room, not pardoned indeed, but with the promise of punishment
+suspended as long as he was true to the oath he had sworn by the Blessed
+Water of the Ganges, to be true slave and bearer of news when Dermot needed
+him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Long after he left, the two sat and talked of the strange happenings of the
+last few days, and disclosed to each other what they knew of the treason
+that stalked the land, for each was servant of the Crown and his knowledge
+might help the other. And when the hoot of Payne's motor-horn in the outer
+courtyard told them that it was time for Dermot to go, they said good-bye
+in the outwardly careless fashion of the Briton who has looked into
+another's eyes and found him true man and friend.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then through the darkness into the dawn Dermot sped away with his
+companions from the City of Shame and the Palace of Death.
+</p>
+<p>
+And Noreen woke later to learn that the man she loved had left her again
+without farewell, that the fog of misunderstanding between them was not yet
+lifted.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0018"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XVIII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE CAT AND THE TIGER
+</h3>
+<p>
+Several weeks had passed since the Durgá Puja Festival. Over the Indian
+Empire the dark clouds were gathering fast. The Pathan tribes along the
+North-west Frontier were straining at the leash; Afridis, Yusufzais,
+Mohmands, all the <i>Pukhtana</i>, were restless and excited. The <i>mullahs</i> were
+preaching a holy war; and the <i>maliks</i>, or tribal elders, could not
+restrain their young men. Raids into British Indian territory were
+frequent.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was worse menace behind. The Afghan troops, organised, trained, and
+equipped as they had never been before in their history, were massing near
+the Khyber Pass. Some of the Penlops, the great feudal chieftains of
+little-known Bhutan, were rumoured to have broken out into rebellion
+against the Maharajah because, loyal to his treaties with the Government of
+India, he had refused a Chinese army free passage through the country. All
+the masterless Bhuttia rogues on both sides of the border were sharpening
+their <i>dahs</i> and looking down greedily on the fertile plains below.
+</p>
+<p>
+All India itself seemed trembling on the verge of revolt. The Punjaub was
+honeycombed with sedition. Men said that the warlike castes and races that
+had helped Britain to hold the land in the Black Year of the Mutiny would
+be the first to tear it from her now. In the Bengals outrages and open
+disloyalty were the order of the day. The curs that had fattened under
+England's protection were the first to snap at her heels. The Day of Doom
+seemed very near. Only the great feudatories of the King-Emperor, the noble
+Princes of India, faithful to their oaths, were loyal.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the borderland of Bhutan Dermot and Badshah still ranged, watching
+the many gates through the walls of mountains better than battalions of
+spies. The man rarely slept in a bed. His nights were passed beside his
+faithful friend high up in the Himalayan passes, where the snow was already
+falling, or down in the jungles still reeking of fever and sweltering in
+tropic heat. By his instructions Parker and his two hundred sepoys toiled
+to improve the defences of Ranga Duar; and the subaltern was happy in the
+possession of several machine guns wrung from the Ordnance Department with
+difficulty.
+</p>
+<p>
+Often, as Dermot sat high perched on the mountain side, searching the
+narrow valleys and deep ravines of Bhutan with powerful glasses, his
+thoughts flew to Noreen safe beyond the giant hills at his back. It cheered
+him to know that he was watching over her safety as well as guarding the
+peace of hundreds of millions in the same land. He had seldom seen her
+since their return from Lalpuri, and on the rare occasions of their meeting
+she seemed to avoid him more than ever. Chunerbutty was always by her side.
+Could there be truth, then, in this fresh story that Ida Smith had told him
+on their last night at the Palace, when she said that she had discovered
+that she was mistaken in believing in Noreen's approaching betrothal to
+Charlesworth, of which she had assured him in Darjeeling? For at Lalpuri
+she said she had extracted from the girl the confession that she had
+refused the Rifleman and others for love of someone in the Plains below.
+And Ida, judging from Chunerbutty's constant attendance on, and
+proprietorial manner with Noreen, confided to Dermot her firm belief that
+the Bengali was the man.
+</p>
+<p>
+The thought was unbearable to the soldier. As he sat in his lonely eyrie he
+knew now that he loved the girl, that it would be unbearable for him to see
+her another's wife. Those few days at Lalpuri, when first he felt the
+estrangement between them, had revealed the truth to him. When in the
+courtyard of the Palace he saw Death rushing on him he had given her what
+he believed would be his last thought.
+</p>
+<p>
+He recalled her charm, her delightful comradeship, her brightness, and her
+beauty. It was hateful to think that she would dower this renegade Hindu
+with them all. Dermot had no unjust prejudice against the natives of the
+land in which so much of his life was passed. Like every officer in the
+Indian Army he loved his sepoys and regarded them as his children. Their
+troubles, their welfare, were his. He respected the men of those gallant
+warrior races that once had faced the British valiantly in battle and
+fought as loyally beside them since. But for the effeminate and cowardly
+peoples of India, that ever crawled to kiss the feet of each conqueror of
+the peninsula in turn and then stabbed him in the back if they could, he
+had the contempt that every member of the martial races of the land, every
+Sikh, Rajput, Gurkha, Punjaubi had.
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl would scarcely have refused so good a match as Charlesworth or
+come away heart-whole from Darjeeling, where so many had striven for her
+favour, if she had gone there without a prior attachment. That she cared
+for no man in England he was sure, for she had often told him that she had
+no desire to return to that country. He had seen her among the planters of
+the district and was certain that she loved none of them. Only Chunerbutty
+was left; it must indeed be he.
+</p>
+<p>
+He shut up his binoculars and climbed down the rocky pinnacle on which he
+had been perched, and went to eat a cheerless meal where Badshah grazed a
+thousand feet below.
+</p>
+<p>
+In Malpura Noreen was suffering bitterly for her foolish pride and jealous
+readiness to believe evil of the man she loved. She knew that she was
+entirely to blame for her estrangement from him. He never came to their
+garden now; and to her dismay her brother ignored all hints to invite him.
+For the boy was divided between loyalty to Chunerbutty (whom he had to
+thank for his chance in life) and the man who had twice saved his sister.
+Chunerbutty had reproached him with forgetting what he, the now despised
+Hindu, had done for him in the past, and complained sadly that Miss Daleham
+looked down on him for the colour of his skin. So Fred felt that he must
+choose between two friends and that honour demanded his clinging to the
+older one. Therefore he begged Noreen for his sake not to hurt the
+engineer's feelings and to treat him kindly. She could not refuse, and
+Chunerbutty took every advantage of her sisterly obedience. Whenever they
+went to the club he tried to monopolise her, and delighted in exhibiting
+the terms of friendship on which they appeared to be. The girl felt that
+even her old friends were beginning at last to look askance at her;
+consequently she tried to avoid going to the weekly gatherings.
+</p>
+<p>
+It happened that on the occasion when Dermot, having arrived at Salchini on
+a visit to Payne, again made his appearance at the club, Daleham had
+insisted on his sister accompanying him there, much against her will.
+Chunerbutty was unable to go with them, being confined to his bungalow with
+a slight touch of fever.
+</p>
+<p>
+That afternoon Noreen was more than ever conscious of a strained feeling
+and an unmistakable coldness to her on the part of the men whom she knew
+best. And worse, it seemed to her that some young fellows who had only
+recently come to the district and with whom she was little acquainted, were
+inclined to treat her with less respect than usual. She had seen Dermot
+arrive with his host; but, although Payne came to sit down beside her and
+chat, his guest merely greeted her courteously and passed on at once.
+</p>
+<p>
+All that afternoon it seemed to the girl that something in the atmosphere
+was miserably wrong, but what it was she could not tell. She was bitterly
+disappointed that Dermot kept away from her. It was not the smart of a hurt
+pride, but the bewildered pain of a child that finds that the one it values
+most does not need it. Indeed her best friends, all except Payne, seemed to
+have agreed to ignore her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Rice, however, was even sweeter in her manner than usual when she
+spoke to the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is Mr. Chunerbutty today, dear?" she asked after lunch from where
+she sat on the verandah beside Dermot. Noreen was standing further along it
+with Payne, watching the play on the tennis-court in front of the club
+house.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He isn't very well," replied the girl. "He's suffering from fever."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, really? I am so sorry to hear that," exclaimed the older woman. "So
+sad for you, dear. However did you force yourself to leave him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen looked at her in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not? We could do nothing for him," she said. "We sent him soup and
+jelly made by our cook, and Fred went to see him before we started. But he
+didn't want to be disturbed."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Rice's manner grew even more sweetly sympathetic.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I <i>am</i> so sorry," she said. "How worried you must be!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl stared at her in astonishment. She had never expected to find Mrs.
+Rice seriously concerned about any one, and least of all the Hindu, who was
+no favourite of hers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, there's really nothing to worry about," she exclaimed impatiently.
+"Fred said he hadn't much of a temperature."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I daresay. But you can't help being anxious, I know. I wonder that
+you were able to bring yourself to come here at all, dear," said the older
+woman in honeyed tones.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But why shouldn't I?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen's eyebrows were raised in bewilderment. She felt instinctively that
+there was some hidden unfriendliness at the back of Mrs. Rice's sympathetic
+words. She felt that Dermot was watching her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, forgive me, dear. I am afraid I'm being indiscreet. I forgot," said
+the other woman. She rose from her chair and turned to the man beside her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Major, do take me out to see how the coolies are getting on with the polo
+ground. I hope when it's finished you'll come here to play regularly. These
+boys want someone to show them the game. You military men are the only ones
+who know how it should be played."
+</p>
+<p>
+She put up her green-lined white sun-umbrella and led the way down the
+verandah steps. With a puckered brow Noreen watched her and her companion
+until they were out of sight round the corner of the little wooden
+building.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What does Mrs. Rice mean?" she demanded. "I'm sure there's something
+behind her words. She never pretended to like Mr. Chunerbutty. Why should
+she be concerned about him now? Why does she seem to expect me to stay
+behind to nurse him? Of course I would, if he were dangerously ill. But
+he's not."
+</p>
+<p>
+Payne glanced around. Some of the men, who were sitting near, had heard the
+conversation with Mrs. Rice, and Noreen felt that there was something
+hostile in the way in which they looked at her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Payne answered in a careless tone:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let's sit down. There are a couple of chairs. We'll bag them."
+</p>
+<p>
+He pointed to two at the far end of the verandah and led the way to them.
+</p>
+<p>
+When they were seated he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Haven't you any idea of what she means, Miss Daleham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl stared at him anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then she does mean something, and you know it. Mr. Payne, you have always
+been good to me. Won't you help me? Everyone seems to have grown suddenly
+very unfriendly."
+</p>
+<p>
+The grey-haired man looked pityingly at her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you be honest with me, child?" he asked. "Are you engaged to
+Chunerbutty?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Engaged? What&mdash;to marry him? Good gracious, no!" exclaimed the astonished
+girl, half rising from her chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you tell me frankly&mdash;have you any intention of marrying him?" he
+persisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen stared at him, her cheeks flaming.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Marry Mr. Chunerbutty? Of course not. How could you think so! Why, he's
+not even a white man."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank God!" Payne exclaimed fervently. "I'm delighted to hear it. I
+couldn't believe it&mdash;yet one never knows."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what on earth put such a preposterous idea into your head, Mr. Payne?"
+asked Noreen. "And what has this got to do with Mrs. Rice?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because Mrs. Rice said that you were engaged to Chunerbutty."
+</p>
+<p>
+For a moment Noreen could find no words. Then she leaned forward, her eyes
+flashing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, how could she&mdash;how could she think so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps she didn't. But she wanted us to. She said that you had told her
+you were engaged to him, but wanted it kept secret for the present. So
+naturally she told everyone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Told everyone that I was going to marry a native? Oh, how cruel of her!
+How could she be so wicked!" exclaimed the girl, much distressed. Then she
+added: "Did <i>you</i> believe it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Payne shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Candidly, child, I didn't know what to think. I hoped it wasn't true. But
+of late that damned Bengali seemed so intimate with you. He apparently
+wanted everyone to see on what very friendly terms you and he were."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did Major Dermot believe it too?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know," said Payne doubtfully. "Dermot's not the fellow to talk
+about women. He's never mentioned you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how do you know that Mrs. Rice said such a thing? Did she tell you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; she knows that I am your friend, and I daresay she was afraid to tell
+me such a lie. But she told others."
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned in his chair and called to a young fellow standing near the bar
+of the club.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I say, Travers, do you mind coming here a moment? Pull up a chair and sit
+down."
+</p>
+<p>
+Travers was a straight, clean-minded boy, one of those of their community
+whom Noreen liked best, and she had felt hurt at his marked avoidance of
+her all the afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here, youngster," said Payne in a low voice, "did Mrs. Rice tell you
+that Miss Daleham was engaged to Chunerbutty?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Travers looked at him in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. I told you so the other day. She said that Miss Daleham had confided
+to her that they were engaged, but wanted it kept secret for a time until
+he could get another job."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then, my boy, you'll be pleased to hear it's a damned lie," said Payne
+impressively. "Miss Daleham would never marry a black man."
+</p>
+<p>
+The boy's face lit up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad!" he cried impulsively. "I'm very, very sorry, Miss Daleham, for
+helping to spread the lie. But I only told Payne. I knew he was a friend of
+yours, and I hoped he'd be able to contradict the yarn. For I felt very
+sick about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you, Mr. Travers," the girl said gratefully. "But I'm glad that you
+did tell him. Otherwise I might not have heard it, at least not from a
+friend."
+</p>
+<p>
+Just then the four men on the tennis-court finished their game and came in
+to the bar. Fred Daleham and another took their places and began a single.
+Mrs. Rice, with Dermot and several other men, came up the steps of the
+verandah, and, sitting down, ordered tea for the party.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen looked at her with angry eyes, and, rising, walked along the
+verandah to where she was sitting surrounded by the group of men.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her enemy looked up as she approached.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you coming to have tea, dear?" she said sweetly. "I haven't ordered
+any for you, but I daresay they'll find you a cup."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot rose to offer the girl his chair; but, ignoring him, she confronted
+the other woman.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mrs. Rice, will you please tell me if it is true that you said I was
+engaged to Mr. Chunerbutty?" she demanded in a firm tone.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was as if a bomb had exploded in the club. Noreen's voice carried
+clearly through the building, so that everyone inside it heard her words
+distinctly. The only two members of their little community who missed them
+were her brother and his opponent on the tennis-court.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Rice gasped and stared at the indignant girl, while the men about her
+sat up suddenly in their chairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I said so? What an idea!" ejaculated the planter's wife. Then in an
+insinuating voice she added: "You know I never betray secrets."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no secret. Please answer me. Did you say to any one that I had
+told you I was engaged to him?" persisted the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+The older woman tried to crush her by a haughty assumption of superiority.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You absurd child, you must be careful what accusations you bring. You
+shouldn't say such things."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Kindly answer my question," demanded the angry girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Rice lay back in her chair with affected carelessness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, aren't you engaged to him? Won't even he&mdash;?" she broke off and
+sniggered impertinently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not. Most certainly not," said Noreen hotly. "I insist on your
+answering me. Did you say that I had told you we were and asked you to keep
+it a secret?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I did not. Who did I tell?" snapped the other woman.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Me for one," broke in a voice; and Dermot took a step forward. "You
+told me very clearly and precisely, Mrs. Rice, that Miss Daleham had
+confided to you under the pledge of secrecy&mdash;which, by the way, you were
+breaking&mdash;that she was engaged to this man."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was an uncomfortable pause. Noreen glanced gratefully at her
+champion. The other men shifted uneasily, and Mrs. Rice's husband, who was
+standing at the bar, hastily hid his face in a whiskey and soda.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen turned again to her traducer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you kindly contradict your false statement?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+The other woman looked down sullenly and made no reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I shall," continued the girl. She faced the group of men before her,
+Payne and Travers by her side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I ask you to believe, gentlemen, that there never was nor could be any
+question of an engagement between Mr. Chunerbutty and me," she said firmly.
+"And I give you my word of honour that I never said such a thing to Mrs.
+Rice."
+</p>
+<p>
+She waited for a moment, then turned and walked away down the verandah,
+followed by Payne and Travers, leaving a pained silence behind her. Mrs.
+Rice tried to regain her self-confidence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The idea of that chit talking to me like that!" she exclaimed. "It was
+only meant for a joke, if I did say it. Who'd have ever thought she'd have
+taken it that way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Any decent man&mdash;or woman, Mrs. Rice," said Dermot severely. Then, after
+looking at Rice to see if he wished to take up the cudgels on his wife's
+behalf, and failing to catch that gentleman's carefully-averted eye, the
+soldier turned and walked deliberately to where Noreen was sitting, now
+suffering from the reaction from her anger and frightened at the memory of
+her boldness.
+</p>
+<p>
+The other men got up one by one and went to the bar, from which the hen
+pecked Rice was peremptorily called by his angry wife and ordered to drive
+her home.
+</p>
+<p>
+After the Dalehams had returned to their bungalow the girl told her brother
+of what had happened at the club. He was exceedingly angry and agreed that
+it would be wiser for her to keep Chunerbutty at a distance in future. And
+later on he had no objection to her inviting Dermot to pay them a flying
+visit when he was again in their neighbourhood. For the incident at the
+club had brought about a resumption of the old friendly relations between
+Noreen and Dermot, who occasionally invited her to accompany him on Badshah
+for a short excursion into the forest, much to her delight. She confided to
+him the offer of the necklace and learned in return his belief that the
+Rajah was the instigator of the attempt to carry her off. When her brother
+heard of this and of Chunerbutty's action in the matter of the jewels he
+was so enraged that he quarrelled for the first time with his Hindu friend.
+</p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+Dermot was kept informed of whatever happened in Lalpuri by the repentant
+Rama through the medium of Barclay. For the Deputy Superintendent had been
+appointed to a special and important post in the Secret Police and told off
+to watch the conspiracy in Bengal. This he owed to a strong recommendation
+from Dermot to the Head of the Department in Simla. Rama proved invaluable.
+Through him they learned of the despatch of an important Brahmin messenger
+and intermediary from the Palace to Bhutan, by way of Malpura, where he was
+to visit some of his caste-fellows on Parry's garden. The information
+reached Dermot too late to enable him to seize the man on the tea-estate.
+So he hurried to the border to intercept the messenger before he crossed
+it. But here, too, he was unsuccessful. Certain that the Brahmin had not
+slipped through the meshes of the net formed by his secret service of
+subsidised Bhuttias, Dermot returned to the jungle to make search for him
+along the way. But all to no avail, much to his chagrin; for he had reason
+to hope that he would find on the emissary proof enough of the treason of
+the rulers of Lalpuri to hang them. He went back to Malpura to prosecute
+enquiries.
+</p>
+<p>
+To console himself for his disappointment Dermot determined to have a day's
+shooting in the jungle, a treat he rarely had leisure for now. He invited
+the Dalehams to accompany him. Noreen accepted eagerly, but her brother was
+obliged to decline, much to his regret. For Parry was now always in a state
+bordering on lunacy, and his brutal treatment of the coolies, when his
+assistant was not there to restrain him, several times nearly drove them
+into open revolt. So Dermot and his companion set off alone.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they went along they chanced to pass near a little village buried in the
+heart of the jungle. A man working on the small patch of cleared soil in
+which he and his fellows grew their scanty crops saw them, recognised
+Badshah and his male rider, and ran away shouting to the hamlet. Then out
+of it swarmed men, women, and children, the last naked, while only
+miserable rags clothed the skinny frames of their elders. All prostrated
+themselves in the dust in Badshah's path. The elephant stopped. Then a
+wizened old man with scanty white beard raised his hands imploringly to
+Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lord! Holy One! Have mercy on us!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The rest chorused: "Have mercy!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Spare thy slaves, O Lord!" went on the old man. "Spare us ere all perish.
+We worship at thy shrine. We grudge not thy elephants our miserable crops.
+Are they not thy servants? But let not the Striped Death slay all of us."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot questioned him and then explained to Noreen that a man-eating tiger
+had taken up its residence near the village and was rapidly killing off its
+inhabitants.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, do help them," she said. "Can't you shoot it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He reflected for a few moments.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I think I know how to get it. Will you wait for me in the village?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What? Mayn't I go with you to see you kill it? Please let me. I promise
+I'll not scream or be stupid."
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at her admiringly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bravo!" he said. "I'm sure you'll be all right. Very well. I promise you
+you shall see a sight that not many other women have seen."
+</p>
+<p>
+He borrowed a <i>puggri</i>&mdash;a strip of cotton cloth several yards long&mdash;from a
+villager, and bade them show him where the tiger lay up during the heat of
+the day. When they had done so from a safe distance, he turned Badshah,
+and, to Noreen's surprise, sped off swiftly in the opposite direction.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly the girl touched his arm quietly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look! I see a wild elephant. There's another! And another!" she whispered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; I've come in search of them," he replied in his ordinary tone. "It's
+Badshah's herd."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it really? How wonderful! How did you know where to find them?" she
+cried, thrilled by the sight of the great beasts all round them and
+exclaiming with delight at the solemn little woolly babies, many newly
+born. For this was the calving season.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot uttered a peculiar cry that sent the cow-elephants huddling
+together, their young hiding under their bodies, while from every
+quarter the great tuskers broke out through the undergrowth and came to
+him in a mass. Then, as Badshah turned and set off at a rapid pace, the
+bull-elephants followed.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he arrived near the spot in which the man-eater was said to have his
+lair, Dermot stopped them all. Despite her protests he tied Noreen firmly
+with the <i>puggri</i> to the rope crossing Badshah's pad. Then he drove his
+animal into the herd of tuskers, which had crowded together, and divided
+them into two bodies. The tiger was reported to lie up in a narrow <i>nullah</i>
+filled and fringed with low bushes. From the near bank to where Badshah
+stood the forest was free from undergrowth, which came to within a score of
+yards of the far bank.
+</p>
+<p>
+Badshah smelled the ground, and the other elephants followed his example
+and, when they scented the tiger's trail, began to be restless and excited.
+A sharp cry from Dermot and the two bodies of tuskers separated and moved
+away, branching off half right and left, and disappeared in the
+undergrowth.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot cocked his double-barrelled rifle. There was a long pause. A strange
+feeling of awe crept over Noreen at the realisation of her companion's
+strange power over these great animals. No wonder the superstitious natives
+believed him to be a god.
+</p>
+<p>
+Presently there was a loud crashing in the undergrowth beyond the <i>nullah</i>,
+and Noreen saw the saplings in it agitated, as if by the passage of the
+elephants. The tiger gave no sign of life. The girl's heart beat fast, and
+her breath came quickly. But her companion never moved.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly Noreen gasped, for through the screen of thin bushes that fringed
+the edge of the <i>nullah</i> a hideous painted mask was thrust out. It was a
+tiger's face, the ears flattened to the skull, the eyes flaming, the lips
+drawn back to bare the teeth in a ghastly snarl. The brute saw Badshah and
+drew quietly back. A pause. Then it sprang into full view and poised for a
+single instant on the far bank. But at that very moment the line of tuskers
+burst out of the tangled undergrowth and the tiger jumped down into the
+<i>nullah</i> again.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then like a flash it leaped into sight over the near bank, bounding in a
+furious charge straight at Badshah. Noreen held her breath as it crouched
+to spring. Dermot's rifle was at his shoulder, and he pressed the trigger.
+There was a click&mdash;the cartridge had missed fire. And the tiger sprang full
+at the man.
+</p>
+<p>
+But as it did so Badshah swung swiftly round&mdash;well for Noreen that she was
+securely fastened&mdash;for he had been standing a little sideways. And with an
+upward sweep of his head he caught the leaping tiger in mid-air on the
+point of his tusk, hurling it back a dozen yards.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the baffled brute struck the ground with a heavy thud it lay still for a
+second and then sprang up, but at that moment Dermot's second barrel rang
+out, and, shot through the brain, the tiger collapsed, its head resting on
+its paws. A tremor shook the powerful frame, the tail twitched feebly, then
+all was still.
+</p>
+<p>
+The long line of elephants halted on the far bank of the <i>nullah</i>, swung
+into file, and moved swiftly out of sight. Their work was done.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot reloaded and urged Badshah forward, covering the tiger with his
+rifle. There was no need. It was dead.
+</p>
+<p>
+Noreen leant forward and looked down at the striped body.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a splendid beast!" she exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot turned to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You kept your word well, Miss Daleham," he said. "I congratulate you on
+your pluck. The highest compliment I can pay you is to say that I forgot
+you were there. Not many men would have sat as quiet as you did when the
+cartridge missed fire and the brute sprang."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl's eyes sparkled and she blushed. His praise was very dear to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a lighter tone he continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"As a reward and a souvenir you shall have the skin. I'll get the
+villagers to take it off. Now stay on Badshah, please, while I slip down
+and have a look at the tiger's little nest."
+</p>
+<p>
+With rifle at the ready, lest the dead animal should have had a mate,
+he climbed down into the <i>nullah</i>. He had not gone ten yards before his
+foot struck against something hard. In the pressed-down weeds was the
+half-gnawed skull of a man. The skin and flesh of the face were fairly
+intact. He took the head up in his hands. On the forehead were painted
+three white horizontal strokes. The tiger's last prey had been a
+Brahmin. A thought flashed across Dermot's mind. He searched about.
+A few bones, parts of the hands and feet, some rags of clothing&mdash;and
+a long flat narrow leather case. He tore this open and hastily took
+out the papers it contained; and as he skimmed through them his eyes
+glistened with delight.
+</p>
+<p>
+He sprang up out of the <i>nullah</i> and ran towards Badshah. When the
+elephant's trunk had swung him up on to the massive head he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"We must go back at once. I 'll tell the villagers as we pass to flay the
+tiger. I must borrow your brother's pony and ride as fast as I can to
+Salchini to get Payne's motor to take me to the railway."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The railway?" exclaimed the girl. "Why, what is the matter? Where are you
+going?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"To Simla. I've found the lost messenger. Aye, and perhaps information that
+may save India and proofs that will hang our friends in the Palace of
+Lalpuri. <i>Mul</i>, Badshah!"
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0019"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XIX
+</h2>
+<h3>
+TEMPEST
+</h3>
+<p>
+The storm had burst on India. In the Khyber Pass there was fiercer fighting
+than even that blood-stained defile had ever seen. The flames kindled by
+fanaticism and lust of plunder blazed up along the North-west Frontier and
+burned fiercest around Peshawar, where the Pathan tribes gathered thickest.
+No news came from the interior of Bhutan.
+</p>
+<p>
+So far, however, the interior of the land was comparatively tranquil.
+Sporadic outbreaks in the Bombay Presidency and the Punjaub had been
+crushed promptly. The great plan of a wide-spread concerted rising
+throughout the peninsula had come to naught, thanks to the papers that
+Dermot had found in the man-eater's den. He had carried them straight to
+Simla himself, for closer examination had confirmed his first impression
+and shown him that they were far too important to be confided to any one
+else.
+</p>
+<p>
+The information in them proved to be of the utmost value, for they
+disclosed the complete plans of the conspirators and told the very dates
+arranged for the advance of the Afghan army and the attacks of the Pathans,
+which were to take place simultaneously with the general rising in India.
+This latter the military authorities were enabled to deal with so
+effectively that it came to nothing.
+</p>
+<p>
+Incidentally the papers conclusively proved the treason of the Rajah and
+the <i>Dewan</i> of Lalpuri, and that the Palace was one of the most important
+centres of the conspiracy. To Dermot's amazement no action was taken
+against the two arch-plotters, owing to the incredible timidity of the
+chief civil authorities in India and their susceptibility to political
+influences in England. For Lalpuri and its rulers had been taken under the
+very particular protection of the Socialist Party; and the Government of
+India feared to touch the traitors. The excuse given for this leniency was
+that any attempt to punish them might be the signal for the long delayed
+rising in Lalpuri and Eastern Bengal generally.
+</p>
+<p>
+A few days after Dermot's return from Simla orders came to him from the
+Adjutant General to hand over the command of the detachment to Parker, as
+he himself had been appointed extra departmental Political Officer of the
+Bhutan Border, with headquarters at Ranga Duar. This released him from the
+responsibilities of his military duties and left him free to devote himself
+to watching the frontier. He was able to keep in communication with Parker
+by means of signal stations established on high peaks near the Fort,
+visible from many points in the mountains and the forest; for he carried a
+signalling outfit always with him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thanks to this precaution the garrison of the outpost was not taken by
+surprise when one morning the hills around Ranga Duar were seen to be
+covered with masses of armed men, and long lines of troops wound down the
+mountain paths. For from the peaks above the pass through which he had once
+gone to the Death Place of the elephants, Dermot had looked down upon an
+invading force of Chinese regulars supported by levies of Bhutanese from
+the interior and a wild mob of masterless Bhuttias from both sides of the
+border. He had flashed a warning to Parker in ample time, returned to the
+<i>peelkhana</i> and bidden Ramnath hide with Badshah in a concealed spot in the
+foothills where he could easily find them, sent the other <i>mahouts</i> and
+elephants out of reach of the invaders, and climbed up to the Fort to watch
+with his late subaltern the arrival of the enemy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Major, it's come our way at last," said Parker as they greeted each
+other. "Thanks to your warning we're ready for them. But we are not the
+only people who've been expecting them. The wires are cut, the road
+blocked, and we are isolated."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I know. Many messengers have got through from the enemy; for my
+cordon of faithful Bhuttias has disappeared. The members of it have joined
+the invaders in the hope of loot." Parker looked up at the hills, black
+with descending forms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's a mighty lot of the beggars," he said simply. "Do you remember our
+discussing this very happening once and your saying that we weren't equal
+to stopping a whole army? What's your advice now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"See it out. We're bound to go under in the end, but we'll be able, I hope,
+to keep them off for a few days. And every hour we hold them up will be
+worth a lot to those below. We shan't be relieved, for there aren't any men
+to spare in India. But we'll have done our part."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I say, Major, wasn't it lucky we got those machine guns in time? I've
+plenty of ammunition, so we ought to be able to put up a good fight.
+What'll they do first?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Try to rush the defences at once. They have a lot of irregulars whom the
+Chinese General won't be able to keep in hand. He won't mind their being
+wiped out either. I see you've made a good job of clearing the foreground.
+You haven't left them much cover. So you blew up our poor old Mess and the
+bungalows?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. The rubble came in handy for filling in that <i>nullah</i>. Hullo!"
+Parker's glasses went to his eyes. "You're right, by Jingo! They're
+gathering for an assault. Gad! what a beautiful mark for shrapnel. I wish
+we'd a gun or two."
+</p>
+<p>
+A storm of shells from the mountain batteries, the only artillery that the
+enemy had been able to bring with them through the Himalayas, fell on the
+Fort and its defences. Then masses of men rushed down the hills to the
+attack. Not a shot was fired at them. Encouraged by the garrison's silence
+and carried away by the prospect of an easy victory, they lost all
+formation and crowded together in dense swarms.
+</p>
+<p>
+The two British officers watched them from the central redoubt. Parker held
+his binoculars to his eyes with his right hand, while his left forefinger
+rested on a polished button in a little machine on the table beside him.
+The assailants, favoured by the fall of the ground, soon reached the limits
+of the cantonments, bare now of buildings and trees. There were trained
+Chinese troops, some tall, light-complexioned Northerners of Manchu blood,
+others stocky, yellow men from Canton and the Southern Provinces. Mobs of
+Bhutanese with heads, chests, legs, and feet bare, fierce but undisciplined
+fighters, armed with varied weapons, led the van. Uttering weird yells and
+brandishing their <i>dahs</i>, spears, muskets, and rifles, they rushed towards
+the fort, from which no shot was fired. Accustomed to the lofty <i>jongs</i>, or
+castles, of their own land they deemed the breastworks and trenches
+unworthy of notice. And the stone barracks and walls in the Fort were
+rapidly melting away under the rain of shells.
+</p>
+<p>
+Flushed with victory the swarming masses came on. But suddenly the world
+upheaved behind the leaders. Rocks, earth, and rubble went up in clouds
+into the air, and with them scores of the Chinese regular troops, under
+whose very feet mines of the new explosive had been fired by Parker. And
+the howling mobs in front were held up by barbed wire, while from the
+despised trenches and breastworks a storm of lead swept the crowded masses
+of the attackers away. At that close range every bullet from the machine
+guns and rifles of the defenders drove through two or three assailants,
+every bomb and grenade slew a group. Only in one spot by sheer weight of
+numbers did they break through.
+</p>
+<p>
+But like a thunderbolt fell the counter-attack. Stalwart Punjaubi
+Mohammedans, led by Dermot, swept down upon them, and with bomb and bayonet
+drove them out. The survivors turned and staggered up the hills again,
+withering away under the steady fire of the sepoys, who adjusted their
+sights with the utmost coolness as the range increased.
+</p>
+<p>
+Again and again the assaults were repeated and repulsed, until the
+undisciplined and demoralised Bhutanese refused to advance, and the Chinese
+regulars attacked alone. But fresh mines exploded under them; the deadly
+fire of the defenders' machine guns blasted them; and the Pekin general
+looked anxious as his best troops melted away. He would not go far into
+India if every small body of its soldiers took equally heavy toll of his
+force. So he ordered a cessation of the assaults.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there was no respite for the little garrison. Day and night the
+pitiless bombardment by the mountain batteries and long-range fire of
+rifles and machine guns never ceased. And death was busy among the
+defenders.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the third night of the siege Dermot and the subaltern knelt side by side
+in what was now the last line of the defence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I ought not to ask you to go, Major," whispered Parker. "It's not possible
+to get through, I'm afraid. I can't forget the awful sight of the fiendish
+tortures they inflicted on poor Hikmat Khan and Shaikh Ismail today in full
+view of us all. They tried to slip through last night with their naked
+bodies covered with oil. It's a terrible death for you if they catch you.
+It would be much easier to die fighting. Yet someone ought to go."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, they must be told at Headquarters," replied his companion in an
+equally low tone. "We can't hold them two days longer."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not that, if they try to rush us again. Our ammunition is giving out,"
+said Parker. "I'd go myself if I weren't commanding here. But I'd have no
+chance of getting through. You are our only hope. Oh, I don't mean of
+relief. There's no possibility of that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; if I do manage to get into touch with Headquarters, it would be too
+late, even if they could spare any troops."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it's all over now, bar the shouting. Well, we've had some jolly times
+together, sir, you and I, in this little place, haven't we? Do you remember
+when the Dalehams were up here? What a nice girl she was. I hope she's
+safe."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope to Heaven she is," muttered Dermot. "Well, Parker, I must say
+good-bye. We've been good friends, you and I; and I'm sorry it's the
+end."
+</p>
+<p>
+In the darkness their hands met in a firm grip.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One word, sir," whispered the subaltern. "If you do pull through, you've
+got my mother's address. You'll let her know? She thinks a lot of me, poor
+old lady."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot answered him only by a pressure of the hand. The next moment he was
+gone. Parker, straining eyes and ears, saw nothing, heard nothing.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half an hour later a picquet of slant-eyed men lying on the steep slopes of
+the hill below the Fort saw above them a man's figure dark against the
+paling stars. They challenged and sprang towards it with levelled bayonets.
+The next instant they were hurled apart, dashed to the ground, trampled to
+death. One as he expired had a shadowy vision of some awful bulk towering
+black against the coming dawn.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sun was low in the heavens when Dermot awoke in a bracken-carpeted
+glade of the forest thirty miles away from Ranga Duar. Over him Badshah
+stood watchfully. The man yawned, rubbed his eyes and sat up. He looked at
+his watch.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good Heavens! I've slept for hours!" he cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+Overcome by fatigue, for he had not even lain down once since the siege
+began, and finding that he was in danger of falling off the elephant, he
+had dismounted for a few minutes' rest. But exhausted Nature had conquered
+him, and he had fallen into a deep sleep. Haggard, hollow-eyed, and worn
+out, despite the rest, he staggered to his feet and was swung up to
+Badshah's neck by the crooked trunk and started again.
+</p>
+<p>
+He was hastening towards Salchini, where he hoped to secure Payne's car, if
+the owner had not fled, and try to get into touch with Army Headquarters.
+But what to do if his friend had gone he hardly knew. The heavy firing at
+Ranga Duar, echoed by the mountains, must have been heard in the district;
+and all the planters had probably taken the warning and gone away. He was
+racked with anxiety as to Noreen's fate and could only hope that at the
+first alarm her brother had hurried her off. But there was no military
+station nearer than Calcutta or Darjeeling, and by this time it was
+probable that the whole of Eastern Bengal was in revolt. God help the
+Englishwoman that fell into its people's hands! The temptation to turn
+aside to Malpura was great. But Dermot overcame it. His duty came first.
+</p>
+<p>
+Darkness had fallen on the jungle now. Except to lessen his speed it made
+little difference to the elephant; but for the man it was harder to find
+his way. On the twisting jungle tracks his luminous compass was of little
+use. He was forced to trust mainly to the animal.
+</p>
+<p>
+But soon a suspicion arose in his mind that Badshah had swerved away from
+the direction in which Salchini lay and was heading for Malpura. It became
+certainty when they reached a deep <i>nullah</i> in the forest which Dermot knew
+was on the route to that garden. He tried to turn the elephant. Badshah
+paid no heed to him and held on his way with an invincible determination
+that made the man suspect there was a grave reason for his obstinacy. He
+knew too well the animal's strange and mysterious intelligence. He gave up
+contending uselessly and was borne along through the dark forest
+unresisting. Over the tree-tops floated the long, wailing cry of a Giant
+Owl circling against the stars. Close to their path the warning bark of a
+<i>khakur</i> deer was answered by the harsh braying roar of a tiger. Far away
+the metallic trumpeting of a wild elephant rang out into the night.
+</p>
+<p>
+Presently Dermot saw a red glow through the trees ahead. Badshah never
+checked his pace but swept on until the glow became a ruddy glare staining
+the tree-trunks. Suddenly the stars shone overhead. They were clear of the
+jungle; and as they emerged on the open clearing of the tea-garden a column
+of fire blazed up ahead of them.
+</p>
+<p>
+A chill fear smote Dermot. He would have urged Badshah on, but the elephant
+did not need it. Rapidly they sped along the soft road towards the leaping
+flames, which the soldier soon realised rose from the burning factory and
+withering sheds. And black against the light danced hundreds of figures,
+while yells and wild cries rent the air. And, well to one side, a fresh
+burst of flame and sparks leapt up into the night. It was one of the
+bungalows afire. Round it more figures moved fantastically. A groan came
+from the man's lips. Was it Daleham's bungalow that burned?
+</p>
+<p>
+All at once Badshah stopped of his own accord and sank down on his knees.
+Mechanically his rider slipped to the ground and stood staring at the
+strange scene. He hardly noticed that the elephant rose, touched him
+caressingly with its trunk, swung round and sped away towards the forest.
+Half-dazed and heedless of danger Dermot hurried forward. Again the flames
+shot up, and by their light he saw to his relief that the Dalehams'
+bungalow was still standing. Parry's house was burning furiously. Pistol in
+hand he ran forward, scarcely cognizant of the crowds of shifting figures
+around the blazing buildings, deaf to their triumphant yells. Groups of
+natives crossed his path, shouting and leaping into the air excitedly, but
+they paid no attention to him. But, as he ran, he hit up against one man
+who turned and, seeing his white face, yelled and sprang away.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Dermot neared the Dalehams' bungalow he saw that it was surrounded by a
+cordon of coolies armed with rifles and strung out many yards apart. He
+raced swiftly for a gap between two of them; but a man rose from the ground
+and snatched at him. The soldier struck savagely at him with the hand in
+which the pistol was firmly clenched, putting all his weight into the blow.
+The native crumpled and fell in a heap.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dashing on Dermot shouted Daleham's name. From behind a barricade of boxes
+on the verandah a stern voice which he recognised as belonging to one of
+the Punjaubi servants whom he had provided, called out:
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Kohn hai? Kohn atha?</i> (Who is there? Who comes?)"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sher Afzul! It is I. Dermot Sahib," he replied, as he sprang up the
+verandah steps.
+</p>
+<p>
+The muzzle of a rifle was pointed at him over the barricade, and a bearded
+face peered at him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the Major Sahib!" said the Mohammedan. "In the name of Allah, Sahib,
+have you brought your sepoys?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I am alone. Where are the Sahib and the missie <i>baba?</i>"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the bungalow. Enter, Sahib."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot climbed over the barricade and pushed open the door of the
+dining-room, which was in darkness. But the heavy curtain dividing it
+from the drawing-room was dragged aside and Daleham appeared in the
+doorway, outlined against the faint light of a turned-down lamp. Behind
+him Noreen was rising from a chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who's there?" cried the boy, raising a revolver.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's all right, Daleham. It's I, Dermot. I'm alone, I'm sorry to say."
+</p>
+<p>
+A stifled cry burst from the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, you are safe, thank God!" she cried, her hand at her heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What has happened here?" asked Dermot, entering the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Fred let fall the curtain as he answered:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hell's broke loose on the garden, sir. The coolies have mutinied. Parry's
+dead, murdered; and we're alive only by the kind mercies of that brute
+Chunerbutty, damn him! You were right about him, Major; and I was a
+fool.... Is it true you've been attacked up in Ranga Duar?" he continued.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you wounded, Major Dermot?" broke in the girl anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, Miss Daleham. I'm quite safe and sound."
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he told them briefly what had happened. When he had finished he asked
+them when the trouble began at Malpura.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Three days ago," replied Fred. "The wind was blowing from the north, and
+we heard firing up in the mountains. I thought you were having an extra go
+of musketry there. But the coolies suddenly stopped work and gathered
+outside their village, where those infernal Brahmins harangued them. I went
+to order them back to their jobs&mdash;&mdash;".
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where was Parry?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lying dead drunk in his bungalow. Well, some of the coolies attacked me
+with <i>lathis</i>, others tried to protect me. The Brahmins told me that the
+end of the British <i>Raj</i> (dominion) had come and that you were being
+attacked in Ranga Duar by a big army from China and would be wiped out.
+Then I was hustled back to the bungalow where those Mohammedan servants
+that you got for us&mdash;lucky you did!&mdash;turned out with rifles, which they
+said afterwards you'd given them, and wanted to fire on the mob. But I
+stopped them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where was Chunerbutty?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, he hadn't thrown off the mask yet. He came to me and said he was a
+prisoner and would not be allowed to leave the estate. But he advised me to
+ride over to Granger or some of the other fellows and get their help. But I
+wouldn't leave Noreen; and Sher Afzul told me that it was as bad on the
+other gardens. But only today the real trouble began."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What happened?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some news apparently reached the coolies that drove them mad with delight.
+They murdered the Parsi storekeeper, looted his place, and got drunk on his
+<i>dáru</i>. Then they started killing the few Mohammedans we had on the estate.
+Some of the women and children got to us and we took them in. But the rest,
+even the little babies, were murdered by the brutes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I went over to Parry, but he was still too drunk to understand me. I was
+trying to rouse him when I heard shouts and ran out on the verandah. All
+the coolies, men, women, and children, were streaming towards the
+bungalows, mad with excitement, screaming and yelling. The men and even
+most of the boys carried weapons. The Brahmins were leading them. They made
+for Chunerbutty's house first. I was going to run to his assistance, when
+he came out and they cheered him like anything. He was in native dress and
+had marks painted on his forehead like the other Brahmins."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; go on. What happened then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The engineer seemed as excited and mad as the rest. He ran down his steps,
+put himself at the head of the mob, shouted out something, and pointed to
+Parry's bungalow. They all rushed over to it, yelling like mad. Poor old
+Parr heard them and, dazed and drunk, staggered out on the verandah in his
+pyjamas and bare feet. Chunerbutty and the Brahmins came up the steps,
+driving back the crowd, which tried to follow them, howling like demons."
+</p>
+<p>
+Fred passed his hand across his eyes. Dermot bent forward and stared
+eagerly at him, while Noreen looked only at the soldier.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I called out to the engineer and asked him what it all meant," went on the
+boy, "but he took no notice of me. Parry tottered towards him, abusing him.
+Chunerbutty let him come to within a yard or two, then pulled out a pistol
+and fired three shots straight at the old man's heart. Poor old Parr fell
+dead."
+</p>
+<p>
+Daleham paused for a moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Poor old chap! He had his faults; but he had his good points, too. Well,
+I rushed towards him, but the Bengalis fell on me, knocked me down, and
+overpowered me. The mob outside yelled for my blood; but Chunerbutty shut
+them up. I was allowed to get on my feet again; and Chunerbutty held a
+pistol to my head, and cursed me and ordered me to go back to my bungalow
+and wait. He said that somebody would come here tomorrow to settle what was
+to be my fate and to take Noreen."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl sprang up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You never told me that," she cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; it wasn't any use distressing you," replied her brother. "But I had to
+tell the Major."
+</p>
+<p>
+She turned impetuously to Dermot and stretched out her arms to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't let them take me, will you? Oh, say you won't!" she said with a
+little sob.
+</p>
+<p>
+He took both her hands in his.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, little girl, I won't. Not while I live."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll kill me first? Promise me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"On my honour."
+</p>
+<p>
+She gave a sigh of relief and, strangely content, sank back into her chair.
+But she still held one of his hands clasped tightly in both of hers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, that's pretty well all there is to tell, Major," her brother went
+on. "I came back here, and the servants and I tried to put the house into a
+state of defence. No one's come near us so far."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So Chunerbutty was at the head of affairs here. I thought so, I suppose
+the someone is that scoundrelly Rajah. He'll make his conditions known and,
+if you don't surrender, they'll attack us. Now, let's see what we've got as
+garrison. We two and the servants&mdash;seven. How are you off for weapons? I
+left my rifle behind."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The servants have got their rifles and plenty of ammunition. I have a
+double-barrelled .400 cordite rifle and a shot-gun. If it comes to a scrap
+I'll take that and leave you the rifle. You're a much better shot; and I
+can't miss at close quarters with a scatter-gun."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you think there's any hope for us?" asked the girl quietly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Frankly, I don't. I'd not put it so bluntly, only I've seen you in a tight
+corner before, Miss Daleham, and you weren't afraid."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not now," she replied calmly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe we'd hold off these coolies, aye, and the Rajah's soldiers too,
+if they came. But we may have the Chinese troops on us at any minute; and
+that's a different matter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But why should you stay with us, Major Dermot?" said the girl anxiously.
+"As you got in through these men, surely you could escape the same way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll be candid with you, Miss Daleham, and tell you that if I could I
+would. For it's my duty to go on and report. But I'm stranded without my
+elephant, and even if I had him it wouldn't be much good unless I had
+Payne's car. And what has happened here must have happened on the other
+gardens. Without the motor I'd be too late with my news. So I'll stay here
+and take my chance."
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he laughed and added:
+</p>
+<p>
+"But cheer up; we're not dead yet. If only I'd Badshah I'd take you both up
+on him and we'd break through the whole Chinese Army."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We couldn't go. We couldn't leave those poor women and children and the
+servants."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I forgot them. No; you're right. Well, I haven't lost all hope. I have
+great faith in old Badshah. I shouldn't be surprised if he got us out of
+this scrape, as he did before."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I forgot him. I believe he'll help us still," cried the girl. "Where
+did you leave him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He left me. He's quite able to take care of himself," replied Dermot
+grimly. "Now, Daleham, please take me round the house and show me the
+defences; and we'll arrange about the roster of sentry-duty with the
+servants. Please excuse me, Miss Daleham."
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the weary night the two men, when not taking their turn on guard,
+sat and talked with Noreen in the drawing-room. For the girl refused to go
+to bed and, only to content them, lay back on a settee.
+</p>
+<p>
+When she and Dermot were left alone she sighed and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah, my beautiful forest! I must say good-bye to it. How I have enjoyed the
+happy days in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some of them were too exciting to be pleasant," he replied smiling.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the others made up for them. I like to think of you in the forest
+best," she said dreamily. "We were real friends there."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And elsewhere, I hope."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. In Darjeeling you didn't like me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did. Tonight I can be frank and tell you that I was glad to go to it
+because you were there."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him wonderingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you wouldn't take any notice of me there," she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I was told that you were engaged, or practically engaged, to
+Charlesworth, and disliked any one else taking up your time."
+</p>
+<p>
+She sat up indignantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To Captain Charlesworth? How absurd! I suppose I've Ida to thank for that.
+I wouldn't have married him for anything."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that so? What a game of cross-purposes life is! But that's why I didn't
+try to speak to you much."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you want to? I thought you disliked me. And it hurt me so much. Do you
+know, I used to cry about it sometimes. I wanted you to be my friend."
+</p>
+<p>
+He walked over to her settee.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Noreen, dear, I wanted to be your friend and you to be mine," he said,
+looking down at her. "I liked you so much. At least, I thought I liked
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And&mdash;and don't you?" she asked, looking up at him.
+</p>
+<p>
+He knelt beside her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, little friend, I don't like you. Because I&mdash;" He paused.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What?" she whispered faintly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I love you, dear. Do you think it absurd?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She was silent for a moment. Then she looked slowly up at him; and in her
+eyes he read her answer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sweetheart! Little sweetheart!" he whispered, and held out his arms to
+her.
+</p>
+<p>
+With a little cry she crept into them; and he pressed her to his heart. At
+that moment enemies, danger, death, were forgotten. For Noreen her whole
+world lay within the circle of his arms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you really, really love me?" she asked wonderingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+He held her very close to his heart and looked fondly, tenderly down into
+the lovely upturned face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Love you, my dearest? I love you with all my heart, my soul, my being," he
+whispered. "How could I help loving you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+And bending down he kissed her fondly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's all so wonderful," she murmured. "I didn't think that you cared for
+me, that you could ever care. You seemed so far away, too occupied with
+important things to spare a thought for me. So serious a person, and
+sometimes so stern, that I was afraid of you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He laughed amusedly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The wonder is that you ever came to care for me. You do care, don't you,
+beloved?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked up at him earnestly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear, do I seem forward, bold? But our time together is too short for
+pretence. Yes, I do care. I love you? I seem to have always loved you. Or
+at least to have waited always to love you. I don't think I knew what love
+was until now. Until now. Now I do know."
+</p>
+<p>
+She paused and stared across the room, seeing the vision of her childhood,
+her girlhood. From outside came intermittent shouts and an occasional
+random shot. But she did not hear them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As a child, as a schoolgirl, even afterwards, I used to day-dream. I used
+to wonder if any one would ever love me, ever teach me what love is. I
+dreamt of a Fairy Prince who would come to me one day, of a strong, brave,
+tender man who would care for me, who would want me to care for him. I
+often laughed at myself for it afterwards. For in London men all seemed so
+very unlike my dream-hero."
+</p>
+<p>
+She turned her face to him and looked tenderly at him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But when I met you," she continued, "I think I knew that you were He. But
+I never dared hope that you would learn to care for me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dearest heart," he replied, "I think I must have fallen in love with you
+the first moment I saw you. I can see you now as you stood surrounded by
+the elephants, a delightful but most unexpected vision in the jungle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you&mdash;oh, did you really like me that very first day?" she asked
+eagerly. At the moment the answer seemed to her the most important thing in
+the world.
+</p>
+<p>
+As a lover will do Dermot deceived himself and imagined that his love had
+been born at the first sight of her. He told her so; and the girl forgot
+the imminent, deadly peril about them in the glow of happiness that warms
+the heart of a loving woman who hears that she has been beloved from the
+beginning.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I looked so absurd," she said dreamily; "so untidy, when you first saw
+me. Why, my hair was all down."
+</p>
+<p>
+He laughed again; but the laughter died from his lips as the remembrance of
+their situation returned to him. Death was ordinarily little to him; though
+now life could be so sweet since she loved him. It seemed a terrible thing
+that this young girl must die so soon&mdash;and probably by his own hand to save
+her from a worse fate.
+</p>
+<p>
+She guessed his thoughts.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is this really the end, dear?" she asked, unwilling but unafraid to meet
+death. "Is there no hope for us?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I fear not, beloved."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I&mdash;I don't want to die so soon. Before you came tonight I wouldn't have
+minded very much; for I was not happy. But now it's a little hard, just as
+this wonderful thing has happened to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+She sighed. He held out his arms again, and she crept into them and nestled
+into his embrace.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, if it must be so, I'll try to be worthy of my soldier and not
+disgrace you, dear," she said fondly, bravely. "Let's try to forget it for
+a while and not let it spoil our last hours together. Let's 'make-believe,'
+as the children say. Let's pretend that this is all a hideous nightmare,
+that our lives and our love are before us."
+</p>
+<p>
+So through the long, dread night with the hideous menace never out of their
+minds they talked bravely of what they would like to do, to be&mdash;if only
+they were not to die so soon. Several times Noreen left him and went to
+comfort, to console the poor Mohammedan women and children to whom she had
+given shelter. Her brother refused to allow Dermot to relieve him on watch,
+saying that he could not sleep or rest, and begging him instead to remain
+with the girl to cheer her, to hearten her in the awful hours of waiting
+for the end.
+</p>
+<p>
+So Dermot was with her when a sudden uproar outside caused him to dash out
+on to the verandah. From behind the barricade on the front verandah Daleham
+was watching.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is it? Are they attacking?" cried the soldier.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. It's not an attack. They're cheering somebody, I think, and firing
+into the air."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot stared out. Men ran forward to the smouldering ruins of the factory
+and threw on them tins of kerosene oil, looted from the murdered Parsi's
+shop, until the flames blazed up again and lit up the scene. The hundreds
+of coolies were cheering and crowding round a body of men in red coats.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe it's the Rajah's infantry," said Dermot. "Are they going to
+attack? Sher Afzul, wake up the others and tell them to be on their guard.
+Give me that rifle, Daleham."
+</p>
+<p>
+So Noreen did not see her lover again until the sun rose on a scene of
+desolation and ruin. Smoke and sparks still came from the blackened heaps
+of the destroyed buildings. The cordon of sentries had apparently been
+withdrawn; but when Daleham climbed up on the barricade to get a better
+view a shot was fired from somewhere and a bullet tore up the ground before
+the bungalow.
+</p>
+<p>
+A couple of hours dragged slowly by; and then a servant doing sentry on the
+front verandah reported a cloud of dust on the road from the forest leading
+to the village. Dermot went out on the front verandah which looked towards
+the coolie lines and put up the glasses.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some men on horses. Yes, and a motor-car coming slowly behind them," he
+said to Daleham and his sister, who had followed him out. "It's the Rajah
+and his escort, I suppose. Things will begin to move now."
+</p>
+<p>
+When the newcomers reached the village a storm of shouting arose. Volley
+after volley of shots were fired, conch-shells blown, tom-toms beaten.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, there's no doubt of it. It must be that fat brute," said Daleham.
+</p>
+<p>
+Half an hour went by. The sun was high in the heavens. The landscape was
+bare of life. Not a man was visible. But presently from the village came a
+little figure, a naked little coolie boy. He moved slowly towards the
+bungalow, stopping every few minutes to look back to the huts, then
+advancing again with evident reluctance.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot watched him through the glass. The whole garrison was on the
+verandah.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's a messenger. I see a letter in his hand," said the soldier. "Poor
+little devil, he's in an awful funk. None of the cowards dared do it
+themselves, so they beat this child and made him come."
+</p>
+<p>
+At last the frightened infant reached the bungalow, and Sher Afzul met him
+and took the letter from him. Fred tore it open. It was written by
+Chunerbutty and couched in the most offensive terms. If within half an hour
+Miss Daleham came willingly to the Rajah, her brother's life would be
+spared and he would be given a safe conduct to Calcutta. But everyone else
+in the bungalow would be put to death, including the white man reported to
+have entered it during the night. If the girl did not surrender, her
+brother would be killed with the rest and she herself taken by force.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot acquainted the Mohammedan servants with the contents, to show them
+that there was no hope for them, so that they would fight to the death. The
+little boy was told that there was no answer, and Daleham gave him a few
+copper coins; but the scared child dropped them as though they were red hot
+and scampered back to the village as fast as his little legs would carry
+him.
+</p>
+<a name="L2HCH0020"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XX
+</h2>
+<h3>
+THE GOD OF THE ELEPHANTS
+</h3>
+<p>
+At the end of the half hour a tempest of noise arose from the village;
+tom-toms were beaten, conch-shells blown and vigorous cheering was
+heard. Then from the huts long lines of coolies carrying weapons of
+every sort, rifles, old muskets, spears, and swords streamed out and
+encircled the bungalow at a distance. A little later the Rajah's twenty
+horsemen rode out of the village on their raw-boned stallions, followed
+by a hundred infantry soldiers who, Dermot observed, were now armed with
+rifles in place of their former muskets.
+</p>
+<p>
+The dismounted troops formed up before the bungalow but half a mile away,
+in two lines in open order. But the cavalry kept together in a body; and
+the officer, turning in his saddle to speak to his men, pointed to the
+house with his sword.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe they're going to charge us," said Dermot.
+</p>
+<p>
+He had divided up the garrison to the four sides of the bungalow; but now,
+leaving one man with the shot gun to keep a watch on the back, he collected
+the rest on the front verandah. Noreen was inside, feeding the hungry
+children and consoling the mothers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, Daleham, don't fire until they are close, and then aim at the
+horses," said the Major, repeating the instruction to the servants in Urdu.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Punjaubis grinned and patted their rifles.
+</p>
+<p>
+The cavalry advanced. The <i>sowars</i> ambled forward, brandishing their curved
+sabres and uttering fierce yells. Dermot, knowing Sher Afzul and another
+man to be good shots, ordered them to open fire when the horsemen were
+about four hundred yards away. He himself took a steady aim at the
+commander and pressed the trigger. The officer, shot through the body,
+threw up his arms and fell forward on his horse's head. The startled animal
+shied and bolted across the furrows; and the corpse, dropping from the
+saddle, was dragged along the ground, one foot being caught in a stirrup.
+The cavalry checked for an instant; and Dermot fired again. A <i>sowar</i> fell.
+The rest cantered forward, yelling and waving their <i>tulwars</i>. Sher
+Afzul and the other servants opened fire. A second horseman dropped from
+his saddle, a stallion stumbled and fell, throwing its rider heavily.
+The firing grew faster. Two or three more horses were wounded and
+galloped wildly off. The rest of the cavalry came on, but, losing their
+nerve, checked their pace instead of charging home.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot, loading and firing rapidly, bringing a <i>sowar</i> down with each shot,
+suddenly found Noreen crouching beside him behind the barricade. She was
+holding a revolver.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For Heaven's sake, get into the house, darling!" he cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I have Fred's pistol and know how to use it," she answered, calmly. "I
+have often practised with it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He could not stop to argue with her, for the troopers still came on. But
+they bunched together, knee to knee, in a frontal attack, instead of
+assaulting from all four sides at once. They made a splendid target and
+suffered heavily. But some brought their horses' heads almost against the
+verandah railing. All the garrison rose from behind the barricade and fired
+point-blank at them. The girl, steadying her hand on a box, shot one
+<i>sowar</i> through the body. The few survivors turned and galloped madly away,
+leaving most of their number on the ground. To cover their retreat a ragged
+volley broke from the infantry; and a storm of bullets flew over and around
+the bungalow, ricocheted from the ground or struck the walls. But one young
+Mohammedan servant, who had incautiously exposed himself, dropped back shot
+through the lungs.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then from every side fire was opened, the coolies blazing wildly; but as
+none of them had ever had a rifle in his hands before, the firing was for
+the most part innocuous. Yet it served to encourage them, and they drew
+nearer. The garrison, with only one or two defenders to each side of the
+house, could not keep them at a distance. The infantry began to crawl
+forward. The circle of foes closed in on the bungalow and its doomed
+inhabitants. Shrieks and cries rose from the women and children inside.
+</p>
+<p>
+But although every bullet from the garrison found its billet, the issue was
+only a matter of time. Ill-directed as was the assailants' fire, the
+showers of bullets were too thick not to have some effect. Another servant
+was killed, a third wounded. Daleham was struck on the shoulder by a
+ricochet but only scratched. A rifle bullet, piercing the barricade, passed
+through Noreen's hair, as she crouched beside her lover, whom she
+resolutely refused to leave. The ring of enemies constricted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly a bugle sounded from the village; and after a little the firing
+from the attackers ceased. Dermot, who with Noreen and Sher Afzul, was
+defending the front verandah, looked cautiously over the barricade. A white
+flag appeared in the village. The Major shouted to the others in the house
+to hold their fire but be on their guard.
+</p>
+<p>
+After a pause the flag advanced, borne by a coolie. It was followed by a
+group of men; and Dermot through the glasses recognised the Rajah and
+Chunerbutty accompanied by several Brahmins. They advanced timidly towards
+the bungalow and stopped a hundred yards away. After some urging
+Chunerbutty stepped to the front and called for Daleham to appear.
+</p>
+<p>
+Fred came through the house from the back verandah, where his place was
+taken by Sher Afzul. He looked over the barricade. Chunerbutty came nearer
+and shouted:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daleham, the Rajah gives you one more chance to surrender. You see your
+case is hopeless. You can have a quarter of an hour to think things over.
+If at the end of that time you and your sister don't come out, we'll rush
+the bungalow and finish you all."
+</p>
+<p>
+Standing under the white flag he drew out his watch.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you," said Daleham; "and our reply is that if in a quarter of an
+hour you're still there, you'll get a bullet through you, white flag or no
+white flag."
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned to Dermot whose arm was around Noreen as she crouched beside him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Major, it's fifteen more minutes of life, that's all."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it's nearly the end now. I've only two cartridges left."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We're all in the same box. Getting near time we said good-bye. It was
+jolly good of you to stick by us, when you might have got away last night."
+</p>
+<p>
+Dermot gripped the outstretched hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I go under first, you'll not let Noreen fall alive into the hands of
+those brutes, will you, sir?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl raised her revolver.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll keep the last cartridge for myself, dear," she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked lovingly at Dermot whose arm was still about her. Her brother
+betrayed no surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not afraid to die, dear one," she whispered to her lover. "I couldn't
+live without you now. And I'm happy at this moment, happier than I've ever
+been, I think. But I wish you had saved yourself."
+</p>
+<p>
+He mastered his emotion with difficulty.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Darling, life without you wouldn't be possible for me either."
+</p>
+<p>
+He could not take his eyes from her; and the minutes were flying all too
+swiftly. At last he looked at his watch and held out his hand to the boy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good-bye, Daleham, you've got your wish. You're dying like a soldier for
+England," he said. "We've done our share for her. Now, we've three minutes
+more. If the Rajah and Chunerbutty come into view again I'll have them with
+my last two shots."
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned to the girl and took her in his arms for a last embrace.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good-bye, sweetheart. Dear love of my heart. Pray that we may be together
+in the next world."
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused and listened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are they coming?"
+</p>
+<p>
+But he did not put her from him. One second now was worth an eternity.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then suddenly a distant murmur swelled through the strange silence. Daleham
+looked out over the barricade.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're&mdash;No. What is it? What are they doing?"
+</p>
+<p>
+All round the circle of besiegers there was an eerie hush. No voice was
+heard. All&mdash;the Rajah, the flag-bearer, Brahmins, soldiers, coolies&mdash;had
+turned their faces away from the bungalow and were staring into the
+distance. And as the few survivors of the garrison looked up over the
+barricade an incredible sight met their eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+From the far-off forest, bursting out at every point of the long-stretching
+wall of dark undergrowth that hemmed in the wide estate, wild elephants
+appeared. Over the furrowed acres they streamed in endless lines, trampling
+down the ordered stretch of green bushes. In scores, in hundreds, they
+came, silently, slowly; the great heads nodding to the rhythm of their
+gait, the trunks swinging, the ragged ears flapping, as they advanced.
+Converging as they came, they drew together in a solid mass that blotted
+out the ground, a mass sombre-hued, dark, relieved only by flashes of
+gleaming white. For on either side of every massive skull jutted out the
+sharp-pointed, curving ivory. Of all save one.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the mammoth that led them, the splendid beast that captained the
+oncoming array of Titans under the ponderous strokes of whose feet the
+ground trembled, had one tusk, one only. And as though the white flag were
+a magnet to him, he moved unerringly towards it, the immense, earth-shaking
+phalanx following him.
+</p>
+<p>
+The awestruck crowds of armed men, so lately flushed with fanatical lust of
+slaughter, stood as though turned to stone, their faces set towards the
+terrifying onset. Their pain unheeded, their groans silenced, the wounded
+staggered to their feet to look. Even the dying strove to raise themselves
+on their arms from the reddened soil to gaze, and, gazing, fell back dead.
+Slowly, mechanically, silently, the living gave way, the weapons dropping
+from their nerveless grip. Step by step they drew back as if compelled by
+some strange mesmeric power.
+</p>
+<p>
+And on the verandah the few survivors of the little band stood together,
+silent, amazed, scarce believing their eyes as they stared at the
+incredible vision. All but Dermot. His gaze was fixed on the leader of that
+terrible army; and he smiled, tenderly yet proudly. His arm drew the girl
+beside him still closer to him, as he murmured:
+</p>
+<p>
+"He comes to save us for each other, beloved!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Nothing was heard, save the dull thunder of the giant feet. Then from the
+village the high-pitched shriek of a woman pierced the air and shattered
+the eerie silence of the terror-stricken crowds. Murmurs, groans, swelled
+into shouts, wild yells, the appalling uproar of panic; and strong and
+weak, hale men and those from whose wounds the life-blood dripped, turned
+and fled. Fled past their dead brothers, past the little group of leaders
+whose power to sway them had vanished before this awful menace.
+</p>
+<p>
+Petrified, rooted to the ground as though their quaking limbs were
+incapable of movement, the Rajah and his satellites stood motionless before
+the oncoming elephants. But when the leader almost towered above him,
+Chunerbutty was galvanised to life again. In mad panic he raised a pistol
+in his trembling hand and fired at the great beast. The next instant the
+huge tusk caught him. He was struck to the earth, gored, and lifted high in
+air. An appalling shriek burst from his bloodless lips. He was hurled to
+the ground with terrific force and trodden under foot. The Rajah screamed
+shrilly and turned to flee. Too late! The earth shook as the great phalanx
+moved on faster and passed without checking over the white-clad group,
+blotting them out of all semblance to humanity.
+</p>
+<p>
+The dying yell of the renegade Hindu, arresting in its note of agony,
+caused the fleeing crowds to pause and turn to look. And as they witnessed
+the annihilation of their leaders they saw a yet more wondrous sight. For
+the dark array of monsters halted as the leader reached the house; and with
+the sea of twisted trunks upraised to salute him and a terrifying peal of
+trumpeting, they welcomed the white man who walked out from the shot-torn
+building towards the leader of the vast herd. Then in a solemn hush he was
+raised high in air and held aloft for all to see, beasts and men. And in
+the silence a single voice in the awestruck crowds cried shrilly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Hathi ka Deo ki jai!</i> (Victory to the God of the Elephants!)"
+</p>
+<p>
+In wonder, in dread, in superstitious reverence, hundreds of voices took up
+the refrain: <i>"Hathi ka Deo! Hathi ka Deo ki jai!"</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+And leaving his thousand companions behind, the sacred elephant that all
+recognised now advanced towards the shrinking crowds, bearing the dread
+white god upon its neck. Had he not come invisibly among them again? Had
+they not witnessed the fate of those that opposed him? Had he not summoned
+from all Hindustan his man-devouring monsters to punish, to annihilate his
+enemies. Forgetful of their hate, their bloodthirst, their lust of battle,
+conscious only of their guilt, the terror-stricken crowds surged forward
+and flung themselves down in supplication on the earth. They wept, they
+wailed, they bared their heads and poured dust upon them, in all the
+extravagant demonstration of Oriental sorrow. Out from the village streamed
+the women and children to add their shrill cries to the lamentations.
+</p>
+<p>
+With uplifted hand, Dermot silenced them. An awful hush succeeded the
+tumult. He swept his eyes slowly over them all, and every head went down to
+the dust again. Then he spoke, solemnly, clearly; and his voice reached
+everyone in the prostrate mob.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My wrath is upon you and upon your children. Flee where you will, it shall
+overtake you. You have sinned and must atone. On those most guilty
+punishment has already fallen. Where are they that misled you? Go look for
+them under the feet of my elephants. Yet from you, ye poor deluded fools,
+for the moment I withhold my hand. But touch a single hair of those in your
+midst whom I protect, and you perish."
+</p>
+<p>
+Not a sound was heard.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Men of Lalpuri, who have come among these fools in thirst for blood. You
+have heard of me. You have seen my power. You see me. Go back to your city.
+Tell them there that I, who fed my elephants on the flesh of your comrades
+in the forest, shall come to them riding on my steed sacred to <i>Gunesh</i>. If
+they spare the evil counselors among them, then them I will not spare. Of
+their city no stone shall remain. Go back to them and bear this message to
+all within and without the walls, 'The British <i>Raj</i> shall endure. It is my
+will.' Tell them to engrave it on their hearts, on their children's
+hearts."
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused. Then he spoke again:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rise, all ye people. Ye have my leave to go."
+</p>
+<p>
+Noiselessly they obeyed. He watched them move away in terrified silence.
+Not a whisper was heard.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he smiled as he said to himself:
+</p>
+<p>
+"That should keep them quiet."
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned Badshah towards the bungalow.
+</p>
+<p>
+Forty miles away, when darkness fell on the mountains that night, the army
+of the invaders slept soundly in their bivouacs around the doomed post of
+Ranga Duar. On the morrow the last feeble resistance of its garrison must
+cease, and happy those of the defenders who died. Luckless they that lived.
+For the worst tortures that even China knew would be theirs.
+</p>
+<p>
+But when the morrow came there was no longer an investing army.
+Panic-stricken, the scattered remnants of the once formidable host
+staggered blindly up the inhospitable mountains only to perish in the
+snows of the passes. For in the dark hours annihilation had come upon
+the rest. Countless monsters, worse, far worse, than the legendary
+dragons of their native land, had come from the skies, sprung from the
+earth. And under their huge feet the army had perished.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the sun rose Dermot knelt beside the mattress on which Parker lay
+among the heaps of rubble that had once been the Fort. An Indian officer,
+the only one left, and a few haggard sepoys stood by. The rest of the few
+survivors of the gallant band had thrown themselves down to sleep haphazard
+among the ruins that covered the bodies of their comrades.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it all true, Major? Are they really gone?" whispered the subaltern
+feebly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Parker, it's quite true. They've gone. You've helped to save India.
+You held them off&mdash;God knows how you did it. Your wound's a nasty one; but
+you'll get over it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rose and held out his hands to the others. <i>"Shabash!</i> (Well done!)
+<i>Subhedar Sahib</i>, Mohammed Khan, Gulab Khan, Shaikh Bakar, well done."
+</p>
+<p>
+And the men of the alien race pressed round him and clasped his hands
+gratefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+The defeat of the invaders in this little-known corner of the Indian Empire
+was but the forerunner of the disasters that befell the other enemies of
+the British dominion, though many months passed before peace settled on the
+land again. But Lalpuri had not so long to wait for Dermot to redeem his
+promise to visit it. When he did he rode on Badshah at the head of a
+British force. The gates were flung open wide; and he passed through
+submissive crowds to see the blackened ruins of the Palace that, stormed,
+looted, and burnt by its rebel soldiery, hid the ashes of the <i>Dewan</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+A year had gone by. In the villages perched on the steep sides of the
+mountains the Bhuttia women rejoiced to know that the peace of the
+Borderland would never be broken again while the dread hand of a god lay on
+it. And in their bamboo huts they tried to hush their little children with
+the mention of his name. But the sturdy, naked babies had no fear of him.
+For they all knew him; and he was kind and far less terrible than the gods
+and demons that the old lama showed them in the painted Wheel of Life sent
+him from Tibet. Moreover, the white god's wife was kinder even than he. But
+that was because she was not a goddess. Only a girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the high hills, up above the villages, a couple stood. No god and
+goddess: just a man and a woman. And the woman looked down past the huts,
+down to the great Terai Forest lying like a vast billowy sea of foliage far
+below them. Then, as her husband's arm stole round her, she turned her eyes
+from it and gazed into his and whispered:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I love it more than even you do. For it gave you to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+A crashing in the clump of hill bamboos at their feet attracted their
+attention; and with a smile he pointed down to the great elephant with the
+single tusk who was dragging down the feathery plumes with his curving
+trunk.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Noreen looked up at Dermot again and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I love you more than even Badshah does."
+</p>
+<p>
+And their lips met.
+</p>
+<h3>
+THE END
+</h3>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    <i>A Selection from the Catalogue of</i>
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+</h3>
+
+<center>
+Complete Catalogues sent on application
+</center>
+
+<h2>
+    Rosa Mundi
+</h2>
+<center>
+    By
+</center>
+<h3>
+Ethel M. Dell
+</h3>
+<center>
+Author of
+<br />
+"The Top of the World," "The Lamp in the Desert," "The Way of an Eagle,"
+etc.
+</center>
+<p>
+Some of the finest stories ever written by Miss Ethel M. Dell are gathered
+together in this volume. They are arresting, thrilling, tense with
+throbbing life, and of absorbing interest; they tell of romantic and
+passionate episodes in many lands&mdash;in the hill districts of India, in the
+burning heart of Africa, and in the colonial bush country. The author's
+vivid and vigorous style, skillfully developed plots, her intensely
+sympathetic treatment of emotional scenes, and the strongly delineated
+character sketches, are typical of Ethel M. Dell's best work, and this
+volume will be found to contain some of the most remarkable of her shorter
+romances.
+</p>
+<center>
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+<br />
+New York London
+</center>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>
+    Prairie Flowers
+</h2>
+<center>
+    By
+</center>
+<h3>
+James B. Hendryx
+</h3>
+<center>
+Author of "The Texan"
+</center>
+<p>
+When Tex Benton said he'd do a thing, he <i>did</i> it, as readers of "The
+Texan" will affirm. So when, after a year of drought, he announced his
+purpose of going to town to get thoroughly "lickered up," unsuspecting
+Timber City was elected as the stage for a most thorough and sensational
+orgy.
+</p>
+<p>
+But neither Tex nor Timber City could foresee the turbulent chain of
+events which were to result from his high, if indecorous, resolve, here
+set down&mdash;the wild tale of an untamed West.
+</p>
+<p>
+A well-known writer, who has served his apprenticeship in the cow country,
+said the other day, "I like Hendryx's stories&mdash;they're real. His boys are
+the boys I used to work with and know. His West is the West I learned to
+love."
+</p>
+<center>
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+<br />
+New York London
+</center>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>
+    The Ivory Fan
+</h2>
+<center>
+    By
+</center>
+<h3>
+Adrian Heard
+</h3>
+<p>
+When Lily Kellaway makes the observation, "It is better to be a slave to a
+man, which is natural, than to a woman, which is intolerable," she recites
+the text upon which the author of <i>The Ivory Fan</i> has built up a novel
+that is at once humorous in its cynicism and cynical in its humor. At the
+same time he gives us a pastel of certain phases of life comprehensive in
+its coloring and bitterly uncompromising of line.
+</p>
+<p>
+This is an unconventional book, full of incident and plenty of clever
+dialogue.
+</p>
+<center>
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+<br />
+New York London
+</center>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>
+    Too Old for Dolls
+</h2>
+<center>
+    By
+</center>
+<h3>
+Anthony M. Ludovici
+</h3>
+<p>
+The story of a "flapper" too old for dolls, scarcely old enough for
+anything else, but capable of enraging her older sister and even her mother
+by the ease with which she secures the admiration of their male friends.
+</p>
+<p>
+"From a Mohawk, from a sexless savage with tangled hair and blotchy
+features, she had, by a stroke of the wand, become metamorphosed into a
+remarkably attractive young woman." And with the change came a
+disconcerting knowledge of power.
+</p>
+<p>
+A very real, very tense, and very modern novel.
+</p>
+<center>
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+<br />
+New York London
+</center>
+
+
+<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Elephant God, by Gordon Casserly
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Elephant God
+
+Author: Gordon Casserly
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2004 [EBook #14076]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ELEPHANT GOD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, David Garcia and the PG Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ELEPHANT GOD
+
+BY GORDON GASSERLY
+
+
+
+NEW YORK
+1921
+
+
+
+
+TO A CERTAIN ROGUE ELEPHANT RESIDENT IN THE TERAI FOREST
+
+THE SLAYER OF DIVERS MEN AND WOMEN
+
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MUCH
+INSTRUCTION AND IN THE HOPE THAT SOME DAY IN THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS
+THEY MAY MEET AGAIN AND DECIDE THE ISSUE
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD TO AMERICAN EDITION
+
+
+Twenty years ago I dedicated my first book, _The Land of the Boxers; or
+China Under the Allies_, to the American officers and soldiers of the
+expeditionary forces then fighting in the Celestial Empire--as well as to
+their British comrades. And when, some years afterwards, I was visiting
+their country, right glad I was that I had thus offered my slight tribute
+to the valour of the United States Army. For from the Pacific to the
+Atlantic I met with a hospitality and a kindness that no other land could
+excel and few could equal. And ever since then, I have felt deep in debt to
+all Americans and have tried in many parts of our Empire to repay to those
+who serve under the Star Spangled Banner a little of what I owe to their
+fellow-countrymen.
+
+Only those who have experienced that sympathetic American kindness can
+realise what it is. It is all that gives me courage to face the reading
+public as a writer of fiction and attempt to depict to it the fascinating
+world of an Indian jungle, the weird beasts that people it, and the
+stranger humans that battle with them in it. The magic pen of a Kipling
+alone could do justice to that wonderful realm of mountain and forest that
+is called the Terai--that fantastic region of woodland that stretches for
+hundreds of miles along the foot of the Himalayas, that harbours in its dim
+recesses the monsters of the animal kingdom, quaint survivals of a vanished
+race--the rhinoceros, the elephant, the bison, and the hamadryad, that
+great and terrible snake which can, and does, pursue and overtake a mounted
+man, and which with a touch of its poisoned fang can slay the most powerful
+brute. The huge Himalayan bear roams under the giant trees, feeding on
+fruit and honey, yet ready to shatter unprovoked the skull of a poor
+woodcutter. Those savage striped and spotted cats, the tiger and the
+panther, steal through it on velvet paw and take toll of its harmless
+denizens.
+
+But, if I cannot describe it as I would, at least I have lived the life of
+the wild in the spacious realm of the Terai. I would that I had the power
+to make others feel what I have felt, the thrill that comes when facing the
+onrush of the bloodthirstiest of all fierce brutes, a rogue elephant, or
+the joy of seeing a charging tiger check and crumple up at the arresting
+blow of a heavy bullet.
+
+I have followed day after day from dawn to dark and fought again and again
+a fierce outlaw tusker elephant that from sheer lust of slaughter had
+killed men, women, and children and carried on for years a career of crime
+unbelievable.
+
+No one that knows the jungle well will refuse to credit the strangest story
+of what wild animals will do. Of all the swarming herds of wild elephants
+in the Terai, the Mysore, or the Ceylon jungles no man, white or black, has
+ever seen one that had died a natural death. Yet many have watched them
+climbing up the great mountain rampart of the Himalayas towards regions
+where human foot never followed. The Death Place of the Elephants is a
+legend in which all jungle races firmly believe, but no man has ever found
+it. The mammoths live a century and a half--but the time comes when each of
+them must die. Yet no human eye watches its death agony.
+
+Those who know elephants best will most readily credit the strangest tales
+of their doings. And there are men--white men--whose power over wild beasts
+and wilder fellow men outstrips the novelist's imagination, the true tale
+of whose doings no resident in a civilised land would believe.
+
+GORDON CASSERLY.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                   PAGE
+
+    I.--THE SECRET MISSION                   3
+
+   II.--A ROGUE ELEPHANT                    20
+
+  III.--A GIRL OF THE TERAI                 35
+
+   IV.--THE MADNESS OF BADSHAH              59
+
+    V.--THE DEATH-PLACE                     79
+
+   VI.--A DRAMATIC INTRODUCTION             95
+
+  VII.--IN THE RAJAH'S PALACE              117
+
+ VIII.--A BHUTTIA RAID                     137
+
+   IX.--THE RESCUE OF NOREEN               155
+
+    X.--A STRANGE HOME-COMING              175
+
+   XI.--THE MAKING OF A GOD                193
+
+  XII.--THE LURE OF THE HILLS              213
+
+ XIII.--THE PLEASURE COLONY                231
+
+  XIV.--THE TANGLED SKEIN OF LOVE          248
+
+   XV.--THE FEAST OF THE GODDESS KALI      267
+
+  XVI.--THE PALACE OF DEATH                286
+
+ XVII.--A TRAP                             309
+
+XVIII.--THE CAT AND THE TIGER              330
+
+  XIX.--TEMPEST                            351
+
+   XX.--THE GOD OF THE ELEPHANTS           377
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ELEPHANT GOD
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+THE SECRET MISSION
+
+"The letters, sahib," said the post orderly, blocking up the doorway of the
+bungalow.
+
+Kevin Dermot put down his book as the speaker, a Punjaubi Mohammedan in
+white undress, slipped off his loose native shoes and entered the room
+barefoot, as is the custom in India.
+
+"For this one a receipt is needed," continued the sepoy, holding out a long
+official envelope registered and insured and addressed, like all the
+others, to "The Officer Commanding, Ranga Duar, Eastern Bengal."
+
+Major Dermot signed the receipt and handed it to the man. As he did so the
+scream of an elephant in pain came to his ears.
+
+"What is that?" he asked the post orderly.
+
+"It is the _mahout_, Chand Khan, beating his _hathi_ (elephant), sahib,"
+replied the sepoy looking out.
+
+Dermot threw the unopened letters on the table, and, going out on the
+verandah of his bungalow, gazed down on the parade ground which lay a
+hundred feet below. Beyond it at the foot of the small hill on which stood
+the Fort was a group of trees, to two of which a transport elephant was
+shackled by a fore and a hind leg in such a way as to render it powerless.
+Its _mahout_, or driver, keeping out of reach of its trunk, was beating it
+savagely on the head with a bamboo. Mad with rage, the man, a grey-bearded
+old Mohammedan, swung the long stick with both hands and brought it down
+again and again with all his force. From the gateway of the Fort above the
+_havildar_, or native sergeant, of the guard shouted to the _mahout_ to
+desist. But the angry man ignored him and continued to belabour his
+unfortunate animal, which, at the risk of dislocating its leg, struggled
+wildly to free itself and screamed shrilly each time that the bamboo fell.
+This surprised Dermont, for an elephant's skull is so thick that a blow
+even from the _ankus_ or iron goad used to drive it, is scarcely felt.
+
+The puzzled officer re-entered the bungalow and brought out a pair of
+field-glasses, which revealed the reason of the poor tethered brute's
+screams. For they showed that in the end of the bamboo were stuck long,
+sharp nails which pierced and tore the flesh of its head.
+
+Major Dermot was not only a keen sportsman and a lover of animals, but he
+had an especial liking for elephants, of which he had had much experience.
+So with a muttered oath he put down the binoculars and, seizing his helmet,
+ran down the steep slope from his bungalow to the parade ground. As he went
+he shouted to the _mahout_ to stop. But the man was too engrossed in his
+brutality to hear him or the _havildar_, who repeated the Major's order. It
+was not until Dermot actually seized his arm and dragged him back that he
+perceived his commanding officer. Dropping the bamboo he strove to justify
+his ill-treatment of the elephant by alleging some petty act of
+disobedience on its part.
+
+His excuses were cut short.
+
+"_Choop raho!_ (Be silent!) You are not fit to have charge of an animal,"
+cried the indignant officer, picking up and examining the cruel weapon. The
+sharp points of the nails were stained with blood, and morsels of skin and
+flesh adhered to them. Dermot felt a strong inclination to thrash the
+brutal _mahout_ with the unarmed end of the bamboo, but, restraining
+himself, he turned to the elephant. With the instinct of its kind it was
+scraping a little pile of dust together with its toes, snuffing it up in
+its trunk and blowing it on the bleeding cuts on its lacerated head.
+
+"You poor beast! You mustn't do that. We'll find something better for you,"
+said the Major compassionately.
+
+He called across the parade ground to his white-clad Mussulman butler, who
+was looking down at him from the bungalow.
+
+"Bring that fruit off my table," he said in Hindustani. "Also the little
+medicine chest and a bowl of water."
+
+When the servant had brought them Dermot approached the elephant.
+
+"_Khubbadar_--(take care)--sahib!" cried a coolie, the _mahout's_
+assistant. "He is suffering and angry. He may do you harm."
+
+But, while the rebuked _mahout_ glared malevolently and inwardly hoped that
+the animal might kill him, Dermot walked calmly toward it, holding out his
+hand with the fruit. The elephant, regarding him nervously and suspiciously
+out of its little eyes, shifted uneasily from foot to foot, and at first
+shrank from him. But, as the officer stood quietly in front of it, it
+stretched out its trunk and smelled the extended hand. Then it touched the
+arm and felt it up to the shoulder, on which it let the tip of the trunk
+rest for a few seconds. At last it seemed satisfied that the white man was
+a friend and did not intend to hurt it.
+
+During the ordeal Dermot had never moved; although there was every reason
+to fear that the animal, either from sheer nervousness or from resentment
+at the ill-treatment that it had just received, might attack him and
+trample him to death. Indeed, many tame elephants, being unused to
+Europeans, will not allow white men to approach them. So the Hindu coolie
+stood trembling with fright, while the _havildar_ and the butler were
+alarmed at their sahib's peril.
+
+But Dermot coolly peeled a banana and placed it in the elephant's mouth.
+The gift was tried and approved by the huge beast, which graciously
+accepted the rest of the fruit. Then the Major said to it in the _mahouts'_
+tongue:
+
+"_Buth!_ (Lie down!)"
+
+The elephant slowly sank down to the ground and allowed the Major to
+examine its head, which was badly lacerated by the spikes. Dermot cleansed
+the wounds thoroughly and applied an antiseptic to them. The animal bore it
+patiently and seemed to recognise that it had found a friend; for, when it
+rose to its feet again, it laid its trunk almost caressingly on Dermot's
+shoulder.
+
+The officer stroked it and then turned to the _mahout_, who was standing in
+the background.
+
+"Chand Khan, you are not to come near this elephant again," he said. "I
+suspend you from charge of it and shall report you for dismissal. _Jao!_
+(Go!)"
+
+The man slunk away scowling. Dermot beckoned to the Hindu, who approached
+salaaming.
+
+"Are you this animal's coolie?"
+
+(The Government of India very properly recognises the lordliness of the
+elephant and provides him in captivity with no less than two body-servants,
+a _mahout_ and a coolie, whose mission in life is to wait on him.)
+
+The Hindu salaamed again.
+
+"Yes, _Huzoor_ (The Presence)," he replied.
+
+"How long have you been with it?"
+
+"Five years, _Huzoor_."
+
+"What is its name?"
+
+"_Badshah_ (The King). And indeed he is a _badshah_ among elephants. No one
+but a Mussulman would treat him with disrespect. Your Honour sees that he
+is a _Gunesh_ and worthy of reverence."
+
+The animal, which was a large and well-shaped male, possessed only one
+tusk, the right. The other had never grown. Dermot knew that an elephant
+thus marked by Nature would be regarded by Hindus as sacred to _Gunesh_,
+their God of Wisdom, who is represented as having the head of an elephant
+with a single tusk, the right. Many natives would consider the animal to be
+a manifestation of the god himself and worship it as a deity. So the Major
+made no comment on the coolie's remark, but said:
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Ramnath, _Huzoor_."
+
+"Very well, Ramnath. You are to have sole charge of Badshah until I can get
+someone to help you. You will be his _mahout_. Take this medicine that I
+have been using and put it on as you have seen me do. Don't let the animal
+blow dust on the cuts. Keep them clean, and bring him up tomorrow for me to
+see."
+
+He handed the man the antiseptic and swabs. Then he turned to the elephant
+and patted it.
+
+"Good-bye, Badshah, old boy," he said. "I don't think that Ramnath will
+ill-treat you."
+
+The huge beast seemed to understand him and again touched him with the tip
+of its trunk.
+
+"Badshah knows Your Honour," said the Hindu. "He will regard you always now
+as his _ma-bap_ (mother and father)."
+
+Dermot smiled at this very usual vernacular expression. He was accustomed
+to being called it by his sepoys; but he was amused at being regarded as
+the combined parents of so large an offspring.
+
+"Badshah has never let a white man approach him before today, _Huzoor_,"
+continued Ramnath. "He has always been afraid of the sahibs. But he sees
+you are his friend. _Salaam kuro_, Badshah!"
+
+And the elephant raised his trunk vertically in the air and trumpeted the
+_Salaamut_ or royal salute that he had been taught to make. Then, at
+Ramnath's signal, he lowered his trunk and crooked it. The man put his bare
+foot on it, at the same time seizing one of the great ears. Then Badshah
+lifted him up with the trunk until he could get on to the head into
+position astride the neck. Then the new _mahout_, salaaming again to the
+officer, started his huge charge off, and the elephant lumbered away with
+swaying stride to its _peelkhana_, or stable, two thousand feet below in
+the forest at the foot of the hills on which stood the Fort of Ranga Duar.
+For this outpost, which was garrisoned by Dermot's Double Company of a
+Military Police Battalion, guarded one of the _duars_, or passes, through
+the Himalayas into India from the wild and little-known country of Bhutan.
+
+Its Commanding Officer watched the elephant disappear down the hill before
+returning to his little stone bungalow, which stood in a small garden
+shaded by giant mango and jack-fruit trees and gay with the flaming lines
+of bougainvillias and poinsettias.
+
+Dismissing the post orderly, who was still waiting, Dermot threw himself
+into a long chair and took up the letters that he had flung down when
+Badshah's screams attracted his attention. They were all routine official
+correspondence contained in the usual long envelopes marked "On His
+Majesty's Service." The registered one, however, held a smaller envelope
+heavily sealed, marked "Secret" and addressed to him by name. In this was a
+letter in cipher.
+
+Dermot got up from his chair and, going into his bedroom, opened a trunk
+and lifted out of it a steel despatch box, which he unlocked. From this he
+extracted a sealed envelope, which he carried back to the sitting-room.
+First examining the seals to make sure that they were intact, he opened the
+envelope and took from it two papers. One was a cipher code and on the
+other was the keyword to the official cipher used by the military
+authorities throughout India. This word is changed once a year. On the
+receipt of the new one every officer entitled to be in possession of it
+must burn the paper on which is written the old word and send a signed
+declaration to that effect to Army Headquarters.
+
+Taking a pencil and a blank sheet of paper Dermot proceeded to decipher the
+letter that he had just received. It was dated from the Adjutant General's
+Office at Simla, and headed "Secret." It ran:
+
+"Sir:
+
+"In continuation of the instructions already given you orally, I have
+the honour to convey to you the further orders of His Excellency the
+Commander-in-Chief in India.
+
+"Begins: 'Information received from the Secretary to the Foreign
+Department, Government of India, confirms the intelligence that Chinese
+emissaries have for some time past been endeavouring to re-establish the
+former predominance of their nation over Tibet and Bhutan. In the former
+country they appear to have met with little success; but in Bhutan, taking
+advantage of the hereditary jealousies of the _Penlops_, the great feudal
+chieftains, they appear to have gained many adherents. They aim at
+instigating the Bhutanese to attempt an invasion of India through the
+_duars_ leading into Eastern Bengal, their object being to provoke a war.
+The danger to this country from an invading force of Bhutanese, even if
+armed, equipped, and led by Chinese, is not great. But its political
+importance must not be minimised.
+
+"'For the most serious feature of the movement is that information received
+by the Political Department gives rise to the grave suspicion that, not
+only many extremists in Bengal, but even some of the lesser rajahs and
+nawabs, are in treasonable communication with these outside enemies.
+
+"'Major Dermot, at present commanding the detachment of the Military
+Battalion stationed at Ranga Duar, has been specially selected, on account
+of his acquaintance with the districts and dialects of the _duars_ and that
+part of the Terai Forest bordering on Bhutan, to carry out a particular
+mission. You are to direct him to inspect and report on the suitability,
+for the purposes of defence against an invasion from the north, of:
+
+  (_a_) The line of the mountain passes at an altitude of from 3000 to
+        6000 feet.
+
+  (_b_) A line established in the Terai Forest itself.
+
+"'In addition, if this officer in the course of his investigations
+discovers any evidence of communication between the disloyal elements
+inside our territory and possible enemies across the border, he will at
+once inform you direct.' Ends.
+
+"Please note His Excellency's orders and proceed to carry them out
+forthwith. You can pursue your investigations under the pretence of big
+game shooting in the hills and jungle. The British officer next in
+seniority to you will command the detachment in your absences. You may
+communicate to him as much of the contents of this letter as you deem
+advisable, impressing upon him the necessity for the strictest secrecy.
+
+"You will in all matters communicate directly and confidentially with this
+office.
+
+"I have the honour to be, Sir,
+
+"Your most obedient servant."
+
+
+Here followed the signature of one of the highest military authorities in
+India.
+
+Dermot stared at the letter.
+
+"So that's it!" he thought. "It's a bigger thing than I imagined."
+
+He had known when he consented to being transferred from a staff
+appointment in Simla to the command of a small detachment of a Military
+Police Battalion garrisoning an unimportant frontier fort on the face of
+the Himalayas that he was being sent there for a special purpose. He had
+consented gladly; for to him the great attraction of his new post was that
+he would find himself once more in the great Terai Jungle. To him it was
+Paradise. Before going to Simla he had been stationed with a Double Company
+of the Indian Infantry Regiment to which he belonged in a similar outpost
+in the mountains not many miles away. This outpost had now been abolished.
+But while in it he used to spend all his spare time in the marvellous
+jungle that extended to his very door.
+
+The great Terai Forest stretches for hundreds of miles along the foot of
+the Himalayas, from Assam through Bengal to Garwhal and up into Nepal. It
+is a sportsman's heaven; for it shelters in its recesses wild elephants,
+rhinoceros, bison, bears, tigers, panthers, and many of the deer tribes.
+Dermot loved it. He was a mighty hunter, but a discriminating one. He did
+not kill for sheer lust of slaughter, and preferred to study the ways of
+the harmless animals rather than shoot them. Only against dangerous beasts
+did he wage relentless war.
+
+Dermot knew that he could very well leave the routine work of the little
+post to his Second in Command. The fort was practically a block of
+fortified stone barracks, easily defensible against attacks of badly armed
+hillmen and accommodating a couple of hundred sepoys. It was to hold the
+_duar_ or pass of Ranga through the Himalayas against raiders from Bhutan
+that the little post had been built.
+
+For centuries past the wild dwellers beyond the mountains were used to
+swooping down from the hills on the less warlike plainsmen in search of
+loot, women, and slaves. But the war with Bhutan in 1864-5 brought the
+borderland under the English flag, and the Pax Britannica settled on it.
+Yet even now temptation was sometimes too strong for lawless men.
+Occasionally swift-footed parties of fierce swordsmen swept down through
+the unguarded passes and raided the tea-gardens that are springing up in
+the foothills and the forests below them. For hundreds of coolies work on
+these big estates, and large consignments of silver coin come to the
+gardens for their payment.
+
+But there was bigger game afoot than these badly-armed raiders. The task
+set Dermot showed it; and his soldier's heart warmed at the thought of
+helping to stage a fierce little frontier war in which he might come early
+on the scene.
+
+Carefully sealing up again and locking away the cipher code and keyword, he
+went out on the back verandah and shouted for his orderly. The dwellings of
+Europeans upcountry in India are not luxurious--far from it. Away from the
+big cities like Bombay, Calcutta, or Karachi, the amenities of civilisation
+are sadly lacking. The bungalows are lit only by oil-lamps, their floors
+are generally of pounded earth covered with poor matting harbouring fleas
+and other insect pests, their roofs are of thatch or tiles, and such
+luxuries as bells, electric or otherwise, are unknown. So the servants, who
+reside outside the bungalows in the compounds, or enclosures, are summoned
+by the simple expedient of shouting "Boy".
+
+Presently the orderly appeared.
+
+"Shaikh Ismail," said the Major, "go to the Mess, give my salaams to Parker
+Sahib, and ask him to come here."
+
+The sepoy, a smart young Punjabi Mussulman, clad in the white undress
+of the Indian Army, saluted and strode off up the hill to the pretty
+mess-bungalow of the British officers of the detachment. In it the
+subaltern occupied one room.
+
+When he received Dermot's message, this officer, a tall, good-looking man
+of about twenty-eight years of age, accompanied the orderly to his senior's
+quarters.
+
+"Come in and have a smoke, Parker," said the Major cheerily.
+
+The subaltern entered and helped himself to a cigarette from an open box on
+the table before looking for a chair in the scantily-furnished room.
+
+As he struck a match he said,
+
+"Ismail Khan tells me you've just had trouble with that surly beast, Chand
+Khan".
+
+Dermot told him what had occurred.
+
+"What a _soor!_ (swine!)" exclaimed Parker indignantly. "I always knew he
+was a cruel devil; but I didn't think he was quite such a brute. And to
+poor old Badshah too. It's a damned shame".
+
+"He's a good elephant, isn't he?" asked the senior.
+
+"A ripper. Splendid to shoot from and absolutely staunch to tiger," said
+the subaltern enthusiastically. "Major Smith--our Commandant before you,
+sir--was charged by a tiger he had wounded in a beat near Alipur Duar. He
+missed the beast with his second barrel. The tiger sprang at the howdah,
+but Badshah caught him cleverly on his one tusk and knocked him silly. The
+Major reloaded and killed the beast before it could recover."
+
+"Good for Badshah. He seemed to me to be a fine animal," said Dermot.
+
+"One of the best. We all like him; though he'll never let any white man
+handle him. By the way, Ismail Khan says he permitted you to do it."
+
+"I doctored up his cuts. Besides, I'm used to elephants."
+
+"All the same you're the first sahib I've heard Of that Badshah has allowed
+to touch him. Do you know, the Hindus worship him. He's a _Gunesh_--I
+supposed you noticed that. I've seen some of them simply go down on their
+faces in the dust before him and pray to him. There's a curious thing about
+Badshah, too. Have you heard?"
+
+"No. What is it?" asked the Major.
+
+"Well, it's a rummy thing. He's usually awfully quiet and obedient. But
+sometimes he gets very restless, breaks loose, and goes off on his own into
+the jungle. After a week or two he comes back by himself, as quiet as a
+lamb. But when the fit's on him nothing will hold him. He bursts the
+stoutest ropes, breaks iron chains; and I believe he'd pull down the
+_peelkhana_ if he couldn't get away."
+
+"Oh, that often happens with domesticated male elephants," said Dermot.
+"They have periodic fits of sexual excitement--get _must_, you know--and go
+mad while these last."
+
+"Oh, no. It's not that," replied the subaltern confidently. "Badshah
+doesn't go _must_. It's something quite different. The jungle men around
+here have a quaint belief about it. You see, Badshah was captured by the
+Kheddah Department here years ago--twenty, I think. He's about forty now.
+He was taken away to other parts of India, Mhow for one----"
+
+"Yes, they used to have an elephant battery there," broke in the Major.
+
+"But somehow or other he got here eventually. Rather curious that he should
+have been sent back to his birthplace. Anyhow, the natives believe that
+when he breaks away he goes off to family reunions or to meet old pals."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised," remarked Dermot, meditatively. "They're strange
+beasts, elephants. No one really knows much about them. I expect the jungle
+calls to them, as it does to me."
+
+He lit a cigarette and went on,
+
+"But I've sent for you to talk over something important. Read that."
+
+He handed Parker his transcription of the cipher letter. As the subaltern
+read it his eyes opened wider and wider. When he had finished he exclaimed
+joyfully,
+
+"By Jove, Major, that's great. Do you think there's anything in it? How
+ripping it'll be if they try to come in by this pass! Won't we just knock
+them! Couldn't we get some machine guns?"
+
+"I'm afraid we couldn't hold the Fort of Ranga Duar against a whole
+invading army, Parker. You know it isn't really defensible against a
+serious attack."
+
+"Oh, I say! Do you mean, sir, that we'd give it up to a lot of Chinks and
+bare-legged Bhuttias without firing a shot?"
+
+The Major smiled at his junior's indignation.
+
+"You must remember, Parker, that if an invasion comes off it will be on a
+scale that two hundred men won't stop. The Bhutanese are badly armed; but
+they are fanatically brave. They showed that in their war with us in '64
+and '65. They had only swords, bows, and arrows; but they licked one of our
+columns hollow and drove our men in headlong flight. But cheer up, Parker,
+if there is a show it won't be my fault if you and I don't have a good look
+in."
+
+"Thank you, Major," said the subaltern gratefully.
+
+He smoked in silence for a while and then said:
+
+"D'you know, sir, I had an idea there was something up when Major Smith was
+suddenly ordered away and you, who didn't belong to us, were sent here from
+Simla. I'd heard of you before, not only as a great _shikari_--the natives
+everywhere in these jungles talk a lot about you--but also as a keen
+soldier. A fellow doesn't usually come straight from a staff job at Army
+Headquarters to a small outpost like this for nothing."
+
+Dermot laughed.
+
+"Unless he has got into trouble and is sent off as a punishment," he said.
+"But that didn't happen to be my case. However, I was delighted to leave
+Simla. Better the jungle a thousand times."
+
+"Yes; Simla's rather a rotten place, I believe," remarked the subaltern
+meditatively. "Too many brass hats and women. They're the curse of India,
+each of them. And I'm sure the women do the most harm."
+
+"Well, steer clear of the latter, and don't become one of the former," said
+Dermot with a laugh, rising from his chair, "then you'll have a peaceful
+life--but you won't get on in your profession."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+A ROGUE ELEPHANT
+
+The four transport elephants attached to the garrison of Ranga Duar for the
+purpose of bringing supplies for the men from the far distant railway were
+stabled in a _peelkhana_ at the foot of the hills and a couple of thousand
+feet below the Fort. This building, a high-walled shed with thatched roof
+and brick standings for the animals, was erected beside the narrow road
+that zig-zagged down from the mountains into the forest and eventually
+joined a broader one leading to the narrow-gauge railway that pierced the
+jungle many miles away.
+
+One morning, about three weeks after Dermot's first introduction to
+Badshah, the Major tramped down the rough track to the _peelkhana_,
+carrying a rifle and cartridge belt and a haversack containing his food for
+the day. Nearing the stables he blew a whistle, and a shrill trumpeting
+answered him from the building, as Badshah recognised his signal. Ramnath,
+hurriedly entering the impatient elephant's stall, loosed him from the iron
+shackles that held his legs. Then the huge beast walked with stately tread
+out of the building and went straight to where Dermot awaited him. For
+during these weeks the intimacy between man and animal had progressed
+rapidly. Elephants, though of an affectionate disposition, are not
+demonstrative as a rule. But Badshah always showed unmistakable signs of
+fondness for the white man, whom he seemed to regard as his friend and
+protector.
+
+Dermot was in the habit of taking him out into the jungle every day, where
+he went ostensibly to shoot. After the first few occasions he displaced
+Ramnath from the guiding seat on Badshah's neck and acted as _mahout_
+himself. But, instead of using the _ankus_--the heavy iron implement shaped
+like a boat-hook head which natives use to emphasise their orders to their
+charges--the Major simply touched the huge head with his open hand. And his
+method proved equally, if not more, effective. He was soon able to dispense
+altogether with Ramnath on his expeditions, which was his object. For he
+did not want any witness to his secret explorations of the forest and the
+hills.
+
+An elephant, when used as a beast of burden or for shooting from in thick
+jungle, carries on its back only a "pad"--a heavy, straw-stuffed mattress
+reaching from neck to tail and fastened on by a rope surcingle passing
+round the body. On this pad, if passengers are to be carried, a wooden seat
+with footboards hanging by cords from it and called a _charjama_ is placed.
+Only for sport in open country or high grass jungle is the cage-like howdah
+employed.
+
+Dermot replaced Badshah's heavy pad by a small, light one, especially made,
+or else took him out absolutely bare. No shackles were needed to secure the
+elephant when his white rider dismounted from his neck, for he followed
+Dermot like a dog, came to his whistle, or stood without moving from the
+spot where he had been ordered to remain. The most perfect understanding
+existed between the two; and the superstitious Hindus regarded with awe the
+extraordinary subjection of their sacred and revered _Gunesh_ to the white
+man.
+
+Now, after a greeting and a palatable gift to Badshah, Dermot seized the
+huge ears, placed his foot on the trunk which was curled to receive it and
+was swung up on to the neck by the well-trained animal. Then, answering the
+_salaams_ of the _mahouts_ and coolies, who invariably gathered to witness
+and wonder at his daily meeting with Badshah, he touched the elephant under
+the ears with his toe and was borne away into the jungle.
+
+His object this day was not to explore but to shoot a deer to replenish the
+mess larder. Fresh meat was otherwise unprocurable in Ranga Duar; and an
+unvaried diet of tinned food was apt to become wearisome, especially as it
+was not helped out by bread and fresh vegetables. These were luxuries
+unknown to the British officers in this, as in many other, outposts.
+
+The sea of vegetation closed around Badshah and submerged him, as he turned
+off a footpath and plunged into the dense undergrowth. The trees were
+mostly straight-stemmed giants of teak, branchless for some distance from
+the ground. Each strove to thrust its head above the others through the
+leafy canopy overhead, fighting for its share of the life-giving sunlight.
+In the green gloom below tangled masses of bushes, covered with large,
+bell-shaped flowers and tall grasses in which lurked countless thorny
+plants obstructed the view between the tree-trunks. Above and below was a
+bewildering confusion of creepers forming an intricate network, swinging
+from the upper branches and twisting around the boles, biting deep into the
+bark, strangling the life out of the stoutest trees or holding up the
+withered, lifeless trunks of others long dead. They filled the space
+between the tree-tops and the undergrowth, entangled, crisscrossed,
+festooned, like a petrified mass of writhing snakes.
+
+Through this maddening obstacle Badshah forced his way; while Dermot hacked
+at the impeding _lianas_ with a sharp _kukri_, the heavy-bladed Gurkha
+knife. The elephant moved on at an easy pace, shouldering aside the surging
+waves of vegetation and bursting the clinging hold of the creepers. As he
+went he swept huge bunches of grass up in his trunk, tore down leafy trails
+or broke off small branches, and crammed them all impartially into his
+mouth. At a touch of Dermot's foot or the guiding pressure of his hand he
+swerved aside to avoid a tree or a particularly thorny bush.
+
+There was little life to be seen. But occasionally, with a whirring sound
+of rushing wings, a bright-plumaged jungle cock with his attendant bevy of
+sober-clad hens swept up with startled squawks from under the huge feet and
+flew to perch high up on neighbouring trees, chattering and clucking
+indignantly in their fright. The pretty black and white Giant Squirrel ran
+along the upper branches; or a troop of little brown monkeys leapt away
+among the tree tops.
+
+It was fascinating to be borne along without effort through the enchanted
+wood in the luminous green gloom that filled it, lulled by the swaying
+motion of the elephant's stride. The soothing silence of the woodland was
+broken only by the crowing of a jungle cock. The thick, leafy screen
+overhead excluded the glare of the tropic sunlight; and the heat was
+tempered to a welcome coolness by the dense shade.
+
+But, despite the soporific motion of his huge charger, Dermot's vigilant
+eye searched the apparently lifeless jungle as he was borne along.
+Presently it was caught by a warm patch of colour, the bright chestnut hide
+of a deer; and he detected among the trees the graceful form of a _sambhur_
+hind. Accustomed to seeing wild elephants the animal gazed without
+apprehension at Badshah and failed to mark the man on his neck. But females
+of the deer tribe are sacred to the sportsman; and the hunter passed on.
+Half a mile farther on, in the deepest shadow of the undergrowth, he saw
+something darker still. It was the dull black hide of a _sambhur_ stag, a
+fine beast fourteen hands high, with sharp brow antlers and thick horns
+branching into double points. Knowing the value of motionlessness as a
+concealment the animal never moved; and only an eye trained to the jungle
+would have detected it. Dermot noted it, but let it remain unscathed; for
+he knew well the exceeding toughness of its flesh. What he sought was a
+_kakur_, or barking deer, a much smaller but infinitely more palatable
+beast.
+
+Hours passed; and he and Badshah had wandered for miles without finding
+what he wanted. He looked at his watch; for the sun was invisible. It was
+nearly noon. In a space free from undergrowth he halted the elephant and,
+patting the skull with his open hand, said:
+
+"_Buth!_"
+
+Badshah at the word sank slowly down until he rested on his breast and
+belly with fore and hind legs stuck out stiffly along the ground. Dermot
+slipped off his neck and stretched his cramped limbs; for sitting long
+upright on an elephant without any support to the back is tiring. Then
+he reclined under a tree with his loaded rifle beside him--for the
+peaceful-seeming forest has its dangers. He made a frugal lunch off a
+packet of sandwiches from his haversack.
+
+Eating made him thirsty. He had forgotten to bring his water-bottle with
+him; and he knew that there was no stream to be met with in the jungle for
+many miles. But he was aware that the forest could supply his wants.
+Rising, he drew his _kukri_ and looked around him. Among the tangle of
+creepers festooned between the trees he detected the writhing coils of one
+with withered, cork-like bark, four-sided and about two inches in diameter.
+He walked over to it and, grasping it in his left hand, cut it through with
+a blow of his heavy knife. Its interior consisted of a white, moist pulp.
+With another blow he severed a piece a couple of feet long. Taking a metal
+cup from his haversack he cut the length of creeper into small pieces and
+held all their ends together over the little vessel. From them water began
+to drip, the drops came faster and finally little streams from the pulpy
+interior filled the cup to the brim with a cool, clear, and palatable
+liquid. The _liana_ was the wonderful _pani-bel_, or water-creeper.
+
+Dermot drank until his thirst was quenched, then sat down with his back
+against a tree and lit his pipe. He smoked contentedly and watched Badshah
+grazing. The elephant plucked the long grass with a scythe-like sweep of
+his trunk, tore down succulent creepers and broke off small branches from
+the trees, chewing the wood and leaves with equal enjoyment. From time to
+time he looked towards his master, but, receiving no signal to prepare to
+move on, continued his meal.
+
+At last the Major knocked out the ashes of his pipe, grinding them into the
+earth with his heel lest a chance spark might start a forest fire, and
+whistled to Badshah. The elephant came at once to him. From his haversack
+Dermot took out a couple of bananas and held them up. The snake-like trunk
+shot out and grasped them, then curving back placed them in the huge mouth.
+Dermot stood up and, slinging his rifle over his shoulder, seized Badshah's
+ears and was lifted again to his place astride the neck.
+
+Once more the jungle closed about them, as the elephant moved off. The
+rider, unslinging his rifle and laying it across his thighs, glanced from
+side to side as they proceeded. The forest grew more open. The undergrowth
+thinned; and occasionally they came to open glades carpeted with tall
+bracken and looking almost like an English wood. But the great boughs of
+the giant trees were matted thick with the glossy green leaves of orchid
+plants, from which drooped long trails of delicate mauve and white flowers.
+
+Just as they were emerging from dense undergrowth on to such a glade,
+Dermot's eye was caught by something moving ahead of them. He checked
+Badshah; and they remained concealed in in the thick vegetation. Then
+through the trees came a trim little _kakur_ buck, stepping daintily in
+advance of his doe which followed a few yards behind. As they moved their
+long ears twitched incessantly, pointing now in this, now in that,
+direction for any sound that might warn them of danger. But they did not
+detect the hidden peril. Dermot noiselessly raised his rifle, aimed
+hurriedly at the leader's shoulder and fired. The loud report sounded like
+thunder through the silent forest. The stricken buck sprang convulsively
+into the air, then fell in a heap; while his startled mate leaped over his
+body and disappeared in bounding flight.
+
+At the touch of his rider's foot the elephant moved forward into the open;
+and without waiting for him to sink down Dermot slid to the ground. Old
+hunter that he was, the Major could never repress a feeling of pity when he
+looked on any harmless animal that he had shot; and he had long ago given
+up killing such except for food. He propped his rifle against a tree and,
+taking off his coat and rolling up his sleeves, drew his _kukri_ and
+proceeded to disembowel and clean the _kakur_. While he was thus employed
+Badshah strayed away into the jungle to graze, for elephants feed
+incessantly.
+
+When Dermot had finished his unpleasant task, it still remained to bind the
+buck's legs together and tie him on to Badshah's back. For this he would
+need cords; but he relied on the inexhaustible jungle to supply him with
+these.
+
+While searching for the udal tree whose inner bark would furnish him with
+long, tough strips, he heard a crashing in the undergrowth not far away,
+but, concluding that it was caused by Badshah, he did not trouble to look
+round. Having got the cordage that he needed, he turned to go back to the
+spot where he had left the _kakur_. As he fought his way impatiently
+through the thorny tangled vegetation, he again heard the breaking of twigs
+and the trampling down of the undergrowth. He glanced in the direction of
+the sound, expecting to see Badshah appear.
+
+To his dismay his eyes fell on a strange elephant, a large double-tusker.
+It had caught sight of him and, contrary to the usual habit of its kind,
+was advancing towards him instead of retreating. This showed that it was
+the most terrible of all wild animals, a man-killing "rogue" elephant, than
+which there is no more vicious or deadly brute on the earth.
+
+Dermot instantly recognised his danger. It was very great. His rifle was
+some distance away, and before he could reach it the tusker would probably
+overtake him. He stopped and stood still, hoping that the rogue had not
+caught sight of him. But he saw at once that there was no doubt of this.
+The brute had its murderous little eyes fixed on him and was quickening its
+pace. The undergrowth that almost held the man a prisoner was no obstacle
+to this powerful beast.
+
+Dermot realised that it meant to attack him. His heart nearly stopped, for
+he knew the terrible death that awaited him. He had seen the crushed
+bodies, battered to pulp and with the limbs torn away, of men killed by
+rogue elephants. The only hope of escape, a faint one, lay in flight.
+
+Madly he strove to tear himself free from the clutching thorns and the grip
+of the entangling creepers that held him. He flung all his weight into his
+efforts to fight his way out clear of the malignant vegetation, that seemed
+a cruel, living thing striving to drag him to his death. The elephant saw
+his desperate struggles. It trumpeted shrilly and, with head held high,
+trunk curled up, and the lust of murder in its heart, it charged.
+
+The tangled network of interlaced undergrowth parted like gossamer before
+it. Small trees went down and the tallest bushes were trampled flat; the
+stoutest creepers broke like pack-thread before its weight.
+
+Dermot tore himself free from the clutch of the last clinging, curving
+thorns that rent his garments and cut deep into his flesh. Gaining
+comparatively open ground he ran for his life. But he had lost all sense of
+direction and could not remember where his rifle stood. Escape seemed
+hopeless. He knew only too well that in the jungle a pursuing elephant will
+always overtake a fleeing man. The trees offered no refuge, for the lowest
+branches were high above his reach and the trunks too thick and straight to
+climb. He fled, knowing that each moment might be his last. A false step, a
+trip over a root or a creeper and he was lost. He would be gored, battered
+to death, stamped out of existence, torn limb from limb by the vicious
+brute.
+
+The rogue was almost upon him. He swerved suddenly and with failing breath
+and fiercely beating heart ran madly on. But the respite was momentary. His
+head was dizzy, his legs heavy as lead, his strength almost gone. He could
+hear the terrible pursuer only a few yards behind him.
+
+Already the great beast's uncurled trunk was stretched out to seize its
+prey. Dermot's last moment had come when, with a fierce, shrill scream, a
+huge body burst out of the jungle and hurled itself at his assailant.
+Badshah had come to the rescue of his man.
+
+Before the rogue could swing round to meet him the gallant animal had
+charged furiously into it, driving his single tusk with all his immense
+weight behind it into the strange elephant's side. The shock staggered the
+murderous brute and almost knocked it to the ground. Only the fact of its
+having turned slightly at Badshah's cry, so that his tusk inflicted a
+somewhat slanting blow, had saved it from a mortal wound. Before it could
+recover its footing Badshah gored it again.
+
+Dermot, plucked at the last moment from the most terrible of deaths,
+staggered panting to a tree and tried to stand, supporting himself against
+the trunk. But the strain had been too great. He turned faint and sank
+exhausted to the earth, almost unconscious. But the remembrance of
+Badshah's peril from a better-armed antagonist--for the possession of two
+tusks gave the rogue a great advantage--nerved him. Holding on to the tree
+he dragged himself up and looked around for his rifle. He could not see it,
+and he dared not cross the arena in which the two huge combatants were
+fighting.
+
+As Badshah drew back to gain impetus for another charge, the rogue regained
+its feet and prepared to hurl itself on the unexpected assailant. Dermot
+was in despair at being unable to aid his saviour, who he feared must
+succumb to the superior weapons of his opponent. He gazed fascinated at the
+titanic combat.
+
+The rogue trumpeted a shrill challenge. Then it curled its trunk between
+its tusks out of harm's way and with ears cocked forward and tail erect
+rushed to the assault. But suddenly it propped on stiffened forelegs and
+stopped dead. It stared at Badshah, who was about to charge again, and
+backed slowly, seemingly panic-stricken. Then as the tame elephant moved
+forward to the attack the rogue screamed with terror, swung about, and with
+ears and tail dropped, bolted into the undergrowth.
+
+With a trumpet of triumph Badshah pursued. Dermot, left alone, could
+hardly credit the passing of the danger. The whole episode seemed a
+hideous nightmare from which he had just awaked. He could scarcely
+believe that it had actually taken place, although the trampled
+vegetation and the crashing sounds of the great animals' progress
+through the undergrowth were evidence of its reality. The need for
+action had not passed. The rogue might return, for a fight between wild
+bull-elephants often lasts a whole day and consists of short and
+desperate encounters, retreats, pursuits, and fresh battles. So he
+hurriedly searched for his rifle, which he eventually found some
+distance away. He opened the breach and replaced the soft-nosed bullets
+with solid ones, more suitable for such big game. Then, once more
+feeling a strong man armed, he waited expectantly. The sounds of the
+chase had died away. But after a while he heard a heavy body forcing a
+passage through the undergrowth and held his rifle ready. Then through
+the tangle of bushes and creepers Badshah's head appeared. The elephant
+came straight to him and touched him all over with outstretched trunk,
+just as mother-elephants do their calves, as if to assure himself of his
+man's safety.
+
+Dermot could have kissed the soft, snake-like proboscis, and he patted the
+animal affectionately and murmured his thanks to him. Badshah seemed to
+understand him and wrapped his trunk around his friend's shoulders. Then,
+apparently satisfied, he moved away and began to graze calmly, as if
+nothing out of the common had taken place.
+
+Dermot pulled himself together. Near the foot of the tree at which he had
+sunk down he found the cord-like strips of bark which he had cut. Picking
+them up he went to the carcase of the buck and tied its legs together. A
+whistle brought the elephant to him, and, hoisting the deer on to the pad,
+he fastened it to the surcingle. Then, grasping the elephant's ears, he was
+lifted to his place on the neck.
+
+Turning Badshah's head towards home he started off; but, as he went, he
+looked back at the trampled glade and thanked Heaven that his body was not
+lying there, crushed and lifeless.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+A GIRL OF THE TERAI
+
+"How beautiful! How wonderful!" murmured the girl on the verandah, her eyes
+turned to the long line of the Himalayas filling the horizon to the north.
+
+Clear against the blue sky the shining, ice-clad peaks of Kinchinjunga, a
+hundred miles away, towered high in air. Mystic, lovely, they seemed to
+float above the earth, as unsubstantial as the clouds from which they rose.
+They belonged to another world, a fairy world altogether apart from the
+rugged, tumbled masses, the awe-inspiring precipices and tremendous cliffs,
+of the nearer mountains. These were majestic, overpowering, but plainly of
+this earth, unlike the pure, white summits that seemed unreal, impossible
+in their beauty.
+
+"Do come and look, Fred," said the girl aloud. "I've never seen the Snows
+so clearly."
+
+She spoke to the solitary occupant of the dining-room of the bungalow. The
+young man at the breakfast table answered laughingly:
+
+"I don't want to look at those confounded hills, Sis. I've seen them,
+nothing but them, all through these long months, until I begin to hate the
+sight of them."
+
+"Oh, but do come, dear!" she pleaded. "Kinchinjunga has never seemed so
+beautiful as it does this morning. And it looks so near. Who could believe
+that it was all those miles away?"
+
+With an air of pretended boredom and martyr-like resignation, her brother
+put down his coffee-cup and came out on the verandah.
+
+"Isn't it like Fairyland?" said the girl in an awed voice.
+
+He put his arm affectionately round her, as he replied:
+
+"Then it's where you belong, kiddie, for you look like a fairy this
+morning."
+
+The hackneyed compliment, unusual from the lips of a brother, was not
+far-fetched. If a dainty little figure, an exquisitely pretty dimpled
+face, a shell-pink complexion, violet eyes with long, thick lashes, and
+naturally wavy golden hair be the hallmarks of the fairies, then Noreen
+Daleham might claim to be one. Her face in repose had a somewhat sad
+expression, due to the pathetic droop of the corners of her little
+mouth and a wistful look in her eyes that made most men instinctively
+desire to caress and console her. But the sadness and the wistfulness
+were unconscious and untrue, for the girl was of a sunny and happy
+disposition. And the men that desired to pet her were kept at a distance
+by her natural self-respect, which made them respect her, too.
+
+She was, perhaps, somewhat unusual in her generation in that she did not
+indulge in flirtations and would have strongly objected to being the object
+of promiscuous caresses and light lovemaking. Her innate purity and
+innocence kept such things at a distance from her. It never occurred to her
+that a girl might indulge in a hundred flirtations without reproach.
+Without being sentimental she had her own inward, unexpressed feelings of
+romance and vague dreams of Love and a Lover--but not of loves and lovers
+in the plural.
+
+No one so far had shattered her belief in the chivalrous feeling of respect
+of the other sex for her own. Men as a rule, especially British men--though
+they are no more virtuous than those of alien nations--treat a woman as she
+inwardly wants them to treat her. And, although this girl was over twenty,
+she had never yet had reason to suspect that men could behave to her with
+anything but respect.
+
+Her small and shapely figure looked to advantage in the well-cut riding
+costume of khaki drill that she wore this morning. A cloth habit would
+have been too warm for even these early days of an Eastern Bengal hot
+weather. She was ready to accompany her brother in his early ride
+through the tea-garden (of which he was assistant manager) in the Duars,
+as this district of the Terai below the mountains is called. From the
+verandah on which they stood they could look over acres of trim and tidy
+bushes planted in orderly rows, a strong contrast to the wild disorder
+of the big trees and masses of foliage of the forest that lay beyond
+them and stretched to and along the foothills of the Himalayas only a
+few miles away.
+
+Daleham's father, a retired colonel, has died just as the boy was preparing
+to go up for the entrance examination for the Royal Military College at
+Sandhurst. To his great grief he was obliged to give up all hope of
+becoming a soldier, and, when he left school, entered an office in the
+city. Passionately desirous of an open-air and active life he had
+afterwards eagerly snatched at an offer of employment by one of the great
+tea companies that are dotting the Terai with their plantations and
+sweeping away glorious spaces of wild, primeval forest to replace the trees
+by orderly rows of tea-bushes and unsightly iron-roofed factories.
+
+Left with a small income inherited from her mother, Noreen Daleham, who was
+two years her brother's junior, had gladly given up the dulness of a home
+with an aunt in a small country town to accompany her brother and keep
+house for him.
+
+To most girls life on an Indian tea-garden would not seem alluring; for
+they would find themselves far from social gaieties and the society of
+their kind. Existence is lonely and lacking in the comforts, as well as the
+luxuries, of civilisation. Dances, theatres, concerts, even shops, are far,
+very far away. A woman must have mental resources to enable her to face
+contentedly life in a scantily-furnished, comfortless bungalow, dumped down
+in a monotonous stretch of unlovely tea-bushes. With little to occupy her
+she must rely for days at a time on the sole companionship of her man. To a
+young bride very much in love that may seem no hardship. But when the
+glamour has vanished she may change her mind.
+
+To Noreen, however, the isolation was infinitely preferable to the
+narrow-minded and unfriendly intimacy of society in a country town with
+its snobbery and cliques. To be mistress of her own home and to be able
+to look after and mother her dearly-loved brother was a pleasant change
+from her position as a cipher in the household of a crotchetty,
+unsympathetic, maiden aunt. And fortunately for her the charm of the
+silent forest around them, the romance of the mysterious jungle with its
+dangers and its wonders, appealed strongly to her, and she preferred
+them to all the pleasures that London could offer. And yet the delights
+of town were not unknown to her. Her father's first cousin, who had
+loved him but married a rich man, often invited the girl to stay with
+her in her house in Grosvenor Square. These visits gave her an insight
+into life in Mayfair with its attendant pleasures of dances in smart
+houses, dinners and suppers in expensive restaurants, the Opera and
+theatres, and afternoons at Ranelagh and Hurlingham. She enjoyed them
+all; she had enough money to dress well; and she was very popular.
+But London could not hold her. Her relative, who was childless, was
+anxious that Noreen should remain always with her, at least until she
+married--and the older woman determined that the girl should make an
+advantageous marriage. But the latter knew that her income was very
+welcome to her aunt and, with a spirit of self-sacrifice not usual in
+the young, gave up a gay, fashionable life for the dull existence of
+a paying drudge in the house of an ungrateful, embittered elderly
+spinster. Yet her heart rejoiced when she conscientiously felt that her
+brother needed her more and had a greater claim upon her; and gladly she
+went to keep house for him in India.
+
+And she was happier than he in their new life. For in this land that is
+essentially a soldier's country, won by the sword, held by the sword, in
+spite of all that ignorant demagogues in England may say, Fred Daleham felt
+all the more keenly the disappointment of his inability to follow the
+career that he would have chosen. However, he was a healthy-minded young
+man, not given to brooding and vain regrets.
+
+"Are you ready to start, dear?" he said to his sister now. "Shall I order
+the ponies?"
+
+"I am ready. But have you finished your coffee?"
+
+"Thanks, yes. We'll go off at once then, for I have a long morning's work,
+and we had better get our ride over while it's cool."
+
+He shouted to his "boy" to order the _syces_, or grooms, to bring the
+ponies.
+
+"Where are we going today, dear?" asked the girl, putting on her pith
+helmet.
+
+"To the nursery first. I want to see if the young plants have suffered much
+from that hailstorm yesterday."
+
+"Wasn't it awful? What would people in England say if they got hailstones
+like that on their heads?"
+
+"Chunerbutty and I measured one that I picked up outside the withering
+shed," said the brother. "It was a solid lump of clear ice two inches long
+and one and a half broad."
+
+"I couldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen them," observed the girl. "I
+wonder that everyone who is caught out in such a storm is not killed."
+
+"Animals often are--and men, too, for that matter," replied Daleham.
+
+Noreen tapped her smart little riding-boot with her whip.
+
+"I'm glad we're going out to the nursery," she said. "It's my favourite
+ride."
+
+"I know it is, but I don't like taking you there, Sis," replied her
+brother. "I always funk that short cut through the bit of jungle to it. I
+never feel sure that we won't meet a wild elephant in it."
+
+"Oh; but I don't believe they are dangerous; and I do love the ride through
+that exquisite patch of forest. The trees look so lovely, now that the
+orchids on them are in flower."
+
+"My dear girl, get that silly idea that elephants are not dangerous out of
+your head," said Daleham decidedly. "You ask any of the fellows."
+
+"Mr. Parry says they're not."
+
+"Old Parr's never seen any elephant but a tame one, unless it's a pink or
+speckled one with a brass tail climbing up the wall of his room when he's
+got D.T's. He never went out shooting in the jungle in his life. But you
+ask Payne or Reynolds or any of the chaps on the other gardens who know
+anything of the jungle."
+
+The girl was unwilling to believe that her beloved forest could prove
+perilous to her, and she feared lest her excursions into it should be
+forbidden.
+
+"Well, perhaps a rogue might be dangerous," she admitted grudgingly. "But I
+don't believe that even a rogue would attack you unprovoked."
+
+"Wouldn't it? From all I've heard about them I'd be very sorry to give one
+of them the chance," said her brother. "I'd almost like you to meet one,
+just to teach you not to be such a cocksure young woman. Lord! wouldn't I
+laugh to see you trying to climb a tree--that is, if I were safe up one
+myself!"
+
+The arrival of the ponies cut short the discussion. Daleham swung his
+sister up into the saddle of her smart little countrybred and mounted his
+own waler.
+
+Out along the road through the estate they trotted in the cool northerly
+breeze that swept down from the mountains and tempered the sun's heat. The
+panorama of the Himalayas was glorious, although Kinchinjunga had now drawn
+up his covering of clouds over his face and the Snows had disappeared. The
+long orderly lines of tea-bushes were dotted here and there with splashes
+of colour from the bright-hued _puggris_, or turbans, of the men and the
+_saris_ and petticoats of the female coolies, who were busy among the
+plants, pruning them or tending their wounds after the storm.
+
+The brother and sister quickened their pace and, racing along the soft
+earthern road, soon reached the patch of forest that intervened between the
+garden and the nursery.
+
+"I say, Noreen, I think we'd better go the long way round," said Daleham
+apprehensively, as he pulled up his waler.
+
+"Oh, no, Fred. Don't funk it. Do come on," urged the girl. "If you don't,
+I'll go on by myself and meet you at the nursery."
+
+The dispute was a daily occurrence and always ended in the man weakly
+giving in.
+
+"That's a dear boy," said his sister consolingly, when she had gained her
+point.
+
+"Yes, that's all very well," grumbled the brother. "You've got your own
+way, as usual. I hope you won't have cause to regret it one day."
+
+"Don't be silly, dear. Come on!" she replied, touching her pony with the
+whip. The animal seemed to dislike entering the forest as much as the man
+did. "Oh, do go on, Kitty. Don't be tiresome."
+
+The pony balked, but finally gave way under protest, and they rode on into
+the jungle. A bridle path wound through the undergrowth and between the
+trees, and this they followed.
+
+It was easy to understand the girl's enthusiasm and desire to be in the
+forest. After the tameness of the tea-garden the wild beauty of the giant
+trees, their huge limbs clothed in the green leaves and drooping trails of
+blossoms of the orchids, the tangled pattern of the interlaced creepers,
+the flower-decked bushes and the high ferns, looked all the lovelier in
+their untrammelled profusion.
+
+The nursery was visited and the damage done to the young plants inspected.
+Then they turned their ponies' heads towards home and went back through the
+strip of jungle. They rode over the whole estate, including the untidy
+ramshackle village of bamboo and palm-thatched huts of the garden coolies,
+where the little, naked, brown babies rushed out to salaam and smile at
+their friend Noreen.
+
+As they came in sight of the ugly buildings of the engine and drying-houses
+with their corrugated iron roofs and rusty stove-pipe chimneys, Daleham
+said:
+
+"Look here, old girl, while I go to the factory, you'd better hurry on and
+see to the drinks and things we've got to send to the club. I hope you
+haven't forgotten that it's our day to be 'at home' there."
+
+"Of course I haven't, Fred. Is it likely?" exclaimed the justly-indignant
+housewife. "Long before you were awake I helped the cook to pack the cold
+meat and sweets and cakes, and they went off before we left the bungalow."
+
+They were referring to a custom that obtains in the colonies of
+tea-planters who are scattered in ones, twos, and threes on
+widely-separated estates. Their one chance of meeting others of their
+colour is at the weekly gathering in the so-called club of the district.
+This is very unlike the institutions known by that name to dwellers in
+civilised cities. No marble or granite palace is it, but a rough wooden
+shed with one or two rooms built out in the forest far from human
+habitations, but in a spot as central and equi-distant to all the
+planters of the district as possible. A few tennis courts are made
+beside it, or perhaps a stretch of jungle is cleared, the more obtrusive
+roots grubbed up, and the result is called a polo-ground, and on it the
+game is played fast and furiously.
+
+A certain day in the week is selected as the one which the planters from
+the gardens for ten or twenty miles around will come together to it. Across
+rivers, through forest, jungle, and peril of wild beasts they journey on
+their ponies to meet their fellow men. Some of them may not have seen
+another white face since the last weekly gathering.
+
+Each of them in turn acts as host. By lumbering bullock-cart or on the
+heads of coolies he sends in charge of his servants to the club-house miles
+away from his bungalow food and drink, crockery, cutlery, and glasses, for
+the entertainment of all who will foregather there.
+
+And for a few crowded hours this lonely spot in the jungle is filled with
+the sound of human voices, with laughter, friendliness, and good
+fellowship. Men who have been isolated for a week rub off the cobwebs,
+lunch, play tennis, polo, and cards, and swap stories at the bar until the
+declining sun warns them of the necessity for departing before night falls
+on the forest. After hearty farewells they swing themselves up into the
+saddle again and dash off at breakneck speed to escape being trapped by the
+darkness.
+
+Many and strange are the adventures that befall them on the rough roads or
+in the trackless wilds. Sometimes an elephant, a bear, or a tiger confronts
+them on their way. But the intrepid planter, and his not less courageous
+women-folk, if he has any to accompany him, gallops fearlessly by it or,
+perhaps, rides unarmed at the astonished beast and scares it by wild cries.
+Then on again to another week of lonely labour.
+
+This day it had fallen to the lot of the Dalehams to be the hosts of their
+community. Noreen had superintended the preparation and despatch of the
+supplies for their guests and could ride home now with a clear conscience
+to wait for her brother to return for their second breakfast. The early
+morning repast, the _chota hazri_ of an Anglo-Indian household, is a very
+light and frugal one, consisting of a cup of coffee or tea, a slice of
+toast, and one or two bananas.
+
+As she pulled up her pony in front of the bungalow a man came down the
+steps of the verandah and helped her to dismount.
+
+"Oh, thank you, Mr. Chunerbutty," she exclaimed, "and good morning."
+
+"Good morning, Miss Daleham. Just back from your ride with Fred, I
+suppose?"
+
+The newcomer was the engineer of the estate. The staff of the tea-garden of
+Malpura consisted of three persons, the manager, a hard-drinking old
+Welshman called Parry; the assistant manager, Daleham; and this man. As a
+rule the employees of these estates are Europeans. Chunerbutty was an
+exception. A Bengali Brahmin by birth, the son of a minor official in the
+service of a petty rajah of Eastern Bengal, he had chosen engineering
+instead of medicine or law, the two professions that appeal most to his
+compatriots. A certain amount of native money was invested in the company
+that owned the Malpura garden; and the directors apparently thought it good
+policy to employ an Indian on it.
+
+Like many other young Hindus who have studied in England, Chunerbutty
+professed to be completely Anglicised. In the presence of Europeans he
+sneered at the customs, beliefs, and religions of his fellow-countrymen and
+posed as an agnostic. It galled him that Englishmen in India thought none
+the more of him for foreswearing his native land, and he contrasted
+bitterly their manner to him with the reception that he had met with in the
+circles in which he moved in England. He had been regarded as a hero in
+London boarding-houses. His well-cut features and dark complexion had
+played havoc with the affections of shop-girls of a certain class and that
+debased type of young Englishwoman whose perverted and unnatural taste
+leads her to admire coloured men.
+
+In one of these boarding-houses he had met Daleham, when the latter was a
+clerk in the city. It was at Chunerbutty's suggestion and with an
+introduction from him that Fred had sought for and obtained employment in
+the tea company, and as a result the young Englishman had ever since felt
+in the Bengali's debt. He inspired his sister with the same belief, and in
+consequence Noreen always endeavoured to show her gratitude to Chunerbutty
+by frank friendliness. They had all three sailed to India in the same ship,
+and on the voyage she had resented what seemed to her the illiberal
+prejudice of other English ladies on board to the Hindu. And all the more
+since she had an uncomfortable suspicion that deep down in her heart she
+shared their feeling. So she tried to seem the friendlier to Chunerbutty.
+
+It said much for her own and her brother's popularity with the planters
+that their intimacy with him did not cause them to be disliked. These men
+as a class are not unjust to natives, but intimate acquaintance with the
+Bengali does not tend to make them love him. For the Dalehams' sake most of
+the men in the district received Chunerbutty with courtesy. But his
+manager, a rough Welshman of the bad old school, who openly declared that
+he "loathed all niggers," treated him with invariable rudeness.
+
+As the Hindu engineer and Noreen ascended the steps of the verandah
+together, the girl said:
+
+"You are coming to the club this afternoon, are you not?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Daleham, that is why I have been waiting at your bungalow to see
+you. I wanted to ask if we'd ride over together."
+
+"Of course. We must start early, though. I want to see that the servants
+have everything ready."
+
+"I don't think I'd be anxious to go if it were not _your_ 'At Home' day,"
+said the Bengali, as they seated themselves in the drawing-room that Noreen
+had made as pretty as she could with her limited resources. "I don't like
+the club as a rule. The fellows are so stand-offish."
+
+"You mustn't think so, Mr. Chunerbutty. They aren't really. You know
+Englishmen as a rule are not expansive. They often seem unfriendly when
+they don't mean to be."
+
+"Oh, they mean it right enough here," replied the Hindu bitterly. "They all
+think they're better than I am, just because I am an Indian. It is that
+hateful prejudice of the English man and woman in this country. It is
+different in England. You know I was made a lot of in London. You saw how
+all the men in that boarding-house we stayed at before we sailed were my
+friends."
+
+"Yes; that was so, Mr. Chunerbutty," replied Noreen, who was secretly tired
+of the subject, with which he regaled her every day.
+
+"And as for the women--Of course I don't want to boast, but all the girls
+were keen to have me take them out and were proud to be seen with me. I
+know that if I liked I could have picked up lots of ladies, real ladies, I
+mean, not shop-girls. You should have seen the way they ogled me in the
+street. I can assure you that little red-haired girl from Manchester in the
+boarding-house, Lily----"
+
+Noreen broke in quickly.
+
+"Please don't tell me anything about her, Mr. Chunerbutty. You know that I
+don't like to hear you speak disrespectfully of ladies." Then, to change
+the disagreeable subject, she continued: "Fred will be back to breakfast
+soon. Will you stay for it? Then we can all ride together to the club."
+
+"Thank you. I should like to," replied Chunerbutty. To show his freedom
+from caste prejudices he not only ate with Europeans, but even showed no
+objection to beef, much to the horror of all orthodox Hindus. That a
+Brahmin, of all men, should partake of the sacred flesh of the almost
+divine cow was an appalling sacrilege in their eyes.
+
+Leaving him with a book she attended to the cares of her household,
+disorganised by the absence of cook and butler, who had gone on ahead to
+the club with the supplies.
+
+When, after an eight miles' ride, the Dalehams and Chunerbutty reached the
+wooden shanty that was the rendezvous of the day, they found that they were
+not the first arrivals. Four or five young men swooped joyously down on
+Noreen and quarrelled over the right to help her from the saddle. While
+they were disputing vehemently and pushing each other away the laughing
+girl slipped unaided to the ground and ran up the wooden steps of the
+verandah. She was instantly pursued by the men, who followed her to the
+back verandah where she had gone to interview her servants. They clamoured
+to be allowed to help in any capacity, and she had to assume an indignation
+and a severity she was far from feeling to drive them away.
+
+"Oh, do go away, please," she said. "You are only in the way. How can I
+look after _tiffin_ if you interfere with me like this? Now do be good boys
+and go off. There's Mrs. Rice arriving. Help her out of her trap."
+
+They went reluctantly to the aid of the only other lady of their little
+community, who was apparently unable to climb down from her bamboo cart
+without help. Her husband and Daleham were already proferring their
+services, but they were seemingly insufficient.
+
+Mrs. Rice belonged to the type of woman altogether unsuited to the life of
+a planter's wife. She was a shallow, empty-headed person devoid of mental
+resources and incapable of taking interest in her household or her
+husband's affairs. In her girlhood she had been pretty in a common style,
+and she refused to recognise that the days of her youth and good looks had
+gone by. On the garden she spent her time lounging in her bungalow in an
+untidy dressing-gown, skimming through light novels and the fashion papers
+and writing interminable letters to her family in Balham. Her elderly
+husband, a weak, easy-going man, tired of her constant reproaches for
+having dragged her away from the gay life of her London suburb to the
+isolation of a tea-garden, spent as much of his day as possible in the
+factory. In the bungalow he drank methodically and steadily until he was in
+a state of mellow contentment and indifferent to his wife's tongue.
+
+On club days Mrs. Rice was a different woman. She arrayed herself in the
+latest fashions, or the nearest approach to them that could be reached by a
+native tailor working on her back verandah with the guidance of the fashion
+plates in ladies' journals. Her face thickly coated with most of the
+creams, powders, and complexion beautifiers on the market, she swathed her
+head in a thick veil thrown over her sun-hat. Then, prepared for conquest,
+she climbed into the strong, country-built bamboo cart in which her husband
+was graciously permitted to drive her to the club. Fortunately for her a
+passable road to it ran from her bungalow, for she could not ride.
+
+Arrived at the weekly gathering-place she delighted to surround herself
+with all the men that she could cajole from the bar running down the
+side of the one room of the building. With the extraordinary power of
+self-deception of vain women she believed that most of them were
+secretly in love with her.
+
+Noreen's arrival in the district the previous year and her instant
+popularity were galling to the older woman. But after a while, finding that
+her sneers and thinly-veiled bitter speeches against the girl had no effect
+on the men, she changed her tactics and pretended to make a bosom friend of
+her.
+
+When all the company had assembled at the club, luncheon was served at a
+long, rough wooden table. Beside Noreen sat the man she liked best in the
+little colony, a grey-haired planter named Payne. Many of the younger men
+had striven hard to win her favour, and several had wished to marry her;
+but, liking them all, none had touched her heart. She felt most at ease
+with Payne, who was a quiet, elderly man and a confirmed bachelor. And he
+cordially reciprocated her liking.
+
+During _tiffin_ Fred Daleham called out from the far end of the table:
+
+"I say, Payne, I wish you'd convince that young sister of mine that wild
+elephants can be dangerous beasts."
+
+"They can indeed," replied Payne, turning to Noreen. "Take my advice and
+keep out of their way."
+
+"Oh, but isn't it only rogues that one need be afraid of?" the girl asked.
+"And aren't they rare?"
+
+"These jungles are full of them, Miss Daleham," said another planter.
+"We've had two men on our garden killed already this year."
+
+"The Forest Officer told me that several guards and wood-cutters have been
+attacked lately," joined in another. "One brute has held up the jungles
+around Mendabari for months."
+
+"Oh, don't tell us any more, Mr. Lane," cried Mrs. Rice with affected
+timidity. "I shall be afraid to leave the bungalow."
+
+"I heard that the fellow commanding the Military Police detachment at Ranga
+Duar was nearly killed by a rogue lately," remarked an engineer named
+Goddard. "Our _mahout_ had the story from one of the _mahouts_ of the Fort.
+He had a cock-and-bull yarn about the sahib being saved by his tame
+elephant, a single-tusker, which drove off the rogue. But, as the latter
+was a double tusker, it's not a very likely tale."
+
+"They've got a still more wonderful story about that fellow in Ranga Duar,"
+remarked a planter named Lulworth. "They say he can do anything with wild
+elephants, goes about the jungle with a herd and they obey him like a pack
+of hounds."
+
+The men near him laughed.
+
+"Good old Lulworth!" said one. "That beats Goddard's yarn. Did you make it
+up on the spot or did it take you long to think it out?"
+
+Lulworth smiled good humouredly.
+
+"Oh, it's not an original lie," he replied. "I had it from a half-bred
+Gurkha living in the forest village near my garden."
+
+"Who is commanding Ranga Duar?" asked Lane.
+
+"A fellow called Dermot; a Major," replied Goddard.
+
+"Dermot? I wonder if by any chance it's a man who used to be in these parts
+before--commanded Buxa Duar when there was a detachment of an Indian
+regiment there," said Payne.
+
+"I believe it's the same," replied Goddard. "He knows these jungles well
+and did a lot of shooting in them. He bagged that _budmash_ (rogue)
+elephant that killed so many people. You heard of it. He chased the brute
+for a fortnight."
+
+"That's the man," said Payne. "I'm glad he's back. We used to be rather
+pals and stay with each other."
+
+"Oh, do ask him again, Mr. Payne, and bring him to the club," chimed in
+Mrs. Rice. "It would be such a pleasant change to have some of the officers
+here. They are so nice, such men of the world."
+
+A smile went round the table. All were so used to the lady's tactless
+remarks that they only amused. They had long lost the power to irritate.
+
+"I'm afraid Dermot wouldn't suit you, Mrs. Rice," said Payne laughing.
+"He's not a lady's man."
+
+"Indeed? Is he married?" she asked.
+
+"No, he hasn't that reason to dislike your sex. At least, he wasn't married
+when I knew him. I wonder how he's escaped, for he's very well off for a
+man in the Indian Army and heir to an uncle who is a baronet. Good-looking
+chap, too. Clever beggar, well read and a good soldier, I believe. He has a
+wonderful way with animals. I had a pony that was a regular mad beast. It
+killed one _syce_ and savaged another. It nearly did for me. I sent it to
+Dermot, and in a week he had it eating out of his hand."
+
+"He seems an Admiral what-d'you-call-him--you know, that play they had in
+town about a wonderful butler," said Mrs. Rice.
+
+"Admirable Crichton, wasn't it?"
+
+"Yes, that was the name. Well, your Major seems a wonderful chap," she
+said. "Do ask him. Perhaps he'll bring some of his officers here."
+
+"I hope he won't, Mrs. Rice," remarked Goddard. "If he does, it's evident
+that none of us will have a look in with you."
+
+She smirked, well pleased, as she caught Noreen's eye and rose from the
+table.
+
+Sets of tennis were arranged and the game was soon in full swing. Some of
+the men walked round to the back of the building to select a spot to be
+cleared to make a polo ground. Others gathered at the bar to chat.
+
+Noreen had a small court round her, Chunerbutty clinging closely to her all
+the afternoon, to her secret annoyance. For whenever he accompanied her to
+the club he seemed to make a point of emphasising the friendly terms on
+which they were for the benefit of all beholders. As a matter of fact he
+did so purposely, because he knew that it annoyed all the other men of the
+community to see him apparently on intimate terms with the girl.
+
+On the afternoon, when at her request he had gone out to the back verandah
+to tell her servants to prepare tea, he called to her across the club and
+addressed her by her Christian name. Noreen took it to be an accidental
+slip, but she fancied that it made Mrs. Rice smile unpleasantly and several
+of the men regard her curiously.
+
+The day passed all too quickly for these exiled Britons, whose one bright
+spot of amusement and companionship it was in the week. The setting sun
+gave the signal for departure. After exchanging good-byes with their
+guests, the Malpura party mounted their ponies and cantered home.
+
+One morning, a week later, Noreen over-slept herself, and, when she came
+out of her room for her _chota hazri_, she found that her brother had
+already started off to ride over the garden. Ordering her pony she followed
+him. She guessed that he had gone first to the nursery, and when she
+reached the short cut through the forest she rejoiced at being able to
+enter it without the usual battle. She urged the reluctant Kitty on, and
+rode into it carelessly.
+
+Suddenly her pony balked and shied, flinging her to the ground. Then it
+turned and galloped madly home.
+
+As Noreen, half stunned by the fall, picked herself up stiffly and stood
+dazed and shaken, she shrieked in terror. She was in the middle of a herd
+of wild elephants which surrounded her on every side; and, as she gazed
+panic-stricken at them, they advanced slowly upon her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+THE MADNESS OF BADSHAH
+
+Badshah's rescue of Dermot from the rogue caused him to be more venerated
+than ever by the natives. The Mohammedan sepoys of the detachment, who
+should have had no sympathy with Hindu superstitions, began to regard him
+with awe, impressed by the firm belief in his supernatural nature held by
+their co-religionists among the _mahouts_ and elephant coolies. Among the
+scattered dwellers in the jungle and the Bhuttias on the hills, his fame,
+already widespread, increased enormously; and these ignorant folk, partly
+devil-worshippers, looked on him as half-god, half-demon.
+
+Dermot's feelings towards the gallant animal deepened into strong
+affection, and the perfect understanding between the two made the sympathy
+between the best-trained horse and its rider seem a very small thing. The
+elephant loved the man; and when the Major was on his neck, Badshah seemed
+to need neither touch of hand or foot nor spoken word to make him
+comprehend his master's wishes.
+
+Such a state of affairs was very helpful to Dermot in the execution of his
+task of secret enquiry and exploration. He was thus able to dispense with
+any attendant for the elephant in his jungle wanderings, which sometimes
+lasted several days and nights without a return to the Fort. He wanted no
+witness to his actions at these times. Badshah needed no attention on these
+excursions. The jungle everywhere supplied him with food, and water was
+always to be found in gullies in the hills. It was unnecessary to shackle
+him at night when Dermot slept beside him in the forest. The elephant never
+strayed, but stayed by his man to watch over him through the dangerous
+hours of darkness. He either stood by the sleeper all night or else gently
+lay down near him with the same consummate carefulness that a cow-elephant
+uses when she lowers her huge body to the ground beside her young calf.
+When Badshah guarded Dermot no harm from beast of prey could come to him.
+
+While the forest provided sustenance for the animal, the soldier,
+accustomed though he was to roughing it, found it advisable to supplement
+its resources for himself. But with some ship's biscuits and a few tins of
+preserved meat he was ready to face the jungle for days. Limes and bananas
+grew freely in the foothills. Besides his rifle he usually carried a shot
+gun, for jungle fowl abounded in the forest, and _kalej_, the black and
+white speckled pheasant, in the lower hills, and both were excellent
+eating.
+
+Dermot carried out a thorough survey of the borderland between Bhutan and
+India, making accurate military sketches and noting the ranges of all
+positions suitable for defence, artillery, or observation. Mounted on
+Badshah's neck he ascended the steep hills--elephants are excellent
+climbers--and explored every known _duar_ and defile.
+
+At the same time he kept a keen look-out for messengers passing between
+disloyal elements inside the Indian frontier and possible enemies beyond
+it. His knowledge of the language spoken by the Bhuttia settlers within
+the border, mostly refugees from Bhutan who had fled thither to escape
+the tyranny and exactions of the officials, enabled him to question the
+hill-dwellers as to the presence and purpose of any strangers passing
+through. He gradually established a species of intelligence department
+among these colonists, whose dread and hatred of their former rulers
+have made them very pro-British. Through them he was able to keep a
+check on the comings and goings of trans-frontier Bhutanese, who are
+permitted to enter India freely, although an English subject is not
+allowed by his own Government to penetrate into Bhutan. Despite this
+prohibition--so Dermot discovered--many Bengalis had lately passed
+backwards and forwards across the frontier, a thing hitherto unheard of.
+That members of this timorous race should venture to enter such a
+lawless and savage country as Bhutan and that, having entered it, they
+lived to come back proved that there must be a strong understanding
+between many Bhutanese officials and a certain disloyal element in
+India.
+
+Dermot was returning through the forest from one of his excursions in the
+hills, when an opportunity was afforded him of repaying the debt that he
+owed to Badshah for the saving of his life. They had halted at midday, and
+the man, seated on the ground with his back to a tree, was eating his
+lunch, while the elephant had strayed out of sight among the trees in
+search of food.
+
+Beside Dermot lay his rifle and a double-barrelled shot gun, both loaded.
+Having eaten he lit a cheroot and was jotting down in his notebook the
+information that he had gathered that morning, when a shrill trumpet from
+the invisible Badshah made him grasp his rifle. Skilled in the knowledge of
+the various sounds that elephants make he knew by the brassy note of this
+that the animal was in deadly fear. He sprang up to go to his assistance,
+when Badshah burst through the trees and came towards him at his fastest
+pace, his drooping ears and tail and outstretched trunk showing that he was
+terrified.
+
+Dermot, bringing his rifle to the ready, looked past him for the cause of
+his flight, but could see no pursuer. He wondered what could have so
+alarmed the usually courageous animal. Suddenly the knowledge came to him.
+As Badshah rushed towards him with every indication of terror the man saw
+that, moving over the ground with an almost incredible speed, a large
+serpent came in close pursuit. Even in the open across which Badshah was
+fleeing it was actually gaining on the elephant, as with an extraordinary
+rapidity it poured the sinuous curves of its body along the earth. It was
+evident that, if the chase were continued into the dense undergrowth which
+would hamper the animal more than the snake, the latter would prove the
+winner in the desperate race.
+
+Dermot recognised the pursuer. From its size and the fact that it was
+attacking the elephant it could only be that most dreadful and almost
+legendary denizen of the forest, the hamadryad, or king-cobra. All other
+big snakes in India are pythons, which are not venomous. But this, the
+deadliest, most terrible of all Asiatic serpents, is very poisonous and
+will wantonly attack man as well as animals. Badshah had probably disturbed
+it by accident--it might have been a female guarding its eggs--and in its
+vicious rage it had made an onslaught on him.
+
+The peril of the poisoned tooth is the sole one that a grown elephant need
+fear in the jungle, and Badshah seemed to know that only his man could save
+him. And so in his extremity he fled to Dermot.
+
+The soldier hurriedly put down his rifle and picked up the fowling-piece.
+The elephant rushed past him, and then the snake seemed to sense the
+man--its feeble sight would not permit it to see him. It swerved out of
+its course and came towards him. When but a few feet away it suddenly
+checked and, swiftly writhing its body into a coil from which its head
+and about five feet of its length rose straight up and waved menacingly
+in the air, it gathered impetus to strike.
+
+A deadly feeling of nausea and powerlessness possessed Dermot, as from the
+open mouth, in which the fatal fangs showed plainly while the protruding
+forked tongue darting in and out seemed to feel for him, came a fetid
+effluvia that had a paralysing effect on him. He was experiencing the
+extraordinary fascination that a snake exercises over its victims. His
+muscles seemed benumbed, as the huge head swayed from side to side and
+mesmerised him with its uncanny power. The gun almost dropped from his
+nerveless fingers. But with a fierce effort he regained the mastery of
+himself, brought the butt to his shoulder, and pressed both triggers.
+
+At that short range the shot blew the snake's head off, and Dermot sprang
+back as the heavy body fell forward and lashed and heaved with convulsive
+writhing of the muscles, while the tail beat the ground heavily.
+
+At the report of the gun Badshah stopped in his hurried retreat and turned.
+Then, still showing evidences of his alarm, he approached Dermot slowly.
+
+"It's all right, old boy," said the Major to him. "The brute is done for."
+
+The elephant understood and came to him. Dermot patted the quivering trunk
+outstretched to smell the dead snake and then went forward and grasped the
+hamadryad's tail with both hands, striving to hold it still. But it dragged
+him from side to side and the writhing coils of the headless body nearly
+enfolded him, so he let go and stepped back. As well as he could judge the
+king-cobra was more than seventeen feet long.
+
+It took some time to reassure Badshah, for the elephant was badly
+frightened and, when Dermot mounted him, set off from the spot with a haste
+unlike his usual deliberate pace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a week after this occurrence the Major was busy in his bungalow in
+Ranga Duar drawing up reports for the Adjutant General and amplifying
+existing maps of the borderland, as well as completing his large-scale
+sketches of the passes. When his task was finished he filled his haversack
+with provisions one morning and, shouldering his rifle, descended the
+winding mountain road to the _peelkhana_. Long before this was visible
+through the trees of the foothills he was apprised by the trumpeting of the
+elephants and the loud shouts of men that there was trouble there. When he
+came out on the cleared stretch of ground in front of the stables he saw
+_mahouts_ and coolies fleeing in terror in all directions, while the
+stoutly built _peelkhana_ itself rocked violently as though shaken by an
+earthquake.
+
+Then forth from it, to the accompaniment of terrified squealing and
+trumpeting from the female elephants, Badshah stalked, ears cocked and tail
+up and the light of battle in his eyes, broken iron shackles dangling from
+his legs.
+
+"_Dewand hoyga_ (he has gone mad)," cried the attendants, fleeing past the
+Major in such alarm that they almost failed to notice him. Last of all came
+Ramnath, who, recognising him, halted and salaamed.
+
+"_Khubbadar_ (take care), sahib!" he cried in warning. "The fit is on him
+again. The jungle calls him. He is mad."
+
+Dermot paid no attention to him but hastened on to intercept the elephant
+which stalked on with ears thrust forward and tail raised, ready to give
+battle to any one that dared stop him.
+
+The Major whistled. Badshah checked in his stride, then as a well-known
+voice fell on his ear he faltered and looked about him. Dermot spoke his
+name and the elephant turned and went straight to him, to the amazement of
+the _peelkhana_ attendants watching from behind trees on the hillside. Yet
+they feared lest his intention was to attack the sahib, for when a tame
+tusker is seized with a fit of madness, it often kills even its _mahout_,
+to whom ordinarily it is much attached.
+
+Dermot raised his hand. Badshah stopped and sank on his knees, while his
+master cast off the broken shackles and swung himself astride of his neck.
+Then the elephant rose again and of his own volition rolled swiftly forward
+into the jungle which closed around them and hid animal and man from the
+astounded watchers.
+
+One by one the _mahouts_ and coolies stole from the shelter of the trees
+and gathered together.
+
+"_Wah! Wah!_ the sahib has gone mad, too," exclaimed an old Mohammedan.
+
+"He will never return alive," said another, shaking his head sorrowfully.
+"_Afsos hun_ (I am sorry), for he was a good sahib. The _shaitan_ (devil)
+has borne him away to _Eblis_ (hell)."
+
+Here Ramnath broke in indignantly:
+
+"My elephant is no _shaitan_. He is _Gunesh_, the god _Gunesh_ himself. He
+will let no harm come to the sahib, who is safe under his protection."
+
+The other Hindus among the elephant attendants nodded agreement.
+
+"_Such bath_ (true words)," they said. "Who knows what the gods purpose?
+Which of you has ever before seen any man stop a _dhantwallah_ (tusker)
+when the madness was upon him? Which of ye has known a white man to have a
+power that even we have not, we whose fathers, whose forefathers for
+generations, have tended elephants?"
+
+"Ye speak true talk," said the first speaker. "The Prophet tells us there
+are no gods. But _afrits_ there are, _djinns_--beings more than man. What
+know we of those with whom the sahib communes when he and Badshah go forth
+alone into the forest?"
+
+"The sahib is not as other sahibs," broke in an old coolie. "I was with him
+before--in Buxa Duar. There is naught in the jungle that can puzzle him. He
+knows its ways, the speech of the men in it--ay, and of its animals, too.
+He was a great _shikari_ (hunter) in those old days. Many beasts have
+fallen to his gun. Yet now he goes forth for days and brings back no heads.
+What does he?"
+
+"For days, say you, Chotu?" queried another _mahout_. "Ay, for more than
+days. For nights. What man among us, what man even of these wild men around
+us, would willingly pass a night in the forest?"
+
+"True talk," agreed the old Mohammedan. "Which of us would care to lie down
+alone beside his elephant in the jungle all night? Yet the sahib sleeps
+there--if he does sleep--without fear. And no harm comes to him."
+
+Ramnath slowly shook his head.
+
+"The sahib does not sleep. Nor is there aught in the forest that can do him
+harm. Or my elephant either. The _budmash_ tried to kill the sahib, and
+Badshah protected him. When the big snake attacked Badshah, the sahib saved
+him.
+
+"But what do they in the forest?" asked Chotu again. "Tell me that,
+Ramnath-_ji_."
+
+Once more Ramnath shook his head.
+
+"What know we? We are black men. What knowledge have we of what the sahibs
+do, of what they can do? They go under the sea in ships, beneath the land
+in carriages. So say the sepoys who have been to _Vilayet_ (Europe). They
+fly in the air like birds. That have I seen with my own eyes at Delhi----"
+
+"And I at Lahore," broke in the old Mohammedan.
+
+"And I at Nucklao (Lucknow)," said a third.
+
+"But never yet was there a man, black man or sahib, who could hold a
+_dhantwallah_ when the mad fit was on him, as our sahib has done,"
+continued Ramnath. "He is under the protection of the gods."
+
+Even the Mohammedans among his audience nodded assent. Their _mullah_
+taught them that the gods of the Hindu were devils. But who knew? Mecca was
+far away, and the jungle with its demons was very near them. Among the
+various creeds in India there is a wide tolerance and a readiness to
+believe that there may be something of truth in all the faiths that men
+profess. A Hindu will hang a wreath of marigolds on the tomb of a
+Mohammedan _pir_--a Mussulman saint--and recite a _mantra_, if he knows
+one, before it as readily as he will before the shrine of Siva.
+
+While the superstitious elephant attendants talked, Badshah was moving at a
+fast shambling pace along animal paths through the forest farther and
+farther away from the _peelkhana_. Wild beasts always follow a track
+through the jungle, even a man-made road, in preference to forcing a way
+through the undergrowth for themselves. As he was borne swiftly along, his
+rider felt that, although the elephant had allowed him to mount to his
+accustomed place, it would resent any attempts at restraint or guidance.
+But indeed Dermot had no wish to control it. He was filled with an immense
+desire to learn the mystery of Badshah's frequent disappearances. The Major
+was convinced that the animal had a definite objective in view, so
+purposeful was his manner. For he went rapidly on, never pausing to feed,
+unlike the usual habit of elephants which, when they can, eat all their
+waking time. But Badshah held straight on rapidly without stopping. He was
+proceeding in a direction that took him at an angle away from the line of
+the Himalayas, and the character of the forest altered as he went.
+
+Near the foot of the hills the graceful plumes of the bamboo and the broad
+drooping leaves of the plantain, the wild banana, were interspersed with
+the vivid green leaves and fruit of the limes. Then came the big trees,
+from which the myriad creepers hung in graceful festoons. Here the
+undergrowth was scanty and the ground covered with tall bracken in the open
+glades, which gave the jungle the appearance of an English wood.
+
+Farther on the trees were closer together and the track led through dense
+undergrowth. Then through a border of high elephant-grass with feathery
+tops it emerged on to a broad, dry river-bed of white sand strewn with
+rounded boulders rolled down from the hills. The sudden change from the
+pleasant green gloom of the forest to the harsh glare of the brilliant
+sunshine was startling. As they crossed the open Dermot looked up at the
+giant rampart of the mountains and saw against the dark background of their
+steep slopes the grey wall of Fort and bungalows in the little outpost of
+Ranga Duar high above the forest.
+
+Then the jungle closed round them again, as Badshah plunged into the high
+grass bordering the far side of the river-bed, its feathery plumes sixteen
+feet from the ground. On through low thorny trees and scrub to the huge
+bulks and thick, leafy canopy of the giant _simal_ and teak once more. The
+further they went from the hills the denser, more tropical became the
+undergrowth. The soil was damper and supported a richer, more luxuriant
+vegetation. Cane brakes through which even elephants and bison would find
+it hard to push a way, tree ferns of every kind, feathery bushes set thick
+with cruel hooked thorns, mingled with the great trees, between which the
+creepers rioted in wilder confusion than ever.
+
+The heat was intense. The air grew moist and steamy, and the sweat trickled
+down Dermot's face. The earth underfoot was sodden and slushy. Little
+streams began to trickle, for the water from the mountains ten miles away
+that sinks into the soil at the foot of the hills and flows to the south
+underground, here rises to the surface and gives the whole forest its
+name--Terai, that is, "wet."
+
+Slimy pools lurked in the undergrowth. In one the ugly snout of a small
+crocodile protruded from the muddy, noisome water, and the cold, unwinking
+eyes stared at elephant and man as they passed. The rank abundant foliage
+overhung the track and brushed or broke against Badshah's sides, as he
+shouldered his way through it.
+
+Suddenly, without warning, Badshah came out on a stretch of forest clear of
+undergrowth between the great tree-trunks, and to his amazement Dermot saw
+that it was filled with wild elephants. Everywhere, as far as the eye could
+range between the trees, they were massed, not in tens or scores, but in
+hundreds. On every side were vistas of multitudes of great heads with
+gleaming white tusks and restless-moving trunks, of huge bodies supported
+on ponderous legs. And with an unwonted fear clutching at his heart Dermot
+realised that all their eyes were turned in his direction.
+
+Did they see him? Were they aware that Badshah carried a man? Dermot knew
+that beasts do not quickly realise a man's presence on the neck or back of
+a tame elephant. He had seen in a _kheddah_, when the _mahouts_ and noosers
+had gone on their trained elephants in among the host of terrified or angry
+captured wild ones, that the latter seemed not to observe the humans.
+
+So he hoped now that if he succeeded in turning his animal round and
+getting him away quickly, his presence would remain unnoticed. Grasping his
+rifle ready to fire if necessary, he tried with foot and hand to swing
+Badshah about. But his elephant absolutely ignored his efforts and for the
+first time in their acquaintance disobeyed him. Slowing down to a stately
+and deliberate pace the _Gunesh_ advanced to meet the others.
+
+Then, to Dermot's amazement, from the vast herd that now encompassed them
+on every side came the low purring that in an elephant denotes pleasure.
+Almost inaudible from one throat, it sounded from these many hundreds like
+the rumble of distant thunder. And in answer to it there came from
+Badshah's trunk a low sound, indicative of his pleasure. Then it dawned on
+Dermot that it was to meet this vast gathering of his kind that the animal
+had broken loose from captivity.
+
+And the multitude of huge beasts was waiting for him. All the swaying
+trunks were lifted together and pointed towards him to sense him, with a
+unanimity of motion that made it seem as if they were receiving him with a
+salute. And, as Badshah moved on into the centre of the vast herd and
+stopped, again the murmured welcome rumbled from the great throats.
+
+Dermot slung his rifle on his back. It would not be needed now. He resigned
+himself to anything that might happen and was filled with an immense
+curiosity. Was there really some truth in the stories about Badshah, some
+foundation for the natives' belief in his mysterious powers? This reception
+of him by the immense gathering of his kind was beyond credence Dermot knew
+that wild elephants do not welcome a strange male into a herd. He has to
+fight, and fight hard, for admission, which he can only gain by defeating
+the bull that is its leader and tyrant. But that several herds should come
+together--for that there were several was evident, since the greatest
+strength of a herd rarely exceeds a hundred individuals--to meet an escaped
+domesticated elephant, and apparently by appointment, was too fantastic to
+be credited by any one acquainted with the habits of these animals. Yet
+here it was happening before his eyes. The soldier gave up attempting to
+understand it and simply accepted the fact.
+
+He looked around him. There were elephants of every type, of all ages. Some
+were very old, as he could tell from their lean, fleshless skulls, their
+sunken temples and hollow eyes, emaciated bodies and straight, thin legs.
+And the clearest proof of their age was their ears, which lapped over very
+much at the top and were torn and ragged at the lower edges.
+
+There were bull-elephants in the prime of life, from twenty-five to
+thirty-five years old, with great heads, short, thick legs bowed out
+with masses of muscle, and bodies with straight backs sloping to the
+long, well-feathered tails. Most of them were tuskers--and the sight
+of one magnificent bull near Dermot made the sportsman's trigger-finger
+itch, so splendid were its tusks--shapely, spreading outward and upward
+in a graceful sweep, and each nearly six feet in length along the
+outside curve.
+
+There was a large proportion of females and calves in the assemblage. The
+youngest ones were about four or five months old. A few had not shed their
+first woolly coat; and many of the male babies could not boast of even the
+tiniest tusks.
+
+Badshah was now completely surrounded, for the elephants had closed in on
+him from every side. He raised his trunk. At once the nearest animals
+extended theirs towards him. These he touched, and they in their turn
+touched those of their neighbours beyond his reach. They did the same to
+others farther away, and so the action was repeated and carried on
+throughout the herd by all except the youngest calves.
+
+Dermot was wondering whether this meant a greeting or a command from
+Badshah, when there was a sudden stir among the animals, and soon the whole
+mass was in motion. Then he saw that the elephants were moving into single
+file, the formation in which they always march. Badshah alone remained
+where he was.
+
+Then the enormous gathering broke up and began to move. The oldest
+elephants led; and the line commenced to defile by Badshah, who stood as if
+passing them in review. As the first approached it lifted its trunk, and to
+Dermot's astonishment gently touched him on the leg with it. Then it passed
+on and the next animal took its place and in its turn touched the man. The
+succeeding ones did the same; and thus all the elephants defiled by their
+domesticated companion and touched or smelt Dermot as they went by.
+
+Throughout the whole proceeding Badshah remained motionless, and his rider
+began to believe that he had ordered his wild kindred to make themselves
+acquainted with his human friend. It seemed a ridiculous idea, but the
+whole proceeding was so wildly improbable that the soldier felt that
+nothing could surprise him further.
+
+As the elephants passed him he noticed on the legs of a few of them marks
+which were evidently old scars of chain or rope-galls. And the forehead of
+one or two showed traces of having been daubed with tar, while on the trunk
+of one very large tusker was an almost obliterated ornamental design in
+white paint, and his tusks were tipped with brass. So it was apparent that
+Badshah was not the only animal present that had escaped from captivity.
+The big tusker had probably belonged to the _peelkhana_ of some rajah,
+judging by the pattern of the painted design.
+
+Slowly the seemingly endless line of great animals went by. Hours elapsed
+before the last elephant had passed; and Dermot, cramped by sitting still
+on Badshah's neck, was worn out with heat and fatigue long before the slow
+procession ended.
+
+When at last the almost interminable line had gone by, Badshah moved off at
+a rapid pace and passed the slow-plodding animals until he had overtaken
+the leaders. Dermot found that the herd was heading for the mountains and
+the oldest beasts were still in front. This surprised him, as it was
+altogether contrary to the custom of wild elephants. For usually on a march
+the cows with calves lead the way. This is logical and reasonable; because
+if an unencumbered tusker headed the line and set the pace, he would go too
+fast and too far for the little legs of the babies in the rear. They would
+fall behind; and, as their mothers would stay with them, the herd would
+soon be broken up.
+
+But as Badshah reached the head of the file and, taking the lead, set a
+very slow pace, Dermot quickly understood why the old elephants were
+allowed to remain in front. For all of them were exceedingly feeble, and
+some seemed at death's door from age and disease. He would not have been
+surprised at any of them falling down at any moment and expiring on the
+spot.
+
+Then he remembered the curious but well-known fact that no man, white or
+coloured, has ever yet found the body of a wild elephant that had died in
+the jungle from natural causes. Though few corners of Indian or Ceylon
+forests remain unexplored, no carcases or skeletons of these animals have
+ever been discovered. And yet, although in a wild state they reach the age
+of a hundred and fifty years, elephants must die at last.
+
+Dermot was meditating on this curious fact of natural history when Badshah
+came out on the high bank of an empty river-bed and cautiously climbed down
+it. Ahead of them rose the long line of mountains clear and distinct in the
+rays of the setting sun. As he reached the far bank Dermot turned round to
+look back. Behind them stretched the procession of elephants in single
+file, each one stepping into the huge footprints of those in front of it.
+When Badshah plunged into the jungle again the tail of the procession had
+not yet come out on the white sand of the river-bed.
+
+And when the sun went down they were still plodding on towards the hills.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE DEATH-PLACE
+
+An hour or two after night had fallen on the jungle Badshah stopped
+suddenly and sank down on his knees. Dermot took this as an invitation to
+dismount, and slid to the ground. When Badshah stopped, the long-stretching
+line behind him halted, too, and the elephants broke their formation and
+wandered about feeding. Soon the forest resounded with the noise of
+creepers being torn down, branches broken off, and small trees uprooted so
+that the hungry animals could reach the leafy crowns. Dermot realised that
+in the darkness he was in danger of being trodden underfoot among the
+hundreds of huge animals straying about. But Badshah knew it, too, and so
+he remained standing over his man, while the latter sat down on the ground,
+rested his aching back against a tree, and made a meal from the contents of
+his haversack. Badshah contented himself with the grass and leaves that he
+could reach without stirring from the spot, and then cautiously lowered
+himself to the ground and stretched his huge limbs out.
+
+Dermot lay down beside him, as he had so often done before in the nights
+spent in the jungle. But, exhausted as he was, he could not sleep at first.
+The strangeness of the adventure kept him awake. To find his presence
+accepted by this vast gathering of wild elephants, animals which are
+usually extremely shy of human beings, was in itself extraordinary. Much as
+he knew of the jungle he had never dreamt of this. In Central Indian
+villages he had been told legends of lost children being adopted by wolves.
+But for elephants to admit a man into their herd was beyond belief. That it
+was due to Badshah's affection for him was little less remarkable than the
+fact itself. For it opened up the question of the animal's extraordinary
+power over his kind. And that was an unfathomable mystery.
+
+Dermot found the riddle too difficult to solve. He ceased to puzzle over
+it. The noises in the forest gradually died down, and the intense silence
+that followed was broken only by the harsh call of the barking-deer or the
+wailing cry of the giant owl. Fatigue overcame him, and he slept.
+
+It seemed to him that he had scarcely lost consciousness when he was
+awakened by a touch on his face. It was still dark; but, when he sprang up
+hastily, he could vaguely make out Badshah standing beside him. The
+elephant touched him with his trunk and then sank down on his knees. The
+invitation to mount was unmistakable; and Dermot slung his rifle on his
+back and climbed on to the elephant's neck. Badshah rose up and moved off,
+and apparently the other elephants followed him, for the noises that had
+filled the forest and showed them to be awake and feeding, ceased abruptly.
+Dermot could just faintly distinguish the soft footfall of the animal
+immediately behind him.
+
+When Badshah reached the lowest hills and left the heavy forest behind the
+sky became visible, filled with the clear and vivid tropic starlight. An
+animal track led up between giant clumps of bamboos, by long-leaved
+plantain trees and through thick undergrowth of high, tangled bushes that
+clothed the foothills. Up this path, as a paling in the east betokened the
+dawn, the long line of elephants climbed in the same order of march as on
+the previous day. Badshah led; and behind him followed the oldest
+elephants, on which the steep ascent told heavily.
+
+Two thousand feet above the forest the track led close to a Bhuttia
+village. As the rising sun streaked the sky with rose, the head of the long
+line neared the scattered bamboo huts perched on piles on the steep slopes.
+The track was not visible from the village, but a party of wood-cutters
+from the hamlet had just reached it on their way to descend to their day's
+work in the jungle below. They saw the winding file of ascending elephants
+some distance beneath them and in great alarm climbed up a big rubber tree
+growing close to the path. Hidden among its broad and glossy green leaves
+they watched the approaching elephants.
+
+From their elevated perch they had a good view of the serpentining line.
+To their amazement they saw that a white man sat astride the neck of the
+first animal and was apparently conducting the enormous herd. One of the
+wood-cutters recognised Dermot, who had once visited this very village
+and interrogated this man among others. Petrified with fright, the
+Bhuttia and his companions watched the long line go by, and for fully an
+hour after the last elephant had disappeared they did not venture to
+descend from the tree.
+
+When at last they did so there was no longer any thought of work. Instead,
+they fled hotfoot to the village to spread their strange news; and next
+day, when they went to their work below and explained to the enraged Gurkha
+overseer the reason of their absence on the previous day, they told him the
+full tale. No story is too incredible for the average native of India, and
+the overseer and various forest guards who also heard the narrative fully
+believed it and spread it through the jungle villages. It grew as it passed
+from tongue to tongue, until the story finally rivalled the most marvellous
+of the exploits of Krishna, that wonderful Hindu god.
+
+Meanwhile Dermot and his mammoth companions were climbing steadily higher
+and ever higher into the mountains. A panther, disturbed by them in his
+sleep beside the bones of a goat, rose growling from the ground and slunk
+sullenly away. A pair of brilliantly-plumaged hornbills flew overhead with
+a loud and measured beat of wings. _Kalej_ pheasants scuttled away among
+the bushes.
+
+But soon the jungle diminished to low scrub and finally fell away behind
+the ascending elephants, and they entered a region of rugged, barren
+mountains cloven by giant chasms and seamed by rocky _nullahs_ down which
+brawling streams rushed or tumbled over falls. A herd of _gooral_--the
+little wild goat--rushed away before their coming and sprang in dizzy leaps
+down almost sheer precipices.
+
+As the mountains closed in upon him in a narrow passage between beetling
+cliffs thousands of feet high, Dermot's interest quickened. For he knew
+that he was nearing the border-line between India and Bhutan; and this was
+apparently a pass from one country into the other, unknown and unmarked in
+the existing maps, one of which he carried in his haversack. He took it out
+and examined it. There was no doubt of it; he had made a fresh discovery.
+
+He turned round on Badshah's neck and looked down on all India spread out
+beneath him. East and west along the foot of the mountains the sea of
+foliage of the Terai swept away out of sight. Here and there lighter
+patches of colour showed where tea-gardens dotted the darker forest. Thirty
+odd miles to the south of the foothills the jungle ended abruptly, and
+beyond its ragged fringe lay the flat and fertile fields of Eastern Bengal.
+A dark spot seen indistinctly through the hot-weather haze marked where the
+little city of Cooch Behar lay. Sixty miles and more away to the south-east
+the Garo Hills rose beyond the snaky line of the Brahmaputra River
+wandering through the plains of Assam.
+
+A sharp turn in the narrow defile shut out the view of everything except
+the sheer walls of rock that seemed almost to meet high overhead and hide
+the sky. Even at noon the pass was dark and gloomy. But it came abruptly to
+an end, and as through a gateway the leading elephants emerged suddenly on
+a narrow jungle-like valley. The first line of mountains guarding Bhutan
+had been traversed. Beyond the valley lay another range, its southern face
+covered with trees.
+
+Badshah halted, and the elephants behind him scattered as they came out of
+the defile. The aged animals among them, as soon as they had drunk from a
+little river running midway between the mountain chains and fed by streams
+from both, lay down to rest, too exhausted to eat. But the others spread
+out in the trees to graze.
+
+Dermot, who had begun to fear that the supply of food in his haversack
+might run short, found a plantain tree and gathered a quantity of the
+fruit. After a frugal meal he wrote up his notes on the pass through which
+he had just come and made rough military sketches of it. Then he strolled
+among the elephants grazing near Badshah. They showed no fear or hostility
+as he passed, and some of the calves evinced a certain amount of curiosity
+in him. He even succeeded in making friends with one little animal about a
+year old, marked with whitish blotches on its forehead and trunk, which
+allowed him to touch it and, after due consideration, accepted the gift of
+a peeled banana. Its mother stood by during the proceeding and regarded the
+fraternising with her calf dubiously.
+
+Not until dawn on the following day did the herd resume its onward
+movement. Dermot was awake even before Badshah's trunk touched his face to
+arouse him, and as soon as he was mounted the march began again. The route
+lay through the new mountain range; and all day, except for a couple of
+hours' halt at noon, the long line wound up a confusing jumble of ravines
+and passes. When night fell a plateau covered with tall deodar trees had
+been reached, and here the elephants rested.
+
+Daybreak on the third morning found Badshah leading the line through a
+still more bewildering maze of narrow defiles and a forest with such dense
+foliage that, when the sun was high in the heavens, its rays scarcely
+lightened the gloom between the tree-trunks. Dermot wondered how Badshah
+found his way, for there was no sign of a track, but the elephant moved on
+steadily and with an air of assured purpose.
+
+At one place he plunged into a deep narrow ravine filled with tangled
+undergrowth that constantly threatened to tear Dermot from his seat.
+Indeed, only the continual employment of the latter's _kukri_, with which
+he hacked at the throttling creepers and clutching thorny branches, saved
+him.
+
+Darker and gloomier grew the way. The sides of the _nullah_ closed in until
+there was scarcely room for the animals to pass, and then Dermot found
+Badshah had entered a natural tunnel in the mountain side. The interior was
+as black as midnight, and the soldier had to lie flat on the elephant's
+skull to save his own head.
+
+Suddenly a blinding light made him close his eyes, as Badshah burst out of
+the darkness of the tunnel into the dazzling glare of the sunshine.
+
+When his rider looked again he found that they were in an almost circular
+valley completely ringed in by precipitous walls of rock rising straight
+and sheer for a couple of thousand feet. Above these cliffs towered giant
+mountain peaks covered with snow and ice.
+
+At the end of the valley farthest from them was a small lake. Near the
+mouth of the tunnel the earth was clothed with long grass and flowering
+bushes and dotted with low trees. But elsewhere the ground was dazzlingly
+white, as though the snow lay deep upon it. Badshah halted among the trees,
+and the old elephants passed him and went on in the direction of the lake.
+Dermot noticed that they seemed to have suddenly grown feebler and more
+decrepit.
+
+He looked down at the white ground. To his surprise he found that from here
+to the lake the valley was floored with huge skulls, skeletons, scattered
+bones, and tusks. It was the elephants' Golgotha. He had penetrated to a
+spot which perhaps no other human being had ever seen--the death-place of
+the mammoths, the mysterious retreat to which the elephants of the Terai
+came to die.
+
+He looked instinctively towards the aged animals, which alone had
+gone forward among the bones. And, as he gazed, one of them stumbled,
+recovered its footing, staggered on a few paces, then stopped and slowly
+sank to the ground. It laid its head down and stretched out its limbs.
+Tremors shook the huge body; then it lay still as though asleep.
+A second old elephant, and a third, stood for a moment, then slowly
+subsided. Another and another did the same; until finally all of them
+lay stretched out motionless--lifeless, dark spots on the white floor
+that was composed of bones of countless generations of their kind.
+
+There was a strange impressiveness about the solemn passing of these great
+beasts. It affected the human spectator almost painfully. The hush of this
+fatal valley, the long line of elephants watching the death of their
+kindred, the pathos of the end of the stately animals which in obedience to
+some mysterious impulse, had struggled through many difficulties only to
+lie down here silently, uncomplainingly, and give up their lives, all
+stirred Dermot strangely. And when the thought of the incalculable wealth
+that lay in the vast quantity of ivory stored in this great charnel-house
+flashed through his mind, he felt that it would be a shameful desecration,
+inviting the wrath of the gods, to remove even one tusk of it.
+
+He was not left long to gaze and wonder at the weird scene. To his relief
+Badshah suddenly turned and passed through the trees again towards the
+tunnelled entrance, and the hundreds of other elephants followed him in
+file. In a few minutes Dermot found himself plunged into darkness once
+more, and the Valley of Death had disappeared.
+
+When they had passed through the tunnel, the elephants slipped and stumbled
+down the rock-encumbered ravines, for elephants are far less sure-footed in
+descent than when ascending. But they travelled at a much faster pace,
+being no longer hampered by the presence of the old and decrepit beasts. It
+seemed to take only a comparatively short time to reach the valley between
+the two mountain ranges. And here they stopped to feed and rest.
+
+When morning came, Dermot found that the big assembly of elephants was
+breaking up into separate herds of which it was composed. The greater
+number of these moved off to the east and north, evidently purposing to
+remain for a time in Bhutan, where the young grass was springing up in the
+valleys as the lower snows melted. Only three herds intended to return to
+India with Badshah, of which the largest, consisting of about a hundred
+members, seemed to be the one to which he particularly belonged.
+
+During the descent from the mountains into the Terai, Dermot wondered what
+would happen with Badshah when they reached the forest. Would the elephant
+persist in remaining with the herd or would it return with him to the
+_peelkhana_?
+
+Night had fallen before they had got clear of the foothills, so that
+when they arrived in the jungle once more they halted to rest not far
+from the mountains. When Dermot awoke next morning he found that he and
+Badshah were alone, all the others having disappeared, and the animal
+was standing patiently awaiting orders. He seemed to recognise that his
+brief hour of authority had passed, and had become once more his usual
+docile and well-disciplined self. At the word of command he sank to
+his knees to allow his master to mount; and then, at the touch of his
+rider's foot, turned his head towards home and started off obediently.
+
+As they approached the _peelkhana_ a cry was raised, and the elephant
+attendants rushed from their huts to stare in awe-struck silence at animal
+and man. Ramnath approached with marked reverence, salaaming deeply at
+every step.
+
+When Dermot dismounted it was hard for him to bid farewell to Badshah. He
+felt, too, that he could no longer make the elephant submit to the ignominy
+of fetters. So he bade Ramnath not shackle nor bind him again. Then he
+patted the huge beast affectionately and pointed to the empty stall in the
+_peelkhana_; and Badshah, seeming to understand and appreciate his being
+left unfettered, touched his white friend caressingly with his trunk and
+walked obediently to his brick standing in the stable. The watching
+_mahouts_ and coolies nodded and whispered to each other at this, but
+Ramnath appeared to regard the relations between his elephant and the sahib
+as perfectly natural.
+
+Dermot shouldered his rifle and started off on the long and weary climb to
+Ranga Duar. When he reached the parade ground he found the men of the
+detachment falling out after their morning drill. His subaltern, Parker,
+who was talking to the Indian officers of the Double Company, saw him and
+came to meet him.
+
+"Hullo, Major; I'm glad to see you back again," he said, saluting. "I
+hardly expected to, after the extraordinary stories I've heard from the
+_mahouts_."
+
+"Really? What were they?" asked his senior officer, leading the way to his
+bungalow.
+
+"Well, the simplest was that Badshah had gone mad and bolted with you into
+the jungle," replied the subaltern. "Another tale was that he knelt down
+and worshipped you, and then asked you to go off with him on some
+mysterious mission."
+
+Dermot had resolved to say as little as possible about his experiences.
+Europeans would not credit his story, and he had no desire to be regarded
+as a phenomenal liar. Natives would believe it, for nothing is too
+marvellous for them; but he had no wish that any one should know of the
+existence of the Death Place, lest ivory-hunters should seek to penetrate
+to it.
+
+"Nonsense. Badshah wasn't mad," he replied. "It was just as I guessed when
+you first told me of these fits of his--merely the jungle calling him."
+
+"Yes, sir. But the weirdest tale of all was that you were seen leading an
+army of elephants, just like a Hindu god, to invade Bhutan."
+
+"Where did you hear that?" asked Dermot in surprise.
+
+"Oh, the yarn came from the _mahouts_, who heard it from some of the forest
+guards, who said they'd been told it by Bhuttias from the hills. You know
+how natives spread stories. Wasn't it a silly tale?" And Parker laughed at
+the thought of it.
+
+"Yes, rather absurd," agreed the Major, forcing a smile. "Yes, natives are
+really--Hello! who's done this?"
+
+They had reached the garden of his bungalow. The little wooden gate-posts
+at the entrance were smeared with red paint and hung with withered wreaths
+of marigolds.
+
+When a Hindu gets the idea into his head that a certain stone or tree or
+place is the abode of a god or godling or is otherwise holy, his first
+impulse is to procure marigolds and red paint and make a votive offering of
+them by making wreaths of the one and daubing everything in the vicinity
+with the other.
+
+"By Jove, Major, I expect that some of the Hindus in the bazaar have heard
+these yarns about you and mean to do _poojah_ (worship) to you," said
+Parker with a laugh. "I told you they regard Badshah as a very holy animal.
+I suppose some of his sacredness has overflowed on to you."
+
+Dermot realised that there was probably some truth in the suggestion. He
+was annoyed, as he had no desire to be looked on by the natives as the
+possessor of supernatural powers.
+
+"I must see that my boy has the posts cleaned," he said. "When you get to
+the Mess, Parker, please tell them I'll be up to breakfast as soon as I've
+had a tub and a shave."
+
+Two hours later Dermot showed Parker the position of the defile on the map
+and explained his notes and sketches of it; for it was important that his
+subordinate should know of it in the event of any mishap occurring to
+himself. But before he acquainted Army Headquarters in India with his
+discovery, he went to the pass again on Badshah to examine and survey it
+thoroughly. When this was done and he had despatched his sketches and
+report to Simla, he felt free to carry out a project that interested him.
+This was to seek out the herd of wild elephants with which Badshah seemed
+most closely associated and try to discover the secret of his connection
+with them.
+
+Somewhat to his surprise he experienced no difficulty in finding them; as,
+when he set out from the _peelkhana_ in search of them, Badshah seemed to
+know what he wanted and carried him straight to them. For each day the
+animal appeared to understand his man's inmost thoughts more and more, and
+to need no visible expression of them.
+
+When they reached the herd, the elephants received Badshah without any
+demonstration of greeting, unlike the previous occasion. They showed no
+objection to Dermot's presence among them. The little animal with the
+blotched trunk recognised him at once and came to him, and the other calves
+soon followed its example and made friends with him. The big elephants
+betrayed no fear, and allowed him to stroll on foot among them freely.
+
+This excursion was merely the first of many that Dermot made with the herd,
+with which he often roamed far and wide through the forest. And sometimes,
+without his knowing it, he was seen by some native passing through the
+jungle, who hurriedly climbed a tree or hid in the undergrowth to avoid
+meeting the elephants. From concealment the awed watcher gazed in
+astonishment at the white man in their midst, of whom such wonderful tales
+were told in the villages. And when he got back safely to his own hamlet
+that night the native added freely to the legends that were gathering
+around Dermot's name among the jungle and hill-dwellers.
+
+On one occasion Dermot, seated on Badshah's neck, was following in rear of
+the herd when it was moving slowly through the forest a few miles from the
+foot of the hills. A sudden halt in the leisurely progress made him wonder
+at the cause. Then the elephants in front broke their formation and crowded
+forward in a body, and Dermot suddenly heard a human cry. Fearing that they
+had come unexpectantly on a native and might do him harm, he urged Badshah
+forward through the press of animals, which parted left and right to let
+him through. To his surprise he found the leading elephants ringed round a
+girl, an English girl, who, hatless and with her unpinned hair streaming on
+her shoulders, stood terrified in their midst.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+A DRAMATIC INTRODUCTION
+
+When Noreen Daleham rose half-stunned from the ground where her pony had
+flung her and realised that she was surrounded by wild elephants she was
+terrified. The stories of their ferocity told her at the club flashed
+across her mind, and she felt that she was in danger of a horrible death.
+When the huge animals closed in and advanced on her from all sides she gave
+herself up for lost.
+
+At that awful moment a voice fell on her ears and she heard the words:
+
+"Don't be alarmed. You are in no danger."
+
+In bewilderment she looked up and saw to her astonishment and relief a
+white man sitting on the neck of one of the great beasts.
+
+"Oh, I am so glad!" she exclaimed. "I was terrified. I thought that these
+were wild elephants."
+
+Dermot smiled.
+
+"So they are," he said. "But they won't hurt you. Can I help you? What are
+you doing here? Have you lost your way in the jungle?"
+
+By this time Noreen had recovered her presence of mind and began to realise
+the situation. It was natural that this man should be astonished to find an
+Englishwoman alone and in distress in the forest. Her appearance was
+calculated to cause him to wonder--and a feminine instinct made her hands
+go up to her untidy hair, as she suddenly thought of her dishevelled state.
+She picked up her hat and put it on.
+
+"I've had a fall from my pony," she explained, trying to reduce her unruly
+tresses to order. "It shied at the elephants and threw me. Then I suppose
+it bolted."
+
+She looked around but could see nothing except elephants, which were
+regarding her solemnly.
+
+"But where have you come from? Are you far from your camp?" persisted
+Dermot. "Shall I take you to it?"
+
+"Oh, we are not in camp," replied Noreen. "I live on a tea-garden. It is
+quite near. I can walk back, thank you, if you are sure that the elephants
+won't do me any harm."
+
+But as she spoke she felt her knees give way under her from weakness, and
+she was obliged to sit down on the ground. The shock of the fall and the
+fright had affected her more than she realised.
+
+Dermot laid his hand on Badshah's head, and the animal knelt down.
+
+"I'm afraid you are not fit to walk far," said Dermot. "I must take you
+back."
+
+As he spoke he slipped to the ground. From a pocket in the pad he extracted
+a flask of brandy, with which he filled a small silver cup.
+
+"Drink this," he said, holding it to her lips. "It will do you good."
+
+Noreen obeyed and drank a little of the spirit. Then, before she could
+protest, she was lifted in Dermot's arms and placed on the pad on Badshah's
+back. This cool disposal of her took her breath away, but to her surprise
+she felt that she rather liked it. There was something attractive in her
+new acquaintance's unconsciously authoritative manner.
+
+Replacing the flask he said:
+
+"Are you used to riding elephants?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Then hold on to this rope across the pad, otherwise you may slip off when
+Badshah rises to his feet. You had better keep your hand on it as we go
+along, though there isn't much danger of your falling."
+
+As he got astride the elephant's neck he continued: "Now, be ready. Hold on
+tightly. Uth, Badshah!"
+
+Despite his warning Noreen nearly slipped off the pad at the sudden and
+jerky upheaval when the elephant rose.
+
+"Now please show me the direction in which your garden lies, if you can,"
+said Dermot.
+
+"Oh, it is quite near," Noreen answered. "That is the road to it."
+
+She let the rope go to point out the way, but instantly grasped it again.
+Dermot turned Badshah's head down the track.
+
+"Oh, what about all these other elephants?" asked the girl apprehensively,
+looking at them where they were grouped together, gazing with curiosity at
+Badshah's passengers. "Will they come too?"
+
+"No," said Dermot reassuringly, "you needn't be afraid. They won't follow.
+We'd create rather too much of a sensation if we arrived at your bungalow
+at the head of a hundred _hathis_."
+
+"But are they really wild?" she asked. "They look so quiet and inoffensive
+now; though when I was on the ground they seemed very dreadful indeed. But
+I was told that wild elephants are dangerous."
+
+"Some of them undoubtedly are," replied Dermot. "But a herd is fairly
+inoffensive, if you don't go too near it. Cow-elephants with young calves
+can be very vicious, if they suspect danger to their offspring."
+
+A turn in the road through the jungle shut out the sight of the huge
+animals behind them, and Noreen breathed more freely. She began to wonder
+who her rescuer was and how he had come so opportunely to her relief. Their
+dramatic meeting invested him in her eyes with more interest than she would
+have found in any man whose acquaintance she had made in a more unromantic
+and conventional manner. And so she bestowed more attention on him and
+studied his appearance more closely than she would otherwise have done. He
+struck her at once as being exceedingly good looking in a strong and manly
+way. His profile showed clear-cut and regular features, with a mouth and
+chin bespeaking firmness and determination. His face in repose was grave,
+almost stern, but she had seen it melt in sudden tenderness as he sprang to
+her aid when she had felt faint. She noticed that his eyes were very
+attractive and unusually dark--due, although she did not know it, to the
+Spanish strain in him as in so many other Irish of the far west of
+Connaught--and with his darker hair, which had a little wave in it, and his
+small black moustache they gave him an almost foreign look. The girl had a
+sudden mental vision of him as a fierce rover of bygone days on the Spanish
+Main. But when, in a swift transition, little laughter-wrinkles creased
+around his eyes that softened in a merry smile, she wondered how she could
+have thought that he looked fierce or stern. Although, like many of her
+sex, she was a little prejudiced against handsome men, and he certainly was
+one, yet she was strongly attracted by his appearance. Probably the very
+contrast in colouring and type between him and her made him appeal to her.
+He was as dark as she was fair. And when he was standing on the ground she
+had seen that he was well above middle height with a lithe and graceful
+figure displayed to advantage by his careless costume of loose khaki shirt
+and Jodpur breeches. The breadth of his shoulders denoted strength, and his
+rolled-up sleeves showed muscular arms burned dark by the sun.
+
+"How did you manage to come up just at the right moment to rescue me?" she
+asked. "I have not thanked you yet for saving me, but I do so now most
+heartily. I can't tell you how grateful I feel. I am sure, no matter what
+you say, that those elephants would have killed me if you hadn't come."
+
+Dermot laughed.
+
+"I'm afraid I cannot pose as a heroic rescuer. I daresay there might have
+been some danger to you, had I not been with them. For one can never tell
+what elephants will do. Out of sheer nervousness and fright they might have
+attacked you."
+
+"You were with them?" she echoed in surprise. "But you said that these were
+wild ones."
+
+"So they are. But this animal we are on is a tame one and was captured
+years ago in the jungle about here. I think he must have belonged to this
+particular herd, for they accept him as one of themselves."
+
+"Yes; but you?"
+
+"Oh, they have made me a sort of honorary member of the herd for his sake,
+I think. He and I are great pals," and Dermot laid his hand affectionately
+on Badshah's head. "He saved my life not long ago when I was attacked by a
+vicious rogue."
+
+Noreen suddenly remembered the conversation at the club lunch.
+
+"Oh, are you the officer from the Fort up at Ranga Duar?" she asked.
+
+"One of them. I am commanding the detachment of Military Police there," he
+answered. "My name is Dermot."
+
+"Then I've heard of you. I understand now. They said that you could do
+wonderful things with wild elephants, that you went about the forest with a
+herd of them."
+
+"_They_ said?" he exclaimed. "Who are 'they'?"
+
+"The men at the club. We have a planters' club for the district, you know.
+At our last weekly meeting they spoke of you and said that you had nearly
+been killed by a rogue. Mr. Payne told us that he used to know you."
+
+"What? Payne of Salchini? I knew him well. Awfully good chap."
+
+"Yes, isn't he? I like him so much."
+
+"I saw a lot of him when I was stationed at Buxa Duar with my Double
+Company. Hullo! here we are at a tea-garden."
+
+They had suddenly come out of the forest on to the open stretch of furrowed
+land planted with the orderly rows of tidy bushes.
+
+"Yes; it is ours. It's called Malpura," said Noreen. "My brother is the
+assistant manager. Our name is Daleham."
+
+"Here comes somebody in a hurry," remarked Dermot, pointing to where, on
+the road ahead of them, a man on a pony was galloping towards them with a
+cloud of dust rising behind him.
+
+"Yes, it's my brother. Oh, what's happening?" she exclaimed.
+
+For as he approached his pony scented the elephant and stopped dead
+suddenly, nearly throwing its rider over its head.
+
+"Fred! Fred! Here I am!" she cried.
+
+But Daleham's animal was unused to elephants and positively refused to
+approach Badshah. In vain its rider strove to make it go on. It suddenly
+put an end to the dispute between them by swinging round and bolting back
+the way that it had come, despite its master's efforts to hold it.
+
+Noreen looked after the pair anxiously.
+
+"You needn't be alarmed, Miss Daleham," said Dermot consolingly. "Your
+brother is quite all right. Once he gets to a safe distance from Badshah
+the pony will pull up. Horses are always afraid of elephants until they get
+used to them. See, he is slowing up already."
+
+When the girl was satisfied that her brother was in no danger she smiled at
+the dramatic abruptness of his departure.
+
+"Poor Fred! He must have been awfully worried over me," she said. "He
+probably thought I was killed or at least had met with a bad accident. And
+now the poor boy can't get near me."
+
+"I daresay he was alarmed if your pony went home riderless."
+
+"Yes, it must have done so. Naughty Kitty. It must have bolted back to its
+stable and frightened my poor brother out of his wits."
+
+"Well, he'll soon have you back safe and sound," said Dermot. "Hold on
+tightly now, and I'll make Badshah step out. _Mul!_"
+
+The elephant increased his pace, and the motion sorely tried Noreen. As
+they passed through the estate the coolies bending over the tea-bushes
+stopped their work to stare at them. Noreen remarked that they appeared
+deeply interested at the sight of the elephant, and gathered together to
+talk volubly and point at it.
+
+When they neared the bungalow they saw Daleham standing on the steps of the
+verandah, waiting for them. He had recognised the futility of struggling
+with his pony and had returned with it.
+
+As they arrived he ran down the steps to meet them.
+
+"Good gracious, Noreen, what has happened to you?" he cried, as Badshah
+stopped in front of the house. "I've been worried to death about you. When
+the servants came to the factory to say that Kitty had galloped home with
+broken reins and without you, I thought you had been killed."
+
+"Oh, Fred, I've had such an adventure," she cried gaily. "You'll say it
+served me right. Wait until I get down. But how am I to do so, Major
+Dermot?"
+
+"The elephant will kneel down. Hold on tightly," he replied. "_Buth_,
+Badshah." He unslung his rifle as he dismounted.
+
+When her brother had lifted her off the pad, the girl kissed him and said:
+
+"I'm so glad to get back to you, dear. I thought I never would. I know
+you'll crow over me and and say, 'I told you so.' But I must introduce you
+to Major Dermot. This is my brother, Major. Fred, if it had not been for
+Major Dermot, you wouldn't have a sister now. Just listen."
+
+The men shook hands as she began her story. Her brother interrupted her to
+suggest their going on to the verandah to get out of the sun. When they
+were all seated he listened with the deepest interest.
+
+At the end of her narrative he could not help saying:
+
+"I warned you, young woman. What on earth would have happened to you if
+Major Dermot had not been there?" He turned to their visitor and continued:
+"I must thank you awfully, sir. There's no doubt that Noreen would have
+been killed without your help."
+
+"Oh, perhaps not. But certainly you were right in advising her not to enter
+the forest alone."
+
+"There, you see, Noreen?"
+
+The girl pouted a little.
+
+"Is it really so dangerous, Major Dermot?" she asked.
+
+"Well, one ought never to go into it without a good rifle," he replied.
+"You might pass weeks, months, in it without any harm befalling you; but on
+the other hand you might be exposed to the greatest danger on your very
+first day in it. You've just had a sample."
+
+"You were attacked yourself by a rogue, weren't you?" asked the girl. "You
+said that your elephant saved you? Was this the one? Do tell us about it."
+
+Dermot briefly narrated his adventure with the rogue. Brother and sister
+punctuated the tale with exclamations of surprise and admiration, and at
+the conclusion of it, turned to look at Badshah, who had taken refuge from
+the sun's rays under a tree and was standing in the shade, shifting his
+weight from leg to leg, flapping his ears and driving away the flies by
+flicking his sides with a small branch which he held in his trunk. Dermot
+had taken off his pad.
+
+"You dear thing!" cried the girl to him. "You are a hero. I'm very proud to
+think that I have been on your back."
+
+"It was really wonderful," said Daleham. "How I should have liked to see
+the fight! I say, all our servants have come out to look at him. By Jove!
+any amount of coolies, too. One would think that they'd never seen an
+elephant before."
+
+"I'm sure they've never seen such a splendid one," said his sister
+enthusiastically. "He is well worth looking at. But--oh, what is that man
+doing?"
+
+One of the crowd of coolies that had collected had gone down on his knees
+before Badshah and touched the earth with his forehead. Then another and
+another imitated him, until twenty or thirty of them were prostrate in the
+dust, worshipping him.
+
+"I must stop this," exclaimed Daleham. "If old Parr sees them he'll be
+furious. They ought to be at their work."
+
+He ran down the steps of the verandah and ordered them away. His servants
+disappeared promptly, but the coolies went slowly and reluctantly.
+
+"What were they doing, Major Dermot?" asked Noreen. "They looked as if they
+were praying to your elephant. Hadn't they ever seen one before?"
+
+He explained the reason of the reverence paid to Badshah. Daleham,
+returning, renewed his thanks as his sister went into the bungalow to see
+about breakfast. When she returned to tell them that it was ready, Dermot
+hardly recognised in the dainty girl, clad in a cool muslin dress, the
+terrified and dishevelled damsel whom he had first seen standing in the
+midst of the elephants.
+
+During the meal she questioned him eagerly about the jungle and the ways of
+the wild animals that inhabit it, and she and her brother listened with
+interest to his vivid descriptions. A chance remark of Daleham's on the
+difficulty of obtaining labour for the tea-gardens in the Terai interested
+Dermot and set him trying to extract information from his host.
+
+"I suppose you know, sir, that as these districts are so sparsely populated
+and the Bhuttias on the hills won't take the work, we have to import the
+thousands of coolies needed from Chota Nagpur and other places hundreds of
+miles away," said Daleham. "Lately, however, we have begun to get men from
+Bengal."
+
+"What? Bengalis?" asked Dermot.
+
+"Yes. Very good men. Quite decent class. Some educated men among them. Why,
+I discovered by chance that one is a B.A. of Calcutta University."
+
+"Do you mean for your clerical work, as _babus_ and writers?"
+
+"No. These chaps are content to do the regular coolie work. Of course we
+make them heads of gangs. I believe they're what are called Brahmins."
+
+"Impossible! Brahmins as tea-garden coolies?" exclaimed Dermot in surprise.
+
+"Yes. I'm told that they are Brahmins, though I don't know much about
+natives yet," replied his host.
+
+Dermot was silent for a while. He could hardly believe that the boy was
+right. Brahmins who, being of the priestly caste, claim to be semi-divine
+rather than mere men, will take up professions or clerical work, but with
+all his experience of India he had never heard of any of them engaging in
+such manual labour.
+
+"How do you get them?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, they come here to ask for employment themselves," replied Daleham.
+
+"Do they get them on many gardens in the district?" asked Dermot, in whose
+mind a vague suspicion was arising.
+
+"There are one or two on most of them. The older planters are surprised."
+
+"I don't wonder," commented Dermot grimly. "It's something very unusual."
+
+"We have got most, though," added his host. "I daresay it's because our
+engineer is a Hindu. His name is Chunerbutty."
+
+"Sounds as if he were a Bengali Brahmin himself," said Dermot.
+
+"He is. His father holds an appointment in the service of the Rajah of
+Lalpuri, a native State in Eastern Bengal not far from here. The son is an
+old friend of ours. I met him first in London."
+
+"In fact, it was through Mr. Chunerbutty that we came here," said Noreen.
+"He gave Fred an introduction to this company."
+
+Dermot reflected. He felt that if these men were really Bengali Brahmins,
+their coming to the district to labour as coolies demanded investigation.
+Their race furnishes the extremist and disloyal element in India, and any
+of them residing on these gardens would be conveniently placed to act as
+channels of communication between enemies without and traitors within. He
+felt that it would be advisable for him to talk the matter over with some
+of the older planters.
+
+"Who is your manager here?" he enquired.
+
+"A Welshman named Parry."
+
+"Are you far from Salchini?"
+
+"You mean Payne's garden? Yes; a good way. He's a friend of yours, isn't
+he?"
+
+"Yes; I should like to see him again. I must pay him a visit."
+
+"Oh, look here, Major," said Daleham eagerly. I've got an idea. Tomorrow is
+the day of our weekly meeting at the club. Will you let me put you up for
+the night, and we'll take you tomorrow to the club, where you will meet
+Payne?"
+
+"Thank you; it's very kind of you; but--" began Dermot dubiously.
+
+Noreen joined in.
+
+"Oh, do stay, Major Dermot. We'd be delighted to have you."
+
+Dermot needed but little pressing, for the plan suited him well.
+
+"Excellent," said Daleham. "You'll meet Chunerbutty at dinner then. You'll
+find him quite a good fellow."
+
+"I'd like to meet him," answered the soldier truthfully. He felt that the
+Bengali engineer might interest him more than his host imagined.
+
+"I'll tell the boy to get your room ready," said Noreen. "Oh, what will you
+do with your elephant?"
+
+"Badshah will be all right. I'll send him back to the herd."
+
+"What, will he go by himself?" exclaimed Daleham. "How will you get him
+again?"
+
+"I think he'll wait for me," replied Dermot.
+
+They had finished breakfast by now and rose from the table. The Major went
+to Badshah, touched him and made him turn round to face in the direction
+whence they had come.
+
+"Go now, and wait for me there," he said pointing to the forest.
+
+The elephant seemed to understand, and, touching his master with his trunk,
+started off at once towards the jungle.
+
+Daleham and his sister watched the animal's departure with surprise.
+
+"Well, I'm blessed, Major. You certainly have him well trained," said Fred.
+"Now, will you excuse me, sir? I must go to the factory. Noreen will look
+after you."
+
+He rose and took up his sun-hat.
+
+"Oh, by the way, there is one of the fellows I told you of," he continued.
+"He is the B.A."
+
+He pointed to a man passing some distance away from the bungalow. Dermot
+looked at him with curiosity. His head was bare, and his thick black hair
+shone with oil. He wore a European shirt and a _dhoti_, or cotton cloth
+draped round his waist like a divided skirt. His legs were bare except for
+gay-coloured socks and English boots. Gold-rimmed spectacles completed an
+appearance as unlike that of the ordinary tea-garden coolie as possible. He
+was the typical Indian student as seen around Gower Street or South
+Kensington, in the dress that he wears in his native land. There was no
+doubt of his being a Bengali Brahmin.
+
+Daleham called him.
+
+"Hi! I say! Come here!"
+
+When the man reached the foot of the verandah steps the assistant manager
+said to him:
+
+"I have told this sahib that you are a graduate of Calcutta University."
+
+The Bengali salaamed carelessly and replied:
+
+"Oah, yess, sir. I am B.A."
+
+"Really? What is your name?" asked Dermot.
+
+"Narain Dass, sir."
+
+"I am sorry, Mr. Dass, that a man of your education cannot get better
+employment than this," remarked Dermot.
+
+The Bengali smiled superciliously.
+
+"Oah, yess, I can, of course. This--" He checked himself suddenly, and his
+manner became more cringing. "Yess, sir, I can with much facility procure
+employment of sedentary nature. But for reasons of health I am stringently
+advised by medical practitioner to engage in outdoor occupation. So I adopt
+policy of 'Back to the Land.'"
+
+"I see, Mr. Dass. Very wise of you," remarked Dermot, restraining an
+inclination to smile. "You are a Brahmin, aren't you?"
+
+"Yess, sir," replied the Bengali with pride.
+
+"Well, Mr. Dass, I hope that your health will improve in this bracing air.
+Good-morning."
+
+"Good-morning, sir," replied the Bengali, and continued on his way.
+
+Dermot watched his departing figure meditatively. He felt that he had got
+hold of a thread, however slender, of the conspiracy against British rule.
+
+"You seem very interested in that coolie, Major Dermot," remarked Noreen.
+
+"Eh? Oh, I beg your pardon," he said, turning to her. "Yes. You see, it is
+very unusual to find such a man doing this sort of work."
+
+He did not enter into any further explanation. The suspicion that he
+entertained must for the present be kept to himself.
+
+When Daleham left them the girl felt curiously shy. Perfectly at her
+ease with men as a rule, she now, to her surprise, experienced a
+sensation of nervousness, a feeling almost akin to awe of her guest. Yet
+she liked him. He impressed her as being a man of strong personality.
+The fact that--unlike most men that she met--he made no special effort
+to please her interested her all the more in him. Gradually she grew
+more at her ease. She enjoyed his tales of the jungle, told with such
+graphic power of narrative that she could almost see the scenes and
+incidents that he depicted.
+
+Dinner-time brought Chunerbutty, who did not conduce to harmony in the
+little party. Dermot regarded him with interest, for he wished to discover
+if the engineer played any part in the game of conspiracy and treason.
+Although the Hindu was ignorant of this, it was evident that he resented
+the soldier's presence, partly from racial motives, but chiefly from
+jealousy over Noreen. He was annoyed at her interest in Dermot and objected
+to her feeling grateful for her rescue. He tried to make light of the
+adventure and asserted that she had been in no danger. Gradually he became
+so offensive to the Major that Noreen was annoyed, and even her brother,
+who usually saw no fault in his friend, felt uncomfortable at Chunerbutty's
+incivility to their guest.
+
+Dermot, however, appeared not to notice it. He behaved with perfect
+courtesy to the Hindu, and ignored his attempts at impertinence, much to
+Daleham's relief, winning Noreen's admiration by his self-control. He
+skilfully steered the conversation to the subject of the Bengalis employed
+on the estate. The engineer at first denied that there were Brahmins among
+them, but when told of Narain Dass's claim to be one, he pretended
+ignorance of the fact. This obvious falsehood confirmed Dermot's suspicion
+of him.
+
+The Dalehams were not sorry when Chunerbutty rose to say good-night shortly
+after they had left the dining-room. He was starting at an early hour next
+morning on a long ride to Lalpuri to visit his father, of whose health he
+said he had received disquieting news.
+
+When Noreen went to bed that night she lay awake for some time thinking of
+their new friend. In addition to her natural feeling of gratitude to him
+for saving her from deadly peril, there was the consciousness that he was
+eminently likable in himself. His strength of character, his manliness, the
+suggestion of mystery about him in his power over wild animals and the
+fearlessness with which he risked the dangers of the forest, all increased
+the attraction that he had for her. Still thinking of him she fell asleep.
+
+And Dermot? Truth to tell, his thoughts dwelt longer on Chunerbutty and
+Narain Dass than on Miss Daleham. He liked the girl, admired her nature,
+her unaffected and frank manner, her kind and sunny disposition. He
+considered her decidedly pretty; but her good looks did not move him much,
+for he was neither impressionable nor susceptible, and had known too many
+beautiful women the world over to lose his heart readily. Possibly under
+other circumstances he might not have given the girl a second thought, for
+women had never bulked largely in his life. But the strange beginning of
+their acquaintance had given her, too, a special interest.
+
+The Dalehams' arrival at the club the next day with their guest caused
+quite a sensation. At any time a stranger was a refreshing novelty to this
+isolated community. But in addition Dermot had the claim of old friendship
+with one of their members, and the other men knew him by repute. So he was
+welcomed with the open-hearted hospitality for which planters are
+deservedly renowned.
+
+Mrs. Rice took complete possession of him as soon as he was introduced to
+her, insisted on his sitting beside her at lunch and monopolised him after
+it. Noreen, rather to her own surprise, felt a little indignant at the calm
+appropriation of her new friend by the older woman, and a faint resentment
+against Dermot for acquiescing in it. She was a little hurt, too, at his
+ignoring her.
+
+But the soldier had not come there to talk to ladies. He soon managed to
+escape from Mrs. Rice's clutches in order to have a serious talk with his
+old friend Payne, which resulted in the latter adroitly gathering the older
+and more dependable men together outside the building on the pretext of
+inspecting the future polo ground. In reality it was to afford Dermot an
+opportunity of disclosing to them as much of the impending peril of
+invasion as he judged wise. The planters would be the first to suffer in
+such an event. He wanted to put them on their guard and enlist their help
+in the detection of a treacherous correspondence between external and
+internal foes. This they readily promised, and they undertook to watch the
+Bengalis among their coolies.
+
+The Dalehams and their guest did not reach Malpura until after sundown, and
+Dermot was persuaded to remain another night under their roof.
+
+On the following morning the brother and sister rode out with him to the
+scene of Noreen's adventure. He was on foot and was accompanied by two
+coolies carrying his elephant's pad. The girl was not surprised, although
+Fred Daleham was, at Badshah's appearance from the forest in response to a
+whistle from his master. And when, after a friendly farewell, man and
+animal disappeared in the jungle, Noreen was conscious of the fact that
+they had left a little ache in her heart.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+IN THE RAJAH'S PALACE
+
+A rambling, many-storied building, a jumbled mass of no particular design
+or style of architecture, with blue-washed walls and close-latticed
+windows, an insanitary rabbit-warren of intricate passages, unexpected
+courtyards, hidden gardens, and crazy tenements kennelling a small army of
+servants, retainers, and indefinable hangers-on--such was the palace of the
+Rajah of Lalpuri. Here and there, by carved doors or iron-studded gates
+half off their hinges, lounged purposeless sentries, barefooted, clad in
+old and dirty red coatees, white cross-belts and ragged blue trousers. They
+leant on rusty, muzzle-loading muskets purchased from "John Company" in
+pre-Mutiny years, and their uniforms were modelled on those worn by the
+Company's native troops before the days of Chillianwallah.
+
+The outer courtyard swarmed with a mob of beggars, panders, traders,
+servants, and idlers, through which occasionally a ramshackle carriage
+drawn by galled ponies, their broken harness tied with rope, and conveying
+some Palace official, made its way with difficulty. Sometimes the vehicle
+was closely shuttered or shrouded with white cotton sheets and contained
+some high-caste lady or brazen, jewel-decked wanton of the Court.
+
+On one side were the tumble-down stables, near which a squealing white
+stallion with long, red-dyed tail was tied to a _peepul_ tree. Its rider, a
+blue-coated _sowar_, or cavalryman, with bare feet thrust into heelless
+native slippers, sat on the ground near it smoking a hubble-bubble. A
+chorus of neighing answered his screaming horse from the filthy stalls,
+outside which stood foul-smelling manure-heaps, around which mangy pariah
+dogs nosed. In the blazing sun a couple of hooded hunting-cheetahs lay
+panting on the bullock-cart to which they were chained.
+
+The Palace stood in the heart of the city of Lalpuri, a maze of narrow,
+malodorous streets off which ran still narrower and fouler lanes. The
+gaudily-painted houses, many stories high, with wooden balconies and
+projecting windows, were interspersed with ruinous palm-thatched bamboo
+huts and grotesquely decorated temples filled with fat priests and hideous,
+ochre-daubed gods, and noisy with the incessant blare of conch shells and
+the jangling of bells. Lalpuri was a byword throughout India and was known
+to its contemptuous neighbours as the City of Harlots and Thieves. Poverty,
+debauchery, and crime were rife. Justice was a mockery; corruption and
+abuses flourished everywhere. A just magistrate or an honourable official
+was as hard to find as an honest citizen or a virtuous woman.
+
+Like people, like rulers. The State had been founded by a Mahratta
+free-booter in the days when the Pindaris swept across Hindustan from
+Poona almost to Calcutta. His successor at the time of the Mutiny was a
+clever rascal, who refused to commit himself openly against the British
+while secretly protesting his devotion to their enemies. He balanced
+himself adroitly on the fence until it was evident which side would
+prove victorious. When Delhi fell and the mutineers were scattered, he
+offered a refuge in his palace to certain rebel princes and leaders
+who were fleeing with their treasures and loot to Burmah. But the
+treacherous scoundrel seized the money and valuables and handed the
+owners over to the Government of India.
+
+The present occupant of the _gadi_--which is the Hindustani equivalent of a
+throne--was far from being an improvement on his predecessors. He exceeded
+them in viciousness, though much their inferior in ability. As a rule the
+Indian reigning princes of today--and especially those educated at the
+splendid Rajkumar College, or Princes' School--are an honour to their high
+lineage and the races from which they spring. In peace they devote
+themselves to the welfare of their subjects, and in war many of them have
+fought gallantly for the Empire and all have given their treasures or their
+troops loyally and generously to their King-Emperor.
+
+The Rajah of Lalpuri was an exception--and a bad one. Although not thirty
+years of age he had plumbed the lowest depths of vice and debauchery.
+Cruelty and treachery were his most marked characteristics, lust and liquor
+his ruling passions.
+
+Of Mahratta descent he was of course a Hindu. While in drunken moments
+professing himself an atheist and blaspheming the gods, yet when
+suffering from illness caused by his excesses he was a prey to
+superstitious fears and as wax in the hands of his Brahmin priests.
+Although his territory was small and unimportant, yet the ownership of
+a Bengal coalfield and the judicious investment by his father of the
+treasure stolen from the rebel princes in profitable Western enterprises
+ensured him an income greater than that enjoyed by many far more
+important maharajahs. But his revenue was never sufficient for his
+needs, and he ground down his wretched subjects with oppressive taxes
+to furnish him with still more money to waste in his vices. All men
+marvelled that the Government of India allowed such a debauchee and
+wastrel to remain on the _gadi_. But it is a long-suffering Government
+and loth to interfere with the rulers of the native states. However,
+matters were fast reaching a crisis when the Viceroy and his advisers
+would be forced to consider whether they should allow this degenerate to
+continue to misgovern his State. This the Rajah realised, and it filled
+him with feelings of hostility and disloyalty to the Suzerain Power.
+
+But the real ruler of Lalpuri State was the _Dewan_ or Prime Minister, a
+clever, ambitious, and unscrupulous Bengali Brahmin, endowed with all the
+talent for intrigue and chicanery of his race and caste as well as with
+their hatred of the British. He had persuaded himself that the English
+dominion in India was coming to an end and was ready to do all in his power
+to hasten the event. For he secretly nourished the design of deposing the
+Rajah and making himself the nominal as well as the virtual ruler of the
+State, and he knew that the British would not permit this. His was the
+brain that had conceived the project of uniting the disloyal elements of
+Bengal with the foreign foes of the Government of India, and he was the
+leader of the disaffected and the chief of the conspirators.
+
+When Chunerbutty arrived in Lalpuri he rode with difficulty through the
+crowded, narrow streets. His sun-helmet and European dress earned him
+hostile glances and open insults, and more than one foul gibe was hurled at
+him as he went along by some who imagined him from his dark face and
+English clothes to be a half-caste. For the native, however humble, hates
+and despises the man of mixed breed.
+
+When he reached the Palace he made his way through the throng of beggars,
+touts, and hangers-on in the outer courtyard, and, passing the sentries,
+all of whom recognised him, entered the building. Through the maze of
+passages and courts he penetrated to the room occupied by his father in
+virtue of his appointment in the Rajah's service.
+
+He found the old man sitting cross-legged on a mat in the dirty, almost
+bare apartment. He was chewing betel-nut and spitting the red juice into a
+pot. He looked up as his son entered.
+
+Among the other out-of-date customs and silly superstitions that the
+younger Chunerbutty boasted of having freed himself from, were the
+respect and regard due to parents--usually deep-rooted in all races of
+India, and indeed of the East generally. So without any salutation or
+greeting he sat down on the one ricketty chair that the room contained,
+and said ill-temperedly:
+
+"Here I am, having ridden miles in the heat and endured discomfort for
+some absurd whim of thine. Why didst thou send for me? I told thee never
+to do so unless the matter were very important. I had to eat abuse from
+that drunken Welshman to get permission to come. I had to swear that
+thou wert on the point of death. Then he consented, but only because, as
+he said, I might catch thy illness and die too. May jackals dig him from
+his grave and devour his corpse!"
+
+As the father and son sat confronting each other the contrast between them
+was significant of the old Bengal and the new. The silly, light-minded
+girls in England who had found the younger man's attractions irresistible
+and raved over his dark skin and the fascinating suggestion of the Orient
+in him, should have seen the pair now. The son, ultra-English in his
+costume, from his sun-hat to his riding-breeches and gaiters, and the old
+Bengali, ridiculously like him in features, despite his shaven crown with
+one oiled scalp-lock, his bulbous nose and flabby cheeks, and teeth stained
+red by betel-chewing. On his forehead were painted three white horizontal
+strokes, the mark of the worshippers of Siva the Destroyer. His only
+garment was a dirty old _dhoti_ tied round his fat, naked paunch.
+
+He grinned at his son's ill-temper and replied briefly:
+
+"The Rajah wishes to see thee, son."
+
+"Why? Is there anything new?"
+
+"I do not know. Thou art angry at being torn from the side of the English
+girl. Art thou to marry her? Why not be satisfied to wed one of thine own
+countrywomen?"
+
+The younger man spat contemptuously.
+
+"I would not be content with a fat Hindu cow after having known English
+girls. Thou shouldest see those of London, old man. How they love us of
+dark skin and believe our tales that we are Indian princes!"
+
+The father leered unpleasantly.
+
+"Thou hast often told me that these white women are shameless. Is it
+needful to pay the price of marriage to possess this one?"
+
+"I want her, if only to anger the white men among whom I live," replied his
+son sullenly. "Like all the English out here they hate to see their women
+marry us black men."
+
+"There is a white man in the Palace who is not like that."
+
+"A white man in the Palace?" echoed his son. "Who is he? What does he
+here?"
+
+"A Parliamentary-_wallah_, who is visiting India and will go back to tell
+the English monkeys in his country what we are not. He comes here with
+letters from the _Lat Sahib_."
+
+"From the Viceroy?"
+
+"Yes; thou knowest that any fool from their Parliament holds a whip over
+the back of the _Lat Sahib_ and all the white men in this land. This one
+hath no love for his own country."
+
+"How knowest thou that?"
+
+"Because the _Dewan Sahib_ loves him. Any foe of England is as welcome to
+the _Dewan_ as the monsoon rain to the _ryot_ whose crops are dying of
+drought. Thou wilt see this one, for he is ever with the _Dewan_, who has
+ordered that thou goest to him before seeing the Rajah.
+
+"Ordered? I am sick of his orders," replied the son, petulantly. "Am I his
+dog that he should order me? I am not a Lalpuri now. I am a British
+subject."
+
+"Thy father eats the Rajah's salt. Thou forgettest that the _Dewan_ found
+the money to send thee across the Black Water to learn thy trade."
+
+The younger man frowned discontentedly.
+
+"Well, I see not the colour of his money now. Why should I obey him? I will
+not."
+
+"Softly, softly, son. There be many knives in the bazaars of the city that
+will seek out any man's heart at the _Dewan's_ bidding. Thou art a man of
+Lalpuri still."
+
+His son rose discontentedly from his chair.
+
+"_Kali_ smite him with smallpox. I suppose it were better to see what he
+wants. I shall go."
+
+Admitted to the presence of the _Dewan_, Chunerbutty's defiant manner
+dropped from him, for he had always held that official in awe. His swagger
+vanished; he bent low and his hand went up to his head in a salaam. The
+Premier of the State, a wrinkled old Brahmin, was seated on the ground
+propped up by white bolsters, with a small table, a foot high, crowded with
+papers in front of him. He was dressed simply and plainly in white cotton
+garments, a small coloured _puggri_ covering his shaved head. Although
+reputed the possessor of finer jewels than the Rajah he wore no ornaments.
+
+Sprawling in an easy chair opposite him was a fat European in a tight white
+linen suit buttoned up to the neck. He evidently felt the heat acutely, and
+with a large coloured handkerchief he incessantly wiped his red face, down
+which the sweat rolled in oily drops, and mopped his bald head.
+
+When Chunerbutty entered the apartment the _Dewan_, without any greeting
+indicated him, saying:
+
+"This, Mr. Macgregor, is an example of what all we Indians shall be when
+relieved of the tyranny of British officials and allowed to govern
+ourselves."
+
+His English was perfect.
+
+The bearer of the historic Highland name, whose appearance suggested rather
+a Hebrew patronymic, removed from his mouth the cigar that he was smoking
+and asked in a guttural voice:
+
+"Who is the young man?"
+
+The _Dewan_ briefly explained, then, turning to Chunerbutty, he said:
+
+"This is Mr. Donald Macgregor, M.P., a member of the Labour Party and a
+true friend of India. You may speak freely before him. Sit down."
+
+The engineer looked around in vain for another chair. The _Dewan_ said
+sharply in Bengali, using the familiar, and in this case contemptuous,
+"thou":
+
+"Sit on the floor, as thy fathers before thee have done, as thou didst
+thyself before thou began to think thyself an Englishman and despise thy
+country and its ways."
+
+Chunerbutty collapsed and sat down hastily on a mat. Then in English the
+_Dewan_ continued:
+
+"Have you any news?"
+
+"No; I have forwarded as they came all letters and messengers from Bhutan.
+The troops--" He stopped and looked at the Member of Parliament.
+
+"Continue. There is no need of secrecy before Mr. Macgregor," said the
+_Dewan_. "I have said that he is a friend of India."
+
+"It's all right, my boy," added the Hebrew Highlander encouragingly. "I am
+a Pacifist and a socialist. I don't hold with soldiers or with keeping
+coloured races enslaved. 'England for English and India for the Indians' is
+my motto."
+
+"Well, I have already informed you that there is no truth in the reports
+that troops were to be sent again to Buxa Duar," said Chunerbutty,
+reassured. "On the frontier there are only the two hundred Military Police
+at Ranga Duar. They are Punjaubi Mohammedans. I made the acquaintance of
+the officer commanding them last night."
+
+"Ah! What is he like?" enquired the _Dewan_, interested.
+
+"Inquisitive, but a fool--like all these officers," replied the engineer
+contemptuously. "He noticed Narain Dass on our garden and saw that he was a
+Bengali. He learned that others of us were employed on our estate and was
+surprised that Brahmins should do coolie work. But he suspected nothing."
+
+"You are sure?" asked the _Dewan_.
+
+"Quite certain."
+
+The _Dewan_ shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"These English officers are not always the fools they seem," he observed.
+"We must keep an eye on this inquisitive person. Now, how goes the work
+among the garden coolies? Are they ripe for revolt?"
+
+"Not yet on all the estates. They are ignorant cattle, and to them the
+Motherland means nothing. But on our garden our greatest helper is the
+manager, a drunken bully. He ill-treats the coolies and nearly kicked one
+to death the other day."
+
+"That's how the Englishman always treats the native, isn't it?" asked the
+Hebrew representative of an English constituency.
+
+"Always and everywhere," replied the engineer unhesitatingly, wondering if
+Macgregor were really fool enough to believe the libel, which one day's
+experience in India should have shown him to be false. But this foreign Jew
+turned Scotchman hated the country of his adoption, as only these gentry
+do, and was ready to believe any lie against it and eager to do all in his
+power to injure it.
+
+The _Dewan_ said:
+
+"Mr. Macgregor has been sent to tell us that his party pledges itself to
+help us in Parliament."
+
+"Yes, you need have no fear. We'll see that justice is done you," began the
+politician in his best tub-thumping manner. "We Socialists and Communists
+are determined to put an end to tyranny and oppression, whether of the
+downtrodden slaves of Capitalism at home or our coloured brothers abroad.
+The British working-man wants no colonies, no India. He is determined to
+change everything in England and do away with all above him--kings, lords,
+aristocrats, and the _bourgeoisie_. He demands Revolution, and we'll give
+it him."
+
+"Pardon me, Mr. Macgregor," remarked the engineer. "I've lived among
+British working-men, when I was in the shops, but I never found that they
+wanted revolution."
+
+The Member of Parliament looked at him steadily for a moment and grinned.
+
+"You're no fool, Mr. Chunerbutty. You're a lad after my own heart. You know
+a thing or two. Perhaps you're right. But the British working-man lets us
+represent him, and we know what's good for him, if he don't. We Socialists
+run the Labour Party, and I promise you we'll back you up in Parliament if
+you rebel and drive the English out of India."
+
+"We shall do it, Mr. Macgregor," said the _Dewan_, confidently, "We are
+co-ordinating all the organisations in the Punjaub, Bombay, and Bengal,
+and we shall strike simultaneously. Afghan help has been promised, and
+the Pathan tribesmen will follow the Amir's regiments into India. As I
+told you, the Chinese and Bhutanese invasion is certain, and there are
+neither troops nor fortifications along this frontier to stop it."
+
+"That's right. You'll do it," said Macgregor. "The General Election
+comes off in a few months, and our party is sure of victory. I am
+authorised to assure you that our first act will be to give India
+absolute independence. So you can do what you like. But don't kill the
+white women and children--at least, not openly. They might not like it
+in England, though personally I don't care if you massacre every damned
+Britisher in the country. From what I've seen of 'em it's only what
+they deserve. The insolence I've met with from those whipper-snapper
+officers! And the civil officials would be as bad, if they dared.
+Then their women--I wouldn't like to say what I think of _them_."
+
+The _Dewan_ turned to Chunerbutty.
+
+"Go now; you have my leave. His Highness wishes to see you. I have sent him
+word that you are here."
+
+The engineer rose and salaamed respectfully. Then, with a nod to Macgregor,
+he withdrew full of thought. He had not known before that the conspiracy to
+expel the British was so widespread and promising. He had not regarded it
+very seriously hitherto. But he had faith in the _Dewan_, and the pledge of
+the great political party in England was reassuring.
+
+Admitted to the presence of the Rajah, Chunerbutty found him reclining
+languidly on a pile of soft cushions on the floor of a tawdrily-decorated
+room. The walls were crowded with highly-coloured chromos of Hindu gods and
+badly-painted indecent pictures. A cut-glass chandelier hung from the
+ceiling, and expensive but ill-assorted European furniture stood about the
+apartment. French mechanical toys under glass shades crowded the tables.
+
+The Rajah was a fat and sensual-looking young man, with bloated face and
+bloodshot that eyes spoke eloquently of his excesses. On his forehead was
+painted a small semicircular line above the eyebrows with a round patch in
+the middle, which was the sect-mark of the _Saktas_. His white linen
+garments were creased and dirty, but round his neck he wore a rope of
+enormous pearls. His feet were bare. On a gold tray beside him were two
+liqueur bottles, one empty, the other only half full, and two or three
+glasses.
+
+He looked up vacantly as Chunerbutty entered, then, recognising him, said
+petulantly:
+
+"Where have you been? Why did you not come before?"
+
+The engineer salaamed and seated himself on the carpet near him without
+invitation. He held the Rajah far less in awe than the Prime Minister, for
+he had been the former's boon-companion in his debauches too often to have
+much respect for him.
+
+He answered the prince carelessly.
+
+"The _Dewan_ sent for me to see him before I came to you, _Maharaj Sahib_."
+
+"Why? What for? That man thinks that he is the ruler of Lalpuri, not I,"
+grumbled the Rajah. "I gave orders that you were to be sent to me as soon
+as you arrived. I want news of the girl. Is she still there?"
+
+"Yes; she is still there."
+
+"Listen to me," the Rajah leant forward and tapped him on the knee. "I must
+have that girl. Ever since I saw her at the _durbar_ at Jalpaiguri I have
+wanted her."
+
+"Your Highness knows that it is difficult to get hold of an Englishwoman in
+India."
+
+"I know. But I do not care. I must have her. I _will_ have her." He filled
+a tumbler with liqueur and sipped it. "I have sent for you to find a way.
+You are clever. You know the customs of these English. You have often told
+me how you did as you wished with the white women in England."
+
+"That is very different. It is easy there," and Chunerbutty smiled at
+pleasant memories. "There the women are shameless, and they prefer us to
+their own colour. And the men are not jealous. They are proud that their
+daughters and sisters should know us."
+
+He helped himself to the liqueur.
+
+"Why do you not go to England?" he continued. "There every woman would
+throw herself at your feet. They make much of the Hindu students, the sons
+of fat _bunniahs_ and shopkeepers in Calcutta, because they think them all
+Indian princes. For you who really are one they would do anything."
+
+The Rajah sat up furious and dashed his glass down on the tray so violently
+that it shivered to atoms.
+
+"Go to England? Have I not tried to?" he cried. "But every time I ask, the
+Viceroy refuses me permission. I, a rajah, the son of rajahs, must beg
+leave like a servant from a man whose grandfather was a nobody--and be
+refused. May his womenkind be dishonoured! May his grave be defiled!"
+
+He filled another glass and emptied it before continuing.
+
+"But, I tell you, I want this girl. I must have her. You must get her for
+me. Can you not carry her off and bring her here? You can have all the
+money you want to bribe any one. You said there are only two white men on
+the garden. I will send you a hundred soldiers."
+
+Chunerbutty looked alarmed. He had no wish to be dragged into such a mad
+proceeding as to attempt to carry off an Englishwoman by force, and in a
+place where he was well known. For the girl in question was Noreen Daleham.
+The Rajah had seen her a few months before at a _durbar_ or reception of
+native notables held by the Lieutenant Governor of Eastern Bengal, and been
+fired with an insane and unholy passion for her.
+
+"Your Highness, it is impossible. Quite impossible. Do you not see that all
+the power of the _Sirkar_ (the Government) would be put forth to punish us?
+You would be deposed, and I--I would be sent to the convict settlement in
+the Andaman Islands, if I were not hanged."
+
+The Rajah abused the hated English, root and branch. But he was forced to
+admit that Chunerbutty was right. Open violence would ruin them.
+
+He sank back on the cushions, exhausted by his fit of anger. Draining his
+glass he filled it up again. Then he clapped his hands. A servant entered
+noiselessly on bare feet, bringing two full bottles of liqueur and fresh
+tumblers. There was little difficulty in anticipating His Highness's
+requirements. The _khitmagar_ removed the empty bottles and the broken
+glass and left the apartment.
+
+The Rajah drank again. The strong liqueur seemed to have no effect on him.
+Then he said:
+
+"Well, find a plan yourself. But I must get the girl."
+
+Chunerbutty pretended to think. Then he began to expose tentatively, as if
+it were an idea just come to him, a plan that he had conceived weeks
+before.
+
+"_Maharaj Sahib_, if I could make the girl my wife--"
+
+The Rajah half rose up and spluttered out furiously:
+
+"You dog, wouldst thou dare to rival me, to interfere between me and my
+desires?"
+
+The engineer hastened to pacify the angry man.
+
+"No, no, Your Highness. You misunderstand me. Surely you know that you can
+trust me. What I mean is that, if I married her, she would have to obey me,
+and--" he smiled insinuatingly and significantly--"I am a loyal subject of
+Your Highness."
+
+The fat debauchee stared at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments. Then
+understanding dawned, and his bloated face creased into a lascivious smile.
+
+"I see. I see. Then marry her," he said, sinking back on the cushions.
+
+"Your Highness forgets that the salary they pay a tea-garden engineer is
+not enough to tempt a girl to marry him nor support them if she did."
+
+"That is true," replied the Rajah thoughtfully. He was silent for a little,
+and then he said:
+
+"I will give you an appointment here in the Palace with a salary of a
+_lakh_ of rupees a year."
+
+Chunerbutty's eyes glistened. A _lakh_ is a hundred thousand, and at par
+fifteen rupees went to an English sovereign.
+
+"Thank you, Your Highness," he said eagerly.
+
+The Rajah held up a fat forefinger warningly.
+
+"But not until you have married her," he said.
+
+Chunerbutty smiled confidently. Much as he had seen of Noreen Daleham he
+yet knew her so little as to believe that the prospect of such an income,
+joined to the favour in which he believed she held him, would make it an
+easy matter to win her consent.
+
+He imagined himself to be in love with the girl, but it was in the
+Oriental's way--that is, it was merely a matter of sensual desire. Although
+as jealous as Eastern men are in sex questions, the prospect of the money
+quite reconciled him to the idea of sharing his wife with another. His
+fancy flew ahead to the time, which he knew to be inevitable, when
+possession would have killed passion and the money would bring new, and so
+more welcome, women to his arms. The Rajah would only too readily permit,
+nay encourage him to go to Europe--alone. And he gloated over the thought
+of being again in London, but this time with much money at his command.
+What was any one woman compared with fifty, with a hundred, others ready to
+replace her?
+
+So he calmly discussed with the Rajah the manner of carrying out their
+nefarious scheme; and His Highness, to show his appreciation, invited him
+to share his orgies that night. And in the smiles and embraces of a
+Kashmiri wanton, Chunerbutty forgot the English girl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+A BHUTTIA RAID
+
+Dermot's friendship with the Dalehams made rapid progress, and in the
+ensuing weeks he saw them often. In order to verify his suspicions as to
+the Bengalis, he made a point of cultivating the acquaintance of the
+planters, paid several visits to Payne and other members of the community,
+and was a frequent guest at the weekly gatherings at the club.
+
+On one of his visits to Malpura he found Fred recovering from a sharp bout
+of malarial fever, and Dermot was glad of an opportunity of requiting their
+hospitality by inviting both the Dalehams to Ranga Duar to enable Fred to
+recuperate in the mountain air.
+
+The invitation was gladly accepted. Their host came to fetch them himself
+with two elephants; Badshah, carrying a _charjama_, conveying them, while
+the other animal bore their luggage and servants. With jealous rage in his
+heart Chunerbutty watched them go.
+
+Noreen enjoyed the journey through the forest and up the mountains, with
+Dermot sitting beside her to act as her guide, for on this occasion
+Ramnath drove Badshah. As they climbed the steep, winding road among the
+hills and rose out of the damp heat of the Plains, Fred declared that he
+felt better at once in the cool refreshing breezes that swept down from
+the lofty peaks above. The forest fell away behind them. The great teak
+and _sal_ trees gave place to the lighter growths of bamboo, plantain,
+and sago-palm. A troop of small brown monkeys, feasting on ripe bananas,
+sprang away startled on all fours and vanished in all directions. A
+slim-bodied, long-tailed mongoose, stealing across the road, stopped in
+the middle of it to rise up on his hind legs and stare with tiny pink
+eyes at the approaching elephants. Then, dropping to the ground again
+with puffed-out, defiant tail, he trotted on into the undergrowth angry
+and unafraid.
+
+Arrived at Ranga Duar the brother and sister exclaimed in admiration at the
+beauty of the lonely outpost nestling in the bosom of the hills. They gazed
+with interest at the stalwart sepoys of the detachment in khaki or white
+undress whom they passed and who drew themselves up and saluted their
+commanding sahib smartly.
+
+Dermot had given up his small bungalow to his guests and gone to occupy
+the one vacant quarter in the Mess. Noreen was to sleep in his bedroom,
+and, as the girl looked round the scantily-furnished apartment with
+its small camp-bed, one canvas chair, a table, and a barrack chest of
+drawers, she tried to realise that she was actually to live for a while
+in the very room of the man who was fast becoming her hero. For indeed
+her feeling for Dermot so far savoured more of hero-worship than of
+love. She looked with interest at his scanty possessions, his sword,
+the line of riding-boots against the wall, the belts and spurs hung on
+nails, the brass-buttoned greatcoat hanging behind the door. In his
+sitting-room she read the names of the books on a roughly-made stand to
+try to judge of his taste in literature. And with feminine curiosity she
+studied the photographs on the walls and tables and wondered who were
+the originals of the portraits of some beautiful women among them and
+what was their relation to Dermot.
+
+While her brother, who picked up strength at once in the pure air,
+delighted in the military sights and sounds around him, the girl revelled
+in the loveliness of their surroundings, the beauty of the scenery, the
+splendour of the hills, and the glorious panorama of forest and plains
+spread before her eyes. To Parker, who had awaited their arrival at
+Dermot's gate and hurried forward to help down from Badshah's back the
+first Englishwoman who had ever visited their solitary station, she took an
+instant liking, which increased when she found that he openly admired his
+commanding officer as much as she did secretly.
+
+In the days that followed it seemed quite natural that the task of
+entertaining Noreen should fall to the senior officer's lot, while the
+junior tactfully paired off with her brother and took him to shoot on the
+rifle range or join in games of hockey with the sepoys on the parade
+ground, which was the only level spot in the station.
+
+Propinquity is the most frequent cause of love--for one who falls headlong
+into that passion fifty drift into it. In the isolation of that solitary
+spot on the face of the giant mountains, Kevin Dermot and Noreen Daleham
+drew nearer to each other in their few days together there than they ever
+would have done in as many months of London life. As they climbed the hills
+or sat side by side on the Mess verandah and looked down on the leagues of
+forest and plain spread out like a map at their feet, they were apt to
+forget that they were not alone in the world.
+
+The more Dermot saw of Noreen, the more he was attracted by her naturalness
+and her unconscious charm of manner. He liked her bright and happy
+disposition, full of the joy of living. On her side Noreen at first hardly
+recognised the quiet-mannered, courteous man that she had first known in
+the smart, keen, and intelligent soldier such as she found Dermot to be in
+his own surroundings. Yet she was glad to have seen him in his little world
+and delighted to watch him with his Indian officers and sepoys, whose
+liking and respect for him were so evident.
+
+When she was alone her thoughts were all of him. As she lay at night
+half-dreaming on his little camp-bed in his bare room she wondered what
+his life had been. And, to a woman, the inevitable question arose in her
+mind: Had he ever loved or was he now in love with someone? It seemed to
+her that any woman should be proud to win the love of such a man. Was
+there one? What sort of girl would he admire, she wondered. She had
+noticed that in their talks he had never mentioned any of her sex or
+given her a clue to his likes and dislikes. She knew little of men. Her
+brother was the only one of whose inner life and ideas she had any
+knowledge, and he was no help to her understanding of Dermot.
+
+It never occurred to Noreen that there was anything unusual in her interest
+in this new friend, nor did she suspect that that interest was perilously
+akin to a deeper feeling. All she knew was that she liked him and was
+content to be near him. She had not reached the stage of being miserable
+out of his presence. The dawn of a woman's love is the happiest time in its
+story. There is no certain realisation of the truth to startle, perhaps
+affright, her, no doubts to depress her, no jealous fears to torture her
+heart--only a vague, delicious feeling of gladness, a pleasant rose-tinted
+glow to brighten life and warm her heart. The fierce, devouring flames come
+later.
+
+The first love of a young girl is passionless, pure; a fanciful, poetic
+devotion to an ideal; the worship of a deified, glorious being who does
+not, never could, exist. Too often the realisation of the truth that the
+idol has feet of clay is enough to burst the iridescent glowing bubble. Too
+seldom the love deepens, develops into the true and lasting devotion of the
+woman, clear-sighted enough to see the real man through the mists of
+illusion, but fondly wise enough to cherish him in spite of his faults,
+aye, even because of them, as a mother loves her deformed child for its
+very infirmity.
+
+So to Noreen love had come--as it should, as it must, to every daughter of
+Eve, for until it comes no one of them will ever be really content or feel
+that her life is complete, although when it does she will probably be
+unhappy. For it will surely bring to her more grief than joy. Life and
+Nature are harder to the woman than to the man. But in those golden days in
+the mountains, Noreen Daleham was happy, happier far than she had ever
+been; albeit she did not realise that love was the magician that made her
+so. She only felt that the world was a very delightful place and that the
+lonely outpost the most attractive spot in it.
+
+Even when the day came to quit Ranga Duar she was not depressed. For was
+not her friend--so she named him now in her thoughts--to bring her on his
+wonderful elephant through the leagues of enchanted forest to her home? And
+had he not promised to come to it again very soon to visit--not her, of
+course, but her brother? So what cause was there for sadness?
+
+Long as was the way--for forty miles of jungle paths lay between Malpura
+and Ranga Duar--the journey seemed all too short for Noreen. But it came
+to an end at last, and they arrived at the garden as the sun set and
+Kinchinjunga's fairy white towers and spires hung high in air for a
+space of time tantalisingly brief. Before they reached the bungalow the
+short-lived Indian twilight was dying, and the tiny oil-lamps began to
+twinkle in the palm-thatched huts of the toilers' village on the estate.
+And forth from it swarmed the coolies, men, women, children, not to
+welcome them, but to stare at the sacred elephant. Many heads bent low,
+many hands were lifted to foreheads in awed salutation. Some of the
+throng prostrated themselves to the dust, not in greeting to their own
+sahib but in reverence to the marvellous animal and the mysterious white
+man bestriding his neck who was becoming identified with him.
+
+When Dermot rode away on Badshah the next morning the same scenes were
+repeated. The coolies left their work among the tea-bushes to flock to the
+side of the road as he passed. But he paid as little attention to them as
+Badshah did, and turned just before the Dalehams' bungalow was lost to
+sight to wave a last farewell to the girl still standing on the verandah
+steps. It was a vision that he took away with him in his heart.
+
+But, as the elephant bore him away through the forest, Noreen faded from
+his mind, for he had graver, sterner thoughts to fill it. Love can never be
+a fair game between the sexes, for the man and the woman do not play with
+equal stakes. The latter risks everything, her soul, her mind, her whole
+being. The former wagers only a fragment of his heart, a part of his
+thoughts. Yet he is not to blame; it is Nature's ordinance. For the world's
+work would never go on if men, who chiefly carry it on, were possessed,
+obsessed, by love as women are.
+
+So Dermot was only complying with that ordinance when he allowed the
+thoughts of his task, which indeed was ever present with him, to oust
+Noreen from his mind. He was on his way to Payne's bungalow to meet the
+managers of several gardens in that part of the district, who were to
+assemble there to report to him the result of their investigations.
+
+His suspicions were more than confirmed. All had the same tale to tell--a
+story of strange restlessness, a turbulent spirit, a frequent display of
+insolence and insubordination among the coolies ordinarily so docile and
+respectful. But this was only in the gardens that numbered Brahmins in
+their population. The influence of these dangerous men was growing daily.
+This was not surprising to any one who knows the extraordinary power of
+this priestly caste among all Hindus.
+
+There was evidence of constant communication between the Bengalis on the
+other estates and Malpura, which pointed to the latter as being the
+headquarters of the promoters of disaffection. But few of the planters were
+inclined to agree with Dermot in suspecting Chunerbutty as likely to prove
+the leader, for they were of opinion that his repudiation and disregard of
+all the beliefs and customs of the Brahmins would render him obnoxious to
+them.
+
+From Payne's the Major went on to visit some other gardens. Everywhere he
+heard the same story. All the planters were convinced that the heart and
+the brain of the disaffection was to be found in Malpura. So Dermot
+determined to return there and expose the whole matter to Fred Daleham at
+last, charging him on his loyalty not to give the faintest inkling to
+Chunerbutty.
+
+A delay in the advent of the rain, which falls earlier in the district of
+the Himalayan foothills than elsewhere in India, had rendered the jungle
+very dry. Consequently when Dermot on Badshah's neck emerged from it on to
+the garden of Malpura, he was not surprised to see at the far end of the
+estate a column of smoke which told of a forest fire. The wide, open
+stretch of the plantation was deserted, probably, so Dermot concluded,
+because all the coolies had been collected to beat out the flames. But, as
+he neared the Daleham's bungalow, he saw a crowd of them in front of it.
+Before the verandah steps a group surrounded something on the ground, while
+the servants were standing together talking to a man in European clothes,
+whom Dermot, when he drew nearer, recognised as Chunerbutty.
+
+The group near the steps scattered as he approached, and Dermot saw that
+the object on the ground was a native lying on his back, covered with blood
+and apparently dead.
+
+Chunerbutty rushed forward. He was evidently greatly agitated.
+
+"Oh, Major Dermot! Major Dermot! Help! Help!" he cried excitedly. "A
+terrible thing has happened. Miss Daleham has been carried off by a party
+of Bhuttia raiders."
+
+"Carried off? By Bhuttias?" exclaimed the soldier. "When?"
+
+He made the elephant kneel and slipped off to the ground.
+
+"Barely two hours ago," replied the engineer. "A fire broke out in the
+jungle at the south edge of the garden--probably started purposely to draw
+everyone away from the bungalows and factory. The manager, Daleham, and I
+went there to superintend the men fighting the flames. In our absence a
+party of ten or twenty Bhuttia swordsmen rushed the house. Miss Daleham had
+just returned from her ride. Poor girl!"
+
+He broke down and began to cry.
+
+"Pull yourself together man!" exclaimed Dermot in disgust. "Go on. What
+happened?"
+
+"They seized and bound her," continued the Bengali, mastering his emotion.
+"These cowards"--with a wave of his hand he indicated the servants--"did
+nothing to protect her. Only the _syce_ attempted to resist, and they
+killed him."
+
+He pointed to the prostrate man.
+
+"They tried to bear her off on her pony, but it took fright and bolted.
+Then they tied poles to a chair brought from the bungalow and carried her
+away in it."
+
+"Didn't the servants give the alarm?" asked Dermot.
+
+"No; they remained hiding in their quarters until we came. A coolie woman,
+who saw the raiders from a distance, ran to us and told us. Fred went mad,
+of course. He wanted to follow the Bhuttias, but I pointed out that it was
+hopeless."
+
+"Hopeless? Why?"
+
+"There were only three of us, and they were a large party," replied
+Chunerbutty.
+
+"Yes; but you had rifles and should have been a match for fifty."
+
+The Bengali shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"We did not know in which way they had gone," he said. "We could not track
+them."
+
+"I suppose not. Well?"
+
+"Fred and Mr. Parry have ridden off in different directions to the
+neighbouring gardens to summon help. We sent two coolies with a telegram to
+you or any officer at Ranga Duar, to be sent from the telegraph office on
+the Barwahi estate. Then you came."
+
+Dermot observed him narrowly. He was always suspicious of the Hindu; but,
+unless the engineer was a good actor, there was no doubt that he was
+greatly affected by the outrage. His distress seemed absolutely genuine.
+And certainly there seemed no reason for suspecting his complicity in the
+carrying off of Miss Daleham. So the Major turned to the servants and,
+taking them apart one by one, questioned them closely. Chunerbutty had
+given their story correctly. But Dermot elicited two new facts which they
+had not mentioned to the engineer. One raider at least was armed with a
+revolver, which was unusual for a Bhuttia, the difficulty of procuring
+firearms and ammunition in Bhutan being so great that even the soldiers of
+the Maharajah are armed only with swords and bows. The Dalehams'
+_khansamah_, or butler, stated that this man had threatened all the
+servants with this weapon, bidding them under pain of death remain in their
+houses without raising an alarm.
+
+"Do you know Bhutanese?" asked Dermot.
+
+"No, sahib. But he spoke Bengali," replied the servant.
+
+"Spoke it well?"
+
+"No, sahib, not well, but sufficiently for us to understand him."
+
+Another servant, on being questioned, mentioned the curious fact that the
+man with the revolver conversed with another of the raiders in Bengali.
+This struck Dermot as being improbable, but others of the servants
+confirmed the fact. Having gathered all the information that they could
+give him he went over to look at the dead man.
+
+The _syce_, or groom, was lying on his back in a pool of blood. He had been
+struck down by a blow from a sword which seemed to have split the skull.
+But, on placing his ear to the poor wretch's chest, Dermot thought that he
+could detect a faint fluttering of the heart. Holding his polished silver
+cigarette case to the man's mouth he found its brightness slightly clouded.
+
+"Why, he is still living," exclaimed the soldier. "Quick! Bring water."
+
+He hastily applied his flask to the man's lips. Although he grudged the
+time, Dermot felt that the wounded man's attempt to defend Noreen entitled
+him to have his wound attended to even before any effort was made to rescue
+her. So he had the _syce_ carried to his hut, and then, taking out his
+surgical case, he cleansed and sewed up the gash. But his thoughts were
+busy with Noreen's peril. The occurrence astonished him. Bhuttias from the
+hills beyond the border occasionally raided villages and tea-gardens in
+British territory in search of loot, but were generally careful to avoid
+Europeans. Such an outrage as the carrying off of an Englishwoman had never
+been heard of on the North-East Frontier.
+
+There was no time to be lost if the raiders were to be overtaken before
+they crossed the border. Indeed, with the start that they had, pursuit
+seemed almost hopeless. Nevertheless, Dermot resolved to attempt it, and
+single-handed. For he could not wait for the planters to gather, and
+summoning his men from Ranga Duar was out of the question. He did not
+consider the odds against him. Had Englishmen stopped to do so in India,
+the Empire would never have been founded. With his rifle and the prestige
+of the white race behind him he would not have hesitated to face a hundred
+such opponents. His blood boiled at the thought of the indignity offered to
+the girl; though he was not seriously concerned for her safety, judging
+that she had been carried off for ransom. But he pictured the distress and
+terror of a delicately nurtured Englishwoman at finding herself in the
+hands of a band of savage outlaws dragging her away to an unknown and awful
+fate. She was his friend, and he felt that it was his right as well as his
+duty to rescue her.
+
+With a grim determination to follow her abductors even to Punaka, the
+capital of Bhutan, he swung his leg across Badshah's neck and set out,
+having bade Chunerbutty inform Daleham and the planters that he had started
+in pursuit.
+
+The raiders had left the garden by a path leading to the north and headed
+for the mountains. When Dermot got well clear of the bungalow and reached
+the confines of the estate, he dismounted and examined the ground over
+which they had passed. In the dust he found the blurred prints of a number
+of barefooted men and in one place four sharply-defined marks which showed
+where they had set down the chair in which Noreen was being carried,
+probably to change the bearers. A mile or two further on the track crossed
+the dry bed of a small stream. In the sand Dermot noticed to his surprise
+the heel-mark of a boot among the footprints of the raiders, it being most
+unusual for Bhuttias to be shod.
+
+As his rider knelt down to examine the tracks, Badshah stretched out his
+trunk and smelt them as though he understood the object of their mission.
+And, as soon as Dermot was again on his neck, he moved on at a rapid pace.
+It was necessary, however, to check constantly to search for the raiders'
+tracks. The Bhuttias had followed an animal path through the jungle, and
+Dermot seated on his elephant's neck with loaded rifle across his knees,
+scanned it carefully and watched the undergrowth on either side, noting
+here and there broken twigs or freshly-fallen leaves which marked the
+passage of the chair conveying Noreen. Such signs were generally to be
+found at sharp turnings of the path. Wherever the ground was soft enough or
+sufficient dust lay to show impressions he stopped to examine the spot
+carefully for footprints. Occasionally he detected the sharp marks of the
+chair-legs or of the boot.
+
+The trial led towards the mountains, as was natural. But after several
+hours' progress Badshah turned suddenly to the left and endeavoured to
+continue on towards the west. Dermot was disappointed, for he had persuaded
+himself that the elephant quite understood the quest and was following the
+trail. He headed Badshah again towards the north, but with difficulty, for
+the animal obstinately persisted in trying to go his own way. When Dermot
+conquered finally they continued towards the mountains. But before long the
+soldier found that he had lost all traces of the raiding party. He cast
+around without success and wasted much time in endeavouring to pick up the
+trail again. At last to his annoyance he was forced to turn back and
+retrace his steps.
+
+At the spot where the conflict of opinion between him and the elephant had
+taken place he cast about and found the track again. It led in the
+direction in which Badshah had tried to take him. The elephant had been
+wiser than he. Now, with an apologetic pat on the head, Dermot let him
+follow the new path, wondering at the change of route, for it was only
+natural to expect that the Bhuttias would have made for the hills by the
+shortest way to the nearest pass into Bhutan. As the elephant moved along
+his rider's eye was quick to recognise the traces of the passing of the
+raiders, where no sign would have been visible to one unskilled in
+tracking.
+
+All at once Badshah slackened his pace and began to advance with the
+caution of a tusker stalking an enemy. Confident in the animal's
+extraordinary intelligence Dermot cocked his rifle. The elephant suddenly
+turned off the path and moved noiselessly through the undergrowth for a few
+minutes. Then he stopped on the edge of an open glade in the forest.
+
+Scattered about in it, sitting or lying down half-asleep, were a number of
+short, sturdy, brown-faced men with close cropped bare heads. Each was clad
+in a single garment shaped like a Japanese _kimono_ and kilted up to expose
+thick-calved, muscular bare legs by a girdle from which hung a _dah_--a
+short, straight sword. A little apart from them sat Noreen Daleham in a
+chair in which she was securely fastened and to which long carrying-poles
+were tied. She was dressed in riding costume and wore a sun-helmet.
+
+The girl was pale, weary, and dejected, and looked so frail and unfitted to
+cope with so terrifying a situation that a feeling of immense tenderness
+and an instinctive desire to protect her filled Dermot as he watched her.
+Then passionate anger welled up in him as he turned his eyes again to her
+captors; and he longed to make them pay dearly for the suffering that she
+had endured.
+
+But, despite his rage, he deliberated coolly enough on the best mode of
+attack, as he counted the number of the raiders. There were twenty-two. The
+soldier's quick eye instantly detected that one of them, although garbed
+similarly to the rest, was in features unlike a Bhuttia and had not the
+sturdy frame of a man of that race. He was wearing shoes and socks and was
+the only one of the party not carrying a _dah_.
+
+Dermot's first idea was to open fire suddenly on the raiders and continue
+firing while moving about in cover from place to place on the edge of the
+glade, so as to give the impression of a numerous force. But he feared that
+harm might come to the girl in the fight if any of the Bhuttias carried
+fire-arms, for they would probably fire wildly, and a stray bullet might
+hit the girl. So he resolved on a bolder policy. While the raiders, who had
+put out no sentries, lay about in groups unconscious of the proximity of an
+enemy, Dermot touched Badshah with his hand, and the elephant broke
+noiselessly out of the undergrowth and suddenly appeared in their midst.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE RESCUE OF NOREEN
+
+There was a moment's consternation among the Bhuttias. Then they sprang to
+their feet and began to draw their _dahs_. But suddenly one cried:
+
+"The demon elephant! The devil man!"
+
+Another and another took up the cry. Then all at once in terror they turned
+and plunged panic-stricken into the undergrowth. All but two--the wearer of
+shoes and a man with a scarred face beside him. While the rest fled they
+stood their ground and called vainly to their companions to come back. When
+they found themselves deserted the wearer of shoes pulled out a revolver
+and fired at Dermot, while his scarred comrade drew his sword and ran
+towards Noreen.
+
+The soldier, ignoring his own danger but fearing for the girl's life, threw
+his rifle to his shoulder and sent a bullet crashing through her
+assailant's skull, then with his second barrel he shot the man with the
+pistol through the heart. The first raider collapsed instantly and fell in
+a heap, while the other, dropping his weapon, swayed for a moment,
+staggered forward a few feet, and fell dead.
+
+Only then could Dermot look at Noreen. In the dramatic moment of his
+appearance the girl had uttered no sound, but sat rigid with her eyes fixed
+on him. When the swordsman rushed at her she seemed scarcely conscious of
+her peril but she started in terror and grew deadly pale when his companion
+fired at her rescuer. When both fell her tension relaxed. She sank back
+half-fainting in her chair and closed her eyes.
+
+When she opened them again Badshah was kneeling a few yards away and Dermot
+stood beside her cutting the cords that bound her.
+
+She looked up at him and said simply:
+
+"I knew you would come."
+
+With an affectation of light-heartedness that he was far from feeling he
+replied laughing:
+
+"Of course you did. I am bound to turn up like the clown in the pantomime,
+saying, 'Here we are again.' Oh, I forgot. I am a bit late. I should have
+appeared on the scene when those beggars got to your bungalow."
+
+He pretended to treat the whole affair lightly and made no further allusion
+to her adventure, asking no questions about it. He was afraid lest she
+should break down in the sudden relief from the strain and anxiety. But
+there was no cause to fear it. The girl was quietly brave and imitated his
+air of unconcern, behaving after the first moment as if they were meeting
+under the most ordinary circumstances. She smiled, though somewhat feebly,
+as she said:
+
+"Oh, not a clown, Major Dermot. Rather the hero of a cinema drama, who
+always appears in time to rescue the persecuted maiden. I am beginning to
+feel quite like the unlucky heroine of a film play."
+
+The cords fastening her had now been cut, so she tried to stand up but
+found no strength in her numbed limbs.
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm--I'm rather stiff," she said, sinking back into the
+chair again. She felt angry at her weakness, but she was almost glad of it
+when she saw Dermot's instant look of concern.
+
+"You are cramped from being tied up," he said. "Don't hurry."
+
+The cords had chafed her wrists cruelly. He stooped to examine the
+abrasions, and the girl thrilled at his gentle touch. A feeling of shyness
+overcame her, and she turned her eyes away from his face. They fell on the
+bodies of the dead raiders, and she hastily averted her gaze.
+
+"Hadn't we better hurry away from here?" she asked, apprehensively.
+
+"No; I don't think there is any necessity. The men who ran away seemed too
+scared to think of returning. But still, we'll start as soon as you feel
+strong enough."
+
+"What was it that they cried out?"
+
+"Oh, merely an uncomplimentary remark about Badshah and me," he replied.
+
+The girl made another attempt to rise and succeeded with his assistance. He
+lifted her on to Badshah's pad and went over to examine the dead men. After
+his first casual glance at the wearer of shoes he knelt down and looked
+closely into the face of the corpse. Then he pulled open the single
+garment. A thin cord consisting of three strings of spun cotton was round
+the body next the skin, passing over the left shoulder and under the right
+arm. This Dermot cut off. From inside the garment he took out some other
+articles, all of which he pocketed. He then searched the corpse of the
+scarred Bhuttia, taking a small packet tied up in cloth from the breast of
+the garment. Noreen watched him with curiosity and marvelled at his courage
+in handling the dead bodies.
+
+He returned to the kneeling elephant and took his place on the neck.
+
+"Hold on now, Miss Daleham," he said. "Badshah's going to rise. _Uth_"
+
+Noreen gripped the surcingle rope tightly as the elephant heaved up his big
+body and set off along a track through the jungle at a rapid pace.
+
+"Now we are safe enough," said Dermot, turning towards his companion. "I
+have not asked you yet about your adventures. Tell me all that happened to
+you, if you don't mind talking about it."
+
+"Oh, it was awful," she answered, shuddering at the remembrance. "And it
+was all so sudden. There was a fire in the jungle near the garden, and Fred
+went with the others to put it out. He wouldn't let me accompany him, but
+told me to go for my ride in the opposite direction. I didn't stay away
+long. I had just returned to the bungalow and dismounted and was giving my
+pony a piece of sugar, when several Bhuttias rushed at me from behind the
+house and seized me. Poor Lalla, my _syce_, tried to keep them off with his
+bare hands, but one brute struck him on the head with his sword. The poor
+boy fell, covered with blood. I'm afraid he was killed."
+
+"No, he isn't dead," remarked Dermot. "I saw him, and I think that he'll
+live."
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad to hear it," exclaimed the girl. "Ever since I saw it I've
+had before my eyes the dreadful sight of the poor lad lying on the ground
+covered with blood and apparently lifeless. Well, to go on. I called the
+other servants, but no one came. The Bhuttias tied my hands and tried to
+lift me on to my pony's back, but Kitty got frightened and bolted. Then
+they didn't seem to know what to do, and one went to a man who had remained
+at a distance from us and spoke to him. He apparently told them to fetch a
+chair from the bungalow and put me into it. I tried to struggle, but I was
+powerless in their grasp. I was fastened to the chair, poles were tied to
+it, and at a sign from the man who stood alone--he seemed to be the
+leader--I was lifted up and carried off."
+
+"Did you notice anything about this man--the leader?" asked Dermot.
+
+"Yes, he was not like the others in face. He didn't seem to me to be a
+Bhuttia at all. He was one of the two that you shot--the man with shoes. It
+seems absurd, but do you know, his face appeared rather familiar to me
+somehow. But of course I could never have seen him before."
+
+"Are you sure that you hadn't? Think hard," said Dermot eagerly.
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"It's no use. I puzzled over the likeness most of the time that I was in
+their hands, but I couldn't place him."
+
+Dermot looked disappointed.
+
+The girl continued:
+
+"We went through the forest for hours without stopping, except to change
+the bearers of my chair. I noticed that the leader spoke to one man only,
+the man with the scars on his face whom you shot, too, and he passed on the
+orders."
+
+"Could you tell in what language these two spoke to each other?"
+
+"No; they never talked in my hearing. In fact I noticed that the man with
+shoes always avoided coming near me. Well, we went on and on and never
+halted until we reached the place where you found us. It seemed to be a
+spot that they had aimed for. I saw the scarred man examining some marks on
+the trees in it and pointing them out to the leader, who then gave the
+order to stop."
+
+"How did they behave to you?"
+
+"No one took any notice of me. They simply carried me, lifted me up, and
+dumped me down as if I were a tea-chest," replied the girl. "Well, that is
+all my adventure. But now please tell me how you came so opportunely to my
+rescue. Was it by chance or did you follow us? Oh, I forgot. You said you
+saw Lalla, so you must have been at Malpura. Did Fred send you?"
+
+Dermot briefly related all that had happened. When he told her of his
+dispute with Badshah about the route to be followed and how the elephant
+proved to be in the right she cried enthusiastically:
+
+"Oh, the dear thing! He's just the most wonderful animal in the world.
+Forgive me for interrupting. Please go on."
+
+When he had finished his tale there was silence between them for a little.
+Then Noreen said in a voice shaking with emotion:
+
+"How can I thank you? Again you have saved me. And this time from a fate
+even more dreadful than the first. I'd sooner be killed outright by the
+elephants than endure to be carried off to some awful place by those
+wretches. Who were they? Were they brigands, like one reads of in Sicily?
+Was I to be killed or to be held to ransom?"
+
+"Oh, the latter, I suppose," replied Dermot.
+
+But there was a doubtful tone about his words. In fact, he was at a loss to
+understand the affair. It was probably not what he had thought it at
+first--an attempt on the part of enterprising Bhuttia raiders to carry off
+an Englishwoman for ransom. For when he overtook them they were on a path
+that led away from the mountains, so they were not making for Bhutan. And
+the identity of the leader perplexed him.
+
+There could be no political motive for the outrage. The affair was a
+puzzle. But he put the matter aside for the time being and began to
+consider their position. The sun was declining, for the afternoon was well
+advanced. As far as he could judge they were a long way from Malpura, and
+it seemed to him that Badshah was not heading directly for the garden. But
+he had sufficient confidence in the animal's intelligence to refrain from
+interfering with him again. The pangs of hunger reminded him that he had
+had no food since the early morning cup of tea at the planter's bungalow
+where he had passed the night, for he had hoped to breakfast at Malpura. It
+occurred to him that his companion must be in the same plight.
+
+"Are you hungry, Miss Daleham?" he asked.
+
+"Hungry? I don't know. I haven't had time to think about food," she
+replied. "But I'm very thirsty."
+
+"Would you like a cup of tea?"
+
+"Oh, don't tantalise me, Major," she replied laughing. "I feel I'd give
+anything for one now. But unfortunately there aren't any tea-rooms in this
+wonderful jungle of yours."
+
+Dermot smiled.
+
+"Perhaps it could be managed," he said. "What I am concerned about is how
+to get something substantial to eat, for I foolishly came away from
+Granger's bungalow, where I stayed last night, without replenishing my
+stores, which had run low. I intended asking you for enough to carry me
+back to Ranga Duar. But when I heard what had happened--Hullo! with luck
+there's our dinner."
+
+He broke off suddenly, for a jungle cock had crowed in the forest not far
+away.
+
+"I wish I had a shot gun," he whispered. "But my rifle will have to do.
+_Mul_, Badshah."
+
+He guided the elephant quietly and cautiously in the direction from which
+the sound had come. Presently they came to an open glade and heard the fowl
+crow again. Dermot halted Badshah in cover and waited. Presently there was
+a patter over the dry leaves lying on the ground, and a jungle cock, a bird
+similar to an English bantam, stalked across the glade twenty yards away.
+It stopped and began to peck. Dermot quietly raised his rifle and took
+careful aim at its head. He fired, and the body of the cock fell to the
+earth headless.
+
+"What a good shot, Major!" exclaimed Noreen, who had been quite excited.
+
+"It was an easy one, for this rifle's extremely accurate and the range was
+very short. I fired at the head, for if I had hit the body with such a big
+bullet there wouldn't have been much dinner left for us. Now I think that
+we shall have to halt for a little time. I know that you must be eager to
+get back home and relieve your brother's anxiety. But Badshah has been
+going for many hours on end and has not delayed to graze on the way, so it
+would be wise to give him a rest and a feed."
+
+"Yes, indeed," said the girl. "He thoroughly deserves it."
+
+She was not unwilling that the time spent in Dermot's company should be
+prolonged. It was a sweet and wonderful experience to be thus alone with
+him in the enchanted jungle. She had forgotten her fears; and the
+remembrance of her recent unpleasant adventure vanished in her present
+happiness. For she was subtly conscious of a new tenderness in his manner
+towards her.
+
+The elephant sank down, and Dermot dismounted and lifted the girl off
+carefully. Noreen felt herself blushing as he held her in his arms, and she
+was thankful that he did not look at her, but when he had put her down,
+busied himself in taking off Badshah's pad and laying it on the ground.
+Unstrapping his blankets he spread one and rolled the other up as a pillow.
+
+"Now please lie down on this, Miss Daleham," he said. "A rest will do you
+good, too. I am going to turn cook and show you how we fare in the jungle."
+
+The girl took off her hat and was only too glad to stretch herself on the
+pad, which made a comfortable couch, for the emotions of the day had worn
+her out. She watched Dermot as he moved about absorbed in his task. From
+one pocket of the pad he took out a shallow aluminium dish and a small,
+round, convex iron plate. From another he drew a linen bag and a tin
+canister.
+
+"You said that you would like tea, Miss Daleham," he remarked. "Well, you
+shall have some presently."
+
+"Yes; but how can you make it?" she asked. "There's no water in the
+jungle."
+
+"Plenty of it."
+
+"Are we near a stream, then?"
+
+"No; the water is all round us, waiting for me to draw it off."
+
+The girl looked about her.
+
+"What do you mean? I don't see any. Where is the water?"
+
+"Hanging from the trees," he replied, laughing. "I'll admit you into one of
+the secrets of the jungle. But first I want a fire."
+
+He gathered dried grass and sticks, cleared a space of earth and built
+three fires, two on the ground with a large lump of hard clay on either
+side of each, the third in a hole that he scraped out.
+
+"To be consistent I ought to produce fire by rubbing two pieces of dried
+wood together, as they do in books of adventure," he said, turning to the
+interested girl. "It can be done. I have seen natives do it; but it is a
+lengthy process and I prefer a match."
+
+He took out a box and lit the fires.
+
+"Now," he said, "if you'll see to these for me, I'll go and get the kettle
+and crockery."
+
+At the far end of the glade was a clump of bamboos. Dermot selected the
+biggest stem and hacked it down with his _kukri_. From the thicker end he
+cut off a length from immediately below a knot to about a foot above it,
+trimmed the edges and brought it to Noreen. It made a beautifully clean and
+polished pot, pale green outside, white within.
+
+"There is your kettle and tea-pot," he said.
+
+From a thinner part he cut off similarly two smaller vessels to serve as
+cups.
+
+"Now then for the water to fill the kettle," he said, looking around among
+the creepers festooning the trees for the _pani bel_. When he found the
+plant he sought, he cut off a length and brought it to the girl, who had
+never heard of it. Asking her to hold the bamboo pot he filled it with
+water from the creeper, much to her astonishment.
+
+"How wonderful!" she cried. "Is it really good to drink?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"But how are you going to boil it?"
+
+"In that bamboo pot."
+
+"But surely that will burn?"
+
+"No, the water will boil long before the green wood begins to be charred,"
+replied Dermot, placing the pot over the first fire on the two lumps of
+clay, so that the flames could reach it.
+
+Then he opened the linen bag, which Noreen found to contain _atta_, or
+native flour. Some of this he poured into the round aluminium dish and with
+water from the _pani bel_ he mixed dough, rolled it into balls, and patted
+them into small flat cakes. Over the second fire he placed the iron plate,
+convex side up, and when it grew hot put the cakes on it.
+
+"How clever of you! You are making _chupatis_ like the natives do,"
+exclaimed Noreen. "I love them. I get the cook to give them to us for tea
+often."
+
+She watched him with interest and amusement, as he turned the cakes over
+with a dexterous flip when one side browned; then, when they were done, he
+took them off and piled them on a large leaf.
+
+"Who would ever imagine that you could cook?" Noreen said, laughing. "Do
+let me help. I feel so lazy."
+
+"Very well. Look after the _chupatis_ while I get the fowl ready," he
+replied.
+
+He cleaned the jungle cock, wrapped it up in a coating of wet clay and laid
+it in the hot ashes of the third fire, covering it over with the red
+embers.
+
+Just as he had finished the girl cried: "The water is actually boiling? Who
+would have believed it possible?"
+
+"Now we are going to have billy tea as they make it in the bush in
+Australia," said Dermot, opening the canister and dropping tea from it into
+the boiling water.
+
+Noreen gathered up a pile of well-toasted _chupatis_ and turned a smiling,
+dimpled face to him.
+
+"This is the jolliest picnic I've ever had," she cried. "It was worth being
+carried off by those wretches to have all these delightful surprises. Now,
+tea is ready, sir. Please may I pour it out?"
+
+He wrapped his handkerchief round the pot before handing it to her.
+
+"I suppose you haven't a dairy in your wonderful jungle?" she asked,
+laughing.
+
+"No; I'm sorry to say that you must put up with condensed milk," he
+replied, producing a tin from a pocket of the pad and opening it with his
+knife.
+
+"What a pity! That spoils the illusion," declared the girl. "I ought to
+refuse it; but I'll pass it for this occasion, as I don't like my tea
+unsugared and milkless. No, I refuse to have a spoon." For he took out a
+couple and some aluminium plates from the inexhaustible pad. "I'll stir my
+tea with a splinter of bamboo and eat my _chupatis_ off leaves. It is more
+in keeping with the situation."
+
+Like a couple of light-hearted children they sat side by side on the pad,
+drank their tea from the rude bamboo cups and devoured the hot _chupatis_
+with enjoyment; while, invisible in the dense undergrowth, Badshah twenty
+yards away betrayed his presence by tearing down creepers and breaking off
+branches. In due time Dermot took from the hot ashes a hardened clay ball,
+broke it open and served up the jungle fowl, from which the feathers had
+been stripped off by the process of cooking. Noreen expressed herself
+disappointed when her companion produced knives and forks from the magic
+pockets of the pad.
+
+"We ought to be consistent and use our fingers," she said.
+
+When they had finished their meal, which the girl declared was the most
+enjoyable one that she had ever had, Dermot made her rest again on the pad
+while he cleaned and replaced his plates, cutlery, and cooking vessels.
+Then, leaning his back against a tree, he filled and lit his pipe, while
+Noreen watched him stealthily and admiringly. In the perfect peace and
+silence of the forest encompassing them she felt reluctant to leave the
+enchanted spot.
+
+But suddenly the charm was rudely dispelled. A shot rang out close by, and
+Dermot's hat was knocked from his head as a bullet passed through it and
+pierced the bark of the tree half an inch above his hair. As though the
+shot were a signal, fire was opened on the glade from every side, and for a
+moment the air seemed full of whistling bullets. The soldier sprang to
+Noreen, picked her up like a child in his arms, and ran with her to an
+enormously thick _simal_ tree, behind which he placed her. Then he gathered
+up the pad and piled it on her exposed side as some slight protection. At
+least it hid her from sight.
+
+As he did so the firing redoubled in intensity and bullets whistled and
+droned through the glade. One grazed his cheek, searing the flesh as with a
+red-hot iron. Another wounded him slightly in the neck, while a third cut
+the skin of his thigh. He seemed to bear a charmed life; and the girl
+watching him felt her heart stop, as the blood showed on his face and neck.
+The flying lead sent leaves fluttering to the ground, cut off twigs, and
+struck the tree-trunks with a thud. Flinging himself at full length on the
+ground Dermot reached his rifle, then crawled to shelter behind another
+tree.
+
+He looked eagerly around for his assailants. At first he could see no one.
+Suddenly through the undergrowth about thirty yards away the muzzle of an
+old musket was pushed out, and then a dark face peered cautiously behind
+it. The eyes in it met Dermot's, but that glance was their last. The
+soldier's rifle spoke, and the face disappeared as its owner's body pitched
+forward among the bushes and lay still. At the sharp report of the white
+man's weapon the firing all around ceased suddenly. But the intense silence
+that followed was broken by a strange sound like the shrill blast of a
+steam whistle mingled with the crackling of sheets of tin rapidly shaken
+and doubled. Noreen, crouching submissively in the shelter where Dermot had
+placed her, thrilled and wondered at the uncanny sound.
+
+The soldier knew well what it was. It was Badshah's appeal for help, and he
+wondered why the animal had given it then, so late. But far away a wild
+elephant trumpeted in reply. There was a crashing in the undergrowth as
+Badshah dashed away and burst through the cordon of enemies encircling
+them. Dermot's heart sank; for, although he rejoiced that his elephant was
+out of danger, his sole hope of getting Noreen and himself away had lain in
+running the gauntlet on the animal's back through their invisible foes.
+
+As he gripped his rifle, keenly alert for a mark to aim at, his thoughts
+were busy. He was amazed at this unexpected attack and utterly unable to
+guess who their assailants could be. They were not the Bhuttias again, for
+those had no guns. And the man that he had just shot was not a mountaineer.
+Although it was evident that the firearms used were mostly old smooth-bore
+muskets, and the smoke from the powder rose in clouds over the undergrowth
+and drifted to the tree-tops, he had detected the sharp crack of a modern
+rifle occasionally among the duller reports of the more ancient weapons.
+The mysterious attackers were apparently numerous and completely surrounded
+them. Dermot cursed himself for his folly in halting for food instead of
+pushing on to safety without a stop. But he had calculated on the
+superstitious fears of the Bhuttias who had been scared away by the sight
+of him and Badshah; and indeed to all appearance he was right in so doing.
+He could not reckon on new enemies springing up around them. Who could they
+be? It was almost inconceivable that in this quiet corner of the Indian
+Empire two English people could be thus assailed. The only theory that he
+could form was that the attackers were a band of Bengali political
+_dacoits_.
+
+The firing started again. Dermot appeared to be so well hidden that none of
+their enemies had discovered him, except the one unlucky wretch whose
+courage had proved his ruin. The shots were being fired at random and all
+went high. But there seemed no hope of escape; for it was evident from the
+sounds and the smoke that the girl and he were completely surrounded. For
+one wild moment he thought of rising suddenly to his feet and making a dash
+through the cordon, hoping to draw all their enemies after him and give his
+companion a chance of escape. But the plan was futile; for she would never
+find her way alone through the jungle and would fall at once into the hands
+of her foes.
+
+Suddenly a heavy bullet struck the tree a foot above his head, evidently
+fired from behind him. He instantly rolled over on his back and lay
+motionless with his eyes half-closed, looking in the direction from which
+the shot must have come. The bushes not ten yards away were parted quietly;
+and a head was thrust out. With a swift motion Dermot swung his rifle round
+until the muzzle pointed over his toes and, holding the weapon in one hand
+like a pistol, fired point-blank at the assailant who had crept up quietly
+behind him. Shot through the head the man pitched forward on his face,
+almost touching the soldier's feet. Dermot saw that the corpse was that of
+a low-caste Hindu, clad only in a dirty cotton _koorta_ and _dhoti_. A
+Tower musket lay beside him.
+
+The wild firing died down again. The sun was setting; and the soldier
+judged that the attackers were probably waiting for darkness to rush him.
+Why they did not do so at once, since they were so numerous, surprised him;
+but he surmised that it was lack of courage. It was maddening to be obliged
+to await their pleasure. He was far more concerned about the girl than for
+himself. A feeling of dread pity filled his heart when he thought of what
+her fate would be when he was no longer alive to protect her. Should he
+kill her, he asked himself, and give her a swift and merciful death instead
+of the horrors of outrage and torture that would probably be her lot if she
+fell alive into the hands of these murderous scoundrels? In those moments
+of tension and terrible strain he realised that she was very dear to him,
+that she evoked in his heart a feeling that no other woman had ever aroused
+in him.
+
+The sun was going down; and with it Dermot felt that his life was passing.
+He grudged losing it in an obscure and causeless scuffle, instead of on an
+honourable field of battle as a soldier should. He wished that he had a
+handful of his splendid sepoys with him. They would have made short work of
+a hundred of such ruffians as now threatened him. But it was useless to
+long for them. He drew his _kukri_ and laid it on the ground beside him,
+ready for the last grim struggle. He had resolved to crawl to the girl when
+darkness settled on the forest, and, before the rush came, give her the
+chance of a swift and honourable death, shoot her if she chose it--as he
+was confident that she would--then close with his foes until death came.
+
+The light grew fainter. Dermot nerved himself for the terrible task before
+him and was about to move, when with a light and unfaltering step Noreen
+came to him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+A STRANGE HOME-COMING
+
+Dermot dragged the girl down to the ground beside him as a shot rang out.
+
+"I suppose they will kill us, Major Dermot," she said calmly. "But couldn't
+you manage to get away in the darkness? You know the jungle so well. Please
+don't hesitate to leave me, for I should only hamper you. Won't you go?"
+
+Emotion choked the soldier for a moment. He gripped her arm and was about
+to speak when suddenly the forest on every side of them resounded to a
+pandemonium of noise: a chorus of wild shrieks, shots, the crashing of
+trampled undergrowth, the death-yells of men amid the savage screams and
+fierce trumpetings of a herd of elephants.
+
+"Oh, what's that? What terrible thing is happening?" cried the girl.
+
+Dermot seized her and dragged her close against the trunk of the tree. In
+the gloom they saw men flying madly past them pursued by elephants. One
+wretch not ten yards from them was overtaken by a great tusker, which
+struck him to the ground, trampled on him, kicked and knelt upon his
+lifeless body until it was crushed to a pulp, then placing one forefoot on
+the man's chest, wound his trunk round the legs and seized them in his
+mouth, tore them from the body, and threw them twenty yards away. All
+around similar tragedies were being enacted; for the herd of wild elephants
+had charged in among the attackers.
+
+Dermot gathered the terrified girl in his arms and held her face against
+his breast, so that she should be spared the horror of the sights about
+them; but he could not shut out the terrible sounds, the agonised shrieks,
+the despairing yells of the wretches who were meeting with an awful fate.
+He remained motionless against the tree, hoping to escape the notice of the
+fierce animals, whom he could see plunging through the jungle in pursuit of
+their prey, for they were hunting the men down. Suddenly one elephant came
+straight towards them with trunk uplifted. Dermot put the girl behind him
+and raised his rifle; but with a low murmur from its throat the animal
+lowered its trunk, and he recognised it.
+
+"Thank God! we are saved," he said. "It's Badshah. He has brought his herd
+to our rescue."
+
+The girl clung to him convulsively and scarcely heard him; for the tumult
+in the jungle still continued, though the terrible pursuit seemed to be
+passing farther away. The giant avengers were still crashing through the
+jungle after their prey; and an occasional heartrending shriek told of
+another luckless wretch who had met his doom.
+
+Dermot gently disengaged the clinging hands and repeated his words. The
+girl, still shuddering, made an effort and rose to her knees.
+
+Dermot went forward and laid his hand on the elephant's trunk.
+
+"Thank you, Badshah," he said. "I am in your debt again."
+
+The tip of the trunk touched his face in a gentle caress. Then he stepped
+back and said: "Now we'll go at once, Miss Daleham. We won't stop this time
+until we reach your bungalow."
+
+The girl had already recovered her courage and stood beside him.
+
+"But you are wounded. There's blood on your face and on your neck. Are you
+badly hurt?"
+
+Dermot laughed reassuringly.
+
+"To tell you the truth I had forgotten all about it. They are only
+scratches. The skin is cut, that's all. Come, we mustn't delay any longer."
+
+At a word from him Badshah knelt. He hurriedly threw the pad on the
+elephant's back and made him rise so that the surcingle rope could be
+fixed. Then he brought the animal to his knees again and lifted Noreen on
+to the pad. But before he took his own seat he searched the undergrowth
+around the glade and found many corpses of men almost unrecognisable as
+human bodies, so crushed and battered were they. From the number that he
+came upon it was evident that most of their assailants had been slain. But
+all the elephants except his had disappeared; and the sounds of the
+massacre were dying away.
+
+Slinging his rifle he climbed on to the pad; and Badshah rose and went
+swiftly along a track that seemed to Dermot to lead towards Malpura. He did
+not attempt to guide the elephant, but placed himself so that his body
+would shield the girl from the danger of being struck by overhanging
+boughs. He held her firmly as they were borne through the darkness that now
+filled the forest; for the swift-coming Indian night had fallen.
+
+"Keep well down, Miss Daleham," he said. "You must be on your guard against
+being swept off the pad by the low branches."
+
+"Oh, Major Dermot," cried the girl with a shudder, "have all these terrible
+things really happened in the last few hours or has it all been a hideous
+nightmare?"
+
+"Please try not to think of them," he answered. "You are safe now."
+
+"Yes; but you? You have to face these dangers again, since you are so much
+in the jungle. Oh, my forest that I thought a fairyland! That such terrible
+things can happen in it!"
+
+"I can assure you that they are very unusual," he replied with a cheery
+laugh. "You have been very fortunate; for you have crammed more excitement
+and adventure into one day than I have seen previously in all my time in
+the jungle."
+
+"It all seems so incredible," she said. "Did you really mean that Badshah
+brought his herd to our rescue? But I know he did. I heard him call them.
+When he ran off I thought that he was frightened and had abandoned us. But
+I did him a great injustice."
+
+Her companion was silent for a moment. Then he said:
+
+"Look here, Miss Daleham, we had better not tell that tale of Badshah quite
+in that way. It would seem impossible, and no European would credit it.
+Natives would, of course, for as it is they seem to look upon him as a god
+already."
+
+"Yes; but you think as I do, don't you?" she exclaimed in surprise. "Surely
+you believe that he did bring the other elephants to save us."
+
+"Yes, I do. I know that he did, for I--well, between ourselves I have seen
+him do even more wonderful things. But others wouldn't believe us, and I
+don't want to emphasise the marvellous part of the story. I'd rather people
+thought that the _dacoits_, or whoever those men were who attacked us,
+accidentally fell foul of a herd of wild elephants."
+
+"Perhaps you are right. But _we_ know. It will be just our own secret and
+Badshah's," she said dreamily.
+
+Then she relapsed into silence. In spite of the terrible experiences
+through which she had just passed she felt happy at the pressure of
+Dermot's arm about her and the sensation of being utterly alone with him in
+a world of their own, as they were borne on through the darkness. Fatigue
+made her drowsy, and the swaying motion of the elephant's pace lulled her
+to sleep.
+
+She woke suddenly and for an instant wondered where she was. Then
+remembrance came and she felt the warm blood mantle her face as she
+realised that she was nestling in Dermot's arms. But, drowsy and content,
+she did not move. Looking up she saw the stars overhead. They were out of
+the forest.
+
+"I must have been asleep," she said. "Where are we?"
+
+"At Malpura. There are the lights of your bungalow," replied Dermot. He
+said it almost with regret, for he had found the long miles through the
+forest almost short, while the girl nestled confidingly, though
+unconsciously, in his arms and he held her against his heart.
+
+As the elephant neared the house Dermot gave a loud shout.
+
+Instantly the verandah filled with men who rushed out of the lighted rooms
+and tried to pierce the darkness. A little distance from the bungalow a
+large number of coolies, seated on the ground, rose up and pressed forward
+to the road. From behind the house several white-clad servants ran out.
+
+Dermot shouted again and called out Daleham's name.
+
+There was a frantic rush down the verandah steps.
+
+"Hurrah! it's the Major," cried a planter.
+
+"And--and--yes, Miss Daleham's with him. Hooray!" yelled another.
+
+"Good old Dermot!" came in Payne's voice.
+
+Through the throng of shouting, excited men the girl's brother broke.
+
+"Noreen! Noreen! My God, are you there? Are you safe?" he cried
+frantically.
+
+Almost before Badshah sank to the ground, the girl, with a little sob,
+sprang into her brother's arms and clung to him, while Dermot was dragged
+off the pad by the eager hands of a dozen men who thumped him on the back,
+pulled him from one to another, and nearly shook his arm off. The servants
+had brought out lamps to light up the scene.
+
+From the verandah steps Chunerbutty looked jealously on. He had been
+relieved at knowing that the girl had returned, but in his heart he cursed
+the man who had saved her. He was roughly thrust aside by Parry, who dashed
+up the steps, ran into the house, and emerged a minute later holding a
+large tumbler in his hand.
+
+"Where is he, where is he? Look you, I know what he wants. Here's what will
+do you good, Major," he shouted.
+
+Dermot laughed and, taking the tumbler, drank its contents gratefully,
+though their strength made him cough, for the bibulous Celt had mixed it to
+his own taste.
+
+"Major, Major, how can we thank you?" said Fred Daleham, coming to him with
+his sister clinging to his arm.
+
+But she had to release him and shake hands over and over again with all the
+planters and receive their congratulations and expressions of delight at
+seeing her safe and sound. Meanwhile her brother was endeavouring in the
+hubbub to thank her rescuer. But Dermot refused to listen.
+
+"Oh, there's nothing to make a fuss about I assure you, Daleham," he said.
+"It was just that I had the luck to be the first to follow the raiders. Any
+one else would have done the same."
+
+"Oh, nonsense, old man," broke in Payne, clapping him on the back. "Of
+course we'd all have liked to do it, but none of us could have tracked the
+scoundrels like you could. How did you do it?"
+
+"Yes; tell us what happened, Major."
+
+"How did you find her, Dermot?"
+
+"What occurred, Miss Daleham?"
+
+"Did they put up a fight, sir?"
+
+The eager mob of men poured a torrent of questions on the girl and her
+rescuer.
+
+"Easy on, you fellows," said Dermot, laughing. "Give us time. We can't
+answer you all at once."
+
+"Yes, give them a chance, boys. Don't crowd," cried one planter.
+
+"Here! We can't see them. Let's have some light," shouted another.
+
+"Where are those servants? Bring out all the lamps!"
+
+"Lamps be hanged! Let's have a decent blaze. We'll have a bonfire."
+
+Several of the younger planters ran to the stable and outhouses and brought
+piles of straw, old boxes, anything that would burn. Others despatched
+coolies to the factory near by to fetch wood, broken chests, and other
+fuel. Several bonfires were made and the flames lit up the scene with a
+blaze of light.
+
+"Why, you're wounded, Dermot!" exclaimed Payne.
+
+"Oh, no. Just a scratch."
+
+"Yes, he is wounded, but he pretends it's nothing," said Noreen. "Do see if
+it's anything serious, Mr. Payne."
+
+"I assure you it's nothing," protested the soldier, resisting eager and
+well-meant attempts to drag him into the house and tend his hurts by force.
+But attention was diverted when a planter cried:
+
+"Good Heavens! what's this? The elephant's tusk is covered with blood."
+
+"Tusk! Why, he's blood to the eyes," exclaimed another.
+
+For the leaping flames revealed the fact that Badshah's tusk, trunk, and
+legs were covered with freshly-dried blood.
+
+"Good Heavens! he's been wading in it."
+
+"What's that on his tusk? Why, it's fragments of flesh. Oh, the deuce!"
+
+There were exclamations of surprise and horror from the white men. But the
+mass of coolies, who had been pressing forward to stare, drew back into the
+darkness and muttered to each other.
+
+"The god! The god! Who can withstand the god?" they whispered.
+
+"_Arhe, bhai_! (Aye, brother!) But which is the god? The elephant or his
+rider? Tell me that!" exclaimed a grey-haired coolie.
+
+Among the Europeans the questions showered on Dermot redoubled.
+
+"Look here, you fellows. I can't answer you all at once," he expostulated.
+"It's a long story. But please remember that Miss Daleham has had a tiring
+day and must be worn out."
+
+"Oh, no, I'm not," exclaimed the girl. "Not now. I was fatigued, but I'm
+too excited to rest yet."
+
+"Come into the bungalow everyone and we'll have the whole story there,"
+said her brother. "The servants will get supper ready for us. We must
+celebrate tonight."
+
+"Indeed, yes. Look you, it shall be very wet tonight in Malpura,
+whateffer," cried Parry, who was already half drunk. "Here, boy! Boy! Where
+is that damned black beastie of mine? Boy!"
+
+His _khitmagar_ disengaged himself from the group of servants and
+approached apprehensively, keeping out of reach of his master's fist.
+
+"Go to the house," said Parry to him in Bengali. "Bring liquor here. All
+the liquor I have. Hurry, you dog!"
+
+He aimed a blow at him, which the _khitmagar_ dodged with the ease of long
+practice and ran to execute his master's bidding.
+
+Daleham gave directions to his butler and cook to prepare supper, and led
+the way into the house with his arm round his sister, who, woman-like,
+escaped to change her dress and make herself presentable, as she put it.
+She had already forgotten the fatigues of the day in the hearty welcome and
+the joy of her safe home-coming.
+
+But before Dermot entered the bungalow he had water brought and washed from
+Badshah's head and legs the evidences of the terrible vengeance that he had
+taken upon their assailants. And from the verandah the planters looked at
+animal and master and commented in low tones on the strange tales told of
+both, for the reputation of mysterious power that they enjoyed with natives
+had reached every white man of the district.
+
+The crowd of coolies drifted away to their village on the tea-garden, and
+there throughout the hot night hours the groups sat on the ground outside
+the thatched bamboo huts and talked of the animal and the man.
+
+"It is not well to cross this sahib who is not as other sahibs," said a
+coolie, shaking his head solemnly.
+
+"Sahib, say you? Is he only a sahib?" asked an old man. "Is he truly of the
+_gora logue_ (white folk)?"
+
+"Why, what else is he? Is not his skin white?" said a youth,
+presumptuously thrusting himself into the conclave of the elders.
+
+"Peace! Since when was it meet for children to prattle in the presence of
+their grandsires?" demanded a grey-haired coolie contemptuously. "Know,
+boy, that Shri Krishn's skin was of the same colour when he moved among us
+on earth."
+
+Krishna, the Second Person of the Hindu Trinity, the best-loved god of all
+their mythological heaven, is represented in the cheap coloured oleographs
+sold in the bazaars in India as being of fair complexion.
+
+"Is he Krishna himself?" asked a female coolie eagerly, the glass bangles
+on her arm rattling as she raised her hand to draw her _sari_ over her face
+when she thus addressed men. "Is he Krishna, think you? He is handsome
+enough to be the Holy One."
+
+"Who knows, daughter? It may be. Shri Krishn has many incarnations," said
+the old man solemnly.
+
+"Nay, I do not think that he is Krishna," remarked an elderly coolie. "It
+may be that he is another of the Holy Ones."
+
+"Perhaps he is _Gunesh_," ventured a younger man.
+
+"No; he bestrides _Gunesh_. I think he must be Krishna," chimed in another.
+"What lesser god would dare to use Gunesh as his steed?"
+
+"He is _Gunesh_ himself," asserted a grey-beard. "Does he not range the
+jungle and the mountains at the head of all the elephants of the Terai? Can
+he not call them to his aid as Hanuman did the monkeys?"
+
+"He is certainly a Holy One or else a very powerful demon," declared the
+old man. "It is an evil and a dangerous thing to molest those whom he
+protects. The Bhuttias, ignorant pagans that they are, carried off the
+missie _baba_ he favours. What, think ye, has been their fate? With your
+own eyes ye have all seen the blood and the flesh of men upon the tusk and
+legs of his sacred elephant."
+
+And so through the night the shuttle of superstitious talk went backward
+and forward and wove a still more marvellous garment of fancy to drape the
+reputation of elephant and man. The godship that the common belief had long
+endowed Badshah with was being transferred to his master; and a mere Indian
+Army Major was transformed into a mysterious Hindu deity.
+
+Meanwhile in the well-lighted bungalow in which all the sahibs were
+gathered together the servants were hurriedly preparing a supper such as
+lonely Malpura had never known. And Noreen's pretty drawing-room was
+crowded with men in riding costume or in uniform--for most of the planters
+belonged to a Volunteer Light Horse Corps, and some of them, expecting a
+fight, had put on khaki when they got Daleham's summons. Their rifles,
+revolvers, and cartridge belts were piled on the verandah. Chunerbutty,
+feeling that his presence among them would not be welcomed by the white men
+that night, had gone off to his own bungalow in jealous rage. And nobody
+missed him. Dermot, despite his protests, had been dragged off to have his
+hurts attended to, and it was then seen that he had been touched by three
+bullets.
+
+When all were assembled in the room the planters demanded the tale of
+Noreen's adventures; and the girl, looking dainty and fresh in a white
+muslin dress, unlike the heroine of her recent tragic experience, smilingly
+complied and told the story up to the point of Dermot's unexpected and
+dramatic intervention.
+
+"Now you must go on, Major," she said, turning to him.
+
+"Yes, yes, Dermot. Carry on the tale," was the universal cry.
+
+Everyone turned an expectant face towards where the soldier sat, looking
+unusually embarrassed.
+
+"Oh, there's nothing much to tell," he said. "The raiders--they were
+Bhuttias--had left a trail easy enough to see, though I confess that I
+would have lost it once but for my elephant. When I came up to them, as
+Miss Daleham has just told you, they all ran away except two."
+
+"What did these two do?" asked Granger, his host of the previous night.
+
+"Not much. They tried to stand their ground, but didn't really give much
+trouble. So I took Miss Daleham up on my elephant and we started back. But
+like a fool I stopped on the way to have grub, and somebody began shooting
+at us from the jungle, until wild elephants turned up and cleared them off.
+Then we came on here. That's all."
+
+These was a moment's silence. Then Granger, in disgusted tones, exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Major, of all the poor story-tellers I've ever heard, you're the
+very worst. One would think you'd only been for a stroll in a quiet English
+lane. 'Then we came on here. That's all.'"
+
+"Oh, yes, you can't ask us to believe it was as tame as that, Major," said
+another planter. "We expected to hear something a little more exciting."
+
+"You go out after thirty or forty raiders--"
+
+"No, only twenty-two all told," corrected Dermot.
+
+"All right, only twenty-two, come back with three hits on you and your
+elephant up to his eyes in blood and--and--well, hang it all, Major, let's
+have some more details."
+
+"Come, Miss Daleham," Payne broke in, "you tell us what happened. I know
+Dermot, and we won't get any more out of him."
+
+"Yes; let's hear all about it, Noreen," said her brother. "I'm sure it
+wasn't as tame as the Major says."
+
+"Tame?" echoed the girl, smiling. "I've had enough excitement to last me
+all my life, dear. I think that Major Dermot has put it rather mildly. I'm
+sure even I could tell the story better."
+
+She narrated their adventures, giving her rescuer, despite his protests,
+full credit for his courage and resource, only omitting the details of
+their picnic meal and slurring over their relief by the wild elephants. The
+planters listened eagerly to her tale, breaking into applause at times.
+When she had finished Parry laid a heavy hand on Dermot's shoulder and said
+solemnly, though thickly:
+
+"Look you, you are a bad liar, Major Dermot. Your story would not deceive a
+child, whateffer. But I am proud of you. You should have been a Welshman."
+
+The rest overwhelmed the soldier with compliments and congratulations, much
+to his embarrassment, and when Noreen left the room to supervise the
+arrangement of the supper-table they plied him with questions without
+extracting much more information from him. But when a servant came to
+announce that the meal was ready and the planters rose to troop to the
+dining-room, Dermot reached the door first and held up his hand to stop
+them.
+
+"Gentlemen, one moment, please," he said. Then he looked out to satisfy
+himself that the domestic was out of hearing and continued: "I'd be obliged
+if during supper you'd make no allusion before the servants to what has
+happened today. Afterwards I shall have something to say to you in
+confidence that will explain this request of mine."
+
+The others looked at him in surprise but readily agreed. Before they left
+the room Daleham noticed the Hindu engineer's absence for the first time.
+
+"By Jove, I'd forgotten Chunerbutty," he exclaimed. "I wonder where he is?
+Perhaps he doesn't know we're going to have supper. I'd better send the boy
+to tell him."
+
+"Indeed no, he is fery well where he is," hiccoughed Parry, who, seated by
+a table on which drinks had been placed, had not been idle. "This is not a
+night for black men, look you."
+
+"Yes, Daleham, Parry's right," said Granger. "Let us keep to our own colour
+tonight. Things might be said that wouldn't be pleasant for an Indian to
+hear."
+
+"Forgive my putting a word in, Daleham," added Dermot. "But I have a very
+particular reason, which I'll explain afterwards, for asking you to leave
+Chunerbutty out."
+
+"Yes, we don't want a damned Bengali among us tonight, Fred," said a young
+planter bluntly.
+
+"Oh, very well; if you fellows would rather I didn't ask him I won't,"
+replied their host. "But I'm afraid his feelings will be hurt at being left
+out when we're celebrating my sister's safe return. He's such an old
+friend."
+
+"Oh, hang his feelings! Think of ours," cried another of the party.
+
+"All right. Have it your own way. Let's go in to supper," said the host.
+
+The hastily improvised meal was a merry feast, and the loud voices and the
+roars of laughter rang out into the silent night and reached the ears of
+Chunerbutty sitting in his bungalow eating his heart out in bitterness and
+jealousy. Noreen, presiding at one end of the long table, was the queen of
+the festival and certainly had never enjoyed any supper in London as much
+as this impromptu meal. General favourite as she always was with every man
+in the district, this night there was added universal gladness at her
+escape and the feeling of satisfaction that the outrage on her had been so
+promptly avenged. While the girl was pleased with the warmth and sincerity
+of the congratulations showered upon her, she was secretly delighted to see
+the high esteem in which all the other men held Dermot. He was seated
+beside her and shared with her the good wishes of the company. His health
+was drunk with all the honours after hers, and the planters did not spare
+his blushes in their loudly-expressed praises of his achievements.
+Cordiality and good humour prevailed, and, although the fun was fast and
+furious, Parry was the only one who drank too much. Before he became
+objectionable, for he was usually quarrelsome in his cups, he was
+dexterously cajoled out of the room and safely shepherded to his bungalow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE MAKING OF A GOD
+
+Parry's departure served as a hint to Noreen that it was time for her to
+say good-night to her guests and withdraw. As soon as she left the room
+there was an instant hush of expectancy, and all eyes were turned to
+Dermot. The servants had long since gone, but, after asking his host's
+permission, he rose from his place and strolled with apparent carelessness
+to each doorway in turn and satisfied himself that there were no
+eavesdroppers. Then he shut the doors and asked members of the party to
+station themselves on guard at each of them. The planters watched these
+precautions with surprise.
+
+Having thus made sure that he would not be overheard Dermot said:
+
+"Gentlemen, a few of you already know something of what I am going to tell
+you. I want you to understand that I am now speaking officially and in
+strict confidence."
+
+He turned to his host.
+
+"I must ask you, Mr. Daleham (Fred looked up in surprise at the formality
+of the mode of address) to promise to divulge nothing of what I say to your
+friend, Mr. Chunerbutty."
+
+"Not tell Chunerbutty, sir?" repeated the young planter in astonishment.
+
+"No; the matter is one which must not be mentioned to any but Europeans."
+
+"Oh, but I assure you, Major, Chunerbutty's thoroughly loyal and reliable,"
+said Daleham warmly.
+
+"I repeat that you are not to give him the least inkling of what I am going
+to say," replied Dermot in a quiet but stern voice. "As I have already told
+you, I am speaking officially."
+
+The boy was impressed and a little awed by his manner.
+
+"Oh, certainly, sir. I give you my word that I shan't mention it to him."
+
+"Very well. The fact is, gentlemen, that we are on the track of a vast
+conspiracy against British rule in India, and have reason to believe that
+the activity of the disloyalists in Bengal has spread to this district. We
+suspect that the Brahmins who, very much to the surprise of any one
+acquainted with the ways of their caste, are working as coolies on your
+gardens, are really emissaries of the seditionists."
+
+"By George, is that really so, Major?" asked a young planter in a doubting
+tone. "We have a couple of these Bengalis on our place, and they seem such
+quiet, harmless chaps."
+
+"The Major is quite right. I know it," said one of the oldest men present.
+"I confess that it didn't occur to me as strange that Brahmins should take
+such low-caste work until he told me. But I have found since, as others of
+us have, that these men are the secret cause of all the trouble and unrest
+that we have had lately among our coolies, to whom they preach sedition and
+revolution."
+
+Several other estate managers corroborated his statement.
+
+"But surely, sir, you don't suspect Chunerbutty of being mixed up in this?"
+asked Daleham. "He's been a friend of mine for a long time. I lived with
+him in London, and I'm certain he is quite loyal and pro-British."
+
+"I know nothing of him, Daleham," replied the soldier. "But he is a Bengali
+Brahmin, one of the race and caste that are responsible for most of the
+sedition in India, and we must take precautions."
+
+"I'd stake my life on him," exclaimed the boy hotly. "He's been a good
+friend to me, and I'll answer for him."
+
+Dermot did not trouble to argue the matter further with him, but said to
+the company generally:
+
+"This outrageous attempt to carry off Miss Daleham--"
+
+"Oh, but you said yourself, sir, that the ruffians were Bhuttias," broke in
+the boy, still nourishing a grievance at the mistrust of his friend.
+
+Dermot turned to him again.
+
+"Do Bhuttias talk to each other in Bengali? The leader gave his orders
+in that language to one man--who, by the way, was the only one he spoke
+to--and that man passed them on to the others in Bhutanese."
+
+This statement caused a sensation in the company.
+
+"By Jove, is that a fact, Dermot?" cried Payne.
+
+"Yes. These two were the men I shot. Do Bhuttias, unless they have just
+looted a garden successfully--and we know these fellows had not--carry sums
+like this?" And Dermot threw on the supper-table a cloth in which coins
+were wrapped. "Open that, Payne, and count the money, please."
+
+All bent forward and watched as the planter opened the knot fastening the
+cloth and poured out a stream of bright rupees, the silver coin of India
+roughly equivalent to a florin. There was silence while he counted them.
+
+"A hundred," he said.
+
+Dermot laid on the table a new automatic pistol and several clips of
+cartridges.
+
+"Bhuttias from across the border do not possess weapons like these, as you
+know. Nor do they carry English-made pocket-books with contents like those
+this one has."
+
+He handed a leather case to Granger who opened it and took out a packet of
+bank notes and counted them. "Eight hundred and fifty rupees," he said.
+
+The men around him looked at the notes and at each other. A young engineer
+whistled and said: "Whew! It pays to be a brigand. I'll turn robber myself,
+I think. Poor but honest man that I am I have never gazed on so much wealth
+before. Hullo! What's that bit of string?"
+
+Dermot had taken from his pocket the cord that he had cut from the corpse
+of the second raider and laid it on the table.
+
+"Perhaps some of you may not be sufficiently well acquainted with Indian
+customs to know what this is."
+
+"I'm blessed if I am, Major," said the engineer. "What is it?"
+
+"It's the _janeo_, or sacred cord worn by the three highest of the
+original Hindu castes as a symbol of their second or spiritual birth and
+to mark the distinction between their noble twice-born selves and the
+lower caste once-born Sudras. You see it is made up of three strings of
+spun cotton to symbolise the Hindu _Trimurti_ (Trinity), Brahma, Vishnu,
+and Siva, and also Earth, Air, and Heaven, the three worlds pervaded by
+their essence."
+
+"Oh, I see. But where did you get it?" asked the engineer.
+
+"Off the body of the second man that I shot, together with the pistol and
+pocket-book. Now, Bhuttias do not wear the _janeo_, not being Hindus. But
+high-caste Hindus do--and a Brahmin would never be without it."
+
+"Oh, no. So you mean that the man wasn't a Bhuttia?"
+
+"This is the last exhibit, as they say in the Law Courts," said Dermot,
+producing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. "You don't find Bhuttias
+wearing these."
+
+"By Jove, no," said Granger, taking them up and trying them. "Damned good
+glasses, these, and cost a bit, too."
+
+Dermot turned towards Daleham.
+
+"Do you remember showing me on this garden one day a coolie whom you said
+was a B.A. of Calcutta University?"
+
+"Yes; he was called Narain Dass," replied Fred. "We spoke to him, you
+recollect, Major? He talked excellent English of the _babu_ sort."
+
+"What has happened to him?"
+
+"I don't know. He disappeared a short time ago. Deserted, I suppose, though
+I don't see why he should. He was getting on well here."
+
+Dermot smiled grimly and touched the cord and spectacles.
+
+"The man who wore these, who led the Bhuttias in the raid, was Narain
+Dass."
+
+These was a moment's amazed silence in the room. Then a hubbub arose, and
+there was a chorus of exclamations and questions.
+
+"Good Heavens, is it possible, Major? He appeared to be such a decent,
+civil chap," exclaimed Daleham.
+
+"His face seemed familiar to me, as he lay dead on the ground," replied
+Dermot. "I couldn't place him, though, until I found the spectacles. I put
+them on his nose, and then I knew him. His hair was cropped close, he was
+wearing Bhuttia clothes, but it was Narain Dass, the University graduate
+who was working as a coolie for a few _annas_ a day."
+
+"And he had eight hundred and fifty rupees on him," added the young
+engineer.
+
+"Yes; and if all the Bhuttias had as much as the one shot that meant over
+two thousand."
+
+"Where did they get it?"
+
+"Who is behind all this?"
+
+"The seditionists, of course," said an elderly planter.
+
+"Yes; but today it isn't a question of an isolated outrage on one
+Englishwoman, nor of a few Bengali lawyers in Calcutta and their dupes
+among hot-headed students and ignorant peasants," said Dermot. "It's the
+biggest thing we've ever had to face yet in India. What we want to get at
+is the head and brains of the conspiracy."
+
+"What do you make of this attempt on Miss Daleham?" asked Granger. "What
+was the object of it?"
+
+"Probably just terrorism. They wanted to show that no one is secure under
+our rule. It may be that Narain Dass, who had worked on this garden and
+seen Miss Daleham, suggested it. They may have thought that the carrying
+off of an Englishwoman would make more impression than the mere bombing of
+a police officer or a magistrate--we are too used to that."
+
+"But why employ Bhuttias?" asked Payne.
+
+"To throw the pursuers off the track and prevent their being run down. The
+search would stop if we thought they'd gone across the frontier, so they
+could get away easily. When they had got Miss Daleham safely hidden away in
+the labyrinths of a native bazaar, perhaps in Calcutta, they'd have let
+everyone know who had carried her off."
+
+"Who was the other fellow with Narain Dass--the chap who talked Bengali?"
+
+"Probably a Bhuttia who knew the language was given the Brahmin as an
+interpreter."
+
+"But I say, Major," cried a planter, "who the devil were the lot that
+attacked you?"
+
+"I'm hanged if I know," Dermot answered. "I have been inclined to believe
+them to be a gang of political _dacoits_, probably coming to meet the
+Bhuttias and take Miss Daleham from them, but in that case they would have
+been young Brahmins and better armed. This lot were low-caste men and their
+weapons were mostly old muzzle-loading muskets."
+
+"Perhaps they were just ordinary _dacoits_," hazarded a planter.
+
+"Possibly; but they must have been new to the business," replied the Major.
+"For there wouldn't be much of an opening for robbers in the middle of the
+forest."
+
+"It's a puzzle. I can't make it out," said Granger, shaking his head.
+
+The others discussed the subject for some time, but no one could elucidate
+the mystery. At length Dermot said to Daleham:
+
+"No answer has come to that telegram you sent to Ranga Duar, I suppose?"
+
+"No, Major; though there's been plenty of time for a reply."
+
+"It's strange. Parker would have answered at once if he'd got the wire, I
+know," said Dermot. "But did he? Most of the telegraph clerks in this
+Province are Brahmins--I don't trust them. Anyhow, if Parker did receive
+the wire, he'd start a party off at once. It's a long forty miles, and
+marching through the jungle is slow work. They couldn't get here before
+dawn. And the men would be pretty done up."
+
+"I bet they would if they had to go through the forest in the dark," said a
+planter.
+
+"Well, I want to start at daybreak to search the scene of the attack on us
+and the place where I came on the Bhuttias. Will some of you fellows come
+with me?"
+
+"Rather. We'll all go," was the shout from all at the table.
+
+"Thanks. We may round up some of the survivors."
+
+"I say, Major, would you tell us a thing that's puzzled me, and I daresay
+more than me?" ventured a young assistant manager, voicing the thoughts of
+others present. "How the deuce did those wild elephants happen to turn up
+just in the nick of time for you?"
+
+"They were probably close by and the firing disturbed them," was the
+careless answer.
+
+"H'm; very curious, wasn't it, Major?" said Granger. "You know the habits
+of the _jungli hathi_ better than most other people. Wouldn't they be far
+more likely to run away from the firing than right into it?"
+
+"As a rule. But when wild elephants stampede in a panic they'll go through
+anything."
+
+The assistant manager was persistent.
+
+"But how did your elephant chance to join up with them?" he asked. "Judging
+by the look of him he took a very prominent part in clearing your enemies
+off."
+
+"Oh, Badshah is a fighter. I daresay if there was a scrap anywhere near him
+he'd like to be in it," replied Dermot lightly, and tried to change the
+conversation.
+
+But the others insisted on keeping to the subject. They had all been
+curious as to the truth of the stories about Dermot's supposed miraculous
+power over wild elephants, but no one had ever ventured to question him on
+the subject before.
+
+"I suppose you know, Major, that the natives have some wonderful tales
+about Badshah?" said a planter.
+
+"Yes; and of you, too, sir," said the young assistant manager. "They think
+you both some special brand of gods."
+
+"I'm not surprised," said the Major with assumed carelessness. "They're
+ready to deify anything. They will see a god in a stone or a tree. You know
+they looked on the famous John Nicholson during the Mutiny as a god, and
+made a cult of him. There are still men who worship him."
+
+"They're prepared to do that to you, Major," said Granger frankly. "Barrett
+is quite right. They call you the Elephant God."
+
+Dermot laughed and stood up.
+
+"Oh, natives will believe anything," he said. "If you'll excuse me now,
+Daleham, I'll turn in--or rather, turn out. I'd like to get some sleep, for
+we've an early start before us."
+
+"Yes, we'd better all do the same," said Granger, rising too. "How are you
+going to bed us all down, Daleham? Bit of a job, isn't it?"
+
+"We'll manage all right," replied the young host. "I told the servants to
+spread all the mattresses and charpoys that they could raise anywhere out
+on the verandah and in the spare rooms. I'm short of mosquito curtains,
+though. Some of you will get badly bitten tonight."
+
+"I'll go to old Parr's bungalow and steal his," said Granger. "He's too
+drunk to feel any 'skeeter biting him."
+
+"I pity the mosquito that does," joined in a young planter laughing. "The
+poor insect would die of alcoholic poisoning."
+
+"I've given you my room, Major," said Daleham. "I know the other fellows
+won't mind."
+
+No persuasion, however, could make Dermot accept the offer. While
+the others slept in the bungalow, he lay under the stars beside his
+elephant. The house was wrapped in darkness. In the huts in the compound
+the servants still gossiped about the extraordinary events of the day,
+but gradually they too lay down and pulled their blankets over their
+heads, and all was silence. But a few hundred yards away a lamp still
+burned in Chunerbutty's bungalow where the Hindu sat staring at the wall
+of his room, wondering what had happened that day and what had been
+said in the Dalehams' dining-room that night. For he had prowled about
+their house in the darkness and seen the company gathered around the
+supper-table. And he had watched Dermot shut the door between the room
+and the verandah, and guessed that things were to be said that Indians
+were not meant to hear. So through the night he sat motionless in his
+chair with mind and heart full of bitterness, cursing the soldier by all
+he held unholy.
+
+Long before dawn Noreen, refreshed by sleep and quite recovered from the
+fatigues and alarms of the previous day, was up to superintend the early
+meal that her servants prepared for the departing company. No one but her
+brother was returning to Malpura, the others were to scatter to their own
+gardens when Dermot had finished with them.
+
+As the girl said good-bye to the planters she warmly thanked each one for
+his chivalrous readiness to come to her aid. But to the soldier she found
+it hard, impossible, to say all that was in her heart, and to an onlooker
+her farewell to him would have seemed abrupt, almost cold. But he
+understood her, and long after he had vanished from sight she seemed to
+feel the friendly pressure of his hand on hers. When she went to her rooms
+the tears filled her eyes, as she kissed the fingers that his had held.
+
+Out in the forest the Major led the way on Badshah, the ponies of his
+followers keeping at a respectful distance from the elephant. When nearing
+the scene of the fight the tracks of the avenging herd were plain to see,
+and soon the party came upon ghastly evidences of the tragedy. The buzzing
+of innumerable flies guided the searchers to spots in the undergrowth where
+the scattered corpses lay. As each was reached a black cloud of blood-drunk
+winged insects rose in the air from the loathsome mass of red, crushed
+pulp, but trains of big ants came and went undisturbed. The dense foliage
+had hidden the battered, shapeless bodies from the eyes of the soaring
+vultures high up in the blue sky, otherwise nothing but scattered bones
+would have remained. Now the task of scavenging was left to the insects.
+
+Over twenty corpses were found. When an angry elephant has wreaked his rage
+on a man the result is something that is difficult to recognise as the
+remains of a human being. So out of the twenty, the attackers shot by
+Dermot were the only ones whose bodies were in a fit state to be examined.
+But they afforded no clue to the identity of the mysterious assailants. The
+men appeared to have been low-caste Hindus of the coolie class. They
+carried nothing on their persons except a little food--a few broken
+_chupatis_, a handful of coarse grain, an onion or two, and a few
+_cardamoms_ tied up in a bit of cloth. Each had a powder-flask and a small
+bag with some spherical bullets in it hung on a string passed over one
+shoulder. The weapons found were mostly old Tower muskets, the marks on
+which showed that at one time they had belonged to various native regiments
+in the service of the East India Company. But there were two or three
+fairly modern rifles of French or German make.
+
+These latter Dermot tied on his elephant, and, as there was nothing further
+to be learned here, he led the way to the other spot which he wished to
+visit. But when, after a canter along the narrow, winding track through the
+dense undergrowth, jumping fallen trees and dodging overhanging branches,
+the party drew near the open glade in which Dermot had overtaken the
+raiders, a chorus of loud and angry squawks, the rushing sound of heavy
+wings and the rustling of feathered bodies prepared them for
+disappointment. When they entered it there was nothing to be seen but two
+struggling groups of vultures jostling and fighting over what had been
+human bodies. For the glade was open to the sky and the keen eyes of the
+foul scavengers had detected the corpses, of which nothing was left now but
+torn clothing, mangled flesh, and scattered bones. So there was no
+possibility of Daleham's deciding if Dermot had been right in believing
+that one of the two raiders that he had killed was the Calcutta Bachelor of
+Arts. On the whole the search had proved fruitless, for no further clue to
+the identity of either body of miscreants was found.
+
+So the riders turned back. At various points of the homeward journey
+members of the party went off down tracks leading in the direction of their
+respective gardens, and there was but a small remnant left when Dermot said
+good-bye, after hearty thanks from Daleham and cheery farewells from the
+others.
+
+He did not reach the Fort until the following day. There he learned that
+Parker had never received the telegram asking for help. Subsequent
+enquiries from the telegraph authorities only elicited the statement that
+the line had been broken between Barwahi and Ranga Duar. As where it passed
+through the forest accidents to it from trees knocked down by elephants or
+brought down by natural causes were frequent, it was impossible to discover
+the truth, but the fact that nearly all the telegraph officials were
+Bengali Brahmins made Dermot doubtful. But he was able to report the
+happenings to Simla by cipher messages over the line.
+
+Parker was furious because the information had failed to reach him. He had
+missed the opportunity of marching a party of his men down to the rescue of
+Miss Daleham and his commanding officer, and he was not consoled by the
+latter pointing out to him that it would have been impossible for him to
+have arrived in time for the fight.
+
+Two days after Dermot's return to the Fort he was informed that three
+Bhuttias wanted to see him. On going out on to the verandah of his bungalow
+he found an old man whom he recognised as the headman of a mountain village
+just inside the British border, ten miles from Ranga Duar. Beside him stood
+two sturdy young Bhuttias with a hang-dog expression on their Mongol-like
+faces.
+
+The headman, who was one of those in Dermot's pay, saluted and, dragging
+forward his two companions, bade them say what they had come there to say.
+Each of the young men pulled out of the breast of his jacket a little
+cloth-wrapped parcel, and, opening it, poured a stream of bright silver
+rupees at the feet of the astonished Major. Then they threw themselves on
+their knees before him, touched the ground with their foreheads, and
+implored his pardon, saying that they had sinned against him in ignorance
+and offered in atonement the price of their crime.
+
+Dermot turned enquiringly to the headman, who explained that the two had
+taken part in the carrying off of the white _mem_, and being now convinced
+that they had in so doing offended a very powerful being--god or devil--had
+come to implore his pardon.
+
+Their story was soon told. They said that they had been approached by a
+certain Bhuttia who, formerly residing in British territory, had been
+forced to flee to Bhutan by reason of his many crimes. Nevertheless, he
+made frequent secret visits across the border. For fifty rupees--a princely
+sum to them--he induced them to agree to join with others in carrying off
+Miss Daleham. They found subsequently that the real leader of the
+enterprise was a Hindu masquerading as a Bhuttia.
+
+When they had succeeded in their object they were directed to go to a
+certain spot in the jungle where they were to be met by another party to
+which they were to hand over the Englishwoman. Having reached the place
+first they were waiting for the others when Dermot appeared. So terrible
+were the tales told in their villages about this dread white man and his
+mysterious elephant that, believing that he had come to punish them for
+their crime, all but the two leaders fled in panic. Several of the
+fugitives ran into the party of armed Hindus which they were to meet, a
+member of which spoke a certain amount of Bhutanese. Having learned what
+had happened he ordered them to guide the newcomers' pursuit.
+
+When the attack began the Bhuttias, having no fire-arms, took refuge in
+trees. So when the herd swept down upon the assailants all the hillmen
+escaped. But they were witnesses of the terrible vengeance of the powerful
+devil-man and devil-elephant. When at last they had ventured to descend
+from the trees that had proved their salvation and returned to their
+villages these two confided the story to their headman. At his orders they
+had come to surrender the price of their crime and plead for pardon.
+
+Their story only deepened the mystery, for, when Dermot eagerly
+questioned them as to the identity of the Hindus, he was again brought
+up against a blank wall, for they knew nothing of them. He deemed it
+politic to promise to forgive them and allow them to keep the money that
+they had received, after he had thoroughly impressed upon them the
+enormity of their guilt in daring to lay hands upon a white woman. He
+ordered them as a penance to visit all the Bhuttia villages on each side
+of the border and tell everyone how terrible was the punishment for such
+a crime. They were first to seek out their companions in the raid and
+lay the same task on them. He found afterwards that these latter had
+hardly waited to be told, for they had already spread broadcast the
+tale, which grew as it travelled. Before long every mountain and jungle
+village had heard how the Demon-Man had overtaken the raiders on his
+marvellous winged elephant, slain some by breathing fire on them and
+called up from the Lower Hell a troop of devils, half dragons, half
+elephants, who had torn the other criminals limb from limb or eaten them
+alive. So, not the fear of the Government, as Dermot intended, but the
+terror of him and his attendant devil Badshah, lay heavy on the
+border-side.
+
+Chunerbutty, kept at the soldier's request in utter ignorance of more
+than the fact that Noreen had been rescued by him from the raiders, had
+concluded at first that the crime was what it appeared on the surface--a
+descent of trans-frontier Bhuttias to carry off a white woman for ransom.
+But when these stories reached the tea-garden villages and eventually came
+to his ears he was very puzzled. For he knew that, in spite of their
+extravagance, there was probably a grain of truth somewhere in them. They
+made him suspect that some other agency had been at work and another reason
+than hope of money had inspired the outrage.
+
+In the Palace at Lalpuri a tempest raged. The Rajah, mad with fury and
+disappointed desire, stormed through his apartments, beating his servants
+and threatening all his satellites with torture and death. For no news had
+come to him for days as to the success or failure of a project that he had
+conceived in his diseased brain. Distrusting Chunerbutty, as he did
+everyone about him, he had sent for Narain Dass, whom he knew as one of the
+_Dewan's_ agents, and given him the task of executing his original design
+of carrying off Miss Daleham. To the Bengali's subtle mind had occurred the
+idea of making the outrage seem the work of Bhuttia raiders. But for
+Dermot's prompt pursuit his plan would have been crowned with success. The
+girl, handed over as arranged to a party of the Rajah's soldiers in
+disguise, would have been taken to the Palace at Lalpuri, while everyone
+believed her a captive in Bhutan.
+
+At length a few poor wretches, who had escaped their comrades' terrible
+doom under the feet of the wild elephants and, mad with terror, had
+wandered in the jungle for days, crept back starved and almost mad to the
+capital of the State. Only one was rash enough to return to the Palace,
+while the others, fearing to face their lord when they had only failure to
+report, hid in the slums of the bazaar. This one was summoned to the
+Rajah's presence. His tale was heard with unbelief and rage, and he was
+ordered to be trampled to death by the ruler's trained elephants. Search
+was made through the bazaar for the other men who had returned, and when
+they were caught their punishment was more terrible still. Inconceivable
+tortures were inflicted on them and they were flung half-dead into a pit
+full of live scorpions and cobras. Even in these enlightened days there are
+dark corners in India, and in some Native States strange and terrible
+things still happen. And the tale of them rarely reaches the ear of the
+representatives of the Suzerain Power or the columns of the daily press.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+THE LURE OF THE HILLS
+
+A dark pall enveloped the mountains, and over Ranga Duar raged one of
+the terrifying tropical thunderstorms that signalise the rains of India.
+Unlike more temperate climes this land has but three Seasons. To her the
+division of the year into Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter means
+nothing. She knows only the Hot Weather, the Monsoon or Rains, and the
+Cold Weather. From November to the end of February is the pleasant time
+of dry, bright, and cool days, with nights that register from three to
+sixteen degrees of frost in the plains of Central and Northern India.
+In the Himalayas the snow lies feet deep. The popular idea that
+Hindustan is always a land of blazing sun and burning heat is entirely
+wrong. But from March to the end of June it certainly turns itself into
+a hell of torment for the luckless mortals that cannot fly from the
+parched plains to the cool mountains. Then from the last days of June,
+when the Monsoon winds bring up the moisture-laden clouds from the
+oceans on the south-west of the peninsula, to the beginning or middle
+of October, India is the Kingdom of Rain. From the grey sky it falls
+drearily day and night. Outside, the thirsty soil drinks it up gladly.
+Green things venture timidly out of the parched earth, then shoot up as
+rapidly as the beanstalk of the fairy tale. But inside houses dampness
+reigns. Green fungus adorns boots and all things of leather, tobacco
+reeks with moisture, and the white man scratches himself and curses the
+plague of prickly heat.
+
+But while tens of thousands of Europeans and hundreds of millions of
+natives suffer greatly in the tortures of Heat and Wet for eight weary
+months of the year in the Plains of India, up in the magic realm of the
+Hills, in the pleasure colonies like Simla, Mussourie, Naini Tal,
+Darjeeling, and Ootacamund, existence during those same months is one long
+spell of gaiety and comfort for the favoured few. These hill-stations make
+life in India worth living for the lucky English women and men who can take
+refuge in them. And incidentally they are responsible for more domestic
+unhappiness in Anglo-Indian households than any other cause. It is said
+that while in the lower levels of the land many roads lead to the Divorce
+Court, in the Hills _all_ do.
+
+For wives must needs go alone to the hill-stations, as a rule. India is not
+a country for idlers. Every white man in it has work to do, otherwise he
+would not be in that land at all. Husbands therefore cannot always
+accompany their spouses to the mountains, and, when they do, can rarely
+contrive to remain there for six months or longer of the Season.
+Consequently the wives are often very lonely in the big hotels that abound
+on the hill-tops, and sometimes drift into dependence on bachelors on leave
+for daily companionship, for escort to the many social functions, for
+regular dancing partners. And so trouble is bred.
+
+Major Dermot was no lover of these mountain Capuas of Hindustan, and had
+gladly escaped from Simla, chiefest of them all. Yet now he sat in his
+little stone bungalow in Ranga Duar, while the terrific thunder crashed and
+roared among the hills, and read with a pleased smile an official letter
+ordering him to proceed forthwith to Darjeeling--as gay a pleasure colony
+as any--to meet the General Commanding the Division, who was visiting the
+place on inspection duty. For the same post had brought him a letter from
+Noreen Daleham which told him that she was then, and had been for some
+time, in that hill-station.
+
+The climate of the Terai, unpleasantly but not unbearably hot in the summer
+months, is pestilential and deadly during the rains, when malaria and the
+more dreaded black-water fever take toll of the strongest. Noreen had
+suffered in health in the hot weather, and her brother was seriously
+concerned at the thought of her being obliged to remain in Malpura
+throughout the Monsoon. He could not take her to the Hills; it was
+impossible for him to absent himself even for a few days from the garden,
+for the care and management of it was devolving more and more every day on
+him, owing to the intemperate habits of Parry.
+
+Fred Daleham's relief was great when his sister unexpectedly received a
+letter from a former school-friend who two years before had married a man
+in the Indian Civil Service. Noreen, who was a good deal her junior, had
+corresponded regularly with her, and she now wrote to say that she was
+going to Darjeeling for the Season and suggested that Noreen should join
+her there. Much as the prospect of seeing a friend whom she had idolised,
+appealed to the girl (to say nothing of the gaieties of a hill-station and
+the pleasure of seeing shops, real shops, again), she was nevertheless
+unwilling to leave her brother. But Fred insisted on her going.
+
+From Darjeeling she told Dermot in a long and chatty epistle all her
+sensations and experiences in this new world. It was her first real letter
+to him, although she had written him a few short notes from Malpura. It was
+interesting and clever, without any attempt to be so, and Dermot was
+surprised at the accuracy of her judgment of men and things and the
+vividness of her descriptions. He noticed, moreover, that the social
+gaieties of Darjeeling did not engross her. She enjoyed dancing, but the
+many balls, At Homes, and other social functions did not attract her so
+much as the riding and tennis, the sight-seeing, the glimpses of the
+strange and varied races that fill the Darjeeling bazaar, and, above all,
+the glories of the superb scenery where the ice-crowned monarch of all
+mountains, Kinchinjunga, forty miles away--though not seeming five--and
+twenty-nine thousand feet high, towers up above the white line of the
+Eternal Snows.
+
+Dermot was critically pleased with the letter. Few men--and he least of
+all--care for an empty-headed doll whose only thoughts are of dress and
+fashionable entertainments. He liked the girl for her love of sport and
+action, for her intelligence, and the interest she took in the varied
+native life around her. He was almost tempted to think that her letter
+betrayed some desire for his companionship in Darjeeling, for in it she
+constantly wondered what he would think of this, what he would say of that.
+
+But he put the idea from him, though he smiled as he re-read his orders and
+thought of her surprise when she saw him in Darjeeling. Would she really be
+pleased to meet her friend of the jungle in the gay atmosphere of a
+pleasure colony? Like most men who are not woman-hunters he set a very
+modest value on himself and did not rate highly his power of attraction for
+the opposite sex. Therefore, he thought it not unlikely that the girl might
+consider him as a desirable enough acquaintance for the forest but a bore
+in a ballroom. In this he was unjust to her.
+
+He was surprised to discover that he looked forward with pleasure to seeing
+her again, for women as a rule did not interest him. Noreen was the first
+whom he had met that gave him the feeling of companionship, of comradeship,
+that he experienced with most men. She was not more clever, more talented,
+or better educated than most English girls are, but she had the capacity of
+taking interest in many things outside the ordinary range of topics. Above
+all, she inspired him with the pleasant sense of "chum-ship," than which
+there is no happier, more durable bond of union between a man and a woman.
+
+The Season brought the work in which Dermot was engaged to a standstill,
+and, keen lover of sport as he was, he was not tempted to risk the
+fevers of the jungle. Life in the small station of Ranga Duar was dull
+indeed. Day and night the rain rattled incessantly on the iron roofs
+of the bungalows--six or eight inches in twenty-four hours being not
+unusual. Thunderstorms roared and echoed among the hills for twenty or
+thirty hours at a stretch. All outdoor work or exercise was impossible.
+The outpost was nearly always shrouded in dense mist. Insect pests
+abounded. Scorpions and snakes invaded the buildings. Outside, from
+every blade of grass, every leaf and twig, a thin and hungry leech waved
+its worm-like, yellow-striped body in the air, seeming to scent any
+approaching man or beast on which it could fasten and gorge itself fat
+with blood. Certainly a small station on the face of the Himalayas is
+not a desirable place of residence during the rains, and to persons
+of melancholy temperament would be conducive to suicide or murder.
+Fortunately for themselves the two white men in Ranga Duar took life
+cheerily and were excellent friends.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By this time Noreen considered herself quite an old resident of Darjeeling.
+But she had felt the greatest reluctance to go when her brother had helped
+her into the dogcart for the long drive to the railway. Fred was unable to
+take her even as far as the train, for his manager had one of his periodic
+attacks of what was euphemistically termed his "illness." But Chunerbutty
+volunteered to escort Noreen to the hills, as he had been summoned again to
+his sick father's side, the said parent being supposed to be in attendance
+on his Rajah who had taken a house in Darjeeling for the season. As a
+matter of fact his worthy progenitor had never left Lalpuri. However,
+Daleham knew nothing of that, and, being empowered to do so when Parry was
+incapacitated, gladly gave him permission to go and gratefully accepted his
+offer to look after the girl on the journey.
+
+Noreen would much have preferred going alone, but her brother refused to
+entertain the idea. Although she knew nothing of the suspicions of her
+Bengali friend entertained by Dermot, she sensed a certain disapproval on
+his part of Fred's and her intimacy with Chunerbutty, and it affected her
+far more than did the open objection of the other planters to the Hindu.
+Besides, she was gradually realising the existence of the "colour bar,"
+illiberal as she considered it to be. But it will always exist, dormant
+perhaps but none the less alive in the bosoms of the white peoples. It is
+Nature herself who has planted it there, in order to preserve the
+separation of the races that she has ordained. So Noreen, though she hated
+herself for it, felt that she would rather go all the way alone than travel
+with the Hindu.
+
+The thirty miles' drive to the station of the narrow-gauge branch railway
+which would convey them to the main line did not seem long. For several
+planters who resided near her road had laid a _dak_ for her, that is, had
+arranged relays of ponies at various points of the way to enable the
+journey to be performed quickly. Noreen's heavy luggage had gone on ahead
+by bullock cart two days before, so the pair travelled light.
+
+After her long absence from civilisation the diminutive engine and
+carriages of the narrow-gauge railway looked quite imposing, and it
+seemed to the girl strange to be out of the jungle when the toy train
+slid from the forest into open country, through the rice-fields and by
+the trim palm-thatched villages nestling among giant clumps of bamboo.
+
+In the evening the train reached the junction where Noreen and Chunerbutty
+had to transfer to the Calcutta express, which brought them early next
+morning to Siliguri, the terminus of the main line at the foot of the
+hills, whence the little mountain-railway starts out on its seven thousand
+feet climb up the Himalayas.
+
+Out of the big carriages of the express the passengers tumbled reluctantly
+and hurried half asleep to secure their seats in the quaint open
+compartments of the tiny train. White-clad servants strapped up their
+employers' bedding--for in India the railway traveller must bring his own
+with him--and collected the luggage, while the masters and mistresses
+crowded into the refreshment room for _chota hazri_, or early breakfast.
+Noreen was unpleasantly aware of the curious and semi-hostile looks cast at
+her and her companion by the other Europeans, particularly the ladies, for
+the sight of an English girl travelling with a native is not regarded with
+friendly eyes by English folk in India.
+
+But she forgot this when the toy train started. As they climbed higher the
+vegetation grew smaller and sparser, until it ceased altogether and the
+line wound up bare slopes. And as they rose they left the damp heat behind
+them, and the air grew fresher and cooler.
+
+The train twisted among the mountains and crawled up their steep sides on a
+line that wound about in bewildering fashion, in one place looping the loop
+completely in such a way that the engine was crossing a bridge from under
+which the last carriage was just emerging. Noreen delighted in the journey.
+She chatted gaily with her companion, asking him questions about anything
+that was new to her, and striving to ignore the looks of curiosity, pity,
+or disgust cast at her by the other European passengers, among whom
+speculation was rife as to the relationship between the pair.
+
+The leisurely train took plenty of time to recover its breath when it
+stopped at the little wayside stations, and many of its occupants got out
+to stretch their legs. Two of them, Englishmen, strolled to the end of the
+platform at a halt. One, a tall, fair man, named Charlesworth, a captain in
+a Rifle battalion quartered in Lebong, the military suburb of Darjeeling,
+remarked to his companion:
+
+"I wonder who is the pretty, golden-haired girl travelling with that
+native. How the deuce does she come to be with him? She can't be his wife."
+
+"You never know," replied the other, an artillery subaltern named Turner.
+"Many of these Bengali students in London marry their landladies' daughters
+or girls they've picked up in the street, persuading the wretched women by
+their lies that they are Indian princes. Then they bring them out here to
+herd with a black family in a little house in the native quarter."
+
+"Yes; but that girl is a lady," answered Charlesworth impatiently. "I heard
+her speak on the platform at Siliguri."
+
+"She certainly looks all right," admitted his friend. "Smart and
+well-turned out, too. But one can never tell nowadays."
+
+"Let's stroll by her carriage and get a nearer view of her," said
+Charlesworth.
+
+As they passed the compartment in which Noreen was seated, the girl's
+attention was attracted by two gaily-dressed Sikkimese men with striped
+petticoats and peacocks' feathers stuck in their flowerpot-shaped hats, who
+came on to the platform.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Chunerbutty, look at those men!" she said eagerly. "What are
+they?"
+
+The Hindu had got out and was standing at the door of the compartment.
+
+"Did you notice that?" said Charlesworth, when he and Turner had got beyond
+earshot. "She called him Mr. Something-or-other."
+
+"Yes; deuced glad to hear it, too," replied the gunner. "I'd hate to see a
+white woman, especially an English lady, married to a native. I wonder how
+that girl comes to be travelling with the beggar at all."
+
+"I'd like to meet her," said Charlesworth, who was returning from ten days'
+leave in Calcutta. "If I ever do, I'll advise her not to go travelling
+about with a black man. I suppose she's just out from England and knows no
+better."
+
+"She'd probably tell you to mind your own business," observed his friend.
+"Hullo! it looks as if the engine-driver is actually going to get a move on
+this old hearse. Let's go aboard."
+
+More spiteful comments were made on Noreen by the Englishwomen on the
+train, and the girl could not help remarking their contemptuous glances at
+her and her escort.
+
+When the train ran into the station at Darjeeling she saw her friend, Ida
+Smith, waiting on the platform for her. As the two embraced and kissed each
+other effusively Charlesworth muttered to Turner:
+
+"It's all right, old chap. I'll be introduced to that girl before this time
+tomorrow, you bet. I know her friend. She's from the Bombay side--wife of
+one of the Heaven Born."
+
+By this lofty title are designated the members of the Indian Civil Service
+by lesser mortals, such as army officers--who in return are contemptuously
+termed "brainless military popinjays" by the exalted caste.
+
+Their greeting over, Noreen introduced Chunerbutty to Ida, who nodded
+frigidly and then turned her back on him.
+
+"Now, dear, point out your luggage to my servant and he'll look after it
+and get it up to the hotel. Oh, how do you do, Captain Charlesworth?"
+
+The Rifleman, determined to lose no time in making Noreen's acquaintance,
+had come up to them.
+
+"I had quite a shock, Mrs. Smith, when I saw you on the platform, for I was
+afraid that you were leaving us and had come to take the down train."
+
+"Oh, no; I am only here to meet a friend," she replied. "Have you just
+arrived by this train? Have you been away?"
+
+Charlesworth laughed and replied:
+
+"What an unkind question, Mrs. Smith! It shows that I haven't been missed.
+Yes, I've been on ten days' leave to Calcutta."
+
+"How brave of you at this time of year! It must have been something
+very important that took you there. Have you been to see your tailor?"
+Then, without giving him time to reply, she turned to Noreen. "Let me
+introduce Captain Charlesworth, my dear. Captain Charlesworth, this is
+Miss Daleham, an old school-friend, who has come up to keep me company.
+We poor hill-widows are so lonely."
+
+The Rifleman held out his hand eagerly to the girl.
+
+"How d'you do, Miss Daleham? I hope you've come up for the Season."
+
+"Yes, I think so," she replied. "It's a very delightful change from down
+below. This is my first visit to a hill-station."
+
+"Then you'll be sure to enjoy it. Are you going to the
+Lieutenant-Governor's ball on Thursday?"
+
+"I don't suppose so. I don't know anything about it," she replied.
+"You see, I've only just arrived."
+
+"You are, dear," said Ida. "I told Captain Craigie, one of the A.D.C.'s,
+that you were coming up, and he sent me your invitation with mine."
+
+"Oh, how jolly!" exclaimed the girl. "I do hope I'll get some partners."
+
+"Please accept me as one," said Charlesworth. Then he tactfully added to
+Ida, "I hope you'll spare me a couple of dances, Mrs. Smith."
+
+"With pleasure, Captain Charlesworth," she replied. "But do come and see us
+before then."
+
+"I shall be delighted to. By the way, are you going to the gymkhana on the
+polo-ground tomorrow?"
+
+"Yes, we are."
+
+Charlesworth turned to Noreen.
+
+"In that case, Miss Daleham, perhaps you'll be good enough to nominate me
+for some of the events. As you have only just got here you won't have been
+snapped up yet by other fellows. I know it's hopeless to expect Mrs. Smith
+not to be."
+
+Ida smiled, well pleased at the flattery, although, as a matter of fact, no
+one had yet asked her to nominate him.
+
+"I'm afraid I wouldn't know what to do," answered Noreen. "I've never been
+to a gymkhana in India. I haven't seen or ridden in any, except at
+Hurlingham and Ranelagh."
+
+Charlesworth made a mental note of this. If the girl had taken part in
+gymkhanas at the London Clubs she must be socially all right, he thought.
+
+"They're just the same," he said. "In England they've only copied India in
+these things. Have you brought your habit with you?"
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Smith told me in her letters that I could get riding up here."
+
+"Good. I've got a ripping pony for a lady. I'll raise a saddle for you
+somewhere, and we'll enter for some of the affinity events."
+
+The girl's eyes sparkled.
+
+"Oh, how delightful. Could I do it, Ida?"
+
+"Yes, certainly, dear."
+
+"I should love to. It's very kind of you, Captain Charlesworth. Thank you
+ever so much. It will be splendid. I hope I shan't disgrace you."
+
+"I'm sure you won't. I'll call for you and bring you both down to Lebong if
+I may, Mrs. Smith."
+
+"Will you lunch with us then?" asked Ida. "You know where I am staying--the
+Woodbrook Hotel. Noreen is coming there too."
+
+"Thank you, I'll be delighted," replied the Rifleman.
+
+"Very well. One o'clock sharp. Now we'll say good-bye for the present."
+
+Charlesworth shook hands with both ladies and strode off in triumph to
+where Turner was awaiting him impatiently.
+
+"Now, dear, we'll go," said Ida. "I have a couple of _dandies_ waiting for
+us."
+
+"_Dandies_?" echoed the girl in surprise. "What do you mean?"
+
+The older woman laughed.
+
+"Oh, not dandies like Captain Charlesworth. These are chairs in which
+coolies carry you. In Darjeeling you can't drive. You must go in
+_dandies_, or rickshas, unless you ride. Here, Miguel! Have you got the
+missie _baba's_ luggage?" This to her Goanese servant.
+
+"Yes, _mem sahib_. All got," replied the "boy," a native Christian with the
+high sounding name of Miguel Gonsalves Da Costa from the Portugese Colony
+of Goa on the West Coast of India below Bombay. In his tweed cap and suit
+of white ducks he did not look as imposing as the Hindu or Mohammedan
+butlers of other Europeans on the platform with their long-skirted white
+coats, coloured _kamarbands_, and big _puggris_, or turbans, with their
+employers' crests on silver brooches pinned in the front. But Goanese
+servants are excellent and much in demand in Bombay.
+
+"All right. You bring to hotel _jeldi_ (quickly). Come along, Noreen," said
+Mrs. Smith, walking off and utterly ignoring the Hindu engineer who had
+stood by unnoticed all this time with rage in his heart.
+
+Noreen, however, turned to him and said:
+
+"What are you going to do, Mr. Chunerbutty? Where are you staying?"
+
+"I am going to my father at His Highness's house," he replied. "I should
+not be very welcome at your hotel or to your friends, Miss Daleham."
+
+"Oh, of course you would," replied the girl, feeling sorry for him but
+uncertain what to say. "Will you come and see me tomorrow?"
+
+"You forget. You are going to the gymkhana with that insolent English
+officer."
+
+"Now don't be unjust. I'm sure Captain Charlesworth wasn't at all insolent.
+But I forgot the gymkhana. You could come in the morning. Yet, perhaps, I
+may have to go out calling with Mrs. Smith," she said doubtfully. "And how
+selfish of me! You have your own affairs to see to. I do hope that you'll
+find your father much better."
+
+"Thank you. I hope so."
+
+"Do let me know how he is. Send me a _chit_ (letter) if you have time. I am
+anxious to hear. Now I must thank you ever so much for your kindness in
+looking after me on the journey. I don't know what I'd have done without
+you."
+
+"It was nothing. But you had better go. Your haughty friend is looking back
+for you, angry that you should stop here talking to a native," he said
+bitterly.
+
+Ida was beckoning to her; even at that distance they could see that she was
+impatient. So Noreen could only reiterate her thanks to the Hindu and hurry
+after her friend, who said petulantly when she came up:
+
+"I do wish you hadn't travelled up with that Indian, Noreen. It isn't nice
+for an English girl to be seen with one, and it will make people talk. The
+women here are such cats."
+
+Noreen judged it best to make no reply, but followed her irate friend in
+silence. Their _dandies_ were waiting outside the station, and as the girl
+got into hers and was lifted up and carried off by the sturdy coolies on
+whose shoulders the poles rested, she thought with a thrill of the last
+occasion on which she had been borne in a chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+THE PLEASURE COLONY
+
+A town on the hill-tops; a town of clubs, churches, and hotels, of luxury
+shops, of pretty villas set in lovely gardens bright with English flowers
+and shaded by great orchid-clad trees; of broad, well-kept roads--such is
+Darjeeling, seven thousand feet above the sea.
+
+At first sight there is nothing Oriental about it except the Gurkha
+policemen on point duty or the laughing groups of fair-skinned,
+rosy-cheeked Lepcha women that go chattering by him. But on one side the
+steep hills are crowded with the confused jumble of houses in the native
+bazaar, built higgledy-piggledy one on top of the other and lining the
+narrow streets and lanes that are thronged all day by a bright-garbed
+medley of Eastern races--Sikkimese, Bhuttias, Hindus, Tibetans, Lepchas.
+Set in a beautiful glen are the lovely Botanical Gardens, which look
+down past slopes trimly planted with rows of tea-bushes into the deep
+valleys far below.
+
+As Noreen was borne along in her _dandy_ she thought that she had never
+seen a more delightful spot. Everything and everyone attracted her
+attention--the scenery, the buildings, the varied folk that passed her on
+the road, from well set-up British soldiers in red coats and white helmets,
+smartly-dressed ladies in rickshas, Englishmen in breeches and gaiters
+riding sleek-coated ponies, to yellow-gowned lamas and Lepcha girls with
+massive silver necklaces and turquoise ornaments. She longed to turn her
+chair-coolies down the hill and begin at once the exploration of the
+attractive-looking native bazaar--until she reached the English shops with
+the newest fashions of female wear from London and Paris, set out behind
+their plate-glass windows. Here she forgot the bazaar and would willingly
+have lingered to look, but Ida's _dandy_ kept steadily alongside hers and
+its occupant chattered incessantly of the many forth-coming social
+gaieties, until they turned into the courtyard of their hotel and stepped
+out of their chairs.
+
+When Ida had shown her friend into the room reserved for her she said:
+
+"Take off your hat, dear, and let me see how you look after all these
+years. Why, you've grown into quite a pretty girl. What a nice colour your
+hair is! Do you use anything for it? I don't remember its being as golden
+as all that at school."
+
+The girl laughed and shook the sunlit waves of it down, for it had got
+untidy under her sun-hat.
+
+"No, Ida darling, of course I don't use anything. The colour is quite
+natural, I assure you. Have you forgotten you used sometimes to call me
+Goldylocks at school?"
+
+"Did I? I don't remember. I say, Noreen, you're a lucky girl to have made
+such a hit straight away with Captain Charlesworth. He's quite the rage
+with the women here."
+
+"Is he? Why?" asked the girl carelessly, pinning up her hair.
+
+"Why? My dear, he's the smartest man in a very smart regiment. Very well
+off; has lots of money and a beautiful place at home, I believe. Comes from
+an excellent family. And then he's so handsome. Don't you think so?"
+
+"Yes; he's rather good-looking. But he struck me as being somewhat
+foppish."
+
+"Oh, he's always beautifully dressed, if that's what you mean. You saw
+that, even when he had just come off a train journey. He's a beautiful
+dancer. I'm so glad he asked me for a couple of dances at the L.G.'s ball.
+I'll see he doesn't forget them. I'll keep him up to his word, though
+Bertie won't like it. He's fearfully jealous of me, but I don't care."
+
+"Bertie? Who is--? I thought that your husband's name was William?" said
+Noreen wonderingly.
+
+Ida burst into a peal of laughter.
+
+"Good gracious, child! I'm not talking of my husband. Bill's hundreds of
+miles away, thank goodness! I wouldn't mind if he were thousands. No; I'm
+speaking of Captain Bain, a great friend of mine from the Bombay side. He's
+stationed in Poona, which is quite a jolly place in the Season, though of
+course not a patch on this. But he got leave and came here because I did."
+
+"Oh, yes, I see," replied Noreen vaguely, puzzled by Ida's remark about her
+husband. She had seen the Civil Servant at the wedding and remembered him
+as a stolid, middle-aged, and apparently uninteresting individual. But the
+girl was still ignorant enough of life not to understand why a woman after
+two years of marriage should be thankful that her husband was far away from
+her and wish him farther.
+
+"But I'm not going to let Bertie monopolise me up here," continued Mrs.
+Smith, taking off her hat and pulling and patting her hair before the
+mirror. "I like a change. I've come here to have a good time. I think I'll
+go in and cut you out with Captain Charlesworth. He's awfully attractive."
+
+"You are quite welcome to him, dear," said the girl.
+
+"Oh, wait until you see the fuss the other women make of him. He's a great
+catch; and all the mothers here with marriageable daughters and the spins
+themselves are ready to scratch each other's eyes out over him."
+
+"Don't be uncharitable, Ida dearest."
+
+"It's a fact, darling. But I warn you that he's not a marrying man. He has
+the reputation of being a terrible flirt. I don't think you'll hold him
+long. He's afraid of girls--afraid they'll try to catch him. He prefers
+married women. He knows we're safe."
+
+Noreen said nothing, but began to open and unpack her trunks. In India, the
+land of servants, where a bachelor officer has seven or more, a lady has
+usually to do without a maid, for the _ayah_, or native female domestic, is
+generally a failure in that capacity. In the hotels Indian "boys" replace
+the chambermaids of Europe.
+
+Ida rattled on.
+
+"Of course, Bertie's awfully useful. A tame cat--and he's a well-trained
+one--is a handy thing to have about you, especially up here. You need
+someone to take you to races and gymkhanas and to fill up blanks on your
+programme at dances, as well as getting your ricksha or _dandy_ for you
+when they're over."
+
+Noreen laughed, amused at the frankness of the statement.
+
+"And where is the redoubtable Captain Bain, dear?"
+
+"You'll see him soon. I let him off today until it's time for him to call
+to take us to the Amusement Club. He was anxious to see you. He wanted to
+come with me to the station, but I said he'd only be in the way. I knew
+Miguel would be much more useful in getting your luggage. Bertie's so slow.
+Still, he's rather a dear. Remember, he's my property. You mustn't poach."
+
+Noreen laughed again and said:
+
+"If he admires you, dear, I'm sure no one could take him from you."
+
+"My dear girl, you never can trust any man," said her friend seriously.
+Then, glancing at herself in the mirror, she continued modestly:
+
+"I know I'm not bad-looking, and lots of men do admire me. Bertie says I'm
+a ripper."
+
+She certainly was decidedly pretty, though of a type of beauty that would
+fade early. Vain and empty-headed, she was, nevertheless, popular with the
+class of men who are content with a shallow, silly woman with whom it is
+easy to flirt. They described her as "good fun and not a bit strait-laced."
+Noreen knew nothing of this side of her friend, for she had not seen her
+since her marriage, and honestly thought her beautiful and fascinating.
+
+Ida picked up her hat and parasol and said:
+
+"Now I'll leave you to get straight, darling child, and come back to you
+later on."
+
+She looked into the glass again and went on:
+
+"It's so nice to have you here. A woman alone is rather out of it,
+especially if she comes from the other side of India and doesn't know
+Calcutta people. Now it'll be all right when there are two of us. The cats
+can't say horrid things about me and Bertie--though it's only the old
+frumps that can't get a man who do. I _am_ glad you've come. We'll have
+such fun."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Captain Bain, a dapper little man, designed by Nature to be the "tame cat"
+of some married woman, was punctual when the time came to take the two
+ladies to the Amusement Club. Noreen had very dubiously donned her smartest
+frock which, having just been taken out of a trunk after a long journey,
+seemed very crushed, creased, and dowdy compared with the freshness and
+daintiness of Ida's _toilette._ Men as a rule understand nothing of the
+agonies endured by a woman who must face the unfriendly stares of other
+women in a gown that she feels will invite pitiless criticism.
+
+But for the moment the girl forgot her worries as they turned out of the
+hotel gate and reached the Chaurasta, the meeting of the "four-ways,"
+nearly as busy a cross-roads as (and infinitely more beautiful than) Carfax
+at Oxford or the Quattro Canti in Palermo. To the east the hill of
+Jalapahar towered a thousand feet above Darjeeling, crowned with bungalows
+and barracks. To the north the ground fell as sharply; and a thousand feet
+below Darjeeling lay Lebong, set out on a flattened hilltop. On three sides
+of this military suburb the hill sloped steeply to the valleys below. But
+beyond them, tumbled mass upon mass, rose the great mountains barring the
+way to Sikkim and Tibet, towering to the clouds that hid the white summits
+of the Eternal Snows.
+
+Bain walked his pony beside Noreen's chair and named the various points of
+the scenery around them. Then, when Noreen had inscribed her name in the
+Visitors' Book at Government House, they entered the Amusement Club.
+
+Noreen was overcome with shyness at finding herself, after her months
+of isolation, among scores of white folk, all strangers to her. Ida
+unconcernedly led the way into the large hall which was used as a
+roller-skating rink, along one side of which were set out dozens of
+little tables around which sat ladies in smart frocks that made the girl
+more painfully conscious of what she considered to be the deficiencies
+of her own costume. She saw one or two of the women that had travelled
+up in the train that day stare at her and then lean forward and make
+some remark about her to their companions at the table. She was
+profoundly thankful when the ordeal was over and, in Ida's wake, she had
+got out of the rink. Conscious only of the critical glances of her own
+sex, she was not aware of the admiring looks cast at her by many men in
+the groups around the tables.
+
+But later on in the evening she found herself seated at one of those same
+tables that an hour before had seemed to her a bench of stern judges. She
+formed one of a laughing, chattering group of Ida's acquaintances. More at
+ease now, the girl watched the people around her with interest. For a year
+she had seen no larger gathering of her own race than the weekly meetings
+at the planters' little club in the jungle, with the one exception of a
+_durbar_ at Jalpaiguri.
+
+Yet despite Ida's company she was feeling lonely and a little depressed, a
+stranger in a crowd, when she saw Captain Charlesworth enter the rink,
+accompanied by another man. Recent as had been their meeting, he seemed
+quite an old friend among all these unknown people about her, and she
+almost hoped that he would come and speak to her. He sauntered through the
+hall, bowing casually to many ladies, some of whom, the girl noticed, made
+rather obvious efforts to detain him. But he ignored them and looked
+around, as if in search of some particular person. Suddenly his eyes met
+Noreen's, and he promptly came straight to her table. He shook hands with
+Mrs. Smith and bowed to the other ladies in the group, introduced his
+companion, a new arrival to his battalion, and, securing a chair beside
+Noreen, plunged into a light and animated conversation with her. The girl
+could not help feeling a little pleased when she saw the looks of surprise
+and annoyance on the faces of some of the women at the other tables. But
+Charlesworth was not allowed to have it all his own way with her. Bain and
+an Indian Army officer named Melville also claimed her attention. The
+knowledge that we are appreciated tends to make most of us appear at our
+best, and Noreen soon forgot her shyness and loneliness and became her
+usual natural, bright self. Ida looked on indulgently and smiled at her
+patronisingly, as though Noreen's little personal triumph were due to her.
+
+Noreen slept soundly that night, and although she had meant to get up early
+and see Kinchinjunga and the snows when the sun rose, it was late when her
+hostess came to her room. After breakfast Ida took her out shopping. Only a
+woman can realise what a delight it was to the girl, after being divorced
+for a whole year from the sight of shops and the possibility of
+replenishing her wardrobe, or purchasing the thousand little necessities of
+the female toilet, to enter milliners' and dressmakers' shops where the
+latest, or very nearly the latest, _modes_ of the day in hats and gowns
+were to be seen.
+
+Charlesworth came to lunch in a smart riding-kit, looking particularly
+well-groomed and handsome. The girl was quite excited about the gymkhana,
+and plied him with innumerable questions as to what she would have to do.
+She learned that they were to enter for two affinity events. In one of
+these the lady was to tilt with a billiard-cue at three suspended rings,
+while the man, carrying a spear and a sword, took a tent-peg with the
+former, threw the lance away, cut off a Turk's head in wood with the sword,
+and then took another peg with the same weapon. The other competition was
+named the Gretna Green Stakes, and in it the pair were to ride hand in hand
+over three hurdles, dismount and sign their names in a book, then mount
+again and return hand in hand over the jumps to the winning-post.
+
+The polo-ground at Lebong that afternoon presented an animated scene,
+filled with colour by the bright-hued garments of the thousands of native
+spectators surrounding it, the uniforms of the British soldiers in the
+crowd, and the frocks of the English ladies in the reserved enclosure,
+where in large white marquees the officers of Charlesworth's regiment acted
+as hosts to the European visitors. Down the precipitous road to it from
+Darjeeling came swarms of mixed Eastern races in picturesque garb, Gurkha
+soldiers in uniform, and British gunners from Jalapahar; and through the
+throngs Englishmen on ponies, and _dandies_ and rickshas carrying ladies in
+smart summer frocks, could scarcely make their way.
+
+When Mrs. Smith's party reached the enclosure and shook hands with the wife
+of the Colonel of the Rifles, who was the senior hostess, Noreen was not
+troubled by the feeling of shyness that had assailed her at the Club on the
+previous evening. She had the comforting knowledge that her habit and boots
+from the best West End makers were beyond cavil. But she was too excited at
+the thought of the approaching contests to think much of her appearance.
+Charlesworth took her to see the pony that she was to ride, and, as she
+passed through the enclosure, she did not hear the admiring remarks of many
+of the men and, indeed, of some of the women. For in India even an
+ordinarily pretty girl will be thought beautiful, and Noreen was more than
+ordinarily pretty. Her mount she found to be a well-shaped, fourteen-two
+grey Arab, with the perfect manners of his race; and she instantly lost her
+heart to him as he rubbed his velvety muzzle against her cheek.
+
+The gymkhana opened with men's competitions, the first event in which
+ladies were to take part, the Tilting and Tent-pegging, not occurring until
+nearly half-way down the programme. Noreen was awaiting it too anxiously to
+enjoy, as she otherwise would, the novel scene, the gaiety, the band in the
+enclosure, the well-dressed throngs of English folk, the gaudy colours of
+the crowds squatting round the polo-ground and wondering at the strange
+diversions of the sahib-_logue_. Charlesworth did well in the men's event,
+securing two first prizes and a third, and Noreen could not help admiring
+him in the saddle. He was a graceful as well as a good rider. Indeed, he
+was No. 2 in the regimental polo team, which was one of the best in India
+at the time.
+
+When the moment for their competition came at last and he swung her
+up into her saddle, Noreen's heart beat violently and her bridle-hand
+shook. But when, after other couples had ridden the course, their names
+were called and a billiard-cue given her, the girl's nerves steadied at
+once and she was perfectly cool as she reined back her impatient pony at
+the starting-line. The signal was given, and she and her partner dashed
+down the course at a gallop. They did well, Charlesworth securing the
+two pegs and cutting the Turk's head, while his affinity carried off two
+rings and touched the third. No others had been as fortunate, and cheers
+from the soldiers and plaudits from the enclosure greeted their success.
+Noreen was encouraged, and a becoming colour flushed her face at the
+applause. The last couple to ride tied with them, the lady taking all
+the rings, her partner getting the Turk's head and one peg and touching
+the second. The tie was run off at once. Noreen, to her delight, found
+the three rings on her cue when she pulled up at the end of the course,
+although she hardly remembered taking them, while Charlesworth had made
+no mistake. Daunted by this result, their rivals lost their heads and
+missed everything in their second run.
+
+Noreen, on her return to the enclosure, was again loudly cheered by the
+men, the applause of the ladies being noticeably fainter, possibly because
+they resented a new arrival's success. But the girl was too pleasantly
+surprised at her good luck to observe this, and responded gratefully to the
+congratulations showered on her. She was no longer too excited to notice
+her surroundings, and now was able to enjoy the scenery, the music, the gay
+crowds, the frocks, as well as her tea when Charlesworth escorted her to
+the Mess Tent.
+
+In the Gretna Green Stakes she and her partner were not so fortunate. Over
+the second hurdle in the run home Charlesworth's pony blundered badly and
+he was forced to release his hold on the girl's hand. When the event came
+for which he had originally requested her to nominate him, she suggested
+that he should ask Mrs. Smith to do so instead. He was skilled enough in
+the ways of women not to demur, and he did as he was wanted so tactfully
+that Ida believed it to be his own idea. So, when the gymkhana ended and
+Noreen and her chaperone said good-bye, he felt that he had advanced a good
+deal in the girl's favour.
+
+During the afternoon Noreen caught sight of Chunerbutty talking to a fat
+and sensual-looking native in white linen garments with a string of
+roughly-cut but very large diamonds round his neck and several obsequious
+satellites standing behind him. They were covertly watching her, but when,
+catching the engineer's eye, she bowed to him, the fat man leant forward
+and stared boldly at her. She guessed him to be the Rajah of Lalpuri, who
+had been pointed out to her once at the Lieutenant-Governor's _durbar_ at
+Jalpaiguri.
+
+That evening a note from Chunerbutty, telling her that his father was
+better though still in a precarious state, was left at her hotel. But the
+engineer did not call on her.
+
+The ball on the Thursday night at Government House was all that Noreen
+anticipated it would be. Among the hundreds of guests there were a few
+Indian men of rank and a number of Parsis of both sexes--the women adding
+bright colours to the scene by the beautiful hues of their _saris_, as the
+silk shawls worn over their heads are called. During the evening Noreen saw
+Chunerbutty standing at the door of the ballroom with the fat man, who was
+now adorned with jewels and wearing a magnificent diamond _aigrette_ in his
+_puggri,_ and gloating with a lustful gaze over the bared necks and bosoms
+of the English ladies. The native of India, where the females of all races
+veil their faces, looks on white women, who lavishly display their charms
+to the eyes of all beholders, as immodest and immoral. And he judges
+harshly the freedom--the sometimes extreme freedom--of intercourse between
+English wives and men who are not their husbands.
+
+Later in the evening, when Noreen was sitting in the central lounge with
+Captain Bain during an interval, Chunerbutty approached her with the fat
+man. Coming up to her alone the engineer said:
+
+"Miss Daleham, may I present His Highness the Rajah of Lalpuri to you?"
+
+Noreen felt Captain Bain stiffen, but she replied courteously:
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Chunerbutty."
+
+The Rajah stepped forward, and on being introduced held out a fat and
+flabby hand to her, speaking in stiff and stilted English, for he did not
+use it with ease. He spoke only a few conventional sentences, but all the
+while Noreen felt an inward shiver of disgust. For his bloodshot eyes
+seemed to burn her bared flesh, as he devoured her naked shoulders and
+breast with a hot and lascivious stare. After replying politely but briefly
+to him she turned to the engineer and enquired after his father's health.
+The music beginning in the ball-room for the next dance gave her a welcome
+excuse for cutting the interview short, as Bain sprang up quickly and
+offered her his arm. Bowing she moved away with relief.
+
+"I suppose that fellow in evening dress was the man from your garden, Miss
+Daleham?" asked Bain, as they entered the ballroom.
+
+"Yes; that was Mr. Chunerbutty, who escorted me to Darjeeling," she
+answered.
+
+"Well, if he's a friend of your brother, he ought to know better than to
+introduce that fat brute of a rajah to you."
+
+"Oh, he is staying at the Rajah's house here, as his father, who is ill, is
+in His Highness's service."
+
+"I don't care. That beast Lalpuri is a disreputable scoundrel. There are
+awful tales of his behaviour up here. It's a wonder that the L.G. doesn't
+order him out of the place."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Yes; he's a disgraceful blackguard. None of the other Rajahs of the
+Presidency will have anything to do with him, I believe; and the two or
+three of them up here now who are really splendid fellows, refuse to
+acknowledge him. Everybody wonders why the Government of India allows him
+to remain on the _gadi_."
+
+The Rajah had watched Noreen with a hungry stare as she walked towards the
+ballroom. When she was lost to sight in the crowd of dancers he turned to
+Chunerbutty and seized his arm with a grip that made the engineer wince.
+
+"She is more beautiful than I thought," he muttered. "O you fools! You
+fools, who have failed me! But I shall get her yet."
+
+He licked his dry lips and went on:
+
+"Let us go! Let us go from here! I am parched. I want liquor. I want
+women."
+
+And they returned to a night of revolting debauchery in the house that was
+honoured by being the temporary residence of His Highness the Rajah of
+Lalpuri, wearer of an order bestowed upon him by the Viceroy and ruler of
+the fate of millions of people by the grace and under the benign auspices
+of the Government of India.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+THE TANGLED SKEIN OF LOVE
+
+The Lieutenant-Governor's ball was for Noreen but the beginning of a long
+series of social entertainments, of afternoon and evening dances,
+receptions, dinner and supper parties, concerts, and amateur theatrical
+performances that filled every date on the calendar of the Darjeeling
+Season. Only in winter sport resorts like St. Moritz and Muerren had she
+ever seen its like. But in Switzerland the visitors come from many lands
+and are generally strangers to each other, whereas in the Hills in India
+the summer residents of the villas and the guests at the big hotels are of
+the same race and class, come from the same stations in the Plains or know
+of each other by repute. For, with the exception of the comparatively few
+lawyers, planters, merchants, or railway folk, the names of all are set
+forth in the two Golden Books of the land, the Army List and the Civil
+Service List; and hostesses fly with relief to the blessed "Table of
+Precedence" contained in them, which tells whether the wife of Colonel This
+should go in to dinner before or after the spouse of Mr. That. The great
+god Snob is the supreme deity of Anglo-India.
+
+Many hill-stations are the Hot Weather headquarters of some important
+Government official, such as the Governor of the Presidency or the
+Lieutenant-Governor or Chief Commissioner of the Province. These are great
+personages indeed in India. They have military guards before their doors.
+The Union Jack waves by command above their august heads. They have Indian
+Cavalry soldiers to trot before their wives' carriages when these good
+ladies drive down to bargain in the native bazaar. But to the hill visitors
+their chief reason for existing is that their position demands the giving
+of official entertainments to which all of the proper class (who duly
+inscribe their names in the red-bound, gold-lettered book in the hall of
+Government House) have a prescriptive right to be invited.
+
+Noreen revelled in the gaieties. Her frank-hearted enjoyment was like a
+child's, and made every man who knew her anxious to add to it. She could
+not possibly ride all the ponies offered to her nor accept half the
+invitations that she got. Even among the women she was popular, for none
+but a match-making mother or a jealous spinster could resist her.
+
+Proposals of marriage were not showered on her, as persons ignorant of
+Anglo-Indian life fondly believe to be the lot of every English girl there.
+While a dowerless maiden still has a much better chance of securing a
+husband in a land where maidens are few and bachelors are many, yet the day
+has long gone by when every spinster who had drawn a blank in England could
+be shipped off to India with the certainty of finding a spouse there.
+Frequent leave and fast steamers have altered that. When a man can go home
+in a fortnight every year or second year he is not as anxious to snatch at
+the first maiden who appears in his station as his predecessor who lived in
+India in the days when a voyage to England took six months. And men in the
+East are as a rule not anxious to marry. A wife out there is a handicap at
+every turn. She adds enormously to his expenses, and her society too often
+lends more brightness to the existence of his fellows than his own.
+Children are ruinous luxuries. Bachelor life in Mess or club is too
+pleasant, sport that a single man can enjoy more readily than a married one
+too attractive, rupees too few for what Kipling terms "the wild ass of the
+desert" to be willing to put his head into the halter readily.
+
+Yet men do marry in India--one wonders why!--and a girl there has so many
+opportunities of meeting the opposite sex every day, and so little rivalry,
+that her chances in the matrimonial market are infinitely better than at
+home. In stations in the Plains there are usually four or five men to every
+woman in its limited society, and the proportion of bachelors to spinsters
+is far greater. Sometimes in a military cantonment with five or six
+batteries and regiments in it, which, with departmental officers, may
+furnish a total of eighty to a hundred unmarried men from subalterns to
+colonels, there may be only one or two unwedded girls. The lower ranks are
+worse off for English spinster society; for the private soldier there is
+none.
+
+Noreen's two most constant attendants were Charlesworth and Melville. The
+Indian Army officer's devotion and earnestness were patent to the world,
+but the Rifleman's intentions were a problem and a source of dispute among
+the women, who in Indian stations not less than other places watch the
+progress of every love-affair with the eyes of hawks. It was doubtful if
+Charlesworth himself knew what he wanted. He was a man who loved his
+liberty and his right to make love to each and every woman who caught his
+fancy. Noreen's casual liking for him but her frank indifference to him in
+any other capacity than that of a pleasant companion with whom to ride,
+dance, or play tennis, piqued him, but not sufficiently to make him risk
+losing his cherished freedom.
+
+Chunerbutty left Darjeeling after a week's stay. Parry, having become
+sufficiently sober to enquire after him and learn of his absence,
+demanded his instant return in a telegram so profanely worded that it
+shocked even the Barwahi post-office _babu._ The engineer called on
+Noreen to say good-bye, and offered to be the bearer of a message to her
+brother. He kept up to the end the fable of his sick father.
+
+He could not tell her the real reason of his coming to Darjeeling. The
+truth was that he had learned that the Rajah had inspired the attempt by
+the Bhuttias to carry off Noreen and wanted to see and upbraid him for his
+deceit and treachery to their agreement. There had been a furious quarrel
+when the two accomplices met. The Rajah taunted the other with his lack of
+success with Noreen and the failure of his plan to persuade her to marry
+him. Chunerbutty retorted that he had not been allowed sufficient time to
+win the favour of an English girl, who, unlike Indian maidens, was free to
+choose her own husband. And he threatened to inform the Government if any
+further attempt against her were made without his knowledge and approval.
+But the quarrel did not last long. Each scoundrel needed the help of the
+other. Still, Chunerbutty judged it safer to remove himself from the
+Rajah's house and find a lodging elsewhere, lest any deplorable accident
+might occur to him under his patron's roof.
+
+After the engineer's departure Noreen seldom saw the Rajah, and then only
+at official entertainments, to which his position gained him invitations.
+He spoke to her once or twice at these receptions, but as a rule she
+contrived to elude him.
+
+So far she had got on very well with Mrs. Smith. Their wills had never
+clashed, for the girl unselfishly gave in to her friend whenever the latter
+demanded it, which was often enough. Ida's ways were certainly not
+Noreen's, and the latter sometimes felt tempted to disapprove of her
+excessive familiarity with Captain Bain and one or two others. But the next
+moment she took herself severely to task for being censorious of the elder
+woman, who must surely know better how to behave towards men than a young
+unmarried girl who had been buried so long in the jungle. And Ida did not
+guess why sometimes her repentant little friend's caresses were so fervent
+and her desire to please her so manifest, and ascribed it all to her own
+sweetness of nature.
+
+The coming of the Rains did not check the gaiety of the dwellers on the
+mountain-tops, though torrential downpours had to be faced on black nights
+in shrouded rickshas and dripping _dandies_, though incessant lightning lit
+up the road to the club or theatre, and the thunder made it difficult to
+hear the music of the band in the ballroom. Noreen missed nothing of the
+revels. But in all the whirl of gaiety and pleasure in which her days were
+passed her thoughts turned more and more to the great forest lying
+thousands of feet below her, and the man who passed his lonely days
+therein.
+
+Little news of him came to her. He never wrote, and her brother seldom
+mentioned him in his letters; for during Parker's absence on two months'
+privilege leave from Ranga Duar Dermot did not quit it often and very
+rarely visited the planters' club or the bungalows of any of its members.
+And Noreen wanted news of him. Much as she saw of other men now--many of
+them attractive and some of whom she frankly liked--none had effaced
+Dermot's image or displaced him from the shrine that she had built for him
+in her inmost heart. Mingled with her love was hero-worship. She dared
+not hope that he could ever be interested in or care for any one as
+shallow-minded as she. She could not picture him descending from the
+pedestal on which she had placed him to raise so ordinary a girl to his
+heart. She could not fancy him in the light, frothy life of Darjeeling.
+She judged him too serious to care for frivolities, and it inspired her
+with a little awe of him and a fear that he would despise her as a
+feather-brained, silly woman if he saw how she enjoyed the amusements
+of the hill-station. But she felt that she would gladly exchange the
+gaieties and cool climate of Darjeeling for the torments of the Terai
+again, if only it would bring him to her side. For sometimes the longing
+to see him grew almost unbearable.
+
+As the days went by the power of the gay life of the Hills to satisfy her
+grew less, while the ache in her heart for her absent friend increased. If
+only she could hear from him she thought she could bear the separation
+better. From her brother she learned by chance that he was alone in Ranga
+Duar, the only news that she had had of him for a long time. The Rains had
+burst, and she pictured the loneliness of the one European in the solitary
+outpost, cut off from his kind, with no one of his race to speak to,
+deprived of the most ordinary requirements, necessities, of civilisation,
+without a doctor within hundreds of miles.
+
+At that thought her heart seemed to stop beating. Without a doctor! He
+might be ill, dying, for all she knew, with no one of his colour to tend
+him, no loving hand to hold a cup to his fevered lips. Even in the short
+time that she had been in India she had heard of many tragedies of
+isolation, of sick and lonely Englishmen with none but ignorant, careless
+native servants to look after them in their illness, no doctor to alleviate
+their sufferings, until pain and delirium drove them to look for relief and
+oblivion down the barrel of a too-ready pistol.
+
+Thus the girl tortured herself, as a loving woman will do, by imagining all
+the most terrible things happening to the man of her heart. She feared no
+longer the perils of the forest for him. She felt that he was master of man
+or beast in it. But fever lays low the strongest. It might be that while
+she was dancing he was lying ill, dying, perhaps dead. And she would not
+know. The dreadful idea occurred to her after her return from a ball at
+which she had been universally admired and much sought after. But, as she
+sat wrapped in her blue silk dressing-gown, her feet thrust into satin
+slippers of the same colour, her pretty hair about her shoulders, instead
+of recalling the triumphs of the evening, the compliments of her partners,
+and the unspoken envy of other girls, her thoughts flew to one solitary man
+in a little bungalow, cloud-enfolded and comfortless, in a lonely outpost.
+The sudden dread of his being ill chilled her blood and so terrified her
+that, if the hour had not made it impossible, she would have gone out at
+once and telegraphed to him to ask if all were well.
+
+Yet the next instant her face grew scarlet at the thought. She sat for a
+long time motionless, thinking hard. Then the idea occurred to her of
+writing to him, writing a chatty, almost impersonal letter, such as one
+friend could send to another without fear of her motives being
+misunderstood. She had too high an opinion of Dermot to think that he would
+deem her forward, yet it cost her much to be the first to write. But her
+anxiety conquered pride. And she wrote the letter that Dermot read in his
+bungalow in Ranga Duar while the storm shook the hills.
+
+The girl counted the days, the hours, until she could hope for an answer.
+Would he reply at once, she wondered. She knew that, even shut up in his
+little station, he had much work to occupy him. He could not spare time,
+perhaps, for a letter to a silly girl. And the thought of all that she had
+put in hers to him made her face burn, for it seemed so vapid and frivolous
+that he was sure to despise her.
+
+On the fourth day after she had written to Dermot she was engaged to ride
+in the afternoon with Captain Charlesworth. But in the morning a note came
+to her from him regretting his inability to keep the appointment, as the
+Divisional General had arrived in Darjeeling and intended to inspect the
+Rifles after lunch. Noreen was not sorry, for she was going to a dance that
+evening and did not wish to tire herself before it.
+
+Distracted and little in the mood for gaiety as she felt that night, yet
+when she entered the large ballroom of the Amusement Club she could not
+help laughing at the quaint and original decorations for the occasion. For
+the entertainment was one of the great features of the Season, the
+Bachelors' Ball, and the walls were blazoned with the insignia of the Tribe
+of the Wild Ass. Everywhere was painted its coat-of-arms--a bottle,
+slippers, and a pipe crossed with a latch-key, all in proper heraldic
+guise. Captain Melville, who was a leading member of the ball committee and
+who was her particular host that night, spirited her away from the crowd of
+partner-seeking men at the doorway and took her on a tour of the room to
+see and admire the scheme of decoration. She was laughing at one original
+ornamentation when a well-known voice behind her said:
+
+"May I hope for a dance tonight, Miss Daleham?"
+
+The girl started and turned round incredulously, feeling that her ears had
+deceived her. To her astonishment Dermot stood before her. For a few
+seconds she could not trust herself to reply. She felt that she had grown
+pale. At last she said, and her voice sounded strange in her own ears:
+
+"Major Dermot! Is it possible? I--I thought you--"
+
+She could not finish the sentence. But neither man observed her emotion,
+for Melville had suddenly seized Dermot's hand and was shaking it warmly.
+They had been on service together once and had not met since. The next
+moment, a committee man being urgently wanted, Melville was called away and
+left Dermot and the girl together.
+
+"I suppose you thought me shut up in my mountain home," the man said, "and
+probably wondered why I had not answered your very interesting letter. It
+was so kind of you in all your gaiety here to think of me in my
+loneliness."
+
+Noreen had quite recovered from her surprise and smiled brightly at him.
+
+"Yes, I believed you to be in Ranga Duar," she said. "How is it you are
+here?"
+
+"An unexpected summons reached me at the same time as your letter. Four
+days ago I had no idea that I should be coming here."
+
+"How could you bear to leave your beloved jungle and that dear Badshah? I
+know you dislike hill-stations," said the girl, laughing and tremulously
+happy. The world seemed a much brighter place than it did five minutes
+before.
+
+"My beloved jungle has no charm for me at this season," he said. "But
+Badshah--ah, that was another matter. I have seldom felt parting with a
+human friend as much as I did leaving him. The dear old fellow seemed to
+know that I was going away from him. But I was very pleased to come here to
+see how you were enjoying yourself in this gay spot. I was glad to know
+that you were out of the Terai during the Rains."
+
+So he had wanted to see her again. Noreen blushed, but Dermot did not
+observe her heightened colour, for he had taken her programme out of her
+hand in his usual quiet, masterful manner and was scrutinising it.
+
+"You haven't said yet if I may have a dance," he continued. "But I know
+that on an occasion like this I must lose no time if I want one."
+
+"Oh, do you dance?" she asked in surprise. Somehow she had never associated
+him with ballrooms and social frivolities.
+
+Dermot laughed.
+
+"You forget that I was on the Staff in Simla. I shouldn't have been kept
+there a day if I hadn't been able to dance. What may I have?"
+
+Noreen felt tempted to bid him take all her programme.
+
+"Well, I'm engaged for several. They are all written down. Take any of the
+others you like," she said demurely, but her heart was beating fast at the
+thought of dancing with him.
+
+"H'm; I see that all the first ones are booked. May I--oh, I see you have
+the supper dances free. May I take you in to supper?"
+
+"Yes, do, please. We haven't met for so long, and I have heaps to tell
+you," the girl said. "We can talk ever so much better at the supper-table
+than in an interval."
+
+"Thank you. I'll take the supper dances then."
+
+"Wouldn't you care for any others?" she asked timidly. What would he think
+of her? Yet she didn't care. He was with her again, and she wanted to see
+all she could of him.
+
+"I should indeed. May I have this--and this?"
+
+"With pleasure. Is that enough?"
+
+"I'll be greedy. After all, the men up here have had dances from you all
+the Season, and I have never danced with you yet. I'll take these, too, if
+you can spare them."
+
+She looked at him earnestly.
+
+"I owe you more than a few dances can pay," she said simply.
+
+"Thank you, little friend," he said, and a happy feeling thrilled her at
+his words. He had not forgotten her, then. He used to call her that
+sometimes in Ranga Duar. She was still his little friend. What a delightful
+place the world was after all!
+
+As he pencilled his initials on her programme a horde of dance-hungry men
+swooped down on Noreen and almost pushed him aside. He bowed and strolled
+away to watch the dancing. He had no desire to obtain other partners and
+was content to watch his little friend of the forest, who seemed to have
+suddenly become a very lovely woman. She seemed very gay and happy, he
+thought. He noticed that she danced oftenest with Melville and a tall, fair
+man whom he did not know.
+
+Never had the early part of a ball seemed to Noreen to drag so much as this
+one did. She felt that her partners must find her very stupid indeed, for
+she paid no attention to what they said and answered at random.
+
+At last almost in a trance of happiness she found herself gliding round the
+room with Dermot's arm about her. The band was playing a dreamy waltz, and
+her partner danced perfectly. Neither of them spoke. Noreen could not; she
+felt that all she wanted was to float, on air it seemed, held close to
+Dermot's breast. She gave a sigh when the dance ended. In the interval she
+did not want to talk; it was enough to look at his face, to hear his voice.
+She hated her next partner when he came to claim her.
+
+But she had two more dances with Dermot before the band struck up "The
+Roast Beef of Old England," and the ballroom emptied. At supper he
+contrived to secure a small table at which they were alone; so they were
+able to talk without constraint. She began to wonder how she had ever
+thought him grave and stern or felt in awe of him. For in the gay
+atmosphere his Irish nature was uppermost; he was as light-hearted as a
+boy, and his conversation was almost frivolous.
+
+During supper Noreen saw Ida watching her across the room, and later on,
+when the dancing began again, her friend cornered her.
+
+"I say, darling, who is the new man you've been dancing with such a lot
+tonight? You had supper with him, too. I've never seen him before. He's
+awfully good-looking."
+
+"Oh, that is--I suppose you mean Major Dermot," replied the girl, feeling
+suddenly shy.
+
+"Major Dermot? Who's he? What is--Oh, is it the wonderful hero from the
+Terai, the man you told me so much about when you came up?"
+
+"Yes; he is the same."
+
+"Really? How interesting! He's so distinguished-looking. When did he come
+up? Why didn't you tell me he was coming?"
+
+"I didn't know it myself."
+
+"I should love to meet him. Introduce him to me. Now, at once."
+
+With a hurried apology to her own partner and Noreen's she dragged the girl
+off in search of the fresh man who had taken her fancy, and did not give up
+the chase until, with Melville's aid, Dermot was run to earth in the
+cardroom and introduced to her. Ida did not wait for him to ask her to
+dance but calmly ran her pencil through three names on the programme and
+bestowed the vacancies thus created on him in such a way that he could not
+refuse them. Dermot, however, did not grumble. She was Noreen's friend; if
+not the rose, she was near the rose.
+
+Ida was not the only one who noticed how frequently the girl had danced
+with him. Charlesworth, disappointed at finding vacancies on her programme,
+for which he had hoped, already filled, commented on it and asked who the
+stranger was in a supercilious tone that made her furious and gained for
+him a well-merited snubbing.
+
+Indifferent to criticism, kind or otherwise, Noreen gave herself up for the
+evening to the happiness of Dermot's presence, trying to trick herself into
+the belief that he was still only a dear friend to whom she owed an immense
+debt of gratitude for saving her life and her honour. Never had a ball
+seemed so enjoyable--not even her first. Never had she had a partner who
+suited her so well. Certainly he danced to perfection, but she knew that if
+he had been the worst dancer in the room she still would have preferred him
+to all others. And never had she hated the ending of an entertainment so
+much. But Dermot walked beside her _dandy_ to the gate of her hotel, calmly
+displacing Charlesworth, much to the fury of the Rifleman, who had begun to
+consider this his prerogative.
+
+Ida and she sat up for hours in her room discussing the ball and all its
+happenings, but the older woman's most constant topic was Dermot. It was a
+subject of which Noreen felt that she could never weary; and she drew her
+friend on to talk of him, if the conversation threatened to stray to
+anything less interesting. The girl was used to Ida's sudden fancies for
+men, for the married woman was both susceptible and fickle, and Noreen
+judged that this sudden predilection for Dermot would die as quickly as a
+hundred others before it. But this time she was wrong.
+
+The Major was not to remain many days in Darjeeling, but Noreen hoped that
+he would give her much of his spare time while there. She was disappointed,
+however, to find that although he was frequently in her and Ida's company
+at the Amusement Club or elsewhere, he made no effort to compete with
+Charlesworth or Melville or any other man who sought to monopolise her, but
+drew back and allowed him to have a clear field while he himself seemed
+content to talk to Mrs. Smith. At first she was hurt. He was her friend,
+not Ida's. But he never sought to be alone with her, never asked her to
+ride with him, or do anything that would take her away from the others.
+
+Then she grew piqued. If he did not value her society he should see that
+others did, and she suddenly grew more gracious to Charlesworth, who seemed
+to sense in Dermot a more dangerous rival than was Melville or any of the
+others and began to be more openly devoted and to put more meaning into his
+intentions.
+
+One hateful night when she had been with Charlesworth to a private dance to
+which Ida had refused to go, dining instead with Dermot, who had no
+invitation to the affair, the blow fell. After her return to the hotel her
+treacherous friend had crept into her room, weeping and imploring her
+sympathy. Too late, she sobbed on Noreen's shoulder, she had found her
+soul-mate, the man destined for her through the past aeons, the one man who
+could make her happy and whose existence she alone could complete. Why had
+she met Dermot too late? Why was she tied to a clod, mated to a clown? Why
+were two lives to be wrecked?
+
+As Noreen listened amazed an icy hand seemed to clutch her shrinking heart.
+Was this true? Did Dermot really care for Ida? Could the man whom she had
+revered as a white-souled knight be base enough to make love to another
+man's wife?
+
+Then the demon of jealousy poisoned her soul. She got the weeping Ida back
+to her bed, and sat in her own dark room until the dawn came, her brain in
+a whirl, her heart filled with a fierce hatred of Dermot. And when next
+day, his business finished, he had to leave Darjeeling, she made a point of
+absenting herself with Charlesworth from the hotel at the time when Dermot
+had arranged to come to say good-bye.
+
+But long before the train in which he travelled down to the Plains was
+half-way to Siliguri, the girl lay on her bed, her face buried in her
+pillow, her body shaken with silent but convulsive sobs.
+
+And Dermot stared out into the thick mist that shrouded the mountains and
+enfolded his downward-slipping train and wondered if his one-time little
+friend of the forest would be happy in the new life that, according to her
+bosom-friend and confidant, Mrs. Smith, would open to her as Charlesworth's
+wife as soon as she spoke the word that was trembling on her lips.
+
+And he sighed unconsciously. Then he frowned as the distasteful memory
+recurred to him of the previous night, when a wanton woman, misled by
+vanity and his courteous manner, had shamelessly offered him what she
+termed her love and forced him to play the Joseph to a modern Mrs.
+Potiphar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+THE FEAST OF THE GODDESS KALI
+
+The Rains were nearing their end, and with them the Darjeeling Season was
+drawing to a close. To Noreen Daleham it had lost its savour since Dermot's
+departure. Her feelings towards Ida had undergone a radical change; her
+admiration of and affection for her old schoolfellow had vanished. Her eyes
+were opened, and she now saw plainly the true character of the woman whom
+once she was proud to call her friend. The girl wondered that she could
+have ever been deceived, for she now understood the many innuendoes that
+had been made in her hearing against Mrs. Smith, as well as many things in
+that lady's own behaviour that had perplexed her at the time.
+
+But towards the man her feelings were frankly anger and contempt. He had
+rudely awakened her from a beautiful dream; for that she could never
+forgive him. Her idol was shattered, never again to be made whole, so she
+vowed in the bitterness of her desolate soul. It was not friendship that
+she had felt for him--she realised that now. It was love. She had given him
+her whole heart in a girl's first, pure, ideal love. And he had despised
+the gift and trampled it in the mire of unholy passion. She knew that it
+was the love of her life. Never could any man be to her what he had been.
+
+But what did it matter to Dermot? she thought bitterly. She had passed out
+of his life. She had never been anything in it. He had been amused for an
+idle moment by her simplicity, tool that she was. What he had done, had
+risked for her, he would have done and risked for any other woman. Why did
+he not write to her after his departure as he might have done? She almost
+hoped that he would, so that she could answer him and pour out on him, if
+only on paper, the scorn and disgust that filled her. But no; she would not
+do that. The more dignified course would be to ignore his letter
+altogether. If only she could hurt him she felt that she would accept any
+other man's offer of marriage. But even then he wouldn't care. He had
+always stood aside in Darjeeling and let others strive for her favour. And
+she was put to the test, for first Charlesworth and then Melville had
+proposed to her.
+
+Though Noreen's heart was frozen towards her quondam friend, Ida never
+perceived the fact. For the elder woman was so thoroughly satisfied with
+herself that it never occurred to her that any one whom she honoured with
+her liking could do aught but be devoted to her in return. And against the
+granite of her self-sufficiency the iron of the girl's proud anger broke
+until at length, baffled by the other's conceit, Noreen drifted back into
+the semblance of her former friendliness. And Ida never remarked any
+difference.
+
+A hundred miles away Dermot roamed the hills and forest again. The
+interdict of the Rains was lifted, and the game was afoot once more.
+
+The portents of the coming storm were intensified. Much that the Divisional
+Commander, General Heyland, had revealed to him in their confidential
+interviews at Darjeeling was being corroborated by happenings in other
+parts of the Peninsula, in Afghanistan, in China, and elsewhere. Signs were
+not wanting on the border that Dermot had to guard. Messengers crossing and
+re-crossing the Bhutan frontier were increasing in numbers and frequency;
+and he had at length succeeded in tracking some of them to a destination
+that first gave him a clue to the seat and identity of the organisers of
+the conspiracy in Bengal.
+
+For one or two Bhutanese had been traced to the capital of the Native State
+of Lalpuri, and others, having got into Indian territory, had been met by
+Hindus who were subsequently followed to the same ill-famed town. But once
+inside the maze of its bazaars their trail was hopelessly lost. It was
+useless to appeal to the authorities of the State. Their reputation and the
+character of their ruler were so bad that it was highly probable that the
+Rajah and all his counsellors were implicated in the plot. But how to bring
+it home to them Dermot did not know. By his secret instructions several of
+the messengers to and from Bhutan were the victims of apparent highway
+robbery in the hills. But no search of them revealed anything compromising,
+no treasonable correspondence between enemies within and without. The men
+would not speak, and he could not sanction the proposals made to him by
+which they should be induced so to do.
+
+The planters began to report to him a marked increase in the mutinous
+spirit exhibited by their coolies; arms were found in the possession of
+these men, and there was reason to fear a combined rising of the labourers
+on all the estates of the Duars. Dermot advised Rice to send his wife to
+England, but the lady showed no desire to return to her loudly-regretted
+London suburb.
+
+Every time that the Major met Daleham he expected to be told of Noreen's
+engagement, perhaps even her wedding. But he heard nothing. When he
+found that Fred was beginning to arrange for her return to Malpura and
+that--instigated by Chunerbutty--he refused to consider the advisability
+of her remaining away until conditions were better in the Terai, Dermot
+persuaded him to replace his untrustworthy Bengali house-servants by
+reliable Mussulman domestics, warlike Punjaubis, whom the soldier
+procured. They were men not unused to firearms, and capable of defending
+the bungalow if necessary.
+
+He and Badshah, who was happy to have his man with him again, kept
+indefatigable watch and ward along the frontier. Sometimes Dermot assembled
+the herd, which had learned to obey him almost like a pack of hounds, and,
+concealed among them, penetrated across the border into Bhutan and explored
+hidden spots where hostile troops might be concentrated. Only rarely a
+wandering Bhuttia chanced to see him, and then the terrified man would veil
+his eyes, fearing to behold the doings of the terrible Elephant God.
+
+The constant work and preoccupation kept Dermot from dwelling much on
+Noreen. Nevertheless, he thought often of the girl and hoped that she would
+be happy when she married the man she was said to have chosen. He felt no
+jealousy of Charlesworth; on the contrary, he admired him as a good
+sportsman and a manly fellow, as well as he could judge from the little
+that he had seen of him. The very fact that the girl who was his friend had
+chosen the Rifleman as her husband, according to Mrs. Smith, made him ready
+to like the man. He was not in love with the girl and had no desire to
+marry, for he was wedded to his profession and had always held that a
+soldier married was a soldier marred.
+
+Thus while Dermot thought far seldomer of Noreen, whom he acknowledged to
+himself he liked more than any other woman he had ever met, she, who
+assured herself every day that she hated and despised him, could not keep
+him out of her mind. And all the more so as she began to have doubts of the
+truth of Ida's story. For the girl, who could not resist watching her
+friend's post every day, much as she despised herself for doing it,
+observed that no letter ever came to Mrs. Smith in Dermot's handwriting.
+And, although Ida had talked much and sentimentally of him for days after
+his departure, she appeared to forget him soon, and before long was
+engrossed in a good-looking young civilian from Calcutta. Bain had long
+since left Darjeeling.
+
+Could it all have been a figment of the woman's imagination and
+vanity?--for Noreen now realised how colossally vain she was. Had she
+misunderstood or, worse still, misrepresented him? But that thought was
+almost more painful to the girl than the certainty of his guilt. For if
+it were true, how cruelly, how vilely unjust she had been to the man who
+had saved her at the peril of his life, the man who had called her his
+friend, who had trusted in her loyalty! No, no; better that he were
+proved worthless, dishonourable. That thought were easier to bear.
+
+Sometimes the girl almost wished that she could see him again so that she
+might ask him the truth. She could learn nothing now from Ida, who calmly
+ignored all attempts to extract information from her. Yet how could she
+question him, Noreen asked herself. She could not even hint to him that she
+had any knowledge of the affair, for her friend had divulged it to her in
+confidence. If only she were back at Malpura! He might come to her again
+there and perhaps of his own free will tell her what to believe of him. But
+when in a letter she broached the subject of her return to her brother,
+Fred bade her wait, for he hoped that he might be able to join her in
+Darjeeling for a few days during the Puja holidays.
+
+During the great festival of Durga-Puja, or the Dussera, as it is variously
+called, no Hindu works if he can help it, especially in Bengal. As all
+Government and private offices in Calcutta are closed for it, every
+European there, who can, escapes to Darjeeling, twenty-four hours away by
+rail, and the Season in that hill-station dies in a final blaze of
+splendour and gaiety in the mad rush of revelry of the Puja holidays. And
+Fred hoped that he might he there to see its ending, if Parry would keep
+sober long enough to let his assistant get away for a few days. When he
+returned, Daleham wrote, he would bring Noreen back with him.
+
+Dermot's activities on the frontier were not passing unmarked by the chief
+conspirators in Lalpuri. His measures against their messengers focussed
+attention on him. The _Dewan_, a far better judge of men and things than
+Chunerbutty, did not make the mistake of despising him merely because he
+was a soldier. The old man realised that it was not wise to count British
+officers fools. He knew too well how efficient the Indian Military
+Intelligence Department had proved itself. So he began to collect
+information about this white man who might seriously inconvenience them or
+derange their plans. And he came to the conclusion that the inquisitive
+soldier must be put out of the way.
+
+Assassination can be raised to a fine art in a Native State--where a man's
+life is worth far less than a cow's if the State be a Hindu one--provided
+that the prying eyes of British Political Officers are not turned that way.
+True, Dermot was in British territory, but in such an uncivilised part of
+it that his removal ought not to be difficult considering his habit of
+wandering alone about the hills and jungle.
+
+So thought the _Dewan_. But the old man found to his surprise that it
+was very difficult to put his hand on any one willing to attempt
+Dermot's life. No sum however large could tempt any Bhuttia on either
+side of the border-line, or any Hindu in the Duars. Even the Brahmin
+extremists acting as missionaries on the tea-gardens fought shy of him.
+Superstition was his sure shield.
+
+Then the _Dewan_ fell back on the bazaar of Lalpuri City. But in that den
+of criminals there was not one cut-throat that did not know of the terrible
+Elephant God-Man and the appalling vengeance that he had wreaked on the
+Rajah's soldiers in the forest. The _Dewan_ might cajole or threaten, but
+there was not one ruffian in the bazaar who did not prefer to risk his
+anger to the certainty of the hideous fate awaiting the rash mortal that
+crossed the path of this dread being who fed his magic elephants on the
+living flesh of his foes.
+
+The _Dewan_ was not baffled. If the local villains failed him an assassin
+must be imported from elsewhere. So the extremist leaders in Calcutta,
+being appealed to, sent more than one fanatical young Brahmin from that
+city to Lalpuri, where they were put in the way to remove Dermot. But when
+in bazaar or Palace his reputation reached their ears they drew back. One
+was sent direct from Calcutta to the Terai, so that he would not be scared
+by the foolish tales of the men of Lalpuri. But his first enquiries among
+the countryfolk as to where to find Dermot brought him such illuminating
+information that, not daring to return unsuccessful to those who had sent
+him, he turned against his own breast the weapon that he had meant for the
+British officer.
+
+Then the _Dewan_ sent for Chunerbutty and took counsel with him, as being
+more conversant with European ways. And the result was a cunning and
+elaborate plot, such as from its very tortuousness and complexity would
+appeal to the heart of an Oriental.
+
+The Rajah of Lalpuri, being of Mahratta descent, tried to copy in many
+things the great Mahratta chiefs in other parts of India, such as the
+Gaekwar of Baroda and the Maharajah Holkar of Indore. He had long been
+anxious to imitate Holkar's method of celebrating the Dussera or Durga
+Festival, particularly that part of it where a bull is sacrificed in public
+by the Maharajah on the fourth day of the feast. The _Dewan_ had always
+opposed it, but now he suddenly veered round and suggested that it should
+be done. In Indore all the Europeans of the cantonment and many of the
+ladies and officers from the neighbouring military station of Mhow were
+always invited to be present on the fourth day. The old plotter proposed
+that, similarly, some of the English community of the Duars, the Civil
+Servants and planters, should receive invitations to Lalpuri. It would seem
+only natural to include the Officer Commanding Ranga Duar. And to tempt
+Dermot into the trap Chunerbutty suggested Noreen as a bait, undertaking to
+persuade her brother to bring her.
+
+The Rajah was delighted at the thought of her presence in the Palace. The
+_Dewan_ smiled and quoted two Hindu proverbs:
+
+"Where the honey is spread there will the flies gather," said he. "Any lure
+is good that brings the bird to the net."
+
+The consequence of the plotting was that Noreen Daleham, fretting in
+Darjeeling at having to wait for her brother to come there for the Puja
+holidays, received a letter from him saying that he had changed his mind
+and had accepted an invitation from the Rajah of Lalpuri for her and
+himself to be present at the celebrations of the great Hindu festival at
+the Palace. She was to pack up and leave at once by rail to Jalpaiguri,
+where he would meet her with a motor-car lent him for the purpose by the
+Lalpuri Durbar, or State Council. If Mrs. Smith cared to accompany her an
+invitation for her would be at once forthcoming. Fred added that he was
+making up a party from their district which included Payne, Granger, and
+the Rices. From Lalpuri Noreen would return with him to Malpura.
+
+The girl was delighted at the thought of leaving Darjeeling sooner than she
+had expected. To her surprise Ida announced her intention of accompanying
+her to Lalpuri. But the fact that her Calcutta friend was returning to the
+city on the Hoogly and that by going with Noreen she could travel with him
+as far as Jalpaiguri explained it.
+
+Chunerbutty, deputed by the Rajah to act as host to his European guests,
+met Daleham's party when they arrived at the gates of Lalpuri and
+conducted them to the Palace. They passed through the teeming city with
+its thronged bazaar, its narrow, winding streets hemmed in by the
+overhanging houses with their painted walls and closely-latticed windows
+through which thousands of female eyes peered inquisitively at the white
+women, the brightly dressed crowds flattening themselves against the
+walls to get out of the way of the two cavalry soldiers of the Rajah's
+Bodyguard who galloped recklessly ahead of the car. Soon they reached
+the _Nila Mahal_, or Blue Palace, as His Highness's residence was
+called, with its iron-studded gates, carved doors, and countless wooden
+balconies. A swarm of retainers in magnificent, if soiled, gold-laced
+liveries filled the courtyards, and bare-footed sepoys in red coats,
+generally burst at the seams and lacking buttons, and old shakoes with
+white cotton flaps hanging down behind, guarded the entrance.
+
+A wing of the Palace had been cleared out and hastily furnished in an
+attempt to suit European tastes. The guests were accommodated in rooms
+floored with marble, generally badly stained or broken. Two large chambers
+tiled and wainscoted with wonderfully carved blackwood panels were
+apportioned as dining-hall and sitting-room for the English visitors. All
+the windows of the wing, many of them closely screened, looked on an inner
+courtyard which was bounded on two sides by other buildings of the Palace.
+The fourth side was divided off from another courtyard by a high blank wall
+pierced by a large gateway, the leaves of the gate hanging broken and
+useless from the posts.
+
+Ida and Noreen were given rooms beside each other and were amused at the
+heterogeneous collection of odd pieces of furniture in them. The old
+four-posted beds with funereal canopies and moth-eaten curtains had
+probably been brought from England a hundred years before. In small
+chambers off their rooms, with marble walls and floors, and windows
+filled with thin slabs of alabaster carved in the most exquisite tracery
+as delicate as lace, galvanised iron tubs to be used as baths looked
+sadly out of place.
+
+When they had freshened themselves up after their long motor drive they
+went down to the dining-hall, where lunch was to be served. And when she
+entered the room the first person that Noreen saw was Dermot, seated at a
+small table with Payne and Granger.
+
+On his return from a secret excursion across the Bhutan border the Major
+had found awaiting him at Ranga Duar the official invitation of the Lalpuri
+Durbar. He was very much surprised at it; for he knew that the State had
+never encouraged visits from Europeans, and had, when possible, invariably
+refused admission to all except important British officials, who could not
+be denied. Such a thing as actually entertaining Englishmen of its own
+accord was unknown in its annals. So he stared at the large card printed in
+gold and embossed with the coat-of-arms of Lalpuri in colours, and wondered
+what motive lay behind the invitation. That it betokened a fresh move in
+the conspiracy he was certain; but be the motive what it might he was glad
+of the unexpected opportunity of visiting Lalpuri and meeting those whom he
+believed to be playing a leading part in the plot. So he promptly wrote an
+acceptance.
+
+He reached the Palace only half an hour before Daleham's party arrived from
+another direction, and had just met his two planter friends when Noreen
+entered the room. He had not known that she was to be at Lalpuri. The three
+men rose and bowed to her, and Dermot looked to see if Charlesworth were
+with her. But only the two women and Daleham followed Chunerbutty as he led
+the way to a table at the far end of the room.
+
+There were about twenty English guests altogether, eight or nine of whom
+were from the district in which Malpura was situated, the Rices among them.
+The rest were planters from other parts of the Duars, a few members of the
+Indian Civil Service or Public Works Departments, and a young Deputy
+Superintendent of Police from Jalpaiguri.
+
+At Chunerbutty's table the party consisted of the Rices, one of the Civil
+Servants, the Dalehams, and Noreen's friend. The planter's wife neglected
+the man beside her to stare at Mrs. Smith, taking in every detail of her
+dress, while Ida chattered gaily to Fred, whose good looks had attracted
+her the moment that she first saw him on the platform of Jalpaiguri
+station. She was already apparently quite consoled for the loss of her
+Calcutta admirer.
+
+Noreen sat pale and abstracted beside Chunerbutty, answering his remarks in
+monosyllables, eating nothing, and alleging a headache as an explanation of
+her mood. The unexpected sight of Dermot had shaken her, and she dreaded
+the moment when she must greet him. Yet she was anxious to witness his
+meeting with Ida, hoping that she might glean from it some idea of how
+matters really stood between them.
+
+After _tiffin_ a move was made into the long chamber arranged as the
+guests' lounge. Here introductions between those who had not previously
+known each other and meetings between old acquaintances took place; and
+with an inward shrinking Noreen saw Dermot approaching. She was astonished
+to observe that Ida's careless and indifferent greeting was responded to by
+him in a coldly courteous manner almost indicative of strong dislike. The
+girl wondered if they were both consummate actors. Dermot turned to her. He
+spoke in his usual pleasant and friendly manner; but she seemed to detect a
+trace of reserve that he had never showed before. She was almost too
+confused to reply to him and turned with relief to shake hands with Payne
+and Granger, who had come up with him.
+
+Chunerbutty played the host well, introduced those who were strangers to
+each other, and saw that the Palace servants, who were unused to European
+habits, brought the coffee, liqueurs, and smokes to all the guests, where
+they gathered under the long punkah that swung lazily from the painted
+ceiling and barely stirred the heated air.
+
+As soon as it was cool enough to drive out in the State carriages and
+motor-cars that waited in the outer courtyard, the afternoon was devoted to
+sight-seeing. Chunerbutty, in the leading car with Noreen and the District
+Superintendent of Police, acted as guide and showed them about the city.
+Dermot noted the lowering looks of many of the natives in the narrow
+streets, and overhead more than one muttered insult to the English race
+from men huddling against the houses to escape the carriages.
+
+The visitors were invited by Chunerbutty to enter an ornate temple of
+Kali, in which a number of Hindu women squatted on the ground before a
+gigantic idol representing the goddess in whose honour the Puja festival
+is held. The image was that of a fierce-looking woman with ten arms,
+each hand holding a weapon, her right leg resting on a lion, her left on
+a buffalo-demon.
+
+"I say, Chunerbutty, who's the lady?" asked Granger. "I can't say I like
+her looks."
+
+"No, she certainly isn't a beauty," said the Brahmin with a contemptuous
+laugh. "Yet these superstitious fools believe in her, ignorant people that
+they are."
+
+He indicated the female worshippers, who had been staring with malevolent
+curiosity at the English ladies, the first that most of them had ever seen.
+So these were the _mem-logue_, they whispered to each other, these
+shameless white women who went about openly with men and met all the world
+brazenly with unveiled countenances. And the whisperers modestly drew their
+_saris_ before their own faces.
+
+"She is the goddess Kali or Durga, the wife of Shiva, one of the Hindu
+Trinity. She is supposed to be the patron of smallpox and lots of other
+unpleasant things, so no wonder she is ugly," continued Chunerbutty.
+
+"Oh, you have goddesses then in the Hindu religion," observed Ida
+carelessly.
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Smith; but these are the sort we have in India," he answered
+with an unpleasant leer. "The English people are more fortunate, for they
+have you ladies."
+
+The remark was one that would have gained him smiles and approbation from
+his female acquaintances in the Bayswater boarding-house, but Ida glared
+haughtily at him and most of the men longed to kick him.
+
+Dreading a cutting and sarcastic speech from her friend, Noreen hurriedly
+interposed.
+
+"Isn't the Puja festival in her honour, Mr. Chunerbutty?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Daleham, it is. It is another of these silly superstitions of
+the Hindus that make one really ashamed of being an Indian. The festival is
+meant to commemorate the old lady's victory over a buffalo-headed demon.
+Hence the weird-looking beast under her left leg."
+
+"And do these people really believe in that sort of rot?" asked Mrs. Rice.
+
+"Oh, yes, lots of the ignorant, uneducated lower class do," replied the
+atheistical Brahmin. "Durga is the favourite deity. Her husband and Krishna
+and old Brahma are back numbers. The fact is that the common people are
+afraid of Kali. They think she can do them such a lot of harm."
+
+"What does the festival consist of, old chap?" asked Daleham. "What do the
+Hindus do?"
+
+"Well, the image is worshipped for nine days and then chucked into the
+water," replied the engineer. "Tomorrow, the fourth day, is the one on
+which the sacrifices are made--sheep, buck goats, and buffaloes are used.
+Their heads are cut off before this idol and their heads and blood are
+offered to it. Tomorrow you'll see the Rajah kill the bull that is to be
+the sacrifice. At least, he'll start the killing of it. Now, we'll go along
+back to the Palace."
+
+The visitors' dinner that night was quite a magnificent affair. The
+catering for the time of their stay had been confided to an Italian firm
+in Calcutta. The cooking was excellent, but the waiting by the awkward
+Palace retainers was very bad. The food was eaten off the Rajah's State
+silver service, made in London for his father for the entertainment of a
+Viceroy. The wine was very good. So the guests enjoyed their meal, and
+most of them were quite prepared to think the Rajah a most excellent
+fellow when, at the conclusion of the meal, he entered the dining-room
+and came to the long table to propose and drink the health of the
+King-Emperor. He left the room immediately afterwards. This is the usual
+procedure on the part of Hindu rulers in India, since they are precluded
+by their religion and caste-customs from eating with Europeans.
+
+After dinner the guests went to the lounge, where coffee was served. They
+broke up into groups or pairs and sat or stood about the room chatting.
+Mrs. Rice, who had been much impressed by Ida's appearance and expensive
+gowns, secured a chair beside her and endeavoured to monopolise her,
+despite many obvious snubs. At last Ida calmly turned her back on her and
+called Daleham to talk to her. Then the planter's wife espied Dermot
+sitting alone and pounced on him. He had tried to speak to Noreen after
+dinner, but it was so apparent that she wished to avoid him that he gave up
+the attempt. He endured Mrs. Rice's company with admirable resignation, but
+was thankful when the time for "good-night" came at last.
+
+The men stayed up an hour or two later, and then after a final "peg" went
+off to bed. Dermot walked upstairs with Barclay, the young police officer,
+who was his nearest neighbour, although the Major's room was at the end of
+the building and separated from his by a long, narrow passage and several
+empty chambers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+THE PALACE OF DEATH
+
+When they reached the door of the police officer's apartment Dermot wished
+him good-night and proceeded down the passage, which was lit only by a
+feeble lamp placed in a niche high up in the wall. He had to grope his way
+through the outer chambers by the aid of matches, and when he reached his
+room, was surprised to find it in darkness, for he had left a light burning
+in it. He struck more matches, and was annoyed to discover that his lamp
+had been taken away. Being very tired he felt inclined to undress and go to
+bed in the dark, but, suddenly remembering the small light in the passage,
+determined to fetch it. Making his way back to the passage he tried to take
+the little lamp down. But it was too high up, and the noise that he made in
+his efforts to reach it brought Barclay to his door.
+
+When he heard of Dermot's difficulty he said:
+
+"I'm not sleepy yet, Major, so I'll bring my lamp along to your room and
+smoke a cheroot while you undress. Then I'll go off with it as soon as
+you've turned in."
+
+Dermot thanked him, and the young policeman went with him, carrying the
+lamp, which had a double wick and gave a good light. Putting it down on the
+dressing-table he lit a cheroot and proceeded to seat himself in a chair
+beside the bed. Like the room itself and the rest of the furniture, it was
+covered with dust.
+
+"By George, what dirty quarters they've given you, sir," he exclaimed.
+"Just look at the floor. I'll bet it's never been swept since the Palace
+was built. The dust is an inch deep near the bed." He polished the seat of
+the chair carefully before he sat down.
+
+The heat in the room was stifling, and the police officer, even in his
+white mess uniform, felt it acutely.
+
+"By Jove, it's steamy tonight," he remarked, wiping his face.
+
+"Yes, I hate October," replied Dermot. "It's the worst month in the year, I
+think. Its damp heat, when the rain is drying up out of the ground, is more
+trying than the worst scorching we get in May and June."
+
+"Well, you don't seem to find it too hot, Major," said the other laughing.
+"It looks as if you'd got a hot-water bottle in the foot of your bed."
+
+"Hot-water bottle? What do you mean?" asked Dermot in surprise, throwing
+the collar that he had just taken off on to the dressing-table and turning
+round.
+
+"Why, don't you see? Under the clothes at the foot," said his companion,
+pointing with the Major's cane to a bulge in the thin blanket and sheet
+covering the bed. He got up and strode across to it. "What on earth have
+you got there? It does look--Oh, good heavens, keep back!" he cried
+suddenly.
+
+Dermot was already bending over the bed, but the police officer pushed him
+forcibly back and snatched up the cane which he had laid down. Then,
+cautiously seizing the top of the blanket and sheet near the pillow, he
+whisked them off with a sudden vigorous jerk. At the spot where the bulge
+had betrayed it a black cobra, one of the deadliest snakes in India, lifted
+its head and a foot of its length from its shining coils. The forked tongue
+darted and quivered incessantly, and the unwinking eyes glistened as with a
+loud hiss it raised itself higher and poised its head to strike.
+
+Barclay struck it sharply with the cane, and it fell writhing on the bed,
+its spine broken. The coils wound and unwound vigorously, the tail
+convulsively lashing the sheet. He raised the stick to strike it again,
+but, paused with arm uplifted, for the snake could not move away or raise
+its head.
+
+Seeing that it was powerless the young Superintendent swung round to
+Dermot.
+
+"Have you a pistol, Major?" he whispered.
+
+Without a word the soldier unlocked his despatch-box and took out a small
+automatic.
+
+"Loaded?"
+
+The soldier nodded.
+
+"Give it to me."
+
+Taking the weapon he tiptoed to the door, listened awhile, then opened it
+sharply. But there was no one there.
+
+"Bring the lamp," he whispered.
+
+Dermot complied, and together they searched the ante-rooms and passages.
+They were empty. Then they looked into the small room in which the zinc
+bath-tub stood. There was no one there.
+
+The Deputy Superintendent closed the door again, and, as it had neither
+lock nor bolt, placed a heavy chair against it. Taking the lamp in his hand
+he bent down and carefully examined the dusty floor under and around the
+bed. Then he put down the lamp and drew Dermot into the centre of the room.
+
+"Has your servant any reason to dislike you?" he asked in a low voice.
+
+Dermot answered him in the same tone:
+
+"I have not brought one with me."
+
+The D.S.P. whistled faintly, then looked apprehensively round the room and
+whispered:
+
+"Have you any enemies in the Palace or in Lalpuri?"
+
+Dermot smiled.
+
+"Very probably," he replied. Then in a low voice he continued: "Look here,
+Barclay, do you know anything of the state of affairs in this province? I
+mean, politically."
+
+The police officer nodded.
+
+"I do. I'm here in Lalpuri to try to find out things. The root of the
+trouble in Bengal is here."
+
+"Then I can tell you that I have been sent on a special mission to the
+border and have come to this city to try to follow up a clue."
+
+The D.S.P. drew a deep breath.
+
+"That accounts for it. Look here, Major, I've seen this trick with the
+snake before. Not long ago I tried to hang the servant of a rich _bunniah_
+for murdering his master by means of it, but the Sessions Judge wouldn't
+convict him. If you look you'll see that that brute"--he pointed to the
+cobra writhing in agony on the bed and sinking its fangs into its own
+flesh--"never got up there by itself. It was put there. Otherwise it would
+have left a clear trail in the thick dust on the floor, but there isn't a
+sign."
+
+"Yes, I spotted that," said Dermot, lighting a cigarette over the lamp
+chimney. "I see the game. My lamp--which was here, for I dressed for dinner
+by its light--was taken away, so that I'd have to go to bed in the dark;
+and, by Jove, I very nearly did! Then I'd have kicked against the cobra as
+I got in, and been bitten. The lamp would have been put back in the morning
+before I was 'found.' Look here, Barclay, I owe you a lot. Without you I'd
+be dead in two hours."
+
+"Or less. Sometimes the bite is fatal in forty minutes. Yes, there's no
+doubt of it, you'd have been done for. Lucky thing I hadn't gone to bed and
+heard you. Now, what'll we do with the brute?"
+
+He looked at the writhing snake.
+
+"Wait a minute. Where are the matches?"
+
+He picked up a box from the dressing-table, moved the chair from the door
+and left the room. In a minute or two he returned, carrying an old
+porcelain vase, and shut the door.
+
+"I found this stuck away with a lot of rubbish in the outer room," he said.
+"I don't suppose any one will miss it."
+
+Dermot watched him with curiosity as he placed the vase on the floor near
+the bed and picked up the cane. Putting its point under the cobra he lifted
+the wriggling body on the stick and with some difficulty dropped the snake
+into the vase, where they heard its head striking the sides with furious
+blows.
+
+"I hope it won't break the damned thing just when I'm carrying it," he
+said, regarding the vase anxiously.
+
+"What are you doing that for?" asked Dermot.
+
+The police officer lowered his voice.
+
+"Well, Major, we don't want these would-be murderers to know how their
+trick failed. That's the reason I didn't pound the brute to a jelly on the
+bed, for it would have made such a mess on the sheet. Now there isn't a
+speck on it. I'll take the vase with me into my room and finish the cobra
+off. In the morning I'll get rid of its body somehow. When these devils
+find tomorrow that you're not dead, they'll be very puzzled. Now, the
+question is, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Going to bed," answered Dermot, continuing to undress. "There's nothing
+else to be done at this hour, is there?"
+
+The police officer looked at him with admiration.
+
+"By George, sir, you've got pluck. If it were I, I'd want to sit up all
+night with a pistol."
+
+"Not you. Otherwise you wouldn't be in the place at all. Besides you are
+qualifying for delicate little attentions like this." And Dermot flicked
+the ash of his cigarette into the vase in which the cobra still writhed and
+twisted.
+
+"Oh, well, they haven't tumbled to me yet," said the young police officer,
+making light of his own courage. "I suppose you won't make any fuss about
+this?"
+
+"Of course not. We've got no proof against any one."
+
+"But do you think it wise for you to stay on here, sir? They'll only try
+again."
+
+Dermot lit a fresh cigarette.
+
+"Well, it can't be helped. It's all in the day's work. I'm due to stay here
+two days more, and I'm damned if I'm going to move before then. As you
+know, it doesn't do to show these people the white feather. Besides, I'm
+rather interested to see what they'll try next."
+
+"You're a cool hand, Major. Well, since you look at it that way, there's
+nothing more to be said. I see you're ready for bed, so I'll take my lamp
+and bit of pottery, and trek."
+
+"Oh, just one moment, Barclay." Dermot sank his voice. "Did you notice the
+Rajah's catch-'em-alive-ohs on sentry?"
+
+"You mean his soldiers? No, I can't say I did."
+
+"Well, just have a look at them tomorrow. I want to have a talk with you
+about them."
+
+"I'd like to strip these bed-clothes off. I don't fancy them after the
+snake. Luckily it's so hot that one doesn't want even a sheet tonight. Let
+me see if there's another cobra under the pillow. It's said that they
+generally go about in pairs." He turned over the pillow. "No; that's all
+right."
+
+"Hold on a minute," whispered Barclay, raising the lamp above his head with
+his left hand. "Let's see if there's any concealed entrance to the room. I
+daresay these old palaces are full of secret passages and masked doors."
+
+He sounded the walls and floors and examined them carefully.
+
+"Seems all right. I'll be off now. Good-night, Major. I hope you'll not be
+disturbed. If there's any trouble fire a shot and I'll be here in two
+shakes. I've got a pistol, and by Jingo I'll have it handy tonight. Keep
+yours ready, too."
+
+"I shall. Now a thousand thanks for your help, Barclay," said the soldier,
+shaking his friend's hand.
+
+Then he closed the door behind the police officer and by the light of a
+match piled chairs against it. Then he lay down on the bed, put the pistol
+under the edge of the mattress and ready to his hand, and fell asleep at
+once.
+
+Early in the morning he was aroused by a vigorous knocking and heard
+Barclay's voice outside the door.
+
+"Are you all right, Major?" it said.
+
+"Yes, thanks. Good-morning," replied the soldier. "Come in. No, wait a
+minute."
+
+He jumped out of bed and removed the barricade. Barclay entered in his
+pyjamas. Lowering his voice he said:
+
+"Anything happen during the night?"
+
+"I don't think so. I slept soundly and heard nothing. You're up early,"
+replied the soldier, picking up the blankets and sheets from the floor and
+spreading them carelessly on the bed to make it look as if he had used
+them.
+
+"Yes; those infernal birds make such a confounded row. It's like being in
+an aviary," said Barclay.
+
+Dermot threw open the wooden shutters. Outside the window was a small
+balcony. On the roofs and verandahs of the Palace scores of grey-hooded
+crows were perched, filling the air with discordant sounds. Up in the pale
+blue sky the wheeling hawks whistled shrilly. Down in the courtyard below
+yellow-beaked _mynas_ chattered volubly.
+
+"Don't they make a beastly row? How is a fellow to sleep?" grumbled
+Barclay. "Look at that cheeky beggar."
+
+A hooded crow perched on the railing of the balcony and, apparently
+resenting his remarks, cawed defiantly at him. The Deputy Superintendent
+picked up one of Dermot's slippers and was about to hurl it at the bird,
+when a voice from the doorway startled him.
+
+"_Char, Huzoor!_ (Tea, Your Excellency!)"
+
+He looked round. One of the Palace servants stood at the door holding a
+tray containing tea and buttered toast.
+
+Dermot directed the man to put the tray on the dressing-table, and when the
+servant had salaamed and left the room, he walked over to it and looked at
+the food.
+
+"Now, is it safe to eat that?" he said. "I've no fear of the grub they
+serve in the dining-hall, for they wouldn't dare to poison us all. But
+somehow I have my doubts about any nice little meal prepared exclusively
+for me."
+
+"I think you're right there, Major," said Barclay, who was sitting on the
+edge of the bed.
+
+"We'll see. There isn't the usually handy pi-dog to try it on. But we'll
+make use of our noisy friend here. He won't be much loss to the world if it
+poisons him," and Dermot broke off a piece of the toast and threw it on the
+floor of the balcony. The crow stopped his cawing, cocked his head on one
+side, and eyed the tempting morsel. Buttered toast did not often come his
+way. He dropped down on to the balcony floor, hopped over to the toast,
+pecked at it, picked it up in his strong beak, and flew with it to the roof
+of the building opposite. In silence the two men watched him devour it.
+
+"That seems all right, Major," said the police officer. "You've made him
+your friend for life. He's coming back for more."
+
+The crow perched on the rail again and cawed loudly.
+
+"Oh, shut up, you greedy bird. Here's another bit for you. That's all
+you'll have. I want the rest myself," said Dermot, laughing. He broke off
+another piece and threw it out on to the balcony.
+
+The crow looked at it, ruffled its feathers, shook itself--and then fell
+heavily to the floor of the balcony and lay still.
+
+"Good heavens! What an escape!" ejaculated Barclay, suddenly pale.
+
+The two men stared at each other and the dead bird in silence. Then Dermot
+murmured:
+
+"This is getting monotonous. Hang it! They _are_ in a hurry. Why, they
+couldn't even know whether I was alive or not. If the snake trick had come
+off, I'd be a corpse now and this nice little meal would have been wasted.
+Really, they are rather crowding things on me."
+
+"They're taking no chances, the devils," said the younger man, who was more
+upset by the occurrence than his companion.
+
+"Well, I'll have to do without my _chota hazri_; and I do like a cup of tea
+in the morning," said the soldier; and he began to shave. Glancing out of
+the window he continued: "They've got a fine day for the show anyway."
+
+Barclay sprang up from the chair on which he had suddenly sat down. His
+nerve was shaken by the two attempts on his companion's life.
+
+"Damn them and their shows, the infernal murderers," he muttered savagely,
+and rushed out of the room.
+
+"Amen!" said Dermot, as he lathered his face. Death had been near him too
+often before for him to be disturbed now. So he went on shaving.
+
+Before he left the room he poured tea into the cup on the tray and got rid
+of the rest of the toast, to make it appear that he had freely partaken of
+the meal. He wrapped up the dead crow in paper and locked it in his
+despatch-case, until he could dispose of it that evening after dark.
+
+Noreen had slept little during the night. All through the weary hours of
+darkness she had tossed restlessly on her bed, tortured by thoughts that
+revolved in monotonous circles around Dermot. What was she to believe of
+him? What were the relations between him and her friend? He had seemed very
+cold to Ida when they met and had avoided her all day. And she did not
+appear to mind. What had happened between them? Had they quarrelled? It did
+not disturb Ida's rest, for the girl could hear her regular breathing all
+night long, the door between their rooms being open. Was it possible that
+she and Dermot were acting indifference to deceive the people around them?
+
+Only towards morning did Noreen fall into a troubled, broken sleep, and she
+dreamt that the man she loved was in great danger. She woke up in a fright,
+then dozed again. She was hollow-eyed and unrefreshed when a bare-footed
+native "boy" knocked at her door and left a tray with her _chota hazri_ at
+it. She could not eat, but she drank the tea thirstily.
+
+Pleading fatigue she remained in her room all the morning and refused to go
+down to _tiffin_. When the other guests were at lunch in the dining-hall a
+message was brought her that Chunerbutty begged to see her urgently. She
+went down to the lounge, where he was waiting. Struck by her want of
+colour, he enquired somewhat tenderly what ailed her. She replied
+impatiently that she was only fatigued by the previous day's journey, and
+asked rather crossly why he wanted to see her.
+
+"I have something nice for you," he said smiling. "Something I was to give
+you."
+
+Glancing around to make sure that they were unobserved, he opened a
+sandalwood box that he held in his hand and took out a large, oval
+leather case, which he offered to her.
+
+"What is this?" she asked in surprise.
+
+"Open it and see," he replied.
+
+The girl did so unsuspectingly. It was lined with blue velvet, and resting
+in it was a necklace of diamonds in quaint and massive gold setting,
+evidently the work of a native jeweller. The stones, though badly cut, were
+very large and flashed and sparkled with coloured fires. The ornament was
+evidently extremely valuable. Noreen stared at it and then at Chunerbutty
+in surprise.
+
+"What does this mean?" she demanded, an ominous ring in her voice.
+
+"Just a little present to you from a friend," replied the Hindu, evidently
+thinking that the girl was pleased with the magnificent gift.
+
+"For me? Are these stones real?" she asked quietly.
+
+"Rather. Why, that necklace must be worth thousands of pounds. The fact is
+that it's a little present from the Rajah, who admires you awfully. He----"
+
+Noreen's eyes blazed, and she was on the point of bursting into angry
+words; but, controlling herself with an effort, she thrust the case back
+into his hands and said coldly:
+
+"You know little of English women, Mr. Chunerbutty, if you think that they
+accept presents like that from strangers. This may be the Rajah's
+ignorance, but it looks more like insolence."
+
+She turned to go; but, stopping her, he said:
+
+"Oh, but you don't understand. He's a great friend of mine and he knows
+that I'm awfully fond of you, little girl. So he's ready to do anything for
+us and give me a----"
+
+She walked past him, her eyes blazing with anger, with so resolute an air
+that he drew back and watched her go. She went straight to her room and
+remained there until Ida came to tell her that it was time to dress for the
+celebration of the Puja festival.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the outer courtyard of the Palace six of the Rajah's State elephants,
+their tusks gilded and foreheads gaudily painted, caparisoned with rich
+velvet housings covered with heavy gold embroidery trailing almost to the
+ground, bearing on their backs gold or silver howdahs fashioned in the
+shape of temples, awaited the European guests. Chunerbutty, when allotting
+positions as Master of Ceremonies, took advantage of his position to
+contrive that Noreen should accompany him on the elephant on which he was
+to lead the line. The girl discovered too late that they were to be alone
+on it, except for the _mahout_ on its neck. Dermot and Barclay managed to
+be together on another animal.
+
+When all were in position in the howdahs, to which they climbed by ladders,
+the gates were thrown open, and through a mob of salaaming retainers the
+elephants emerged with stately tread on the great square in front of the
+Palace and proceeded through the city. The houses were gaily decorated.
+Flags and strips of coloured cloth fluttered from every building; gaudy
+carpets and embroideries hung from the innumerable balconies and windows.
+The elephants could scarcely force a passage through the narrow streets, so
+crowded were they with swarms of men, women, and children in holiday
+attire, all going in one direction. Their destination was the park of the
+_Moti Mahal_ or Pearl Palace, the Rajah's summer residence outside the
+walls of the city.
+
+There the enormous crowd was kept back by red-robed retainers armed with
+_tulwars_--native curved swords--leaving clear a wide stretch of open
+ground, in the centre of which on a gigantic altar was the image of the
+Goddess Kali. Before it a magnificent bull was firmly secured by chains and
+ropes to stout posts sunk deep in the earth. The animal's head drooped and
+it could hardly stand up, for it had been heavily drugged for the day's
+ceremony and was scarcely conscious.
+
+The Rajah's army was drawn up in line fronting the altar, but some distance
+away from it. Two old muzzle-loading nine-pounder guns, their teams of
+powerful bullocks lying contentedly behind on the grass, formed the right
+of the line. Then came the cavalry, consisting of twenty _sowars_ on
+squealing white stallions with long tails dyed red. Left of them was the
+infantry, two hundred sepoys in shakoes, red coatees, white trousers, and
+bare feet, leaning on long percussion-capped muskets with triangular
+bayonets.
+
+Shortly after the Europeans had arrived and their elephants taken up their
+position on one side of the ground, cheering announced the coming of the
+Rajah. The cannons were discharged by slow matches and the infantrymen,
+raising their muskets, fired a ragged volley into the air. Then towards the
+altar of Kali the Rajah was seen approaching in a long gilded car shaded by
+a canopy of cloth-of-gold and drawn by an enormous elephant, richly
+caparisoned. Two gold-laced, scarlet-clad servants were perched on the back
+of the car, waving large peacock-feather fans over their monarch. A line of
+carriages followed, conveying the _Dewan_, the Durbar officials, the
+Ministers of the State and the leading nobles of Lalpuri. After the first
+volley, which scattered the horses of the cavalry, the artillery and
+infantry loaded and fired independently as fast as their antiquated weapons
+permitted, until the air was filled with smoke and the acrid smell of
+gunpowder.
+
+The Rajah, hemmed in by spearmen with levelled points and followed by all
+his suite with drawn swords, timidly approached the bull, _tulwar_ in hand.
+The animal was too dazed to lift its head. The Rajah raised his gleaming
+blade and struck at the nape of its neck, and at the same moment two
+swordsmen hamstrung it. Immediately the _Dewan_, Ministers, and nobles
+crowded in and hacked at the wretched beast as it lurched and fell heavily
+to the ground. The warm blood spurted out in jets and covered the officials
+and nobles as they cut savagely at the feebly struggling carcase, and the
+red liquid splashed the Rajah as he stood gloating over the gaping wounds
+and the sufferings of the poor sacrifice, his heavy face lit up by a
+ghastly grin of delight.
+
+The horrible spectacle shocked and disgusted the European spectators. Ida
+nearly fainted, and Mrs. Rice turned green. Noreen shuddered at
+Chunerbutty's fiendish and bestial expression, as he leaned forward in the
+howdah, his face working convulsively, his eyes straining to lose no detail
+of the repulsive sight. He was enjoying it, like the excited, enthralled
+mobs of Indians of all ages around, who pressed forward, gradually pushing
+back the line of retainers struggling to keep the ground.
+
+Suddenly the swarming thousands broke loose. They surged madly forward,
+engulfing and sweeping the soldiers along with them, and rushed on the
+dying bull. They fought savagely to reach it. Those who succeeded threw
+themselves on the quivering carcase and with knives or bare hands tore
+pieces of still living flesh from it and thrust them into their mouths.
+Then, blooded to the eyes, they raised their reddened arms aloft, while
+from thousands of throats rang out the fanatical cry:
+
+"_Kali Ma ki jai!_ (Victory to Mother Kali!)"
+
+They surged around the altar. The Rajah was knocked down and nearly
+trampled on by the maddened, hysterical crowd. _Dewan_, Ministers,
+officials, guards were hustled and swept aside. The cavalry commander saw
+his ruler's danger and collecting a dozen of his _sowars_ charged the
+religious-mad mob and rescued the Rajah from his dangerous position, riding
+down and sabring men, women, and children, the fierce stallions savaging
+everyone within reach with their bared teeth.
+
+Chunerbutty, in whom old racial instincts were rekindled, had scarcely been
+able to restrain himself from climbing down and joining in the frenzied
+rush on the bull. But the turn of events sobered him and induced him to
+listen at last to Noreen's entreaties and angry demands from the Englishmen
+who bade him order the _mahouts_ to take the visitors away from the
+horrible spectacle. As they left they saw the Rajah's golden chariot and
+the carriages of the officials being driven helter-skelter across the grass
+with their blood-stained and terrified occupants. And the madly fanatical
+crowds surged wildly around the altar, while their cries to Kali rent the
+air.
+
+The elephants lumbered swiftly in file through the deserted city, for it
+was now emptied of its inhabitants. Merchants, traders, shopkeepers,
+workers, harlots, and criminals, all had flocked to the _Moti Mahal_ to
+witness the sacrifice.
+
+As they entered the Palace gates the _mahout_ of the animal carrying
+Barclay, Dermot, and two planters called to a native standing idly in the
+courtyard:
+
+"Why wert thou not out with thy elephant, Ebrahim?"
+
+The man addressed, a grey-bearded Mussulman, replied:
+
+"Shiva-_ji_ is bad today. I fear him greatly."
+
+"Is it the madness of the _dhantwallah_?"
+
+"It is the madness."
+
+And the speaker cracked his finger-joints to avert evil luck.
+
+Dinner was not a very jovial meal among the English guests that night. Much
+to their relief the Rajah did not come in to them. The ladies retired early
+to their rooms, and the men were not long in following their example.
+
+Barclay and Dermot, who were the only occupants of the floor on which their
+rooms were situated--it was the top one of the wing--went upstairs
+together. At the Deputy Superintendent's door a man squatted and, as they
+approached, rose, and saluted them in military fashion. It was Barclay's
+police orderly.
+
+"Hast got it?" asked his master in the vernacular.
+
+"I have got it, Sahib. It is here," and the man placed a small covered
+basket in his hands.
+
+"_Bahut atcha. Ruksat hai_" (very good. You have leave to go), said his
+officer, using the ordinary Indian formula for dismissing a subordinate.
+
+"Salaam, Sahib."
+
+The orderly saluted and went away down the passage.
+
+"Wait a moment, Major; I'm going with you to your room," said the Deputy
+Superintendent, opening his door. "Do you mind bringing my light along, as
+yours may be gone again. My hands are full with this basket."
+
+When they reached Dermot's apartment they found a lamp burning feebly in
+it, smoking, and giving little light.
+
+"Looks as if there's a fresh game on tonight," said Dermot in a low voice.
+"This is not the lamp I had before dinner. That was a large and brilliant
+one. I'm glad we brought yours along."
+
+"Barricade the door, Major," whispered Barclay. "Are the shutters closed?
+Yes; that's all right."
+
+"What have you got in that mysterious basket?" his companion asked.
+
+"You'll see presently."
+
+He set it down on the floor and raised the lid. A small, sharp-muzzled head
+with fierce pink eyes popped up and looked about suspiciously. Then its
+owner climbed cautiously out on to the floor. It was a slim, long-bodied
+little animal like a ferret, with a long, furry tail.
+
+"Hullo! A mongoose? You think they'll try the same trick again?" asked
+Dermot.
+
+He glanced at the bed and picked up his cane.
+
+"Just stand still, Major, and watch. If there's anything in the snake line
+about our young friend here will attend to it."
+
+The mongoose trotted forward for a few steps, then sat down and scratched
+itself. It rose, yawned, stretched its legs, and looked up at the two men,
+betraying no fear of them. Then it lifted its sharp nose into the air,
+sniffed, and pattered about the room, stopping to smell the legs of the
+dressing-table and a cap of Dermot's lying on the floor. It investigated
+several rat-holes at the bottom of the walls and approached the bed. Under
+it a pair of the soldier's slippers were lying. The mongoose, passing by
+them, turned to smell them. Suddenly it sprang back, leaping a couple of
+feet into the air. When it touched the floor it crouched with bared teeth,
+the hair on its back bristling and its tail fluffed out until it was bigger
+than the body of the fierce little animal.
+
+"By Jove, it has found something!" exclaimed Barclay.
+
+The two men leant forward and watched intently. The mongoose approached the
+slippers again in a series of bounds, jumped around them, crouched, and
+then sprang into the air again.
+
+Suddenly there was a rush and a scurry. The mongoose had pounced on one
+slipper and was shaking it savagely, beating it on the floor, rolling over
+and over and leaping into the air with it. Its movements were so rapid that
+for a few moments the watchers could distinguish nothing in the miniature
+cyclone of slipper and ball of fluffy hair inextricably mingled. Then there
+was a pause. The mongoose stood still, then backed away with stiffened
+legs, its sharp teeth fixed in the neck of a small snake about ten inches
+long, which it was trying to drag out of the slipper.
+
+"Good heavens! This is worse than last night," cried Barclay. "It's a
+_karait_."
+
+This reptile is almost more poisonous than a cobra, and, as it is thin and
+rarely exceeds twelve inches in length, it can hide anywhere and is an even
+deadlier menace in a house.
+
+The mongoose backed across the room, dragging the snake and with it the
+slipper.
+
+"Why the deuce doesn't it pull the _karait_ out?" said Dermot, bending down
+to look more closely, as the mongoose paused. "By George! Look at this,
+Barclay. The snake's fastened to the inside of the slipper by a loop and a
+bit of thin wire."
+
+"What a devilish trick!" cried Barclay.
+
+"Well, I hope that concludes the entertainment for tonight," said Dermot.
+"Enough is as good as a feast."
+
+When next morning the servant brought in his tray, Dermot was smoking a
+cigarette in an easy chair, and he fancied that there was a scared
+expression in the man's eyes, as the fellow looked covertly at the slippers
+on the Major's feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+A TRAP
+
+In the forenoon of the fifth day of the Durga-Puja Festival the _Dewan_ and
+Chunerbutty sat on the thick carpet of the Rajah's apartment, which was in
+that part of the Palace facing the wing given up to the visitors. It formed
+one of the sides of the square surrounding the paved courtyard below, which
+was rarely entered. Only one door led into it from the buildings which
+lined it on three sides, a door under the Rajah's suite of apartments.
+
+That potentate was sprawling on a pile of soft cushions, glaring
+malevolently at his Chief Minister, whom he hated and feared.
+
+"Curses on thee, _Dewan-ji_!" he muttered, turning uneasily and groaning
+with the pain of movement. For he was badly bruised, sore, and shaken, from
+his treatment by the crowd on the previous day.
+
+"Why on me, O Maharaj?" asked the _Dewan_, looking at him steadily and with
+hardly-veiled contempt.
+
+"Because thine was the idea of this foolish celebration yesterday. Mother
+Durga was angry with me for introducing this foreign way of worship,"
+answered the superstitious atheist, conveniently forgetting that the idea
+was his own. "It will cost me large sums to these greedy priests, if she is
+not to punish me further."
+
+"Not for that reason, but for another, is the Holy Mother enraged, O
+Maharaj," replied his Minister. "For the lack of a sweeter sacrifice than
+we offered her yesterday."
+
+"What is that?" demanded the Rajah suspiciously. He distrusted his _Dewan_
+more than any one else in his service.
+
+"Canst thou ask? Thou who bearest on thy forehead the badge of the Saktas?"
+
+"Thou meanest a human sacrifice?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"I have given Durga many," grumbled the Rajah. "But if she be greedy, let
+her have more. There are girls in my _zenana_ that I would gladly be rid
+of."
+
+"The Holy Mother demands a worthier offering than some wanton that thou
+hast wearied of."
+
+Chunerbutty spoke for the first time.
+
+"She wants the blood of one of the accursed race; of a _Feringhi_; of this
+soldier and spy."
+
+The Rajah shifted uneasily on his cushions. He hated but he feared the
+white men, and he had not implicit faith in the _Dewan's_ talk of their
+speedy overthrow.
+
+"Mother Durga has rejected him," he said. "Have ye not all tried to slay
+him and failed?"
+
+The _Dewan_ nodded his head slowly and stared at the carpet.
+
+"There is some strange and evil influence that sets my plans at naught."
+
+"The gods, if there be gods as you Brahmins say, protect him. I think evil
+will come to us if we harm him. And can we? Did he not lie down with the
+hooded death itself, a cobra, young, active, full of venom, and rise
+unhurt?"
+
+"True. But perhaps the snake had escaped from the bed before the
+_Feringhi_ entered it," said the _Dewan_ meditatively.
+
+"To guard against that, did they not fasten the _karait_ in his shoe?"
+
+"He may have discovered it in time," said the engineer. "Englishmen fear
+snakes greatly and always look out for them."
+
+"Ha! and did he not eat and drink the poisoned meal prepared for him by our
+skilfullest physician?"
+
+There was no answer to this. The mystery of Dermot's escape from death was
+beyond their understanding.
+
+"There is certainly something strange about him," said Chunerbutty. "At
+least, so it is reported in our district, though to me he seems a fool. But
+there all races and castes fear him. Curious tales are told of him. Some
+say that _Gunesh_, the Elephant-headed One, protects him. Others hold that
+he is _Gunesh_ himself. Can it be so?"
+
+The _Dewan_ smiled.
+
+"Since when hast thou believed in the gods again?" he asked.
+
+"Well, it is hard to know what is true or false. If there be no gods,
+perhaps there are devils. My Christian friends are more impressed by the
+latter."
+
+The Rajah shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"Perhaps he is a devil. Who knows? They told me that he summoned a host of
+devils in the form of elephants to slay my soldiers. Pah! it is all
+nonsense. There are no such things."
+
+With startling distinctness the shrill trumpeting of an elephant rang
+through the room.
+
+"Mother Kali preserve me!" shrieked the superstitious Rajah, flinging
+himself in terror on his face. "That was no mortal elephant. Was it
+_Gunesh_ that spoke?" He lifted his head timidly. "It is a warning. Spare
+the _Feringhi_. Let him go."
+
+"Spare him? Knowest thou, O Maharaj, that the girl thou dost desire loves
+him? But an hour ago I heard her tell him that she wished to speak with him
+alone," said Chunerbutty.
+
+"Alone with him? The shameless one! Curses on him! Let him die," cried the
+jealous Rajah, his fright forgotten.
+
+The _Dewan_ smiled.
+
+"There was no need to fear the cry of that elephant," he said. "It was your
+favourite, Shiva-_ji_. He is seized with the male-madness. They have penned
+him in the stone-walled enclosure yonder. He killed his _mahout_ this
+morning."
+
+"Killed Ebrahim? Curse him! If he had not cost me twenty thousand rupees I
+would have him shot," growled the Rajah savagely. "Killed Ebrahim, my best
+_mahout_? Why could he not have slain this accursed _Feringhi_ if he had
+the blood-lust on him?"
+
+"In the name of Siva the Great One!" exclaimed the _Dewan_ piously. "It is
+a good thought. Listen to me, Maharaj! Listen, thou renegade" (this to
+Chunerbutty, who dared not resent the old man's insults).
+
+The three heads came together.
+
+      *       *       *       *       *
+
+After lunch that day Dermot sat smoking in his room. Although it had no
+punkah and the heat was great, he had escaped to it from the crowded lounge
+to be able to think quietly. But his thoughts were not of the attempts on
+his life and the probability that they would be repeated. His mind was
+filled with Noreen to the temporary exclusion of all other subjects. She
+puzzled him. He had supposed her engaged, or practically engaged, to
+Charlesworth. Yet she had come away from Darjeeling at its gayest time and
+here seemed to be engrossed with Chunerbutty. She was always with him or he
+with her. He never left her side. She sat by him at every meal. She had
+gone alone with him in his howdah to the _Moti Mahal_, when every other
+elephant had carried more than two persons. He knew that she had always
+regarded the Hindu as a friend, but he had not thought that she was so
+attracted to him. Certainly now she did not appear content away from him.
+What would Charlesworth, who hated natives, think of it?
+
+As for himself, their former friendship seemed dead. He had naturally been
+hurt when she had not waited in the hotel at Darjeeling, though she knew
+that he was coming to say good-bye to her. But perhaps Charlesworth had
+kept her out, so he could not blame her. But why had she deliberately
+avoided him here in the Palace? What was the reason of her unfriendliness?
+Yet that morning in the lounge after breakfast he had chanced to pass her
+where she stood beside Chunerbutty, who was speaking to a servant. She had
+detained him for a moment to tell him that she wished to see him alone some
+time, for she wanted his advice. She seemed rather mysterious about it, and
+he remembered that she had spoken in a low tone, as if she did not desire
+any one else to hear what she was saying.
+
+What did it all mean? Well, if he could help her with advice or anything
+else he would. He had not realised how fond he was of her until this
+estrangement between them had arisen.
+
+As he sat puzzling over the problem the servant who waited on him entered
+the room and salaamed.
+
+"_Ghurrib Parwar!_ (Protector of the Poor.) I bring a message for Your
+Honour. The English missie _baba_ sends salaams and wishes to speak with
+you."
+
+Dermot sprang up hastily.
+
+"Where is she, Rama? In the lounge?"
+
+"No, _Huzoor_. The missie _baba_ is in the Red Garden."
+
+"Where is that?"
+
+"It is the Rajah's own private garden, through there." The servant pointed
+down to the gateway in the high wall of the courtyard below. He had opened
+the shutter of the window by which they were standing. "I will guide Your
+Honour. We must go through that door over there under His Highness's
+apartments."
+
+"_Bahut atcha_, Rama. I will come with you. Give me my _topi_," cried
+Dermot, feeling light-hearted all at once. Perhaps the misunderstanding
+between Noreen and him would be cleared up now. He took his sun-hat from
+the man and followed him out of the room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Noreen was greatly perplexed about the insult, as she considered it, of the
+Rajah's offer of the necklace. She feared to tell her brother, who might be
+angry with her for suspecting his friend of condoning an impertinence to
+her. Equally she felt that she could not confide in Ida or any one else,
+lest she should be misjudged and thought to have encouraged the engineer
+and his patron. To whom could she turn, sure of not being misunderstood? If
+only Dermot had remained her friend!
+
+She was torn with longings to know the truth about his relations with Ida.
+The uncertainty was unbearable. That morning in her room she had boldly
+attacked Ida and asked her frankly. The other woman made light of the whole
+affair, pretended that Noreen had misunderstood her on that night in
+Darjeeling, and laughed at the idea of any one imagining that she had ever
+been in love with Dermot.
+
+The girl was more puzzled than ever. Her heart ached for an hour or two
+alone with her one-time friend of the forest. O to be out with him on
+Badshah in the silent jungle, no matter what dangers encircled them!
+Perhaps there the cloud between them would vanish. But could she not speak
+to him here in the Palace? He seemed to be no longer fascinated with Ida,
+if indeed he ever had been. She could tell him of the Rajah's insult. He
+would advise her what to do, for she was sure that he would not misjudge
+her. And perhaps--who knew?--her confiding in him might break down the wall
+that separated them. She forgot that it had been built by her own
+resentment and anger, and that she had eluded his attempts to approach her.
+Even now she felt that she could not speak to him before others.
+
+Growing desperate, she had that morning snatched at the opportunity to ask
+him for an interview. Chunerbutty, who seemed always to cling to her now
+with the persistence of a leech, had as usual been with her, but his
+attention had been distracted from her for a moment. She hoped that the
+Hindu had not overheard her. Yet what did it matter if he had? Dermot had
+understood and nodded, as he passed on with the old, friendly look in his
+eyes. Perhaps all would come right.
+
+She had seen him leave the lounge after lunch, but she remained there
+confident that he would return. She felt she could not talk to the others
+so she withdrew to a table near one of the shuttered windows and pretended
+to read the newspapers on it.
+
+Payne was there, deep in the perusal of an article in an English journal on
+the disturbed state of India. Mrs. Rice, impervious to snubs, was trying to
+impress the openly bored Ida with accounts of the gay and fashionable life
+of Balham. The men were scattered about the room in groups, some discussing
+in low tones the occurrences of the day before at the _Moti Mahal_, others
+talking of the illuminations and fireworks which were to wind up their
+entertainment in Lalpuri on this the last night of their stay. For all were
+leaving on the morrow.
+
+Suddenly there was a wild outcry outside. Loud cries, the shouts of men,
+the terrifying trumpeting of an elephant, resounded through the courtyard
+below and echoed weirdly from the walls of the buildings. A piercing shriek
+of agony rang high above the tumult of sound and chilled the blood of the
+listeners in the lounge.
+
+Payne tore fiercely at the stiff wooden shutters of the window near him,
+which led out to the long balcony. Suddenly they burst open and he sprang
+out.
+
+"Good God!" he cried in horror. "Look! Look! Dermot's done for!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The soldier had followed Rama, who led him through an unfamiliar part of
+the Palace along low passages, down narrow winding staircases, through
+painted rooms, in some of which female garments flung carelessly on the
+cushions seemed to indicate that they were passing through a portion of the
+_zenana_. Finally they reached a marble-paved hall on the ground-floor,
+where two attendants, the first persons whom they had seen on their way,
+lounged near a small door. They were evidently the porters and appeared to
+expect them, for they opened the door at Rama's approach. Through it Dermot
+followed his guide out into the courtyard on which he had often looked from
+the balcony of his room. He looked up at the lounge, two stories above his
+head, its long casements shuttered against the heat. Then he noticed that
+in none of the buildings surrounding the court were there any windows lower
+than the second story, and the only entrance into it from the Palace was
+the small door through which he had just passed. Almost at the moment he
+stepped into the courtyard a familiar sound greeted his ears. It was the
+trumpeting of an elephant. But there was a strange note of rage and
+excitement in it, and he thought of the remarks of the _mahouts_ the
+previous day on the return from the _Moti Mahal_. Probably the _must_
+elephant of which they spoke was chained somewhere close by.
+
+As he crossed the courtyard he chanced to glance up at the shuttered
+windows of the apartments which he had been told were occupied by the
+Rajah. At that moment one of them was opened and a white cloth waved from
+it by an unseen hand. He wondered was it a signal. He stooped to fasten a
+bootlace, and Rama, who was making for the gateway in the high wall forming
+the fourth side of the courtyard, called impatiently to him to hasten. The
+servant's tone was impertinent, and Dermot looked up in surprise.
+
+Then suddenly Hell broke loose. From the direction in which they were
+proceeding came fierce shouts of men, yells of terror, and the angry
+trumpeting of an elephant mingled with the groaning of iron dragged over
+stone and the crashing of splintered wood. Rama, who was a few yards ahead,
+turned and ran past the white man, his face livid. Dermot looked after him
+in surprise. The man had dashed back to the little door and was beating on
+it madly with his fists. It was opened to admit him and then hastily
+closed. The soldier heard the rusty bolts grinding home in their sockets.
+
+Scenting danger and fearing a trap he stood still in the middle of the
+courtyard.
+
+The uproar continued and drew nearer. Suddenly it was dominated by a
+blood-curdling shriek of agony. Through the wide gateway he saw five or
+six men fleeing across the farther courtyard, which was surrounded by a
+high wall. Behind them rushed a huge tusker elephant, ears and tail
+cocked, eyes aflame with rage. He overtook one man, struck him down with
+his trunk, trod him to pulp, and then pursued the others. Some of them,
+crazed with terror, tried to climb the walls. The savage brute struck
+them down one after another, gored them or trampled them to death.
+
+Three terrified wretches fled through the gateway into the courtyard in
+which Dermot was standing. One stumbled and the elephant caught him up. The
+demented man turned on it and tried to beat it off with his bare hands.
+With a scream of fury the maddened beast drove his blood-stained tusk into
+the wretch's body, pitched him aloft, then hurled him to the ground and
+gored him again and again. The dying shriek that burst from the labouring
+lungs turned Dermot's blood cold. The body was kicked, trampled on, and
+then torn limb from limb.
+
+The two other men had dashed wildly across the courtyard. One reached the
+small door and was beating madly on it with bleeding knuckles, but it
+remained implacably closed. The other, driven mad by fear, was running
+round and round the courtyard like a caged animal, stopping occasionally to
+raise imploring hands and eyes to the windows of the Palace, which were now
+filled with spectators. Even the roofs were crowded with natives looking
+down on the tragedy being enacted below.
+
+Dermot realised that he had been trapped. There was no escape. He looked up
+at the Rajah's windows. One had been pushed open, and he thought that he
+could see the _Dewan_ and his master watching him. He determined that he
+would not afford them the gratification of seeing him run round and round
+the walls of the courtyard like a rat in a trap until death overtook him.
+So, when the elephant at last drew off from its victim and stood irresolute
+for a moment, he turned to face it.
+
+It seemed to him that he heard his voice called, faintly and from far away,
+but all his faculties were intent on watching the death that approached him
+in such hideous guise. Dermot's thoughts flew to Badshah for a moment, but
+swung back to centre on the coming annihilation. With flaming eyes, trunk
+curled, and head thrown up, the elephant charged.
+
+For one brief instant the man felt an insane desire to flee but, mastering
+it, he faced the on-rushing brute. A minute more, and all would be over.
+The soldier was unconscious of the shouts that rent the air, of the
+spectators crowding the balconies and windows. He felt perfectly cool now
+and had but one regret--that he had not been able to see Noreen again, as
+she had wished, before he died.
+
+He drew a deep breath, his last perhaps before Death reached him, and took
+a step forward to meet his doom.
+
+But at his movement a miracle happened. Not five yards from him the
+charging elephant suddenly tried to check its rush, flung all its weight
+back and, unable to halt, slid forward with stiffened fore-legs over the
+paving-stones. When at last it stopped one tusk was actually touching the
+man. Tail, ears, and trunk drooped, and it backed with every evidence of
+terror. Some instinct had warned it at the last moment that this man was
+sacred to the mammoth tribe.
+
+Like a flash enlightenment came to Dermot. Once again a mysterious power
+had saved him. The elephant knew and feared him. Yet he seemed as one in a
+dream. He looked up at the native portion of the Palace and became aware of
+the spectators on the roofs, the staring faces at the windows, the eyes of
+the women peering at him through the latticed casements of the _zenana_.
+The Rajah and the _Dewan_, all caution forgotten in their excitement, had
+thrown open the shutters from behind which they had hoped to witness his
+death, and were leaning out in full view.
+
+Dermot laughed grimly, and the thought came to him to impress these
+treacherous foes more forcibly. He walked towards the shrinking elephant,
+raised his hand, and commanded it to kneel. The animal obeyed submissively.
+The soldier swung himself on to its neck, and the animal rose to its feet
+again.
+
+He guided it across the courtyard until it stood under the window from
+which the Rajah and the _Dewan_ stared down at him in amazement and
+superstitious dread. Then he said to the animal:
+
+"_Salaam kuro!_ (Salute!)"
+
+It raised its trunk and trumpeted in the royal salutation. With a mocking
+smile, Dermot lifted his hat to the shrinking pair of murderers and turned
+the elephant away.
+
+Then for the first time he became aware that the balcony of the lounge was
+crowded with his fellow-countrymen. Ida and Mrs. Rice were sobbing
+hysterically on each other's shoulders. Noreen, clinging to her brother,
+whose arm was about her, was staring down at him with a set, white face.
+And as he looked up and saw them the men went mad. They burst into a roar
+of cheering, of greeting, and applause that drove the Rajah and his
+Minister into hiding again, for the shouts had something of menace in them.
+
+Dermot took off his hat in acknowledgment of the cheers and, seeing the
+Hindu engineer shrinking behind the others with an expression of amazed
+terror on his face, called to him:
+
+"Would you kindly send one of your friends to open the door, Mr.
+Chunerbutty? It seems to have got shut by some unfortunate accident."
+
+He brought the elephant to its knees and dismounted. Then as it rose he
+pointed to the gateway and said in the _mahout's_ tongue:
+
+"Return to your stall."
+
+The animal walked away submissively. The two surviving natives shrank
+against the buildings in deadly fear, but the animal disappeared quietly.
+
+Dermot went to the door and waited. Soon he heard the key turned in the
+lock and the rusty bolts drawn back. The door was then flung open by one of
+the porters, while the others huddled against the wall, for Barclay stood
+in front of them with a pistol raised. He sprang forward and seized
+Dermot's hand.
+
+"Heaven and earth! How are you alive?" he cried. "I thought the devils had
+got you this time. I was tempted to shoot these swine here for being so
+long in opening the door."
+
+There was a clatter of boots on the marble floor, as Payne and Granger,
+followed by the rest of the Englishmen, ran up the hall, cheering. They
+crowded round Dermot, nearly shook his arm off, thumped him on the back,
+and overwhelmed him with congratulations.
+
+As Dermot thanked them he said:
+
+"I didn't know that you fellows were looking on, otherwise I wouldn't have
+done that little bit of gallery-play. But I had a reason for it." "Yes; we
+know," said Payne significantly. "Barclay told us."
+
+Then they dragged him protesting upstairs to the lounge, that the women
+might congratulate him too; which they did each in her own fashion. Ida was
+effusive and sentimental, Mrs. Rice fatuous, and Noreen timid and almost
+stiff. The girl, who had endured an agony worse than many deaths, could not
+voice her feelings, and her congratulations seemed curt and cold to others
+besides Dermot.
+
+She had no opportunity of speaking to him apart, even for a minute, for the
+men surrounded him and insisted on toasting him and questioning him until
+it was time to dress for dinner. And even then they formed a guard of
+honour and escorted him to his room.
+
+Noreen, utterly worn out by her sleepless nights and the storm of emotions
+that had shaken her, was unable to come down to dinner, and at her
+brother's wish went to bed instead. And so she did not learn that Dermot
+was leaving the Palace at the early hour of four o'clock in the morning.
+
+That night as Dermot and Barclay went upstairs together the police officer
+said:
+
+"I wonder if they'll dare to try anything against you tonight, Major. I
+should say they'd give you a miss in baulk, for they must believe you
+invulnerable. Still, I'm going with you to your room to see."
+
+When they reached it and threw open the door a figure half rose from the
+floor. Barclay's hand went out to it with levelled pistol, but the words
+arrested him.
+
+"_Khodawund!_ (Lord of the World!) Forgive me! I did not know. I did not
+know."
+
+It was the treacherous Rama who had tried to lead Dermot to his death. He
+lay face to the ground.
+
+"Damned liar!" growled Barclay in English.
+
+"Did not know that thou wert leading me under the feet of the _must_
+elephant?" demanded Dermot incredulously.
+
+"Aye, that I knew of course, _Huzoor_. How can I deceive thee? But thee I
+knew not; though the elephant Shiva-_ji_ did, even in his madness. It is
+not my fault. I am not of this country. I am a man of the Punjaub. I know
+naught of the gods of Bengal."
+
+Barclay had heard from the planters the belief in Dermot's divinity which
+was universal in their district, and perceived that the legend had reached
+this man. He was quick to see the advantages that they could reap from his
+superstitious fears. He signed to Dermot to be silent and said in solemn
+tones:
+
+"Rama, thou hast grievously offended the gods. Thou knowest the truth at
+last?"
+
+"I do, Sahib. The talk through the Palace, aye, throughout the city, is all
+of the God of the Elephants, of the Terrible One who feeds his herd of
+demons on the flesh of men. The temple of _Gunesh_ will be full indeed
+tonight. But alas! I am an ignorant man. I knew not that the holy one took
+form among the _gora-logue_ (white folk)."
+
+"The gods know no country. The truth, Rama, the truth," said Barclay
+impressively. "Else thou art lost. Shiva-_ji_, mayhap, is hungry and needs
+his meal of flesh."
+
+"Ai! sahib, say not so," wailed the terror-stricken man. "He has feasted
+well today. With my own eyes I saw him feed on Man Singh the Rajput."
+
+Natives believe that an elephant, when it seizes in its mouth the limbs
+of a man that it has killed and is about to tear in pieces, eats his
+flesh. In dread of a like doom, of the terrible vengeance of this
+mysterious Being, god, man, or demon, perhaps all three, from whom
+death shrank aside, whom neither poison of food nor venom of snake could
+harm, who used mad, man-slaying elephants as steeds, Rama unburdened his
+soul. He told how the _Dewan's_ confidential man had bade him carry out
+the attempts on Dermot's life. He showed them that the Major's
+suspicions when he saw the Rajah's soldiery were correct, and that from
+Lalpuri came the inspiration of the carrying-off of Noreen. He told them
+of a party of these same soldiers that had gone on a secret mission into
+the Great Jungle, from which but a few came back after awful sufferings,
+and the strange tales whispered in the bazaar as to the fate of their
+comrades.
+
+He disclosed more. He spoke of mysterious travellers from many lands that
+came to the Palace to confer with the _Dewan_--Chinese, Afghans, Bhutanese,
+Indians of many castes and races, white men not of the sahib-_logue_. He
+said enough to convince his hearers that many threads of the world-wide
+conspiracy against the British Raj led to Lalpuri. There was not proof
+enough yet for the Government of India to take action against its rulers,
+perhaps, but sufficient to show where the arch-conspirators of Bengal were
+to be sought for.
+
+Rama left the room, not pardoned indeed, but with the promise of punishment
+suspended as long as he was true to the oath he had sworn by the Blessed
+Water of the Ganges, to be true slave and bearer of news when Dermot needed
+him.
+
+Long after he left, the two sat and talked of the strange happenings of the
+last few days, and disclosed to each other what they knew of the treason
+that stalked the land, for each was servant of the Crown and his knowledge
+might help the other. And when the hoot of Payne's motor-horn in the outer
+courtyard told them that it was time for Dermot to go, they said good-bye
+in the outwardly careless fashion of the Briton who has looked into
+another's eyes and found him true man and friend.
+
+Then through the darkness into the dawn Dermot sped away with his
+companions from the City of Shame and the Palace of Death.
+
+And Noreen woke later to learn that the man she loved had left her again
+without farewell, that the fog of misunderstanding between them was not yet
+lifted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+THE CAT AND THE TIGER
+
+Several weeks had passed since the Durga Puja Festival. Over the Indian
+Empire the dark clouds were gathering fast. The Pathan tribes along the
+North-west Frontier were straining at the leash; Afridis, Yusufzais,
+Mohmands, all the _Pukhtana_, were restless and excited. The _mullahs_ were
+preaching a holy war; and the _maliks_, or tribal elders, could not
+restrain their young men. Raids into British Indian territory were
+frequent.
+
+There was worse menace behind. The Afghan troops, organised, trained, and
+equipped as they had never been before in their history, were massing near
+the Khyber Pass. Some of the Penlops, the great feudal chieftains of
+little-known Bhutan, were rumoured to have broken out into rebellion
+against the Maharajah because, loyal to his treaties with the Government of
+India, he had refused a Chinese army free passage through the country. All
+the masterless Bhuttia rogues on both sides of the border were sharpening
+their _dahs_ and looking down greedily on the fertile plains below.
+
+All India itself seemed trembling on the verge of revolt. The Punjaub was
+honeycombed with sedition. Men said that the warlike castes and races that
+had helped Britain to hold the land in the Black Year of the Mutiny would
+be the first to tear it from her now. In the Bengals outrages and open
+disloyalty were the order of the day. The curs that had fattened under
+England's protection were the first to snap at her heels. The Day of Doom
+seemed very near. Only the great feudatories of the King-Emperor, the noble
+Princes of India, faithful to their oaths, were loyal.
+
+Through the borderland of Bhutan Dermot and Badshah still ranged, watching
+the many gates through the walls of mountains better than battalions of
+spies. The man rarely slept in a bed. His nights were passed beside his
+faithful friend high up in the Himalayan passes, where the snow was already
+falling, or down in the jungles still reeking of fever and sweltering in
+tropic heat. By his instructions Parker and his two hundred sepoys toiled
+to improve the defences of Ranga Duar; and the subaltern was happy in the
+possession of several machine guns wrung from the Ordnance Department with
+difficulty.
+
+Often, as Dermot sat high perched on the mountain side, searching the
+narrow valleys and deep ravines of Bhutan with powerful glasses, his
+thoughts flew to Noreen safe beyond the giant hills at his back. It cheered
+him to know that he was watching over her safety as well as guarding the
+peace of hundreds of millions in the same land. He had seldom seen her
+since their return from Lalpuri, and on the rare occasions of their meeting
+she seemed to avoid him more than ever. Chunerbutty was always by her side.
+Could there be truth, then, in this fresh story that Ida Smith had told him
+on their last night at the Palace, when she said that she had discovered
+that she was mistaken in believing in Noreen's approaching betrothal to
+Charlesworth, of which she had assured him in Darjeeling? For at Lalpuri
+she said she had extracted from the girl the confession that she had
+refused the Rifleman and others for love of someone in the Plains below.
+And Ida, judging from Chunerbutty's constant attendance on, and
+proprietorial manner with Noreen, confided to Dermot her firm belief that
+the Bengali was the man.
+
+The thought was unbearable to the soldier. As he sat in his lonely eyrie he
+knew now that he loved the girl, that it would be unbearable for him to see
+her another's wife. Those few days at Lalpuri, when first he felt the
+estrangement between them, had revealed the truth to him. When in the
+courtyard of the Palace he saw Death rushing on him he had given her what
+he believed would be his last thought.
+
+He recalled her charm, her delightful comradeship, her brightness, and her
+beauty. It was hateful to think that she would dower this renegade Hindu
+with them all. Dermot had no unjust prejudice against the natives of the
+land in which so much of his life was passed. Like every officer in the
+Indian Army he loved his sepoys and regarded them as his children. Their
+troubles, their welfare, were his. He respected the men of those gallant
+warrior races that once had faced the British valiantly in battle and
+fought as loyally beside them since. But for the effeminate and cowardly
+peoples of India, that ever crawled to kiss the feet of each conqueror of
+the peninsula in turn and then stabbed him in the back if they could, he
+had the contempt that every member of the martial races of the land, every
+Sikh, Rajput, Gurkha, Punjaubi had.
+
+The girl would scarcely have refused so good a match as Charlesworth or
+come away heart-whole from Darjeeling, where so many had striven for her
+favour, if she had gone there without a prior attachment. That she cared
+for no man in England he was sure, for she had often told him that she had
+no desire to return to that country. He had seen her among the planters of
+the district and was certain that she loved none of them. Only Chunerbutty
+was left; it must indeed be he.
+
+He shut up his binoculars and climbed down the rocky pinnacle on which he
+had been perched, and went to eat a cheerless meal where Badshah grazed a
+thousand feet below.
+
+In Malpura Noreen was suffering bitterly for her foolish pride and jealous
+readiness to believe evil of the man she loved. She knew that she was
+entirely to blame for her estrangement from him. He never came to their
+garden now; and to her dismay her brother ignored all hints to invite him.
+For the boy was divided between loyalty to Chunerbutty (whom he had to
+thank for his chance in life) and the man who had twice saved his sister.
+Chunerbutty had reproached him with forgetting what he, the now despised
+Hindu, had done for him in the past, and complained sadly that Miss Daleham
+looked down on him for the colour of his skin. So Fred felt that he must
+choose between two friends and that honour demanded his clinging to the
+older one. Therefore he begged Noreen for his sake not to hurt the
+engineer's feelings and to treat him kindly. She could not refuse, and
+Chunerbutty took every advantage of her sisterly obedience. Whenever they
+went to the club he tried to monopolise her, and delighted in exhibiting
+the terms of friendship on which they appeared to be. The girl felt that
+even her old friends were beginning at last to look askance at her;
+consequently she tried to avoid going to the weekly gatherings.
+
+It happened that on the occasion when Dermot, having arrived at Salchini on
+a visit to Payne, again made his appearance at the club, Daleham had
+insisted on his sister accompanying him there, much against her will.
+Chunerbutty was unable to go with them, being confined to his bungalow with
+a slight touch of fever.
+
+That afternoon Noreen was more than ever conscious of a strained feeling
+and an unmistakable coldness to her on the part of the men whom she knew
+best. And worse, it seemed to her that some young fellows who had only
+recently come to the district and with whom she was little acquainted, were
+inclined to treat her with less respect than usual. She had seen Dermot
+arrive with his host; but, although Payne came to sit down beside her and
+chat, his guest merely greeted her courteously and passed on at once.
+
+All that afternoon it seemed to the girl that something in the atmosphere
+was miserably wrong, but what it was she could not tell. She was bitterly
+disappointed that Dermot kept away from her. It was not the smart of a hurt
+pride, but the bewildered pain of a child that finds that the one it values
+most does not need it. Indeed her best friends, all except Payne, seemed to
+have agreed to ignore her.
+
+Mrs. Rice, however, was even sweeter in her manner than usual when she
+spoke to the girl.
+
+"Where is Mr. Chunerbutty today, dear?" she asked after lunch from where
+she sat on the verandah beside Dermot. Noreen was standing further along it
+with Payne, watching the play on the tennis-court in front of the club
+house.
+
+"He isn't very well," replied the girl. "He's suffering from fever."
+
+"Oh, really? I am so sorry to hear that," exclaimed the older woman. "So
+sad for you, dear. However did you force yourself to leave him?"
+
+Noreen looked at her in surprise.
+
+"Why not? We could do nothing for him," she said. "We sent him soup and
+jelly made by our cook, and Fred went to see him before we started. But he
+didn't want to be disturbed."
+
+Mrs. Rice's manner grew even more sweetly sympathetic.
+
+"I _am_ so sorry," she said. "How worried you must be!"
+
+The girl stared at her in astonishment. She had never expected to find Mrs.
+Rice seriously concerned about any one, and least of all the Hindu, who was
+no favourite of hers.
+
+"Oh, there's really nothing to worry about," she exclaimed impatiently.
+"Fred said he hadn't much of a temperature."
+
+"Yes, I daresay. But you can't help being anxious, I know. I wonder that
+you were able to bring yourself to come here at all, dear," said the older
+woman in honeyed tones.
+
+"But why shouldn't I?"
+
+Noreen's eyebrows were raised in bewilderment. She felt instinctively that
+there was some hidden unfriendliness at the back of Mrs. Rice's sympathetic
+words. She felt that Dermot was watching her.
+
+"Oh, forgive me, dear. I am afraid I'm being indiscreet. I forgot," said
+the other woman. She rose from her chair and turned to the man beside her.
+
+"Major, do take me out to see how the coolies are getting on with the polo
+ground. I hope when it's finished you'll come here to play regularly. These
+boys want someone to show them the game. You military men are the only ones
+who know how it should be played."
+
+She put up her green-lined white sun-umbrella and led the way down the
+verandah steps. With a puckered brow Noreen watched her and her companion
+until they were out of sight round the corner of the little wooden
+building.
+
+"What does Mrs. Rice mean?" she demanded. "I'm sure there's something
+behind her words. She never pretended to like Mr. Chunerbutty. Why should
+she be concerned about him now? Why does she seem to expect me to stay
+behind to nurse him? Of course I would, if he were dangerously ill. But
+he's not."
+
+Payne glanced around. Some of the men, who were sitting near, had heard the
+conversation with Mrs. Rice, and Noreen felt that there was something
+hostile in the way in which they looked at her.
+
+Payne answered in a careless tone:
+
+"Let's sit down. There are a couple of chairs. We'll bag them."
+
+He pointed to two at the far end of the verandah and led the way to them.
+
+When they were seated he said:
+
+"Haven't you any idea of what she means, Miss Daleham?"
+
+The girl stared at him anxiously.
+
+"Then she does mean something, and you know it. Mr. Payne, you have always
+been good to me. Won't you help me? Everyone seems to have grown suddenly
+very unfriendly."
+
+The grey-haired man looked pityingly at her.
+
+"Will you be honest with me, child?" he asked. "Are you engaged to
+Chunerbutty?"
+
+"Engaged? What--to marry him? Good gracious, no!" exclaimed the astonished
+girl, half rising from her chair.
+
+"Will you tell me frankly--have you any intention of marrying him?" he
+persisted.
+
+Noreen stared at him, her cheeks flaming.
+
+"Marry Mr. Chunerbutty? Of course not. How could you think so! Why, he's
+not even a white man."
+
+"Thank God!" Payne exclaimed fervently. "I'm delighted to hear it. I
+couldn't believe it--yet one never knows."
+
+"But what on earth put such a preposterous idea into your head, Mr. Payne?"
+asked Noreen. "And what has this got to do with Mrs. Rice?"
+
+"Because Mrs. Rice said that you were engaged to Chunerbutty."
+
+For a moment Noreen could find no words. Then she leaned forward, her eyes
+flashing.
+
+"Oh, how could she--how could she think so?"
+
+"Perhaps she didn't. But she wanted us to. She said that you had told her
+you were engaged to him, but wanted it kept secret for the present. So
+naturally she told everyone."
+
+"Told everyone that I was going to marry a native? Oh, how cruel of her!
+How could she be so wicked!" exclaimed the girl, much distressed. Then she
+added: "Did _you_ believe it?"
+
+Payne shook his head.
+
+"Candidly, child, I didn't know what to think. I hoped it wasn't true. But
+of late that damned Bengali seemed so intimate with you. He apparently
+wanted everyone to see on what very friendly terms you and he were."
+
+"Did Major Dermot believe it too?"
+
+"I don't know," said Payne doubtfully. "Dermot's not the fellow to talk
+about women. He's never mentioned you."
+
+"But how do you know that Mrs. Rice said such a thing? Did she tell you?"
+
+"No; she knows that I am your friend, and I daresay she was afraid to tell
+me such a lie. But she told others."
+
+He turned in his chair and called to a young fellow standing near the bar
+of the club.
+
+"I say, Travers, do you mind coming here a moment? Pull up a chair and sit
+down."
+
+Travers was a straight, clean-minded boy, one of those of their community
+whom Noreen liked best, and she had felt hurt at his marked avoidance of
+her all the afternoon.
+
+"Look here, youngster," said Payne in a low voice, "did Mrs. Rice tell you
+that Miss Daleham was engaged to Chunerbutty?"
+
+Travers looked at him in surprise.
+
+"Yes. I told you so the other day. She said that Miss Daleham had confided
+to her that they were engaged, but wanted it kept secret for a time until
+he could get another job."
+
+"Then, my boy, you'll be pleased to hear it's a damned lie," said Payne
+impressively. "Miss Daleham would never marry a black man."
+
+The boy's face lit up.
+
+"I am glad!" he cried impulsively. "I'm very, very sorry, Miss Daleham, for
+helping to spread the lie. But I only told Payne. I knew he was a friend of
+yours, and I hoped he'd be able to contradict the yarn. For I felt very
+sick about it."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Travers," the girl said gratefully. "But I'm glad that you
+did tell him. Otherwise I might not have heard it, at least not from a
+friend."
+
+Just then the four men on the tennis-court finished their game and came in
+to the bar. Fred Daleham and another took their places and began a single.
+Mrs. Rice, with Dermot and several other men, came up the steps of the
+verandah, and, sitting down, ordered tea for the party.
+
+Noreen looked at her with angry eyes, and, rising, walked along the
+verandah to where she was sitting surrounded by the group of men.
+
+Her enemy looked up as she approached.
+
+"Are you coming to have tea, dear?" she said sweetly. "I haven't ordered
+any for you, but I daresay they'll find you a cup."
+
+Dermot rose to offer the girl his chair; but, ignoring him, she confronted
+the other woman.
+
+"Mrs. Rice, will you please tell me if it is true that you said I was
+engaged to Mr. Chunerbutty?" she demanded in a firm tone.
+
+It was as if a bomb had exploded in the club. Noreen's voice carried
+clearly through the building, so that everyone inside it heard her words
+distinctly. The only two members of their little community who missed them
+were her brother and his opponent on the tennis-court.
+
+Mrs. Rice gasped and stared at the indignant girl, while the men about her
+sat up suddenly in their chairs.
+
+"I said so? What an idea!" ejaculated the planter's wife. Then in an
+insinuating voice she added: "You know I never betray secrets."
+
+"There is no secret. Please answer me. Did you say to any one that I had
+told you I was engaged to him?" persisted the girl.
+
+The older woman tried to crush her by a haughty assumption of superiority.
+
+"You absurd child, you must be careful what accusations you bring. You
+shouldn't say such things."
+
+"Kindly answer my question," demanded the angry girl.
+
+Mrs. Rice lay back in her chair with affected carelessness.
+
+"Well, aren't you engaged to him? Won't even he--?" she broke off and
+sniggered impertinently.
+
+"I am not. Most certainly not," said Noreen hotly. "I insist on your
+answering me. Did you say that I had told you we were and asked you to keep
+it a secret?"
+
+"No, I did not. Who did I tell?" snapped the other woman.
+
+"Me for one," broke in a voice; and Dermot took a step forward. "You
+told me very clearly and precisely, Mrs. Rice, that Miss Daleham had
+confided to you under the pledge of secrecy--which, by the way, you were
+breaking--that she was engaged to this man."
+
+There was an uncomfortable pause. Noreen glanced gratefully at her
+champion. The other men shifted uneasily, and Mrs. Rice's husband, who was
+standing at the bar, hastily hid his face in a whiskey and soda.
+
+Noreen turned again to her traducer.
+
+"Will you kindly contradict your false statement?" she asked.
+
+The other woman looked down sullenly and made no reply.
+
+"Then I shall," continued the girl. She faced the group of men before her,
+Payne and Travers by her side.
+
+"I ask you to believe, gentlemen, that there never was nor could be any
+question of an engagement between Mr. Chunerbutty and me," she said firmly.
+"And I give you my word of honour that I never said such a thing to Mrs.
+Rice."
+
+She waited for a moment, then turned and walked away down the verandah,
+followed by Payne and Travers, leaving a pained silence behind her. Mrs.
+Rice tried to regain her self-confidence.
+
+"The idea of that chit talking to me like that!" she exclaimed. "It was
+only meant for a joke, if I did say it. Who'd have ever thought she'd have
+taken it that way?"
+
+"Any decent man--or woman, Mrs. Rice," said Dermot severely. Then, after
+looking at Rice to see if he wished to take up the cudgels on his wife's
+behalf, and failing to catch that gentleman's carefully-averted eye, the
+soldier turned and walked deliberately to where Noreen was sitting, now
+suffering from the reaction from her anger and frightened at the memory of
+her boldness.
+
+The other men got up one by one and went to the bar, from which the hen
+pecked Rice was peremptorily called by his angry wife and ordered to drive
+her home.
+
+After the Dalehams had returned to their bungalow the girl told her brother
+of what had happened at the club. He was exceedingly angry and agreed that
+it would be wiser for her to keep Chunerbutty at a distance in future. And
+later on he had no objection to her inviting Dermot to pay them a flying
+visit when he was again in their neighbourhood. For the incident at the
+club had brought about a resumption of the old friendly relations between
+Noreen and Dermot, who occasionally invited her to accompany him on Badshah
+for a short excursion into the forest, much to her delight. She confided to
+him the offer of the necklace and learned in return his belief that the
+Rajah was the instigator of the attempt to carry her off. When her brother
+heard of this and of Chunerbutty's action in the matter of the jewels he
+was so enraged that he quarrelled for the first time with his Hindu friend.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dermot was kept informed of whatever happened in Lalpuri by the repentant
+Rama through the medium of Barclay. For the Deputy Superintendent had been
+appointed to a special and important post in the Secret Police and told off
+to watch the conspiracy in Bengal. This he owed to a strong recommendation
+from Dermot to the Head of the Department in Simla. Rama proved invaluable.
+Through him they learned of the despatch of an important Brahmin messenger
+and intermediary from the Palace to Bhutan, by way of Malpura, where he was
+to visit some of his caste-fellows on Parry's garden. The information
+reached Dermot too late to enable him to seize the man on the tea-estate.
+So he hurried to the border to intercept the messenger before he crossed
+it. But here, too, he was unsuccessful. Certain that the Brahmin had not
+slipped through the meshes of the net formed by his secret service of
+subsidised Bhuttias, Dermot returned to the jungle to make search for him
+along the way. But all to no avail, much to his chagrin; for he had reason
+to hope that he would find on the emissary proof enough of the treason of
+the rulers of Lalpuri to hang them. He went back to Malpura to prosecute
+enquiries.
+
+To console himself for his disappointment Dermot determined to have a day's
+shooting in the jungle, a treat he rarely had leisure for now. He invited
+the Dalehams to accompany him. Noreen accepted eagerly, but her brother was
+obliged to decline, much to his regret. For Parry was now always in a state
+bordering on lunacy, and his brutal treatment of the coolies, when his
+assistant was not there to restrain him, several times nearly drove them
+into open revolt. So Dermot and his companion set off alone.
+
+As they went along they chanced to pass near a little village buried in the
+heart of the jungle. A man working on the small patch of cleared soil in
+which he and his fellows grew their scanty crops saw them, recognised
+Badshah and his male rider, and ran away shouting to the hamlet. Then out
+of it swarmed men, women, and children, the last naked, while only
+miserable rags clothed the skinny frames of their elders. All prostrated
+themselves in the dust in Badshah's path. The elephant stopped. Then a
+wizened old man with scanty white beard raised his hands imploringly to
+Dermot.
+
+"Lord! Holy One! Have mercy on us!"
+
+The rest chorused: "Have mercy!"
+
+"Spare thy slaves, O Lord!" went on the old man. "Spare us ere all perish.
+We worship at thy shrine. We grudge not thy elephants our miserable crops.
+Are they not thy servants? But let not the Striped Death slay all of us."
+
+Dermot questioned him and then explained to Noreen that a man-eating tiger
+had taken up its residence near the village and was rapidly killing off its
+inhabitants.
+
+"Oh, do help them," she said. "Can't you shoot it?"
+
+He reflected for a few moments.
+
+"Yes, I think I know how to get it. Will you wait for me in the village?"
+
+"What? Mayn't I go with you to see you kill it? Please let me. I promise
+I'll not scream or be stupid."
+
+He looked at her admiringly.
+
+"Bravo!" he said. "I'm sure you'll be all right. Very well. I promise you
+you shall see a sight that not many other women have seen."
+
+He borrowed a _puggri_--a strip of cotton cloth several yards long--from a
+villager, and bade them show him where the tiger lay up during the heat of
+the day. When they had done so from a safe distance, he turned Badshah,
+and, to Noreen's surprise, sped off swiftly in the opposite direction.
+
+Suddenly the girl touched his arm quietly.
+
+"Look! I see a wild elephant. There's another! And another!" she whispered.
+
+"Yes; I've come in search of them," he replied in his ordinary tone. "It's
+Badshah's herd."
+
+"Is it really? How wonderful! How did you know where to find them?" she
+cried, thrilled by the sight of the great beasts all round them and
+exclaiming with delight at the solemn little woolly babies, many newly
+born. For this was the calving season.
+
+Dermot uttered a peculiar cry that sent the cow-elephants huddling
+together, their young hiding under their bodies, while from every
+quarter the great tuskers broke out through the undergrowth and came to
+him in a mass. Then, as Badshah turned and set off at a rapid pace, the
+bull-elephants followed.
+
+When he arrived near the spot in which the man-eater was said to have his
+lair, Dermot stopped them all. Despite her protests he tied Noreen firmly
+with the _puggri_ to the rope crossing Badshah's pad. Then he drove his
+animal into the herd of tuskers, which had crowded together, and divided
+them into two bodies. The tiger was reported to lie up in a narrow _nullah_
+filled and fringed with low bushes. From the near bank to where Badshah
+stood the forest was free from undergrowth, which came to within a score of
+yards of the far bank.
+
+Badshah smelled the ground, and the other elephants followed his example
+and, when they scented the tiger's trail, began to be restless and excited.
+A sharp cry from Dermot and the two bodies of tuskers separated and moved
+away, branching off half right and left, and disappeared in the
+undergrowth.
+
+Dermot cocked his double-barrelled rifle. There was a long pause. A strange
+feeling of awe crept over Noreen at the realisation of her companion's
+strange power over these great animals. No wonder the superstitious natives
+believed him to be a god.
+
+Presently there was a loud crashing in the undergrowth beyond the _nullah_,
+and Noreen saw the saplings in it agitated, as if by the passage of the
+elephants. The tiger gave no sign of life. The girl's heart beat fast, and
+her breath came quickly. But her companion never moved.
+
+Suddenly Noreen gasped, for through the screen of thin bushes that fringed
+the edge of the _nullah_ a hideous painted mask was thrust out. It was a
+tiger's face, the ears flattened to the skull, the eyes flaming, the lips
+drawn back to bare the teeth in a ghastly snarl. The brute saw Badshah and
+drew quietly back. A pause. Then it sprang into full view and poised for a
+single instant on the far bank. But at that very moment the line of tuskers
+burst out of the tangled undergrowth and the tiger jumped down into the
+_nullah_ again.
+
+Then like a flash it leaped into sight over the near bank, bounding in a
+furious charge straight at Badshah. Noreen held her breath as it crouched
+to spring. Dermot's rifle was at his shoulder, and he pressed the trigger.
+There was a click--the cartridge had missed fire. And the tiger sprang full
+at the man.
+
+But as it did so Badshah swung swiftly round--well for Noreen that she was
+securely fastened--for he had been standing a little sideways. And with an
+upward sweep of his head he caught the leaping tiger in mid-air on the
+point of his tusk, hurling it back a dozen yards.
+
+As the baffled brute struck the ground with a heavy thud it lay still for a
+second and then sprang up, but at that moment Dermot's second barrel rang
+out, and, shot through the brain, the tiger collapsed, its head resting on
+its paws. A tremor shook the powerful frame, the tail twitched feebly, then
+all was still.
+
+The long line of elephants halted on the far bank of the _nullah_, swung
+into file, and moved swiftly out of sight. Their work was done.
+
+Dermot reloaded and urged Badshah forward, covering the tiger with his
+rifle. There was no need. It was dead.
+
+Noreen leant forward and looked down at the striped body.
+
+"What a splendid beast!" she exclaimed.
+
+Dermot turned to her.
+
+"You kept your word well, Miss Daleham," he said. "I congratulate you on
+your pluck. The highest compliment I can pay you is to say that I forgot
+you were there. Not many men would have sat as quiet as you did when the
+cartridge missed fire and the brute sprang."
+
+The girl's eyes sparkled and she blushed. His praise was very dear to her.
+
+In a lighter tone he continued:
+
+"As a reward and a souvenir you shall have the skin. I'll get the
+villagers to take it off. Now stay on Badshah, please, while I slip down
+and have a look at the tiger's little nest."
+
+With rifle at the ready, lest the dead animal should have had a mate,
+he climbed down into the _nullah_. He had not gone ten yards before his
+foot struck against something hard. In the pressed-down weeds was the
+half-gnawed skull of a man. The skin and flesh of the face were fairly
+intact. He took the head up in his hands. On the forehead were painted
+three white horizontal strokes. The tiger's last prey had been a
+Brahmin. A thought flashed across Dermot's mind. He searched about.
+A few bones, parts of the hands and feet, some rags of clothing--and
+a long flat narrow leather case. He tore this open and hastily took
+out the papers it contained; and as he skimmed through them his eyes
+glistened with delight.
+
+He sprang up out of the _nullah_ and ran towards Badshah. When the
+elephant's trunk had swung him up on to the massive head he said:
+
+"We must go back at once. I 'll tell the villagers as we pass to flay the
+tiger. I must borrow your brother's pony and ride as fast as I can to
+Salchini to get Payne's motor to take me to the railway."
+
+"The railway?" exclaimed the girl. "Why, what is the matter? Where are you
+going?"
+
+"To Simla. I've found the lost messenger. Aye, and perhaps information that
+may save India and proofs that will hang our friends in the Palace of
+Lalpuri. _Mul_, Badshah!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+TEMPEST
+
+The storm had burst on India. In the Khyber Pass there was fiercer fighting
+than even that blood-stained defile had ever seen. The flames kindled by
+fanaticism and lust of plunder blazed up along the North-west Frontier and
+burned fiercest around Peshawar, where the Pathan tribes gathered thickest.
+No news came from the interior of Bhutan.
+
+So far, however, the interior of the land was comparatively tranquil.
+Sporadic outbreaks in the Bombay Presidency and the Punjaub had been
+crushed promptly. The great plan of a wide-spread concerted rising
+throughout the peninsula had come to naught, thanks to the papers that
+Dermot had found in the man-eater's den. He had carried them straight to
+Simla himself, for closer examination had confirmed his first impression
+and shown him that they were far too important to be confided to any one
+else.
+
+The information in them proved to be of the utmost value, for they
+disclosed the complete plans of the conspirators and told the very dates
+arranged for the advance of the Afghan army and the attacks of the Pathans,
+which were to take place simultaneously with the general rising in India.
+This latter the military authorities were enabled to deal with so
+effectively that it came to nothing.
+
+Incidentally the papers conclusively proved the treason of the Rajah and
+the _Dewan_ of Lalpuri, and that the Palace was one of the most important
+centres of the conspiracy. To Dermot's amazement no action was taken
+against the two arch-plotters, owing to the incredible timidity of the
+chief civil authorities in India and their susceptibility to political
+influences in England. For Lalpuri and its rulers had been taken under the
+very particular protection of the Socialist Party; and the Government of
+India feared to touch the traitors. The excuse given for this leniency was
+that any attempt to punish them might be the signal for the long delayed
+rising in Lalpuri and Eastern Bengal generally.
+
+A few days after Dermot's return from Simla orders came to him from the
+Adjutant General to hand over the command of the detachment to Parker, as
+he himself had been appointed extra departmental Political Officer of the
+Bhutan Border, with headquarters at Ranga Duar. This released him from the
+responsibilities of his military duties and left him free to devote himself
+to watching the frontier. He was able to keep in communication with Parker
+by means of signal stations established on high peaks near the Fort,
+visible from many points in the mountains and the forest; for he carried a
+signalling outfit always with him.
+
+Thanks to this precaution the garrison of the outpost was not taken by
+surprise when one morning the hills around Ranga Duar were seen to be
+covered with masses of armed men, and long lines of troops wound down the
+mountain paths. For from the peaks above the pass through which he had once
+gone to the Death Place of the elephants, Dermot had looked down upon an
+invading force of Chinese regulars supported by levies of Bhutanese from
+the interior and a wild mob of masterless Bhuttias from both sides of the
+border. He had flashed a warning to Parker in ample time, returned to the
+_peelkhana_ and bidden Ramnath hide with Badshah in a concealed spot in the
+foothills where he could easily find them, sent the other _mahouts_ and
+elephants out of reach of the invaders, and climbed up to the Fort to watch
+with his late subaltern the arrival of the enemy.
+
+"Well, Major, it's come our way at last," said Parker as they greeted each
+other. "Thanks to your warning we're ready for them. But we are not the
+only people who've been expecting them. The wires are cut, the road
+blocked, and we are isolated."
+
+"Yes, I know. Many messengers have got through from the enemy; for my
+cordon of faithful Bhuttias has disappeared. The members of it have joined
+the invaders in the hope of loot." Parker looked up at the hills, black
+with descending forms.
+
+"There's a mighty lot of the beggars," he said simply. "Do you remember our
+discussing this very happening once and your saying that we weren't equal
+to stopping a whole army? What's your advice now?"
+
+"See it out. We're bound to go under in the end, but we'll be able, I hope,
+to keep them off for a few days. And every hour we hold them up will be
+worth a lot to those below. We shan't be relieved, for there aren't any men
+to spare in India. But we'll have done our part."
+
+"I say, Major, wasn't it lucky we got those machine guns in time? I've
+plenty of ammunition, so we ought to be able to put up a good fight.
+What'll they do first?"
+
+"Try to rush the defences at once. They have a lot of irregulars whom the
+Chinese General won't be able to keep in hand. He won't mind their being
+wiped out either. I see you've made a good job of clearing the foreground.
+You haven't left them much cover. So you blew up our poor old Mess and the
+bungalows?"
+
+"Yes. The rubble came in handy for filling in that _nullah_. Hullo!"
+Parker's glasses went to his eyes. "You're right, by Jingo! They're
+gathering for an assault. Gad! what a beautiful mark for shrapnel. I wish
+we'd a gun or two."
+
+A storm of shells from the mountain batteries, the only artillery that the
+enemy had been able to bring with them through the Himalayas, fell on the
+Fort and its defences. Then masses of men rushed down the hills to the
+attack. Not a shot was fired at them. Encouraged by the garrison's silence
+and carried away by the prospect of an easy victory, they lost all
+formation and crowded together in dense swarms.
+
+The two British officers watched them from the central redoubt. Parker held
+his binoculars to his eyes with his right hand, while his left forefinger
+rested on a polished button in a little machine on the table beside him.
+The assailants, favoured by the fall of the ground, soon reached the limits
+of the cantonments, bare now of buildings and trees. There were trained
+Chinese troops, some tall, light-complexioned Northerners of Manchu blood,
+others stocky, yellow men from Canton and the Southern Provinces. Mobs of
+Bhutanese with heads, chests, legs, and feet bare, fierce but undisciplined
+fighters, armed with varied weapons, led the van. Uttering weird yells and
+brandishing their _dahs_, spears, muskets, and rifles, they rushed towards
+the fort, from which no shot was fired. Accustomed to the lofty _jongs_, or
+castles, of their own land they deemed the breastworks and trenches
+unworthy of notice. And the stone barracks and walls in the Fort were
+rapidly melting away under the rain of shells.
+
+Flushed with victory the swarming masses came on. But suddenly the world
+upheaved behind the leaders. Rocks, earth, and rubble went up in clouds
+into the air, and with them scores of the Chinese regular troops, under
+whose very feet mines of the new explosive had been fired by Parker. And
+the howling mobs in front were held up by barbed wire, while from the
+despised trenches and breastworks a storm of lead swept the crowded masses
+of the attackers away. At that close range every bullet from the machine
+guns and rifles of the defenders drove through two or three assailants,
+every bomb and grenade slew a group. Only in one spot by sheer weight of
+numbers did they break through.
+
+But like a thunderbolt fell the counter-attack. Stalwart Punjaubi
+Mohammedans, led by Dermot, swept down upon them, and with bomb and bayonet
+drove them out. The survivors turned and staggered up the hills again,
+withering away under the steady fire of the sepoys, who adjusted their
+sights with the utmost coolness as the range increased.
+
+Again and again the assaults were repeated and repulsed, until the
+undisciplined and demoralised Bhutanese refused to advance, and the Chinese
+regulars attacked alone. But fresh mines exploded under them; the deadly
+fire of the defenders' machine guns blasted them; and the Pekin general
+looked anxious as his best troops melted away. He would not go far into
+India if every small body of its soldiers took equally heavy toll of his
+force. So he ordered a cessation of the assaults.
+
+But there was no respite for the little garrison. Day and night the
+pitiless bombardment by the mountain batteries and long-range fire of
+rifles and machine guns never ceased. And death was busy among the
+defenders.
+
+On the third night of the siege Dermot and the subaltern knelt side by side
+in what was now the last line of the defence.
+
+"I ought not to ask you to go, Major," whispered Parker. "It's not possible
+to get through, I'm afraid. I can't forget the awful sight of the fiendish
+tortures they inflicted on poor Hikmat Khan and Shaikh Ismail today in full
+view of us all. They tried to slip through last night with their naked
+bodies covered with oil. It's a terrible death for you if they catch you.
+It would be much easier to die fighting. Yet someone ought to go."
+
+"Yes, they must be told at Headquarters," replied his companion in an
+equally low tone. "We can't hold them two days longer."
+
+"Not that, if they try to rush us again. Our ammunition is giving out,"
+said Parker. "I'd go myself if I weren't commanding here. But I'd have no
+chance of getting through. You are our only hope. Oh, I don't mean of
+relief. There's no possibility of that."
+
+"No; if I do manage to get into touch with Headquarters, it would be too
+late, even if they could spare any troops."
+
+"Yes, it's all over now, bar the shouting. Well, we've had some jolly times
+together, sir, you and I, in this little place, haven't we? Do you remember
+when the Dalehams were up here? What a nice girl she was. I hope she's
+safe."
+
+"I hope to Heaven she is," muttered Dermot. "Well, Parker, I must say
+good-bye. We've been good friends, you and I; and I'm sorry it's the
+end."
+
+In the darkness their hands met in a firm grip.
+
+"One word, sir," whispered the subaltern. "If you do pull through, you've
+got my mother's address. You'll let her know? She thinks a lot of me, poor
+old lady."
+
+Dermot answered him only by a pressure of the hand. The next moment he was
+gone. Parker, straining eyes and ears, saw nothing, heard nothing.
+
+Half an hour later a picquet of slant-eyed men lying on the steep slopes of
+the hill below the Fort saw above them a man's figure dark against the
+paling stars. They challenged and sprang towards it with levelled bayonets.
+The next instant they were hurled apart, dashed to the ground, trampled to
+death. One as he expired had a shadowy vision of some awful bulk towering
+black against the coming dawn.
+
+The sun was low in the heavens when Dermot awoke in a bracken-carpeted
+glade of the forest thirty miles away from Ranga Duar. Over him Badshah
+stood watchfully. The man yawned, rubbed his eyes and sat up. He looked at
+his watch.
+
+"Good Heavens! I've slept for hours!" he cried.
+
+Overcome by fatigue, for he had not even lain down once since the siege
+began, and finding that he was in danger of falling off the elephant, he
+had dismounted for a few minutes' rest. But exhausted Nature had conquered
+him, and he had fallen into a deep sleep. Haggard, hollow-eyed, and worn
+out, despite the rest, he staggered to his feet and was swung up to
+Badshah's neck by the crooked trunk and started again.
+
+He was hastening towards Salchini, where he hoped to secure Payne's car, if
+the owner had not fled, and try to get into touch with Army Headquarters.
+But what to do if his friend had gone he hardly knew. The heavy firing at
+Ranga Duar, echoed by the mountains, must have been heard in the district;
+and all the planters had probably taken the warning and gone away. He was
+racked with anxiety as to Noreen's fate and could only hope that at the
+first alarm her brother had hurried her off. But there was no military
+station nearer than Calcutta or Darjeeling, and by this time it was
+probable that the whole of Eastern Bengal was in revolt. God help the
+Englishwoman that fell into its people's hands! The temptation to turn
+aside to Malpura was great. But Dermot overcame it. His duty came first.
+
+Darkness had fallen on the jungle now. Except to lessen his speed it made
+little difference to the elephant; but for the man it was harder to find
+his way. On the twisting jungle tracks his luminous compass was of little
+use. He was forced to trust mainly to the animal.
+
+But soon a suspicion arose in his mind that Badshah had swerved away from
+the direction in which Salchini lay and was heading for Malpura. It became
+certainty when they reached a deep _nullah_ in the forest which Dermot knew
+was on the route to that garden. He tried to turn the elephant. Badshah
+paid no heed to him and held on his way with an invincible determination
+that made the man suspect there was a grave reason for his obstinacy. He
+knew too well the animal's strange and mysterious intelligence. He gave up
+contending uselessly and was borne along through the dark forest
+unresisting. Over the tree-tops floated the long, wailing cry of a Giant
+Owl circling against the stars. Close to their path the warning bark of a
+_khakur_ deer was answered by the harsh braying roar of a tiger. Far away
+the metallic trumpeting of a wild elephant rang out into the night.
+
+Presently Dermot saw a red glow through the trees ahead. Badshah never
+checked his pace but swept on until the glow became a ruddy glare staining
+the tree-trunks. Suddenly the stars shone overhead. They were clear of the
+jungle; and as they emerged on the open clearing of the tea-garden a column
+of fire blazed up ahead of them.
+
+A chill fear smote Dermot. He would have urged Badshah on, but the elephant
+did not need it. Rapidly they sped along the soft road towards the leaping
+flames, which the soldier soon realised rose from the burning factory and
+withering sheds. And black against the light danced hundreds of figures,
+while yells and wild cries rent the air. And, well to one side, a fresh
+burst of flame and sparks leapt up into the night. It was one of the
+bungalows afire. Round it more figures moved fantastically. A groan came
+from the man's lips. Was it Daleham's bungalow that burned?
+
+All at once Badshah stopped of his own accord and sank down on his knees.
+Mechanically his rider slipped to the ground and stood staring at the
+strange scene. He hardly noticed that the elephant rose, touched him
+caressingly with its trunk, swung round and sped away towards the forest.
+Half-dazed and heedless of danger Dermot hurried forward. Again the flames
+shot up, and by their light he saw to his relief that the Dalehams'
+bungalow was still standing. Parry's house was burning furiously. Pistol in
+hand he ran forward, scarcely cognizant of the crowds of shifting figures
+around the blazing buildings, deaf to their triumphant yells. Groups of
+natives crossed his path, shouting and leaping into the air excitedly, but
+they paid no attention to him. But, as he ran, he hit up against one man
+who turned and, seeing his white face, yelled and sprang away.
+
+As Dermot neared the Dalehams' bungalow he saw that it was surrounded by a
+cordon of coolies armed with rifles and strung out many yards apart. He
+raced swiftly for a gap between two of them; but a man rose from the ground
+and snatched at him. The soldier struck savagely at him with the hand in
+which the pistol was firmly clenched, putting all his weight into the blow.
+The native crumpled and fell in a heap.
+
+Dashing on Dermot shouted Daleham's name. From behind a barricade of boxes
+on the verandah a stern voice which he recognised as belonging to one of
+the Punjaubi servants whom he had provided, called out:
+
+"_Kohn hai? Kohn atha?_ (Who is there? Who comes?)"
+
+"Sher Afzul! It is I. Dermot Sahib," he replied, as he sprang up the
+verandah steps.
+
+The muzzle of a rifle was pointed at him over the barricade, and a bearded
+face peered at him.
+
+"It is the Major Sahib!" said the Mohammedan. "In the name of Allah, Sahib,
+have you brought your sepoys?"
+
+"No; I am alone. Where are the Sahib and the missie _baba?_"
+
+"In the bungalow. Enter, Sahib."
+
+Dermot climbed over the barricade and pushed open the door of the
+dining-room, which was in darkness. But the heavy curtain dividing it
+from the drawing-room was dragged aside and Daleham appeared in the
+doorway, outlined against the faint light of a turned-down lamp. Behind
+him Noreen was rising from a chair.
+
+"Who's there?" cried the boy, raising a revolver.
+
+"It's all right, Daleham. It's I, Dermot. I'm alone, I'm sorry to say."
+
+A stifled cry burst from the girl.
+
+"Oh, you are safe, thank God!" she cried, her hand at her heart.
+
+"What has happened here?" asked Dermot, entering the room.
+
+Fred let fall the curtain as he answered:
+
+"Hell's broke loose on the garden, sir. The coolies have mutinied. Parry's
+dead, murdered; and we're alive only by the kind mercies of that brute
+Chunerbutty, damn him! You were right about him, Major; and I was a
+fool.... Is it true you've been attacked up in Ranga Duar?" he continued.
+
+"Are you wounded, Major Dermot?" broke in the girl anxiously.
+
+"No, Miss Daleham. I'm quite safe and sound."
+
+Then he told them briefly what had happened. When he had finished he asked
+them when the trouble began at Malpura.
+
+"Three days ago," replied Fred. "The wind was blowing from the north, and
+we heard firing up in the mountains. I thought you were having an extra go
+of musketry there. But the coolies suddenly stopped work and gathered
+outside their village, where those infernal Brahmins harangued them. I went
+to order them back to their jobs----".
+
+"Where was Parry?"
+
+"Lying dead drunk in his bungalow. Well, some of the coolies attacked me
+with _lathis_, others tried to protect me. The Brahmins told me that the
+end of the British _Raj_ (dominion) had come and that you were being
+attacked in Ranga Duar by a big army from China and would be wiped out.
+Then I was hustled back to the bungalow where those Mohammedan servants
+that you got for us--lucky you did!--turned out with rifles, which they
+said afterwards you'd given them, and wanted to fire on the mob. But I
+stopped them."
+
+"Where was Chunerbutty?"
+
+"Oh, he hadn't thrown off the mask yet. He came to me and said he was a
+prisoner and would not be allowed to leave the estate. But he advised me to
+ride over to Granger or some of the other fellows and get their help. But I
+wouldn't leave Noreen; and Sher Afzul told me that it was as bad on the
+other gardens. But only today the real trouble began."
+
+"What happened?"
+
+"Some news apparently reached the coolies that drove them mad with delight.
+They murdered the Parsi storekeeper, looted his place, and got drunk on his
+_daru_. Then they started killing the few Mohammedans we had on the estate.
+Some of the women and children got to us and we took them in. But the rest,
+even the little babies, were murdered by the brutes.
+
+"I went over to Parry, but he was still too drunk to understand me. I was
+trying to rouse him when I heard shouts and ran out on the verandah. All
+the coolies, men, women, and children, were streaming towards the
+bungalows, mad with excitement, screaming and yelling. The men and even
+most of the boys carried weapons. The Brahmins were leading them. They made
+for Chunerbutty's house first. I was going to run to his assistance, when
+he came out and they cheered him like anything. He was in native dress and
+had marks painted on his forehead like the other Brahmins."
+
+"Yes; go on. What happened then?"
+
+"The engineer seemed as excited and mad as the rest. He ran down his steps,
+put himself at the head of the mob, shouted out something, and pointed to
+Parry's bungalow. They all rushed over to it, yelling like mad. Poor old
+Parr heard them and, dazed and drunk, staggered out on the verandah in his
+pyjamas and bare feet. Chunerbutty and the Brahmins came up the steps,
+driving back the crowd, which tried to follow them, howling like demons."
+
+Fred passed his hand across his eyes. Dermot bent forward and stared
+eagerly at him, while Noreen looked only at the soldier.
+
+"I called out to the engineer and asked him what it all meant," went on the
+boy, "but he took no notice of me. Parry tottered towards him, abusing him.
+Chunerbutty let him come to within a yard or two, then pulled out a pistol
+and fired three shots straight at the old man's heart. Poor old Parr fell
+dead."
+
+Daleham paused for a moment.
+
+"Poor old chap! He had his faults; but he had his good points, too. Well,
+I rushed towards him, but the Bengalis fell on me, knocked me down, and
+overpowered me. The mob outside yelled for my blood; but Chunerbutty shut
+them up. I was allowed to get on my feet again; and Chunerbutty held a
+pistol to my head, and cursed me and ordered me to go back to my bungalow
+and wait. He said that somebody would come here tomorrow to settle what was
+to be my fate and to take Noreen."
+
+The girl sprang up.
+
+"You never told me that," she cried.
+
+"No; it wasn't any use distressing you," replied her brother. "But I had to
+tell the Major."
+
+She turned impetuously to Dermot and stretched out her arms to him.
+
+"You won't let them take me, will you? Oh, say you won't!" she said with a
+little sob.
+
+He took both her hands in his.
+
+"No, little girl, I won't. Not while I live."
+
+"You'll kill me first? Promise me."
+
+"On my honour."
+
+She gave a sigh of relief and, strangely content, sank back into her chair.
+But she still held one of his hands clasped tightly in both of hers.
+
+"Well, that's pretty well all there is to tell, Major," her brother went
+on. "I came back here, and the servants and I tried to put the house into a
+state of defence. No one's come near us so far."
+
+"So Chunerbutty was at the head of affairs here. I thought so, I suppose
+the someone is that scoundrelly Rajah. He'll make his conditions known and,
+if you don't surrender, they'll attack us. Now, let's see what we've got as
+garrison. We two and the servants--seven. How are you off for weapons? I
+left my rifle behind."
+
+"The servants have got their rifles and plenty of ammunition. I have a
+double-barrelled .400 cordite rifle and a shot-gun. If it comes to a scrap
+I'll take that and leave you the rifle. You're a much better shot; and I
+can't miss at close quarters with a scatter-gun."
+
+"Do you think there's any hope for us?" asked the girl quietly.
+
+"Frankly, I don't. I'd not put it so bluntly, only I've seen you in a tight
+corner before, Miss Daleham, and you weren't afraid."
+
+"I am not now," she replied calmly.
+
+"I believe we'd hold off these coolies, aye, and the Rajah's soldiers too,
+if they came. But we may have the Chinese troops on us at any minute; and
+that's a different matter."
+
+"But why should you stay with us, Major Dermot?" said the girl anxiously.
+"As you got in through these men, surely you could escape the same way."
+
+"I'll be candid with you, Miss Daleham, and tell you that if I could I
+would. For it's my duty to go on and report. But I'm stranded without my
+elephant, and even if I had him it wouldn't be much good unless I had
+Payne's car. And what has happened here must have happened on the other
+gardens. Without the motor I'd be too late with my news. So I'll stay here
+and take my chance."
+
+Then he laughed and added:
+
+"But cheer up; we're not dead yet. If only I'd Badshah I'd take you both up
+on him and we'd break through the whole Chinese Army."
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"We couldn't go. We couldn't leave those poor women and children and the
+servants."
+
+"I forgot them. No; you're right. Well, I haven't lost all hope. I have
+great faith in old Badshah. I shouldn't be surprised if he got us out of
+this scrape, as he did before."
+
+"Oh, I forgot him. I believe he'll help us still," cried the girl. "Where
+did you leave him?"
+
+"He left me. He's quite able to take care of himself," replied Dermot
+grimly. "Now, Daleham, please take me round the house and show me the
+defences; and we'll arrange about the roster of sentry-duty with the
+servants. Please excuse me, Miss Daleham."
+
+Through the weary night the two men, when not taking their turn on guard,
+sat and talked with Noreen in the drawing-room. For the girl refused to go
+to bed and, only to content them, lay back on a settee.
+
+When she and Dermot were left alone she sighed and said:
+
+"Ah, my beautiful forest! I must say good-bye to it. How I have enjoyed the
+happy days in it."
+
+"Some of them were too exciting to be pleasant," he replied smiling.
+
+"But the others made up for them. I like to think of you in the forest
+best," she said dreamily. "We were real friends there."
+
+"And elsewhere, I hope."
+
+"No. In Darjeeling you didn't like me."
+
+"I did. Tonight I can be frank and tell you that I was glad to go to it
+because you were there."
+
+She looked at him wonderingly.
+
+"But you wouldn't take any notice of me there," she said.
+
+"No. I was told that you were engaged, or practically engaged, to
+Charlesworth, and disliked any one else taking up your time."
+
+She sat up indignantly.
+
+"To Captain Charlesworth? How absurd! I suppose I've Ida to thank for that.
+I wouldn't have married him for anything."
+
+"Is that so? What a game of cross-purposes life is! But that's why I didn't
+try to speak to you much."
+
+"Did you want to? I thought you disliked me. And it hurt me so much. Do you
+know, I used to cry about it sometimes. I wanted you to be my friend."
+
+He walked over to her settee.
+
+"Noreen, dear, I wanted to be your friend and you to be mine," he said,
+looking down at her. "I liked you so much. At least, I thought I liked
+you."
+
+"And--and don't you?" she asked, looking up at him.
+
+He knelt beside her.
+
+"No, little friend, I don't like you. Because I--" He paused.
+
+"What?" she whispered faintly.
+
+"I love you, dear. Do you think it absurd?"
+
+She was silent for a moment. Then she looked slowly up at him; and in her
+eyes he read her answer.
+
+"Sweetheart! Little sweetheart!" he whispered, and held out his arms to
+her.
+
+With a little cry she crept into them; and he pressed her to his heart. At
+that moment enemies, danger, death, were forgotten. For Noreen her whole
+world lay within the circle of his arms.
+
+"Do you really, really love me?" she asked wonderingly.
+
+He held her very close to his heart and looked fondly, tenderly down into
+the lovely upturned face.
+
+"Love you, my dearest? I love you with all my heart, my soul, my being," he
+whispered. "How could I help loving you?"
+
+And bending down he kissed her fondly.
+
+"It's all so wonderful," she murmured. "I didn't think that you cared for
+me, that you could ever care. You seemed so far away, too occupied with
+important things to spare a thought for me. So serious a person, and
+sometimes so stern, that I was afraid of you."
+
+He laughed amusedly.
+
+"The wonder is that you ever came to care for me. You do care, don't you,
+beloved?"
+
+She looked up at him earnestly.
+
+"Dear, do I seem forward, bold? But our time together is too short for
+pretence. Yes, I do care. I love you? I seem to have always loved you. Or
+at least to have waited always to love you. I don't think I knew what love
+was until now. Until now. Now I do know."
+
+She paused and stared across the room, seeing the vision of her childhood,
+her girlhood. From outside came intermittent shouts and an occasional
+random shot. But she did not hear them.
+
+"As a child, as a schoolgirl, even afterwards, I used to day-dream. I used
+to wonder if any one would ever love me, ever teach me what love is. I
+dreamt of a Fairy Prince who would come to me one day, of a strong, brave,
+tender man who would care for me, who would want me to care for him. I
+often laughed at myself for it afterwards. For in London men all seemed so
+very unlike my dream-hero."
+
+She turned her face to him and looked tenderly at him.
+
+"But when I met you," she continued, "I think I knew that you were He. But
+I never dared hope that you would learn to care for me."
+
+"Dearest heart," he replied, "I think I must have fallen in love with you
+the first moment I saw you. I can see you now as you stood surrounded by
+the elephants, a delightful but most unexpected vision in the jungle."
+
+"Did you--oh, did you really like me that very first day?" she asked
+eagerly. At the moment the answer seemed to her the most important thing in
+the world.
+
+As a lover will do Dermot deceived himself and imagined that his love had
+been born at the first sight of her. He told her so; and the girl forgot
+the imminent, deadly peril about them in the glow of happiness that warms
+the heart of a loving woman who hears that she has been beloved from the
+beginning.
+
+"But I looked so absurd," she said dreamily; "so untidy, when you first saw
+me. Why, my hair was all down."
+
+He laughed again; but the laughter died from his lips as the remembrance of
+their situation returned to him. Death was ordinarily little to him; though
+now life could be so sweet since she loved him. It seemed a terrible thing
+that this young girl must die so soon--and probably by his own hand to save
+her from a worse fate.
+
+She guessed his thoughts.
+
+"Is this really the end, dear?" she asked, unwilling but unafraid to meet
+death. "Is there no hope for us?"
+
+"I fear not, beloved."
+
+"I--I don't want to die so soon. Before you came tonight I wouldn't have
+minded very much; for I was not happy. But now it's a little hard, just as
+this wonderful thing has happened to me."
+
+She sighed. He held out his arms again, and she crept into them and nestled
+into his embrace.
+
+"Well, if it must be so, I'll try to be worthy of my soldier and not
+disgrace you, dear," she said fondly, bravely. "Let's try to forget it for
+a while and not let it spoil our last hours together. Let's 'make-believe,'
+as the children say. Let's pretend that this is all a hideous nightmare,
+that our lives and our love are before us."
+
+So through the long, dread night with the hideous menace never out of their
+minds they talked bravely of what they would like to do, to be--if only
+they were not to die so soon. Several times Noreen left him and went to
+comfort, to console the poor Mohammedan women and children to whom she had
+given shelter. Her brother refused to allow Dermot to relieve him on watch,
+saying that he could not sleep or rest, and begging him instead to remain
+with the girl to cheer her, to hearten her in the awful hours of waiting
+for the end.
+
+So Dermot was with her when a sudden uproar outside caused him to dash out
+on to the verandah. From behind the barricade on the front verandah Daleham
+was watching.
+
+"What is it? Are they attacking?" cried the soldier.
+
+"No. It's not an attack. They're cheering somebody, I think, and firing
+into the air."
+
+Dermot stared out. Men ran forward to the smouldering ruins of the factory
+and threw on them tins of kerosene oil, looted from the murdered Parsi's
+shop, until the flames blazed up again and lit up the scene. The hundreds
+of coolies were cheering and crowding round a body of men in red coats.
+
+"I believe it's the Rajah's infantry," said Dermot. "Are they going to
+attack? Sher Afzul, wake up the others and tell them to be on their guard.
+Give me that rifle, Daleham."
+
+So Noreen did not see her lover again until the sun rose on a scene of
+desolation and ruin. Smoke and sparks still came from the blackened heaps
+of the destroyed buildings. The cordon of sentries had apparently been
+withdrawn; but when Daleham climbed up on the barricade to get a better
+view a shot was fired from somewhere and a bullet tore up the ground before
+the bungalow.
+
+A couple of hours dragged slowly by; and then a servant doing sentry on the
+front verandah reported a cloud of dust on the road from the forest leading
+to the village. Dermot went out on the front verandah which looked towards
+the coolie lines and put up the glasses.
+
+"Some men on horses. Yes, and a motor-car coming slowly behind them," he
+said to Daleham and his sister, who had followed him out. "It's the Rajah
+and his escort, I suppose. Things will begin to move now."
+
+When the newcomers reached the village a storm of shouting arose. Volley
+after volley of shots were fired, conch-shells blown, tom-toms beaten.
+
+"Yes, there's no doubt of it. It must be that fat brute," said Daleham.
+
+Half an hour went by. The sun was high in the heavens. The landscape was
+bare of life. Not a man was visible. But presently from the village came a
+little figure, a naked little coolie boy. He moved slowly towards the
+bungalow, stopping every few minutes to look back to the huts, then
+advancing again with evident reluctance.
+
+Dermot watched him through the glass. The whole garrison was on the
+verandah.
+
+"He's a messenger. I see a letter in his hand," said the soldier. "Poor
+little devil, he's in an awful funk. None of the cowards dared do it
+themselves, so they beat this child and made him come."
+
+At last the frightened infant reached the bungalow, and Sher Afzul met him
+and took the letter from him. Fred tore it open. It was written by
+Chunerbutty and couched in the most offensive terms. If within half an hour
+Miss Daleham came willingly to the Rajah, her brother's life would be
+spared and he would be given a safe conduct to Calcutta. But everyone else
+in the bungalow would be put to death, including the white man reported to
+have entered it during the night. If the girl did not surrender, her
+brother would be killed with the rest and she herself taken by force.
+
+Dermot acquainted the Mohammedan servants with the contents, to show them
+that there was no hope for them, so that they would fight to the death. The
+little boy was told that there was no answer, and Daleham gave him a few
+copper coins; but the scared child dropped them as though they were red hot
+and scampered back to the village as fast as his little legs would carry
+him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE GOD OF THE ELEPHANTS
+
+At the end of the half hour a tempest of noise arose from the village;
+tom-toms were beaten, conch-shells blown and vigorous cheering was
+heard. Then from the huts long lines of coolies carrying weapons of
+every sort, rifles, old muskets, spears, and swords streamed out and
+encircled the bungalow at a distance. A little later the Rajah's twenty
+horsemen rode out of the village on their raw-boned stallions, followed
+by a hundred infantry soldiers who, Dermot observed, were now armed with
+rifles in place of their former muskets.
+
+The dismounted troops formed up before the bungalow but half a mile away,
+in two lines in open order. But the cavalry kept together in a body; and
+the officer, turning in his saddle to speak to his men, pointed to the
+house with his sword.
+
+"I believe they're going to charge us," said Dermot.
+
+He had divided up the garrison to the four sides of the bungalow; but now,
+leaving one man with the shot gun to keep a watch on the back, he collected
+the rest on the front verandah. Noreen was inside, feeding the hungry
+children and consoling the mothers.
+
+"Now, Daleham, don't fire until they are close, and then aim at the
+horses," said the Major, repeating the instruction to the servants in Urdu.
+
+The Punjaubis grinned and patted their rifles.
+
+The cavalry advanced. The _sowars_ ambled forward, brandishing their curved
+sabres and uttering fierce yells. Dermot, knowing Sher Afzul and another
+man to be good shots, ordered them to open fire when the horsemen were
+about four hundred yards away. He himself took a steady aim at the
+commander and pressed the trigger. The officer, shot through the body,
+threw up his arms and fell forward on his horse's head. The startled animal
+shied and bolted across the furrows; and the corpse, dropping from the
+saddle, was dragged along the ground, one foot being caught in a stirrup.
+The cavalry checked for an instant; and Dermot fired again. A _sowar_ fell.
+The rest cantered forward, yelling and waving their _tulwars_. Sher
+Afzul and the other servants opened fire. A second horseman dropped from
+his saddle, a stallion stumbled and fell, throwing its rider heavily.
+The firing grew faster. Two or three more horses were wounded and
+galloped wildly off. The rest of the cavalry came on, but, losing their
+nerve, checked their pace instead of charging home.
+
+Dermot, loading and firing rapidly, bringing a _sowar_ down with each shot,
+suddenly found Noreen crouching beside him behind the barricade. She was
+holding a revolver.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, get into the house, darling!" he cried.
+
+"No; I have Fred's pistol and know how to use it," she answered, calmly. "I
+have often practised with it."
+
+He could not stop to argue with her, for the troopers still came on. But
+they bunched together, knee to knee, in a frontal attack, instead of
+assaulting from all four sides at once. They made a splendid target and
+suffered heavily. But some brought their horses' heads almost against the
+verandah railing. All the garrison rose from behind the barricade and fired
+point-blank at them. The girl, steadying her hand on a box, shot one
+_sowar_ through the body. The few survivors turned and galloped madly away,
+leaving most of their number on the ground. To cover their retreat a ragged
+volley broke from the infantry; and a storm of bullets flew over and around
+the bungalow, ricocheted from the ground or struck the walls. But one young
+Mohammedan servant, who had incautiously exposed himself, dropped back shot
+through the lungs.
+
+Then from every side fire was opened, the coolies blazing wildly; but as
+none of them had ever had a rifle in his hands before, the firing was for
+the most part innocuous. Yet it served to encourage them, and they drew
+nearer. The garrison, with only one or two defenders to each side of the
+house, could not keep them at a distance. The infantry began to crawl
+forward. The circle of foes closed in on the bungalow and its doomed
+inhabitants. Shrieks and cries rose from the women and children inside.
+
+But although every bullet from the garrison found its billet, the issue was
+only a matter of time. Ill-directed as was the assailants' fire, the
+showers of bullets were too thick not to have some effect. Another servant
+was killed, a third wounded. Daleham was struck on the shoulder by a
+ricochet but only scratched. A rifle bullet, piercing the barricade, passed
+through Noreen's hair, as she crouched beside her lover, whom she
+resolutely refused to leave. The ring of enemies constricted.
+
+Suddenly a bugle sounded from the village; and after a little the firing
+from the attackers ceased. Dermot, who with Noreen and Sher Afzul, was
+defending the front verandah, looked cautiously over the barricade. A white
+flag appeared in the village. The Major shouted to the others in the house
+to hold their fire but be on their guard.
+
+After a pause the flag advanced, borne by a coolie. It was followed by a
+group of men; and Dermot through the glasses recognised the Rajah and
+Chunerbutty accompanied by several Brahmins. They advanced timidly towards
+the bungalow and stopped a hundred yards away. After some urging
+Chunerbutty stepped to the front and called for Daleham to appear.
+
+Fred came through the house from the back verandah, where his place was
+taken by Sher Afzul. He looked over the barricade. Chunerbutty came nearer
+and shouted:
+
+"Daleham, the Rajah gives you one more chance to surrender. You see your
+case is hopeless. You can have a quarter of an hour to think things over.
+If at the end of that time you and your sister don't come out, we'll rush
+the bungalow and finish you all."
+
+Standing under the white flag he drew out his watch.
+
+"Thank you," said Daleham; "and our reply is that if in a quarter of an
+hour you're still there, you'll get a bullet through you, white flag or no
+white flag."
+
+He turned to Dermot whose arm was around Noreen as she crouched beside him.
+
+"Well, Major, it's fifteen more minutes of life, that's all."
+
+"Yes, it's nearly the end now. I've only two cartridges left."
+
+"We're all in the same box. Getting near time we said good-bye. It was
+jolly good of you to stick by us, when you might have got away last night."
+
+Dermot gripped the outstretched hand.
+
+"If I go under first, you'll not let Noreen fall alive into the hands of
+those brutes, will you, sir?"
+
+The girl raised her revolver.
+
+"I'll keep the last cartridge for myself, dear," she said.
+
+She looked lovingly at Dermot whose arm was still about her. Her brother
+betrayed no surprise.
+
+"I'm not afraid to die, dear one," she whispered to her lover. "I couldn't
+live without you now. And I'm happy at this moment, happier than I've ever
+been, I think. But I wish you had saved yourself."
+
+He mastered his emotion with difficulty.
+
+"Darling, life without you wouldn't be possible for me either."
+
+He could not take his eyes from her; and the minutes were flying all too
+swiftly. At last he looked at his watch and held out his hand to the boy.
+
+"Good-bye, Daleham, you've got your wish. You're dying like a soldier for
+England," he said. "We've done our share for her. Now, we've three minutes
+more. If the Rajah and Chunerbutty come into view again I'll have them with
+my last two shots."
+
+He turned to the girl and took her in his arms for a last embrace.
+
+"Good-bye, sweetheart. Dear love of my heart. Pray that we may be together
+in the next world."
+
+He paused and listened.
+
+"Are they coming?"
+
+But he did not put her from him. One second now was worth an eternity.
+
+Then suddenly a distant murmur swelled through the strange silence. Daleham
+looked out over the barricade.
+
+"They're--No. What is it? What are they doing?"
+
+All round the circle of besiegers there was an eerie hush. No voice was
+heard. All--the Rajah, the flag-bearer, Brahmins, soldiers, coolies--had
+turned their faces away from the bungalow and were staring into the
+distance. And as the few survivors of the garrison looked up over the
+barricade an incredible sight met their eyes.
+
+From the far-off forest, bursting out at every point of the long-stretching
+wall of dark undergrowth that hemmed in the wide estate, wild elephants
+appeared. Over the furrowed acres they streamed in endless lines, trampling
+down the ordered stretch of green bushes. In scores, in hundreds, they
+came, silently, slowly; the great heads nodding to the rhythm of their
+gait, the trunks swinging, the ragged ears flapping, as they advanced.
+Converging as they came, they drew together in a solid mass that blotted
+out the ground, a mass sombre-hued, dark, relieved only by flashes of
+gleaming white. For on either side of every massive skull jutted out the
+sharp-pointed, curving ivory. Of all save one.
+
+For the mammoth that led them, the splendid beast that captained the
+oncoming array of Titans under the ponderous strokes of whose feet the
+ground trembled, had one tusk, one only. And as though the white flag were
+a magnet to him, he moved unerringly towards it, the immense, earth-shaking
+phalanx following him.
+
+The awestruck crowds of armed men, so lately flushed with fanatical lust of
+slaughter, stood as though turned to stone, their faces set towards the
+terrifying onset. Their pain unheeded, their groans silenced, the wounded
+staggered to their feet to look. Even the dying strove to raise themselves
+on their arms from the reddened soil to gaze, and, gazing, fell back dead.
+Slowly, mechanically, silently, the living gave way, the weapons dropping
+from their nerveless grip. Step by step they drew back as if compelled by
+some strange mesmeric power.
+
+And on the verandah the few survivors of the little band stood together,
+silent, amazed, scarce believing their eyes as they stared at the
+incredible vision. All but Dermot. His gaze was fixed on the leader of that
+terrible army; and he smiled, tenderly yet proudly. His arm drew the girl
+beside him still closer to him, as he murmured:
+
+"He comes to save us for each other, beloved!"
+
+Nothing was heard, save the dull thunder of the giant feet. Then from the
+village the high-pitched shriek of a woman pierced the air and shattered
+the eerie silence of the terror-stricken crowds. Murmurs, groans, swelled
+into shouts, wild yells, the appalling uproar of panic; and strong and
+weak, hale men and those from whose wounds the life-blood dripped, turned
+and fled. Fled past their dead brothers, past the little group of leaders
+whose power to sway them had vanished before this awful menace.
+
+Petrified, rooted to the ground as though their quaking limbs were
+incapable of movement, the Rajah and his satellites stood motionless before
+the oncoming elephants. But when the leader almost towered above him,
+Chunerbutty was galvanised to life again. In mad panic he raised a pistol
+in his trembling hand and fired at the great beast. The next instant the
+huge tusk caught him. He was struck to the earth, gored, and lifted high in
+air. An appalling shriek burst from his bloodless lips. He was hurled to
+the ground with terrific force and trodden under foot. The Rajah screamed
+shrilly and turned to flee. Too late! The earth shook as the great phalanx
+moved on faster and passed without checking over the white-clad group,
+blotting them out of all semblance to humanity.
+
+The dying yell of the renegade Hindu, arresting in its note of agony,
+caused the fleeing crowds to pause and turn to look. And as they witnessed
+the annihilation of their leaders they saw a yet more wondrous sight. For
+the dark array of monsters halted as the leader reached the house; and with
+the sea of twisted trunks upraised to salute him and a terrifying peal of
+trumpeting, they welcomed the white man who walked out from the shot-torn
+building towards the leader of the vast herd. Then in a solemn hush he was
+raised high in air and held aloft for all to see, beasts and men. And in
+the silence a single voice in the awestruck crowds cried shrilly:
+
+"_Hathi ka Deo ki jai!_ (Victory to the God of the Elephants!)"
+
+In wonder, in dread, in superstitious reverence, hundreds of voices took up
+the refrain: _"Hathi ka Deo! Hathi ka Deo ki jai!"_
+
+And leaving his thousand companions behind, the sacred elephant that all
+recognised now advanced towards the shrinking crowds, bearing the dread
+white god upon its neck. Had he not come invisibly among them again? Had
+they not witnessed the fate of those that opposed him? Had he not summoned
+from all Hindustan his man-devouring monsters to punish, to annihilate his
+enemies. Forgetful of their hate, their bloodthirst, their lust of battle,
+conscious only of their guilt, the terror-stricken crowds surged forward
+and flung themselves down in supplication on the earth. They wept, they
+wailed, they bared their heads and poured dust upon them, in all the
+extravagant demonstration of Oriental sorrow. Out from the village streamed
+the women and children to add their shrill cries to the lamentations.
+
+With uplifted hand, Dermot silenced them. An awful hush succeeded the
+tumult. He swept his eyes slowly over them all, and every head went down to
+the dust again. Then he spoke, solemnly, clearly; and his voice reached
+everyone in the prostrate mob.
+
+"My wrath is upon you and upon your children. Flee where you will, it shall
+overtake you. You have sinned and must atone. On those most guilty
+punishment has already fallen. Where are they that misled you? Go look for
+them under the feet of my elephants. Yet from you, ye poor deluded fools,
+for the moment I withhold my hand. But touch a single hair of those in your
+midst whom I protect, and you perish."
+
+Not a sound was heard.
+
+Then he said:
+
+"Men of Lalpuri, who have come among these fools in thirst for blood. You
+have heard of me. You have seen my power. You see me. Go back to your city.
+Tell them there that I, who fed my elephants on the flesh of your comrades
+in the forest, shall come to them riding on my steed sacred to _Gunesh_. If
+they spare the evil counselors among them, then them I will not spare. Of
+their city no stone shall remain. Go back to them and bear this message to
+all within and without the walls, 'The British _Raj_ shall endure. It is my
+will.' Tell them to engrave it on their hearts, on their children's
+hearts."
+
+He paused. Then he spoke again:
+
+"Rise, all ye people. Ye have my leave to go."
+
+Noiselessly they obeyed. He watched them move away in terrified silence.
+Not a whisper was heard.
+
+Then he smiled as he said to himself:
+
+"That should keep them quiet."
+
+He turned Badshah towards the bungalow.
+
+Forty miles away, when darkness fell on the mountains that night, the army
+of the invaders slept soundly in their bivouacs around the doomed post of
+Ranga Duar. On the morrow the last feeble resistance of its garrison must
+cease, and happy those of the defenders who died. Luckless they that lived.
+For the worst tortures that even China knew would be theirs.
+
+But when the morrow came there was no longer an investing army.
+Panic-stricken, the scattered remnants of the once formidable host
+staggered blindly up the inhospitable mountains only to perish in the
+snows of the passes. For in the dark hours annihilation had come upon
+the rest. Countless monsters, worse, far worse, than the legendary
+dragons of their native land, had come from the skies, sprung from the
+earth. And under their huge feet the army had perished.
+
+When the sun rose Dermot knelt beside the mattress on which Parker lay
+among the heaps of rubble that had once been the Fort. An Indian officer,
+the only one left, and a few haggard sepoys stood by. The rest of the few
+survivors of the gallant band had thrown themselves down to sleep haphazard
+among the ruins that covered the bodies of their comrades.
+
+"Is it all true, Major? Are they really gone?" whispered the subaltern
+feebly.
+
+"Yes, Parker, it's quite true. They've gone. You've helped to save India.
+You held them off--God knows how you did it. Your wound's a nasty one; but
+you'll get over it."
+
+He rose and held out his hands to the others. _"Shabash!_ (Well done!)
+_Subhedar Sahib_, Mohammed Khan, Gulab Khan, Shaikh Bakar, well done."
+
+And the men of the alien race pressed round him and clasped his hands
+gratefully.
+
+The defeat of the invaders in this little-known corner of the Indian Empire
+was but the forerunner of the disasters that befell the other enemies of
+the British dominion, though many months passed before peace settled on the
+land again. But Lalpuri had not so long to wait for Dermot to redeem his
+promise to visit it. When he did he rode on Badshah at the head of a
+British force. The gates were flung open wide; and he passed through
+submissive crowds to see the blackened ruins of the Palace that, stormed,
+looted, and burnt by its rebel soldiery, hid the ashes of the _Dewan_.
+
+A year had gone by. In the villages perched on the steep sides of the
+mountains the Bhuttia women rejoiced to know that the peace of the
+Borderland would never be broken again while the dread hand of a god lay on
+it. And in their bamboo huts they tried to hush their little children with
+the mention of his name. But the sturdy, naked babies had no fear of him.
+For they all knew him; and he was kind and far less terrible than the gods
+and demons that the old lama showed them in the painted Wheel of Life sent
+him from Tibet. Moreover, the white god's wife was kinder even than he. But
+that was because she was not a goddess. Only a girl.
+
+On the high hills, up above the villages, a couple stood. No god and
+goddess: just a man and a woman. And the woman looked down past the huts,
+down to the great Terai Forest lying like a vast billowy sea of foliage far
+below them. Then, as her husband's arm stole round her, she turned her eyes
+from it and gazed into his and whispered:
+
+"I love it more than even you do. For it gave you to me."
+
+A crashing in the clump of hill bamboos at their feet attracted their
+attention; and with a smile he pointed down to the great elephant with the
+single tusk who was dragging down the feathery plumes with his curving
+trunk.
+
+But Noreen looked up at Dermot again and said:
+
+"I love you more than even Badshah does."
+
+And their lips met.
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+_A Selection from the Catalogue of_
+
+G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+Complete Catalogues sent on application
+
+
+
+
+
+Rosa Mundi
+
+By
+
+Ethel M. Dell
+
+Author of
+
+"The Top of the World," "The Lamp in the Desert," "The Way of an Eagle,"
+etc.
+
+Some of the finest stories ever written by Miss Ethel M. Dell are gathered
+together in this volume. They are arresting, thrilling, tense with
+throbbing life, and of absorbing interest; they tell of romantic and
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+burning heart of Africa, and in the colonial bush country. The author's
+vivid and vigorous style, skillfully developed plots, her intensely
+sympathetic treatment of emotional scenes, and the strongly delineated
+character sketches, are typical of Ethel M. Dell's best work, and this
+volume will be found to contain some of the most remarkable of her shorter
+romances.
+
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+New York London
+
+
+
+
+Prairie Flowers
+
+By
+
+James B. Hendryx
+
+Author of "The Texan"
+
+When Tex Benton said he'd do a thing, he _did_ it, as readers of "The
+Texan" will affirm. So when, after a year of drought, he announced his
+purpose of going to town to get thoroughly "lickered up," unsuspecting
+Timber City was elected as the stage for a most thorough and sensational
+orgy.
+
+But neither Tex nor Timber City could foresee the turbulent chain of
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+
+A well-known writer, who has served his apprenticeship in the cow country,
+said the other day, "I like Hendryx's stories--they're real. His boys are
+the boys I used to work with and know. His West is the West I learned to
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+
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+New York  London
+
+
+
+
+
+The Ivory Fan
+
+By
+
+Adrian Heard
+
+When Lily Kellaway makes the observation, "It is better to be a slave to a
+man, which is natural, than to a woman, which is intolerable," she recites
+the text upon which the author of _The Ivory Fan_ has built up a novel
+that is at once humorous in its cynicism and cynical in its humor. At the
+same time he gives us a pastel of certain phases of life comprehensive in
+its coloring and bitterly uncompromising of line.
+
+This is an unconventional book, full of incident and plenty of clever
+dialogue.
+
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+New York  London
+
+
+
+
+
+Too Old for Dolls
+
+By
+
+Anthony M. Ludovici
+
+The story of a "flapper" too old for dolls, scarcely old enough for
+anything else, but capable of enraging her older sister and even her mother
+by the ease with which she secures the admiration of their male friends.
+
+"From a Mohawk, from a sexless savage with tangled hair and blotchy
+features, she had, by a stroke of the wand, become metamorphosed into a
+remarkably attractive young woman." And with the change came a
+disconcerting knowledge of power.
+
+A very real, very tense, and very modern novel.
+
+
+
+G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+New York London
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Elephant God, by Gordon Casserly
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