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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Taming of the Jungle, by Dr. C. W. Doyle
+
+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 Taming of the Jungle
+
+Author: Dr. C. W. Doyle
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2011 [EBook #35644]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TAMING OF THE JUNGLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Mary Meehan and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE TAMING OF THE JUNGLE
+
+                           BY DR. C. W. DOYLE
+
+
+    PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
+    J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+    1899
+
+    COPYRIGHT, 1899
+    BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+    PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+For a better understanding of this story, it will be necessary to say a
+few words concerning the people of the Terai,--the great tract of jungle
+that skirts the foothills of the Himalayas, in the Province of Kumaon.
+They are a simple, primitive folk, and migratory in their ways:
+inhabiting the interior valleys of the hills in the hot weather and the
+monsoon, and the foothills and the Terai during the winter.
+
+In official reports they are described as "low-caste Hindoos;" but they
+are as far removed from the low-caste Hindoos of the plains, on the one
+hand, as they are from the high-caste Rajpoots, who are the gentry of
+Kumaon, on the other. The monstrous Pantheism of the Brahmin is unknown
+to them, and the ritual and severe limitations of caste that shackle the
+former in all the relations of life have no influence on the Padhans of
+Kumaon. Tending their flocks and their herds, and cultivating their
+terraced fields in the summer and their patches of rye and corn in the
+winter, they pass lives of Arcadian simplicity among scenes that surpass
+Ida and Olympus in beauty, and which vie with the glades of Eden, as
+Milton and Tennyson described them.
+
+    "Me rather, all that bowery loneliness,
+    The brooks of Eden mazily murmuring,
+    And bloom profuse, and cedar arches charm."
+
+Tennyson might have written that of the Terai in midwinter. And its
+people conform, as might be expected, to their environment. Life among
+them is found at first hand: their loves and hates are ingenuous, and
+present social aspects that must vanish before the march of
+civilization.
+
+The critics may object to the manner of the courtship of Tara, as not
+being in accord with the marriage customs of the natives of India. To
+them I would reply, that the experience of a dozen years spent in
+intimate relations with, and in close observation of, the Kumaon
+Padhans, has satisfied me that these children of nature are guided
+strongly by their natural feelings; and that, in the selection of their
+wives, they are as often swayed by their affections as we are.
+
+    C. W. DOYLE.
+
+    SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, January, 1899.
+
+
+
+
+_Contents_
+
+
+I. A JUNGLE VENDETTA
+
+II. HASTEEN
+
+III. THE HUNTING OF CHEETA DUTT
+
+IV. THE SPOILING OF NYAGONG
+
+V. THE WOMAN IN THE CARRIAGE
+
+VI. FOR THE TRAINING OF BIROO
+
+VII. CHANDNI
+
+VIII. ONE THOUSAND RUPEES REWARD
+
+IX. THE ROPE THAT HANGED BIJOO
+
+X. COELUM, NON ANIMUM MUTANT
+
+XI. THE LAME TIGER OF HULDWANI
+
+XII. HOW NANDHA WAS AVENGED
+
+XIII. AN AFFRONT TO GANNESHA
+
+XIV. A DAUGHTER OF THE GODS
+
+XV. "ICH LIEBE DICH"
+
+XVI. THE SMOKING OF A HORNETS' NEST
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+_A Jungle Vendetta_
+
+
+"This was the way of it," said Ram Deen to a circle of listeners sitting
+round a fire by the side of the jungle road near Lal Kooah. Ram Deen
+drove the mail-cart in its final stage to Kaladoongie, and with his
+relay of fresh horses was awaiting the arrival of the mail. He was, next
+to the Assistant Superintendent of the Forest Department of the
+District, a power on the road, and his audience, accordingly, listened
+to him with due respect. "This was the way of it: I owed Bheem Dass one
+rupee and six annas for flour and pulse and ghee, and my donkey fell
+sick, so that he could not be forced by goad, nor by the lighting of a
+fire beneath him, to rise; and I could not convey my earthenware to
+Moradabad and sell it, and so remove the galling of Bheem Dass's tongue.
+
+"Then the Thanadar came, and read script to me that was written on
+government paper, whereof I understood but little, save that the words
+were Urdu, and sounded very terrible to me, who speak Gamari only, and
+am a poor man. And he took my potter's wheel from me, and bade his
+chuprassi beat me then, and daily thereafter at noon--twelve strokes
+each day--till I made restitution to Bheem Dass.
+
+"Brothers, we be all poor men here, and ye know that God hath not given
+us understanding save to suffer stripes like beasts of burden, and to
+sleep and eat when we can, and beget children to succeed to our blows."
+
+There was a deep "humph" of assent when he had ceased speaking. The
+little man who freighted village produce from Kaladoongie to Moradabad
+by bullock-cart said, as he handed Ram Deen the hookah that was circling
+round the fire, "A knife-thrust in the dark has settled heavier scores
+than thine;" and one suggested a blow from a weighted bamboo club, and
+another the evil eye; but Ram Deen smoked in silence, and after they
+had all had their say he passed the hookah to his neighbor and went on:
+
+"Whenas my back smarted shrewdly that night from the blows of the
+chuprassi's shoe, so that I could not sleep, I took the oil from my
+chirag and anointed my back therewith. As soon as the false dawn blinked
+in the east I made a fire and light, without waking my son--my babe,
+Buldeo, and he without a mother--and I made store of chupattis with all
+the flour that was left, putting the remainder of the ghee on the first
+batch. Then I dug up three rupees and two annas that I had buried under
+the hearth, and waking Buldeo I fed him; and whilst he ate I made a
+bundle of such things as even a poor man has need of,--a blanket, a
+hookah and lotah, and shoes to wear through the villages, and the food I
+had prepared.
+
+"And ere the village cocks waked or the minas and crows and green
+parrots opened council in the peepul trees, Buldeo and I were footing
+the jungle path to Nyagong, he holding his hand over his head to reach
+mine, for he was but three years in age.
+
+"And when we had proceeded a mile or twain into the jungle Buldeo spake
+and said, 'Thy man-child is tired.' And I set him on my shoulder, and so
+carried him until the sun began to shoot slant rays from the west.
+Whereon we stopped and ate; and, after, I fastened him with my waistband
+in the fork of a tree, saying, 'Son of mine, bide here till I return,
+and be not afraid.'
+
+"Then, collecting grass and scrub, I made a circle of fire round the
+tree, and sped back to the village; and as the bell tolled the hour of
+ten that night a flame leaped up from the hut of the bunnia, Bheem Dass,
+to whom I owed money.
+
+"Ere I returned to the jungle path I could hear Bheem Dass shout as a
+man being beaten, 'ram dhwy! ram dhwy!' and the smart on my back waxed
+easier."
+
+By this time the hookah had made the round of the circle and once more
+reached Ram Deen, and as he paused again to "drink tobacco" his
+listeners made comment:
+
+"Wah! coach-wan ji," said the little carrier, "knives may be blunt and
+clubs cracked, but fire loveth stubble and thatch. Ho, ho!"
+
+And Ram Deen smiled grimly as he passed the hookah to his neighbor, who
+said as he took it, "And what of thy man-child, Buldeo?"
+
+Ram Deen tucked the ends of his parted beard under his turban, and
+spitting bravely into the fire to conceal the tremor in his voice, he
+said, "As the dawn broke I reached the tree whereon I had fastened my
+son. When I came near a pack of jackals that had been worrying something
+under the tree slunk away. The child was not to be seen, but the bark of
+the tree was scored with the talons of a leopard, and at its foot was a
+small red cap and a handful of fresh bones."
+
+Ram Deen puffed the hookah in silence when it reached him again.
+
+By and by, in response to the expectation of his listeners, he said,
+"Bheem Dass rode after me on the mail-cart to Kaladoongie that night. I
+knew he would come, and therefore I brake the telegraph wire and
+fastened it across the road a foot above the ground. When the horse
+stumbled over it and fell the driver was thrown on his head and killed.
+But Bheem Dass lay groaning on the road with a broken thigh-bone.
+
+"And I held a lamp taken from the cart to my face, so that he should
+know me, and I spat and stamped on him; and thereafter I mounted the
+mail-cart and drove it over his skull as he screamed for mercy.
+
+"I took the mail to Kaladoongie, and it was told the sahib-log that the
+mail-cart had been overturned and the coach-wan and Bheem Dass killed;
+and they made me driver because the road was unsafe and I had shown them
+that I was not afraid.
+
+"Ye are poor men and know naught,--knowledge dieth suddenly!"
+
+And the bullock driver said, "Ho, ho! coach-wan sahib, we be poor men
+and know nothing, and are fain to live."
+
+The mail-cart drove up in a few minutes out of the darkness, the horses
+were rapidly changed, and Ram Deen dashed off into the jungle with a
+brave tarantara.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+_Hasteen_
+
+
+"Ram deen," said the stout Thanadar of Kaladoongie, "it is by the order
+of the sircar (government) that I question thee concerning this jungle
+wanderer. Whatsoever thou sayest will be set down by the munshi and laid
+before the commissioner sahib."
+
+The "wanderer" put one hand on a tubby stomach that ill-assorted with
+his attenuated limbs, and with the fingers of the other in close
+apposition he pointed to his mouth, whining and saying to those round
+him, "Oh, my father and my mother, we be hungry,--Hasteen and I."
+
+He was a wee little manikin of the chamar (tanner) caste, and about six
+years old. There was not a rag on him, save a sorry whisp of puggri that
+made no pretence of covering the top-knot of hair which all Hindoos of
+the male sex, and of whatever caste, wear on their heads as a handle
+for the transportation of their souls to heaven.
+
+He crouched in front of the fire of cowpats and grass, holding up his
+little hands to the blaze, and beside him lay a huge pariah dog with its
+head on his lap. One of its ears had been recently cut off close to the
+skull, and it moved the bloody stump to and fro as the heat of the fire
+fell on it. When any one approached the little chamar the dog growled
+threateningly, and the small crowd of listeners was fain to keep at a
+respectful distance.
+
+"Thanadar ji," replied Ram Deen, the redoubtable driver of the mail-cart
+to Kaladoongie, "the night air is shrewd, and it were well to feed the
+little one and to put a blanket round him ere I tell you of his
+finding."
+
+"Ay, and forget not Hasteen," said the small chamar, pointing to the
+dog. When the great beast heard its name it slapped its tail against the
+ground.
+
+A woman standing on the outskirt of the crowd took off her chudder and
+passed it to Ram Deen, who, keeping a wary eye on Hasteen, wrapped it
+round the little waif; and Tulsi Ram, the village pundit, also handed
+his blanket to Ram Deen. By the time the little one was duly happed up,
+Gunga Deen, the fat sweetmeat vender, returned with a tray of cates and
+milk, sufficient for three grown men, and set it before the new arrival,
+who, to his honor be it told, shared bite and bite with his four-footed
+friend. And between mouthfuls he answered questions and told his story
+to the Thanadar:
+
+"My name, Most Honorable, is Biroo, and we be chamars of the village of
+Budraon,--my father and mother, Hasteen and I. There were none others of
+our family, and Hasteen and I be brothers, for we sucked the same pap,
+and that my mother's, as she hath so often told me. I am the older by
+three months, wherefore he mindeth me.
+
+"Whence is Hasteen's name? How should I know, Protector of the Poor? I
+am but a poor man and know naught."
+
+Tulsi Ram, the pundit, ventured to throw some light on the derivation
+of Hasteen's name. He hoped, ere he died, to pass the entrance
+examination of the Calcutta University; and, after the manner of his
+kind, he was preparing himself for it by the slow and steady process of
+learning the prescribed text-books off by heart.
+
+"Thanadar ji, the dog hath its name from Warren Hasteen, the great sahib
+who killed the Kings of Delhi, as thou wottest, and daily fed on young
+babes, whereof midwives and old women who saw him tell to this day. And,
+moreover, he was a great fighter."
+
+"Wah, Tulsi Ram!" exclaimed the Thanadar, "thou shalt yet become a baboo
+in the post-office at Naini Tal."
+
+"But there never was fighter like Hasteen," said the little chamar,
+whose courage rose as his hunger abated, and rolling up a chupatti he
+gave it to the dog, who made one mouthful of it. "He hath blackened the
+faces of all the dogs of our village," he went on; "and last winter he
+overcame a dog of fierce countenance and crooked legs, that belonged to
+the sahib who camped near our village, and left it for dead on the
+plain; and the sahib would have beaten me, but Hasteen rose upon him and
+threw him down, and stood over him till I smote Hasteen with my bamboo
+club and dragged him off the sahib. Ah, thou wicked one, thou budmash!"
+and the great beast cowered before the wee man's threatening finger and
+licked his feet. "And therefrom came all our woes, for our folk drave us
+from Budraon, fearing trouble for the killing of the sahib's dog, and my
+father would have slain Hasteen, but I restrained him. So we went to
+Nyagong, and there thieves came by night and would have despoiled us of
+our hides, but Hasteen prevented them; and thereafter the son of the
+Jamadar of Nyagong, who was a vain fellow and wore his turban awry,
+walked lame for many a day; and the bunnia (shopkeeper), who is the
+Jamadar's brother, put ground glass in the raw sugar he sold us--for so
+my father said--and my mother died.
+
+"Last week my father came not home, and for three days I saw him not;
+then--I looking on--they drew a man out of the village well with his
+hands tied behind his back and a great stone fastened to his feet,--and
+it was my father!
+
+"And this night a flame leaped up from our hut, and Hasteen went swiftly
+forth into the moonlight, his crest standing on his neck and back. I
+followed with what haste I could, and thereafter I came up with Hasteen,
+and he lay beside a dead man, whose eyes were wide open and on whose
+lips was froth, and a sharp knife in his hand;--and it was the son of
+the Jamadar!
+
+"Thereupon I caught Hasteen by one ear and smote him on the other,--for
+he had done this killing; and the hand wherewith I smote him was covered
+with blood, so I saw his hurt, and that he had lost an ear.
+
+"And the villagers waked whenas they heard the crackling of the flames
+from our hut and the barking of the village dogs; and Hasteen and I ran
+towards the road that leads to Kaladoongie, being more fearful of the
+men of Nyagong than of the wild things of the jungle.
+
+"When we came to the bridge over the Bore Nuddee my feet were tired, and
+calling Hasteen to me for warmth I set my back to the wall of the bridge
+and so fell asleep; and now that I have eaten of thy bounty I would fain
+sleep again," and the little man yawned in the presence of the most
+august assembly he had ever faced.
+
+"It was thus I found him, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen, "and I came none
+too soon. A mile from the bridge I heard the hunting bay of a gray wolf,
+and when I came nearer I could see in the moonlight, crouched beside the
+end of the bridge, some great beast that leapt into the jungle as the
+cart approached; and then the mail of the Rani (Empress) of Hindoostan
+was stayed by a graceless pariah dog that guarded this jungle wayfarer,
+and, frightening my horses, denied me passage over the bridge. I could
+not have brought in the mail to-night had it not been for this Rustum,
+who beat the dog and restrained him. Is it not so, O Terror of Nyagong?"
+
+But the little man was fast asleep by this time, and Ram Deen, by
+permission of Hasteen, who followed close at his heels, carried the
+small chamar to his own hut and put him into his own bed; "for that he
+was of the age," he said to himself, "of Buldeo, my son, who was lost to
+me three years ago,--and he without a mother."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+_The Hunting of Cheeta Dutt_
+
+
+A few nights after the finding in the jungle of Biroo, the little chamar
+(tanner), by Ram Deen, who drove the mail-cart from Lal Kooah, the
+notables of Kaladoongie were gathered round a fire in front of the
+police-station. The Thanadar (chief of police), as befitted his rank and
+dignity, sat cross-legged on his charpoi, smoking gravely, whilst the
+rest of the company squatted on their heels, after the manner of the
+natives of India, passing a hookah round the circle and discussing in a
+desultory fashion the current events of that section of the Terai.
+
+A faint bugle-note far off in the jungle announced the approach of the
+mail-cart, and soon after the distant rumble of the wheels was heard as
+Ram Deen drove over the Bore bridge. When he was within a quarter of a
+mile of the village he blew a brave blast, and presently dashed up at
+full speed into the firelight, Biroo standing between his knees, and a
+huge pariah dog bounding along by the side of the cart. Soon after Ram
+Deen, followed by Biroo and the big dog, joined the circle round the
+fire.
+
+"Salaam, malakoom!" said Biroo, gravely saluting the Thanadar, and
+including the rest of those assembled in his sweeping salute.
+
+"Malakoom, salaam!" returned the Thanadar. "So thou hast brought in the
+Queen's mail safely, my Rustum?"
+
+"Hasteen and I," began the little fellow, putting a caressing hand on
+the head of the great dog, who lay beside him winking at the fire,
+"Hasteen and I fear nought that moveth in the jungle, save only the men
+of Nyagong;--and then, too, there was Ram Deen."
+
+This was said so seriously that the men sitting round the fire laughed
+at the little man's gravity; and Ram Deen smiled as he spread an armful
+of dry grass on the ground, into which he tucked the little fellow, and
+wrapped him up in his blanket. Hasteen settled himself beside Biroo, and
+they soon became oblivious of the circle round the fire.
+
+"How likest thou the little jungle waif, Ram Deen?" inquired the
+Thanadar.
+
+"Thanadar ji, he is to me as mine own son, Buldeo, come back to life;
+and he knoweth not fear. As we drove through the jungle yesterday and
+to-night he turned his face towards Nyagong and cursed that village, and
+sware that he would burn it to the ground when he had a beard; and 'tis
+like as not that he will do so when he is a man grown."
+
+"Durga aid him in his attempt!" said fat Gunga Ram, the sweetmeat
+vender; "that village hath always bred rogues and budmashes, before and
+since Cheeta Dutt, the son of the last Jemadar (head man of the
+village), committed a deed of hell in the jungle thereby."
+
+The silence of those who sat round the fire was a mute request to Gunga
+Ram to tell the story thus prefaced.
+
+"Brothers," he began, "'twas in the second year after the great mutiny
+that a young Englishman came into the Terai to look after the sāl trees,
+which always seemed a foolishness to me till I learned that sāl timber
+is good for the building of the ships that cross the Black Water.
+
+"And he had but little to do, save to shoot black partridge and spotted
+deer and watch the Padhani women crossing the ford in front of his camp;
+that was the evil of it.
+
+"In those days I was but a span round the waist, and the best shikari
+(hunter) and tracker in these parts; and Bonner Sahib--that was his
+name--hired me to show him where game was to be found. But he soon tired
+of shikar (sport), and fell to playing the songs of the Padhani women on
+his cithar, the like of which I never heard before.
+
+"One day, after he had eaten his morning meal and swam in the deep pool
+above the ford of the Bore Nuddee, he lay on the grass by the stream
+smoking, whilst I cleaned his guns by the side of his tent. Presently,
+when I looked up, the sahib was gazing from under his hand at certain
+wayfarers who came down the slope on the other side of the stream
+towards the ford; and on his finger there glittered a stone that took
+mine eye even at that distance. In front there rode on a hill-pony,
+loaded with household goods, Cheeta Dutt, the son of the Jemadar of
+Nyagong, and he wore the garments of a man who taketh his wife home for
+the consummation of his marriage. Behind him walked Naringi, his wife,
+the daughter of the Jemadar of Huldwani. She was well named 'Orange
+Blossom;' and though I live to a thousand years, yet shall I never see
+the like of her as she walked behind Cheeta Dutt with a small bundle on
+her head and lifted her sari as she took the ford with her bared limbs.
+
+"Brothers, she was but sixteen years in age, and in the budding of her
+beauty; and it seemed as though the morning shed all its joys about her
+feet. What wonder, then, that even a young Faringi (Englishman) should
+look upon her with admiration?
+
+"When she was half-way across the ford her foot slipped, and the bundle
+she bore fell into the stream. Wullahy, but these Faringis be fools!
+Eyes may look, and thoughts may fall about the face of a fair woman,
+though she be another man's wife, but only a Faringi would do what
+Bonner Sahib did. Kali Mai afflict the race! Women were made but to
+carry burdens and bear children. Nowhere can it be shown--not even in
+the Shastras, wherein I, Gunga Ram, have read--that a man should demean
+himself to serve a woman; but Bonner Sahib leapt into the stream and
+recovered the young woman's bundle. Worse than that, as she stood beside
+her husband's horse, wringing the water out of the hem of her garment,
+he put her bundle in her hand, and Cheeta Dutt scowled at him.
+
+"'Protector of the Poor,' said I to the sahib, as I dried his feet and
+changed his shoes, 'thou hast not done well.'
+
+"'Wherefore?' he replied, sending the smoke of his cheroot skywards.
+
+"'Because Cheeta Dutt (well is he named Hunting Leopard) may repay thee
+hereafter in his own way for thy service to his wife this day. Belike,
+he may render her nakti (noseless), and so send her back to her father's
+house. But the sahib is a great lord, and a nakti Padhani woman more or
+less concerneth him not, for they be bought and sold like cattle, and
+the sahib hath the price of many such on his little finger.--But I speak
+like a fool, sahib, for I am a poor man and know nothing, save how to
+serve thee.'
+
+"But he only laughed and stroked the yellow beard on his upper lip.
+
+"A moon thereafter our camp was pitched near Nyagong. As ye know, the
+Terai thereby is full of shikar, and I showed Bonner Sahib where to find
+black partridge. One day, as we set our faces campwards,--I following
+the sahib with his spare gun and the morning's kill,--the voice of a
+young woman singing a Padhani song suddenly rose from a thicket near by,
+and the jungle became silent to listen to her. Bonner Sahib parted the
+tall grass with his hands, and I, looking over his shoulder, beheld
+Naringi, the wife of Cheeta Dutt, seated on a fallen tree trunk in an
+open glade, tending a flock of goats. As she sang she strung together
+flaming cotton-wood flowers, whereof she had placed one behind each ear.
+
+"When she had finished her song the sahib took it up, stepping at the
+same time into the clearing; and Naringi fled like a roe hunted by
+wolves.
+
+"'The shikar is shy, Gunga Ram,' said the sahib.
+
+"'Tis dangerous hunting, Protector of the Poor,' I replied. But the
+sahib only laughed and lit a cheroot.
+
+"And thereafter he sought the black partridge unattended by me, for he
+set me morning tasks to fulfil within the camp. But, brothers, he
+brought not so much as a jungle-fowl home for more than a week, and I
+was fain to know what the sahib hunted.
+
+"So I followed him unperceived one morning, and he went straightway to
+the clearing wherein we had seen Naringi with the goats. When I looked
+through the grass, behold! I saw Bonner Sahib seated on the fallen tree
+trunk, wearing a necklace of red flowers, and Naringi sat on his knee
+with an arm round his neck! Toba, toba! what fools these Faringis be,
+who know not that the birds of the air carry messages when a sahib
+stoops to a woman of our people."
+
+"The jungle hath many eyes," said the Thanadar, sententiously.
+
+After Gunga Ram had refreshed himself with the circling hookah, he went
+on: "As I looked and listened there was a rustling in the grass on the
+other side of the clearing, and the sahib's dog dashed into the jungle
+in pursuit of something. The next moment it yelped as a dog that is
+sorely stricken, but the sahib, who was toying with Naringi, heard
+nothing.
+
+"Then Naringi, stroking the sahib's golden beard, said, 'My Lord, Cheeta
+Dutt beat me last night because I spake thy name in my sleep. Look,' and
+she lifted the hair from her forehead, whereon was a bruise; and as she
+turned her face to the sahib I saw that she had been weeping, for her
+eyelids were swelled.
+
+"'He is swine-born,' said the sahib; and as he spake his face flushed
+like the morning sky. Then he folded her in his arms and saluted her
+mouth after the manner of Faringis; and when she was comforted he said,
+'Naringi, my Blossom, thy husband is a dog. To-night will I take thee
+hence and make thee envied of the mem-sahibs of Naini Tal. Wilt thou
+trust thyself with me?'
+
+"For answer she threw herself before him and clasped his feet, but the
+sahib raised her up, saying, 'Beloved, I will come for thee to-night on
+the stroke of the tenth hour by the village bell. Gunga Ram--my
+shikari--and I will wait for thee with a covered byli (cart) at the foot
+of that tall sesame tree thou seest yonder on the open plain. And for
+pledge that I shall be here, see, I set on thy finger this ring, which
+all the villages in the Kumaon Terai could not buy; and if I fail to
+come my punishment is in thy hands. It is a thousand years till I see
+thee again, little one.' Then he folded her in his arms once more and
+set his face homewards, shouting to her from the end of the glade,
+'Fail me not, my Wild Rose!' For answer, she swept the ground with her
+salaams.
+
+"Hastening campwards by a path that skirted the other side of the glade,
+I came across the sahib's dog. It was shorn in twain by the stroke of a
+khookri, and I knew that Cheeta Dutt, The Leopard, was a-hunting.
+
+"'What shikar?' asked I of Bonner Sahib when he returned to his tent.
+
+"'Thou art a liar, Gunga Ram. The jungle hereabout is barren of game,
+and it is in my mind to send thee with a note to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie commending the soles of thy feet to the bamboo staff of one
+of his men;' and, laughing, he threw himself into a long chair.
+
+"'I am sorry for thee, sahib,' I said in reply, 'for not only art thou
+empty handed this day, but thou hast lost the great stone that shone on
+thy finger when thou wentest forth this morning. Toba, toba!'
+
+"'Tis in my pocket, O Chattering Jay.'
+
+"'Perchance the sahib shot his dog this morning, seeing that the game
+was scarce?' I said.
+
+"'Hath he not returned, Gunga Ram?'
+
+"'Ere I answer thee, sahib, 'twere well to drink some brandy-pani;' and
+I mixed the liquor as he had taught me.
+
+"'It is well, Provider of the Poor,' I went on, 'it is well to be young
+and well favored, and the special care of thy gods who have bestowed on
+thee wealth and a moonstone that all the villages in the Kumaon Terai
+could not purchase,'--hereat the sahib looked at me out of the corner of
+his eye,--'but it is not well to look for partridges where great beasts
+hunt. Thy dog was slain in the jungle this morning by a leopard. He
+lieth outside the tent, and 'twere well the sahib should see what a
+leopard can do.'
+
+"Following him out of the tent, I uncovered the dead dog. The sahib
+clutched at his throat and would have fallen, so I put my arm round him
+and laid him on his bed.
+
+"'This is the work of Cheeta Dutt, sahib. Said I not that perchance he
+would hunt some one hereafter for thy service to his wife at the ford
+last month?'
+
+"Rising from the bed, the sahib drank another draught of the strong
+waters. 'Cheeta Dutt's back shall smart for this,' he said.
+
+"'And then, sahib, he will slay his wife because of thy ring in the
+pocket of her bodice.'
+
+"'Budmash, thou hast been playing the spy!' and turning upon me like a
+wild boar, his face aflame, he caught me by the beard.
+
+"'Sahib,' I said, 'I am but a poor man, and thou of consequence in the
+Terai, but, man to man, thou durst not lay thy hand on my beard in the
+jungle and away from thy camp. I fear not to tell thee, sahib, that I
+did, indeed, watch thee this morning; but the jungle is full of eyes,
+not the least keen being those of Cheeta Dutt, who slew thy dog this
+morning, and who will slay the woman thou lovest, or do worse to her,
+ere he sleepeth, as is his right.'
+
+"'Gunga Ram, thou art a man, and I ask forgiveness of thee for
+blackening thy face, but I am moved from myself by great fear for what
+may befall the woman. Tell me what is to be done, for thou knowest the
+ways of these jungle folks better than I;' and the sahib walked the
+floor as one distraught.
+
+"'Will one thousand--will ten thousand rupees save the young woman?'
+asked the sahib.
+
+"'The honor of a Brahmin is not to be appraised in money, sahib,' I
+replied.
+
+"'Will he fight, Gunga Ram, as a Faringi would under like
+circumstances?'
+
+"'He will fight, assuredly, sahib; but he will fight after the manner of
+his kind, and in the dark.'
+
+"Much talk had we, but we could only hope that Cheeta Dutt may not have
+witnessed the meeting that morning."
+
+Gunga Ram stopped to "drink tobacco" once more, whilst the little
+bullock driver, who would start in the morning with freight for
+Moradabad, said, "That was a poor hope, O Seller of Cates, for the
+jungle hath ears and tongues as well as eyes."
+
+"Therefore, byl-wan," rejoined Gunga Ram, "I saw to it that my gun was
+properly loaded as we went in the byli that night to the place of
+meeting.
+
+"The moon was almost in mid-heaven, in an unclouded sky, when we reached
+the sesame tree, and it was a time for the deeds of Kama, but Kali Mai
+was abroad in the jungle that night.
+
+"The sound of the distant village bell striking the hour of ten had
+scarcely died away when there rose from the glade the voice of a young
+woman singing a Padhani song.
+
+"'Heart of my Heart, she cometh!' said the sahib. 'Oh, Gunga Ram, she is
+safe!' and he lifted up his voice, singing the refrain of her song.
+
+"He had scarcely ceased by a breath, when he was answered by the scream
+of a woman who looks upon Terror and Pain hunting together.
+
+"Like an arrow from a bow he sped across the plain and entered the
+glade, I following with what haste I could. As I set foot therein there
+arose a yell the like of which was never made by jungle beast, and,
+brothers, my heart stood still with fear. I could hear the sahib
+crashing through the underbrush, and I followed, but the glade was in
+deep darkness by reason of the thick foliage of the trees overhead that
+stayed the moonlight, and my pace was slow.
+
+"Presently I saw the sahib in the open space where was the fallen tree
+trunk that had served him for a seat that morning. He stopped suddenly
+within a few paces of the log, like a stricken man. Falling on his knees
+and clasping his hands together, he bowed his head thereon; and in that
+instant a dark figure leaped upon the sahib from behind a tree, and I
+saw the flash of a khookri in the moonlight.
+
+"I raised my gun and fired as I ran, but I was too late.
+
+"When I came up to the sahib his head lay two paces from his body.
+
+"On the fallen tree trunk, with the sahib's moonstone glittering on its
+forefinger, was the small hand of a woman that had been lopped off above
+the wrist, and which still dripped blood."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+_The Spoiling of Nyagong_
+
+
+Goor Dutt, the little bullock driver, who was on his way to Moradabad
+with the effects of one of the clerks of the Lieutenant-Governor's
+office, reached Lal Kooah long after sunset. It was his intention to
+travel through the night, but he could not resist the temptation of
+joining the circle round the fire in front of the bunnia's hut whilst
+his bullocks ate their meal of chaff and chopped hay.
+
+The bunnia had given up his charpoi to Ram Deen, who drove the mail-cart
+to Kaladoongie, and who was a man swift of anger and dangerous to cross,
+but not altogether hard. Had he not, but three days since, found and
+adopted Biroo, the little chamar (tanner) waif, who lay asleep by the
+fire with a huge pariah dog stretched beside him?
+
+"Salaam, coach-wan ji," said Goor Dutt, saluting Ram Deen, "I have news
+for thee: the Commissioner Sahib hath sent word to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie that he should make inquiry concerning the finding of
+Biroo's father in the well at Nyagong."
+
+"'Tis well, Thwacker of Bullocks. And when goeth the Thanadar thither?"
+inquired Ram Deen.
+
+"Belike he is there now."
+
+"Oh, that a man were here to take the mail to Kaladoongie to-night!"
+exclaimed Ram Deen.
+
+"The man is here," piped the little carrier, "if some one will tend my
+cattle till I return."
+
+"That will I," said the bunnia, with the stress of Ram Deen's eyes on
+him.
+
+When the mail-cart drove up Ram Deen took the reins, with Biroo, wrapped
+in a blanket, between his knees, whilst Goor Dutt climbed to the back
+seat. The big dog, Hasteen, ran beside the mail-cart and woke the jungle
+echoes with his bark.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How didst thou fare last night, coach-wan ji?" asked the bunnia, next
+evening.
+
+"As should innocence wronged, and avenging strength."
+
+When none of those sitting round the fire spoke, Ram Deen went on: "As
+we came nigh to the path leading to Nyagong, Biroo turned his face
+thereto and spat vehemently; and I said, 'Son of mine, canst thou lead
+me to Nyagong?' and he replied, 'Of a surety; the path is here.'
+
+"Thereat we got down from the cart--Biroo and I; and I bore the bugle
+hanging at my side and a stout bamboo club in my hand. As we picked our
+way along the jungle path, Hasteen ran beside us, growling; and when the
+moon gave light I saw the crest on his back bristling, and his teeth
+gleamed through his lips.
+
+"When we reached Nyagong I put an armful of grass on the fire that was
+still smouldering in front of the Jemadar's house, and, as the flame
+leaped up, I blew upon my bugle. Straightway the village watchman, who
+had been sleeping in his hut, after the manner of his kind, came
+running forth bravely; but when he saw who it was that stood by the fire
+he salaamed, and whined, saying, 'Great pity 'tis that Ram Deen, Lord of
+Leopards, should be put to the trouble--and at this unseasonable
+hour!--to return to our village this small villain and budmash, who is
+worse than the evil eye.'
+
+"For answer, I felled him to the ground, and Hasteen stood over him. So
+he dared not move.
+
+"Then came the Jemadar and the men of the village and stood round us;
+and the former said, 'Wah! Ram Deen, coach-wan, is it well to disturb
+peaceful folk at night and rouse them from their sleep? What wouldst
+thou with us?'
+
+"'Justice to this little one, whose father and mother ye and your people
+have slain,' I answered.
+
+"'And what of my son, found dead, and with teeth-marks about his
+throat?' he asked.
+
+"'Jemadar Sahib,' I replied, 'Kali Mai gave thy son, her follower,
+fitting end. As he lived, so he died. 'Tis well.'
+
+"'Dog!' he exclaimed; 'darest thou to speak thus to me in front of mine
+own people?' And he ran upon me.
+
+"So I took him by the beard and laid him at my feet; and the men of
+Nyagong feared to help the Jemadar, for Hasteen growled fiercely over
+him.
+
+"'Fetch the bunnia,' I demanded; 'and lose no time, O Swine of the
+Terai, or I give your Jemadar to the dog.'
+
+"They brought him trembling before me, and he folded his hands and bowed
+his head in the dust at my feet, crying, 'Ram dhwy! ram dhwy! the great
+and strong are ever merciful. What wouldst thou with me, coach-wan ji?'
+
+"'The bhalee of raw sugar,' I answered, 'from which this man-child's
+mother got her death.'
+
+"'She died of Terai fever, Most Worshipful, as the old woman who was
+with her will tell thee.'
+
+"'Nevertheless, Biroo and I will go to thy shop with thee, in the matter
+of that sugar, whilst the dog seeth to the Jemadar. Proceed.'
+
+"'But, Coach-wan Bahadoor,' said the Jemadar, 'thou wilt not leave me to
+be devoured by this beast?'
+
+"'Lie very still, Jemadar Sahib, very still. The dog is a good dog, and
+was never known to harm an honest man. But let no one come to thine aid,
+lest there be nothing of thee left to take to the burning ghat.'
+
+"'Go away, brothers,' wailed the Jemadar to his people; 'go away, lest
+evil befall me.'
+
+"But I said, 'Nay, not so. Stay till I return, O Village Thugs, for I
+would speak with ye.'
+
+"At the bunnia's hut Biroo pointed out the bhalee from which he had
+received the portion of raw sugar whereof his mother had eaten; but the
+bunnia denied, saying that he had already sold all that remained of that
+bhalee. So I broke off a piece of it and gave it to the bunnia, saying,
+'Eat!' Whereat he clasped my knees, begging for mercy, and I knew Biroo
+had not erred.
+
+"'Swine-born!' said I, 'set panniers on thy ass.' And when the ass was
+brought to the door of the hut I made the bunnia load it with such
+produce as he had, till it could scarce stand.
+
+"'I am fain to borrow fifty rupees of thee, bunnia ji, on behalf of this
+motherless child,' I said.
+
+"Whereon he wailed, saying, 'Ram Deen, Compeller of Elephants, there is
+not so much money in all the village stalls of the Terai. What I have I
+will give thee;' and he laid one rupee and nine annas in my palm and a
+handful of cowries.
+
+"'He lieth, my father,' said little Biroo, drawing forth a cocoa-nut
+shell from beneath the bunnia's seat,--and it was full of silver!
+
+"'Bap re bap!' moaned the trader, ''tis all I have against mine old age;
+and the men of Nyagong despoil me; and my milch cow died last week. Aho!
+aho!'
+
+"'It is a very little child, bunnia ji; and consider he hath nor father
+nor mother. God will repay thee for thy kind loan to the orphan,' and I
+tied the money in the corner of my waistband.
+
+"'But, Ram Deen, Sun of Justice,' whined the bunnia, 'there be one
+hundred and thirty-seven rupees, some of it in gold mohurs, in thy
+waistband. Take fifty, and return the rest.'
+
+"'Thank Nana Debi, Bunnia Sahib,' I rejoined, 'for having put it in thy
+power to do so much more for the fatherless than thou didst first
+intend. It will comfort thee in thy old age to think thereon.'
+
+"'But this is robbery,' he said, desperately, 'for which I will have
+thee cast in the great prison at Bareilly.'
+
+"'There be gallows there, too,' I retorted, 'for such as put ground
+glass in gur, Mea ji. Ho, ho!'
+
+"So he said no more, but, at my command, put panniers on another ass,
+which I had in mind to have loaded by the men of Nyagong.
+
+"When we returned to the fire, the dog Hasteen and the Jemadar were as
+we had left them; and the Jemadar's teeth shook in his head with fear
+and cold. So I called Hasteen to me, and when the Jemadar had risen from
+the ground and put his turban on, I spake:
+
+"'O Jemadar, and ye, O men of Nyagong, I would have ye witness that I
+brought this bhalee of sugar from the bunnia's stall. Is it not so, O
+great mahajun (banker)?'
+
+"And the bunnia assented. So I placed the great lump of raw sugar in a
+bag which I had brought from the bunnia's shop. Then, at my bidding and
+in the presence of his people, the Jemadar sealed the bag with his seal,
+which was well known to the Thanadar of Kaladoongie.
+
+"Then I spake thus to those assembled there: 'Jemadar Sahib, and men of
+Nyagong, ye have brought shame on the Kumaon Terai, and, in the eyes of
+all men, ye have blackened the faces of those who dwell in this paradise
+of God. This child that ye see here--and he is a very little child and
+hath nor father nor mother--came amongst ye but a moon since, and ye
+slew those who fed and cared for him. And him--his milk-teeth still in
+his mouth--ye would have burnt to death in his sleep had Nana Debi and
+this dog slept, too. It were a good deed done to burn your huts about
+your ears, and give your fields to the wild boar and to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie, who is my friend and the friend of this little one, and who
+would say that a jungle fire had swept your village away; but I am more
+merciful than ye. Inasmuch, then, as ye took the bread from this little
+one's mouth, and slew his people, it is but right that ye should feed
+him, and be his father and his mother. The bunnia hath already made some
+small reparation for the sudden taking off of the little one's mother.
+What will ye do for him whose hut ye burnt? Or would ye that the
+Thanadar of Kaladoongie should ask, or the Commissioner Sahib, he who
+can put ropes round the necks of murderers, how it was that the corpse
+of this child's father had its hands tied behind its back and a stone
+fastened to its feet?'
+
+"Then the Jemadar, clasping suppliant hands, whined, saying, 'Ram Deen,
+Rustum of the Terai, gentle as thou art brave and strong! the child's
+mother died of Terai fever, as thou knowest; and his worthy father, the
+chamar, leaned too far over the edge of the well in drawing up his
+lotah, and so fell in. Why speak to us, then, of slaying? We be sorry
+for the little chamar, Brahmins though we be, and we would have been
+father and mother to him, but he ran away, and the village mourned,
+thinking he had fallen a prey to the jackals. To none else but thee
+would we give up the boon of rearing him. Brothers,' he went on, turning
+to those about him, 'naught can restore a child's father to him, but a
+brass lotah with sufficient coin therein, and a necklace of gold and
+plum-seeds, such as I will bestow upon him, may help him in time of
+need, and, mayhap, resolve the Thanadar not to visit our village. Eh,
+coach-wan ji? Brothers, see to it that our much-loved orphan goeth not
+empty-handed from the generous village of Nyagong.'
+
+"So it was that the other ass groaned beneath a weight of silver bangles
+and toe-rings still warm from the taking off, blankets and hide-sewn
+shoes, sweetened tobacco and unbleached cotton cloth, and many a purse
+filled with two-anna pieces.
+
+"And when the ass's knees shook, by reason of the load on his back, I
+said, 'Men of Nyagong, perchance the Thanadar of Kaladoongie may have an
+asthma to-morrow.'
+
+"And one said, 'Of a surety he hath scant breath. Ho, ho!'
+
+"Then I set Biroo upon the second ass; and when we had reached the Bore
+Nuddee I blew upon the bugle.
+
+"When the Thanadar of Kaladoongie came out to meet me I put my hand on
+Biroo's shoulder, saying, 'Much care awaiteth thee, Thanadar Sahib, in
+tending this little budmash, whose merchandise this is. Moreover, he is
+a mahajun now, and hath much money to lend.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+_The Woman in the Carriage_
+
+
+When Ram Deen's bugle was heard at the Bore bridge, the munshi from the
+post-office came across the road and joined the group sitting round the
+fire in front of the police-station, at which only the great felt free
+to warm themselves.
+
+The munshi was struggling with "the po-ets of the In-gel-land," as he
+expressed it in Baboo-English, and did not often take part in the
+proceedings round the Thanadar's fire; but that night he took his place
+with the assurance of one who has something to tell. A mem-sahib, in
+evident distress, with a very young baby in her arms, and unattended,
+had taken special passage to Moradabad on the mail-cart; and Ram Deen,
+the driver, would therefore have to return to Lal Kooah that night
+without any rest. Such a thing had never happened before, and beards
+wagged freely round the fire in all sorts of surmisings. For once in
+his life, the munshi, whom Kaladoongie had always looked upon as a mere
+rhyme-struck fool, held the public eye, and moved largely and freely
+among his fellows.
+
+Beauty in distress appeals even to the "heathen in his blindness," and
+the munshi drove round to the dāk-bungalow to receive and translate the
+lady's final instructions to Ram Deen. Not that there was any occasion
+for his services, for the lady with the fair hair and blue eyes used
+excellent Hindustani; her soft "d's" and "t's" showed that she had been
+born in India, and that she had spoken Nagari before she acquired
+English.
+
+She was waiting on the veranda with her baby in her arms when the
+mail-cart drove up; and, ignoring the fussy little munshi, from whom no
+help could be looked for in the troubles that beset her, she spoke to
+Ram Deen, who soon won her confidence, for he showed himself to be
+thoughtful and a man of resource.
+
+"The mem-sahib must be well wrapped up to-night," he said, "and the
+little one too, for it will be exceedingly bitter as soon as we pass
+through the timber and arrive at the tall grass. And the babe seemeth
+very young from its cry."
+
+"It is but two weeks in age, coach-wan, and we are well wrapped up; but
+make haste, oh, make haste!"
+
+When Ram Deen had lifted her on to the seat, he fastened her to the back
+of it with his waistband, and wrapped her feet up in his own blanket.
+"There be ruts and stones on the road," he explained, "and the mem-sahib
+will have to hold the little one with both arms, and very close to her
+to keep it warm."
+
+By the time they had reached the level plateau beyond the Bore Nuddee,
+the horses, at her urgent and repeated request for more speed, were
+being driven as fast as Ram Deen dared to drive, seeing there were ten
+miles to be covered by the same team.
+
+As they proceeded, the lady showed her distress by an occasional deep
+sigh; and once, when Ram Deen looked at her face, dimly illuminated by
+the lamps of the mail-cart, he saw the gleam of a tear on her eyelashes.
+He was glad when she spoke and gave him an opportunity of trying to
+distract her mind.
+
+"Sawest thou any travellers on the road to-day, coach-wan?" asked the
+lady, timidly.
+
+"Yea, Most Worshipful. A carriage, with a sahib and an English woman,
+stopped by the well at Lal Kooah this evening; and the sahib warmed
+himself at the bunnia's fire and bought milk, whilst his man-servant
+made preparation for their evening meal."
+
+"What manner of man was he, coach-wan; and didst thou learn his name?"
+
+"The servant told me that the sahib's name was Barfield,--Captain
+Barfield,--mem-sahib, and that he was going to Meerut to join the
+regiment to which he belongs. Moreover, he said that the woman in the
+carriage was not his master's wife--but, toba, toba! what am I saying?
+This is shameful talk for the mem-sahib to hear, and I ask the
+forgiveness of the Provider of the Poor for my stupidity."
+
+"Go on, go on, coach-wan," she said, eagerly, laying a hand on his arm.
+And as he talked, she fell aweeping bitterly, and Ram Deen knew not how
+to comfort her, for he had never spoken to a mem-sahib before. So he
+blundered into speech again.
+
+"What manner of man, Most Worshipful, was the sahib? As he stood by the
+fire, I saw that he was nearly as tall as I,--and I am a span higher
+than most men; the beard on his upper lip was very fair, and his face
+showed red in the firelight; furthermore, he smelled of strong waters.
+He stood awhile, unmindful of those about him, twitching his beard and
+digging his nails into the palms of his hands; and he looked as a man
+who hath a new sorrow."
+
+"Oh, coach-wan! that is the first good word I have heard this day. It
+shall enrich thee by ten rupees ere the sun rise."
+
+"Presently," resumed the driver, "as the sahib stood before the blaze,
+the woman in the carriage began to sing, and it was as the song of one
+who hath smoked opium or bhang. Then the sahib stamped his heel on the
+ground, and with an oath--such I took it to be, for it sounded
+terrible--he went towards the carriage; and the woman, opening the door
+thereof, put forth her head, and we saw that her hair was unloosed and
+hung about her shoulders.
+
+"She fell to scolding the sahib, who thrust her back into the carriage,
+so that we should not look upon her disorder. Then he fastened the
+doors, so that she could not open them. Whereon she fell to screaming
+and beating on the sides of the carriage like a wild beast newly caged.
+
+"So the sahib, being shamed, gave orders, and his horses, which were
+already spent, were again yoked to the carriage; they departed slowly
+into the darkness, and we could hear the woman scolding long after they
+had passed out of sight."
+
+"What time was it when they left Lal Kooah, coach-wan?"
+
+"About the seventh hour, and now some two hours ago, mem-sahib."
+
+"Oh, make haste, make haste, coach-wan! Twenty rupees to thee if we
+overtake them ere they reach Moradabad!"
+
+"Fear not, mem-sahib. We shall come up with them or ever they get to the
+next chowki, where fresh horses await the mail-cart."
+
+"Oh, coach-wan, it is my husband we follow! The woman with him is of
+those who steal men's senses from them and rob women of their husbands.
+Oh, make haste, make haste!"
+
+They flew along the road. And when the light of the wayside fire at Lal
+Kooah gleamed in the distance the lady said, "Thou wilt not leave me
+here to another driver, coach-wan?--Thou art a man, and I may need a
+man's services to-night."
+
+"Mem-sahib, I am thy servant even as far as Moradabad if it be
+necessary."
+
+"God reward thee!" she exclaimed.
+
+And then Ram Deen woke the jungle echoes with a brave blast.
+
+The hostler at Lal Kooah had fresh horses ready by the time the
+mail-cart drove up, and in less than five minutes Ram Deen and his
+charge were speeding along the level road.
+
+The jungle had now ceased, and they were in the region of the tall
+plumed grass. The stars twinkled frostily, for the night was bitterly
+cold, and the clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road rang out
+sharply.
+
+"The little one,--is it well wrapped up, mem-sahib?" asked Ram Deen.
+
+"It is asleep, and quite warm, coach-wan. Proceed."
+
+When they had left Lal Kooah two or three miles behind them, Ram Deen's
+keen eye caught the glimmer of a fire through the tall grass that came
+up to the edge of the road where it curved.
+
+"We have found those ye seek, mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, bringing his
+horses to a stand-still.
+
+Through the quiet night came the voice of a drunken woman singing a
+ribald barrack-room ditty interspersed with fiendish laughter and oaths:
+
+    "I'm the belle of the Naini Tal mall.
+                   Houp la!
+      Not a colonel nor sub at the mess
+    But makes love when he can to sweet Sal.
+      To their wives do they dare to confess
+    That I'm belle of the Naini Tal mall?
+    Yes, I'm belle of the Naini Tal mall.
+                   Houp la!"
+
+Then the singer called aloud, "Captain! Captain Barfield!" But, getting
+no response, she beat a furious tattoo on the wooden panels of the
+carriage, shouting at the top of her voice, "Pretty sort of a jaunt to
+Moradabad this is! You're a liar, captain! But I'll tell your doll-faced
+wife how you treated her when her baby was only two weeks old." She then
+swore a round of torrid oaths, and wound up with a scream that might
+have been heard a mile off.
+
+"Mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, "bide here with the hostler till I have
+tamed that she-devil, and then I will take thee to the captain sahib.
+The little one,--is it warm?"
+
+"Quite warm, and still asleep, coach-wan. Go, and God advance thee!"
+
+Ram Deen found the captain seated on a log in front of a blazing fire.
+With his elbows on his knees, the captain pressed a finger to each ear
+to escape the tirade of the terrible woman in the carriage. A touch on
+his shoulder made him start to his feet, and as he turned round Ram Deen
+salaamed gravely.
+
+"I thought the sahib slept. No? Her speech galled thee," pointing to the
+carriage, "and thou wast fain not to hear it?"
+
+The captain nodded assent. He was worn with the trying position his
+folly had placed him in, and, at another time, he might have resented
+the touch on his shoulder, but the tall native in front of him spoke
+with dignity and a quiet assurance indicative of a large fund of reserve
+force,--and he might be helpful.
+
+"Where are thy servants, sahib?"
+
+"They fled when she cursed them. May the devil take them!"
+
+"I am the driver of the mail-cart on this road, sahib, as thou mayest
+see," said Ram Deen, pointing to his badge and bugle, "and this woman's
+tongue stayeth the Queen's mail; for on my cart, which I have left
+behind the bend of the road yonder, is a mem-sahib who perchance knoweth
+thee, for she, too, cometh from Naini Tal, and 'twere well she should
+not hear thy name on this woman's lips. She must not be kept waiting
+long, sahib, for the babe in her arms is but two weeks in age" (the
+captain started), "and the night is exceedingly bitter. Have I the
+sahib's permission to drive his carriage beyond the hearing of those who
+are fain to pass?"
+
+"Drive her to Jehandum, coach-wan, so she come to no hurt."
+
+Thereupon Ram Deen approached the carriage, and tapped on the door,
+saying, "Woman, it is not meet that the worthy traffic of the Queen's
+highway should be disturbed by thy unseemly conduct."
+
+For answer he received a volley of curses in broken Hindustani, such
+curses as are in vogue in the barracks of English regiments in India;
+and the woman in the carriage wound up with a request for more brandy.
+
+"Nay, it is not brandy thou shouldst have, but water,--cold water to
+cool thy hot tongue," and mounting the carriage Ram Deen urged the jaded
+horses into a trot.
+
+Two hundred yards farther on the road crossed the Bore Nuddee, now a
+sluggish river about four feet deep. Leaving the road Ram Deen drove
+down the bank and into the stream. When the woman in the carriage heard
+the splashing of the horses, and felt the water rise to her knees, she
+screamed with fear and became suddenly sober.
+
+"Hast had water enough to cool thy tongue?" asked Ram Deen, tapping on
+the roof of the carriage.
+
+"Stop, stop!" she entreated, frantically. "I will do whatever you wish."
+
+"Canst thou forget Captain Barfield's name, or must I drive into deeper
+water?"
+
+"I know not whereof you speak."
+
+"'Tis well! And who is thy husband?"
+
+"A soldier whose regiment is at Delhi, whither I go."
+
+"Thou must be true to him hereafter.--Ho there, horse! the alligators
+cannot swallow thee!"
+
+"Alligators! Are there alligators in this river?" whined the woman in
+the carriage.
+
+"There is scarce room for them within its banks."
+
+"Oh, sahib, I am fain to go to my husband, whom alone I care for.
+Proceed, for the love of God!"
+
+So Ram Deen drove her through the stream and up the opposite bank on to
+the road. When he had tied the horses to a tree by the highway, he
+said, "There will be travellers going thy way presently, and they will
+drive thee to Moradabad. Remember, I may have business in Delhi very
+soon. Salaam, Faithless One."
+
+And the woman responded in a very meek tone, "Salaam."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Come, mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, as he resumed his seat on the
+mail-cart; "the captain sahib awaits thee."
+
+When they were abreast of the fire, she called in a faint, tremulous
+voice, "Harry, Harry, my dear husband! I am very tired, and very cold.
+Won't you come to me?"
+
+Leaving the hostler in charge of the mail-cart, Ram Deen followed the
+captain as he carried his wife to the fire.
+
+Seating her on the log, Captain Barfield knelt beside his wife, chafing
+and kissing her hands.
+
+"Thank God, you found me!" he sobbed.
+
+"The ayah told me a few hours after you left me that that--that woman
+had been seen to join you beyond Serya Tal; so I and the baby came to
+help you. You still love us, dearest?" she asked, pleadingly.
+
+"My beloved, I am not worthy of you! There is a sword in my heart!" And
+he bowed his head on her lap and wept, whilst she stroked his hair with
+a slender hand.
+
+"God has been very good to me to-night," she said, softly.
+
+Soon after, removing the shawl from the little one's face, she said,
+"Kiss your baby, Harry."
+
+His lips touched the little face.--It was very cold. He started back,
+and, taking the child from its mother's arms, he held it near the
+firelight.--It was dead!
+
+As they looked across the little limp body into each other's eyes with
+speechless agony, Ram Deen bent over them and took the little one
+tenderly from the captain's hands.
+
+"Attend to the living, sahib; I will see to thy dead," he said, softly.
+
+He turned away his face from the sorrow that was too sacred to be
+witnessed by any one save God.
+
+As Captain Barfield folded his young wife in his arms, a deep groan
+rent his breast at the thought of his folly and its consequence.
+
+"Thou wert very tender--a mere blossom--and the frost withered thee,"
+said Ram Deen very gently, composing the baby's limbs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+_For the Training of Biroo_
+
+
+"Ah, small villain, budmash! must I send thee back to Nyagong, thee and
+thy dog, to learn respect for thy betters? The Thanadar's son hath the
+ordering of thee, and thou hast beaten him,--toba, toba!"
+
+"My father," replied Biroo, respectfully, to Ram Deen, "Mohun Lal took
+my kite, and when I strove to hold mine own he smote me, whereon I
+pulled his hair; and 'twas no fault of mine that it lacked strength and
+remained in my hand. So he set his dog on me; but Hasteen slew it.
+Wherein have I offended, my father?"
+
+And the Thanadar laughed, saying, "Ram Deen, Mohun Lal but received his
+due." To the "defendant in the case" he said, "Get thee to sleep, Biroo;
+and be brave and strong; so will Nana Debi reward thee." Then turning
+to those who sat round the fire, he went on, "Brothers, 'tis late, and I
+would have speech with Ram Deen. Ye may take your leave."
+
+When they were by themselves, the Thanadar spoke. "The man-child waxeth
+fierce and strong, my old friend; 'twere well he were restrained. He
+will be wealthy by thy favor, and the favor of Nyagong, when he cometh
+to man's estate, and 'twere pity that he should lack courtesy when he is
+a man grown."
+
+"Thanadar ji, thou art his father as much as I am. Thou shouldst correct
+him with strokes whenas I am on the road and carrying the Queen's mail."
+
+"Blows but inure to hardness, and--Gunga knoweth!--little Biroo is hard
+already. Why dost thou not give up the service of the Queen, and----" He
+paused, and after awhile asked, "What didst thou receive from Captain
+Barfield?"
+
+"The gun thou hast seen, Thanadar ji; but from his mem-sahib five
+hundred rupees, a timepiece of gold, and whatsoever I may want
+hereafter. The money lieth in the hands of Moti Ram, the great mahajun
+(banker) of Naini Tal."
+
+"Wah! Ram Deen, thou art thyself rich enough to be a mahajun. Consider,
+too, the kindness bestowed by Nyagong on Biroo at thy asking,--two
+hundred rupees and over, and much merchandise. Leave the road, my
+friend, and put thy money out at usury. A woman in thy hut to cook thy
+evening meal, and mend Biroo's ways, were not amiss. Eh? The daughters
+of the Terai are very fair, as thou knowest, coach-wan ji."
+
+"The road hath been father and mother to me, Thanadar Sahib, since I
+lost my Buldeo, who knew not his mother; so I may not leave it. And when
+I think of Bheem Dass, bunnia and usurer of the village whereof I was
+potter three years ago, and whom ye found dead on the road the day I
+brought in the mail, and was made driver, as thou rememberest, I may not
+live by harassing the poor and the widow and fatherless. God forbid! As
+for women,--they be like butterflies that flit from flower to flower;
+perchance, if I could find a woman who cared not to gossip at the
+village well, and had eyes and thoughts for none save her husband, I
+might--but I must be about my business on the road, and I have no time
+for the seeking of such a woman. Wah! I have not, even as yet, tried the
+gun Barfield sahib gave me."
+
+Soon afterwards, by an alteration of the service, Ram Deen brought the
+mail to Kaladoongie in the early afternoon, and availed himself of the
+opportunity thus afforded of rambling about during the rest of the day
+in the jungle with Biroo and Hasteen, in search of small game.
+
+One day they came upon a half-grown fawn, at which Ram Deen let fly with
+both barrels; but as his gun was loaded with small shot only, the deer
+bounded away apparently unhurt, with Hasteen in hot pursuit, whilst Ram
+Deen and Biroo followed with what haste they could.
+
+Presently, they could hear the baying of the great dog and the shrill
+cries of a woman in distress. Directed by these sounds, they crossed the
+road that leads to Naini Tal, and, scrambling up the bank and over a
+low stone wall, they found themselves in a neglected garden, in the
+middle of which was a grass hut, whence issued the cries that had
+quickened their steps. They arrived just in time, for Hasteen had almost
+dug himself into the hut.
+
+Calling off the dog, Ram Deen hastened to allay the fears of the woman
+in the hut, who was still giving voice to her distress in the Padhani
+patois. "The dog will not harm thee; see, I have tied him with my
+waistband to a tree."
+
+"Who art thou?" asked the woman. The tones of her voice, when she spoke,
+were exceedingly soft and pleasant, and made one long to look upon the
+face of the speaker.
+
+"I am Ram Deen, the driver of the mail-cart, and well known in
+Kaladoongie."
+
+"I have heard of thee and thy doings, and will come forth. But the dog
+(Nana Debi, was there ever such a dog!--he almost slew my fawn), art
+thou sure he cannot harm us?"
+
+"Kali Mai twist my joints, if he be not well secured."
+
+Whereupon the door of the hut was opened a few inches. Having satisfied
+herself that all was as Ram Deen had said, the young woman came out of
+the hut with one arm about the fawn.
+
+She was a Padhani, and in her early womanhood. The simple kilt she wore
+allowed her shapely ankles to be seen, and her bodice well expressed the
+charms of her youthful figure. Ram Deen thought her eyes were not less
+beautiful than the fawn's.
+
+After salaaming to him, she looked at her pet. "Oh, sahib, she
+bleeds,--my Ganda bleeds!" she exclaimed, pointing to a slender streak
+of red on the fawn's flank.
+
+"Belike some thorn tore her skin as she fled," said Ram Deen; but he
+knew that at least one shot from his gun had taken effect.
+
+"'Tis a sore hurt, Coach-wan sahib. Will she die?"
+
+"Nay, little one, 'tis nought. See!" and with a wisp of grass Ram Deen
+wiped the blood from the fawn's skin.
+
+"But the dog, coach-wan,--thou wilt not permit him to fright my Ganda
+again?"
+
+"Of a surety, not." Then, with a hand on the fawn's head, he rebuked
+Hasteen, saying, "Villain, the jackals shall pursue thee if thou huntest
+here again!" And Hasteen hung his head, putting his tail between his
+legs; and the young girl knew that Ganda was safe thereafter from the
+great dog.
+
+As they talked together, a very decrepit old man appeared at the door of
+the hut; after peering at Ram Deen from under his hand, he spoke in the
+flat, toneless voice of a deaf man: "Tumbaku, Provider of the Poor, give
+me tumbaku."
+
+Ram Deen put his pouch of dried tobacco-leaf in the old man's hand, and
+looked inquiringly at the young woman.
+
+"It is my grandfather, and he is deaf and nearly blind,--and a sore
+affliction. Give back his tumbaku to the sahib, da-da," she said in a
+louder voice to the old man.
+
+"Nay, nay, let him keep it!" said Ram Deen; then after a pause, and by
+way of excuse for staying a little longer, he inquired the old man's
+name.
+
+"Hera Lal, Coach-wan sahib; our kinsman is Thapa Sing, of Serya Tal, who
+was accounted rich, and planted this garden and these fruit trees many
+years ago. We stay here by his leave in the winter time, to keep the
+deer and wild hog out. My name is Tara, and I sell firewood to Gunga Ram
+the sweetmeat vender."
+
+Whilst she was speaking, Biroo had approached the fawn with a handful of
+grass.
+
+"Is this the little one they say ye found on the Bore bridge, sahib?"
+inquired the young Padhani.
+
+Ram Deen nodded affirmatively.
+
+"Poor child!" she exclaimed, and, moved by a sudden impulse of pity, she
+knelt beside Biroo, and smoothing the hair from his face she put a
+marigold behind his ear.
+
+Next day, after he had delivered the mail, Ram Deen, making a bundle of
+his best clothes, started off into the jungle. When he was out of sight
+of the village, he donned a snowy tunic and a scarlet turban, and
+encased his feet in a pair of red, hide-sewn shoes. When Tara, on her
+way to the bazaar with a load of firewood, met him soon after, she
+thought she had never seen any one so bravely attired, and stepped off
+the path to make room for him to pass.
+
+"Toba, toba!" he exclaimed; "it maketh my head ache to see the load thou
+bearest. Gunga Ram will, doubtless, give thee not less than eight annas
+for the firewood."
+
+"Nay, Coach-wan sahib, Gunga Ram is just, and besides giving me the
+market price,--two annas,--he often bestoweth on me a handful of
+sweetmeats."
+
+"Thou shalt sell no more wood to Gunga Ram. He is base, and his father
+is a dog. Set thy load at my door; here is the price thereof," and Ram
+Deen laid an eight-anna piece in her palm. Before she could recover from
+her astonishment he said, "The fawn Ganda, is her hurt healed?"
+
+"It is well with her. And what of Biroo, sahib?"
+
+"He is a budmash, Tara, and I repent me of befriending him."
+
+"Nay, Coach-wan sahib, he is but little, and hath no mother."
+
+"That is the evil of it," said Ram Deen, leaving her abruptly.
+
+When Tara returned to her home that evening, she noticed the footprints
+of a man's shoes in the dust in front of the hut; her grandfather,
+looking at her cunningly, smoked sweetened tobacco that was well
+flavored, and the clay bowl of his hookah was new and was gayly painted.
+
+A similar scene was enacted on the jungle path the next day, and many
+days in succession, and the tale of Biroo's iniquities grew at each
+recital. Every day there was some fresh villainy of his to relate, and
+each day Tara's grandfather waxed in affluence, which culminated one day
+in a new blanket and a small purse with money in it.
+
+"Tara," said Ram Deen one day, "put down thy load; I have bad tidings to
+tell thee concerning Biroo. He and Hasteen killed a milch-goat to-day
+belonging to the Thanadar."
+
+"'Twas the dog's doing, Ram Deen."
+
+"Nay, Biroo is the older budmash, and planneth all the villainies.
+To-morrow I must pay the Thanadar three rupees and eight annas, or
+Hasteen will be slain and Biroo beaten with a shoe by the Thanadar's
+chuprassi."
+
+"Biroo shall not be beaten for a matter of three or four rupees, sahib.
+Lo, here is the money," and Tara, taking a small purse from a tiny
+pocket in her bodice, held it out to him.
+
+"Nay, listen further!" exclaimed Ram Deen, holding up his hands; "thou
+knowest I am wifeless, and I might have the best and fairest woman in
+the Terai for my wife; but she liketh not Biroo, and will not share my
+hut because of him. Verily, I shall return him to the men of Nyagong."
+
+"Thou art, doubtless, entitled to the best and the fairest wife in the
+Terai," said Tara, with a sudden catch in her voice; "but Biroo goeth
+not back to Nyagong as long as our hut standeth and as long as Gunga
+Ram, who is a just man and a generous, will pay me two annas each day
+for wood." She turned away her face, so that Ram Deen should not see
+the tears that suddenly filled her eyes.
+
+"'Tis well, Tara; thou shalt have him, but thou must beat him every day,
+and often, to make an upright man of him."
+
+"Nana Debi wither the hand that striketh him! He is not a dog to be
+taught with stripes." Then, after a pause, she went on, "And the--the
+woman who is to be the best and fairest wife in the Terai,--what manner
+of woman is she?"
+
+"She is about thine age."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"And as tall as thou art."
+
+"Proceed."
+
+"Her voice is soft and sweet as a blackbird's, and her eyes are like a
+fawn's. Her name is----"
+
+"Well, what is her name?"
+
+"'Tis the most beautiful name that a woman can bear. Nay, how can I tell
+thee her name if thou wilt not look at me?"
+
+When she had turned her eyes on him, he put his hands on her shoulders,
+saying, "Her name is Tara, star of the Terai."
+
+And Tara put her head on his breast, and was very happy.
+
+"Thou must beat Biroo, Beloved, or he will be hanged."
+
+"Thou wouldst have been hanged, budmash, hadst thou been motherless and
+beaten by strangers. Biroo's mother will make him a better man than thou
+art, O Beater of Babes."
+
+"And thou takest me for love?"
+
+"Nay, coach-wan ji, but for the training of Biroo."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+_Chandni_
+
+
+About a mile below the eastern gorge of Naini Tal, the favorite
+hill-station of Kumaon, is a Padhani village overlooking Serya Tal. It
+is inhabited by a few score of low-caste hill-men, who earn a living,
+they and their women-folk, by carrying rough-hewn stones from the
+hillsides for contractors engaged in building houses, or by selling
+fodder-grass and firewood to the English residents.
+
+When a Padhani has accumulated sufficient means he purchases a wife and
+stays at home every other day; and when he has attained affluence and
+bought two wives, he stays at home altogether; which accounts for the
+fact that a large majority of these carriers of wood and stone are
+women.
+
+It is not to be supposed that the Padhani women look upon their toilsome
+tasks as a hardship: nature, and the decrees of evolution, have endowed
+them with superb health and strength, and they are wont, as they carry
+the most astonishing loads, to sing joyous choruses, and so lighten
+their toils. Every one who has been to Naini Tal is familiar with the
+sight of a string of Padhani women, short-kilted, showing a span of
+brown skin between their bodices and skirts, and singing in unison.
+
+They never seem to weary of their choruses, and Captain Trenyon of the
+Forest Department, and his _khansamah_, Bijoo, never tired of looking at
+them as they passed below his bungalow with swaying hips and jaunty
+carriage. They were a trifle darker than their Rajpoot sisters (_quod
+tune, si fuscus Amyntas_), and they might have been akin to Pharaoh's
+daughter, she who was "black but comely."
+
+Now, Bijoo was a Padhani, and he took more than a casual interest--such
+as Captain Trenyon's, doubtless, was--in the laughing and singing crowd
+that filed below the captain's house several times a day. Chiefest among
+them, and distinguished by her beauty and her stature, was Chandni;
+and, ere the season was over, Bijoo purchased her from her crippled
+father for ten rupees, and, thereafter, Captain Trenyon turned his back
+on the Padhani traffic of the Mall to watch Chandni instead, as she
+helped Bijoo to clean the silver; and the songs of the Padhani women
+attracted him no more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The following year, before the snows of February had cleared off from
+Shere-ke Danda and Larya Kata, Chandni returned alone to the house of
+her father, Thapa, at Serya Tal. It was night when she pushed back the
+thatch door of his hut, which was in darkness within, and called him by
+name:
+
+"It is I, father, Chandni, thy daughter."
+
+"Moon of my Heart!" said the old man, waking from his sleep, and he
+would have "lifted up his voice and wept," as is the manner of all
+orientals when greatly moved, but she prevented him by the
+impressiveness of her "Choop, choop! father; proclaim not my return to
+the village!"
+
+"Where is Bijoo, the man thy husband?"
+
+"Nana Debi alone knoweth, my father, and I have come back to thee."
+
+"Is he dead, little one?"
+
+"He is dead to me, da-da; and I have returned to cook thy food and carry
+wood and stone for thee, if thou wilt let me."
+
+"Let thee, O Spray of Jessamine!" and the old man caught his breath, and
+once more she had to check his emotions with an imperative "Choop,
+choop!"
+
+He left his charpoi, and raking together the embers in the chula, he
+blew on them till they kindled into a blaze, at which he lit a smoky
+chirag, whose dim light showed Chandni sitting on the ground with her
+back towards him, swaying to and fro, and crying softly "Aho, aho, mai
+bap!"
+
+He sat by the fire patiently, waiting for her to speak, his hands
+trembling with apprehension.
+
+When her composure was sufficiently restored, she said, "Thapa Sing, my
+father, Nana Debi hath no ears for a woman's prayers; do thou,
+therefore, sacrifice a goat to him to-morrow at Naini Tal, and entreat
+his curses on all Faringis. See, here is money," and she threw a small
+bag of coins towards him.
+
+He picked up the purse, and after a pause she went on:
+
+"My father, the Mussulmanis do well to veil their women's faces. Trenyon
+sahib looked upon me ere I was married to Bijoo, and since then, daily,
+in his jungle camp hath he scorched me with his eyes, till my cheeks
+felt as though the hot wind had blown on them.
+
+"One day, Bijoo came home with a coin of gold in his hand, such as I had
+never seen before, and which, he said, the sahib had given him; and he
+bored a hole through it and hung it on my forehead, and bade me wear it
+there at the sahib's request; but he stabbed me with his eyes as he put
+it on me.
+
+"And the next day, Bhamaraya, the sweeper's lame wife, (Kali Mai afflict
+her with leprosy!) came to the door of our hut, Bijoo being gone to the
+village market for food supplies, and she extolled my beauty, and
+showed a picture of myself made by Trenyon sahib by the help of the sun;
+and thereafter I veiled myself when I went abroad.
+
+"She came again the next day, and whensoever Bijoo was away from home,
+always praising my lips and my eyes, and telling me what Trenyon sahib
+spake concerning me. And yesterday she came to me and said, 'Chandni, O
+Moon of the Jungle, Trenyon sahib would fain have speech with thee.
+To-night will he send Bijoo with a message to the thana at Kaladoongie,
+and when he is gone and the other servants be asleep I will conduct thee
+to the sahib's tent. See what he hath sent thee,' and she placed at my
+feet a gold bangle.
+
+"When I would have spurned her and her lures from my door she laughed
+wickedly, saying, 'Ho, ho, my Pretty Partridge! if golden grain will not
+catch thee, assuredly thou art entangled in the snare of necessity, thou
+Wife of a Thief!' and she pointed at the coin on my forehead.
+
+"Then, as my heart turned to water, she went on: 'To-morrow the
+Thanadar will return with Bijoo, and, unless thou asketh the clemency of
+the sahib, Bijoo will be charged with theft and taken back to
+Kaladoongie as a prisoner.--The Sircar sends men across the Black Water
+for lesser offences than this!'
+
+"And being a woman, and fearing I knew not what dangers for Bijoo and
+myself, I entreated Bhamaraya to take me to the sahib's tent, promising
+to say naught to Bijoo.
+
+"And thus it fell out, Bijoo being away, that I went with the lame
+she-wolf to Trenyon sahib's tent last night to make appeal for my
+husband."
+
+She paused in her narrative once more, swaying herself to and fro and
+moaning, "Aho, aho!" Then, after a while, she went on:
+
+"When we were in the sahib's presence Bhamaraya plucked the chudder from
+my face, saying, 'Lo, sahib, I have brought thee the Rose of the Terai!'
+Whereon he filled her palms with rupees. And as she left the room she
+spake to me, saying, 'The saving of Bijoo were an easy task for thy
+beauty, thou Flower-Faced Chandni.'
+
+"And I stood suppliant before the sahib, with folded palms and downcast
+eyes, and in the silence I could hear the beating of my heart. After a
+while, and because he spake not, I looked up and met his eyes that
+burned upon my face; and then I knew the price that was set on Bijoo's
+safety.
+
+"Falling before him, I clasped his feet, saying, 'Provider of the Poor,
+let thy servant depart in honor, and so add one more jewel to the crown
+of thy worth. See, here is the coin Bhamaraya says was stolen from thee
+by the man Bijoo, my husband.' And, unwinding the gold piece from my
+head, I laid it at his feet.
+
+"Thereupon he raised me from the ground, and because great fear was upon
+me, and because my limbs shook, he seated me upon his bed, whereon was a
+leopard's skin. Then, filling a crystal vessel with sparkling waters
+that bubbled and frothed, he bade me drink. And my courage revived, and
+once more I made plea for Bijoo.
+
+"And then I noticed, for the first time, that the air of the tent was
+heavy with the odor of attar; slumbrous music came from a magical box on
+the table, and the thought of Bijoo seemed to go far from me, as though
+he were in another land, and I became as one who had smoked apheem or
+churrus. Then the sahib bound the gold coin on my brow again, and spake
+words to me such as I had never heard from man, assuring me of Bijoo's
+safety, and calling me Queen of the Stars, Dew of the Morning, Breath of
+Roses, and putting a strange stress upon me that cared not for any
+consequences.
+
+"When I had flown, as it seemed to me, to the highest peak of elation,
+he gave me another draught of the sparkling waters, and, as I sank back
+on the pillows, the last thing I had sense of was his hand on mine. Oh,
+Nana Debi, that I had never waked again! Aho, aho!"
+
+And once more the woman stopped to indulge her grief.
+
+"When I waked again," she resumed, "the sahib sat by the table, asleep,
+with his head on his arm, the light still burning brightly over him. A
+bird cheeped uneasily in the peepul-tree above the tent, and through the
+chink of the doorway I could discern the faint glimmer of the false
+dawn. Fearing to be seen in or near the sahib's tent by the servants,
+who would soon begin to stir, I made shift to rise from the bed, but my
+head swam from the effects of the strong waters I had drunk, and I fell
+back on the pillows and shut my eyes for a few moments.
+
+"When I looked again Bijoo stood within the doorway. Holding up a
+menacing finger that enjoined silence, he advanced stealthily on Trenyon
+sahib with an unsheathed khookri. Arrived within striking distance, he
+touched the sahib on the shoulder, and, as the sleeper raised his head
+from the table, the heavy blade descended on it and shore it from the
+shoulders, and Trenyon sahib passed from sleep to death without any
+waking.
+
+"Tearing the coin from my forehead, Bijoo wound his fingers in my hair
+and bade me follow him without any outcry on pain of instant death.
+
+"When we had passed into the jungle a mile from the camp he bade stand,
+and then, O my father, he inflicted the punishment our men exact from
+unfaithful wives."
+
+"O Moonlight of my Heart, say not thou art a nakti! Not that! not that!"
+
+For answer she rose slowly to her feet and turned towards him. Drawing
+from her face the chudder, which was soaked with blood, she disclosed to
+his horrified gaze a countenance with a hideous gap between the eyes and
+mouth, and bearing no resemblance to that of the once beautiful
+Chandni.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+_One Thousand Rupees Reward_
+
+
+The Terai was in consternation: Captain Trenyon of the Forest Department
+had been killed by his khansamah, Bijoo; the latter's wife, Chandni, had
+been horribly mutilated by her infuriated husband in accordance with an
+immemorial right claimed by the men of the Terai in such cases, and the
+government had offered a reward of one thousand rupees for the capture
+of the injured husband.
+
+"Are we dogs?" said Ram Deen, indignantly, when the Thanadar had
+displayed a notice of the reward printed in Nagari that was to be posted
+throughout the Terai. "Are we dogs, brothers, that the sircar should
+tempt us with base money to betray men for exacting just retribution
+from those who wrong them?"
+
+"We be men, coach-wan ji," said the bullock driver, valiantly; and
+whilst he spoke the great dog, Hasteen, who lay at Ram Deen's feet,
+pricked up his ears and growled as a shadow crept along the ground from
+the peepul tree in front of the village temple to a clump of tall grass
+some fifty paces from the Thanadar's fire.
+
+"Peace!" exclaimed Ram Deen, venting his spleen on the dog with a blow
+from his shoe; "dost thou not know a jackal as yet?" Then to those
+assembled round the fire he went on, raising his voice: "Kali Mai wither
+the hand that betrayeth Bijoo, and fire consume his hut! There is
+contention even in my house, because the woman Chandni is kin to my
+wife, who believes in her innocence; but better such contention, and
+bitter silence for kindly speech, than that brothers should sell
+brothers, and so make light the honor of men in the Terai!"
+
+"Nevertheless," said the Thanadar, "this notice must be posted wherever
+men pass or congregate throughout this Zemindaree."
+
+"Nevertheless," retorted Ram Deen, bitterly, "without disrespect to
+thee, Thanadar Sahib, it shall be told throughout the Terai that Ram
+Deen spat on the notice of the sircar and tore it in shreds," and the
+driver of the mail-cart proceeded to make his words good.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next evening, when the mail-cart drove up to the post-office, little
+Biroo plucked Ram Deen's sleeve as he dismounted. "Thou must come with
+me," he said, simply.
+
+"Must, Little Parrot?"
+
+"Ay, father mine. Tara wanteth thee; and there is pillau for thy evening
+meal."
+
+Now Ram Deen had fed on Gunga Ram's stale cates the evening before for
+having expressed approval of the mutilation of Chandni, and this
+prospect of pillau, besides appealing shrewdly to his eager stomach,
+was, perhaps, a sign of capitulation on the part of the young wife he
+had but lately wedded.
+
+As he approached his hut his nostrils were assailed with the odors of a
+great cooking.
+
+"Thou seest, my father," said little Biroo, with the ineptitude of
+infancy, "thou seest what awaits thee inside."
+
+When Ram Deen entered his abode a woman's voice came to him from the
+inner apartment, saying, "Feed, Big Elephant, stupid as thou art tall!"
+
+As Ram Deen fell to, Biroo also dipped his hand in the dish, mouthful
+for mouthful; and when his little stomach was pleasantly distended, he
+paused and said, "Where didst thou sleep last night, my father?"
+
+"'Twere better to eat pillau, little Blue Jay, than ask questions that
+may be answered only through the soles of thy feet," replied Ram Deen.
+
+"O valiant Beater of Babes!" said the voice from the inner room, "were
+it not for Biroo, I would return to my grandfather's house; but thou
+wouldst starve and ill-use the little one."
+
+"Nay, my Best Beloved," said Ram Deen, in a conciliatory tone, "thou art
+not even just to me. Listen----"
+
+"I will not listen, O Brave to Women, till thou hast answered Biroo's
+question."
+
+"My Star, an' you should tell it abroad that I did not sleep in mine own
+house last night, it would blacken my face in Kaladoongie."
+
+"Thou wilt say, perchance, that I gossip at the village well. Go on,
+what next?"
+
+"Nay, then, if thou must know it, I slept in Goor Dutt's bullock-cart."
+
+"'Twas well, Lumba Deen (Long Legs). Ho, ho, ho! Thy case was that of a
+ladder balanced across a wall. Proceed."
+
+"The grain bags I lay on, Heart of my Heart, were stony, and the night
+was full of noises."
+
+"Yes. And thou wast warm?"
+
+"Nay, Beloved, for there was not room for the drawing up of my knees
+between myself and Goor Dutt, so my feet were frozen, and Goor Dutt
+ceased not from snoring."
+
+"'Twas well, Oppressor of Women and Children. And thy evening meal?"
+
+"Light of the Terai, Gunga Ram's stale pooris were ill-bestowed on a
+pariah dog,--but the savor of thy pillau hath effaced the wrong done to
+my stomach last night."
+
+"Ah! And now what thinkest thou of my kinswoman Chandni?"
+
+"Tara, Light in Darkness, thou art dearer to me than life itself, and I
+would not lightly vex thee. What is done is done; why slay me with thy
+questions? I were not worthy of thee if I answered thee differently
+concerning the price to be demanded for the virtue of a woman; nay, do
+not cry, little one."
+
+A sound of wailing came from the inner room, where two women were
+weeping in each other's arms. "Aho! aho!"
+
+"Tara," exclaimed Ram Deen, starting to his feet, "who is the woman with
+thee? and why is she here?"
+
+"It is I, Chandni," said a thick, muffled voice, "and thou doest me
+wrong, coach-wan ji. Listen!" Then the strange woman proceeded to tell
+Ram Deen of the slaying of Trenyon sahib, and of her own horrible
+mutilation.
+
+When she had finished, Ram Deen said, "It was a brave stroke that Bijoo
+gave the sahib."
+
+"It was well done, khodawund."
+
+"And thou art not sorry for the killing of the sahib?"
+
+"Doorga restore me and afflict me again, if I do not think it was a good
+killing!"
+
+"They will hang Bijoo for it; a thousand rupees hath been offered for
+his taking, alive or dead."
+
+"Aho! aho!" wailed the strange woman. "Men will be wicked for even ten
+rupees."
+
+"But he robbed thee of thy beauty," remonstrated Ram Deen.
+
+"'Twas right to do so, in his eyes," was the reply.
+
+"And 'tis true thou wast in Trenyon sahib's tent for the helping of
+Bijoo?"
+
+"As Nana Debi is my witness. And I know not all that happened, for the
+sahib gave me strong waters to drink that robbed me of my senses."
+
+"Toba! toba!" exclaimed Ram Deen, walking towards the outer door. "Wife,
+see to it that thy relative is properly lodged this night."
+
+"And to-morrow night?" queried Tara.
+
+"To-morrow night I would eat of a kid seethed in milk and stuffed with
+pistachios by thy honorable kinswoman. Moreover, I will make provision
+for her ere the week is out."
+
+"My lord is good as he is great," said Tara, as Ram Deen left the hut.
+
+The next night, as they sat around the fire, Ram Deen waited till the
+shadow crept from the peepul tree to the clump of tall grass.
+
+"Brothers," he began, speaking deliberately and in loud tones, "the
+woman we spake of last night is guiltless of wrong, as I now know. She
+is here and in my hut, and an honored guest." He paused and looked round
+the circle grimly.
+
+"We be poor men, coach-wan ji," said the little driver, deprecatingly,
+"and thy honorable kinswoman is deserving, doubtless, of thy exalted
+consideration."
+
+"She is deserving of the consideration due to a woman who was greatly
+wronged by the villain who was slain, and by the madman, his slayer. She
+was lured, brothers, into the sahib's tent by the sweeper's wife,
+Bhamaraya,--who is a lame she-wolf!--for the purpose of pleading for her
+man, Bijoo, who was accused of theft; and then she was robbed of her
+senses by the sahib's strong waters, and hath done no wrong; let no man
+in the Terai gainsay it!"
+
+Ram Deen paused awhile to "drink tobacco," but nobody made comment on a
+matter in which he was so greatly interested.
+
+"Bijoo's life is forfeit," he resumed; "and the rope that shall hang him
+is already made, for the sircar never fails to find whom it seeks. But
+Bijoo, alive or dead, is worth a thousand rupees to the man who shall
+take him. 'Twere pity that the money should go to some jackal of a man,
+for it belongs, of a right, to Chandni, whom he hath wrongfully
+mutilated; but he is a man, and will, doubtless, make the only
+reparation in his power, and yield himself up, for her sake, to some one
+who will bestow the blood money upon her."
+
+The shadow rose from the tall grass and speedily disappeared in the
+darkness. Soon after, those who sat round the fire heard the dreadful
+lamenting of a strong man who walks between Remorse and Despair.
+
+"Brothers," said Ram Deen, as he rose to go to his hut, "alive or dead,
+Bijoo will be here to-morrow night."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the fire, next evening, no one spoke; they were waiting for the
+fulfilment of Ram Deen's prediction, and the bugle-call of the fateful
+man had just been heard in the direction of the Bore bridge.
+
+"Bijoo hath come, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen, as he dismounted from the
+mail-cart.
+
+He then proceeded, with the help of his hostler, to lift a heavy burden
+covered with a cloth from the back seat of the mail-cart. The limp hands
+trailing on the ground as they carried it showed their burden to be a
+corpse. They laid it in the firelight; and Ram Deen, drawing the
+covering from its face, disclosed the dreadful features of a man who had
+been hanged; part of the rope that had strangled him still encircled his
+throat.
+
+"This was the way of it," began Ram Deen, after due identification had
+been made and the corpse had been carried to the thana; "this was the
+way of it: this evening, just before we began the descent that leads to
+the Bore bridge, a man sprang from the darkness in front of the horses
+and stayed the mail-cart below the great huldoo tree that stretches its
+arms across the road. The light of the lamps showed him to be Bijoo. So
+I sent the hostler forward to the bridge to await my coming, for Bijoo
+and I were fain to be alone for that which had to be said between us.
+
+"When we were by ourselves I bade him mount the mail-cart and sit beside
+me. As he took his place, he said, 'Wah! coach-wan, dost thou not fear
+to be alone with a hunted man on a jungle road? I might slay thee now,
+for I am armed, and so remove the only man who can match me in the
+Terai.'
+
+"'Nevertheless,' I replied, 'I will take thee to-night to Kaladoongie
+with my naked hands, if need be.'
+
+"'We will speak of that hereafter,' said Bijoo; 'but now tell me of
+her.'
+
+"'She is as you made her,--nakti and poor and a widow; for thou art but
+a dead man, Bijoo.'
+
+"'And you spake the truth, last night, when you said she went to the
+sahib's tent to plead for me?'
+
+"Taking one of the lamps, I held it to my face, saying, 'Draw now thy
+khookri, Bijoo, and slay me if thou thinkest I have lied.'
+
+"''Tis well,' he replied, sheathing his weapon. 'And what will become of
+Chandni?'
+
+"'She shall dwell honorably with her kinswoman in my hut, and respected
+of all men as long as I live; but the road is not safe, Bijoo, and bad
+men and jungle fever and wild beasts have slain better men than I; and,
+bethink thee, by yielding thyself my prisoner thou canst bestow one
+thousand rupees on Chandni, and so set her beyond the reach of want and
+scoffers till her end come.'
+
+"He mused awhile, and then replied quietly, 'I will go with thee.
+Proceed. I know thou wilt bestow upon her the reward offered by the
+sircar.'
+
+"'But they will hang thee, Bijoo.'
+
+"'Of a surety. Proceed.'
+
+"''Tis a shameful death, for the hangman is a sweeper,--some brother to
+Bhamaraya, perhaps.'
+
+"'Nevertheless, proceed; but promise me that thou wilt trap the lame
+witch in some pit of hell, Ram Deen.'
+
+"'Fret not thyself on that score, Bijoo; I have already given the matter
+thought. But why should the sircar hang thee? They--would--not--hang--a
+dead man;' and I flicked a branch that overhung us with my whip.
+
+"'Thou art right, Ram Deen,' he said, quietly; 'but, lo! I have not
+slept for many nights, and my thought is not clear.' He then stooped
+downward, groping in the bottom of the mail-cart, and drew forth one of
+the heel ropes of the horses.
+
+"Throwing one end of the rope over the branch that was above us, he
+fastened it thereto with a running loop, and then encircled his neck
+with a noose at the other end.
+
+"As he stood up on the seat, he asked, 'Thou wilt give me honorable
+burning, Ram Deen?' And I replied, 'I will be nearest of kin to thee in
+this matter.'
+
+"'Tis well. Thou wilt not forget thy reckoning with Bhamaraya?'
+
+"But ere I could make reply, the gray wolf that hunts beyond the bridge
+bayed, and the horses broke from me in their fear, so that I could not
+stay them till we reached the Naini Tal road."
+
+"Yea, brothers," said the hostler, at whom Ram Deen looked for
+confirmation of this part of his story, "I had scarce time to leap to
+one side, as the mail-cart sped past me whilst I waited on the bridge."
+
+More he would have said,--for he had never before enjoyed the privilege
+of speech at the Thanadar's fire, and the occasion was epochal,--but he
+saw in Ram Deen's face that which made him whine and say, "But I am a
+poor man, and know nothing, and my sight is dim by reason of sitting
+overmuch by grass fires,--only Ram Deen, Bahadoor, could not stay the
+horses, though he cursed their female relatives for many generations,
+and----"
+
+"So, Thanadar ji," interrupted Ram Deen, "as soon as I could restrain
+the horses I turned them back, and, after picking up the hostler (who,
+because he is more silent, is wiser than most poor men who are ever
+talking of what they know not), I drove to the huldoo tree where hung
+Bijoo as dead as you saw him but now."
+
+Then, after a pause, he said, "Brothers, let it be told in the Terai
+that Bijoo came back as befitted an honorable man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+_The Rope that Hanged Bijoo_
+
+
+"Thy man-child is very beautiful, my lord," said Tara.
+
+Ram Deen was sitting outside of his hut on a charpoi, whilst Tara rubbed
+their month-old babe with "bitter oil" in the forenoon sun.
+
+The little brown manikin, without a stitch on him to conceal God's
+handiwork, sprawled on his stomach across his mother's knees, making
+inarticulate noises, and wriggling after the manner of infants when it
+is well with them, for the sun was pleasantly warm, and his mother's
+rubbing appealed to his budding sensations.
+
+"It is not so beautiful as its beautiful mother," said Ram Deen.
+
+"Thou Worthless!" exclaimed Tara. "Sawest ever such hands?" and she put
+a finger into the wee palm that clasped it by "reflex action."
+
+"Toba! toba!" swore Ram Deen. "Nana Debi send grace to evil-doers in the
+Terai in the days to come, or else shall they be undone by these hands.
+Why, they might almost crush a fly!"
+
+"Nevertheless, coach-wan ji, my lord, thy son shall be taller than thou
+when he is a man grown."
+
+"Khoda (God) grant it, for thy son must drive the mail-cart in the time
+to come, and the Terai is full of dangers."
+
+"But he _shall not_ drive the mail-cart," said Tara; "he shall be
+Thanadar of Kaladoongie, and he shall feed his father and his mother
+when his beard begins to sing on a scraping palm. Eh, my butcha?" and
+the young mother, after the manner of young mothers the world over, bent
+her head and kissed the little one's dimples.
+
+"He shall be rich, too, coach-wan ji," said a tall woman with a
+beautiful figure appearing in the doorway of the hut. Her eyes made
+beholders long to look upon the rest of her face; but that was closely
+veiled, for it was horribly mutilated.
+
+Her voice was thick and muffled, and she spoke with difficulty. It was
+the unhappy Chandni.
+
+"He shall be rich, if a thousand rupees can make him rich, and the
+wishes of thy humble servant. Tulsi Ram, pundit, hath this day indited a
+letter for me to Moti Ram, the great mahajun of Naini Tal, directing him
+to hold the money, that was the price of Bijoo, for thy son till he
+comes to man's estate."
+
+"Now, nay, Chandni," remonstrated Ram Deen; "I am richer than most men
+in the Terai, and, through the advice of my friend, the Thanadar, my
+wealth groweth apace, and my son shall lack nothing. Biroo, too, is
+provided for; thou mayest need the money thyself, for the thread of life
+parts easily in the Terai, as thou knowest, and the shelter of my hut
+may be wanting to thee some day."
+
+"Nevertheless, my lord and my master, thy lowly handmaid must not be
+thwarted in this matter," and Chandni disappeared into the hut.
+
+"Let her have her will, my lord," pleaded Tara; "we owe her much," and
+with a sweeping gesture she indicated the garden in which they sat and
+which was Chandni's special care.
+
+The enclosure in which Ram Deen's hut stood used to be, ere the days of
+Tara and Chandni, the most neglected spot in the village; but, after the
+arrival of the latter, it gradually began to assume an appearance of
+neatness and thrift that made Ram Deen's home-coming a daily delight to
+him.
+
+The young peepul tree in front of the hut was aflame with a gorgeous
+Bougain-villea, and the flower-beds laughed with marigolds and poppies
+of many hues sown broadcast. A little runnel sparkled through the
+garden, and, in one part of its career, chattered pleasantly over a tiny
+pebbly reach artfully contrived to produce the "beauty born of murmuring
+sound," which is nowhere more grateful than in the domain of the Hot
+Wind.
+
+In one corner of the garden were planted radishes, and turnips, and
+carrots, with their delightful greenery. Chili plants and Cape
+gooseberries abounded, and many a potherb pleasant to behold and good in
+a curry. Every plant and shrub gave evidence of loving care, and repaid
+the tilth bestowed upon them with lavish interest.
+
+A little machand (dais) of plastered mud, under the peepul tree, had
+been specially built for little Biroo, who decorated it, after the
+manner of the small boy, with bits of gayly-tinted glass and potsherds,
+bright feathers and cowries, and such other gauds as appeal to his kind.
+
+In another corner of the compound was a tiny hut, wherein Heera Lal,
+Tara's old grandfather, lived in such ease and affluence as he had never
+dreamed of in his wildest imaginings. His day was setting in scented
+clouds of sweetened tobacco, and he had tyre to eat every morning. Every
+week he added two annas (six cents) to the hoard under his hearth; it
+was saved from the allowance made to him by Ram Deen; and he owed no man
+anything. Moreover, in Ram Deen he had found one who could be most
+easily overreached, and Ram Deen delighted to be swindled by the old man
+in matters involving small change.
+
+Even Hasteen had not been forgotten in the improvements made in the
+enclosure: in one corner a small space had been carefully lepoed
+(plastered) and roofed with thatch for him. Farther on, Nathoo, Biroo's
+kid, was tethered to a stake; and beyond that the fawn, Ganda, had a
+little paddock to herself.
+
+The whole compound was fenced in by a flourishing mandni hedge, which
+gave Ram Deen a fuller sense of possession. As he sat on the charpoi,
+lazily smoking his hookah and drinking in the beauty of the garden and
+of the day beyond, he was the happiest man in all the Terai. When Tara
+had finished the baby's simple toilet and put it to her breast, the
+thought passed through Ram Deen's mind that, if God ever smiled, it must
+be when he looked on a young mother suckling her first-born.
+
+"Respect the aged and infirm," said a whining voice, breaking in upon
+Ram Deen's pleasant reverie. The speaker, who stood outside the hedge,
+was an old mendicant equipped like his kind, with an alms-bowl
+containing a handful of small copper coin and cowries. He was smeared
+with wood ashes, and his tangled, grizzly hair hung to his waist.
+
+"Respect the aged and poor, Ram Deen, for the sake of the beautiful
+babe." (Tara immediately covered it with her chudder for fear of the
+evil eye.) "Listen, I have tidings for thee."
+
+"Speak, swami," replied the driver, throwing him a small piece of
+silver.
+
+"Bhamaraya, the lame mehtrani, cometh this way. She is on the road on
+the hither side of Lal Kooah, in a covered byli whereof one of the
+wheels has come off. The byl-wan walked into Kaladoongie with me this
+morning to seek assistance, leaving the old woman on the road."
+
+"'Tis well, jogi ji. Durga will doubtless protect her own. Salaam," said
+Ram Deen, dismissing the mendicant.
+
+The time had come for the fulfilment of his promise to Bijoo. What he
+should do when he came across the mehtrani who had wrecked Chandni's
+life would doubtless be suggested to him by the circumstances of the
+place and the hour, but for the present he was satisfied that she was
+completely in his power.
+
+That day Chandni was absent from the mid-day meal.
+
+The Hot Wind blew fiercely, rattling the leafless branches of the forest
+trees. The Bore Nuddee, below the head of the canal that supplied
+Kaladoongie, had shrunk to a few scattered pools that became shallower
+every day.
+
+"Nana Debi send thy kinswoman is in a cool shade this day," said Ram
+Deen, addressing Tara.
+
+"She hath doubtless gone to the ford of the Bore Nuddee to bleach her
+new chudder," explained Tara.
+
+But when evening came and Chandni had not returned, the driver became
+alarmed. After he had made his preparations for taking the mail to Lal
+Kooah he joined the circle in front of the Thanadar's hut.
+
+The Hot Wind had abated its fury to little puffs that came at intervals
+and seemed to sear the skin, and the sun had set like a copper disk in
+the haze that overhung the western sky. As the hostler brought the
+mail-cart round, Ram Deen told the Thanadar of Chandni's absence, and
+received his assurance that immediate search should be made for her.
+
+As they spoke together a little puff of wind came out of the west, laden
+with the smell of fire. They instinctively turned their faces windwards.
+The glow of the setting sun, that had but just disappeared, seemed to be
+returning in the west and illuminated the under surface of a huge black
+cloud that was growing rapidly in size.
+
+"The jungle through which thou must drive is on fire, Ram Deen, and thou
+must make haste if thou wouldst take the mail to Lai Kooah to-night."
+
+"But thou must not go to Lai Kooah to-night," said little Biroo, running
+up to Ram Deen. "Chandni said so ere she went away this morning. I was
+to tell thee, but I had forgotten till I saw just now the money she gave
+me for the telling of this to thee;" and opening his hand he showed the
+men a rupee.
+
+"Therefore must I go, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen. "Had this little
+budmash spoken sooner Chandni had been home now, and not on a quest that
+belongs properly to me. Toba, toba!" he exclaimed, as a tongue of flame
+shot high into the air, "was ever such fire lit for the purification of
+the jungle? But I must make haste if I would save Chandni;" and the next
+minute Ram Deen was speeding towards the Bore bridge. Two miles beyond
+the bridge they reached the hither end of the fire, which was now being
+driven furiously by a storm of its own creation towards the road, from
+which it was distant about half a mile. The hostler leaped to the
+ground, refusing to go any farther; but the element of danger and the
+risk to Chandni only stirred Ram Deen's pulses into activity, and he
+shook the reins and urged his horses into a headlong gallop.
+
+The wild things of the Terai fled in front of the fire and across Ram
+Deen's path, heedless of the presence of man, who was but a pygmy to the
+wrath behind them. The roar of the giant fire put a great stress upon
+the fleeing animals, so that they were as of one kin in the presence of
+a common danger. A herd of spotted deer, with a leopard in their very
+midst, dashed across the road in front of the mail-cart. A wild boar
+came next in headlong fashion. Jackals, hares, nyl-gai followed each
+other pell-mell, making for the shelter of the bed of the Bore Nuddee,
+whilst overhead was seen the flight of the feathered denizens of the
+Terai.
+
+All this confusion and rush but accented the roar of the pursuing fire.
+When Ram Deen looked back for an instant he saw that it had leapt across
+the road at a point he had passed but a minute before, and now he knew
+that he was running for his life.
+
+A quarter of a mile farther on the road turned to the left, thus
+increasing his chance of reaching the southern limit of the fire, which
+was travelling due east. By the light of the flames he could see a tall
+woman sitting on the parapet of a small culvert, about one hundred yards
+in front of him. On the edge of the jungle beside her was an overturned
+byli, and from it there came the most appalling screams that could be
+distinguished even through the din of the fire.
+
+The woman on the culvert saw him as soon as he turned the bend of the
+road, and forthwith mounted the parapet; and he saw it was Chandni. As
+the mail-cart swept past her she sprang towards it, and Ram Deen passed
+an arm round her and drew her on to the seat beside him.
+
+"For the love of God, Chandni, for the love of God!" screamed the woman
+in the byli as a burning branch fell on it. But the mail-cart sped away,
+and presently only the roar of the angry fire could be heard.
+
+A quarter of a mile farther on they had passed the southern edge of the
+fire, which was within fifty yards of the road when they reached safety.
+
+"The woman in the byli?" asked Ram Deen.
+
+"Bhamaraya," was the quiet reply.
+
+"And why came she not forth?"
+
+"Because of the rope that hanged Bijoo."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+_Coelum, Non Animum Mutant_
+
+
+The Commissioner of Kumaon had arrived at Kaladoongie in the course of
+his winter tour of inspection, and the same evening Joti Prshad, his
+butler, sat beside the Thanadar on a charpoi and smoked with
+metropolitan ease amidst the awe-struck notables of the jungle village.
+
+Ram Deen alone was not abashed, and puffed his hookah unconcernedly,
+although Joti Prshad told many wonderful things of the sahiblogue, and
+spoke concerning the doings of the great world of Naini Tal during the
+greater rains.
+
+Joti Prshad was a small man, and Ram Deen's _blasé_ mood galled his
+sense of superiority; it was but right that he should snub this
+exasperatingly cool villager.
+
+"Thanadar ji," he began, "thou and I know that nowhere in Hindoostan is
+there such greatness assembled as at Naini Tal during the Greater
+Barsāt."
+
+"Men say that the governor-general still goeth to Simla, but, doubtless,
+the sirdar knoweth best," said Ram Deen.
+
+"The Lāt-sahib, indeed, goeth to Simla, but those with him be mere
+karanis (clerks), and shopkeepers, and half-castes. 'Tis plain thou hast
+not seen Naini Tal, coach-wan."
+
+"The Terai sufficeth me, Joti Prshad."
+
+"They say," piped Goor Dutt, the little bullock driver, "that the
+mem-sahibs at Naini Tal bare their shoulders and bosoms and dance with
+strange men. Toba, toba!"
+
+This being an indisputable fact, and one to which Joti Prshad had never
+reconciled himself, the latter did not speak, and the diversion thus
+made by the byl-wan was felt by all to be in Ram Deen's favor.
+
+Taking advantage of the silence of Joti Prshad, Ram Deen went on: "The
+people of Naini Tal come and go, but the children of the Terai never
+forget their mother. What sayest thou, Thanadar ji?"
+
+"'Tis even so, brothers," said the Thanadar, with the gravity of one who
+is in authority and under the stress of weighing his words.
+
+As they evidently waited for him to proceed, the Thanadar continued:
+"The jungle is our father and our mother, and the huldoo trees our near
+kin, O my brothers; and we who have once seen the beauty of the morning
+in the jungle, and the rye-fields laughing in the clearings in the
+winter, may not live elsewhere."
+
+"Ay, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen; "and, moreover, the senses of those
+who live in bazaars are asleep as with bhang, and they cannot see nor
+hear the wonders of God."
+
+A general "humph" of assent followed Ram Deen's speech.
+
+"If the sirdar will stay with us we will show him whereof we speak,"
+said the Thanadar. But the butler had fond recollections of Oude and the
+rose-fields of Shahjahanpoor, where they make attar, and shook his head
+dissentingly. So the Thanadar went on: "Many seasons since, a holy
+man--a Sunyasi--who had given up his wife and children and lived in a
+hollow tree by the Rock of Khalsi (whereon are written the laws of the
+great king Asoka) returned to Gurruckpoor, his native village, when he
+felt the Great Darkness coming on. He told the village Brahmin that he
+longed for death, but that he could not die outside of the Terai."
+
+After a pause, during which the bubbling of his narghili was heard, the
+Thanadar said: "It is the same with all who are born in the
+Terai,--Faringi and Padhani, Brahmin and Dome, Sunyasi and fair
+woman,--all are alike in bondage, and return, sooner or later, to their
+jungle mother. Listen. Twelve years ago there came to Gurruckpoor to
+hunt big game an Englishman named Fisher Sahib. He was of those favored
+by God who have much wealth, and to whom sport standeth for occupation.
+As he was accustomed to fulfil his heart's desires, he hired two
+shooting elephants from the Rajah of Rampore,--one for himself and the
+other for his mem-sahib, who accompanied him. And he had a great camp,
+and many servants, and beaters, and shikaris, chief of whom was Juggoo,
+whose fame as a hunter reached from Phillibeet to Dehra. He it was who
+always rode with the sahib in his howdah, and he had command from the
+mem-sahib never to leave the sahib's side in the jungle, in that he was
+rash and loved danger, and many a time fell into it unawares by reason
+that he saw not clearly except he looked through a piece of glass that
+he wore in one eye.
+
+"One day the sahib had shot a deer, and let himself down from his
+elephant--Juggoo going with him--to give it hallal, according to the
+rule of the Koran,--for he intended the deer as a gift to the
+Mussulmanis in his camp. As he bent over the deer to cut its throat with
+his khookri, a great boar ran upon them from a thicket. Juggoo uttered a
+cry of warning, but ere the sahib could find his sight the boar was upon
+them, and Juggoo thrust himself in its way and got his death, or the
+sahib had been killed.
+
+"So they carried the dead man to the camp, where his daughter, Chambeli,
+having cooked his evening meal, awaited the return of her father. She
+was fifteen years in age, and a widow,--for her betrothed husband and
+all his people had died five years before of The Sickness (small-pox);
+so she had returned to her father, and had cared for his house ever
+since. And Kali Dass, who was learning jungle-craft from her father,
+would have had her to mistress. 'Come and live with me, my beloved,
+beyond the head-waters of the Bore Nuddee,' he had pleaded; 'and when
+thy hair hath grown again none shall know thou art a widow, and the
+people of the foothills shall wonder at thy beauty.'
+
+"'But I shall know and Nana Debi,--and the others matter not, Kali
+Dass'" she replied firmly.
+
+"So Kali Dass went his way; and the young man and Chambeli looked at
+each other, but spake no more together.
+
+"The mem-sahib it was who told Chambeli of her father's death, Kali Dass
+standing by, and she turned on him like a leopard bereft of its young
+and upbraided him, saying, 'Hadst thou been a man, Kali Dass, my father
+were still living.' Thereafter she swooned, and the mem-sahib laid her
+on her own couch, and held her in her arms and comforted her, because
+Juggoo had died to save the sahib.
+
+"Then for that she was childless and very wealthy, and could do
+whatsoever seemed good in her eyes, the mem-sahib took Chambeli across
+the Black Water. They brought her up as their own kin, teaching her
+whatsoever it is fitting the daughter of a Faringi should know, and
+training her to work amongst our women and children when they should be
+afflicted with sickness; and, furthermore, she was to turn them from
+Nana Debi to the God of the Faringis.
+
+"Moreover, to aid her in her work she was married to a young English
+padre; and they came to Kaladoongie six years ago, when the next
+new-year festival of the Faringis shall arrive. And because we knew her
+and still remembered Juggoo, her father, we of Kaladoongie waited on her
+at the dāk-bungalow on the day she returned.
+
+"She came out to us on the veranda, dressed in the garments of a
+mem-sahib, and we saw that she was a woman grown and in the mid-noon of
+her beauty. She was glad to see us, calling us all by our names, and we
+greeted her with such gifts as we could,--fruit and flowers and
+sweetmeats. Last of all came Kali Dass, and behind him four men bearing
+a leopard but newly slain, slung from a pole.
+
+"They laid the beast at her feet, and Chambeli laughed and clapped her
+hands till the little padre, her husband, frowned at her; whereon her
+nostrils twitched and she looked at him in wonderment, as though she saw
+for the first time that he was a small man with a pale face, and void of
+authority.
+
+"Then turning to Kali Dass she said in our Terai tongue, 'Is it well
+with thee, shikari ji? Thou art doubtless married and happy?'
+
+"And he said, 'Nay; I have no spouse, save only my jungle-craft.'
+
+"'And the jungle?' she asked, looking on the ground.
+
+"'It is my father and my mother, and fairer than any of its daughters,
+mem-sahib. But thou hast been in great cities, and across the Black
+Water; thou hast read in books, and hast changed thy gods,--what
+shouldst thou care for the jungle?'
+
+"'It is the garden of God, Kali Dass, and I am fain to see it again, for
+I am a Padhani born, and a daughter of the Terai.'
+
+"Ere she gave us leave to depart it was arranged that she and the padre
+sahib, accompanied by me and Kali Dass, should start in the early
+morning and follow the Bore Nuddee backward into the foothills.
+
+"Kali Dass was at the dāk-bungalow before me in the morning; and he was
+dressed in holiday clothes; his face shone, and behind one ear he had
+placed a marigold.
+
+"When the padre and his mem-sahib came forth from their chamber, behold!
+she was dressed as a Padhani; and she was the Chambeli we knew of old,
+only taller.
+
+"'I am but a Padhani,' she explained, 'and shall get nearer to my people
+the more I am like to them.'
+
+"It was a time of great stillness when we started, for the morning was
+just born, and the dew lay on all things. Taking the road to Naini Tal,
+we struck into the jungle when we came to the path that leads to the
+ford of the Bore Nuddee, and Chambeli alighted from her pony and walked
+in front of the rest with Kali Dass. A faint flush showed in the east,
+and presently a jungle-cock greeted the dawn. Chambeli stopped, and,
+with joy in her face, she turned round to the padre sahib, exclaiming,
+'Didst hear that?' And he laughed, saying, 'It was but the crowing of a
+cock.'
+
+"'But it came out of the stillness of the morning, and the dew accorded
+with it,--and it was a wild thing,--but how shouldst thou understand?
+thou art not of the Terai,' she said.
+
+"Soon the glow in the east became brighter, and the jungle burst into
+its morning song. Chambeli stopped and put her hands to her forehead, as
+if she would remember something; then she said to the shikari,
+'Something is lacking, Kali Dass; what is it?' And even as she spake
+there came the call of a black partridge from a thicket near by: 'Sobhan
+teri koodruth!' Brothers, ye know that the black partridge is the priest
+of the Terai, and at its voice Chambeli fled with a cry of joy from the
+path and into the thick jungle.
+
+"The little padre sahib, knowing not what to think, urged us to follow
+her. When we came up with her, Kali Dass stood by regarding her with a
+smile, whilst she lay on the ground with her face buried in the dewy
+grass, moaning and saying, 'O Jungle Mother, I will never leave thee
+again, I will never leave thee again!' And the little padre chid her in
+his own tongue; whereat she rose shuddering; and brushing the dew and
+the tears from her face, she returned to the path.
+
+"She had eyes and ears for everything that morning, and was as a wild
+thing that had just fled from captivity.
+
+"When we came to the brow of the hill that slopes down to the ford, the
+sun rose over the tops of the trees and laid a gleaming sword across the
+stream; and as we looked at the brightness and wonder of it all there
+came to us the song of a string of Padhani women approaching the ford.
+In an instant Chambeli took up the song, and set off swiftly down the
+narrow path, we following as we could.
+
+"As she neared the ford she lifted her sari and took the water with her
+bare limbs; and I looked at the little padre, who seemed sore amazed.
+
+"When we had all crossed the ford, Chambeli and Kali Dass were not to be
+seen on the road that ran by the stream. A traveller on his way to
+Kaladoongie said he had not met them, and as we questioned him there
+came the report of a gun.
+
+"'Kali Dass hath met game, padre sahib,' said I.
+
+"'Find them, and bring them back instantly, Thanadar,' commanded the
+holy man, and his voice shook with anger.
+
+"Following the direction of the shot, I came upon their tracks, and
+thereafter I found a handful of fresh feathers. A few paces beyond lay a
+small book; it was the sacred book of the Faringis printed in Nagari,
+and on the first leaf, which was held down by a stone, was writing in
+English. On the path a pace farther were two sticks crossed, and beyond
+that other two; and I knew it was the warning of Kali Dass, who must not
+be followed.
+
+"So I returned with the little book to the padre sahib. And when he had
+read what was written on the first leaf he trembled and clutched at his
+throat, and I caught him in my arms as he fell from his horse.
+
+"I returned with him to Kaladoongie; but Chambeli and Kali Dass never
+came back.
+
+"I showed the writing in the book to Tulsi Ram. Speak, pundit, and tell
+our brothers what it meant."
+
+Tulsi Ram, pleased and proud to give an exhibition of his scholarship,
+replied, "Brothers, and you, O Joti Prshad, the writing said: 'Like to
+like: Kali Dass is of my blood, and the great jungle hath claimed her
+daughter this day.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+_The Lame Tiger of Huldwani_
+
+
+It was in the middle of May--just before the beginning of the lesser
+rains--that Ram Deen and certain wayfarers sat round a handful of fire
+at Lal Kooah from mere force of habit, for the heat of the evening was
+great, and not a breath of air stirred in the jungle. The sāl trees had
+lost their leaves and looked like ghosts; the grass had been burnt in
+all directions; and as the sun set in the copper sky, it lit up a
+landscape that might have stood for the "abomination of desolation."
+
+The dry chirping of the crickets, just beginning to tune their first
+uneasy strains, accorded with the unholy scene. Even the horses waiting
+for the mail-cart were imbued with the depressing influence of the
+season, and hung their heads with a sense of despair, as though they
+thought the blessed monsoon would never set in.
+
+No one spoke, and the hookah passed from hand to hand in a dreary
+silence. Suddenly, the attention of those assembled was attracted by the
+curious action of a bya (tailor) bird in a neighboring mimosa tree. It
+was calling frantically, and dropping lower from bough to bough, as
+though against its will.
+
+"Nāg!" exclaimed the bunnia; and, directed by his remark, all eyes were
+turned to the foot of the tree, where an enormous cobra with expanded
+hood was swaying its head from side to side, and drawing the wretched
+bird to its doom through the fascination of fear.
+
+Ram Deen, whose sympathies were always with the weak and defenceless,
+rose to his feet, and, throwing a dry clod of earth at the reptile,
+drove the creature from the tree; whilst the bird, released from its
+hypnotic influence, flew away.
+
+"Brothers," said Ram Deen, "fear is the father of all sins, and the
+cause of most calamities. He who feareth not death is a king in his own
+right, and dieth but once; but a coward--shabash! who can count his
+pangs?"
+
+"Ho! ho!" chuckled the little bullock driver; "Ram Deen, The Fearless,
+shall live to be an hundred years old."
+
+"Nay, Goor Dutt," said Ram Deen, gravely regarding the little man, "I,
+too, have known fear. No man may drive the mail to Kaladoongie without
+looking on death."
+
+Ram Deen smoked awhile in silence; and, when the expectation of his
+listeners was wrought to a proper pitch, he went on: "Ye all knew
+Nandha, the hostler, who used to go with me last year from this stage to
+Kaladoongie?"
+
+"Ay, coach-wan ji," responded the carrier for the others. "'Tis a great
+telling, but not known to these honorable wayfarers who come from beyond
+Moradabad."
+
+"Brothers, ye saw the plight of the bya bird but now; so was it with
+Nandha," said Ram Deen.
+
+"One evening, ere the mail arrived, he called me to where he stood by
+the kikar tree yonder, looking down at the ground. In the dust of the
+road were large footprints.
+
+"'These be the spoor of a tiger lame in its left hind foot,' I said to
+Nandha; 'see, here it crouched on its belly, and wiped away the wheel
+tracks made by the mail-cart this morning.'
+
+"''Tis the lame tiger of Huldwani, coach-wan; he is old, and he hunteth
+man. Gunga send he is hunting elsewhere to-night!' replied Nandha.
+
+"When we came within a mile of the Bore bridge that night, the horses
+stopped suddenly; they were wild with fear, and refused to move. The
+night was as dark as the inside of a gourd, and beyond the circle of
+light made by our lanterns we could discern in the middle of the road
+two balls of fire close to the ground.
+
+"'Bāg! (tiger),' said Nandha, as he climbed over into the back seat; 'we
+be dead men, Ram Deen.'
+
+"'Blow!' I commanded, giving him the bugle; and as he startled the
+jungle with a blast, I gathered up the reins, and, adding my voice to
+the terrors of Nandha's music, I urged the horses with whip and yell to
+fury of speed; and the light of the lanterns showed the great beast
+leaping into the darkness to escape our onset.
+
+"Nandha ceased not from blowing on the bugle till I took it from him by
+force at the door of the post-office at Kaladoongie.
+
+"They gave him bhang to smoke and arrack to drink ere he slept that
+night, for his great fear had deprived him of reason for awhile; and he
+looked round him as though he expected to see the tiger's eyes
+everywhere.
+
+"'The bāg followed me to the hither side of the Bore bridge,' he said to
+me next morning, as we prepared to return to Lai Kooah. But I laughed at
+his fears, to give him courage.
+
+"'It is a devil,' he whispered, looking cautiously round him, and I saw
+that the light of his reason flickered.
+
+"When we came to the Bore bridge, Nandha leaped to the ground, and in
+the dim light of the morning I could see the tracks of a great beast on
+the ground, to which he pointed; and, even as we looked, there came the
+roar of a tiger. I could scarce hold the horses whilst Nandha, whose
+limbs were stiff with fear, scrambled into the back seat of the
+mail-cart.
+
+"When a tiger puts its mouth to the ground and gives voice, no man may
+tell whence the sound comes; so I stayed not to see, if I might, where
+the danger lay, but gave the horses free rein.
+
+"As we cleared the end of the bridge, Nandha screamed, 'Bāg, bāg!' and
+glancing back, I saw the tiger in full pursuit of us, and within a
+hundred paces.
+
+"'Blow!' I commanded, handing the bugle to Nandha; but, though he took
+it from me, he appeared not to understand what he was required to do.
+
+"'Blow!' said I, once more, shaking him; but he took no heed of me, and
+was as a man who walks in his sleep. So I put my arm round him and
+lifted him on to the front seat beside me; and even as I pulled him to
+me, his head was drawn over his shoulder by the spell of fear. There was
+a foam on his lips and on his beard, and he shook so that I feared he
+would fall off the mail-cart.
+
+"'Be brave, Nandha,' I shouted to him, 'the beast is lame, and we shall
+soon leave it behind.' For answer, he turned his face to me for one
+instant, and his lips framed the word 'bāg,' but no sound came
+therefrom.
+
+"Suddenly, he laughed like a child that is pleased with a toy, babbling,
+and saying, 'How beautiful is my lord! Soft be the road to his feet!
+But, look! my lord limpeth; belike he hath a thorn in his foot.' As he
+rose, I put an arm round him and forced him down again; and at that
+instant the tiger uttered another roar. The horses swerved, and would
+have left the road in their fear, had I not put forth the full strength
+of both my arms; and as soon as Nandha felt himself free, he leaped to
+the ground, and advanced towards the tiger. He walked joyously, as a
+loyal servant who goeth to meet his lord.
+
+"Looking over my shoulder (for now the horses were in the middle of the
+road, which here stretched straight ahead of us), I beheld Nandha
+proceed towards the tiger, which now crouched in the road, waiting for
+him, its tail waving from side to side. When he was within five paces
+of the beast, he salaamed to the ground, and as he stooped the tiger
+sprang on him with another roar, and throwing him over its shoulder it
+bounded with him into the jungle.
+
+"More there is to tell concerning the lame tiger of Huldwani, but here
+is the mail-cart, and here is that which had saved Nandha's life had I
+not also looked upon fear that morning."
+
+Putting the bugle to his mouth, Ram Deen blew a blast that would have
+routed any jungle creature within hearing, and which made the leaves of
+the peepul tree overhead rattle as he dashed away on the mail-cart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+_How Nandha was Avenged_
+
+
+The travellers from beyond Moradabad having reached Kaladoongie, were
+discovered to be men of consequence by the Thanadar, and were invited by
+him to join the circle of the great round his fire on the evening of
+their arrival.
+
+It was very warm, and the dismal silence was only accented by the
+distant howl of a lonely jackal. The sheet lightning flickered fitfully
+over the foothills, mocking the gasping Terai with its faint promise of
+a coming change.
+
+The conversation round the fire flagged, and the hookah passed languidly
+from hand to hand. Those present would have retired to sleep, had sleep
+been possible; but as that was a consummation not easily attained at
+this season of the year, they preferred their present miseries to those
+that come in the wakeful night watches when the Terai is athirst.
+
+Ram Deen's arrival was a nightly boon to those who were wont to assemble
+round the Thanadar's fire; there was always the possibility of his
+having news; and, besides, men seemed to acquire fresh vitality from
+contact with his vigorous personality.
+
+The strangers were especially grateful for his arrival; and when he had
+taken his usual place beside the fire, the hookah was at once passed to
+him.
+
+"Any tidings, coach-wan ji?" inquired the Thanadar.
+
+"None, sahib; save that the great frog in the well at Lal Kooah--who is
+as old as the well, and wiser than most men--gave voice just ere I
+started, and the bunnia said it was a sure sign of rain within two days,
+as the frog's warning had never been known to fail."
+
+"Nana Debi send it be so," exclaimed the little carrier, "for my
+bullocks be starved for the lack of green food, and _bhoosa_ (chaff) is
+past my means."
+
+"Thou shouldst not complain, Goor Dutt," said Ram Deen, with a smile;
+"their very leanness is thy passport through the jungle. Fatter kine had
+been devoured, and their driver with them, long ere this."
+
+Hint of danger that might be encountered in the jungle having been thus
+given, one of the strangers was moved to ask concerning the lame tiger
+of Huldwani, part of whose biography they had heard from Ram Deen at Lal
+Kooah on the previous day.
+
+"Coach-wan ji, wast thou not afraid to carry the mail after the slaying
+of thy hostler, Nandha?"
+
+"Those who carry the Queen's mail may not stop for fear. Nevertheless,
+fear rode with me a day and a night after the death of Nandha."
+
+"It is a great telling," said the little carrier, nodding at the
+wayfarers, whilst Ram Deen "drank tobacco."
+
+When Ram Deen had passed the hookah to his neighbor, he went on:
+
+"Brothers, on the day that Nandha was carried off by the tiger, I sent
+word to the postmaster of Naini Tal concerning the killing, and the
+out-going mail brought me word that the sircar (government) would send
+me help.
+
+"Ye know that a tiger kills not two days in succession; so I had no fear
+when I traversed the road to and from Lal Kooah till the second day
+after the slaying of Nandha. Ere I started on that morning, the munshi
+told me to drive to the dāk-bungalow for a sahib who had been sent to
+slay the slayer of men.
+
+"Brothers, when I went to the dāk-bungalow, there came forth to me a
+man-child--a Faringi--whose chin was as smooth as the palm of my hand.
+
+"I would have laughed, but that I thought of the tiger that, I knew,
+would be waiting for us; and taking pity on him, I said, 'The jungle
+hereabout is full of wild fowl, sahib, an 'twere pity, when shikar is so
+plentiful, you should waste the morning looking for a budmash tiger who
+will not come forth for two days as yet.'
+
+"He answered me never a word, but went into the dāk-bungalow for
+something he had forgotten; and, whilst he was gone, his butler spake
+to me, saying, 'Coach-wan, make no mistake; thy life depends upon thy
+doing the sahib's bidding. He is a very Rustum, and he knoweth not fear,
+for all he is so young.'
+
+"'He is a man after my own heart then, sirdar; but, mashallah! I would
+he had a beard,' I replied.
+
+"Presently the young sahib came forth with an empty bottle in one hand
+and his gun in the other. Throwing the bottle into the air, he shattered
+it with a bullet ere it reached the ground. Startled by the report, a
+jackal fled from the rear of the cook-house towards the jungle, and the
+sahib stopped its flight with another bullet. Then, replenishing his
+gun, he took his seat beside me on the mail-cart, saying 'Blow on thy
+bugle, coach-wan, and announce our coming to Shere Bahadoor, His Majesty
+the Tiger.'
+
+"It was a brave jawan (youth), brothers; but he was very young, and,
+belike, he had a mother; so I swore in my beard to save him, whatever
+might befall.
+
+"As we proceeded, he questioned me concerning the killing of Nandha,
+speaking lightly, as one who goeth to shoot black partridge.
+
+"'He is lame, coach-wan, and will doubtless be waiting for us by the
+Bore bridge,' said the sahib. 'As soon as he appears, stay the horses
+for an instant whilst I get off the mail-cart, and then return when your
+horses will let you.'
+
+"'Bethink thee, sahib,' I answered; 'the Lame One of Huldwani is old and
+cunning; it is no fawn thou seekest this morning. Perchance the sircar
+will dispatch some great shikari to help thee in this hunting. Gunga
+send we may not meet the tiger; but if we should, shame befall me if I
+permit thee to leave the mail-cart whilst the horses are able to run!'
+
+"For answer, my brothers, the sahib flushed red, and, calling me coward,
+he drave his elbow into my stomach with such force that the reins fell
+from my hands. Taking them up, the while I fought for my breath, he
+turned the horses round, saying, 'A jackal may not hunt a tiger! I have
+need of a man with me this morning, and Goor Deen, my butler, shall take
+thy place.'
+
+"'The sahib, being a man, will not blacken my face in the eyes of
+Kaladoongie,' I said. 'I spake for thy sake, sahib; but I will drive
+thee to Jehandum an' thou wilt,--for no man hath ever called me coward
+before.'
+
+"Then the sahib looked in my face, as I tucked the ends of my beard
+under my puggri; and seeing that my eyes met his four-square, he gave up
+the reins to me, saying, 'If thou playest me false I will kill thee like
+a dog;' and he showed me the hilt of a pistol that he had in his pocket.
+
+"We spake no more together, but when we came to the Bore bridge I shook
+the jungle with a blast from my bugle.
+
+"'Shabash! coach-wan,' exclaimed the sahib; 'thou art a man, indeed, and
+shalt have Shere Bahadoor's skin as recompense for the hurt to thy
+stomach. Bid him come again.'
+
+"Half a mile beyond the bridge, as we sped along the level road above
+the river, I again blew upon the bugle. The sound had scarcely ceased,
+when we heard the angry roar of a charging tiger.
+
+"'Stop!' exclaimed the sahib; and I threw the frightened horses on their
+haunches, whilst he leaped to the ground.
+
+"Then, whilst the horses flew along the road, I looked back over my
+shoulder and beheld the Lame One bound into the middle of the road; and
+the sahib blew on his fingers, as one would whistle to a dog. The great
+beast stopped on the instant and crouched on the ground, ready to spring
+on the sahib as he advanced towards it, and I prayed to Nana Debi to
+befriend the young fool.
+
+"When he was within thirty paces or so from the tiger, the sahib halted
+and brought the gun to his shoulder. The next instant there was the
+crack of a rifle, and the Lame One leaped straight into the air.
+
+"I knew the tiger was dead; and immediately thereafter the mail-cart ran
+into a bank and spilled me on the road. Leaving the stunned horses tied
+to a tree, I proceeded to seek the sahib.
+
+"Wah ji, wah! brothers, we must pay taxes to the Faringis until we can
+raise sons like theirs. When I joined the boy sahib he was smoking, and
+taking the measure of the tiger with a tape!
+
+"His bullet had struck the beast between the eyes, and the Lame One had
+died at the hands of a _man_!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+_An Affront to Gannesha_
+
+
+"A little brother hath come," said Biroo, as Ram Deen dismounted from
+the mail-cart. The tall driver snatched up the little boy and hurried to
+his hut, over the door of which was affixed the green bough that is
+customary on such occasions, and whence came the wailing of a new-born
+child.
+
+The inner apartment was guarded by a lean old woman, who refused Ram
+Deen admittance thereto, and who would have prevented even speech on his
+part had she been able. But Ram Deen was not to be denied such solace as
+could be gained from the voice whose accents had taken him captive the
+first time he had heard them.
+
+The feeble wailing of the babe made the strong man tremble.
+
+"Tara, Light in Darkness, is it well with thee?" he asked.
+
+"Quite well, my lord and my master," came the faint answer. "Thy
+handmaid hath bestowed a man-child upon thee, and Nana Debi will require
+a kid of thee in recompense."
+
+"He shall have a flock of goats, Heart of my Heart----"
+
+"Nay," interrupted Tara; "it is a very little child and a kid will
+suffice; but go now, my master, I am very tired and would fain sleep."
+
+"May the stars in heaven shower their blessings on thee, my Best
+Beloved;" and with this invocation Ram Deen left the hut, leading little
+Biroo by the hand.
+
+"See what Gunga Ram gave me but now, father mine," said Biroo, unfolding
+a plaintain leaf wherein was wrapped a sweetmeat made of rice and milk;
+"and he hath a great cooking forward to-night."
+
+"Wherefore?" asked Ram Deen.
+
+"For that a man-child hath come to Nyagong, as well as Kaladoongie, this
+day."
+
+"Oh, ho," said Ram Deen, chuckling softly, "we will have speech with
+Gunga Ram."
+
+When they had arrived at the methai-wallah's booth, Ram Deen, looking on
+the thalis (trays) heaped with sweetmeats crisp from the making, said,
+"Wah ji, wah! Gunga Ram, is the Hurdwar mela (fair) coming to the Bore
+Nuddee, that thou shouldst make such preparations?"
+
+"Nay, coach-wan ji, but a man-child hath come to the house of the
+Jemadar of Nyagong, and he hath commanded fresh sweetmeats and cates for
+a feast in honor of an honorable birth."
+
+"There is no honorable thing done in Nyagong, Gunga Ram. They be all
+thugs and thieves there, and it shall not be said that Ram Deen's
+friends at Kaladoongie ate stale pooris whilst the Jemadar of Nyagong,
+whose face I have blackened, set fresh cates before his guests.
+Therefore bid carry these sweetmeats to my friends who sit round the
+Thanadar's fire, and to-morrow thou shalt make enough for all the people
+of Kaladoongie, so that they may know that a son hath been born to Ram
+Deen."
+
+"But, coach-wan ji," remonstrated Gunga Ram, "the Jemadar's men wait to
+carry these things to Nyagong."
+
+"Tell them, Gunga Ram, that I had need of them; but, nevertheless, for
+the kindness the men of Nyagong did to little Biroo last year, send
+them, on his behalf, two rupees' worth of gur and parched gram;" and Ram
+Deen laid the money in the sweetmeat vender's palm.
+
+To the impromptu feast round the fire that evening Ram Deen contributed
+also a chatty of palm-toddy that Goor Dutt had brought for him from
+Moradabad. By the time the circling hookah had crowned the feast beards
+were wagging freely round the fire; and even Tulsi Ram, the village
+pundit, most modest and unassuming of men, was moved to unusual speech.
+Once more Ram Deen had told the story of the avenging of Nandha; and the
+Thanadar, whose utterances were always sententious, owing to the
+responsibility and dignity of his office, said, "Verily, the young and
+not the old Faringi is the true subduer of Hindoostan."
+
+"Thou sayest it, Thanadar ji," assented Tulsi Ram. "I knew such a young
+sahib as he who slew the lame tiger of Huldwani when I worked as munshi
+at Hurdwar for certain Faringis who had business there. He I speak of
+feared not even the Gods."
+
+When all eyes were turned upon the pundit, and he found himself in the
+trying position of one who was expected to give proof of his opinion,
+his natural modesty overcame him and he was suddenly silent. It was not
+till he had swallowed a generous draught of the toddy that his courage
+revived to the point of telling the following narrative, for which his
+audience waited patiently:
+
+"Brothers," he began, "some three years after the great Mutiny there
+came to Hurdwar two Faringis, by name Scott Sahib and Wilson Sahib, of
+whom the latter was a great shikari, as all Hindoostan is aware, and who
+was further known amongst the Faringis as 'Pahari Wilson.'
+
+"They hired me to cut down sāl timber on the upper waters of the Gunga
+and float it down to Hurdwar, where they established a post, over which
+they set in charge a young Faringi named Clements Sahib, whose munshi I
+was, and whose duty it was to stamp the timber with the seal of his
+employers and make it into rafts that were then floated on to Allahabad.
+
+"Clements Sahib had been found by Pahari Wilson Sahib in one of the
+villages of the Rajah of Tiri, whither he had fled from Cawnpore, where
+his father and mother had been killed by the people of the plains during
+the season of the Mutiny.
+
+"He was a man grown when he came to Hurdwar, speaking Nagari and
+Padhani, and knowing well the ways of our people. And wherever he went
+men's eyes followed him, for he walked amongst them with the air of a
+master. His face was scarred with small-pox; his nose was curved like a
+hawk's, and his nostrils were terrible to behold when he was angered,
+which was often, for he lacked patience with men of our race, because of
+the slaying, and worse, of his mother, which he had witnessed; and his
+words did not often go before his blows, which were weighty by reason of
+his great strength. He limped, for that his right leg had been broken
+by a bear whilst he lived amongst the hill men.
+
+"But, great and terrible as he was on land, the wonder of him when he
+swam in the Gunga, as he did daily, man never saw before.
+
+"He feared nothing, brothers,--neither man nor beast, nor even Gannesha,
+upon whom he put an affront one day, when he beat his priests in the
+temple and in the presence of the God.
+
+"This was the way of it: There passed daily through our compound, on its
+way to the jungle, a young, sacred bull that was fed by the priests of
+Gannesha; and its horns had silver tips, whereon was graved a picture of
+the God bearing an elephant's head. And because the bull pursued one of
+his dogs, one day, the sahib shot it; and the bazaars of Hurdwar buzzed
+with angry men.
+
+"'Sahib,' said I to him, 'this is not well done; the Gods never forget
+an insult.' But he only laughed.
+
+"That evening, as the sahib ate his meal, the lamps being lit, there
+came an arrow through an open window and transfixed the dog which was
+lying at his feet.
+
+"The beast yelped as one that is stricken to the death, and I, who sat
+at my book in the adjoining room, looked up as Clements Sahib, snatching
+up a gun from the corner, ran to the veranda and fired at a man who
+passed swiftly through the darkling garden. For answer there came the
+lowing of a bull; and the sahib, being lame, soon gave up the chase and
+returned to the house.
+
+"By the light of a lantern we searched the garden, and when we found
+drops of blood on the ground the sahib laughed, and said, 'Aha! Tulsi
+Ram; I wounded the shikar, after all.'
+
+"''Tis bad hunting, sahib,' I made reply.
+
+"The next moment he stopped, and held the lantern to a necklace of plum
+seeds and gold that hung on the branch of an orange tree. To the
+necklace was attached an agate, whereon was graven the head of an
+elephant."
+
+"When we returned to the house the sahib drew the arrow from the dead
+dog, and on the bolt of that, too, was graven the head of Gannesha. And
+I said, 'Thou hast affronted the Gods, indeed, sahib! 'Twere well to
+restore his beads to some priest of Gannesha.'
+
+"'Of a surety,' he replied, 'when I find the owner; but, till then, I
+will wear the thing round my own neck.'
+
+"The next morning, as we rode on an elephant through the jungle to the
+river, there came the lowing of a bull from a thicket, and an arrow
+whistled through Clements Sahib's sola topee, and another struck the
+cheroot from his mouth. So I said, 'The man with the bow could slay
+thee, sahib, had he a mind to do so.' But the sahib flushed like an
+angry dawn, and gave the mahout orders to beat through the thicket for
+the man with the bull's voice; whereon the bellowing came from behind
+us. Now it was here, and now there, but never where we looked for it,
+and, whenever the sahib fired into some likely thicket, the archer gave
+us further proof of his skill.
+
+"'To the temple of Gannesha!' shouted the sahib, roused to frenzy, and
+there was that in his face that forbade speech.
+
+"When we reached the city, the main street was already packed with a
+menacing crowd,--for word of our coming had gone before us, and the
+thoroughfare resounded from end to end with lowings as of a thousand
+bulls. The weight of the great beast that bore us alone took us through
+the crowd.
+
+"When we reached the gate of the temple of Gannesha, behold! the priests
+formed a lane through the court-yard, and the crowd fell back at their
+bidding. We alighted from the elephant, and walked through the priests
+till we came to the inner door of the temple, where stood a venerable
+jogi naked, save for a loin-cloth, and covered with wood-ashes from his
+head to his heels.
+
+"'Welcome, brother,' he said, as Clements Sahib approached him; 'but thy
+rosary will not admit thee farther than this, and 'tis not fitting that
+thou shouldst enter the presence of Gannesha without thy _teeka_ of
+purification;' and, with an agility that was surprising in such an old
+man, he sprang towards the sahib and touched him on the forehead, at the
+same time snatching at the necklace. But the sahib swept him aside, and
+the next moment we entered the temple, the door of which closed with a
+threatening crash as the last of the priests followed us in.
+
+"When they saw the sahib advance with set purpose towards the great god
+Gannesha, they raised a shout and ran upon him; and I, being unarmed and
+a man of peace, and, moreover, a Brahmin, slipped behind a pillar and
+watched the beginning of a great combat, wherein one man fought with
+twenty, and they with staves in their hands.
+
+"And the sahib waited not for his foes, but, firing his gun at their
+legs, he whirled it aloft and hurled it into the crowd that advanced
+upon him; wherefore three priests lay on the ground and were as dead
+men. And, ere they could recover from their confusion, the sahib ran in
+upon them with clinched hands, and his face was terrible to look upon.
+
+"So thick were they that many of them fell from their brothers' blows;
+and whenever the sahib struck, a man fell to the ground and remained
+there. Toba! toba! never saw I such fighting.
+
+"When there were but three or four of them able to stand, they broke and
+fled to an inner shrine, whence they besought the sahib to depart and
+molest them no more. But he said, 'Nay, not till ye have delivered up to
+me him to whom this rosary belongs.'
+
+"'It is mine, Faringi dog,' screamed the old jogi, darting upon the
+sahib from behind a pillar, a long knife in his hand. The sahib had
+scarce time to turn, when the knife passed through the fleshy part of
+his arm. The next instant the sahib wrenched his weapon from the old
+jogi, and, putting the necklace round him, he bore him to a window and
+threw him into the river which flowed below, saying, 'Gunga will
+doubtless succor a follower of Gannesha.'
+
+"After I had tied his handkerchief round his arm to stay the bleeding he
+took up his gun, and, opening the door of the temple, he went forth.
+And the people marvelled to see him come out again.
+
+"Having mounted his elephant, he spake to those standing round, saying,
+'Dogs and swine! neither ye, nor your priests, nor your Gods can avail
+against a Faringi. Go into the temple and see for yourselves if I speak
+not the truth. Let no man of Hurdwar cross my path hereafter, or I will
+scourge the streets of your city.' So the crowd opened before us, and we
+returned in peace.
+
+"And as the sahib dismounted from the elephant, I said, 'The teeka,
+sahib: it is still on thy forehead.'
+
+"'Ah,' he exclaimed, 'that was what the old jogi put on me.' And he
+plucked it off. It was made of silver and stamped with the image of
+Gannesha on both sides, and the impress of the stamp showed red on the
+white skin of the sahib's forehead.
+
+"The next morning, when I went to my work, the sahib called me into his
+room, and behold! the stamp of Gannesha showed as brightly on his
+forehead as it did the day before! and I feared greatly for the sahib,
+for it is no small thing to affront a God.
+
+"For a whole week the mark remained on the sahib, and he wore his hat
+before all men. None dared to speak to him, for he answered mostly with
+blows.
+
+"'Tulsi Ram,' said he to me one day, 'tell the old jogi of the temple of
+Gannesha that I desire speech with him.'
+
+"And when the old man had come the sahib spake: 'So Gunga bare up thy
+chin, swami?'
+
+"'Ay, ji; and I told him much concerning thee. Thine arm?'
+
+"''Tis well,' replied the sahib. 'But now remove me the mark from my
+forehead.'
+
+"'I may not do anything without the permission of Gannesha, whom thou
+hast angered. He must be propitiated in a manner befitting the sahib's
+station,' returned the jogi.
+
+"'State thy demands, swami,' said the sahib.
+
+"'Now, nay, not mine, sahib, but Gannesha's,' remonstrated the old jogi.
+Then, after musing awhile, he went on: 'The God requireth of thee two
+hundred rupees for the use of his temple, and ten rupees a month, for
+twenty months, to salve the hurts of his twenty priests.'
+
+"''Tis well,' said Clements Sahib, opening a drawer of the table whereat
+he sat, and pushing two hundred rupees across to the old man. 'Proceed.'
+
+"After the jogi had tied the money in his loin-cloth he touched the mark
+on the sahib's forehead with his finger, and, lo! at the touching it
+disappeared.
+
+"'And what if I should not pay thee the rest of thy demand?' asked
+Clements Sahib after he had looked in a mirror and seen that the mark of
+Gannesha was gone.
+
+"'Thou art a Faringi ji, and wilt not fail of thy word,' replied the
+jogi.
+
+"'There be bad Faringis, swami, and my heart inclineth me to their
+number.'
+
+"''Twere easy to persuade thee to a right course, sahib,' said the old
+man, pointing his finger at Clements Sahib. 'Behold!' And the livid mark
+leapt out on the sahib's forehead again.
+
+"After the mark had been removed once more by the jogi, and as he was
+preparing to depart, Clements Sahib said, 'Come for your monthly payment
+when the new moon shows, but cross not my path at any other time, or
+harm shall befall thee.'
+
+"'Brave words, sahib,' returned the mendicant; 'and be careful, thyself,
+not to insult the Gods. Salaam,' and he went forth. So there was peace
+between the Gods and Clements Sahib until the jogi had received three
+payments.
+
+"Then, on a day, the sahib bade me accompany him to the Hurke Piree, for
+he was fain to catch the great mahser that abound there, where they feed
+on the offerings of the pilgrims.
+
+"And I would have prevented him, saying, 'The fish, Provider of the
+Poor, are tame; 'twere no sport to catch them. Besides, the Hurke Piree
+is holy, and 'twere not well to pollute the great steps with the killing
+even of fish.'
+
+"'Therefore it is in my mind, O Brown Mouse, to catch fish for my
+evening meal,' replied the sahib, his nostrils twitching; so I spake no
+more.
+
+"When the sahib had drawn forth the first fish that took his bait, there
+came the voices of an angry crowd, and, looking up, behold! the great
+stairs were black with people; and, taking four steps at a bound, there
+came towards us a young priest stripped for bathing, and it was Salig
+Ram, the greatest pylwan (wrestler) in Hurdwar.
+
+"Ere the sahib could guess the purpose of the priest, the latter sprang
+upon him, and they twain fell together into the deep water.
+
+"When they came to the surface again, the sahib had an arm round Salig
+Ram's throat, and was beating him with his clinched hand till the blood
+ran down his face, and he spat forth a handful of teeth. The priest was
+as one who is amazed, crying feebly, 'Ram dhwy, ram dhwy!' and he was as
+a frightened child in the sahib's hands.
+
+"Thinking that the sahib would slay their champion before their eyes,
+and so desecrate the gates of heaven, two or three score of angry
+Brahmins leapt into the river to the rescue of Salig Ram, and I
+followed, likewise, to see the end of the matter.
+
+"Releasing the young priest, the sahib swam away easily from those who
+followed, slipping off his upper garments as he proceeded down the
+river, and then his shoes, which he threw in derision at those who
+followed.
+
+"Now, when he came to the temple of Gannesha, there appeared in the
+window that overlooks the river the old jogi, who swung something round
+his head that glittered in the sun; and he shouted aloud, 'Gunga, take
+thee! Gunga, take thee!'
+
+"The sahib turned his face towards the temple, and, as he did so, the
+jogi threw the thing he swung at him. It flashed as it circled through
+the air, and settled over the sahib's head; and, in that instant, he
+threw up his arms and disappeared, and thereafter a few bubbles came to
+the surface.
+
+"Two days afterwards, the dead body of a Faringi was found ten miles
+below Hurdwar and taken to Roorkie, whither I went by order of the
+sircar, to assist in the identification of the dead man.
+
+"Brothers, the corpse was that of Clements Sahib. Round his neck was a
+rosary of gold and plum seeds, with an agate amulet; and on his forehead
+was the presentment of an elephant's head, the seal of Gannesha, whom no
+man may affront."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+_A Daughter of the Gods_
+
+
+To those in evening conclave round the fire came a long refrain sung on
+one high note by Goor Dutt, as his bullock-cart approached the village.
+"She died in the night of co-o-o-old," he keened. There was a pathos in
+his voice which told of his own sufferings, for the night was frosty,
+rather than those of some fictitious person.
+
+"What freight to-night, byl-wan?" inquired the Thanadar, when he came
+within speaking distance.
+
+"Vessels of clay, and a dead man," replied the little bullock driver.
+
+Some one held a torch to the thing that lay across the end of the
+bullock driver's wagon, shrouded in a white cloth, on which was a red
+wet stain as big as a man's hand.
+
+"'Tis Lakhoo, the dacoit," said the Thanadar, when the face of the
+corpse had been uncovered; "now, Nana Debi be praised for his taking
+off! Some one will be the richer for this deed by five hundred rupees."
+
+Below the left breast of the corpse, and beneath the stain on the cloth
+that covered it, was a little hole that would scarce admit the tip of a
+man's finger, but whence, nevertheless, had issued the life of one of
+the terrors of the Terai. The dead man had been the head of a daring
+band of dacoits, whose depredations ranged from Rajpore to Bareilly, and
+on each of whose heads was a large reward, for they had not hesitated to
+commit murder when committing theft.
+
+After Goor Dutt had refreshed his inner man and taken his place at the
+fire, he began: "This was the way of it: This evening, as I came
+hitherwards, there passed me two doolis, and he who held the torch to
+light the way was Lakhoo, whom I had seen once before at the thana at
+Moradabad, whence he afterwards escaped. As the doolis passed, he held
+the torch to my face, but I feigned sleep, and so he did not molest me.
+
+"The baggage, slung on poles across the shoulders of the bearers, showed
+the people in the doolis to be Faringis; and I was minded to see what
+would happen, and, if need were, bring thee early word, Thanadar ji, as
+to Lakhoo's doings. So I tied my bullocks to a tree and followed the
+doolis, treading where the dust was thick and the shadows deepest.
+
+"When the doolis arrived at the path that leads to Nyagong, men came out
+of the jungle and stopped the bearers; and I crept behind a bael tree on
+the edge of the road and within fifty paces of the travellers, so that I
+could see and hear all that passed, for the torch was bright and the
+night was still, and Lakhoo spoke as one who knoweth not the need for
+speaking low.
+
+"And when those who carried the doolis knew that it was Lakhoo who had
+borne the torch for them, and that they were in the midst of his men,
+their livers turned to water. One, less frightened than the others,
+attempted to flee, but a bamboo lat descended on his skull, and he lay
+as one dead, and the rest moaned, 'Ram dhwy, ram dhwy!'
+
+"'Ye Sons of Jackals! ye have naught to fear,' said Lakhoo. 'What were
+your miserable dole for the carrying of these doolis to me? But,
+remember, ye have nor eyes nor ears now if ye would have them
+hereafter!'
+
+"And they whined, saying, 'We be blind and deaf, Bahadoor; and we know
+nothing, for we be poor men.'
+
+"'Therefore are ye safe, ye sons of mothers without virtue, for they who
+sleep in the doolis are rich, and the family of the sahib who hanged my
+brother last year. Who would crack dry bones for sustenance when savory
+meat is at hand?'
+
+"Thereafter he tapped on the roof of one of the doolis, saying, 'Wake,
+mem-sahib, wake!'
+
+"'What is the matter, dooli-wallah?' was the reply, in the feeble voice
+of a sick woman.
+
+"'This is the chowki, khodawund; but the fresh bearers are not here, and
+those who brought thee hither are spent and cannot proceed farther. But
+there are those here who will bear thee on thy journey for a proper
+price.'
+
+"So she called aloud in her own tongue, and there came forth into the
+night, from the other dooli, a young lad rubbing the sleep from his eyes
+and yawning; and whilst he parleyed with his mother, the curtain of her
+dooli was lifted, and a young mem-sahib rose from it and stood beside
+the boy, and we could see they were brother and sister, but she was the
+older and taller by a span, and in the budding of her womanhood. The
+hair, that fell to her waist, was as spun gold in the light of the
+torches; rings and stones flashed in her ears and on her fingers, but
+they were nothing to the glances of her eyes, which met four-square the
+eyes of those to whom she spoke; and she looked at those who were
+present as though they were there to do her bidding.
+
+"When the sick mem-sahib in the dooli had finished speaking, the younger
+one addressed the masalchi (torch-bearer), saying, 'How far is it to the
+next chowki, and what do you ask for taking us there?'
+
+"'Two kos (six miles), mem-sahib, and the hire of my men is fifty
+rupees,' answered Lakhoo.
+
+"'And what did you get for bringing us here?' asked she, turning to the
+dooli-bearers who stood round them.
+
+"'They are poor men, missy baba, and know nothing,' said Lakhoo, at whom
+the dooli-bearers looked for instructions.
+
+"'Son of a Pig!' exclaimed the young lad, taking a leather bag from his
+sister's hand and throwing the money, a rupee at a time, on the ground;
+'there are fifty rupees. Proceed, for the mem-sahib, my mother, is sick,
+and must be on the hills ere the morning sun give heat,' and his face
+flushed in the torchlight.
+
+"So Lakhoo tied the money in his waistband, and, without further speech,
+sat down and smoked the hookah that was passed to him.
+
+"And after awhile the baba (boy), who had been walking to and fro with
+the young woman, his sister, stopped opposite Lakhoo, and spoke,
+saying, 'Why do you not proceed, dooli-wallah?'
+
+"'Because I am waiting for my hire, baba ji,' replied Lakhoo.
+
+"'I paid you but now,' exclaimed the young sahib.
+
+"'The sahib is scarce awake,' said Lakhoo, in a bantering tone, 'and
+hath been dreaming.' And his men who formed the outer circle laughed
+insolently.
+
+"'Liar!' shouted the young sahib, bursting into tears and clinching his
+hand; but his sister laid a restraining finger on his arm, and whispered
+in his ear.
+
+"'We will give thee thy due, masalchi,' she said, as she went to her
+mother's dooli.
+
+"When she returned, she put a three-cornered bag of leather in her
+brother's hand.
+
+"'The young mem-sahib is as generous as she is beautiful,' said Lakhoo,
+fixing hot eyes on her, whereat her nostrils twitched; 'and her hair is
+more precious than gold.' And as he spake, he laid a desecrating hand on
+her locks.
+
+"'Swine-born!" shouted the young lad, and drawing from the bag in his
+hand a toy that glittered in the torchlight, he put it to Lakhoo's
+breast and fired. The tall man bounded into the air like a stricken
+deer, and fell prone on his face. As the dacoits rose to their feet, I
+smote on the branches of the bael tree that sheltered me with my bamboo
+staff, shouting like three men, 'Thieves, thieves!' So Lakhoo's men fled
+headlong, and I came forth from my shelter, and salaamed to the baba and
+the young mem-sahib.
+
+"'Thou hast earned five hundred rupees, sahib,' said I, 'by the killing
+of the great dacoit, Lakhoo.'
+
+"'We had been slain, an' it had not been for thee,' said the young
+mem-sahib. 'Who and what art thou?'
+
+"'Goor Dutt, byl-wan, mem-sahib,' I replied; 'and it is my highest
+reward to have served thee and thine.'
+
+"'Now, nay, byl-wan, my brother, Charlie Sahib, herewith bestows on thee
+whatsoever reward is due for the killing of this dog.'
+
+"'Ay, and this pistol, too,' interrupted the young lad, putting his
+glittering toy in my hand. And he showed me the wonder of it,--how it
+spake five times, if need were, and how to charge it.
+
+"Then they put the dead man on my bullock-cart, which one of those
+present had been sent to fetch. And when the bearers took up the doolis,
+they shouted, as one man, 'Chali Sahib ke jhai!'"
+
+"Wah, byl-wan ji, wah!" exclaimed Ram Deen, when Goor Dutt had finished,
+"thou art taller than most men. Let us honor a man, my brothers."
+
+And those who sat round the fire sprang to their feet, and woke the
+slumbering village with the heartiness of their salutation, as they
+shouted, "Goor Dutt ji ke jhai!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"_Ich Liebe Dich_"
+
+
+Early one morning in December, in the year 186--, I left my camp with a
+pointer at my heels to explore the foothills to the northwest of
+Nyagong. The region abounded with iron ore, and the mining syndicate I
+represented instructed me to conduct my prospecting in a way that would
+not arouse the suspicion of the manager of another company that had
+already established iron works at Kaladoongie. So it speedily became
+noised about in that section of the Terai that I was one of the many
+Englishmen who spend their leave of absence in the jungle for the
+purposes of sport.
+
+There was a shrewd nip in the air when I started, and the barrels of my
+gun were so cold that I was glad I had put on a pair of thick gloves.
+
+The jungle was hardly awake when I struck into the path that skirted the
+Bore Nuddee. Presently, a green parrot "kr-r-r-d" tentatively, as a
+faint flush appeared in the cloudless east. A wild boar jumped a fence a
+few hundred yards ahead of me, followed by the sounder, of which he was
+chief, as they left the fields they had been marauding during the night.
+A nilghai, with his wicked-looking horns, soon followed, and lumbered
+noiselessly away. These were the thieves of the Terai, and they were,
+naturally, hurrying to their coverts before the coming day should be
+upon them.
+
+Suddenly, the dewy silence was broken by the invocation of a black
+partridge,--the muezzin of the jungle. "Sobhan theri koodruth!" How
+solemnly, and with what splendor of utterance and pause this voice of
+the Terai announces the miracle of the morning! The cry was taken up and
+passed on with a significance that dwarfed the passing of the fiery
+torch as told by Scott in "The Lady of the Lake." And immediately
+thereafter the jungle was singing its many-voiced matin, not the least
+"notable note" of which was the challenge of the jungle-cock, who is a
+native of the Terai, and whose vigorous voice is not raucous with the
+civilized laryngeal affections of the "tame villatic fowl."
+
+And then, in the awakening of the forest, there came--Italian opera! A
+well-poised soprano voice silenced the jungle choir by a brilliantly
+executed chromatic scale, as though the singer were trying her voice.
+Finding it flexible enough for her purpose, she launched into the
+difficult--and abominable--aria, "Di tale amore che dirsi" in "Il
+Trovatore." She suddenly stopped, as though she were ashamed of the
+rubbish she sang; and, after a pause of half a minute, my soul was
+stirred by the air of Beethoven's immortal "Ich Liebe Dich," sung to the
+following words, which were beautifully enunciated:
+
+    I love thee, dear! All words would fail
+      To tell the true and tender theme;
+    Such ardent thoughts, and passion pale,
+      And humble suit, I fondly deem,
+    Would need a poet's rapturous mind.
+      Oh! if fit words could but be bought,
+    If Love's own speech I could but find,
+      I'd sell my soul to express my thought,
+      So you should in Love's toils be caught!
+
+    Oh! then a kindlier sun would shine,
+      The vermeiled flowers would look more fair,
+    The common world would seem divine,
+      And daily things appear most rare;
+    My soul, a soaring lark, would rise
+      To greet the morning of thy love
+    So sweetly dawning in thine eyes,
+      And in thy smiles, which should approve.
+
+The tender charm of the sweet old song--now utterly neglected for more
+brazen utterances, and which only Beethoven could have written--was
+thoroughly appreciated by the singer.
+
+Wishing to see her without myself being discovered, and hoping to hear
+her sing again, I "stalked" her--and, behold, she was a Padhani! I
+couldn't be mistaken, for she was singing David's "O ma maitresse," as I
+watched her from behind the bole of a great huldoo tree.
+
+A little boy, about three years in age, played beside her as she sat on
+a fallen tree trunk and took part in the matin of the Terai. There was a
+noble breadth between her eyes that reminded one of the Sistine
+Madonna, and an air of repose about her figure which was set off by her
+simple garments.
+
+She was, without doubt, Chambeli, the Padhani protégé of the Fishers,
+whose flight from her husband, the Rev. John Trusler, immediately after
+her return to the Terai, had been the sensation of the season at Naini
+Tal a few years ago.
+
+Snapping a dry twig with my foot to attract her attention, I stepped
+into the open and approached her. Her first impulse was to flee, but she
+quickly regained her composure and awaited me, standing, her eyes
+meeting mine without the least embarrassment.
+
+"Your singing attracted me," I began, taking off my hat to her.
+
+"Yes?" she replied, evidently not at all anxious to come to my relief in
+the awkward position I had sought.
+
+"It was very beautiful----"
+
+"And it is finished," she interrupted. There was a slight tone of
+contempt in her voice as she thus gave me to understand that my
+presence was unwelcome. But, as a student of psychology, I was not to be
+so easily moved from my design of "investigating the case" before me.
+
+"The Rev. John Trusler is dead." I paused awhile to see how she would be
+affected. Then, as she gave no sign of emotion, I went on, "He hanged
+himself a few days after you left him."
+
+"My God!" she exclaimed, putting her hand to her side and seating
+herself on the fallen tree.
+
+The child, who had been clinging to his mother's dress and regarding me
+with round, brown eyes, began to cry when he saw his mother's sudden
+emotion. She took him up in her arms and cuddled his head to her bosom,
+saying in the Padhani patois, "Mea mithoo, mea mithoo! hush, my butcha."
+
+In the silence that ensued after the child had been quieted there came
+the regular stroke of a woodman's axe, and presently the refrain of a
+Padhani song sung by a man.
+
+When the woman had regained her calm, she looked up at me somewhat
+defiantly and said, "What business had they to come between me and my
+jungle mother? What right had they to impose moral shackles on one who
+was above their petty codes?"
+
+"The Fishers were moved by kindness, surely; they educated you, and
+Christianized you, and through them you met and married an honorable
+man."
+
+"Educated me, forsooth!" she exclaimed with scorn, her nostrils
+twitching; "they robbed me of my five senses, and gave me
+instead--accomplishments. Can you tell the time of the day from the sun,
+sir? Can you say when the sambhur passed whose track is at your feet,
+and how many wolves were in the pack that followed him? Would your sense
+of smell lead you to a pool of fresh water in mid-jungle? Can you feel
+the proximity of a crouching leopard without seeing it? What sort of
+education is it that neglects the senses? Oh, the highest product of
+your civilization--your poet-laureate, Tennyson--felt the same thing
+stir in his pulses when he wrote 'Locksley Hall,' and deprecated the
+'poring over miserable books' with blinded eye-sight."
+
+"'Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay,'" I quoted, as
+she paused in her rapid discourse.
+
+"For the European, perhaps; not for the Chinaman. No, I have no feeling
+of gratitude towards those you speak of; for the large freedom of the
+Terai they gave me a brick cage in London; they gave me endless crowds
+of miserable men and women for these, my green brothers, who are always
+happy," and she put out her hand and caressed a tree that grew beside
+her.
+
+"As for Christianity," she resumed, "it is but one facet in the jewel,
+morality. Christ was but an adept, I take it, who attained to his
+miraculous powers--as do our rishis and jogis--by prayer and fasting and
+meditation. I cannot see that Christian vices are fewer or more venial
+than those of our people."
+
+"But don't you miss your books, and the keeping in touch with the
+progress of civilization?" I asked.
+
+"Must I quote 'books in the running brooks' to you? What book is there
+like this book of God's?" and she swept her arm round her. "And if my
+son grow up to be brave and strong, that will be civilization enough for
+me."
+
+"But your music?"
+
+"Ah! that is the only thing I miss. But I recollect all of Schumann's
+songs and Schubert's, some of Beethoven's--and then I make songs of my
+own to fit the moods of my jungle mother, and I have some small skill in
+weaving words for them."
+
+"And the man who hanged himself?"
+
+"He was no man," she flashed; "who had not the strength of a girl, and
+who was as weak-eyed as the bat in daytime! You shall see a man indeed,
+one who fears not to track the tiger afoot, and who even beats me when
+he sees fit," and she called aloud, "Aho! Kali Dass, aho!"
+
+The sound of the woodman's axe ceased, and presently we heard some one
+approaching through the jungle.
+
+"'Twere better that he should know from me that you and I had had
+speech together, than that he should learn it from the Terai, for our
+men are very terrible when they are wrought upon by jealousy." Then,
+after a pause, she went on, "Don't speak to me in English in his
+presence. He won't like it."
+
+She rose and half veiled her face with her chudder, as a splendid young
+Padhan bearing an immense load of wood entered the glade. He threw down
+his burden as soon as he perceived me, and, snatching up his axe,
+advanced menacingly towards me. He was a bronze Apollo, with the air of
+freedom that is native to mountaineers and woodsy folks.
+
+"The sahib intended no harm, Kali Dass," began the woman; "and he hath
+given me tidings of _his_ death."
+
+"What of it? He was but a quail."
+
+"But now canst thou become a Christian, and--marry me."
+
+"Marry one who was twice a widow? Nana Debi forbid! I must admonish thee
+when we return to our hut. Come."
+
+Fearing that any further interest in the case on my part would but
+increase the severity of her punishment, I turned down the jungle path.
+
+Just before leaving the glade I looked back; the woman had one knee on
+the ground, and with outstretched arms she was balancing the load of
+wood that Kali Dass was putting on her head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+_The Smoking of a Hornets' Nest_
+
+
+"The 'big rains' will begin to-night," said the bunnia at Lal Kooah, as
+Ram Deen took his seat on the mail-cart.
+
+"And there will be much lightning and thunder," added one of the
+by-standers, "the night is so still."
+
+The sky was inky, and the Terai awaited the coming storm in a breathless
+silence which was only emphasized by the parting blasts of Ram Deen's
+bugle. The horses had their ears twitched forward apprehensively, and
+started, every now and then, at the objects revealed by the light of the
+lamps. A mile or so beyond Lal Kooah a few heavy drops of rain pattered
+on the broad leaves of the overarching huldoos. Suddenly the sky was
+rent by a streak of lightning,--the _avant courier_ of the mighty
+monsoon,--and it was immediately followed by the terrific thunder that
+bayed at its heels.
+
+In the intensified silence that ensued Ram Deen blew his bugle to
+reassure the frightened horses. He had barely ceased when there came the
+sharp crack of a pistol-shot, and a far cry, "Ram dhwy! ram dhwy! Aho!
+Ram Deen, aho!"
+
+"Tis the voice of Goor Dutt," said the hostler, "and he looketh on
+fear."
+
+Ram Deen urged his team into a flying gallop as the storm struck the
+jungle and woke its mighty voices. Wind and rain, and trees with
+leafless branches for stringed instruments, made an elemental orchestra
+that discoursed cataclysmic music.
+
+Whilst the thunder crackled and crashed overhead to the steady and
+sullen roar of the rain the horses came to a sudden stand-still. In the
+feeble lamplight Ram Deen discerned a man lying in the middle of the
+road. Taking one of the lamps, he held it to his face. It was Goor Dutt,
+the little bullock driver. He was unconscious, and had a deep wound on
+his head from which the blood was still welling.
+
+Hanging on a wild plum-tree that grew on the edge of the road was a
+bloodstained turban that fluttered in the storm. Tying it securely to
+the branch whence it hung, Ram Deen placed the unconscious bullock
+driver at the bottom of the mail-cart, the hostler supporting his head.
+
+Arrived at Kaladoongie, Ram Deen roused the native apothecary at the
+dispensary. Goor Dutt was carried in and laid on a charpoi, and whilst
+the apothecary attended to his hurts Ram Deen knocked on the Thanadar's
+house, saying, "Wake, Thanadar ji. There be bad men abroad to-night, and
+blows to pay."
+
+When the two friends returned to the dispensary Goor Dutt was looking
+about him in a dazed fashion. The stimulant administered to him had
+begun to take effect, and the sight of the tall driver roused him to a
+recollection of the events of the night.
+
+"Lakhoo's men," said he, feebly. "I counted five by the light of the
+torch they burned. They beset me, and doubtless I had been slain, but
+they heard thy bugle, and, whilst they hesitated, I shouted to thee,
+and, freeing one hand, I drew the pistol Charlie Sahib gave me and fired
+once, and then a great darkness fell upon me."
+
+Whilst the Thanadar roused a couple of his men Ram Deen slipped into his
+own garden to release Hasteen, for the great dog would be needed in the
+hunting of that night.
+
+The sky was emptying itself in great sheets of rain as the mail-cart
+sped away with the dog running beside it. When they reached the tree to
+which the turban was tied Ram Deen removed it and held it out to
+Hasteen, who, after sniffing at it for a moment, started off at a trot,
+with his nose to the ground. But the scent was bad, owing to the heavy
+rain, and the dog began to run round in widening circles in his search
+for a trail, whilst the men stayed on the edge of the road. Suddenly the
+dog bayed, and, following the direction of the sound, they came up with
+him as he stood by Goor Dutt's cart, from which the bullocks had been
+removed.
+
+"The man stricken by Goor Dutt rode hence on a bullock," said Ram Deen,
+who had been examining the tracks in the mire with a lantern; "there be
+signs of but four men going hence, Thanadar Sahib, whereas five walked
+beside the wagon till it stopped here."
+
+The cart was in the jungle about a hundred yards from the road. The
+noise made by its progress had been entirely drowned in the roar of the
+storm, so that Ram Deen had not heard it.
+
+"See, sahib," said Ram Deen, pointing to the trail made by the heavy
+animals in their course through the jungle, and which not even the rain
+had effaced, "we shall not need Hasteen's nose, but his teeth, ere the
+daybreak."
+
+Fastening the turban taken from the tree round Hasteen's neck, Ram Deen
+struck into the trail, the dog walking beside him, whilst the others
+followed in single file. The tall driver stopped occasionally to examine
+the ground with his lantern. He had with him the revolver given to him
+by Captain Barfield, but his main dependence was on the long bamboo
+club, loaded with lead, which he carried in his right hand.
+
+The events that followed were thus told to Captain Fisher, the deputy
+commissioner of the district, who came down the next day from Naini Tal
+to investigate them.
+
+"Sahib," began Ram Deen, whose left arm was in a sling, "it was thus: We
+followed the trail that led along the right bank of the Bore Nuddee,
+till we came to the ford, where the stream was now a roaring torrent
+owing to the great rain, which never ceased to drum on the Terai all
+that night.
+
+"Here those we sought had crossed to the left bank, and then continued
+up the hill to the garden of Thapa Sing; through the door of the hut,
+wherein Heera Lal, who is kin to me, used to dwell, there came the gleam
+of firelight.
+
+"Then the Thanadar bid stand, saying, ''Twere well to take them alive,
+Ram Deen, so that the sircar may not be despoiled of the hanging of
+them. What sayest thou?'
+
+"'Such as these cannot be taken alive, Thanadar ji,' I replied.
+
+"'What would you?' he inquired.
+
+"'They be hornets, khodawund,' I made answer, 'and must be smoked out of
+their nest. When they come forth we will take them as we best may.'
+
+"So we proceeded without noise to the hut, and when we reached it the
+lantern showed us that the Thanadar, and I, and Hasteen, whom I had
+unloosed, were alone. For, behold, the policemen had fled, not having
+stomachs for blows; their blood had turned to milk and their livers to
+water. For their fathers are jackals and their mothers without honor;
+and the sahib will doubtless bestow upon them the reward due to their
+valor.
+
+"And the Thanadar growled in his beard at the baseness of his men, and
+whispered, 'Those dogs of mine have made it necessary that we should
+slay these within, Ram Deen, should they refuse to surrender, instead of
+taking them alive;' and I nodded assent.
+
+"We could hear the wounded man groan inside the hut, and one said,
+'Never mind, Kunwa, I slew Goor Dutt for thy hurt, and had these who are
+with us been men instead of children, we had slain the driver of the
+mail-cart, whose voice is greater than his strength, and his legs but
+female bamboos.'
+
+"'Thou art a liar!' I shouted, kicking in the thatch door of the hut,
+which fell in the fire on the hearth. In a moment the hut was in a
+blaze. Two men ran forth through the doorway, and, in the light of the
+burning hut, I could see other twain breaking through the wall of thatch
+at the rear, whilst Kunwa, the wounded man, who was unable to move,
+greeted with appalling screams the death that approached him.
+
+"'I will attend to these, Thanadar Sahib!' I shouted; 'do thou and
+Hasteen look to those that escape from the rear.' And the Thanadar,
+calling the dog, ran to the back of the hut.
+
+"Seeing but one man in front of them, the dacoits--strong men and
+tall--ran in upon me. I anticipated the blow of one, and he fell to the
+ground without even a cry; but the club of the other had crushed my
+skull, had I not warded it with my left arm, which was broken thereby;
+and ere my assailant could again swing his weapon I had stretched him
+beside his companion.
+
+"From the other side of the burning hut came the sounds of a terrible
+combat and of heavy blows. I made what haste I could, and as I turned
+the corner of the hut I stumbled over the body of the Thanadar. Six
+paces beyond was Hasteen, and he was serving the sircar as he best
+might. He stood over one of the dacoits, whom he held by the throat,
+whilst the other rained blows on him, till I made the fight an equal one
+between dog and man; and then, because my arm pained shrewdly, I was
+fain to sit on a fallen tree, whilst Hasteen finished the fray in his
+own manner; the man in the hut, meanwhile, uttering screams that even a
+strong man might not hear unmoved.
+
+"But he on the ground could not scream by reason of the fangs at his
+throat; he only gurgled, and rattled dreadfully, and the foam flew from
+his lips as the great dog shook him from side to side. When his head
+swayed helplessly I knew he was dead, so I bade Hasteen release him; and
+the man in the hut having ceased his outcries, I made shift to raise the
+Thanadar, and lo, he was dead, and the Terai bereft of a great and a
+good man, and I of the best of friends. And now, as the sahib knoweth
+but too well, there be none in the Terai to maintain the orders of the
+sircar."
+
+"Nevertheless, Ram Deen," said Captain Fisher, "the sircar will look to
+you in the future to be a terror to evil-doers, and here are papers
+making you Thanadar of this district. What say you?"
+
+"The sircar is my father and my mother, Fisher Sahib; but this thing may
+not be. I have neither learning nor wisdom to uphold the English raj as
+it should be upheld. Besides, who is to drive the mail-cart?"
+
+"There be drivers a-plenty, Ram Deen, but not many who will strike a
+blow for the right and defend the poor and the fatherless. Thy munshi
+will instruct thee in the duties of thy office. But beyond all things,
+remember this: There must be no budmashes in thy district, Ram Deen,
+Thanadar." Then, before Ram Deen could make reply, he went on, "Oh, yes,
+the reward; thou wilt receive from the sircar two thousand five hundred
+rupees for the slaying of Lakhoo's men."
+
+"But Goor Dutt slew one of them, Captain Sahib, and Hasteen another."
+
+"Well, give Goor Dutt what thou wilt and bestow a collar of honor, with
+spikes of brass, on Hasteen. Thou art Thanadar henceforth, and the
+sircar expects you to be just in all your dealings."
+
+And as he finished, word having gone through Kaladoongie that Ram Deen
+was now Thanadar, the men who crowded round the Deputy Commissioner's
+tent raised a mighty shout: "Ram Deen, Thanadar, ke jhai!"
+
+"What meant that shout?" asked Tara, when Ram Deen returned home an hour
+later.
+
+"Congratulation to thy Lumba Deen (long legs) for a trifle of money and
+some little honor as salve for a broken bone, Light in Darkness."
+
+"What honor?" she inquired, eagerly.
+
+"But the money was the greater, my Star----"
+
+"Now, nay, my lord trifles with me. The honor, the honor!" she demanded.
+
+"And if I were to tell thee that they have made me Thanadar of this
+Zemindaree?"
+
+"'Tis but thy due, my lord; and thou hast but prepared the way for thy
+man-child. Said I not many moons ago that he should be Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie one day!"
+
+"See to it that he is brave and strong, Heart of my Heart, else were he
+better dead."
+
+"I will help her in the bringing up of thy son," said a tall woman,--she
+of the muffled face,--coming into the room; "and he shall be worthy of
+thee, who art now as great as thou hast been always good."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Taming of the Jungle, by Dr. C. W. Doyle
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Taming of the Jungle, by Dr. C. W. Doyle
+
+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
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+Title: The Taming of the Jungle
+
+Author: Dr. C. W. Doyle
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2011 [EBook #35644]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TAMING OF THE JUNGLE ***
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+
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+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h1>THE TAMING OF THE JUNGLE</h1>
+
+<h2>BY DR. C. W. DOYLE</h2>
+
+
+<h3>PHILADELPHIA &amp; LONDON<br />
+J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY<br />
+1899</h3>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1899<br />
+by J. B. Lippincott Company</span></h3>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U. S. A.</span></h3>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a>Preface</h2>
+
+
+<p>For a better understanding of this story, it will be necessary to say a
+few words concerning the people of the Terai,&mdash;the great tract of jungle
+that skirts the foothills of the Himalayas, in the Province of Kumaon.
+They are a simple, primitive folk, and migratory in their ways:
+inhabiting the interior valleys of the hills in the hot weather and the
+monsoon, and the foothills and the Terai during the winter.</p>
+
+<p>In official reports they are described as "low-caste Hindoos;" but they
+are as far removed from the low-caste Hindoos of the plains, on the one
+hand, as they are from the high-caste Rajpoots, who are the gentry of
+Kumaon, on the other. The monstrous Pantheism of the Brahmin is unknown
+to them, and the ritual and severe limitations of caste that shackle the
+former in all the relations of life have no influence on the Padhans of
+Kumaon. Tending their flocks and their herds, and cultivating their
+terraced fields in the summer and their patches of rye and corn in the
+winter, they pass lives of Arcadian simplicity among scenes that surpass
+Ida and Olympus in beauty, and which vie with the glades of Eden, as
+Milton and Tennyson described them.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Me rather, all that bowery loneliness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The brooks of Eden mazily murmuring,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And bloom profuse, and cedar arches charm."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Tennyson might have written that of the Terai in midwinter. And its
+people conform, as might be expected, to their environment. Life among
+them is found at first hand: their loves and hates are ingenuous, and
+present social aspects that must vanish before the march of
+civilization.</p>
+
+<p>The critics may object to the manner of the courtship of Tara, as not
+being in accord with the marriage customs of the natives of India. To
+them I would reply, that the experience of a dozen years spent in
+intimate relations with, and in close observation of, the Kumaon
+Padhans, has satisfied me that these children of nature are guided
+strongly by their natural feelings; and that, in the selection of their
+wives, they are as often swayed by their affections as we are.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">C. W. Doyle.</span><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Santa Cruz, California</span>, January, 1899.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><i>Contents</i></h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#Preface">Preface</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">A Jungle Vendetta</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Hasteen</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Hunting of Cheeta Dutt</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">The Spoiling of Nyagong</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">The Woman in the Carriage</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">For the Training of Biroo</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Chandni</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">One Thousand Rupees Reward</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">The Rope that Hanged Bijoo</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">C&oelig;lum, non Animum Mutant</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">The Lame Tiger of Huldwani</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">How Nandha was Avenged</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">An Affront to Gannesha</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">A Daughter of the Gods</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. "<span class="smcap">Ich Liebe Dich</span>"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">The Smoking of a Hornets' Nest</span></a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3><i>A Jungle Vendetta</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>"This was the way of it," said Ram Deen to a circle of listeners sitting
+round a fire by the side of the jungle road near Lal Kooah. Ram Deen
+drove the mail-cart in its final stage to Kaladoongie, and with his
+relay of fresh horses was awaiting the arrival of the mail. He was, next
+to the Assistant Superintendent of the Forest Department of the
+District, a power on the road, and his audience, accordingly, listened
+to him with due respect. "This was the way of it: I owed Bheem Dass one
+rupee and six annas for flour and pulse and ghee, and my donkey fell
+sick, so that he could not be forced by goad, nor by the lighting of a
+fire beneath him, to rise; and I could not convey my earthenware to
+Moradabad and sell it, and so remove the galling of Bheem Dass's tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the Thanadar came, and read script to me that was written on
+government paper, whereof I understood but little, save that the words
+were Urdu, and sounded very terrible to me, who speak Gamari only, and
+am a poor man. And he took my potter's wheel from me, and bade his
+chuprassi beat me then, and daily thereafter at noon&mdash;twelve strokes
+each day&mdash;till I made restitution to Bheem Dass.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers, we be all poor men here, and ye know that God hath not given
+us understanding save to suffer stripes like beasts of burden, and to
+sleep and eat when we can, and beget children to succeed to our blows."</p>
+
+<p>There was a deep "humph" of assent when he had ceased speaking. The
+little man who freighted village produce from Kaladoongie to Moradabad
+by bullock-cart said, as he handed Ram Deen the hookah that was circling
+round the fire, "A knife-thrust in the dark has settled heavier scores
+than thine;" and one suggested a blow from a weighted bamboo club, and
+another the evil eye; but Ram Deen smoked in silence, and after they
+had all had their say he passed the hookah to his neighbor and went on:</p>
+
+<p>"Whenas my back smarted shrewdly that night from the blows of the
+chuprassi's shoe, so that I could not sleep, I took the oil from my
+chirag and anointed my back therewith. As soon as the false dawn blinked
+in the east I made a fire and light, without waking my son&mdash;my babe,
+Buldeo, and he without a mother&mdash;and I made store of chupattis with all
+the flour that was left, putting the remainder of the ghee on the first
+batch. Then I dug up three rupees and two annas that I had buried under
+the hearth, and waking Buldeo I fed him; and whilst he ate I made a
+bundle of such things as even a poor man has need of,&mdash;a blanket, a
+hookah and lotah, and shoes to wear through the villages, and the food I
+had prepared.</p>
+
+<p>"And ere the village cocks waked or the minas and crows and green
+parrots opened council in the peepul trees, Buldeo and I were footing
+the jungle path to Nyagong, he holding his hand over his head to reach
+mine, for he was but three years in age.</p>
+
+<p>"And when we had proceeded a mile or twain into the jungle Buldeo spake
+and said, 'Thy man-child is tired.' And I set him on my shoulder, and so
+carried him until the sun began to shoot slant rays from the west.
+Whereon we stopped and ate; and, after, I fastened him with my waistband
+in the fork of a tree, saying, 'Son of mine, bide here till I return,
+and be not afraid.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then, collecting grass and scrub, I made a circle of fire round the
+tree, and sped back to the village; and as the bell tolled the hour of
+ten that night a flame leaped up from the hut of the bunnia, Bheem Dass,
+to whom I owed money.</p>
+
+<p>"Ere I returned to the jungle path I could hear Bheem Dass shout as a
+man being beaten, 'ram dhwy! ram dhwy!' and the smart on my back waxed
+easier."</p>
+
+<p>By this time the hookah had made the round of the circle and once more
+reached Ram Deen, and as he paused again to "drink tobacco" his
+listeners made comment:</p>
+
+<p>"Wah! coach-wan ji," said the little carrier, "knives may be blunt and
+clubs cracked, but fire loveth stubble and thatch. Ho, ho!"</p>
+
+<p>And Ram Deen smiled grimly as he passed the hookah to his neighbor, who
+said as he took it, "And what of thy man-child, Buldeo?"</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen tucked the ends of his parted beard under his turban, and
+spitting bravely into the fire to conceal the tremor in his voice, he
+said, "As the dawn broke I reached the tree whereon I had fastened my
+son. When I came near a pack of jackals that had been worrying something
+under the tree slunk away. The child was not to be seen, but the bark of
+the tree was scored with the talons of a leopard, and at its foot was a
+small red cap and a handful of fresh bones."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen puffed the hookah in silence when it reached him again.</p>
+
+<p>By and by, in response to the expectation of his listeners, he said,
+"Bheem Dass rode after me on the mail-cart to Kaladoongie that night. I
+knew he would come, and therefore I brake the telegraph wire and
+fastened it across the road a foot above the ground. When the horse
+stumbled over it and fell the driver was thrown on his head and killed.
+But Bheem Dass lay groaning on the road with a broken thigh-bone.</p>
+
+<p>"And I held a lamp taken from the cart to my face, so that he should
+know me, and I spat and stamped on him; and thereafter I mounted the
+mail-cart and drove it over his skull as he screamed for mercy.</p>
+
+<p>"I took the mail to Kaladoongie, and it was told the sahib-log that the
+mail-cart had been overturned and the coach-wan and Bheem Dass killed;
+and they made me driver because the road was unsafe and I had shown them
+that I was not afraid.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye are poor men and know naught,&mdash;knowledge dieth suddenly!"</p>
+
+<p>And the bullock driver said, "Ho, ho! coach-wan sahib, we be poor men
+and know nothing, and are fain to live."</p>
+
+<p>The mail-cart drove up in a few minutes out of the darkness, the horses
+were rapidly changed, and Ram Deen dashed off into the jungle with a
+brave tarantara.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3><i>Hasteen</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>"Ram deen," said the stout Thanadar of Kaladoongie, "it is by the order
+of the sircar (government) that I question thee concerning this jungle
+wanderer. Whatsoever thou sayest will be set down by the munshi and laid
+before the commissioner sahib."</p>
+
+<p>The "wanderer" put one hand on a tubby stomach that ill-assorted with
+his attenuated limbs, and with the fingers of the other in close
+apposition he pointed to his mouth, whining and saying to those round
+him, "Oh, my father and my mother, we be hungry,&mdash;Hasteen and I."</p>
+
+<p>He was a wee little manikin of the chamar (tanner) caste, and about six
+years old. There was not a rag on him, save a sorry whisp of puggri that
+made no pretence of covering the top-knot of hair which all Hindoos of
+the male sex, and of whatever caste, wear on their heads as a handle
+for the transportation of their souls to heaven.</p>
+
+<p>He crouched in front of the fire of cowpats and grass, holding up his
+little hands to the blaze, and beside him lay a huge pariah dog with its
+head on his lap. One of its ears had been recently cut off close to the
+skull, and it moved the bloody stump to and fro as the heat of the fire
+fell on it. When any one approached the little chamar the dog growled
+threateningly, and the small crowd of listeners was fain to keep at a
+respectful distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanadar ji," replied Ram Deen, the redoubtable driver of the mail-cart
+to Kaladoongie, "the night air is shrewd, and it were well to feed the
+little one and to put a blanket round him ere I tell you of his
+finding."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, and forget not Hasteen," said the small chamar, pointing to the
+dog. When the great beast heard its name it slapped its tail against the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>A woman standing on the outskirt of the crowd took off her chudder and
+passed it to Ram Deen, who, keeping a wary eye on Hasteen, wrapped it
+round the little waif; and Tulsi Ram, the village pundit, also handed
+his blanket to Ram Deen. By the time the little one was duly happed up,
+Gunga Deen, the fat sweetmeat vender, returned with a tray of cates and
+milk, sufficient for three grown men, and set it before the new arrival,
+who, to his honor be it told, shared bite and bite with his four-footed
+friend. And between mouthfuls he answered questions and told his story
+to the Thanadar:</p>
+
+<p>"My name, Most Honorable, is Biroo, and we be chamars of the village of
+Budraon,&mdash;my father and mother, Hasteen and I. There were none others of
+our family, and Hasteen and I be brothers, for we sucked the same pap,
+and that my mother's, as she hath so often told me. I am the older by
+three months, wherefore he mindeth me.</p>
+
+<p>"Whence is Hasteen's name? How should I know, Protector of the Poor? I
+am but a poor man and know naught."</p>
+
+<p>Tulsi Ram, the pundit, ventured to throw some light on the derivation
+of Hasteen's name. He hoped, ere he died, to pass the entrance
+examination of the Calcutta University; and, after the manner of his
+kind, he was preparing himself for it by the slow and steady process of
+learning the prescribed text-books off by heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanadar ji, the dog hath its name from Warren Hasteen, the great sahib
+who killed the Kings of Delhi, as thou wottest, and daily fed on young
+babes, whereof midwives and old women who saw him tell to this day. And,
+moreover, he was a great fighter."</p>
+
+<p>"Wah, Tulsi Ram!" exclaimed the Thanadar, "thou shalt yet become a baboo
+in the post-office at Naini Tal."</p>
+
+<p>"But there never was fighter like Hasteen," said the little chamar,
+whose courage rose as his hunger abated, and rolling up a chupatti he
+gave it to the dog, who made one mouthful of it. "He hath blackened the
+faces of all the dogs of our village," he went on; "and last winter he
+overcame a dog of fierce countenance and crooked legs, that belonged to
+the sahib who camped near our village, and left it for dead on the
+plain; and the sahib would have beaten me, but Hasteen rose upon him and
+threw him down, and stood over him till I smote Hasteen with my bamboo
+club and dragged him off the sahib. Ah, thou wicked one, thou budmash!"
+and the great beast cowered before the wee man's threatening finger and
+licked his feet. "And therefrom came all our woes, for our folk drave us
+from Budraon, fearing trouble for the killing of the sahib's dog, and my
+father would have slain Hasteen, but I restrained him. So we went to
+Nyagong, and there thieves came by night and would have despoiled us of
+our hides, but Hasteen prevented them; and thereafter the son of the
+Jamadar of Nyagong, who was a vain fellow and wore his turban awry,
+walked lame for many a day; and the bunnia (shopkeeper), who is the
+Jamadar's brother, put ground glass in the raw sugar he sold us&mdash;for so
+my father said&mdash;and my mother died.</p>
+
+<p>"Last week my father came not home, and for three days I saw him not;
+then&mdash;I looking on&mdash;they drew a man out of the village well with his
+hands tied behind his back and a great stone fastened to his feet,&mdash;and
+it was my father!</p>
+
+<p>"And this night a flame leaped up from our hut, and Hasteen went swiftly
+forth into the moonlight, his crest standing on his neck and back. I
+followed with what haste I could, and thereafter I came up with Hasteen,
+and he lay beside a dead man, whose eyes were wide open and on whose
+lips was froth, and a sharp knife in his hand;&mdash;and it was the son of
+the Jamadar!</p>
+
+<p>"Thereupon I caught Hasteen by one ear and smote him on the other,&mdash;for
+he had done this killing; and the hand wherewith I smote him was covered
+with blood, so I saw his hurt, and that he had lost an ear.</p>
+
+<p>"And the villagers waked whenas they heard the crackling of the flames
+from our hut and the barking of the village dogs; and Hasteen and I ran
+towards the road that leads to Kaladoongie, being more fearful of the
+men of Nyagong than of the wild things of the jungle.</p>
+
+<p>"When we came to the bridge over the Bore Nuddee my feet were tired, and
+calling Hasteen to me for warmth I set my back to the wall of the bridge
+and so fell asleep; and now that I have eaten of thy bounty I would fain
+sleep again," and the little man yawned in the presence of the most
+august assembly he had ever faced.</p>
+
+<p>"It was thus I found him, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen, "and I came none
+too soon. A mile from the bridge I heard the hunting bay of a gray wolf,
+and when I came nearer I could see in the moonlight, crouched beside the
+end of the bridge, some great beast that leapt into the jungle as the
+cart approached; and then the mail of the Rani (Empress) of Hindoostan
+was stayed by a graceless pariah dog that guarded this jungle wayfarer,
+and, frightening my horses, denied me passage over the bridge. I could
+not have brought in the mail to-night had it not been for this Rustum,
+who beat the dog and restrained him. Is it not so, O Terror of Nyagong?"</p>
+
+<p>But the little man was fast asleep by this time, and Ram Deen, by
+permission of Hasteen, who followed close at his heels, carried the
+small chamar to his own hut and put him into his own bed; "for that he
+was of the age," he said to himself, "of Buldeo, my son, who was lost to
+me three years ago,&mdash;and he without a mother."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3><i>The Hunting of Cheeta Dutt</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>A few nights after the finding in the jungle of Biroo, the little chamar
+(tanner), by Ram Deen, who drove the mail-cart from Lal Kooah, the
+notables of Kaladoongie were gathered round a fire in front of the
+police-station. The Thanadar (chief of police), as befitted his rank and
+dignity, sat cross-legged on his charpoi, smoking gravely, whilst the
+rest of the company squatted on their heels, after the manner of the
+natives of India, passing a hookah round the circle and discussing in a
+desultory fashion the current events of that section of the Terai.</p>
+
+<p>A faint bugle-note far off in the jungle announced the approach of the
+mail-cart, and soon after the distant rumble of the wheels was heard as
+Ram Deen drove over the Bore bridge. When he was within a quarter of a
+mile of the village he blew a brave blast, and presently dashed up at
+full speed into the firelight, Biroo standing between his knees, and a
+huge pariah dog bounding along by the side of the cart. Soon after Ram
+Deen, followed by Biroo and the big dog, joined the circle round the
+fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Salaam, malakoom!" said Biroo, gravely saluting the Thanadar, and
+including the rest of those assembled in his sweeping salute.</p>
+
+<p>"Malakoom, salaam!" returned the Thanadar. "So thou hast brought in the
+Queen's mail safely, my Rustum?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hasteen and I," began the little fellow, putting a caressing hand on
+the head of the great dog, who lay beside him winking at the fire,
+"Hasteen and I fear nought that moveth in the jungle, save only the men
+of Nyagong;&mdash;and then, too, there was Ram Deen."</p>
+
+<p>This was said so seriously that the men sitting round the fire laughed
+at the little man's gravity; and Ram Deen smiled as he spread an armful
+of dry grass on the ground, into which he tucked the little fellow, and
+wrapped him up in his blanket. Hasteen settled himself beside Biroo, and
+they soon became oblivious of the circle round the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"How likest thou the little jungle waif, Ram Deen?" inquired the
+Thanadar.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanadar ji, he is to me as mine own son, Buldeo, come back to life;
+and he knoweth not fear. As we drove through the jungle yesterday and
+to-night he turned his face towards Nyagong and cursed that village, and
+sware that he would burn it to the ground when he had a beard; and 'tis
+like as not that he will do so when he is a man grown."</p>
+
+<p>"Durga aid him in his attempt!" said fat Gunga Ram, the sweetmeat
+vender; "that village hath always bred rogues and budmashes, before and
+since Cheeta Dutt, the son of the last Jemadar (head man of the
+village), committed a deed of hell in the jungle thereby."</p>
+
+<p>The silence of those who sat round the fire was a mute request to Gunga
+Ram to tell the story thus prefaced.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," he began, "'twas in the second year after the great mutiny
+that a young Englishman came into the Terai to look after the sāl trees,
+which always seemed a foolishness to me till I learned that sāl timber
+is good for the building of the ships that cross the Black Water.</p>
+
+<p>"And he had but little to do, save to shoot black partridge and spotted
+deer and watch the Padhani women crossing the ford in front of his camp;
+that was the evil of it.</p>
+
+<p>"In those days I was but a span round the waist, and the best shikari
+(hunter) and tracker in these parts; and Bonner Sahib&mdash;that was his
+name&mdash;hired me to show him where game was to be found. But he soon tired
+of shikar (sport), and fell to playing the songs of the Padhani women on
+his cithar, the like of which I never heard before.</p>
+
+<p>"One day, after he had eaten his morning meal and swam in the deep pool
+above the ford of the Bore Nuddee, he lay on the grass by the stream
+smoking, whilst I cleaned his guns by the side of his tent. Presently,
+when I looked up, the sahib was gazing from under his hand at certain
+wayfarers who came down the slope on the other side of the stream
+towards the ford; and on his finger there glittered a stone that took
+mine eye even at that distance. In front there rode on a hill-pony,
+loaded with household goods, Cheeta Dutt, the son of the Jemadar of
+Nyagong, and he wore the garments of a man who taketh his wife home for
+the consummation of his marriage. Behind him walked Naringi, his wife,
+the daughter of the Jemadar of Huldwani. She was well named 'Orange
+Blossom;' and though I live to a thousand years, yet shall I never see
+the like of her as she walked behind Cheeta Dutt with a small bundle on
+her head and lifted her sari as she took the ford with her bared limbs.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers, she was but sixteen years in age, and in the budding of her
+beauty; and it seemed as though the morning shed all its joys about her
+feet. What wonder, then, that even a young Faringi (Englishman) should
+look upon her with admiration?</p>
+
+<p>"When she was half-way across the ford her foot slipped, and the bundle
+she bore fell into the stream. Wullahy, but these Faringis be fools!
+Eyes may look, and thoughts may fall about the face of a fair woman,
+though she be another man's wife, but only a Faringi would do what
+Bonner Sahib did. Kali Mai afflict the race! Women were made but to
+carry burdens and bear children. Nowhere can it be shown&mdash;not even in
+the Shastras, wherein I, Gunga Ram, have read&mdash;that a man should demean
+himself to serve a woman; but Bonner Sahib leapt into the stream and
+recovered the young woman's bundle. Worse than that, as she stood beside
+her husband's horse, wringing the water out of the hem of her garment,
+he put her bundle in her hand, and Cheeta Dutt scowled at him.</p>
+
+<p>"'Protector of the Poor,' said I to the sahib, as I dried his feet and
+changed his shoes, 'thou hast not done well.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Wherefore?' he replied, sending the smoke of his cheroot skywards.</p>
+
+<p>"'Because Cheeta Dutt (well is he named Hunting Leopard) may repay thee
+hereafter in his own way for thy service to his wife this day. Belike,
+he may render her nakti (noseless), and so send her back to her father's
+house. But the sahib is a great lord, and a nakti Padhani woman more or
+less concerneth him not, for they be bought and sold like cattle, and
+the sahib hath the price of many such on his little finger.&mdash;But I speak
+like a fool, sahib, for I am a poor man and know nothing, save how to
+serve thee.'</p>
+
+<p>"But he only laughed and stroked the yellow beard on his upper lip.</p>
+
+<p>"A moon thereafter our camp was pitched near Nyagong. As ye know, the
+Terai thereby is full of shikar, and I showed Bonner Sahib where to find
+black partridge. One day, as we set our faces campwards,&mdash;I following
+the sahib with his spare gun and the morning's kill,&mdash;the voice of a
+young woman singing a Padhani song suddenly rose from a thicket near by,
+and the jungle became silent to listen to her. Bonner Sahib parted the
+tall grass with his hands, and I, looking over his shoulder, beheld
+Naringi, the wife of Cheeta Dutt, seated on a fallen tree trunk in an
+open glade, tending a flock of goats. As she sang she strung together
+flaming cotton-wood flowers, whereof she had placed one behind each ear.</p>
+
+<p>"When she had finished her song the sahib took it up, stepping at the
+same time into the clearing; and Naringi fled like a roe hunted by
+wolves.</p>
+
+<p>"'The shikar is shy, Gunga Ram,' said the sahib.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis dangerous hunting, Protector of the Poor,' I replied. But the
+sahib only laughed and lit a cheroot.</p>
+
+<p>"And thereafter he sought the black partridge unattended by me, for he
+set me morning tasks to fulfil within the camp. But, brothers, he
+brought not so much as a jungle-fowl home for more than a week, and I
+was fain to know what the sahib hunted.</p>
+
+<p>"So I followed him unperceived one morning, and he went straightway to
+the clearing wherein we had seen Naringi with the goats. When I looked
+through the grass, behold! I saw Bonner Sahib seated on the fallen tree
+trunk, wearing a necklace of red flowers, and Naringi sat on his knee
+with an arm round his neck! Toba, toba! what fools these Faringis be,
+who know not that the birds of the air carry messages when a sahib
+stoops to a woman of our people."</p>
+
+<p>"The jungle hath many eyes," said the Thanadar, sententiously.</p>
+
+<p>After Gunga Ram had refreshed himself with the circling hookah, he went
+on: "As I looked and listened there was a rustling in the grass on the
+other side of the clearing, and the sahib's dog dashed into the jungle
+in pursuit of something. The next moment it yelped as a dog that is
+sorely stricken, but the sahib, who was toying with Naringi, heard
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Naringi, stroking the sahib's golden beard, said, 'My Lord, Cheeta
+Dutt beat me last night because I spake thy name in my sleep. Look,' and
+she lifted the hair from her forehead, whereon was a bruise; and as she
+turned her face to the sahib I saw that she had been weeping, for her
+eyelids were swelled.</p>
+
+<p>"'He is swine-born,' said the sahib; and as he spake his face flushed
+like the morning sky. Then he folded her in his arms and saluted her
+mouth after the manner of Faringis; and when she was comforted he said,
+'Naringi, my Blossom, thy husband is a dog. To-night will I take thee
+hence and make thee envied of the mem-sahibs of Naini Tal. Wilt thou
+trust thyself with me?'</p>
+
+<p>"For answer she threw herself before him and clasped his feet, but the
+sahib raised her up, saying, 'Beloved, I will come for thee to-night on
+the stroke of the tenth hour by the village bell. Gunga Ram&mdash;my
+shikari&mdash;and I will wait for thee with a covered byli (cart) at the foot
+of that tall sesame tree thou seest yonder on the open plain. And for
+pledge that I shall be here, see, I set on thy finger this ring, which
+all the villages in the Kumaon Terai could not buy; and if I fail to
+come my punishment is in thy hands. It is a thousand years till I see
+thee again, little one.' Then he folded her in his arms once more and
+set his face homewards, shouting to her from the end of the glade,
+'Fail me not, my Wild Rose!' For answer, she swept the ground with her
+salaams.</p>
+
+<p>"Hastening campwards by a path that skirted the other side of the glade,
+I came across the sahib's dog. It was shorn in twain by the stroke of a
+khookri, and I knew that Cheeta Dutt, The Leopard, was a-hunting.</p>
+
+<p>"'What shikar?' asked I of Bonner Sahib when he returned to his tent.</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou art a liar, Gunga Ram. The jungle hereabout is barren of game,
+and it is in my mind to send thee with a note to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie commending the soles of thy feet to the bamboo staff of one
+of his men;' and, laughing, he threw himself into a long chair.</p>
+
+<p>"'I am sorry for thee, sahib,' I said in reply, 'for not only art thou
+empty handed this day, but thou hast lost the great stone that shone on
+thy finger when thou wentest forth this morning. Toba, toba!'</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis in my pocket, O Chattering Jay.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Perchance the sahib shot his dog this morning, seeing that the game
+was scarce?' I said.</p>
+
+<p>"'Hath he not returned, Gunga Ram?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ere I answer thee, sahib, 'twere well to drink some brandy-pani;' and
+I mixed the liquor as he had taught me.</p>
+
+<p>"'It is well, Provider of the Poor,' I went on, 'it is well to be young
+and well favored, and the special care of thy gods who have bestowed on
+thee wealth and a moonstone that all the villages in the Kumaon Terai
+could not purchase,'&mdash;hereat the sahib looked at me out of the corner of
+his eye,&mdash;'but it is not well to look for partridges where great beasts
+hunt. Thy dog was slain in the jungle this morning by a leopard. He
+lieth outside the tent, and 'twere well the sahib should see what a
+leopard can do.'</p>
+
+<p>"Following him out of the tent, I uncovered the dead dog. The sahib
+clutched at his throat and would have fallen, so I put my arm round him
+and laid him on his bed.</p>
+
+<p>"'This is the work of Cheeta Dutt, sahib. Said I not that perchance he
+would hunt some one hereafter for thy service to his wife at the ford
+last month?'</p>
+
+<p>"Rising from the bed, the sahib drank another draught of the strong
+waters. 'Cheeta Dutt's back shall smart for this,' he said.</p>
+
+<p>"'And then, sahib, he will slay his wife because of thy ring in the
+pocket of her bodice.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Budmash, thou hast been playing the spy!' and turning upon me like a
+wild boar, his face aflame, he caught me by the beard.</p>
+
+<p>"'Sahib,' I said, 'I am but a poor man, and thou of consequence in the
+Terai, but, man to man, thou durst not lay thy hand on my beard in the
+jungle and away from thy camp. I fear not to tell thee, sahib, that I
+did, indeed, watch thee this morning; but the jungle is full of eyes,
+not the least keen being those of Cheeta Dutt, who slew thy dog this
+morning, and who will slay the woman thou lovest, or do worse to her,
+ere he sleepeth, as is his right.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Gunga Ram, thou art a man, and I ask forgiveness of thee for
+blackening thy face, but I am moved from myself by great fear for what
+may befall the woman. Tell me what is to be done, for thou knowest the
+ways of these jungle folks better than I;' and the sahib walked the
+floor as one distraught.</p>
+
+<p>"'Will one thousand&mdash;will ten thousand rupees save the young woman?'
+asked the sahib.</p>
+
+<p>"'The honor of a Brahmin is not to be appraised in money, sahib,' I
+replied.</p>
+
+<p>"'Will he fight, Gunga Ram, as a Faringi would under like
+circumstances?'</p>
+
+<p>"'He will fight, assuredly, sahib; but he will fight after the manner of
+his kind, and in the dark.'</p>
+
+<p>"Much talk had we, but we could only hope that Cheeta Dutt may not have
+witnessed the meeting that morning."</p>
+
+<p>Gunga Ram stopped to "drink tobacco" once more, whilst the little
+bullock driver, who would start in the morning with freight for
+Moradabad, said, "That was a poor hope, O Seller of Cates, for the
+jungle hath ears and tongues as well as eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore, byl-wan," rejoined Gunga Ram, "I saw to it that my gun was
+properly loaded as we went in the byli that night to the place of
+meeting.</p>
+
+<p>"The moon was almost in mid-heaven, in an unclouded sky, when we reached
+the sesame tree, and it was a time for the deeds of Kama, but Kali Mai
+was abroad in the jungle that night.</p>
+
+<p>"The sound of the distant village bell striking the hour of ten had
+scarcely died away when there rose from the glade the voice of a young
+woman singing a Padhani song.</p>
+
+<p>"'Heart of my Heart, she cometh!' said the sahib. 'Oh, Gunga Ram, she is
+safe!' and he lifted up his voice, singing the refrain of her song.</p>
+
+<p>"He had scarcely ceased by a breath, when he was answered by the scream
+of a woman who looks upon Terror and Pain hunting together.</p>
+
+<p>"Like an arrow from a bow he sped across the plain and entered the
+glade, I following with what haste I could. As I set foot therein there
+arose a yell the like of which was never made by jungle beast, and,
+brothers, my heart stood still with fear. I could hear the sahib
+crashing through the underbrush, and I followed, but the glade was in
+deep darkness by reason of the thick foliage of the trees overhead that
+stayed the moonlight, and my pace was slow.</p>
+
+<p>"Presently I saw the sahib in the open space where was the fallen tree
+trunk that had served him for a seat that morning. He stopped suddenly
+within a few paces of the log, like a stricken man. Falling on his knees
+and clasping his hands together, he bowed his head thereon; and in that
+instant a dark figure leaped upon the sahib from behind a tree, and I
+saw the flash of a khookri in the moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>"I raised my gun and fired as I ran, but I was too late.</p>
+
+<p>"When I came up to the sahib his head lay two paces from his body.</p>
+
+<p>"On the fallen tree trunk, with the sahib's moonstone glittering on its
+forefinger, was the small hand of a woman that had been lopped off above
+the wrist, and which still dripped blood."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3><i>The Spoiling of Nyagong</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>Goor Dutt, the little bullock driver, who was on his way to Moradabad
+with the effects of one of the clerks of the Lieutenant-Governor's
+office, reached Lal Kooah long after sunset. It was his intention to
+travel through the night, but he could not resist the temptation of
+joining the circle round the fire in front of the bunnia's hut whilst
+his bullocks ate their meal of chaff and chopped hay.</p>
+
+<p>The bunnia had given up his charpoi to Ram Deen, who drove the mail-cart
+to Kaladoongie, and who was a man swift of anger and dangerous to cross,
+but not altogether hard. Had he not, but three days since, found and
+adopted Biroo, the little chamar (tanner) waif, who lay asleep by the
+fire with a huge pariah dog stretched beside him?</p>
+
+<p>"Salaam, coach-wan ji," said Goor Dutt, saluting Ram Deen, "I have news
+for thee: the Commissioner Sahib hath sent word to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie that he should make inquiry concerning the finding of
+Biroo's father in the well at Nyagong."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis well, Thwacker of Bullocks. And when goeth the Thanadar thither?"
+inquired Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"Belike he is there now."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that a man were here to take the mail to Kaladoongie to-night!"
+exclaimed Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"The man is here," piped the little carrier, "if some one will tend my
+cattle till I return."</p>
+
+<p>"That will I," said the bunnia, with the stress of Ram Deen's eyes on
+him.</p>
+
+<p>When the mail-cart drove up Ram Deen took the reins, with Biroo, wrapped
+in a blanket, between his knees, whilst Goor Dutt climbed to the back
+seat. The big dog, Hasteen, ran beside the mail-cart and woke the jungle
+echoes with his bark.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"How didst thou fare last night, coach-wan ji?" asked the bunnia, next
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>"As should innocence wronged, and avenging strength."</p>
+
+<p>When none of those sitting round the fire spoke, Ram Deen went on: "As
+we came nigh to the path leading to Nyagong, Biroo turned his face
+thereto and spat vehemently; and I said, 'Son of mine, canst thou lead
+me to Nyagong?' and he replied, 'Of a surety; the path is here.'</p>
+
+<p>"Thereat we got down from the cart&mdash;Biroo and I; and I bore the bugle
+hanging at my side and a stout bamboo club in my hand. As we picked our
+way along the jungle path, Hasteen ran beside us, growling; and when the
+moon gave light I saw the crest on his back bristling, and his teeth
+gleamed through his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"When we reached Nyagong I put an armful of grass on the fire that was
+still smouldering in front of the Jemadar's house, and, as the flame
+leaped up, I blew upon my bugle. Straightway the village watchman, who
+had been sleeping in his hut, after the manner of his kind, came
+running forth bravely; but when he saw who it was that stood by the fire
+he salaamed, and whined, saying, 'Great pity 'tis that Ram Deen, Lord of
+Leopards, should be put to the trouble&mdash;and at this unseasonable
+hour!&mdash;to return to our village this small villain and budmash, who is
+worse than the evil eye.'</p>
+
+<p>"For answer, I felled him to the ground, and Hasteen stood over him. So
+he dared not move.</p>
+
+<p>"Then came the Jemadar and the men of the village and stood round us;
+and the former said, 'Wah! Ram Deen, coach-wan, is it well to disturb
+peaceful folk at night and rouse them from their sleep? What wouldst
+thou with us?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Justice to this little one, whose father and mother ye and your people
+have slain,' I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"'And what of my son, found dead, and with teeth-marks about his
+throat?' he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'Jemadar Sahib,' I replied, 'Kali Mai gave thy son, her follower,
+fitting end. As he lived, so he died. 'Tis well.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Dog!' he exclaimed; 'darest thou to speak thus to me in front of mine
+own people?' And he ran upon me.</p>
+
+<p>"So I took him by the beard and laid him at my feet; and the men of
+Nyagong feared to help the Jemadar, for Hasteen growled fiercely over
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"'Fetch the bunnia,' I demanded; 'and lose no time, O Swine of the
+Terai, or I give your Jemadar to the dog.'</p>
+
+<p>"They brought him trembling before me, and he folded his hands and bowed
+his head in the dust at my feet, crying, 'Ram dhwy! ram dhwy! the great
+and strong are ever merciful. What wouldst thou with me, coach-wan ji?'</p>
+
+<p>"'The bhalee of raw sugar,' I answered, 'from which this man-child's
+mother got her death.'</p>
+
+<p>"'She died of Terai fever, Most Worshipful, as the old woman who was
+with her will tell thee.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Nevertheless, Biroo and I will go to thy shop with thee, in the matter
+of that sugar, whilst the dog seeth to the Jemadar. Proceed.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But, Coach-wan Bahadoor,' said the Jemadar, 'thou wilt not leave me to
+be devoured by this beast?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Lie very still, Jemadar Sahib, very still. The dog is a good dog, and
+was never known to harm an honest man. But let no one come to thine aid,
+lest there be nothing of thee left to take to the burning ghat.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Go away, brothers,' wailed the Jemadar to his people; 'go away, lest
+evil befall me.'</p>
+
+<p>"But I said, 'Nay, not so. Stay till I return, O Village Thugs, for I
+would speak with ye.'</p>
+
+<p>"At the bunnia's hut Biroo pointed out the bhalee from which he had
+received the portion of raw sugar whereof his mother had eaten; but the
+bunnia denied, saying that he had already sold all that remained of that
+bhalee. So I broke off a piece of it and gave it to the bunnia, saying,
+'Eat!' Whereat he clasped my knees, begging for mercy, and I knew Biroo
+had not erred.</p>
+
+<p>"'Swine-born!' said I, 'set panniers on thy ass.' And when the ass was
+brought to the door of the hut I made the bunnia load it with such
+produce as he had, till it could scarce stand.</p>
+
+<p>"'I am fain to borrow fifty rupees of thee, bunnia ji, on behalf of this
+motherless child,' I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Whereon he wailed, saying, 'Ram Deen, Compeller of Elephants, there is
+not so much money in all the village stalls of the Terai. What I have I
+will give thee;' and he laid one rupee and nine annas in my palm and a
+handful of cowries.</p>
+
+<p>"'He lieth, my father,' said little Biroo, drawing forth a cocoa-nut
+shell from beneath the bunnia's seat,&mdash;and it was full of silver!</p>
+
+<p>"'Bap re bap!' moaned the trader, ''tis all I have against mine old age;
+and the men of Nyagong despoil me; and my milch cow died last week. Aho!
+aho!'</p>
+
+<p>"'It is a very little child, bunnia ji; and consider he hath nor father
+nor mother. God will repay thee for thy kind loan to the orphan,' and I
+tied the money in the corner of my waistband.</p>
+
+<p>"'But, Ram Deen, Sun of Justice,' whined the bunnia, 'there be one
+hundred and thirty-seven rupees, some of it in gold mohurs, in thy
+waistband. Take fifty, and return the rest.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Thank Nana Debi, Bunnia Sahib,' I rejoined, 'for having put it in thy
+power to do so much more for the fatherless than thou didst first
+intend. It will comfort thee in thy old age to think thereon.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But this is robbery,' he said, desperately, 'for which I will have
+thee cast in the great prison at Bareilly.'</p>
+
+<p>"'There be gallows there, too,' I retorted, 'for such as put ground
+glass in gur, Mea ji. Ho, ho!'</p>
+
+<p>"So he said no more, but, at my command, put panniers on another ass,
+which I had in mind to have loaded by the men of Nyagong.</p>
+
+<p>"When we returned to the fire, the dog Hasteen and the Jemadar were as
+we had left them; and the Jemadar's teeth shook in his head with fear
+and cold. So I called Hasteen to me, and when the Jemadar had risen from
+the ground and put his turban on, I spake:</p>
+
+<p>"'O Jemadar, and ye, O men of Nyagong, I would have ye witness that I
+brought this bhalee of sugar from the bunnia's stall. Is it not so, O
+great mahajun (banker)?'</p>
+
+<p>"And the bunnia assented. So I placed the great lump of raw sugar in a
+bag which I had brought from the bunnia's shop. Then, at my bidding and
+in the presence of his people, the Jemadar sealed the bag with his seal,
+which was well known to the Thanadar of Kaladoongie.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I spake thus to those assembled there: 'Jemadar Sahib, and men of
+Nyagong, ye have brought shame on the Kumaon Terai, and, in the eyes of
+all men, ye have blackened the faces of those who dwell in this paradise
+of God. This child that ye see here&mdash;and he is a very little child and
+hath nor father nor mother&mdash;came amongst ye but a moon since, and ye
+slew those who fed and cared for him. And him&mdash;his milk-teeth still in
+his mouth&mdash;ye would have burnt to death in his sleep had Nana Debi and
+this dog slept, too. It were a good deed done to burn your huts about
+your ears, and give your fields to the wild boar and to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie, who is my friend and the friend of this little one, and who
+would say that a jungle fire had swept your village away; but I am more
+merciful than ye. Inasmuch, then, as ye took the bread from this little
+one's mouth, and slew his people, it is but right that ye should feed
+him, and be his father and his mother. The bunnia hath already made some
+small reparation for the sudden taking off of the little one's mother.
+What will ye do for him whose hut ye burnt? Or would ye that the
+Thanadar of Kaladoongie should ask, or the Commissioner Sahib, he who
+can put ropes round the necks of murderers, how it was that the corpse
+of this child's father had its hands tied behind its back and a stone
+fastened to its feet?'</p>
+
+<p>"Then the Jemadar, clasping suppliant hands, whined, saying, 'Ram Deen,
+Rustum of the Terai, gentle as thou art brave and strong! the child's
+mother died of Terai fever, as thou knowest; and his worthy father, the
+chamar, leaned too far over the edge of the well in drawing up his
+lotah, and so fell in. Why speak to us, then, of slaying? We be sorry
+for the little chamar, Brahmins though we be, and we would have been
+father and mother to him, but he ran away, and the village mourned,
+thinking he had fallen a prey to the jackals. To none else but thee
+would we give up the boon of rearing him. Brothers,' he went on, turning
+to those about him, 'naught can restore a child's father to him, but a
+brass lotah with sufficient coin therein, and a necklace of gold and
+plum-seeds, such as I will bestow upon him, may help him in time of
+need, and, mayhap, resolve the Thanadar not to visit our village. Eh,
+coach-wan ji? Brothers, see to it that our much-loved orphan goeth not
+empty-handed from the generous village of Nyagong.'</p>
+
+<p>"So it was that the other ass groaned beneath a weight of silver bangles
+and toe-rings still warm from the taking off, blankets and hide-sewn
+shoes, sweetened tobacco and unbleached cotton cloth, and many a purse
+filled with two-anna pieces.</p>
+
+<p>"And when the ass's knees shook, by reason of the load on his back, I
+said, 'Men of Nyagong, perchance the Thanadar of Kaladoongie may have an
+asthma to-morrow.'</p>
+
+<p>"And one said, 'Of a surety he hath scant breath. Ho, ho!'</p>
+
+<p>"Then I set Biroo upon the second ass; and when we had reached the Bore
+Nuddee I blew upon the bugle.</p>
+
+<p>"When the Thanadar of Kaladoongie came out to meet me I put my hand on
+Biroo's shoulder, saying, 'Much care awaiteth thee, Thanadar Sahib, in
+tending this little budmash, whose merchandise this is. Moreover, he is
+a mahajun now, and hath much money to lend.'"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3><i>The Woman in the Carriage</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>When Ram Deen's bugle was heard at the Bore bridge, the munshi from the
+post-office came across the road and joined the group sitting round the
+fire in front of the police-station, at which only the great felt free
+to warm themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The munshi was struggling with "the po-ets of the In-gel-land," as he
+expressed it in Baboo-English, and did not often take part in the
+proceedings round the Thanadar's fire; but that night he took his place
+with the assurance of one who has something to tell. A mem-sahib, in
+evident distress, with a very young baby in her arms, and unattended,
+had taken special passage to Moradabad on the mail-cart; and Ram Deen,
+the driver, would therefore have to return to Lal Kooah that night
+without any rest. Such a thing had never happened before, and beards
+wagged freely round the fire in all sorts of surmisings. For once in
+his life, the munshi, whom Kaladoongie had always looked upon as a mere
+rhyme-struck fool, held the public eye, and moved largely and freely
+among his fellows.</p>
+
+<p>Beauty in distress appeals even to the "heathen in his blindness," and
+the munshi drove round to the dāk-bungalow to receive and translate the
+lady's final instructions to Ram Deen. Not that there was any occasion
+for his services, for the lady with the fair hair and blue eyes used
+excellent Hindustani; her soft "d's" and "t's" showed that she had been
+born in India, and that she had spoken Nagari before she acquired
+English.</p>
+
+<p>She was waiting on the veranda with her baby in her arms when the
+mail-cart drove up; and, ignoring the fussy little munshi, from whom no
+help could be looked for in the troubles that beset her, she spoke to
+Ram Deen, who soon won her confidence, for he showed himself to be
+thoughtful and a man of resource.</p>
+
+<p>"The mem-sahib must be well wrapped up to-night," he said, "and the
+little one too, for it will be exceedingly bitter as soon as we pass
+through the timber and arrive at the tall grass. And the babe seemeth
+very young from its cry."</p>
+
+<p>"It is but two weeks in age, coach-wan, and we are well wrapped up; but
+make haste, oh, make haste!"</p>
+
+<p>When Ram Deen had lifted her on to the seat, he fastened her to the back
+of it with his waistband, and wrapped her feet up in his own blanket.
+"There be ruts and stones on the road," he explained, "and the mem-sahib
+will have to hold the little one with both arms, and very close to her
+to keep it warm."</p>
+
+<p>By the time they had reached the level plateau beyond the Bore Nuddee,
+the horses, at her urgent and repeated request for more speed, were
+being driven as fast as Ram Deen dared to drive, seeing there were ten
+miles to be covered by the same team.</p>
+
+<p>As they proceeded, the lady showed her distress by an occasional deep
+sigh; and once, when Ram Deen looked at her face, dimly illuminated by
+the lamps of the mail-cart, he saw the gleam of a tear on her eyelashes.
+He was glad when she spoke and gave him an opportunity of trying to
+distract her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Sawest thou any travellers on the road to-day, coach-wan?" asked the
+lady, timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yea, Most Worshipful. A carriage, with a sahib and an English woman,
+stopped by the well at Lal Kooah this evening; and the sahib warmed
+himself at the bunnia's fire and bought milk, whilst his man-servant
+made preparation for their evening meal."</p>
+
+<p>"What manner of man was he, coach-wan; and didst thou learn his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"The servant told me that the sahib's name was Barfield,&mdash;Captain
+Barfield,&mdash;mem-sahib, and that he was going to Meerut to join the
+regiment to which he belongs. Moreover, he said that the woman in the
+carriage was not his master's wife&mdash;but, toba, toba! what am I saying?
+This is shameful talk for the mem-sahib to hear, and I ask the
+forgiveness of the Provider of the Poor for my stupidity."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, go on, coach-wan," she said, eagerly, laying a hand on his arm.
+And as he talked, she fell aweeping bitterly, and Ram Deen knew not how
+to comfort her, for he had never spoken to a mem-sahib before. So he
+blundered into speech again.</p>
+
+<p>"What manner of man, Most Worshipful, was the sahib? As he stood by the
+fire, I saw that he was nearly as tall as I,&mdash;and I am a span higher
+than most men; the beard on his upper lip was very fair, and his face
+showed red in the firelight; furthermore, he smelled of strong waters.
+He stood awhile, unmindful of those about him, twitching his beard and
+digging his nails into the palms of his hands; and he looked as a man
+who hath a new sorrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, coach-wan! that is the first good word I have heard this day. It
+shall enrich thee by ten rupees ere the sun rise."</p>
+
+<p>"Presently," resumed the driver, "as the sahib stood before the blaze,
+the woman in the carriage began to sing, and it was as the song of one
+who hath smoked opium or bhang. Then the sahib stamped his heel on the
+ground, and with an oath&mdash;such I took it to be, for it sounded
+terrible&mdash;he went towards the carriage; and the woman, opening the door
+thereof, put forth her head, and we saw that her hair was unloosed and
+hung about her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"She fell to scolding the sahib, who thrust her back into the carriage,
+so that we should not look upon her disorder. Then he fastened the
+doors, so that she could not open them. Whereon she fell to screaming
+and beating on the sides of the carriage like a wild beast newly caged.</p>
+
+<p>"So the sahib, being shamed, gave orders, and his horses, which were
+already spent, were again yoked to the carriage; they departed slowly
+into the darkness, and we could hear the woman scolding long after they
+had passed out of sight."</p>
+
+<p>"What time was it when they left Lal Kooah, coach-wan?"</p>
+
+<p>"About the seventh hour, and now some two hours ago, mem-sahib."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, make haste, make haste, coach-wan! Twenty rupees to thee if we
+overtake them ere they reach Moradabad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Fear not, mem-sahib. We shall come up with them or ever they get to the
+next chowki, where fresh horses await the mail-cart."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, coach-wan, it is my husband we follow! The woman with him is of
+those who steal men's senses from them and rob women of their husbands.
+Oh, make haste, make haste!"</p>
+
+<p>They flew along the road. And when the light of the wayside fire at Lal
+Kooah gleamed in the distance the lady said, "Thou wilt not leave me
+here to another driver, coach-wan?&mdash;Thou art a man, and I may need a
+man's services to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Mem-sahib, I am thy servant even as far as Moradabad if it be
+necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"God reward thee!" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>And then Ram Deen woke the jungle echoes with a brave blast.</p>
+
+<p>The hostler at Lal Kooah had fresh horses ready by the time the
+mail-cart drove up, and in less than five minutes Ram Deen and his
+charge were speeding along the level road.</p>
+
+<p>The jungle had now ceased, and they were in the region of the tall
+plumed grass. The stars twinkled frostily, for the night was bitterly
+cold, and the clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road rang out
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"The little one,&mdash;is it well wrapped up, mem-sahib?" asked Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"It is asleep, and quite warm, coach-wan. Proceed."</p>
+
+<p>When they had left Lal Kooah two or three miles behind them, Ram Deen's
+keen eye caught the glimmer of a fire through the tall grass that came
+up to the edge of the road where it curved.</p>
+
+<p>"We have found those ye seek, mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, bringing his
+horses to a stand-still.</p>
+
+<p>Through the quiet night came the voice of a drunken woman singing a
+ribald barrack-room ditty interspersed with fiendish laughter and oaths:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I'm the belle of the Naini Tal mall.<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Houp la!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Not a colonel nor sub at the mess<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But makes love when he can to sweet Sal.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To their wives do they dare to confess<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That I'm belle of the Naini Tal mall?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Yes, I'm belle of the Naini Tal mall.<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Houp la!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then the singer called aloud, "Captain! Captain Barfield!" But, getting
+no response, she beat a furious tattoo on the wooden panels of the
+carriage, shouting at the top of her voice, "Pretty sort of a jaunt to
+Moradabad this is! You're a liar, captain! But I'll tell your doll-faced
+wife how you treated her when her baby was only two weeks old." She then
+swore a round of torrid oaths, and wound up with a scream that might
+have been heard a mile off.</p>
+
+<p>"Mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, "bide here with the hostler till I have
+tamed that she-devil, and then I will take thee to the captain sahib.
+The little one,&mdash;is it warm?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite warm, and still asleep, coach-wan. Go, and God advance thee!"</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen found the captain seated on a log in front of a blazing fire.
+With his elbows on his knees, the captain pressed a finger to each ear
+to escape the tirade of the terrible woman in the carriage. A touch on
+his shoulder made him start to his feet, and as he turned round Ram Deen
+salaamed gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought the sahib slept. No? Her speech galled thee," pointing to the
+carriage, "and thou wast fain not to hear it?"</p>
+
+<p>The captain nodded assent. He was worn with the trying position his
+folly had placed him in, and, at another time, he might have resented
+the touch on his shoulder, but the tall native in front of him spoke
+with dignity and a quiet assurance indicative of a large fund of reserve
+force,&mdash;and he might be helpful.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are thy servants, sahib?"</p>
+
+<p>"They fled when she cursed them. May the devil take them!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am the driver of the mail-cart on this road, sahib, as thou mayest
+see," said Ram Deen, pointing to his badge and bugle, "and this woman's
+tongue stayeth the Queen's mail; for on my cart, which I have left
+behind the bend of the road yonder, is a mem-sahib who perchance knoweth
+thee, for she, too, cometh from Naini Tal, and 'twere well she should
+not hear thy name on this woman's lips. She must not be kept waiting
+long, sahib, for the babe in her arms is but two weeks in age" (the
+captain started), "and the night is exceedingly bitter. Have I the
+sahib's permission to drive his carriage beyond the hearing of those who
+are fain to pass?"</p>
+
+<p>"Drive her to Jehandum, coach-wan, so she come to no hurt."</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon Ram Deen approached the carriage, and tapped on the door,
+saying, "Woman, it is not meet that the worthy traffic of the Queen's
+highway should be disturbed by thy unseemly conduct."</p>
+
+<p>For answer he received a volley of curses in broken Hindustani, such
+curses as are in vogue in the barracks of English regiments in India;
+and the woman in the carriage wound up with a request for more brandy.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, it is not brandy thou shouldst have, but water,&mdash;cold water to
+cool thy hot tongue," and mounting the carriage Ram Deen urged the jaded
+horses into a trot.</p>
+
+<p>Two hundred yards farther on the road crossed the Bore Nuddee, now a
+sluggish river about four feet deep. Leaving the road Ram Deen drove
+down the bank and into the stream. When the woman in the carriage heard
+the splashing of the horses, and felt the water rise to her knees, she
+screamed with fear and became suddenly sober.</p>
+
+<p>"Hast had water enough to cool thy tongue?" asked Ram Deen, tapping on
+the roof of the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, stop!" she entreated, frantically. "I will do whatever you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"Canst thou forget Captain Barfield's name, or must I drive into deeper
+water?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know not whereof you speak."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis well! And who is thy husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"A soldier whose regiment is at Delhi, whither I go."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou must be true to him hereafter.&mdash;Ho there, horse! the alligators
+cannot swallow thee!"</p>
+
+<p>"Alligators! Are there alligators in this river?" whined the woman in
+the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"There is scarce room for them within its banks."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sahib, I am fain to go to my husband, whom alone I care for.
+Proceed, for the love of God!"</p>
+
+<p>So Ram Deen drove her through the stream and up the opposite bank on to
+the road. When he had tied the horses to a tree by the highway, he
+said, "There will be travellers going thy way presently, and they will
+drive thee to Moradabad. Remember, I may have business in Delhi very
+soon. Salaam, Faithless One."</p>
+
+<p>And the woman responded in a very meek tone, "Salaam."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Come, mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, as he resumed his seat on the
+mail-cart; "the captain sahib awaits thee."</p>
+
+<p>When they were abreast of the fire, she called in a faint, tremulous
+voice, "Harry, Harry, my dear husband! I am very tired, and very cold.
+Won't you come to me?"</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the hostler in charge of the mail-cart, Ram Deen followed the
+captain as he carried his wife to the fire.</p>
+
+<p>Seating her on the log, Captain Barfield knelt beside his wife, chafing
+and kissing her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God, you found me!" he sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>"The ayah told me a few hours after you left me that that&mdash;that woman
+had been seen to join you beyond Serya Tal; so I and the baby came to
+help you. You still love us, dearest?" she asked, pleadingly.</p>
+
+<p>"My beloved, I am not worthy of you! There is a sword in my heart!" And
+he bowed his head on her lap and wept, whilst she stroked his hair with
+a slender hand.</p>
+
+<p>"God has been very good to me to-night," she said, softly.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after, removing the shawl from the little one's face, she said,
+"Kiss your baby, Harry."</p>
+
+<p>His lips touched the little face.&mdash;It was very cold. He started back,
+and, taking the child from its mother's arms, he held it near the
+firelight.&mdash;It was dead!</p>
+
+<p>As they looked across the little limp body into each other's eyes with
+speechless agony, Ram Deen bent over them and took the little one
+tenderly from the captain's hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Attend to the living, sahib; I will see to thy dead," he said, softly.</p>
+
+<p>He turned away his face from the sorrow that was too sacred to be
+witnessed by any one save God.</p>
+
+<p>As Captain Barfield folded his young wife in his arms, a deep groan
+rent his breast at the thought of his folly and its consequence.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wert very tender&mdash;a mere blossom&mdash;and the frost withered thee,"
+said Ram Deen very gently, composing the baby's limbs.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3><i>For the Training of Biroo</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>"Ah, small villain, budmash! must I send thee back to Nyagong, thee and
+thy dog, to learn respect for thy betters? The Thanadar's son hath the
+ordering of thee, and thou hast beaten him,&mdash;toba, toba!"</p>
+
+<p>"My father," replied Biroo, respectfully, to Ram Deen, "Mohun Lal took
+my kite, and when I strove to hold mine own he smote me, whereon I
+pulled his hair; and 'twas no fault of mine that it lacked strength and
+remained in my hand. So he set his dog on me; but Hasteen slew it.
+Wherein have I offended, my father?"</p>
+
+<p>And the Thanadar laughed, saying, "Ram Deen, Mohun Lal but received his
+due." To the "defendant in the case" he said, "Get thee to sleep, Biroo;
+and be brave and strong; so will Nana Debi reward thee." Then turning
+to those who sat round the fire, he went on, "Brothers, 'tis late, and I
+would have speech with Ram Deen. Ye may take your leave."</p>
+
+<p>When they were by themselves, the Thanadar spoke. "The man-child waxeth
+fierce and strong, my old friend; 'twere well he were restrained. He
+will be wealthy by thy favor, and the favor of Nyagong, when he cometh
+to man's estate, and 'twere pity that he should lack courtesy when he is
+a man grown."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanadar ji, thou art his father as much as I am. Thou shouldst correct
+him with strokes whenas I am on the road and carrying the Queen's mail."</p>
+
+<p>"Blows but inure to hardness, and&mdash;Gunga knoweth!&mdash;little Biroo is hard
+already. Why dost thou not give up the service of the Queen, and&mdash;&mdash;" He
+paused, and after awhile asked, "What didst thou receive from Captain
+Barfield?"</p>
+
+<p>"The gun thou hast seen, Thanadar ji; but from his mem-sahib five
+hundred rupees, a timepiece of gold, and whatsoever I may want
+hereafter. The money lieth in the hands of Moti Ram, the great mahajun
+(banker) of Naini Tal."</p>
+
+<p>"Wah! Ram Deen, thou art thyself rich enough to be a mahajun. Consider,
+too, the kindness bestowed by Nyagong on Biroo at thy asking,&mdash;two
+hundred rupees and over, and much merchandise. Leave the road, my
+friend, and put thy money out at usury. A woman in thy hut to cook thy
+evening meal, and mend Biroo's ways, were not amiss. Eh? The daughters
+of the Terai are very fair, as thou knowest, coach-wan ji."</p>
+
+<p>"The road hath been father and mother to me, Thanadar Sahib, since I
+lost my Buldeo, who knew not his mother; so I may not leave it. And when
+I think of Bheem Dass, bunnia and usurer of the village whereof I was
+potter three years ago, and whom ye found dead on the road the day I
+brought in the mail, and was made driver, as thou rememberest, I may not
+live by harassing the poor and the widow and fatherless. God forbid! As
+for women,&mdash;they be like butterflies that flit from flower to flower;
+perchance, if I could find a woman who cared not to gossip at the
+village well, and had eyes and thoughts for none save her husband, I
+might&mdash;but I must be about my business on the road, and I have no time
+for the seeking of such a woman. Wah! I have not, even as yet, tried the
+gun Barfield sahib gave me."</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards, by an alteration of the service, Ram Deen brought the
+mail to Kaladoongie in the early afternoon, and availed himself of the
+opportunity thus afforded of rambling about during the rest of the day
+in the jungle with Biroo and Hasteen, in search of small game.</p>
+
+<p>One day they came upon a half-grown fawn, at which Ram Deen let fly with
+both barrels; but as his gun was loaded with small shot only, the deer
+bounded away apparently unhurt, with Hasteen in hot pursuit, whilst Ram
+Deen and Biroo followed with what haste they could.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, they could hear the baying of the great dog and the shrill
+cries of a woman in distress. Directed by these sounds, they crossed the
+road that leads to Naini Tal, and, scrambling up the bank and over a
+low stone wall, they found themselves in a neglected garden, in the
+middle of which was a grass hut, whence issued the cries that had
+quickened their steps. They arrived just in time, for Hasteen had almost
+dug himself into the hut.</p>
+
+<p>Calling off the dog, Ram Deen hastened to allay the fears of the woman
+in the hut, who was still giving voice to her distress in the Padhani
+patois. "The dog will not harm thee; see, I have tied him with my
+waistband to a tree."</p>
+
+<p>"Who art thou?" asked the woman. The tones of her voice, when she spoke,
+were exceedingly soft and pleasant, and made one long to look upon the
+face of the speaker.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Ram Deen, the driver of the mail-cart, and well known in
+Kaladoongie."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of thee and thy doings, and will come forth. But the dog
+(Nana Debi, was there ever such a dog!&mdash;he almost slew my fawn), art
+thou sure he cannot harm us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Kali Mai twist my joints, if he be not well secured."</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon the door of the hut was opened a few inches. Having satisfied
+herself that all was as Ram Deen had said, the young woman came out of
+the hut with one arm about the fawn.</p>
+
+<p>She was a Padhani, and in her early womanhood. The simple kilt she wore
+allowed her shapely ankles to be seen, and her bodice well expressed the
+charms of her youthful figure. Ram Deen thought her eyes were not less
+beautiful than the fawn's.</p>
+
+<p>After salaaming to him, she looked at her pet. "Oh, sahib, she
+bleeds,&mdash;my Ganda bleeds!" she exclaimed, pointing to a slender streak
+of red on the fawn's flank.</p>
+
+<p>"Belike some thorn tore her skin as she fled," said Ram Deen; but he
+knew that at least one shot from his gun had taken effect.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis a sore hurt, Coach-wan sahib. Will she die?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, little one, 'tis nought. See!" and with a wisp of grass Ram Deen
+wiped the blood from the fawn's skin.</p>
+
+<p>"But the dog, coach-wan,&mdash;thou wilt not permit him to fright my Ganda
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of a surety, not." Then, with a hand on the fawn's head, he rebuked
+Hasteen, saying, "Villain, the jackals shall pursue thee if thou huntest
+here again!" And Hasteen hung his head, putting his tail between his
+legs; and the young girl knew that Ganda was safe thereafter from the
+great dog.</p>
+
+<p>As they talked together, a very decrepit old man appeared at the door of
+the hut; after peering at Ram Deen from under his hand, he spoke in the
+flat, toneless voice of a deaf man: "Tumbaku, Provider of the Poor, give
+me tumbaku."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen put his pouch of dried tobacco-leaf in the old man's hand, and
+looked inquiringly at the young woman.</p>
+
+<p>"It is my grandfather, and he is deaf and nearly blind,&mdash;and a sore
+affliction. Give back his tumbaku to the sahib, da-da," she said in a
+louder voice to the old man.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, nay, let him keep it!" said Ram Deen; then after a pause, and by
+way of excuse for staying a little longer, he inquired the old man's
+name.</p>
+
+<p>"Hera Lal, Coach-wan sahib; our kinsman is Thapa Sing, of Serya Tal, who
+was accounted rich, and planted this garden and these fruit trees many
+years ago. We stay here by his leave in the winter time, to keep the
+deer and wild hog out. My name is Tara, and I sell firewood to Gunga Ram
+the sweetmeat vender."</p>
+
+<p>Whilst she was speaking, Biroo had approached the fawn with a handful of
+grass.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the little one they say ye found on the Bore bridge, sahib?"
+inquired the young Padhani.</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen nodded affirmatively.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor child!" she exclaimed, and, moved by a sudden impulse of pity, she
+knelt beside Biroo, and smoothing the hair from his face she put a
+marigold behind his ear.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, after he had delivered the mail, Ram Deen, making a bundle of
+his best clothes, started off into the jungle. When he was out of sight
+of the village, he donned a snowy tunic and a scarlet turban, and
+encased his feet in a pair of red, hide-sewn shoes. When Tara, on her
+way to the bazaar with a load of firewood, met him soon after, she
+thought she had never seen any one so bravely attired, and stepped off
+the path to make room for him to pass.</p>
+
+<p>"Toba, toba!" he exclaimed; "it maketh my head ache to see the load thou
+bearest. Gunga Ram will, doubtless, give thee not less than eight annas
+for the firewood."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, Coach-wan sahib, Gunga Ram is just, and besides giving me the
+market price,&mdash;two annas,&mdash;he often bestoweth on me a handful of
+sweetmeats."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt sell no more wood to Gunga Ram. He is base, and his father
+is a dog. Set thy load at my door; here is the price thereof," and Ram
+Deen laid an eight-anna piece in her palm. Before she could recover from
+her astonishment he said, "The fawn Ganda, is her hurt healed?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is well with her. And what of Biroo, sahib?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is a budmash, Tara, and I repent me of befriending him."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, Coach-wan sahib, he is but little, and hath no mother."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the evil of it," said Ram Deen, leaving her abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>When Tara returned to her home that evening, she noticed the footprints
+of a man's shoes in the dust in front of the hut; her grandfather,
+looking at her cunningly, smoked sweetened tobacco that was well
+flavored, and the clay bowl of his hookah was new and was gayly painted.</p>
+
+<p>A similar scene was enacted on the jungle path the next day, and many
+days in succession, and the tale of Biroo's iniquities grew at each
+recital. Every day there was some fresh villainy of his to relate, and
+each day Tara's grandfather waxed in affluence, which culminated one day
+in a new blanket and a small purse with money in it.</p>
+
+<p>"Tara," said Ram Deen one day, "put down thy load; I have bad tidings to
+tell thee concerning Biroo. He and Hasteen killed a milch-goat to-day
+belonging to the Thanadar."</p>
+
+<p>"'Twas the dog's doing, Ram Deen."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, Biroo is the older budmash, and planneth all the villainies.
+To-morrow I must pay the Thanadar three rupees and eight annas, or
+Hasteen will be slain and Biroo beaten with a shoe by the Thanadar's
+chuprassi."</p>
+
+<p>"Biroo shall not be beaten for a matter of three or four rupees, sahib.
+Lo, here is the money," and Tara, taking a small purse from a tiny
+pocket in her bodice, held it out to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, listen further!" exclaimed Ram Deen, holding up his hands; "thou
+knowest I am wifeless, and I might have the best and fairest woman in
+the Terai for my wife; but she liketh not Biroo, and will not share my
+hut because of him. Verily, I shall return him to the men of Nyagong."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art, doubtless, entitled to the best and the fairest wife in the
+Terai," said Tara, with a sudden catch in her voice; "but Biroo goeth
+not back to Nyagong as long as our hut standeth and as long as Gunga
+Ram, who is a just man and a generous, will pay me two annas each day
+for wood." She turned away her face, so that Ram Deen should not see
+the tears that suddenly filled her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis well, Tara; thou shalt have him, but thou must beat him every day,
+and often, to make an upright man of him."</p>
+
+<p>"Nana Debi wither the hand that striketh him! He is not a dog to be
+taught with stripes." Then, after a pause, she went on, "And the&mdash;the
+woman who is to be the best and fairest wife in the Terai,&mdash;what manner
+of woman is she?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is about thine age."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"And as tall as thou art."</p>
+
+<p>"Proceed."</p>
+
+<p>"Her voice is soft and sweet as a blackbird's, and her eyes are like a
+fawn's. Her name is&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is her name?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis the most beautiful name that a woman can bear. Nay, how can I tell
+thee her name if thou wilt not look at me?"</p>
+
+<p>When she had turned her eyes on him, he put his hands on her shoulders,
+saying, "Her name is Tara, star of the Terai."</p>
+
+<p>And Tara put her head on his breast, and was very happy.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou must beat Biroo, Beloved, or he will be hanged."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wouldst have been hanged, budmash, hadst thou been motherless and
+beaten by strangers. Biroo's mother will make him a better man than thou
+art, O Beater of Babes."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou takest me for love?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, coach-wan ji, but for the training of Biroo."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3><i>Chandni</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>About a mile below the eastern gorge of Naini Tal, the favorite
+hill-station of Kumaon, is a Padhani village overlooking Serya Tal. It
+is inhabited by a few score of low-caste hill-men, who earn a living,
+they and their women-folk, by carrying rough-hewn stones from the
+hillsides for contractors engaged in building houses, or by selling
+fodder-grass and firewood to the English residents.</p>
+
+<p>When a Padhani has accumulated sufficient means he purchases a wife and
+stays at home every other day; and when he has attained affluence and
+bought two wives, he stays at home altogether; which accounts for the
+fact that a large majority of these carriers of wood and stone are
+women.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to be supposed that the Padhani women look upon their toilsome
+tasks as a hardship: nature, and the decrees of evolution, have endowed
+them with superb health and strength, and they are wont, as they carry
+the most astonishing loads, to sing joyous choruses, and so lighten
+their toils. Every one who has been to Naini Tal is familiar with the
+sight of a string of Padhani women, short-kilted, showing a span of
+brown skin between their bodices and skirts, and singing in unison.</p>
+
+<p>They never seem to weary of their choruses, and Captain Trenyon of the
+Forest Department, and his <i>khansamah</i>, Bijoo, never tired of looking at
+them as they passed below his bungalow with swaying hips and jaunty
+carriage. They were a trifle darker than their Rajpoot sisters (<i>quod
+tune, si fuscus Amyntas</i>), and they might have been akin to Pharaoh's
+daughter, she who was "black but comely."</p>
+
+<p>Now, Bijoo was a Padhani, and he took more than a casual interest&mdash;such
+as Captain Trenyon's, doubtless, was&mdash;in the laughing and singing crowd
+that filed below the captain's house several times a day. Chiefest among
+them, and distinguished by her beauty and her stature, was Chandni;
+and, ere the season was over, Bijoo purchased her from her crippled
+father for ten rupees, and, thereafter, Captain Trenyon turned his back
+on the Padhani traffic of the Mall to watch Chandni instead, as she
+helped Bijoo to clean the silver; and the songs of the Padhani women
+attracted him no more.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The following year, before the snows of February had cleared off from
+Shere-ke Danda and Larya Kata, Chandni returned alone to the house of
+her father, Thapa, at Serya Tal. It was night when she pushed back the
+thatch door of his hut, which was in darkness within, and called him by
+name:</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, father, Chandni, thy daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Moon of my Heart!" said the old man, waking from his sleep, and he
+would have "lifted up his voice and wept," as is the manner of all
+orientals when greatly moved, but she prevented him by the
+impressiveness of her "Choop, choop! father; proclaim not my return to
+the village!"</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Bijoo, the man thy husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nana Debi alone knoweth, my father, and I have come back to thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he dead, little one?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is dead to me, da-da; and I have returned to cook thy food and carry
+wood and stone for thee, if thou wilt let me."</p>
+
+<p>"Let thee, O Spray of Jessamine!" and the old man caught his breath, and
+once more she had to check his emotions with an imperative "Choop,
+choop!"</p>
+
+<p>He left his charpoi, and raking together the embers in the chula, he
+blew on them till they kindled into a blaze, at which he lit a smoky
+chirag, whose dim light showed Chandni sitting on the ground with her
+back towards him, swaying to and fro, and crying softly "Aho, aho, mai
+bap!"</p>
+
+<p>He sat by the fire patiently, waiting for her to speak, his hands
+trembling with apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>When her composure was sufficiently restored, she said, "Thapa Sing, my
+father, Nana Debi hath no ears for a woman's prayers; do thou,
+therefore, sacrifice a goat to him to-morrow at Naini Tal, and entreat
+his curses on all Faringis. See, here is money," and she threw a small
+bag of coins towards him.</p>
+
+<p>He picked up the purse, and after a pause she went on:</p>
+
+<p>"My father, the Mussulmanis do well to veil their women's faces. Trenyon
+sahib looked upon me ere I was married to Bijoo, and since then, daily,
+in his jungle camp hath he scorched me with his eyes, till my cheeks
+felt as though the hot wind had blown on them.</p>
+
+<p>"One day, Bijoo came home with a coin of gold in his hand, such as I had
+never seen before, and which, he said, the sahib had given him; and he
+bored a hole through it and hung it on my forehead, and bade me wear it
+there at the sahib's request; but he stabbed me with his eyes as he put
+it on me.</p>
+
+<p>"And the next day, Bhamaraya, the sweeper's lame wife, (Kali Mai afflict
+her with leprosy!) came to the door of our hut, Bijoo being gone to the
+village market for food supplies, and she extolled my beauty, and
+showed a picture of myself made by Trenyon sahib by the help of the sun;
+and thereafter I veiled myself when I went abroad.</p>
+
+<p>"She came again the next day, and whensoever Bijoo was away from home,
+always praising my lips and my eyes, and telling me what Trenyon sahib
+spake concerning me. And yesterday she came to me and said, 'Chandni, O
+Moon of the Jungle, Trenyon sahib would fain have speech with thee.
+To-night will he send Bijoo with a message to the thana at Kaladoongie,
+and when he is gone and the other servants be asleep I will conduct thee
+to the sahib's tent. See what he hath sent thee,' and she placed at my
+feet a gold bangle.</p>
+
+<p>"When I would have spurned her and her lures from my door she laughed
+wickedly, saying, 'Ho, ho, my Pretty Partridge! if golden grain will not
+catch thee, assuredly thou art entangled in the snare of necessity, thou
+Wife of a Thief!' and she pointed at the coin on my forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, as my heart turned to water, she went on: 'To-morrow the
+Thanadar will return with Bijoo, and, unless thou asketh the clemency of
+the sahib, Bijoo will be charged with theft and taken back to
+Kaladoongie as a prisoner.&mdash;The Sircar sends men across the Black Water
+for lesser offences than this!'</p>
+
+<p>"And being a woman, and fearing I knew not what dangers for Bijoo and
+myself, I entreated Bhamaraya to take me to the sahib's tent, promising
+to say naught to Bijoo.</p>
+
+<p>"And thus it fell out, Bijoo being away, that I went with the lame
+she-wolf to Trenyon sahib's tent last night to make appeal for my
+husband."</p>
+
+<p>She paused in her narrative once more, swaying herself to and fro and
+moaning, "Aho, aho!" Then, after a while, she went on:</p>
+
+<p>"When we were in the sahib's presence Bhamaraya plucked the chudder from
+my face, saying, 'Lo, sahib, I have brought thee the Rose of the Terai!'
+Whereon he filled her palms with rupees. And as she left the room she
+spake to me, saying, 'The saving of Bijoo were an easy task for thy
+beauty, thou Flower-Faced Chandni.'</p>
+
+<p>"And I stood suppliant before the sahib, with folded palms and downcast
+eyes, and in the silence I could hear the beating of my heart. After a
+while, and because he spake not, I looked up and met his eyes that
+burned upon my face; and then I knew the price that was set on Bijoo's
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>"Falling before him, I clasped his feet, saying, 'Provider of the Poor,
+let thy servant depart in honor, and so add one more jewel to the crown
+of thy worth. See, here is the coin Bhamaraya says was stolen from thee
+by the man Bijoo, my husband.' And, unwinding the gold piece from my
+head, I laid it at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Thereupon he raised me from the ground, and because great fear was upon
+me, and because my limbs shook, he seated me upon his bed, whereon was a
+leopard's skin. Then, filling a crystal vessel with sparkling waters
+that bubbled and frothed, he bade me drink. And my courage revived, and
+once more I made plea for Bijoo.</p>
+
+<p>"And then I noticed, for the first time, that the air of the tent was
+heavy with the odor of attar; slumbrous music came from a magical box on
+the table, and the thought of Bijoo seemed to go far from me, as though
+he were in another land, and I became as one who had smoked apheem or
+churrus. Then the sahib bound the gold coin on my brow again, and spake
+words to me such as I had never heard from man, assuring me of Bijoo's
+safety, and calling me Queen of the Stars, Dew of the Morning, Breath of
+Roses, and putting a strange stress upon me that cared not for any
+consequences.</p>
+
+<p>"When I had flown, as it seemed to me, to the highest peak of elation,
+he gave me another draught of the sparkling waters, and, as I sank back
+on the pillows, the last thing I had sense of was his hand on mine. Oh,
+Nana Debi, that I had never waked again! Aho, aho!"</p>
+
+<p>And once more the woman stopped to indulge her grief.</p>
+
+<p>"When I waked again," she resumed, "the sahib sat by the table, asleep,
+with his head on his arm, the light still burning brightly over him. A
+bird cheeped uneasily in the peepul-tree above the tent, and through the
+chink of the doorway I could discern the faint glimmer of the false
+dawn. Fearing to be seen in or near the sahib's tent by the servants,
+who would soon begin to stir, I made shift to rise from the bed, but my
+head swam from the effects of the strong waters I had drunk, and I fell
+back on the pillows and shut my eyes for a few moments.</p>
+
+<p>"When I looked again Bijoo stood within the doorway. Holding up a
+menacing finger that enjoined silence, he advanced stealthily on Trenyon
+sahib with an unsheathed khookri. Arrived within striking distance, he
+touched the sahib on the shoulder, and, as the sleeper raised his head
+from the table, the heavy blade descended on it and shore it from the
+shoulders, and Trenyon sahib passed from sleep to death without any
+waking.</p>
+
+<p>"Tearing the coin from my forehead, Bijoo wound his fingers in my hair
+and bade me follow him without any outcry on pain of instant death.</p>
+
+<p>"When we had passed into the jungle a mile from the camp he bade stand,
+and then, O my father, he inflicted the punishment our men exact from
+unfaithful wives."</p>
+
+<p>"O Moonlight of my Heart, say not thou art a nakti! Not that! not that!"</p>
+
+<p>For answer she rose slowly to her feet and turned towards him. Drawing
+from her face the chudder, which was soaked with blood, she disclosed to
+his horrified gaze a countenance with a hideous gap between the eyes and
+mouth, and bearing no resemblance to that of the once beautiful
+Chandni.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3><i>One Thousand Rupees Reward</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>The Terai was in consternation: Captain Trenyon of the Forest Department
+had been killed by his khansamah, Bijoo; the latter's wife, Chandni, had
+been horribly mutilated by her infuriated husband in accordance with an
+immemorial right claimed by the men of the Terai in such cases, and the
+government had offered a reward of one thousand rupees for the capture
+of the injured husband.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we dogs?" said Ram Deen, indignantly, when the Thanadar had
+displayed a notice of the reward printed in Nagari that was to be posted
+throughout the Terai. "Are we dogs, brothers, that the sircar should
+tempt us with base money to betray men for exacting just retribution
+from those who wrong them?"</p>
+
+<p>"We be men, coach-wan ji," said the bullock driver, valiantly; and
+whilst he spoke the great dog, Hasteen, who lay at Ram Deen's feet,
+pricked up his ears and growled as a shadow crept along the ground from
+the peepul tree in front of the village temple to a clump of tall grass
+some fifty paces from the Thanadar's fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Peace!" exclaimed Ram Deen, venting his spleen on the dog with a blow
+from his shoe; "dost thou not know a jackal as yet?" Then to those
+assembled round the fire he went on, raising his voice: "Kali Mai wither
+the hand that betrayeth Bijoo, and fire consume his hut! There is
+contention even in my house, because the woman Chandni is kin to my
+wife, who believes in her innocence; but better such contention, and
+bitter silence for kindly speech, than that brothers should sell
+brothers, and so make light the honor of men in the Terai!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless," said the Thanadar, "this notice must be posted wherever
+men pass or congregate throughout this Zemindaree."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless," retorted Ram Deen, bitterly, "without disrespect to
+thee, Thanadar Sahib, it shall be told throughout the Terai that Ram
+Deen spat on the notice of the sircar and tore it in shreds," and the
+driver of the mail-cart proceeded to make his words good.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Next evening, when the mail-cart drove up to the post-office, little
+Biroo plucked Ram Deen's sleeve as he dismounted. "Thou must come with
+me," he said, simply.</p>
+
+<p>"Must, Little Parrot?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, father mine. Tara wanteth thee; and there is pillau for thy evening
+meal."</p>
+
+<p>Now Ram Deen had fed on Gunga Ram's stale cates the evening before for
+having expressed approval of the mutilation of Chandni, and this
+prospect of pillau, besides appealing shrewdly to his eager stomach,
+was, perhaps, a sign of capitulation on the part of the young wife he
+had but lately wedded.</p>
+
+<p>As he approached his hut his nostrils were assailed with the odors of a
+great cooking.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou seest, my father," said little Biroo, with the ineptitude of
+infancy, "thou seest what awaits thee inside."</p>
+
+<p>When Ram Deen entered his abode a woman's voice came to him from the
+inner apartment, saying, "Feed, Big Elephant, stupid as thou art tall!"</p>
+
+<p>As Ram Deen fell to, Biroo also dipped his hand in the dish, mouthful
+for mouthful; and when his little stomach was pleasantly distended, he
+paused and said, "Where didst thou sleep last night, my father?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Twere better to eat pillau, little Blue Jay, than ask questions that
+may be answered only through the soles of thy feet," replied Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"O valiant Beater of Babes!" said the voice from the inner room, "were
+it not for Biroo, I would return to my grandfather's house; but thou
+wouldst starve and ill-use the little one."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, my Best Beloved," said Ram Deen, in a conciliatory tone, "thou art
+not even just to me. Listen&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not listen, O Brave to Women, till thou hast answered Biroo's
+question."</p>
+
+<p>"My Star, an' you should tell it abroad that I did not sleep in mine own
+house last night, it would blacken my face in Kaladoongie."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt say, perchance, that I gossip at the village well. Go on,
+what next?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, then, if thou must know it, I slept in Goor Dutt's bullock-cart."</p>
+
+<p>"'Twas well, Lumba Deen (Long Legs). Ho, ho, ho! Thy case was that of a
+ladder balanced across a wall. Proceed."</p>
+
+<p>"The grain bags I lay on, Heart of my Heart, were stony, and the night
+was full of noises."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And thou wast warm?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, Beloved, for there was not room for the drawing up of my knees
+between myself and Goor Dutt, so my feet were frozen, and Goor Dutt
+ceased not from snoring."</p>
+
+<p>"'Twas well, Oppressor of Women and Children. And thy evening meal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Light of the Terai, Gunga Ram's stale pooris were ill-bestowed on a
+pariah dog,&mdash;but the savor of thy pillau hath effaced the wrong done to
+my stomach last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! And now what thinkest thou of my kinswoman Chandni?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tara, Light in Darkness, thou art dearer to me than life itself, and I
+would not lightly vex thee. What is done is done; why slay me with thy
+questions? I were not worthy of thee if I answered thee differently
+concerning the price to be demanded for the virtue of a woman; nay, do
+not cry, little one."</p>
+
+<p>A sound of wailing came from the inner room, where two women were
+weeping in each other's arms. "Aho! aho!"</p>
+
+<p>"Tara," exclaimed Ram Deen, starting to his feet, "who is the woman with
+thee? and why is she here?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is I, Chandni," said a thick, muffled voice, "and thou doest me
+wrong, coach-wan ji. Listen!" Then the strange woman proceeded to tell
+Ram Deen of the slaying of Trenyon sahib, and of her own horrible
+mutilation.</p>
+
+<p>When she had finished, Ram Deen said, "It was a brave stroke that Bijoo
+gave the sahib."</p>
+
+<p>"It was well done, khodawund."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou art not sorry for the killing of the sahib?"</p>
+
+<p>"Doorga restore me and afflict me again, if I do not think it was a good
+killing!"</p>
+
+<p>"They will hang Bijoo for it; a thousand rupees hath been offered for
+his taking, alive or dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Aho! aho!" wailed the strange woman. "Men will be wicked for even ten
+rupees."</p>
+
+<p>"But he robbed thee of thy beauty," remonstrated Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"'Twas right to do so, in his eyes," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>"And 'tis true thou wast in Trenyon sahib's tent for the helping of
+Bijoo?"</p>
+
+<p>"As Nana Debi is my witness. And I know not all that happened, for the
+sahib gave me strong waters to drink that robbed me of my senses."</p>
+
+<p>"Toba! toba!" exclaimed Ram Deen, walking towards the outer door. "Wife,
+see to it that thy relative is properly lodged this night."</p>
+
+<p>"And to-morrow night?" queried Tara.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow night I would eat of a kid seethed in milk and stuffed with
+pistachios by thy honorable kinswoman. Moreover, I will make provision
+for her ere the week is out."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord is good as he is great," said Tara, as Ram Deen left the hut.</p>
+
+<p>The next night, as they sat around the fire, Ram Deen waited till the
+shadow crept from the peepul tree to the clump of tall grass.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," he began, speaking deliberately and in loud tones, "the
+woman we spake of last night is guiltless of wrong, as I now know. She
+is here and in my hut, and an honored guest." He paused and looked round
+the circle grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"We be poor men, coach-wan ji," said the little driver, deprecatingly,
+"and thy honorable kinswoman is deserving, doubtless, of thy exalted
+consideration."</p>
+
+<p>"She is deserving of the consideration due to a woman who was greatly
+wronged by the villain who was slain, and by the madman, his slayer. She
+was lured, brothers, into the sahib's tent by the sweeper's wife,
+Bhamaraya,&mdash;who is a lame she-wolf!&mdash;for the purpose of pleading for her
+man, Bijoo, who was accused of theft; and then she was robbed of her
+senses by the sahib's strong waters, and hath done no wrong; let no man
+in the Terai gainsay it!"</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen paused awhile to "drink tobacco," but nobody made comment on a
+matter in which he was so greatly interested.</p>
+
+<p>"Bijoo's life is forfeit," he resumed; "and the rope that shall hang him
+is already made, for the sircar never fails to find whom it seeks. But
+Bijoo, alive or dead, is worth a thousand rupees to the man who shall
+take him. 'Twere pity that the money should go to some jackal of a man,
+for it belongs, of a right, to Chandni, whom he hath wrongfully
+mutilated; but he is a man, and will, doubtless, make the only
+reparation in his power, and yield himself up, for her sake, to some one
+who will bestow the blood money upon her."</p>
+
+<p>The shadow rose from the tall grass and speedily disappeared in the
+darkness. Soon after, those who sat round the fire heard the dreadful
+lamenting of a strong man who walks between Remorse and Despair.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," said Ram Deen, as he rose to go to his hut, "alive or dead,
+Bijoo will be here to-morrow night."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>At the fire, next evening, no one spoke; they were waiting for the
+fulfilment of Ram Deen's prediction, and the bugle-call of the fateful
+man had just been heard in the direction of the Bore bridge.</p>
+
+<p>"Bijoo hath come, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen, as he dismounted from the
+mail-cart.</p>
+
+<p>He then proceeded, with the help of his hostler, to lift a heavy burden
+covered with a cloth from the back seat of the mail-cart. The limp hands
+trailing on the ground as they carried it showed their burden to be a
+corpse. They laid it in the firelight; and Ram Deen, drawing the
+covering from its face, disclosed the dreadful features of a man who had
+been hanged; part of the rope that had strangled him still encircled his
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>"This was the way of it," began Ram Deen, after due identification had
+been made and the corpse had been carried to the thana; "this was the
+way of it: this evening, just before we began the descent that leads to
+the Bore bridge, a man sprang from the darkness in front of the horses
+and stayed the mail-cart below the great huldoo tree that stretches its
+arms across the road. The light of the lamps showed him to be Bijoo. So
+I sent the hostler forward to the bridge to await my coming, for Bijoo
+and I were fain to be alone for that which had to be said between us.</p>
+
+<p>"When we were by ourselves I bade him mount the mail-cart and sit beside
+me. As he took his place, he said, 'Wah! coach-wan, dost thou not fear
+to be alone with a hunted man on a jungle road? I might slay thee now,
+for I am armed, and so remove the only man who can match me in the
+Terai.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Nevertheless,' I replied, 'I will take thee to-night to Kaladoongie
+with my naked hands, if need be.'</p>
+
+<p>"'We will speak of that hereafter,' said Bijoo; 'but now tell me of
+her.'</p>
+
+<p>"'She is as you made her,&mdash;nakti and poor and a widow; for thou art but
+a dead man, Bijoo.'</p>
+
+<p>"'And you spake the truth, last night, when you said she went to the
+sahib's tent to plead for me?'</p>
+
+<p>"Taking one of the lamps, I held it to my face, saying, 'Draw now thy
+khookri, Bijoo, and slay me if thou thinkest I have lied.'</p>
+
+<p>"''Tis well,' he replied, sheathing his weapon. 'And what will become of
+Chandni?'</p>
+
+<p>"'She shall dwell honorably with her kinswoman in my hut, and respected
+of all men as long as I live; but the road is not safe, Bijoo, and bad
+men and jungle fever and wild beasts have slain better men than I; and,
+bethink thee, by yielding thyself my prisoner thou canst bestow one
+thousand rupees on Chandni, and so set her beyond the reach of want and
+scoffers till her end come.'</p>
+
+<p>"He mused awhile, and then replied quietly, 'I will go with thee.
+Proceed. I know thou wilt bestow upon her the reward offered by the
+sircar.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But they will hang thee, Bijoo.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Of a surety. Proceed.'</p>
+
+<p>"''Tis a shameful death, for the hangman is a sweeper,&mdash;some brother to
+Bhamaraya, perhaps.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Nevertheless, proceed; but promise me that thou wilt trap the lame
+witch in some pit of hell, Ram Deen.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Fret not thyself on that score, Bijoo; I have already given the matter
+thought. But why should the sircar hang thee? They&mdash;would&mdash;not&mdash;hang&mdash;a
+dead man;' and I flicked a branch that overhung us with my whip.</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou art right, Ram Deen,' he said, quietly; 'but, lo! I have not
+slept for many nights, and my thought is not clear.' He then stooped
+downward, groping in the bottom of the mail-cart, and drew forth one of
+the heel ropes of the horses.</p>
+
+<p>"Throwing one end of the rope over the branch that was above us, he
+fastened it thereto with a running loop, and then encircled his neck
+with a noose at the other end.</p>
+
+<p>"As he stood up on the seat, he asked, 'Thou wilt give me honorable
+burning, Ram Deen?' And I replied, 'I will be nearest of kin to thee in
+this matter.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis well. Thou wilt not forget thy reckoning with Bhamaraya?'</p>
+
+<p>"But ere I could make reply, the gray wolf that hunts beyond the bridge
+bayed, and the horses broke from me in their fear, so that I could not
+stay them till we reached the Naini Tal road."</p>
+
+<p>"Yea, brothers," said the hostler, at whom Ram Deen looked for
+confirmation of this part of his story, "I had scarce time to leap to
+one side, as the mail-cart sped past me whilst I waited on the bridge."</p>
+
+<p>More he would have said,&mdash;for he had never before enjoyed the privilege
+of speech at the Thanadar's fire, and the occasion was epochal,&mdash;but he
+saw in Ram Deen's face that which made him whine and say, "But I am a
+poor man, and know nothing, and my sight is dim by reason of sitting
+overmuch by grass fires,&mdash;only Ram Deen, Bahadoor, could not stay the
+horses, though he cursed their female relatives for many generations,
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"So, Thanadar ji," interrupted Ram Deen, "as soon as I could restrain
+the horses I turned them back, and, after picking up the hostler (who,
+because he is more silent, is wiser than most poor men who are ever
+talking of what they know not), I drove to the huldoo tree where hung
+Bijoo as dead as you saw him but now."</p>
+
+<p>Then, after a pause, he said, "Brothers, let it be told in the Terai
+that Bijoo came back as befitted an honorable man."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3><i>The Rope that Hanged Bijoo</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>"Thy man-child is very beautiful, my lord," said Tara.</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen was sitting outside of his hut on a charpoi, whilst Tara rubbed
+their month-old babe with "bitter oil" in the forenoon sun.</p>
+
+<p>The little brown manikin, without a stitch on him to conceal God's
+handiwork, sprawled on his stomach across his mother's knees, making
+inarticulate noises, and wriggling after the manner of infants when it
+is well with them, for the sun was pleasantly warm, and his mother's
+rubbing appealed to his budding sensations.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not so beautiful as its beautiful mother," said Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou Worthless!" exclaimed Tara. "Sawest ever such hands?" and she put
+a finger into the wee palm that clasped it by "reflex action."</p>
+
+<p>"Toba! toba!" swore Ram Deen. "Nana Debi send grace to evil-doers in the
+Terai in the days to come, or else shall they be undone by these hands.
+Why, they might almost crush a fly!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, coach-wan ji, my lord, thy son shall be taller than thou
+when he is a man grown."</p>
+
+<p>"Khoda (God) grant it, for thy son must drive the mail-cart in the time
+to come, and the Terai is full of dangers."</p>
+
+<p>"But he <i>shall not</i> drive the mail-cart," said Tara; "he shall be
+Thanadar of Kaladoongie, and he shall feed his father and his mother
+when his beard begins to sing on a scraping palm. Eh, my butcha?" and
+the young mother, after the manner of young mothers the world over, bent
+her head and kissed the little one's dimples.</p>
+
+<p>"He shall be rich, too, coach-wan ji," said a tall woman with a
+beautiful figure appearing in the doorway of the hut. Her eyes made
+beholders long to look upon the rest of her face; but that was closely
+veiled, for it was horribly mutilated.</p>
+
+<p>Her voice was thick and muffled, and she spoke with difficulty. It was
+the unhappy Chandni.</p>
+
+<p>"He shall be rich, if a thousand rupees can make him rich, and the
+wishes of thy humble servant. Tulsi Ram, pundit, hath this day indited a
+letter for me to Moti Ram, the great mahajun of Naini Tal, directing him
+to hold the money, that was the price of Bijoo, for thy son till he
+comes to man's estate."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, nay, Chandni," remonstrated Ram Deen; "I am richer than most men
+in the Terai, and, through the advice of my friend, the Thanadar, my
+wealth groweth apace, and my son shall lack nothing. Biroo, too, is
+provided for; thou mayest need the money thyself, for the thread of life
+parts easily in the Terai, as thou knowest, and the shelter of my hut
+may be wanting to thee some day."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, my lord and my master, thy lowly handmaid must not be
+thwarted in this matter," and Chandni disappeared into the hut.</p>
+
+<p>"Let her have her will, my lord," pleaded Tara; "we owe her much," and
+with a sweeping gesture she indicated the garden in which they sat and
+which was Chandni's special care.</p>
+
+<p>The enclosure in which Ram Deen's hut stood used to be, ere the days of
+Tara and Chandni, the most neglected spot in the village; but, after the
+arrival of the latter, it gradually began to assume an appearance of
+neatness and thrift that made Ram Deen's home-coming a daily delight to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The young peepul tree in front of the hut was aflame with a gorgeous
+Bougain-villea, and the flower-beds laughed with marigolds and poppies
+of many hues sown broadcast. A little runnel sparkled through the
+garden, and, in one part of its career, chattered pleasantly over a tiny
+pebbly reach artfully contrived to produce the "beauty born of murmuring
+sound," which is nowhere more grateful than in the domain of the Hot
+Wind.</p>
+
+<p>In one corner of the garden were planted radishes, and turnips, and
+carrots, with their delightful greenery. Chili plants and Cape
+gooseberries abounded, and many a potherb pleasant to behold and good in
+a curry. Every plant and shrub gave evidence of loving care, and repaid
+the tilth bestowed upon them with lavish interest.</p>
+
+<p>A little machand (dais) of plastered mud, under the peepul tree, had
+been specially built for little Biroo, who decorated it, after the
+manner of the small boy, with bits of gayly-tinted glass and potsherds,
+bright feathers and cowries, and such other gauds as appeal to his kind.</p>
+
+<p>In another corner of the compound was a tiny hut, wherein Heera Lal,
+Tara's old grandfather, lived in such ease and affluence as he had never
+dreamed of in his wildest imaginings. His day was setting in scented
+clouds of sweetened tobacco, and he had tyre to eat every morning. Every
+week he added two annas (six cents) to the hoard under his hearth; it
+was saved from the allowance made to him by Ram Deen; and he owed no man
+anything. Moreover, in Ram Deen he had found one who could be most
+easily overreached, and Ram Deen delighted to be swindled by the old man
+in matters involving small change.</p>
+
+<p>Even Hasteen had not been forgotten in the improvements made in the
+enclosure: in one corner a small space had been carefully lepoed
+(plastered) and roofed with thatch for him. Farther on, Nathoo, Biroo's
+kid, was tethered to a stake; and beyond that the fawn, Ganda, had a
+little paddock to herself.</p>
+
+<p>The whole compound was fenced in by a flourishing mandni hedge, which
+gave Ram Deen a fuller sense of possession. As he sat on the charpoi,
+lazily smoking his hookah and drinking in the beauty of the garden and
+of the day beyond, he was the happiest man in all the Terai. When Tara
+had finished the baby's simple toilet and put it to her breast, the
+thought passed through Ram Deen's mind that, if God ever smiled, it must
+be when he looked on a young mother suckling her first-born.</p>
+
+<p>"Respect the aged and infirm," said a whining voice, breaking in upon
+Ram Deen's pleasant reverie. The speaker, who stood outside the hedge,
+was an old mendicant equipped like his kind, with an alms-bowl
+containing a handful of small copper coin and cowries. He was smeared
+with wood ashes, and his tangled, grizzly hair hung to his waist.</p>
+
+<p>"Respect the aged and poor, Ram Deen, for the sake of the beautiful
+babe." (Tara immediately covered it with her chudder for fear of the
+evil eye.) "Listen, I have tidings for thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, swami," replied the driver, throwing him a small piece of
+silver.</p>
+
+<p>"Bhamaraya, the lame mehtrani, cometh this way. She is on the road on
+the hither side of Lal Kooah, in a covered byli whereof one of the
+wheels has come off. The byl-wan walked into Kaladoongie with me this
+morning to seek assistance, leaving the old woman on the road."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis well, jogi ji. Durga will doubtless protect her own. Salaam," said
+Ram Deen, dismissing the mendicant.</p>
+
+<p>The time had come for the fulfilment of his promise to Bijoo. What he
+should do when he came across the mehtrani who had wrecked Chandni's
+life would doubtless be suggested to him by the circumstances of the
+place and the hour, but for the present he was satisfied that she was
+completely in his power.</p>
+
+<p>That day Chandni was absent from the mid-day meal.</p>
+
+<p>The Hot Wind blew fiercely, rattling the leafless branches of the forest
+trees. The Bore Nuddee, below the head of the canal that supplied
+Kaladoongie, had shrunk to a few scattered pools that became shallower
+every day.</p>
+
+<p>"Nana Debi send thy kinswoman is in a cool shade this day," said Ram
+Deen, addressing Tara.</p>
+
+<p>"She hath doubtless gone to the ford of the Bore Nuddee to bleach her
+new chudder," explained Tara.</p>
+
+<p>But when evening came and Chandni had not returned, the driver became
+alarmed. After he had made his preparations for taking the mail to Lal
+Kooah he joined the circle in front of the Thanadar's hut.</p>
+
+<p>The Hot Wind had abated its fury to little puffs that came at intervals
+and seemed to sear the skin, and the sun had set like a copper disk in
+the haze that overhung the western sky. As the hostler brought the
+mail-cart round, Ram Deen told the Thanadar of Chandni's absence, and
+received his assurance that immediate search should be made for her.</p>
+
+<p>As they spoke together a little puff of wind came out of the west, laden
+with the smell of fire. They instinctively turned their faces windwards.
+The glow of the setting sun, that had but just disappeared, seemed to be
+returning in the west and illuminated the under surface of a huge black
+cloud that was growing rapidly in size.</p>
+
+<p>"The jungle through which thou must drive is on fire, Ram Deen, and thou
+must make haste if thou wouldst take the mail to Lai Kooah to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"But thou must not go to Lai Kooah to-night," said little Biroo, running
+up to Ram Deen. "Chandni said so ere she went away this morning. I was
+to tell thee, but I had forgotten till I saw just now the money she gave
+me for the telling of this to thee;" and opening his hand he showed the
+men a rupee.</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore must I go, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen. "Had this little
+budmash spoken sooner Chandni had been home now, and not on a quest that
+belongs properly to me. Toba, toba!" he exclaimed, as a tongue of flame
+shot high into the air, "was ever such fire lit for the purification of
+the jungle? But I must make haste if I would save Chandni;" and the next
+minute Ram Deen was speeding towards the Bore bridge. Two miles beyond
+the bridge they reached the hither end of the fire, which was now being
+driven furiously by a storm of its own creation towards the road, from
+which it was distant about half a mile. The hostler leaped to the
+ground, refusing to go any farther; but the element of danger and the
+risk to Chandni only stirred Ram Deen's pulses into activity, and he
+shook the reins and urged his horses into a headlong gallop.</p>
+
+<p>The wild things of the Terai fled in front of the fire and across Ram
+Deen's path, heedless of the presence of man, who was but a pygmy to the
+wrath behind them. The roar of the giant fire put a great stress upon
+the fleeing animals, so that they were as of one kin in the presence of
+a common danger. A herd of spotted deer, with a leopard in their very
+midst, dashed across the road in front of the mail-cart. A wild boar
+came next in headlong fashion. Jackals, hares, nyl-gai followed each
+other pell-mell, making for the shelter of the bed of the Bore Nuddee,
+whilst overhead was seen the flight of the feathered denizens of the
+Terai.</p>
+
+<p>All this confusion and rush but accented the roar of the pursuing fire.
+When Ram Deen looked back for an instant he saw that it had leapt across
+the road at a point he had passed but a minute before, and now he knew
+that he was running for his life.</p>
+
+<p>A quarter of a mile farther on the road turned to the left, thus
+increasing his chance of reaching the southern limit of the fire, which
+was travelling due east. By the light of the flames he could see a tall
+woman sitting on the parapet of a small culvert, about one hundred yards
+in front of him. On the edge of the jungle beside her was an overturned
+byli, and from it there came the most appalling screams that could be
+distinguished even through the din of the fire.</p>
+
+<p>The woman on the culvert saw him as soon as he turned the bend of the
+road, and forthwith mounted the parapet; and he saw it was Chandni. As
+the mail-cart swept past her she sprang towards it, and Ram Deen passed
+an arm round her and drew her on to the seat beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"For the love of God, Chandni, for the love of God!" screamed the woman
+in the byli as a burning branch fell on it. But the mail-cart sped away,
+and presently only the roar of the angry fire could be heard.</p>
+
+<p>A quarter of a mile farther on they had passed the southern edge of the
+fire, which was within fifty yards of the road when they reached safety.</p>
+
+<p>"The woman in the byli?" asked Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"Bhamaraya," was the quiet reply.</p>
+
+<p>"And why came she not forth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because of the rope that hanged Bijoo."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3><i>C&oelig;lum, Non Animum Mutant</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>The Commissioner of Kumaon had arrived at Kaladoongie in the course of
+his winter tour of inspection, and the same evening Joti Prshad, his
+butler, sat beside the Thanadar on a charpoi and smoked with
+metropolitan ease amidst the awe-struck notables of the jungle village.</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen alone was not abashed, and puffed his hookah unconcernedly,
+although Joti Prshad told many wonderful things of the sahiblogue, and
+spoke concerning the doings of the great world of Naini Tal during the
+greater rains.</p>
+
+<p>Joti Prshad was a small man, and Ram Deen's <i>blasé</i> mood galled his
+sense of superiority; it was but right that he should snub this
+exasperatingly cool villager.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanadar ji," he began, "thou and I know that nowhere in Hindoostan is
+there such greatness assembled as at Naini Tal during the Greater
+Barsāt."</p>
+
+<p>"Men say that the governor-general still goeth to Simla, but, doubtless,
+the sirdar knoweth best," said Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"The Lāt-sahib, indeed, goeth to Simla, but those with him be mere
+karanis (clerks), and shopkeepers, and half-castes. 'Tis plain thou hast
+not seen Naini Tal, coach-wan."</p>
+
+<p>"The Terai sufficeth me, Joti Prshad."</p>
+
+<p>"They say," piped Goor Dutt, the little bullock driver, "that the
+mem-sahibs at Naini Tal bare their shoulders and bosoms and dance with
+strange men. Toba, toba!"</p>
+
+<p>This being an indisputable fact, and one to which Joti Prshad had never
+reconciled himself, the latter did not speak, and the diversion thus
+made by the byl-wan was felt by all to be in Ram Deen's favor.</p>
+
+<p>Taking advantage of the silence of Joti Prshad, Ram Deen went on: "The
+people of Naini Tal come and go, but the children of the Terai never
+forget their mother. What sayest thou, Thanadar ji?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis even so, brothers," said the Thanadar, with the gravity of one who
+is in authority and under the stress of weighing his words.</p>
+
+<p>As they evidently waited for him to proceed, the Thanadar continued:
+"The jungle is our father and our mother, and the huldoo trees our near
+kin, O my brothers; and we who have once seen the beauty of the morning
+in the jungle, and the rye-fields laughing in the clearings in the
+winter, may not live elsewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen; "and, moreover, the senses of those
+who live in bazaars are asleep as with bhang, and they cannot see nor
+hear the wonders of God."</p>
+
+<p>A general "humph" of assent followed Ram Deen's speech.</p>
+
+<p>"If the sirdar will stay with us we will show him whereof we speak,"
+said the Thanadar. But the butler had fond recollections of Oude and the
+rose-fields of Shahjahanpoor, where they make attar, and shook his head
+dissentingly. So the Thanadar went on: "Many seasons since, a holy
+man&mdash;a Sunyasi&mdash;who had given up his wife and children and lived in a
+hollow tree by the Rock of Khalsi (whereon are written the laws of the
+great king Asoka) returned to Gurruckpoor, his native village, when he
+felt the Great Darkness coming on. He told the village Brahmin that he
+longed for death, but that he could not die outside of the Terai."</p>
+
+<p>After a pause, during which the bubbling of his narghili was heard, the
+Thanadar said: "It is the same with all who are born in the
+Terai,&mdash;Faringi and Padhani, Brahmin and Dome, Sunyasi and fair
+woman,&mdash;all are alike in bondage, and return, sooner or later, to their
+jungle mother. Listen. Twelve years ago there came to Gurruckpoor to
+hunt big game an Englishman named Fisher Sahib. He was of those favored
+by God who have much wealth, and to whom sport standeth for occupation.
+As he was accustomed to fulfil his heart's desires, he hired two
+shooting elephants from the Rajah of Rampore,&mdash;one for himself and the
+other for his mem-sahib, who accompanied him. And he had a great camp,
+and many servants, and beaters, and shikaris, chief of whom was Juggoo,
+whose fame as a hunter reached from Phillibeet to Dehra. He it was who
+always rode with the sahib in his howdah, and he had command from the
+mem-sahib never to leave the sahib's side in the jungle, in that he was
+rash and loved danger, and many a time fell into it unawares by reason
+that he saw not clearly except he looked through a piece of glass that
+he wore in one eye.</p>
+
+<p>"One day the sahib had shot a deer, and let himself down from his
+elephant&mdash;Juggoo going with him&mdash;to give it hallal, according to the
+rule of the Koran,&mdash;for he intended the deer as a gift to the
+Mussulmanis in his camp. As he bent over the deer to cut its throat with
+his khookri, a great boar ran upon them from a thicket. Juggoo uttered a
+cry of warning, but ere the sahib could find his sight the boar was upon
+them, and Juggoo thrust himself in its way and got his death, or the
+sahib had been killed.</p>
+
+<p>"So they carried the dead man to the camp, where his daughter, Chambeli,
+having cooked his evening meal, awaited the return of her father. She
+was fifteen years in age, and a widow,&mdash;for her betrothed husband and
+all his people had died five years before of The Sickness (small-pox);
+so she had returned to her father, and had cared for his house ever
+since. And Kali Dass, who was learning jungle-craft from her father,
+would have had her to mistress. 'Come and live with me, my beloved,
+beyond the head-waters of the Bore Nuddee,' he had pleaded; 'and when
+thy hair hath grown again none shall know thou art a widow, and the
+people of the foothills shall wonder at thy beauty.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But I shall know and Nana Debi,&mdash;and the others matter not, Kali
+Dass'" she replied firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"So Kali Dass went his way; and the young man and Chambeli looked at
+each other, but spake no more together.</p>
+
+<p>"The mem-sahib it was who told Chambeli of her father's death, Kali Dass
+standing by, and she turned on him like a leopard bereft of its young
+and upbraided him, saying, 'Hadst thou been a man, Kali Dass, my father
+were still living.' Thereafter she swooned, and the mem-sahib laid her
+on her own couch, and held her in her arms and comforted her, because
+Juggoo had died to save the sahib.</p>
+
+<p>"Then for that she was childless and very wealthy, and could do
+whatsoever seemed good in her eyes, the mem-sahib took Chambeli across
+the Black Water. They brought her up as their own kin, teaching her
+whatsoever it is fitting the daughter of a Faringi should know, and
+training her to work amongst our women and children when they should be
+afflicted with sickness; and, furthermore, she was to turn them from
+Nana Debi to the God of the Faringis.</p>
+
+<p>"Moreover, to aid her in her work she was married to a young English
+padre; and they came to Kaladoongie six years ago, when the next
+new-year festival of the Faringis shall arrive. And because we knew her
+and still remembered Juggoo, her father, we of Kaladoongie waited on her
+at the dāk-bungalow on the day she returned.</p>
+
+<p>"She came out to us on the veranda, dressed in the garments of a
+mem-sahib, and we saw that she was a woman grown and in the mid-noon of
+her beauty. She was glad to see us, calling us all by our names, and we
+greeted her with such gifts as we could,&mdash;fruit and flowers and
+sweetmeats. Last of all came Kali Dass, and behind him four men bearing
+a leopard but newly slain, slung from a pole.</p>
+
+<p>"They laid the beast at her feet, and Chambeli laughed and clapped her
+hands till the little padre, her husband, frowned at her; whereon her
+nostrils twitched and she looked at him in wonderment, as though she saw
+for the first time that he was a small man with a pale face, and void of
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>"Then turning to Kali Dass she said in our Terai tongue, 'Is it well
+with thee, shikari ji? Thou art doubtless married and happy?'</p>
+
+<p>"And he said, 'Nay; I have no spouse, save only my jungle-craft.'</p>
+
+<p>"'And the jungle?' she asked, looking on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"'It is my father and my mother, and fairer than any of its daughters,
+mem-sahib. But thou hast been in great cities, and across the Black
+Water; thou hast read in books, and hast changed thy gods,&mdash;what
+shouldst thou care for the jungle?'</p>
+
+<p>"'It is the garden of God, Kali Dass, and I am fain to see it again, for
+I am a Padhani born, and a daughter of the Terai.'</p>
+
+<p>"Ere she gave us leave to depart it was arranged that she and the padre
+sahib, accompanied by me and Kali Dass, should start in the early
+morning and follow the Bore Nuddee backward into the foothills.</p>
+
+<p>"Kali Dass was at the dāk-bungalow before me in the morning; and he was
+dressed in holiday clothes; his face shone, and behind one ear he had
+placed a marigold.</p>
+
+<p>"When the padre and his mem-sahib came forth from their chamber, behold!
+she was dressed as a Padhani; and she was the Chambeli we knew of old,
+only taller.</p>
+
+<p>"'I am but a Padhani,' she explained, 'and shall get nearer to my people
+the more I am like to them.'</p>
+
+<p>"It was a time of great stillness when we started, for the morning was
+just born, and the dew lay on all things. Taking the road to Naini Tal,
+we struck into the jungle when we came to the path that leads to the
+ford of the Bore Nuddee, and Chambeli alighted from her pony and walked
+in front of the rest with Kali Dass. A faint flush showed in the east,
+and presently a jungle-cock greeted the dawn. Chambeli stopped, and,
+with joy in her face, she turned round to the padre sahib, exclaiming,
+'Didst hear that?' And he laughed, saying, 'It was but the crowing of a
+cock.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But it came out of the stillness of the morning, and the dew accorded
+with it,&mdash;and it was a wild thing,&mdash;but how shouldst thou understand?
+thou art not of the Terai,' she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Soon the glow in the east became brighter, and the jungle burst into
+its morning song. Chambeli stopped and put her hands to her forehead, as
+if she would remember something; then she said to the shikari,
+'Something is lacking, Kali Dass; what is it?' And even as she spake
+there came the call of a black partridge from a thicket near by: 'Sobhan
+teri koodruth!' Brothers, ye know that the black partridge is the priest
+of the Terai, and at its voice Chambeli fled with a cry of joy from the
+path and into the thick jungle.</p>
+
+<p>"The little padre sahib, knowing not what to think, urged us to follow
+her. When we came up with her, Kali Dass stood by regarding her with a
+smile, whilst she lay on the ground with her face buried in the dewy
+grass, moaning and saying, 'O Jungle Mother, I will never leave thee
+again, I will never leave thee again!' And the little padre chid her in
+his own tongue; whereat she rose shuddering; and brushing the dew and
+the tears from her face, she returned to the path.</p>
+
+<p>"She had eyes and ears for everything that morning, and was as a wild
+thing that had just fled from captivity.</p>
+
+<p>"When we came to the brow of the hill that slopes down to the ford, the
+sun rose over the tops of the trees and laid a gleaming sword across the
+stream; and as we looked at the brightness and wonder of it all there
+came to us the song of a string of Padhani women approaching the ford.
+In an instant Chambeli took up the song, and set off swiftly down the
+narrow path, we following as we could.</p>
+
+<p>"As she neared the ford she lifted her sari and took the water with her
+bare limbs; and I looked at the little padre, who seemed sore amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"When we had all crossed the ford, Chambeli and Kali Dass were not to be
+seen on the road that ran by the stream. A traveller on his way to
+Kaladoongie said he had not met them, and as we questioned him there
+came the report of a gun.</p>
+
+<p>"'Kali Dass hath met game, padre sahib,' said I.</p>
+
+<p>"'Find them, and bring them back instantly, Thanadar,' commanded the
+holy man, and his voice shook with anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Following the direction of the shot, I came upon their tracks, and
+thereafter I found a handful of fresh feathers. A few paces beyond lay a
+small book; it was the sacred book of the Faringis printed in Nagari,
+and on the first leaf, which was held down by a stone, was writing in
+English. On the path a pace farther were two sticks crossed, and beyond
+that other two; and I knew it was the warning of Kali Dass, who must not
+be followed.</p>
+
+<p>"So I returned with the little book to the padre sahib. And when he had
+read what was written on the first leaf he trembled and clutched at his
+throat, and I caught him in my arms as he fell from his horse.</p>
+
+<p>"I returned with him to Kaladoongie; but Chambeli and Kali Dass never
+came back.</p>
+
+<p>"I showed the writing in the book to Tulsi Ram. Speak, pundit, and tell
+our brothers what it meant."</p>
+
+<p>Tulsi Ram, pleased and proud to give an exhibition of his scholarship,
+replied, "Brothers, and you, O Joti Prshad, the writing said: 'Like to
+like: Kali Dass is of my blood, and the great jungle hath claimed her
+daughter this day.'"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3><i>The Lame Tiger of Huldwani</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>It was in the middle of May&mdash;just before the beginning of the lesser
+rains&mdash;that Ram Deen and certain wayfarers sat round a handful of fire
+at Lal Kooah from mere force of habit, for the heat of the evening was
+great, and not a breath of air stirred in the jungle. The sāl trees had
+lost their leaves and looked like ghosts; the grass had been burnt in
+all directions; and as the sun set in the copper sky, it lit up a
+landscape that might have stood for the "abomination of desolation."</p>
+
+<p>The dry chirping of the crickets, just beginning to tune their first
+uneasy strains, accorded with the unholy scene. Even the horses waiting
+for the mail-cart were imbued with the depressing influence of the
+season, and hung their heads with a sense of despair, as though they
+thought the blessed monsoon would never set in.</p>
+
+<p>No one spoke, and the hookah passed from hand to hand in a dreary
+silence. Suddenly, the attention of those assembled was attracted by the
+curious action of a bya (tailor) bird in a neighboring mimosa tree. It
+was calling frantically, and dropping lower from bough to bough, as
+though against its will.</p>
+
+<p>"Nāg!" exclaimed the bunnia; and, directed by his remark, all eyes were
+turned to the foot of the tree, where an enormous cobra with expanded
+hood was swaying its head from side to side, and drawing the wretched
+bird to its doom through the fascination of fear.</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen, whose sympathies were always with the weak and defenceless,
+rose to his feet, and, throwing a dry clod of earth at the reptile,
+drove the creature from the tree; whilst the bird, released from its
+hypnotic influence, flew away.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," said Ram Deen, "fear is the father of all sins, and the
+cause of most calamities. He who feareth not death is a king in his own
+right, and dieth but once; but a coward&mdash;shabash! who can count his
+pangs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ho! ho!" chuckled the little bullock driver; "Ram Deen, The Fearless,
+shall live to be an hundred years old."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, Goor Dutt," said Ram Deen, gravely regarding the little man, "I,
+too, have known fear. No man may drive the mail to Kaladoongie without
+looking on death."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen smoked awhile in silence; and, when the expectation of his
+listeners was wrought to a proper pitch, he went on: "Ye all knew
+Nandha, the hostler, who used to go with me last year from this stage to
+Kaladoongie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, coach-wan ji," responded the carrier for the others. "'Tis a great
+telling, but not known to these honorable wayfarers who come from beyond
+Moradabad."</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers, ye saw the plight of the bya bird but now; so was it with
+Nandha," said Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"One evening, ere the mail arrived, he called me to where he stood by
+the kikar tree yonder, looking down at the ground. In the dust of the
+road were large footprints.</p>
+
+<p>"'These be the spoor of a tiger lame in its left hind foot,' I said to
+Nandha; 'see, here it crouched on its belly, and wiped away the wheel
+tracks made by the mail-cart this morning.'</p>
+
+<p>"''Tis the lame tiger of Huldwani, coach-wan; he is old, and he hunteth
+man. Gunga send he is hunting elsewhere to-night!' replied Nandha.</p>
+
+<p>"When we came within a mile of the Bore bridge that night, the horses
+stopped suddenly; they were wild with fear, and refused to move. The
+night was as dark as the inside of a gourd, and beyond the circle of
+light made by our lanterns we could discern in the middle of the road
+two balls of fire close to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"'Bāg! (tiger),' said Nandha, as he climbed over into the back seat; 'we
+be dead men, Ram Deen.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Blow!' I commanded, giving him the bugle; and as he startled the
+jungle with a blast, I gathered up the reins, and, adding my voice to
+the terrors of Nandha's music, I urged the horses with whip and yell to
+fury of speed; and the light of the lanterns showed the great beast
+leaping into the darkness to escape our onset.</p>
+
+<p>"Nandha ceased not from blowing on the bugle till I took it from him by
+force at the door of the post-office at Kaladoongie.</p>
+
+<p>"They gave him bhang to smoke and arrack to drink ere he slept that
+night, for his great fear had deprived him of reason for awhile; and he
+looked round him as though he expected to see the tiger's eyes
+everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"'The bāg followed me to the hither side of the Bore bridge,' he said to
+me next morning, as we prepared to return to Lai Kooah. But I laughed at
+his fears, to give him courage.</p>
+
+<p>"'It is a devil,' he whispered, looking cautiously round him, and I saw
+that the light of his reason flickered.</p>
+
+<p>"When we came to the Bore bridge, Nandha leaped to the ground, and in
+the dim light of the morning I could see the tracks of a great beast on
+the ground, to which he pointed; and, even as we looked, there came the
+roar of a tiger. I could scarce hold the horses whilst Nandha, whose
+limbs were stiff with fear, scrambled into the back seat of the
+mail-cart.</p>
+
+<p>"When a tiger puts its mouth to the ground and gives voice, no man may
+tell whence the sound comes; so I stayed not to see, if I might, where
+the danger lay, but gave the horses free rein.</p>
+
+<p>"As we cleared the end of the bridge, Nandha screamed, 'Bāg, bāg!' and
+glancing back, I saw the tiger in full pursuit of us, and within a
+hundred paces.</p>
+
+<p>"'Blow!' I commanded, handing the bugle to Nandha; but, though he took
+it from me, he appeared not to understand what he was required to do.</p>
+
+<p>"'Blow!' said I, once more, shaking him; but he took no heed of me, and
+was as a man who walks in his sleep. So I put my arm round him and
+lifted him on to the front seat beside me; and even as I pulled him to
+me, his head was drawn over his shoulder by the spell of fear. There was
+a foam on his lips and on his beard, and he shook so that I feared he
+would fall off the mail-cart.</p>
+
+<p>"'Be brave, Nandha,' I shouted to him, 'the beast is lame, and we shall
+soon leave it behind.' For answer, he turned his face to me for one
+instant, and his lips framed the word 'bāg,' but no sound came
+therefrom.</p>
+
+<p>"Suddenly, he laughed like a child that is pleased with a toy, babbling,
+and saying, 'How beautiful is my lord! Soft be the road to his feet!
+But, look! my lord limpeth; belike he hath a thorn in his foot.' As he
+rose, I put an arm round him and forced him down again; and at that
+instant the tiger uttered another roar. The horses swerved, and would
+have left the road in their fear, had I not put forth the full strength
+of both my arms; and as soon as Nandha felt himself free, he leaped to
+the ground, and advanced towards the tiger. He walked joyously, as a
+loyal servant who goeth to meet his lord.</p>
+
+<p>"Looking over my shoulder (for now the horses were in the middle of the
+road, which here stretched straight ahead of us), I beheld Nandha
+proceed towards the tiger, which now crouched in the road, waiting for
+him, its tail waving from side to side. When he was within five paces
+of the beast, he salaamed to the ground, and as he stooped the tiger
+sprang on him with another roar, and throwing him over its shoulder it
+bounded with him into the jungle.</p>
+
+<p>"More there is to tell concerning the lame tiger of Huldwani, but here
+is the mail-cart, and here is that which had saved Nandha's life had I
+not also looked upon fear that morning."</p>
+
+<p>Putting the bugle to his mouth, Ram Deen blew a blast that would have
+routed any jungle creature within hearing, and which made the leaves of
+the peepul tree overhead rattle as he dashed away on the mail-cart.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3><i>How Nandha was Avenged</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>The travellers from beyond Moradabad having reached Kaladoongie, were
+discovered to be men of consequence by the Thanadar, and were invited by
+him to join the circle of the great round his fire on the evening of
+their arrival.</p>
+
+<p>It was very warm, and the dismal silence was only accented by the
+distant howl of a lonely jackal. The sheet lightning flickered fitfully
+over the foothills, mocking the gasping Terai with its faint promise of
+a coming change.</p>
+
+<p>The conversation round the fire flagged, and the hookah passed languidly
+from hand to hand. Those present would have retired to sleep, had sleep
+been possible; but as that was a consummation not easily attained at
+this season of the year, they preferred their present miseries to those
+that come in the wakeful night watches when the Terai is athirst.</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen's arrival was a nightly boon to those who were wont to assemble
+round the Thanadar's fire; there was always the possibility of his
+having news; and, besides, men seemed to acquire fresh vitality from
+contact with his vigorous personality.</p>
+
+<p>The strangers were especially grateful for his arrival; and when he had
+taken his usual place beside the fire, the hookah was at once passed to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Any tidings, coach-wan ji?" inquired the Thanadar.</p>
+
+<p>"None, sahib; save that the great frog in the well at Lal Kooah&mdash;who is
+as old as the well, and wiser than most men&mdash;gave voice just ere I
+started, and the bunnia said it was a sure sign of rain within two days,
+as the frog's warning had never been known to fail."</p>
+
+<p>"Nana Debi send it be so," exclaimed the little carrier, "for my
+bullocks be starved for the lack of green food, and <i>bhoosa</i> (chaff) is
+past my means."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shouldst not complain, Goor Dutt," said Ram Deen, with a smile;
+"their very leanness is thy passport through the jungle. Fatter kine had
+been devoured, and their driver with them, long ere this."</p>
+
+<p>Hint of danger that might be encountered in the jungle having been thus
+given, one of the strangers was moved to ask concerning the lame tiger
+of Huldwani, part of whose biography they had heard from Ram Deen at Lal
+Kooah on the previous day.</p>
+
+<p>"Coach-wan ji, wast thou not afraid to carry the mail after the slaying
+of thy hostler, Nandha?"</p>
+
+<p>"Those who carry the Queen's mail may not stop for fear. Nevertheless,
+fear rode with me a day and a night after the death of Nandha."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a great telling," said the little carrier, nodding at the
+wayfarers, whilst Ram Deen "drank tobacco."</p>
+
+<p>When Ram Deen had passed the hookah to his neighbor, he went on:</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers, on the day that Nandha was carried off by the tiger, I sent
+word to the postmaster of Naini Tal concerning the killing, and the
+out-going mail brought me word that the sircar (government) would send
+me help.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye know that a tiger kills not two days in succession; so I had no fear
+when I traversed the road to and from Lal Kooah till the second day
+after the slaying of Nandha. Ere I started on that morning, the munshi
+told me to drive to the dāk-bungalow for a sahib who had been sent to
+slay the slayer of men.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers, when I went to the dāk-bungalow, there came forth to me a
+man-child&mdash;a Faringi&mdash;whose chin was as smooth as the palm of my hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I would have laughed, but that I thought of the tiger that, I knew,
+would be waiting for us; and taking pity on him, I said, 'The jungle
+hereabout is full of wild fowl, sahib, an 'twere pity, when shikar is so
+plentiful, you should waste the morning looking for a budmash tiger who
+will not come forth for two days as yet.'</p>
+
+<p>"He answered me never a word, but went into the dāk-bungalow for
+something he had forgotten; and, whilst he was gone, his butler spake
+to me, saying, 'Coach-wan, make no mistake; thy life depends upon thy
+doing the sahib's bidding. He is a very Rustum, and he knoweth not fear,
+for all he is so young.'</p>
+
+<p>"'He is a man after my own heart then, sirdar; but, mashallah! I would
+he had a beard,' I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Presently the young sahib came forth with an empty bottle in one hand
+and his gun in the other. Throwing the bottle into the air, he shattered
+it with a bullet ere it reached the ground. Startled by the report, a
+jackal fled from the rear of the cook-house towards the jungle, and the
+sahib stopped its flight with another bullet. Then, replenishing his
+gun, he took his seat beside me on the mail-cart, saying 'Blow on thy
+bugle, coach-wan, and announce our coming to Shere Bahadoor, His Majesty
+the Tiger.'</p>
+
+<p>"It was a brave jawan (youth), brothers; but he was very young, and,
+belike, he had a mother; so I swore in my beard to save him, whatever
+might befall.</p>
+
+<p>"As we proceeded, he questioned me concerning the killing of Nandha,
+speaking lightly, as one who goeth to shoot black partridge.</p>
+
+<p>"'He is lame, coach-wan, and will doubtless be waiting for us by the
+Bore bridge,' said the sahib. 'As soon as he appears, stay the horses
+for an instant whilst I get off the mail-cart, and then return when your
+horses will let you.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Bethink thee, sahib,' I answered; 'the Lame One of Huldwani is old and
+cunning; it is no fawn thou seekest this morning. Perchance the sircar
+will dispatch some great shikari to help thee in this hunting. Gunga
+send we may not meet the tiger; but if we should, shame befall me if I
+permit thee to leave the mail-cart whilst the horses are able to run!'</p>
+
+<p>"For answer, my brothers, the sahib flushed red, and, calling me coward,
+he drave his elbow into my stomach with such force that the reins fell
+from my hands. Taking them up, the while I fought for my breath, he
+turned the horses round, saying, 'A jackal may not hunt a tiger! I have
+need of a man with me this morning, and Goor Deen, my butler, shall take
+thy place.'</p>
+
+<p>"'The sahib, being a man, will not blacken my face in the eyes of
+Kaladoongie,' I said. 'I spake for thy sake, sahib; but I will drive
+thee to Jehandum an' thou wilt,&mdash;for no man hath ever called me coward
+before.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then the sahib looked in my face, as I tucked the ends of my beard
+under my puggri; and seeing that my eyes met his four-square, he gave up
+the reins to me, saying, 'If thou playest me false I will kill thee like
+a dog;' and he showed me the hilt of a pistol that he had in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"We spake no more together, but when we came to the Bore bridge I shook
+the jungle with a blast from my bugle.</p>
+
+<p>"'Shabash! coach-wan,' exclaimed the sahib; 'thou art a man, indeed, and
+shalt have Shere Bahadoor's skin as recompense for the hurt to thy
+stomach. Bid him come again.'</p>
+
+<p>"Half a mile beyond the bridge, as we sped along the level road above
+the river, I again blew upon the bugle. The sound had scarcely ceased,
+when we heard the angry roar of a charging tiger.</p>
+
+<p>"'Stop!' exclaimed the sahib; and I threw the frightened horses on their
+haunches, whilst he leaped to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, whilst the horses flew along the road, I looked back over my
+shoulder and beheld the Lame One bound into the middle of the road; and
+the sahib blew on his fingers, as one would whistle to a dog. The great
+beast stopped on the instant and crouched on the ground, ready to spring
+on the sahib as he advanced towards it, and I prayed to Nana Debi to
+befriend the young fool.</p>
+
+<p>"When he was within thirty paces or so from the tiger, the sahib halted
+and brought the gun to his shoulder. The next instant there was the
+crack of a rifle, and the Lame One leaped straight into the air.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew the tiger was dead; and immediately thereafter the mail-cart ran
+into a bank and spilled me on the road. Leaving the stunned horses tied
+to a tree, I proceeded to seek the sahib.</p>
+
+<p>"Wah ji, wah! brothers, we must pay taxes to the Faringis until we can
+raise sons like theirs. When I joined the boy sahib he was smoking, and
+taking the measure of the tiger with a tape!</p>
+
+<p>"His bullet had struck the beast between the eyes, and the Lame One had
+died at the hands of a <i>man</i>!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3><i>An Affront to Gannesha</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>"A little brother hath come," said Biroo, as Ram Deen dismounted from
+the mail-cart. The tall driver snatched up the little boy and hurried to
+his hut, over the door of which was affixed the green bough that is
+customary on such occasions, and whence came the wailing of a new-born
+child.</p>
+
+<p>The inner apartment was guarded by a lean old woman, who refused Ram
+Deen admittance thereto, and who would have prevented even speech on his
+part had she been able. But Ram Deen was not to be denied such solace as
+could be gained from the voice whose accents had taken him captive the
+first time he had heard them.</p>
+
+<p>The feeble wailing of the babe made the strong man tremble.</p>
+
+<p>"Tara, Light in Darkness, is it well with thee?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite well, my lord and my master," came the faint answer. "Thy
+handmaid hath bestowed a man-child upon thee, and Nana Debi will require
+a kid of thee in recompense."</p>
+
+<p>"He shall have a flock of goats, Heart of my Heart&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay," interrupted Tara; "it is a very little child and a kid will
+suffice; but go now, my master, I am very tired and would fain sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"May the stars in heaven shower their blessings on thee, my Best
+Beloved;" and with this invocation Ram Deen left the hut, leading little
+Biroo by the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"See what Gunga Ram gave me but now, father mine," said Biroo, unfolding
+a plaintain leaf wherein was wrapped a sweetmeat made of rice and milk;
+"and he hath a great cooking forward to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore?" asked Ram Deen.</p>
+
+<p>"For that a man-child hath come to Nyagong, as well as Kaladoongie, this
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ho," said Ram Deen, chuckling softly, "we will have speech with
+Gunga Ram."</p>
+
+<p>When they had arrived at the methai-wallah's booth, Ram Deen, looking on
+the thalis (trays) heaped with sweetmeats crisp from the making, said,
+"Wah ji, wah! Gunga Ram, is the Hurdwar mela (fair) coming to the Bore
+Nuddee, that thou shouldst make such preparations?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, coach-wan ji, but a man-child hath come to the house of the
+Jemadar of Nyagong, and he hath commanded fresh sweetmeats and cates for
+a feast in honor of an honorable birth."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no honorable thing done in Nyagong, Gunga Ram. They be all
+thugs and thieves there, and it shall not be said that Ram Deen's
+friends at Kaladoongie ate stale pooris whilst the Jemadar of Nyagong,
+whose face I have blackened, set fresh cates before his guests.
+Therefore bid carry these sweetmeats to my friends who sit round the
+Thanadar's fire, and to-morrow thou shalt make enough for all the people
+of Kaladoongie, so that they may know that a son hath been born to Ram
+Deen."</p>
+
+<p>"But, coach-wan ji," remonstrated Gunga Ram, "the Jemadar's men wait to
+carry these things to Nyagong."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell them, Gunga Ram, that I had need of them; but, nevertheless, for
+the kindness the men of Nyagong did to little Biroo last year, send
+them, on his behalf, two rupees' worth of gur and parched gram;" and Ram
+Deen laid the money in the sweetmeat vender's palm.</p>
+
+<p>To the impromptu feast round the fire that evening Ram Deen contributed
+also a chatty of palm-toddy that Goor Dutt had brought for him from
+Moradabad. By the time the circling hookah had crowned the feast beards
+were wagging freely round the fire; and even Tulsi Ram, the village
+pundit, most modest and unassuming of men, was moved to unusual speech.
+Once more Ram Deen had told the story of the avenging of Nandha; and the
+Thanadar, whose utterances were always sententious, owing to the
+responsibility and dignity of his office, said, "Verily, the young and
+not the old Faringi is the true subduer of Hindoostan."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou sayest it, Thanadar ji," assented Tulsi Ram. "I knew such a young
+sahib as he who slew the lame tiger of Huldwani when I worked as munshi
+at Hurdwar for certain Faringis who had business there. He I speak of
+feared not even the Gods."</p>
+
+<p>When all eyes were turned upon the pundit, and he found himself in the
+trying position of one who was expected to give proof of his opinion,
+his natural modesty overcame him and he was suddenly silent. It was not
+till he had swallowed a generous draught of the toddy that his courage
+revived to the point of telling the following narrative, for which his
+audience waited patiently:</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers," he began, "some three years after the great Mutiny there
+came to Hurdwar two Faringis, by name Scott Sahib and Wilson Sahib, of
+whom the latter was a great shikari, as all Hindoostan is aware, and who
+was further known amongst the Faringis as 'Pahari Wilson.'</p>
+
+<p>"They hired me to cut down sāl timber on the upper waters of the Gunga
+and float it down to Hurdwar, where they established a post, over which
+they set in charge a young Faringi named Clements Sahib, whose munshi I
+was, and whose duty it was to stamp the timber with the seal of his
+employers and make it into rafts that were then floated on to Allahabad.</p>
+
+<p>"Clements Sahib had been found by Pahari Wilson Sahib in one of the
+villages of the Rajah of Tiri, whither he had fled from Cawnpore, where
+his father and mother had been killed by the people of the plains during
+the season of the Mutiny.</p>
+
+<p>"He was a man grown when he came to Hurdwar, speaking Nagari and
+Padhani, and knowing well the ways of our people. And wherever he went
+men's eyes followed him, for he walked amongst them with the air of a
+master. His face was scarred with small-pox; his nose was curved like a
+hawk's, and his nostrils were terrible to behold when he was angered,
+which was often, for he lacked patience with men of our race, because of
+the slaying, and worse, of his mother, which he had witnessed; and his
+words did not often go before his blows, which were weighty by reason of
+his great strength. He limped, for that his right leg had been broken
+by a bear whilst he lived amongst the hill men.</p>
+
+<p>"But, great and terrible as he was on land, the wonder of him when he
+swam in the Gunga, as he did daily, man never saw before.</p>
+
+<p>"He feared nothing, brothers,&mdash;neither man nor beast, nor even Gannesha,
+upon whom he put an affront one day, when he beat his priests in the
+temple and in the presence of the God.</p>
+
+<p>"This was the way of it: There passed daily through our compound, on its
+way to the jungle, a young, sacred bull that was fed by the priests of
+Gannesha; and its horns had silver tips, whereon was graved a picture of
+the God bearing an elephant's head. And because the bull pursued one of
+his dogs, one day, the sahib shot it; and the bazaars of Hurdwar buzzed
+with angry men.</p>
+
+<p>"'Sahib,' said I to him, 'this is not well done; the Gods never forget
+an insult.' But he only laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"That evening, as the sahib ate his meal, the lamps being lit, there
+came an arrow through an open window and transfixed the dog which was
+lying at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"The beast yelped as one that is stricken to the death, and I, who sat
+at my book in the adjoining room, looked up as Clements Sahib, snatching
+up a gun from the corner, ran to the veranda and fired at a man who
+passed swiftly through the darkling garden. For answer there came the
+lowing of a bull; and the sahib, being lame, soon gave up the chase and
+returned to the house.</p>
+
+<p>"By the light of a lantern we searched the garden, and when we found
+drops of blood on the ground the sahib laughed, and said, 'Aha! Tulsi
+Ram; I wounded the shikar, after all.'</p>
+
+<p>"''Tis bad hunting, sahib,' I made reply.</p>
+
+<p>"The next moment he stopped, and held the lantern to a necklace of plum
+seeds and gold that hung on the branch of an orange tree. To the
+necklace was attached an agate, whereon was graven the head of an
+elephant."</p>
+
+<p>"When we returned to the house the sahib drew the arrow from the dead
+dog, and on the bolt of that, too, was graven the head of Gannesha. And
+I said, 'Thou hast affronted the Gods, indeed, sahib! 'Twere well to
+restore his beads to some priest of Gannesha.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Of a surety,' he replied, 'when I find the owner; but, till then, I
+will wear the thing round my own neck.'</p>
+
+<p>"The next morning, as we rode on an elephant through the jungle to the
+river, there came the lowing of a bull from a thicket, and an arrow
+whistled through Clements Sahib's sola topee, and another struck the
+cheroot from his mouth. So I said, 'The man with the bow could slay
+thee, sahib, had he a mind to do so.' But the sahib flushed like an
+angry dawn, and gave the mahout orders to beat through the thicket for
+the man with the bull's voice; whereon the bellowing came from behind
+us. Now it was here, and now there, but never where we looked for it,
+and, whenever the sahib fired into some likely thicket, the archer gave
+us further proof of his skill.</p>
+
+<p>"'To the temple of Gannesha!' shouted the sahib, roused to frenzy, and
+there was that in his face that forbade speech.</p>
+
+<p>"When we reached the city, the main street was already packed with a
+menacing crowd,&mdash;for word of our coming had gone before us, and the
+thoroughfare resounded from end to end with lowings as of a thousand
+bulls. The weight of the great beast that bore us alone took us through
+the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>"When we reached the gate of the temple of Gannesha, behold! the priests
+formed a lane through the court-yard, and the crowd fell back at their
+bidding. We alighted from the elephant, and walked through the priests
+till we came to the inner door of the temple, where stood a venerable
+jogi naked, save for a loin-cloth, and covered with wood-ashes from his
+head to his heels.</p>
+
+<p>"'Welcome, brother,' he said, as Clements Sahib approached him; 'but thy
+rosary will not admit thee farther than this, and 'tis not fitting that
+thou shouldst enter the presence of Gannesha without thy <i>teeka</i> of
+purification;' and, with an agility that was surprising in such an old
+man, he sprang towards the sahib and touched him on the forehead, at the
+same time snatching at the necklace. But the sahib swept him aside, and
+the next moment we entered the temple, the door of which closed with a
+threatening crash as the last of the priests followed us in.</p>
+
+<p>"When they saw the sahib advance with set purpose towards the great god
+Gannesha, they raised a shout and ran upon him; and I, being unarmed and
+a man of peace, and, moreover, a Brahmin, slipped behind a pillar and
+watched the beginning of a great combat, wherein one man fought with
+twenty, and they with staves in their hands.</p>
+
+<p>"And the sahib waited not for his foes, but, firing his gun at their
+legs, he whirled it aloft and hurled it into the crowd that advanced
+upon him; wherefore three priests lay on the ground and were as dead
+men. And, ere they could recover from their confusion, the sahib ran in
+upon them with clinched hands, and his face was terrible to look upon.</p>
+
+<p>"So thick were they that many of them fell from their brothers' blows;
+and whenever the sahib struck, a man fell to the ground and remained
+there. Toba! toba! never saw I such fighting.</p>
+
+<p>"When there were but three or four of them able to stand, they broke and
+fled to an inner shrine, whence they besought the sahib to depart and
+molest them no more. But he said, 'Nay, not till ye have delivered up to
+me him to whom this rosary belongs.'</p>
+
+<p>"'It is mine, Faringi dog,' screamed the old jogi, darting upon the
+sahib from behind a pillar, a long knife in his hand. The sahib had
+scarce time to turn, when the knife passed through the fleshy part of
+his arm. The next instant the sahib wrenched his weapon from the old
+jogi, and, putting the necklace round him, he bore him to a window and
+threw him into the river which flowed below, saying, 'Gunga will
+doubtless succor a follower of Gannesha.'</p>
+
+<p>"After I had tied his handkerchief round his arm to stay the bleeding he
+took up his gun, and, opening the door of the temple, he went forth.
+And the people marvelled to see him come out again.</p>
+
+<p>"Having mounted his elephant, he spake to those standing round, saying,
+'Dogs and swine! neither ye, nor your priests, nor your Gods can avail
+against a Faringi. Go into the temple and see for yourselves if I speak
+not the truth. Let no man of Hurdwar cross my path hereafter, or I will
+scourge the streets of your city.' So the crowd opened before us, and we
+returned in peace.</p>
+
+<p>"And as the sahib dismounted from the elephant, I said, 'The teeka,
+sahib: it is still on thy forehead.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah,' he exclaimed, 'that was what the old jogi put on me.' And he
+plucked it off. It was made of silver and stamped with the image of
+Gannesha on both sides, and the impress of the stamp showed red on the
+white skin of the sahib's forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"The next morning, when I went to my work, the sahib called me into his
+room, and behold! the stamp of Gannesha showed as brightly on his
+forehead as it did the day before! and I feared greatly for the sahib,
+for it is no small thing to affront a God.</p>
+
+<p>"For a whole week the mark remained on the sahib, and he wore his hat
+before all men. None dared to speak to him, for he answered mostly with
+blows.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tulsi Ram,' said he to me one day, 'tell the old jogi of the temple of
+Gannesha that I desire speech with him.'</p>
+
+<p>"And when the old man had come the sahib spake: 'So Gunga bare up thy
+chin, swami?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ay, ji; and I told him much concerning thee. Thine arm?'</p>
+
+<p>"''Tis well,' replied the sahib. 'But now remove me the mark from my
+forehead.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I may not do anything without the permission of Gannesha, whom thou
+hast angered. He must be propitiated in a manner befitting the sahib's
+station,' returned the jogi.</p>
+
+<p>"'State thy demands, swami,' said the sahib.</p>
+
+<p>"'Now, nay, not mine, sahib, but Gannesha's,' remonstrated the old jogi.
+Then, after musing awhile, he went on: 'The God requireth of thee two
+hundred rupees for the use of his temple, and ten rupees a month, for
+twenty months, to salve the hurts of his twenty priests.'</p>
+
+<p>"''Tis well,' said Clements Sahib, opening a drawer of the table whereat
+he sat, and pushing two hundred rupees across to the old man. 'Proceed.'</p>
+
+<p>"After the jogi had tied the money in his loin-cloth he touched the mark
+on the sahib's forehead with his finger, and, lo! at the touching it
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"'And what if I should not pay thee the rest of thy demand?' asked
+Clements Sahib after he had looked in a mirror and seen that the mark of
+Gannesha was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou art a Faringi ji, and wilt not fail of thy word,' replied the
+jogi.</p>
+
+<p>"'There be bad Faringis, swami, and my heart inclineth me to their
+number.'</p>
+
+<p>"''Twere easy to persuade thee to a right course, sahib,' said the old
+man, pointing his finger at Clements Sahib. 'Behold!' And the livid mark
+leapt out on the sahib's forehead again.</p>
+
+<p>"After the mark had been removed once more by the jogi, and as he was
+preparing to depart, Clements Sahib said, 'Come for your monthly payment
+when the new moon shows, but cross not my path at any other time, or
+harm shall befall thee.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Brave words, sahib,' returned the mendicant; 'and be careful, thyself,
+not to insult the Gods. Salaam,' and he went forth. So there was peace
+between the Gods and Clements Sahib until the jogi had received three
+payments.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, on a day, the sahib bade me accompany him to the Hurke Piree, for
+he was fain to catch the great mahser that abound there, where they feed
+on the offerings of the pilgrims.</p>
+
+<p>"And I would have prevented him, saying, 'The fish, Provider of the
+Poor, are tame; 'twere no sport to catch them. Besides, the Hurke Piree
+is holy, and 'twere not well to pollute the great steps with the killing
+even of fish.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Therefore it is in my mind, O Brown Mouse, to catch fish for my
+evening meal,' replied the sahib, his nostrils twitching; so I spake no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>"When the sahib had drawn forth the first fish that took his bait, there
+came the voices of an angry crowd, and, looking up, behold! the great
+stairs were black with people; and, taking four steps at a bound, there
+came towards us a young priest stripped for bathing, and it was Salig
+Ram, the greatest pylwan (wrestler) in Hurdwar.</p>
+
+<p>"Ere the sahib could guess the purpose of the priest, the latter sprang
+upon him, and they twain fell together into the deep water.</p>
+
+<p>"When they came to the surface again, the sahib had an arm round Salig
+Ram's throat, and was beating him with his clinched hand till the blood
+ran down his face, and he spat forth a handful of teeth. The priest was
+as one who is amazed, crying feebly, 'Ram dhwy, ram dhwy!' and he was as
+a frightened child in the sahib's hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Thinking that the sahib would slay their champion before their eyes,
+and so desecrate the gates of heaven, two or three score of angry
+Brahmins leapt into the river to the rescue of Salig Ram, and I
+followed, likewise, to see the end of the matter.</p>
+
+<p>"Releasing the young priest, the sahib swam away easily from those who
+followed, slipping off his upper garments as he proceeded down the
+river, and then his shoes, which he threw in derision at those who
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, when he came to the temple of Gannesha, there appeared in the
+window that overlooks the river the old jogi, who swung something round
+his head that glittered in the sun; and he shouted aloud, 'Gunga, take
+thee! Gunga, take thee!'</p>
+
+<p>"The sahib turned his face towards the temple, and, as he did so, the
+jogi threw the thing he swung at him. It flashed as it circled through
+the air, and settled over the sahib's head; and, in that instant, he
+threw up his arms and disappeared, and thereafter a few bubbles came to
+the surface.</p>
+
+<p>"Two days afterwards, the dead body of a Faringi was found ten miles
+below Hurdwar and taken to Roorkie, whither I went by order of the
+sircar, to assist in the identification of the dead man.</p>
+
+<p>"Brothers, the corpse was that of Clements Sahib. Round his neck was a
+rosary of gold and plum seeds, with an agate amulet; and on his forehead
+was the presentment of an elephant's head, the seal of Gannesha, whom no
+man may affront."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3><i>A Daughter of the Gods</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>To those in evening conclave round the fire came a long refrain sung on
+one high note by Goor Dutt, as his bullock-cart approached the village.
+"She died in the night of co-o-o-old," he keened. There was a pathos in
+his voice which told of his own sufferings, for the night was frosty,
+rather than those of some fictitious person.</p>
+
+<p>"What freight to-night, byl-wan?" inquired the Thanadar, when he came
+within speaking distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Vessels of clay, and a dead man," replied the little bullock driver.</p>
+
+<p>Some one held a torch to the thing that lay across the end of the
+bullock driver's wagon, shrouded in a white cloth, on which was a red
+wet stain as big as a man's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis Lakhoo, the dacoit," said the Thanadar, when the face of the
+corpse had been uncovered; "now, Nana Debi be praised for his taking
+off! Some one will be the richer for this deed by five hundred rupees."</p>
+
+<p>Below the left breast of the corpse, and beneath the stain on the cloth
+that covered it, was a little hole that would scarce admit the tip of a
+man's finger, but whence, nevertheless, had issued the life of one of
+the terrors of the Terai. The dead man had been the head of a daring
+band of dacoits, whose depredations ranged from Rajpore to Bareilly, and
+on each of whose heads was a large reward, for they had not hesitated to
+commit murder when committing theft.</p>
+
+<p>After Goor Dutt had refreshed his inner man and taken his place at the
+fire, he began: "This was the way of it: This evening, as I came
+hitherwards, there passed me two doolis, and he who held the torch to
+light the way was Lakhoo, whom I had seen once before at the thana at
+Moradabad, whence he afterwards escaped. As the doolis passed, he held
+the torch to my face, but I feigned sleep, and so he did not molest me.</p>
+
+<p>"The baggage, slung on poles across the shoulders of the bearers, showed
+the people in the doolis to be Faringis; and I was minded to see what
+would happen, and, if need were, bring thee early word, Thanadar ji, as
+to Lakhoo's doings. So I tied my bullocks to a tree and followed the
+doolis, treading where the dust was thick and the shadows deepest.</p>
+
+<p>"When the doolis arrived at the path that leads to Nyagong, men came out
+of the jungle and stopped the bearers; and I crept behind a bael tree on
+the edge of the road and within fifty paces of the travellers, so that I
+could see and hear all that passed, for the torch was bright and the
+night was still, and Lakhoo spoke as one who knoweth not the need for
+speaking low.</p>
+
+<p>"And when those who carried the doolis knew that it was Lakhoo who had
+borne the torch for them, and that they were in the midst of his men,
+their livers turned to water. One, less frightened than the others,
+attempted to flee, but a bamboo lat descended on his skull, and he lay
+as one dead, and the rest moaned, 'Ram dhwy, ram dhwy!'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ye Sons of Jackals! ye have naught to fear,' said Lakhoo. 'What were
+your miserable dole for the carrying of these doolis to me? But,
+remember, ye have nor eyes nor ears now if ye would have them
+hereafter!'</p>
+
+<p>"And they whined, saying, 'We be blind and deaf, Bahadoor; and we know
+nothing, for we be poor men.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Therefore are ye safe, ye sons of mothers without virtue, for they who
+sleep in the doolis are rich, and the family of the sahib who hanged my
+brother last year. Who would crack dry bones for sustenance when savory
+meat is at hand?'</p>
+
+<p>"Thereafter he tapped on the roof of one of the doolis, saying, 'Wake,
+mem-sahib, wake!'</p>
+
+<p>"'What is the matter, dooli-wallah?' was the reply, in the feeble voice
+of a sick woman.</p>
+
+<p>"'This is the chowki, khodawund; but the fresh bearers are not here, and
+those who brought thee hither are spent and cannot proceed farther. But
+there are those here who will bear thee on thy journey for a proper
+price.'</p>
+
+<p>"So she called aloud in her own tongue, and there came forth into the
+night, from the other dooli, a young lad rubbing the sleep from his eyes
+and yawning; and whilst he parleyed with his mother, the curtain of her
+dooli was lifted, and a young mem-sahib rose from it and stood beside
+the boy, and we could see they were brother and sister, but she was the
+older and taller by a span, and in the budding of her womanhood. The
+hair, that fell to her waist, was as spun gold in the light of the
+torches; rings and stones flashed in her ears and on her fingers, but
+they were nothing to the glances of her eyes, which met four-square the
+eyes of those to whom she spoke; and she looked at those who were
+present as though they were there to do her bidding.</p>
+
+<p>"When the sick mem-sahib in the dooli had finished speaking, the younger
+one addressed the masalchi (torch-bearer), saying, 'How far is it to the
+next chowki, and what do you ask for taking us there?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Two kos (six miles), mem-sahib, and the hire of my men is fifty
+rupees,' answered Lakhoo.</p>
+
+<p>"'And what did you get for bringing us here?' asked she, turning to the
+dooli-bearers who stood round them.</p>
+
+<p>"'They are poor men, missy baba, and know nothing,' said Lakhoo, at whom
+the dooli-bearers looked for instructions.</p>
+
+<p>"'Son of a Pig!' exclaimed the young lad, taking a leather bag from his
+sister's hand and throwing the money, a rupee at a time, on the ground;
+'there are fifty rupees. Proceed, for the mem-sahib, my mother, is sick,
+and must be on the hills ere the morning sun give heat,' and his face
+flushed in the torchlight.</p>
+
+<p>"So Lakhoo tied the money in his waistband, and, without further speech,
+sat down and smoked the hookah that was passed to him.</p>
+
+<p>"And after awhile the baba (boy), who had been walking to and fro with
+the young woman, his sister, stopped opposite Lakhoo, and spoke,
+saying, 'Why do you not proceed, dooli-wallah?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Because I am waiting for my hire, baba ji,' replied Lakhoo.</p>
+
+<p>"'I paid you but now,' exclaimed the young sahib.</p>
+
+<p>"'The sahib is scarce awake,' said Lakhoo, in a bantering tone, 'and
+hath been dreaming.' And his men who formed the outer circle laughed
+insolently.</p>
+
+<p>"'Liar!' shouted the young sahib, bursting into tears and clinching his
+hand; but his sister laid a restraining finger on his arm, and whispered
+in his ear.</p>
+
+<p>"'We will give thee thy due, masalchi,' she said, as she went to her
+mother's dooli.</p>
+
+<p>"When she returned, she put a three-cornered bag of leather in her
+brother's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"'The young mem-sahib is as generous as she is beautiful,' said Lakhoo,
+fixing hot eyes on her, whereat her nostrils twitched; 'and her hair is
+more precious than gold.' And as he spake, he laid a desecrating hand on
+her locks.</p>
+
+<p>"'Swine-born!" shouted the young lad, and drawing from the bag in his
+hand a toy that glittered in the torchlight, he put it to Lakhoo's
+breast and fired. The tall man bounded into the air like a stricken
+deer, and fell prone on his face. As the dacoits rose to their feet, I
+smote on the branches of the bael tree that sheltered me with my bamboo
+staff, shouting like three men, 'Thieves, thieves!' So Lakhoo's men fled
+headlong, and I came forth from my shelter, and salaamed to the baba and
+the young mem-sahib.</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou hast earned five hundred rupees, sahib,' said I, 'by the killing
+of the great dacoit, Lakhoo.'</p>
+
+<p>"'We had been slain, an' it had not been for thee,' said the young
+mem-sahib. 'Who and what art thou?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Goor Dutt, byl-wan, mem-sahib,' I replied; 'and it is my highest
+reward to have served thee and thine.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Now, nay, byl-wan, my brother, Charlie Sahib, herewith bestows on thee
+whatsoever reward is due for the killing of this dog.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ay, and this pistol, too,' interrupted the young lad, putting his
+glittering toy in my hand. And he showed me the wonder of it,&mdash;how it
+spake five times, if need were, and how to charge it.</p>
+
+<p>"Then they put the dead man on my bullock-cart, which one of those
+present had been sent to fetch. And when the bearers took up the doolis,
+they shouted, as one man, 'Chali Sahib ke jhai!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Wah, byl-wan ji, wah!" exclaimed Ram Deen, when Goor Dutt had finished,
+"thou art taller than most men. Let us honor a man, my brothers."</p>
+
+<p>And those who sat round the fire sprang to their feet, and woke the
+slumbering village with the heartiness of their salutation, as they
+shouted, "Goor Dutt ji ke jhai!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>"<i>Ich Liebe Dich</i>"</h3>
+
+
+<p>Early one morning in December, in the year 186&mdash;, I left my camp with a
+pointer at my heels to explore the foothills to the northwest of
+Nyagong. The region abounded with iron ore, and the mining syndicate I
+represented instructed me to conduct my prospecting in a way that would
+not arouse the suspicion of the manager of another company that had
+already established iron works at Kaladoongie. So it speedily became
+noised about in that section of the Terai that I was one of the many
+Englishmen who spend their leave of absence in the jungle for the
+purposes of sport.</p>
+
+<p>There was a shrewd nip in the air when I started, and the barrels of my
+gun were so cold that I was glad I had put on a pair of thick gloves.</p>
+
+<p>The jungle was hardly awake when I struck into the path that skirted the
+Bore Nuddee. Presently, a green parrot "kr-r-r-d" tentatively, as a
+faint flush appeared in the cloudless east. A wild boar jumped a fence a
+few hundred yards ahead of me, followed by the sounder, of which he was
+chief, as they left the fields they had been marauding during the night.
+A nilghai, with his wicked-looking horns, soon followed, and lumbered
+noiselessly away. These were the thieves of the Terai, and they were,
+naturally, hurrying to their coverts before the coming day should be
+upon them.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, the dewy silence was broken by the invocation of a black
+partridge,&mdash;the muezzin of the jungle. "Sobhan theri koodruth!" How
+solemnly, and with what splendor of utterance and pause this voice of
+the Terai announces the miracle of the morning! The cry was taken up and
+passed on with a significance that dwarfed the passing of the fiery
+torch as told by Scott in "The Lady of the Lake." And immediately
+thereafter the jungle was singing its many-voiced matin, not the least
+"notable note" of which was the challenge of the jungle-cock, who is a
+native of the Terai, and whose vigorous voice is not raucous with the
+civilized laryngeal affections of the "tame villatic fowl."</p>
+
+<p>And then, in the awakening of the forest, there came&mdash;Italian opera! A
+well-poised soprano voice silenced the jungle choir by a brilliantly
+executed chromatic scale, as though the singer were trying her voice.
+Finding it flexible enough for her purpose, she launched into the
+difficult&mdash;and abominable&mdash;aria, "Di tale amore che dirsi" in "Il
+Trovatore." She suddenly stopped, as though she were ashamed of the
+rubbish she sang; and, after a pause of half a minute, my soul was
+stirred by the air of Beethoven's immortal "Ich Liebe Dich," sung to the
+following words, which were beautifully enunciated:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I love thee, dear! All words would fail<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To tell the true and tender theme;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Such ardent thoughts, and passion pale,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And humble suit, I fondly deem,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Would need a poet's rapturous mind.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Oh! if fit words could but be bought,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If Love's own speech I could but find,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I'd sell my soul to express my thought,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">So you should in Love's toils be caught!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Oh! then a kindlier sun would shine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The vermeiled flowers would look more fair,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The common world would seem divine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And daily things appear most rare;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My soul, a soaring lark, would rise<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To greet the morning of thy love<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So sweetly dawning in thine eyes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And in thy smiles, which should approve.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The tender charm of the sweet old song&mdash;now utterly neglected for more
+brazen utterances, and which only Beethoven could have written&mdash;was
+thoroughly appreciated by the singer.</p>
+
+<p>Wishing to see her without myself being discovered, and hoping to hear
+her sing again, I "stalked" her&mdash;and, behold, she was a Padhani! I
+couldn't be mistaken, for she was singing David's "O ma maitresse," as I
+watched her from behind the bole of a great huldoo tree.</p>
+
+<p>A little boy, about three years in age, played beside her as she sat on
+a fallen tree trunk and took part in the matin of the Terai. There was a
+noble breadth between her eyes that reminded one of the Sistine
+Madonna, and an air of repose about her figure which was set off by her
+simple garments.</p>
+
+<p>She was, without doubt, Chambeli, the Padhani protégé of the Fishers,
+whose flight from her husband, the Rev. John Trusler, immediately after
+her return to the Terai, had been the sensation of the season at Naini
+Tal a few years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Snapping a dry twig with my foot to attract her attention, I stepped
+into the open and approached her. Her first impulse was to flee, but she
+quickly regained her composure and awaited me, standing, her eyes
+meeting mine without the least embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>"Your singing attracted me," I began, taking off my hat to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" she replied, evidently not at all anxious to come to my relief in
+the awkward position I had sought.</p>
+
+<p>"It was very beautiful&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And it is finished," she interrupted. There was a slight tone of
+contempt in her voice as she thus gave me to understand that my
+presence was unwelcome. But, as a student of psychology, I was not to be
+so easily moved from my design of "investigating the case" before me.</p>
+
+<p>"The Rev. John Trusler is dead." I paused awhile to see how she would be
+affected. Then, as she gave no sign of emotion, I went on, "He hanged
+himself a few days after you left him."</p>
+
+<p>"My God!" she exclaimed, putting her hand to her side and seating
+herself on the fallen tree.</p>
+
+<p>The child, who had been clinging to his mother's dress and regarding me
+with round, brown eyes, began to cry when he saw his mother's sudden
+emotion. She took him up in her arms and cuddled his head to her bosom,
+saying in the Padhani patois, "Mea mithoo, mea mithoo! hush, my butcha."</p>
+
+<p>In the silence that ensued after the child had been quieted there came
+the regular stroke of a woodman's axe, and presently the refrain of a
+Padhani song sung by a man.</p>
+
+<p>When the woman had regained her calm, she looked up at me somewhat
+defiantly and said, "What business had they to come between me and my
+jungle mother? What right had they to impose moral shackles on one who
+was above their petty codes?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Fishers were moved by kindness, surely; they educated you, and
+Christianized you, and through them you met and married an honorable
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"Educated me, forsooth!" she exclaimed with scorn, her nostrils
+twitching; "they robbed me of my five senses, and gave me
+instead&mdash;accomplishments. Can you tell the time of the day from the sun,
+sir? Can you say when the sambhur passed whose track is at your feet,
+and how many wolves were in the pack that followed him? Would your sense
+of smell lead you to a pool of fresh water in mid-jungle? Can you feel
+the proximity of a crouching leopard without seeing it? What sort of
+education is it that neglects the senses? Oh, the highest product of
+your civilization&mdash;your poet-laureate, Tennyson&mdash;felt the same thing
+stir in his pulses when he wrote 'Locksley Hall,' and deprecated the
+'poring over miserable books' with blinded eye-sight."</p>
+
+<p>"'Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay,'" I quoted, as
+she paused in her rapid discourse.</p>
+
+<p>"For the European, perhaps; not for the Chinaman. No, I have no feeling
+of gratitude towards those you speak of; for the large freedom of the
+Terai they gave me a brick cage in London; they gave me endless crowds
+of miserable men and women for these, my green brothers, who are always
+happy," and she put out her hand and caressed a tree that grew beside
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"As for Christianity," she resumed, "it is but one facet in the jewel,
+morality. Christ was but an adept, I take it, who attained to his
+miraculous powers&mdash;as do our rishis and jogis&mdash;by prayer and fasting and
+meditation. I cannot see that Christian vices are fewer or more venial
+than those of our people."</p>
+
+<p>"But don't you miss your books, and the keeping in touch with the
+progress of civilization?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Must I quote 'books in the running brooks' to you? What book is there
+like this book of God's?" and she swept her arm round her. "And if my
+son grow up to be brave and strong, that will be civilization enough for
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"But your music?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that is the only thing I miss. But I recollect all of Schumann's
+songs and Schubert's, some of Beethoven's&mdash;and then I make songs of my
+own to fit the moods of my jungle mother, and I have some small skill in
+weaving words for them."</p>
+
+<p>"And the man who hanged himself?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was no man," she flashed; "who had not the strength of a girl, and
+who was as weak-eyed as the bat in daytime! You shall see a man indeed,
+one who fears not to track the tiger afoot, and who even beats me when
+he sees fit," and she called aloud, "Aho! Kali Dass, aho!"</p>
+
+<p>The sound of the woodman's axe ceased, and presently we heard some one
+approaching through the jungle.</p>
+
+<p>"'Twere better that he should know from me that you and I had had
+speech together, than that he should learn it from the Terai, for our
+men are very terrible when they are wrought upon by jealousy." Then,
+after a pause, she went on, "Don't speak to me in English in his
+presence. He won't like it."</p>
+
+<p>She rose and half veiled her face with her chudder, as a splendid young
+Padhan bearing an immense load of wood entered the glade. He threw down
+his burden as soon as he perceived me, and, snatching up his axe,
+advanced menacingly towards me. He was a bronze Apollo, with the air of
+freedom that is native to mountaineers and woodsy folks.</p>
+
+<p>"The sahib intended no harm, Kali Dass," began the woman; "and he hath
+given me tidings of <i>his</i> death."</p>
+
+<p>"What of it? He was but a quail."</p>
+
+<p>"But now canst thou become a Christian, and&mdash;marry me."</p>
+
+<p>"Marry one who was twice a widow? Nana Debi forbid! I must admonish thee
+when we return to our hut. Come."</p>
+
+<p>Fearing that any further interest in the case on my part would but
+increase the severity of her punishment, I turned down the jungle path.</p>
+
+<p>Just before leaving the glade I looked back; the woman had one knee on
+the ground, and with outstretched arms she was balancing the load of
+wood that Kali Dass was putting on her head.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3><i>The Smoking of a Hornets' Nest</i></h3>
+
+
+<p>"The 'big rains' will begin to-night," said the bunnia at Lal Kooah, as
+Ram Deen took his seat on the mail-cart.</p>
+
+<p>"And there will be much lightning and thunder," added one of the
+by-standers, "the night is so still."</p>
+
+<p>The sky was inky, and the Terai awaited the coming storm in a breathless
+silence which was only emphasized by the parting blasts of Ram Deen's
+bugle. The horses had their ears twitched forward apprehensively, and
+started, every now and then, at the objects revealed by the light of the
+lamps. A mile or so beyond Lal Kooah a few heavy drops of rain pattered
+on the broad leaves of the overarching huldoos. Suddenly the sky was
+rent by a streak of lightning,&mdash;the <i>avant courier</i> of the mighty
+monsoon,&mdash;and it was immediately followed by the terrific thunder that
+bayed at its heels.</p>
+
+<p>In the intensified silence that ensued Ram Deen blew his bugle to
+reassure the frightened horses. He had barely ceased when there came the
+sharp crack of a pistol-shot, and a far cry, "Ram dhwy! ram dhwy! Aho!
+Ram Deen, aho!"</p>
+
+<p>"Tis the voice of Goor Dutt," said the hostler, "and he looketh on
+fear."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Deen urged his team into a flying gallop as the storm struck the
+jungle and woke its mighty voices. Wind and rain, and trees with
+leafless branches for stringed instruments, made an elemental orchestra
+that discoursed cataclysmic music.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst the thunder crackled and crashed overhead to the steady and
+sullen roar of the rain the horses came to a sudden stand-still. In the
+feeble lamplight Ram Deen discerned a man lying in the middle of the
+road. Taking one of the lamps, he held it to his face. It was Goor Dutt,
+the little bullock driver. He was unconscious, and had a deep wound on
+his head from which the blood was still welling.</p>
+
+<p>Hanging on a wild plum-tree that grew on the edge of the road was a
+bloodstained turban that fluttered in the storm. Tying it securely to
+the branch whence it hung, Ram Deen placed the unconscious bullock
+driver at the bottom of the mail-cart, the hostler supporting his head.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at Kaladoongie, Ram Deen roused the native apothecary at the
+dispensary. Goor Dutt was carried in and laid on a charpoi, and whilst
+the apothecary attended to his hurts Ram Deen knocked on the Thanadar's
+house, saying, "Wake, Thanadar ji. There be bad men abroad to-night, and
+blows to pay."</p>
+
+<p>When the two friends returned to the dispensary Goor Dutt was looking
+about him in a dazed fashion. The stimulant administered to him had
+begun to take effect, and the sight of the tall driver roused him to a
+recollection of the events of the night.</p>
+
+<p>"Lakhoo's men," said he, feebly. "I counted five by the light of the
+torch they burned. They beset me, and doubtless I had been slain, but
+they heard thy bugle, and, whilst they hesitated, I shouted to thee,
+and, freeing one hand, I drew the pistol Charlie Sahib gave me and fired
+once, and then a great darkness fell upon me."</p>
+
+<p>Whilst the Thanadar roused a couple of his men Ram Deen slipped into his
+own garden to release Hasteen, for the great dog would be needed in the
+hunting of that night.</p>
+
+<p>The sky was emptying itself in great sheets of rain as the mail-cart
+sped away with the dog running beside it. When they reached the tree to
+which the turban was tied Ram Deen removed it and held it out to
+Hasteen, who, after sniffing at it for a moment, started off at a trot,
+with his nose to the ground. But the scent was bad, owing to the heavy
+rain, and the dog began to run round in widening circles in his search
+for a trail, whilst the men stayed on the edge of the road. Suddenly the
+dog bayed, and, following the direction of the sound, they came up with
+him as he stood by Goor Dutt's cart, from which the bullocks had been
+removed.</p>
+
+<p>"The man stricken by Goor Dutt rode hence on a bullock," said Ram Deen,
+who had been examining the tracks in the mire with a lantern; "there be
+signs of but four men going hence, Thanadar Sahib, whereas five walked
+beside the wagon till it stopped here."</p>
+
+<p>The cart was in the jungle about a hundred yards from the road. The
+noise made by its progress had been entirely drowned in the roar of the
+storm, so that Ram Deen had not heard it.</p>
+
+<p>"See, sahib," said Ram Deen, pointing to the trail made by the heavy
+animals in their course through the jungle, and which not even the rain
+had effaced, "we shall not need Hasteen's nose, but his teeth, ere the
+daybreak."</p>
+
+<p>Fastening the turban taken from the tree round Hasteen's neck, Ram Deen
+struck into the trail, the dog walking beside him, whilst the others
+followed in single file. The tall driver stopped occasionally to examine
+the ground with his lantern. He had with him the revolver given to him
+by Captain Barfield, but his main dependence was on the long bamboo
+club, loaded with lead, which he carried in his right hand.</p>
+
+<p>The events that followed were thus told to Captain Fisher, the deputy
+commissioner of the district, who came down the next day from Naini Tal
+to investigate them.</p>
+
+<p>"Sahib," began Ram Deen, whose left arm was in a sling, "it was thus: We
+followed the trail that led along the right bank of the Bore Nuddee,
+till we came to the ford, where the stream was now a roaring torrent
+owing to the great rain, which never ceased to drum on the Terai all
+that night.</p>
+
+<p>"Here those we sought had crossed to the left bank, and then continued
+up the hill to the garden of Thapa Sing; through the door of the hut,
+wherein Heera Lal, who is kin to me, used to dwell, there came the gleam
+of firelight.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the Thanadar bid stand, saying, ''Twere well to take them alive,
+Ram Deen, so that the sircar may not be despoiled of the hanging of
+them. What sayest thou?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Such as these cannot be taken alive, Thanadar ji,' I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"'What would you?' he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"'They be hornets, khodawund,' I made answer, 'and must be smoked out of
+their nest. When they come forth we will take them as we best may.'</p>
+
+<p>"So we proceeded without noise to the hut, and when we reached it the
+lantern showed us that the Thanadar, and I, and Hasteen, whom I had
+unloosed, were alone. For, behold, the policemen had fled, not having
+stomachs for blows; their blood had turned to milk and their livers to
+water. For their fathers are jackals and their mothers without honor;
+and the sahib will doubtless bestow upon them the reward due to their
+valor.</p>
+
+<p>"And the Thanadar growled in his beard at the baseness of his men, and
+whispered, 'Those dogs of mine have made it necessary that we should
+slay these within, Ram Deen, should they refuse to surrender, instead of
+taking them alive;' and I nodded assent.</p>
+
+<p>"We could hear the wounded man groan inside the hut, and one said,
+'Never mind, Kunwa, I slew Goor Dutt for thy hurt, and had these who are
+with us been men instead of children, we had slain the driver of the
+mail-cart, whose voice is greater than his strength, and his legs but
+female bamboos.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou art a liar!' I shouted, kicking in the thatch door of the hut,
+which fell in the fire on the hearth. In a moment the hut was in a
+blaze. Two men ran forth through the doorway, and, in the light of the
+burning hut, I could see other twain breaking through the wall of thatch
+at the rear, whilst Kunwa, the wounded man, who was unable to move,
+greeted with appalling screams the death that approached him.</p>
+
+<p>"'I will attend to these, Thanadar Sahib!' I shouted; 'do thou and
+Hasteen look to those that escape from the rear.' And the Thanadar,
+calling the dog, ran to the back of the hut.</p>
+
+<p>"Seeing but one man in front of them, the dacoits&mdash;strong men and
+tall&mdash;ran in upon me. I anticipated the blow of one, and he fell to the
+ground without even a cry; but the club of the other had crushed my
+skull, had I not warded it with my left arm, which was broken thereby;
+and ere my assailant could again swing his weapon I had stretched him
+beside his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"From the other side of the burning hut came the sounds of a terrible
+combat and of heavy blows. I made what haste I could, and as I turned
+the corner of the hut I stumbled over the body of the Thanadar. Six
+paces beyond was Hasteen, and he was serving the sircar as he best
+might. He stood over one of the dacoits, whom he held by the throat,
+whilst the other rained blows on him, till I made the fight an equal one
+between dog and man; and then, because my arm pained shrewdly, I was
+fain to sit on a fallen tree, whilst Hasteen finished the fray in his
+own manner; the man in the hut, meanwhile, uttering screams that even a
+strong man might not hear unmoved.</p>
+
+<p>"But he on the ground could not scream by reason of the fangs at his
+throat; he only gurgled, and rattled dreadfully, and the foam flew from
+his lips as the great dog shook him from side to side. When his head
+swayed helplessly I knew he was dead, so I bade Hasteen release him; and
+the man in the hut having ceased his outcries, I made shift to raise the
+Thanadar, and lo, he was dead, and the Terai bereft of a great and a
+good man, and I of the best of friends. And now, as the sahib knoweth
+but too well, there be none in the Terai to maintain the orders of the
+sircar."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, Ram Deen," said Captain Fisher, "the sircar will look to
+you in the future to be a terror to evil-doers, and here are papers
+making you Thanadar of this district. What say you?"</p>
+
+<p>"The sircar is my father and my mother, Fisher Sahib; but this thing may
+not be. I have neither learning nor wisdom to uphold the English raj as
+it should be upheld. Besides, who is to drive the mail-cart?"</p>
+
+<p>"There be drivers a-plenty, Ram Deen, but not many who will strike a
+blow for the right and defend the poor and the fatherless. Thy munshi
+will instruct thee in the duties of thy office. But beyond all things,
+remember this: There must be no budmashes in thy district, Ram Deen,
+Thanadar." Then, before Ram Deen could make reply, he went on, "Oh, yes,
+the reward; thou wilt receive from the sircar two thousand five hundred
+rupees for the slaying of Lakhoo's men."</p>
+
+<p>"But Goor Dutt slew one of them, Captain Sahib, and Hasteen another."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, give Goor Dutt what thou wilt and bestow a collar of honor, with
+spikes of brass, on Hasteen. Thou art Thanadar henceforth, and the
+sircar expects you to be just in all your dealings."</p>
+
+<p>And as he finished, word having gone through Kaladoongie that Ram Deen
+was now Thanadar, the men who crowded round the Deputy Commissioner's
+tent raised a mighty shout: "Ram Deen, Thanadar, ke jhai!"</p>
+
+<p>"What meant that shout?" asked Tara, when Ram Deen returned home an hour
+later.</p>
+
+<p>"Congratulation to thy Lumba Deen (long legs) for a trifle of money and
+some little honor as salve for a broken bone, Light in Darkness."</p>
+
+<p>"What honor?" she inquired, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"But the money was the greater, my Star&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Now, nay, my lord trifles with me. The honor, the honor!" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"And if I were to tell thee that they have made me Thanadar of this
+Zemindaree?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis but thy due, my lord; and thou hast but prepared the way for thy
+man-child. Said I not many moons ago that he should be Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie one day!"</p>
+
+<p>"See to it that he is brave and strong, Heart of my Heart, else were he
+better dead."</p>
+
+<p>"I will help her in the bringing up of thy son," said a tall woman,&mdash;she
+of the muffled face,&mdash;coming into the room; "and he shall be worthy of
+thee, who art now as great as thou hast been always good."</p>
+
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Taming of the Jungle, by Dr. C. W. Doyle
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Taming of the Jungle, by Dr. C. W. Doyle
+
+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 Taming of the Jungle
+
+Author: Dr. C. W. Doyle
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2011 [EBook #35644]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TAMING OF THE JUNGLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Mary Meehan and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE TAMING OF THE JUNGLE
+
+                           BY DR. C. W. DOYLE
+
+
+    PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
+    J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+    1899
+
+    COPYRIGHT, 1899
+    BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+    PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+For a better understanding of this story, it will be necessary to say a
+few words concerning the people of the Terai,--the great tract of jungle
+that skirts the foothills of the Himalayas, in the Province of Kumaon.
+They are a simple, primitive folk, and migratory in their ways:
+inhabiting the interior valleys of the hills in the hot weather and the
+monsoon, and the foothills and the Terai during the winter.
+
+In official reports they are described as "low-caste Hindoos;" but they
+are as far removed from the low-caste Hindoos of the plains, on the one
+hand, as they are from the high-caste Rajpoots, who are the gentry of
+Kumaon, on the other. The monstrous Pantheism of the Brahmin is unknown
+to them, and the ritual and severe limitations of caste that shackle the
+former in all the relations of life have no influence on the Padhans of
+Kumaon. Tending their flocks and their herds, and cultivating their
+terraced fields in the summer and their patches of rye and corn in the
+winter, they pass lives of Arcadian simplicity among scenes that surpass
+Ida and Olympus in beauty, and which vie with the glades of Eden, as
+Milton and Tennyson described them.
+
+    "Me rather, all that bowery loneliness,
+    The brooks of Eden mazily murmuring,
+    And bloom profuse, and cedar arches charm."
+
+Tennyson might have written that of the Terai in midwinter. And its
+people conform, as might be expected, to their environment. Life among
+them is found at first hand: their loves and hates are ingenuous, and
+present social aspects that must vanish before the march of
+civilization.
+
+The critics may object to the manner of the courtship of Tara, as not
+being in accord with the marriage customs of the natives of India. To
+them I would reply, that the experience of a dozen years spent in
+intimate relations with, and in close observation of, the Kumaon
+Padhans, has satisfied me that these children of nature are guided
+strongly by their natural feelings; and that, in the selection of their
+wives, they are as often swayed by their affections as we are.
+
+    C. W. DOYLE.
+
+    SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, January, 1899.
+
+
+
+
+_Contents_
+
+
+I. A JUNGLE VENDETTA
+
+II. HASTEEN
+
+III. THE HUNTING OF CHEETA DUTT
+
+IV. THE SPOILING OF NYAGONG
+
+V. THE WOMAN IN THE CARRIAGE
+
+VI. FOR THE TRAINING OF BIROO
+
+VII. CHANDNI
+
+VIII. ONE THOUSAND RUPEES REWARD
+
+IX. THE ROPE THAT HANGED BIJOO
+
+X. COELUM, NON ANIMUM MUTANT
+
+XI. THE LAME TIGER OF HULDWANI
+
+XII. HOW NANDHA WAS AVENGED
+
+XIII. AN AFFRONT TO GANNESHA
+
+XIV. A DAUGHTER OF THE GODS
+
+XV. "ICH LIEBE DICH"
+
+XVI. THE SMOKING OF A HORNETS' NEST
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+_A Jungle Vendetta_
+
+
+"This was the way of it," said Ram Deen to a circle of listeners sitting
+round a fire by the side of the jungle road near Lal Kooah. Ram Deen
+drove the mail-cart in its final stage to Kaladoongie, and with his
+relay of fresh horses was awaiting the arrival of the mail. He was, next
+to the Assistant Superintendent of the Forest Department of the
+District, a power on the road, and his audience, accordingly, listened
+to him with due respect. "This was the way of it: I owed Bheem Dass one
+rupee and six annas for flour and pulse and ghee, and my donkey fell
+sick, so that he could not be forced by goad, nor by the lighting of a
+fire beneath him, to rise; and I could not convey my earthenware to
+Moradabad and sell it, and so remove the galling of Bheem Dass's tongue.
+
+"Then the Thanadar came, and read script to me that was written on
+government paper, whereof I understood but little, save that the words
+were Urdu, and sounded very terrible to me, who speak Gamari only, and
+am a poor man. And he took my potter's wheel from me, and bade his
+chuprassi beat me then, and daily thereafter at noon--twelve strokes
+each day--till I made restitution to Bheem Dass.
+
+"Brothers, we be all poor men here, and ye know that God hath not given
+us understanding save to suffer stripes like beasts of burden, and to
+sleep and eat when we can, and beget children to succeed to our blows."
+
+There was a deep "humph" of assent when he had ceased speaking. The
+little man who freighted village produce from Kaladoongie to Moradabad
+by bullock-cart said, as he handed Ram Deen the hookah that was circling
+round the fire, "A knife-thrust in the dark has settled heavier scores
+than thine;" and one suggested a blow from a weighted bamboo club, and
+another the evil eye; but Ram Deen smoked in silence, and after they
+had all had their say he passed the hookah to his neighbor and went on:
+
+"Whenas my back smarted shrewdly that night from the blows of the
+chuprassi's shoe, so that I could not sleep, I took the oil from my
+chirag and anointed my back therewith. As soon as the false dawn blinked
+in the east I made a fire and light, without waking my son--my babe,
+Buldeo, and he without a mother--and I made store of chupattis with all
+the flour that was left, putting the remainder of the ghee on the first
+batch. Then I dug up three rupees and two annas that I had buried under
+the hearth, and waking Buldeo I fed him; and whilst he ate I made a
+bundle of such things as even a poor man has need of,--a blanket, a
+hookah and lotah, and shoes to wear through the villages, and the food I
+had prepared.
+
+"And ere the village cocks waked or the minas and crows and green
+parrots opened council in the peepul trees, Buldeo and I were footing
+the jungle path to Nyagong, he holding his hand over his head to reach
+mine, for he was but three years in age.
+
+"And when we had proceeded a mile or twain into the jungle Buldeo spake
+and said, 'Thy man-child is tired.' And I set him on my shoulder, and so
+carried him until the sun began to shoot slant rays from the west.
+Whereon we stopped and ate; and, after, I fastened him with my waistband
+in the fork of a tree, saying, 'Son of mine, bide here till I return,
+and be not afraid.'
+
+"Then, collecting grass and scrub, I made a circle of fire round the
+tree, and sped back to the village; and as the bell tolled the hour of
+ten that night a flame leaped up from the hut of the bunnia, Bheem Dass,
+to whom I owed money.
+
+"Ere I returned to the jungle path I could hear Bheem Dass shout as a
+man being beaten, 'ram dhwy! ram dhwy!' and the smart on my back waxed
+easier."
+
+By this time the hookah had made the round of the circle and once more
+reached Ram Deen, and as he paused again to "drink tobacco" his
+listeners made comment:
+
+"Wah! coach-wan ji," said the little carrier, "knives may be blunt and
+clubs cracked, but fire loveth stubble and thatch. Ho, ho!"
+
+And Ram Deen smiled grimly as he passed the hookah to his neighbor, who
+said as he took it, "And what of thy man-child, Buldeo?"
+
+Ram Deen tucked the ends of his parted beard under his turban, and
+spitting bravely into the fire to conceal the tremor in his voice, he
+said, "As the dawn broke I reached the tree whereon I had fastened my
+son. When I came near a pack of jackals that had been worrying something
+under the tree slunk away. The child was not to be seen, but the bark of
+the tree was scored with the talons of a leopard, and at its foot was a
+small red cap and a handful of fresh bones."
+
+Ram Deen puffed the hookah in silence when it reached him again.
+
+By and by, in response to the expectation of his listeners, he said,
+"Bheem Dass rode after me on the mail-cart to Kaladoongie that night. I
+knew he would come, and therefore I brake the telegraph wire and
+fastened it across the road a foot above the ground. When the horse
+stumbled over it and fell the driver was thrown on his head and killed.
+But Bheem Dass lay groaning on the road with a broken thigh-bone.
+
+"And I held a lamp taken from the cart to my face, so that he should
+know me, and I spat and stamped on him; and thereafter I mounted the
+mail-cart and drove it over his skull as he screamed for mercy.
+
+"I took the mail to Kaladoongie, and it was told the sahib-log that the
+mail-cart had been overturned and the coach-wan and Bheem Dass killed;
+and they made me driver because the road was unsafe and I had shown them
+that I was not afraid.
+
+"Ye are poor men and know naught,--knowledge dieth suddenly!"
+
+And the bullock driver said, "Ho, ho! coach-wan sahib, we be poor men
+and know nothing, and are fain to live."
+
+The mail-cart drove up in a few minutes out of the darkness, the horses
+were rapidly changed, and Ram Deen dashed off into the jungle with a
+brave tarantara.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+_Hasteen_
+
+
+"Ram deen," said the stout Thanadar of Kaladoongie, "it is by the order
+of the sircar (government) that I question thee concerning this jungle
+wanderer. Whatsoever thou sayest will be set down by the munshi and laid
+before the commissioner sahib."
+
+The "wanderer" put one hand on a tubby stomach that ill-assorted with
+his attenuated limbs, and with the fingers of the other in close
+apposition he pointed to his mouth, whining and saying to those round
+him, "Oh, my father and my mother, we be hungry,--Hasteen and I."
+
+He was a wee little manikin of the chamar (tanner) caste, and about six
+years old. There was not a rag on him, save a sorry whisp of puggri that
+made no pretence of covering the top-knot of hair which all Hindoos of
+the male sex, and of whatever caste, wear on their heads as a handle
+for the transportation of their souls to heaven.
+
+He crouched in front of the fire of cowpats and grass, holding up his
+little hands to the blaze, and beside him lay a huge pariah dog with its
+head on his lap. One of its ears had been recently cut off close to the
+skull, and it moved the bloody stump to and fro as the heat of the fire
+fell on it. When any one approached the little chamar the dog growled
+threateningly, and the small crowd of listeners was fain to keep at a
+respectful distance.
+
+"Thanadar ji," replied Ram Deen, the redoubtable driver of the mail-cart
+to Kaladoongie, "the night air is shrewd, and it were well to feed the
+little one and to put a blanket round him ere I tell you of his
+finding."
+
+"Ay, and forget not Hasteen," said the small chamar, pointing to the
+dog. When the great beast heard its name it slapped its tail against the
+ground.
+
+A woman standing on the outskirt of the crowd took off her chudder and
+passed it to Ram Deen, who, keeping a wary eye on Hasteen, wrapped it
+round the little waif; and Tulsi Ram, the village pundit, also handed
+his blanket to Ram Deen. By the time the little one was duly happed up,
+Gunga Deen, the fat sweetmeat vender, returned with a tray of cates and
+milk, sufficient for three grown men, and set it before the new arrival,
+who, to his honor be it told, shared bite and bite with his four-footed
+friend. And between mouthfuls he answered questions and told his story
+to the Thanadar:
+
+"My name, Most Honorable, is Biroo, and we be chamars of the village of
+Budraon,--my father and mother, Hasteen and I. There were none others of
+our family, and Hasteen and I be brothers, for we sucked the same pap,
+and that my mother's, as she hath so often told me. I am the older by
+three months, wherefore he mindeth me.
+
+"Whence is Hasteen's name? How should I know, Protector of the Poor? I
+am but a poor man and know naught."
+
+Tulsi Ram, the pundit, ventured to throw some light on the derivation
+of Hasteen's name. He hoped, ere he died, to pass the entrance
+examination of the Calcutta University; and, after the manner of his
+kind, he was preparing himself for it by the slow and steady process of
+learning the prescribed text-books off by heart.
+
+"Thanadar ji, the dog hath its name from Warren Hasteen, the great sahib
+who killed the Kings of Delhi, as thou wottest, and daily fed on young
+babes, whereof midwives and old women who saw him tell to this day. And,
+moreover, he was a great fighter."
+
+"Wah, Tulsi Ram!" exclaimed the Thanadar, "thou shalt yet become a baboo
+in the post-office at Naini Tal."
+
+"But there never was fighter like Hasteen," said the little chamar,
+whose courage rose as his hunger abated, and rolling up a chupatti he
+gave it to the dog, who made one mouthful of it. "He hath blackened the
+faces of all the dogs of our village," he went on; "and last winter he
+overcame a dog of fierce countenance and crooked legs, that belonged to
+the sahib who camped near our village, and left it for dead on the
+plain; and the sahib would have beaten me, but Hasteen rose upon him and
+threw him down, and stood over him till I smote Hasteen with my bamboo
+club and dragged him off the sahib. Ah, thou wicked one, thou budmash!"
+and the great beast cowered before the wee man's threatening finger and
+licked his feet. "And therefrom came all our woes, for our folk drave us
+from Budraon, fearing trouble for the killing of the sahib's dog, and my
+father would have slain Hasteen, but I restrained him. So we went to
+Nyagong, and there thieves came by night and would have despoiled us of
+our hides, but Hasteen prevented them; and thereafter the son of the
+Jamadar of Nyagong, who was a vain fellow and wore his turban awry,
+walked lame for many a day; and the bunnia (shopkeeper), who is the
+Jamadar's brother, put ground glass in the raw sugar he sold us--for so
+my father said--and my mother died.
+
+"Last week my father came not home, and for three days I saw him not;
+then--I looking on--they drew a man out of the village well with his
+hands tied behind his back and a great stone fastened to his feet,--and
+it was my father!
+
+"And this night a flame leaped up from our hut, and Hasteen went swiftly
+forth into the moonlight, his crest standing on his neck and back. I
+followed with what haste I could, and thereafter I came up with Hasteen,
+and he lay beside a dead man, whose eyes were wide open and on whose
+lips was froth, and a sharp knife in his hand;--and it was the son of
+the Jamadar!
+
+"Thereupon I caught Hasteen by one ear and smote him on the other,--for
+he had done this killing; and the hand wherewith I smote him was covered
+with blood, so I saw his hurt, and that he had lost an ear.
+
+"And the villagers waked whenas they heard the crackling of the flames
+from our hut and the barking of the village dogs; and Hasteen and I ran
+towards the road that leads to Kaladoongie, being more fearful of the
+men of Nyagong than of the wild things of the jungle.
+
+"When we came to the bridge over the Bore Nuddee my feet were tired, and
+calling Hasteen to me for warmth I set my back to the wall of the bridge
+and so fell asleep; and now that I have eaten of thy bounty I would fain
+sleep again," and the little man yawned in the presence of the most
+august assembly he had ever faced.
+
+"It was thus I found him, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen, "and I came none
+too soon. A mile from the bridge I heard the hunting bay of a gray wolf,
+and when I came nearer I could see in the moonlight, crouched beside the
+end of the bridge, some great beast that leapt into the jungle as the
+cart approached; and then the mail of the Rani (Empress) of Hindoostan
+was stayed by a graceless pariah dog that guarded this jungle wayfarer,
+and, frightening my horses, denied me passage over the bridge. I could
+not have brought in the mail to-night had it not been for this Rustum,
+who beat the dog and restrained him. Is it not so, O Terror of Nyagong?"
+
+But the little man was fast asleep by this time, and Ram Deen, by
+permission of Hasteen, who followed close at his heels, carried the
+small chamar to his own hut and put him into his own bed; "for that he
+was of the age," he said to himself, "of Buldeo, my son, who was lost to
+me three years ago,--and he without a mother."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+_The Hunting of Cheeta Dutt_
+
+
+A few nights after the finding in the jungle of Biroo, the little chamar
+(tanner), by Ram Deen, who drove the mail-cart from Lal Kooah, the
+notables of Kaladoongie were gathered round a fire in front of the
+police-station. The Thanadar (chief of police), as befitted his rank and
+dignity, sat cross-legged on his charpoi, smoking gravely, whilst the
+rest of the company squatted on their heels, after the manner of the
+natives of India, passing a hookah round the circle and discussing in a
+desultory fashion the current events of that section of the Terai.
+
+A faint bugle-note far off in the jungle announced the approach of the
+mail-cart, and soon after the distant rumble of the wheels was heard as
+Ram Deen drove over the Bore bridge. When he was within a quarter of a
+mile of the village he blew a brave blast, and presently dashed up at
+full speed into the firelight, Biroo standing between his knees, and a
+huge pariah dog bounding along by the side of the cart. Soon after Ram
+Deen, followed by Biroo and the big dog, joined the circle round the
+fire.
+
+"Salaam, malakoom!" said Biroo, gravely saluting the Thanadar, and
+including the rest of those assembled in his sweeping salute.
+
+"Malakoom, salaam!" returned the Thanadar. "So thou hast brought in the
+Queen's mail safely, my Rustum?"
+
+"Hasteen and I," began the little fellow, putting a caressing hand on
+the head of the great dog, who lay beside him winking at the fire,
+"Hasteen and I fear nought that moveth in the jungle, save only the men
+of Nyagong;--and then, too, there was Ram Deen."
+
+This was said so seriously that the men sitting round the fire laughed
+at the little man's gravity; and Ram Deen smiled as he spread an armful
+of dry grass on the ground, into which he tucked the little fellow, and
+wrapped him up in his blanket. Hasteen settled himself beside Biroo, and
+they soon became oblivious of the circle round the fire.
+
+"How likest thou the little jungle waif, Ram Deen?" inquired the
+Thanadar.
+
+"Thanadar ji, he is to me as mine own son, Buldeo, come back to life;
+and he knoweth not fear. As we drove through the jungle yesterday and
+to-night he turned his face towards Nyagong and cursed that village, and
+sware that he would burn it to the ground when he had a beard; and 'tis
+like as not that he will do so when he is a man grown."
+
+"Durga aid him in his attempt!" said fat Gunga Ram, the sweetmeat
+vender; "that village hath always bred rogues and budmashes, before and
+since Cheeta Dutt, the son of the last Jemadar (head man of the
+village), committed a deed of hell in the jungle thereby."
+
+The silence of those who sat round the fire was a mute request to Gunga
+Ram to tell the story thus prefaced.
+
+"Brothers," he began, "'twas in the second year after the great mutiny
+that a young Englishman came into the Terai to look after the sal trees,
+which always seemed a foolishness to me till I learned that sal timber
+is good for the building of the ships that cross the Black Water.
+
+"And he had but little to do, save to shoot black partridge and spotted
+deer and watch the Padhani women crossing the ford in front of his camp;
+that was the evil of it.
+
+"In those days I was but a span round the waist, and the best shikari
+(hunter) and tracker in these parts; and Bonner Sahib--that was his
+name--hired me to show him where game was to be found. But he soon tired
+of shikar (sport), and fell to playing the songs of the Padhani women on
+his cithar, the like of which I never heard before.
+
+"One day, after he had eaten his morning meal and swam in the deep pool
+above the ford of the Bore Nuddee, he lay on the grass by the stream
+smoking, whilst I cleaned his guns by the side of his tent. Presently,
+when I looked up, the sahib was gazing from under his hand at certain
+wayfarers who came down the slope on the other side of the stream
+towards the ford; and on his finger there glittered a stone that took
+mine eye even at that distance. In front there rode on a hill-pony,
+loaded with household goods, Cheeta Dutt, the son of the Jemadar of
+Nyagong, and he wore the garments of a man who taketh his wife home for
+the consummation of his marriage. Behind him walked Naringi, his wife,
+the daughter of the Jemadar of Huldwani. She was well named 'Orange
+Blossom;' and though I live to a thousand years, yet shall I never see
+the like of her as she walked behind Cheeta Dutt with a small bundle on
+her head and lifted her sari as she took the ford with her bared limbs.
+
+"Brothers, she was but sixteen years in age, and in the budding of her
+beauty; and it seemed as though the morning shed all its joys about her
+feet. What wonder, then, that even a young Faringi (Englishman) should
+look upon her with admiration?
+
+"When she was half-way across the ford her foot slipped, and the bundle
+she bore fell into the stream. Wullahy, but these Faringis be fools!
+Eyes may look, and thoughts may fall about the face of a fair woman,
+though she be another man's wife, but only a Faringi would do what
+Bonner Sahib did. Kali Mai afflict the race! Women were made but to
+carry burdens and bear children. Nowhere can it be shown--not even in
+the Shastras, wherein I, Gunga Ram, have read--that a man should demean
+himself to serve a woman; but Bonner Sahib leapt into the stream and
+recovered the young woman's bundle. Worse than that, as she stood beside
+her husband's horse, wringing the water out of the hem of her garment,
+he put her bundle in her hand, and Cheeta Dutt scowled at him.
+
+"'Protector of the Poor,' said I to the sahib, as I dried his feet and
+changed his shoes, 'thou hast not done well.'
+
+"'Wherefore?' he replied, sending the smoke of his cheroot skywards.
+
+"'Because Cheeta Dutt (well is he named Hunting Leopard) may repay thee
+hereafter in his own way for thy service to his wife this day. Belike,
+he may render her nakti (noseless), and so send her back to her father's
+house. But the sahib is a great lord, and a nakti Padhani woman more or
+less concerneth him not, for they be bought and sold like cattle, and
+the sahib hath the price of many such on his little finger.--But I speak
+like a fool, sahib, for I am a poor man and know nothing, save how to
+serve thee.'
+
+"But he only laughed and stroked the yellow beard on his upper lip.
+
+"A moon thereafter our camp was pitched near Nyagong. As ye know, the
+Terai thereby is full of shikar, and I showed Bonner Sahib where to find
+black partridge. One day, as we set our faces campwards,--I following
+the sahib with his spare gun and the morning's kill,--the voice of a
+young woman singing a Padhani song suddenly rose from a thicket near by,
+and the jungle became silent to listen to her. Bonner Sahib parted the
+tall grass with his hands, and I, looking over his shoulder, beheld
+Naringi, the wife of Cheeta Dutt, seated on a fallen tree trunk in an
+open glade, tending a flock of goats. As she sang she strung together
+flaming cotton-wood flowers, whereof she had placed one behind each ear.
+
+"When she had finished her song the sahib took it up, stepping at the
+same time into the clearing; and Naringi fled like a roe hunted by
+wolves.
+
+"'The shikar is shy, Gunga Ram,' said the sahib.
+
+"'Tis dangerous hunting, Protector of the Poor,' I replied. But the
+sahib only laughed and lit a cheroot.
+
+"And thereafter he sought the black partridge unattended by me, for he
+set me morning tasks to fulfil within the camp. But, brothers, he
+brought not so much as a jungle-fowl home for more than a week, and I
+was fain to know what the sahib hunted.
+
+"So I followed him unperceived one morning, and he went straightway to
+the clearing wherein we had seen Naringi with the goats. When I looked
+through the grass, behold! I saw Bonner Sahib seated on the fallen tree
+trunk, wearing a necklace of red flowers, and Naringi sat on his knee
+with an arm round his neck! Toba, toba! what fools these Faringis be,
+who know not that the birds of the air carry messages when a sahib
+stoops to a woman of our people."
+
+"The jungle hath many eyes," said the Thanadar, sententiously.
+
+After Gunga Ram had refreshed himself with the circling hookah, he went
+on: "As I looked and listened there was a rustling in the grass on the
+other side of the clearing, and the sahib's dog dashed into the jungle
+in pursuit of something. The next moment it yelped as a dog that is
+sorely stricken, but the sahib, who was toying with Naringi, heard
+nothing.
+
+"Then Naringi, stroking the sahib's golden beard, said, 'My Lord, Cheeta
+Dutt beat me last night because I spake thy name in my sleep. Look,' and
+she lifted the hair from her forehead, whereon was a bruise; and as she
+turned her face to the sahib I saw that she had been weeping, for her
+eyelids were swelled.
+
+"'He is swine-born,' said the sahib; and as he spake his face flushed
+like the morning sky. Then he folded her in his arms and saluted her
+mouth after the manner of Faringis; and when she was comforted he said,
+'Naringi, my Blossom, thy husband is a dog. To-night will I take thee
+hence and make thee envied of the mem-sahibs of Naini Tal. Wilt thou
+trust thyself with me?'
+
+"For answer she threw herself before him and clasped his feet, but the
+sahib raised her up, saying, 'Beloved, I will come for thee to-night on
+the stroke of the tenth hour by the village bell. Gunga Ram--my
+shikari--and I will wait for thee with a covered byli (cart) at the foot
+of that tall sesame tree thou seest yonder on the open plain. And for
+pledge that I shall be here, see, I set on thy finger this ring, which
+all the villages in the Kumaon Terai could not buy; and if I fail to
+come my punishment is in thy hands. It is a thousand years till I see
+thee again, little one.' Then he folded her in his arms once more and
+set his face homewards, shouting to her from the end of the glade,
+'Fail me not, my Wild Rose!' For answer, she swept the ground with her
+salaams.
+
+"Hastening campwards by a path that skirted the other side of the glade,
+I came across the sahib's dog. It was shorn in twain by the stroke of a
+khookri, and I knew that Cheeta Dutt, The Leopard, was a-hunting.
+
+"'What shikar?' asked I of Bonner Sahib when he returned to his tent.
+
+"'Thou art a liar, Gunga Ram. The jungle hereabout is barren of game,
+and it is in my mind to send thee with a note to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie commending the soles of thy feet to the bamboo staff of one
+of his men;' and, laughing, he threw himself into a long chair.
+
+"'I am sorry for thee, sahib,' I said in reply, 'for not only art thou
+empty handed this day, but thou hast lost the great stone that shone on
+thy finger when thou wentest forth this morning. Toba, toba!'
+
+"'Tis in my pocket, O Chattering Jay.'
+
+"'Perchance the sahib shot his dog this morning, seeing that the game
+was scarce?' I said.
+
+"'Hath he not returned, Gunga Ram?'
+
+"'Ere I answer thee, sahib, 'twere well to drink some brandy-pani;' and
+I mixed the liquor as he had taught me.
+
+"'It is well, Provider of the Poor,' I went on, 'it is well to be young
+and well favored, and the special care of thy gods who have bestowed on
+thee wealth and a moonstone that all the villages in the Kumaon Terai
+could not purchase,'--hereat the sahib looked at me out of the corner of
+his eye,--'but it is not well to look for partridges where great beasts
+hunt. Thy dog was slain in the jungle this morning by a leopard. He
+lieth outside the tent, and 'twere well the sahib should see what a
+leopard can do.'
+
+"Following him out of the tent, I uncovered the dead dog. The sahib
+clutched at his throat and would have fallen, so I put my arm round him
+and laid him on his bed.
+
+"'This is the work of Cheeta Dutt, sahib. Said I not that perchance he
+would hunt some one hereafter for thy service to his wife at the ford
+last month?'
+
+"Rising from the bed, the sahib drank another draught of the strong
+waters. 'Cheeta Dutt's back shall smart for this,' he said.
+
+"'And then, sahib, he will slay his wife because of thy ring in the
+pocket of her bodice.'
+
+"'Budmash, thou hast been playing the spy!' and turning upon me like a
+wild boar, his face aflame, he caught me by the beard.
+
+"'Sahib,' I said, 'I am but a poor man, and thou of consequence in the
+Terai, but, man to man, thou durst not lay thy hand on my beard in the
+jungle and away from thy camp. I fear not to tell thee, sahib, that I
+did, indeed, watch thee this morning; but the jungle is full of eyes,
+not the least keen being those of Cheeta Dutt, who slew thy dog this
+morning, and who will slay the woman thou lovest, or do worse to her,
+ere he sleepeth, as is his right.'
+
+"'Gunga Ram, thou art a man, and I ask forgiveness of thee for
+blackening thy face, but I am moved from myself by great fear for what
+may befall the woman. Tell me what is to be done, for thou knowest the
+ways of these jungle folks better than I;' and the sahib walked the
+floor as one distraught.
+
+"'Will one thousand--will ten thousand rupees save the young woman?'
+asked the sahib.
+
+"'The honor of a Brahmin is not to be appraised in money, sahib,' I
+replied.
+
+"'Will he fight, Gunga Ram, as a Faringi would under like
+circumstances?'
+
+"'He will fight, assuredly, sahib; but he will fight after the manner of
+his kind, and in the dark.'
+
+"Much talk had we, but we could only hope that Cheeta Dutt may not have
+witnessed the meeting that morning."
+
+Gunga Ram stopped to "drink tobacco" once more, whilst the little
+bullock driver, who would start in the morning with freight for
+Moradabad, said, "That was a poor hope, O Seller of Cates, for the
+jungle hath ears and tongues as well as eyes."
+
+"Therefore, byl-wan," rejoined Gunga Ram, "I saw to it that my gun was
+properly loaded as we went in the byli that night to the place of
+meeting.
+
+"The moon was almost in mid-heaven, in an unclouded sky, when we reached
+the sesame tree, and it was a time for the deeds of Kama, but Kali Mai
+was abroad in the jungle that night.
+
+"The sound of the distant village bell striking the hour of ten had
+scarcely died away when there rose from the glade the voice of a young
+woman singing a Padhani song.
+
+"'Heart of my Heart, she cometh!' said the sahib. 'Oh, Gunga Ram, she is
+safe!' and he lifted up his voice, singing the refrain of her song.
+
+"He had scarcely ceased by a breath, when he was answered by the scream
+of a woman who looks upon Terror and Pain hunting together.
+
+"Like an arrow from a bow he sped across the plain and entered the
+glade, I following with what haste I could. As I set foot therein there
+arose a yell the like of which was never made by jungle beast, and,
+brothers, my heart stood still with fear. I could hear the sahib
+crashing through the underbrush, and I followed, but the glade was in
+deep darkness by reason of the thick foliage of the trees overhead that
+stayed the moonlight, and my pace was slow.
+
+"Presently I saw the sahib in the open space where was the fallen tree
+trunk that had served him for a seat that morning. He stopped suddenly
+within a few paces of the log, like a stricken man. Falling on his knees
+and clasping his hands together, he bowed his head thereon; and in that
+instant a dark figure leaped upon the sahib from behind a tree, and I
+saw the flash of a khookri in the moonlight.
+
+"I raised my gun and fired as I ran, but I was too late.
+
+"When I came up to the sahib his head lay two paces from his body.
+
+"On the fallen tree trunk, with the sahib's moonstone glittering on its
+forefinger, was the small hand of a woman that had been lopped off above
+the wrist, and which still dripped blood."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+_The Spoiling of Nyagong_
+
+
+Goor Dutt, the little bullock driver, who was on his way to Moradabad
+with the effects of one of the clerks of the Lieutenant-Governor's
+office, reached Lal Kooah long after sunset. It was his intention to
+travel through the night, but he could not resist the temptation of
+joining the circle round the fire in front of the bunnia's hut whilst
+his bullocks ate their meal of chaff and chopped hay.
+
+The bunnia had given up his charpoi to Ram Deen, who drove the mail-cart
+to Kaladoongie, and who was a man swift of anger and dangerous to cross,
+but not altogether hard. Had he not, but three days since, found and
+adopted Biroo, the little chamar (tanner) waif, who lay asleep by the
+fire with a huge pariah dog stretched beside him?
+
+"Salaam, coach-wan ji," said Goor Dutt, saluting Ram Deen, "I have news
+for thee: the Commissioner Sahib hath sent word to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie that he should make inquiry concerning the finding of
+Biroo's father in the well at Nyagong."
+
+"'Tis well, Thwacker of Bullocks. And when goeth the Thanadar thither?"
+inquired Ram Deen.
+
+"Belike he is there now."
+
+"Oh, that a man were here to take the mail to Kaladoongie to-night!"
+exclaimed Ram Deen.
+
+"The man is here," piped the little carrier, "if some one will tend my
+cattle till I return."
+
+"That will I," said the bunnia, with the stress of Ram Deen's eyes on
+him.
+
+When the mail-cart drove up Ram Deen took the reins, with Biroo, wrapped
+in a blanket, between his knees, whilst Goor Dutt climbed to the back
+seat. The big dog, Hasteen, ran beside the mail-cart and woke the jungle
+echoes with his bark.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How didst thou fare last night, coach-wan ji?" asked the bunnia, next
+evening.
+
+"As should innocence wronged, and avenging strength."
+
+When none of those sitting round the fire spoke, Ram Deen went on: "As
+we came nigh to the path leading to Nyagong, Biroo turned his face
+thereto and spat vehemently; and I said, 'Son of mine, canst thou lead
+me to Nyagong?' and he replied, 'Of a surety; the path is here.'
+
+"Thereat we got down from the cart--Biroo and I; and I bore the bugle
+hanging at my side and a stout bamboo club in my hand. As we picked our
+way along the jungle path, Hasteen ran beside us, growling; and when the
+moon gave light I saw the crest on his back bristling, and his teeth
+gleamed through his lips.
+
+"When we reached Nyagong I put an armful of grass on the fire that was
+still smouldering in front of the Jemadar's house, and, as the flame
+leaped up, I blew upon my bugle. Straightway the village watchman, who
+had been sleeping in his hut, after the manner of his kind, came
+running forth bravely; but when he saw who it was that stood by the fire
+he salaamed, and whined, saying, 'Great pity 'tis that Ram Deen, Lord of
+Leopards, should be put to the trouble--and at this unseasonable
+hour!--to return to our village this small villain and budmash, who is
+worse than the evil eye.'
+
+"For answer, I felled him to the ground, and Hasteen stood over him. So
+he dared not move.
+
+"Then came the Jemadar and the men of the village and stood round us;
+and the former said, 'Wah! Ram Deen, coach-wan, is it well to disturb
+peaceful folk at night and rouse them from their sleep? What wouldst
+thou with us?'
+
+"'Justice to this little one, whose father and mother ye and your people
+have slain,' I answered.
+
+"'And what of my son, found dead, and with teeth-marks about his
+throat?' he asked.
+
+"'Jemadar Sahib,' I replied, 'Kali Mai gave thy son, her follower,
+fitting end. As he lived, so he died. 'Tis well.'
+
+"'Dog!' he exclaimed; 'darest thou to speak thus to me in front of mine
+own people?' And he ran upon me.
+
+"So I took him by the beard and laid him at my feet; and the men of
+Nyagong feared to help the Jemadar, for Hasteen growled fiercely over
+him.
+
+"'Fetch the bunnia,' I demanded; 'and lose no time, O Swine of the
+Terai, or I give your Jemadar to the dog.'
+
+"They brought him trembling before me, and he folded his hands and bowed
+his head in the dust at my feet, crying, 'Ram dhwy! ram dhwy! the great
+and strong are ever merciful. What wouldst thou with me, coach-wan ji?'
+
+"'The bhalee of raw sugar,' I answered, 'from which this man-child's
+mother got her death.'
+
+"'She died of Terai fever, Most Worshipful, as the old woman who was
+with her will tell thee.'
+
+"'Nevertheless, Biroo and I will go to thy shop with thee, in the matter
+of that sugar, whilst the dog seeth to the Jemadar. Proceed.'
+
+"'But, Coach-wan Bahadoor,' said the Jemadar, 'thou wilt not leave me to
+be devoured by this beast?'
+
+"'Lie very still, Jemadar Sahib, very still. The dog is a good dog, and
+was never known to harm an honest man. But let no one come to thine aid,
+lest there be nothing of thee left to take to the burning ghat.'
+
+"'Go away, brothers,' wailed the Jemadar to his people; 'go away, lest
+evil befall me.'
+
+"But I said, 'Nay, not so. Stay till I return, O Village Thugs, for I
+would speak with ye.'
+
+"At the bunnia's hut Biroo pointed out the bhalee from which he had
+received the portion of raw sugar whereof his mother had eaten; but the
+bunnia denied, saying that he had already sold all that remained of that
+bhalee. So I broke off a piece of it and gave it to the bunnia, saying,
+'Eat!' Whereat he clasped my knees, begging for mercy, and I knew Biroo
+had not erred.
+
+"'Swine-born!' said I, 'set panniers on thy ass.' And when the ass was
+brought to the door of the hut I made the bunnia load it with such
+produce as he had, till it could scarce stand.
+
+"'I am fain to borrow fifty rupees of thee, bunnia ji, on behalf of this
+motherless child,' I said.
+
+"Whereon he wailed, saying, 'Ram Deen, Compeller of Elephants, there is
+not so much money in all the village stalls of the Terai. What I have I
+will give thee;' and he laid one rupee and nine annas in my palm and a
+handful of cowries.
+
+"'He lieth, my father,' said little Biroo, drawing forth a cocoa-nut
+shell from beneath the bunnia's seat,--and it was full of silver!
+
+"'Bap re bap!' moaned the trader, ''tis all I have against mine old age;
+and the men of Nyagong despoil me; and my milch cow died last week. Aho!
+aho!'
+
+"'It is a very little child, bunnia ji; and consider he hath nor father
+nor mother. God will repay thee for thy kind loan to the orphan,' and I
+tied the money in the corner of my waistband.
+
+"'But, Ram Deen, Sun of Justice,' whined the bunnia, 'there be one
+hundred and thirty-seven rupees, some of it in gold mohurs, in thy
+waistband. Take fifty, and return the rest.'
+
+"'Thank Nana Debi, Bunnia Sahib,' I rejoined, 'for having put it in thy
+power to do so much more for the fatherless than thou didst first
+intend. It will comfort thee in thy old age to think thereon.'
+
+"'But this is robbery,' he said, desperately, 'for which I will have
+thee cast in the great prison at Bareilly.'
+
+"'There be gallows there, too,' I retorted, 'for such as put ground
+glass in gur, Mea ji. Ho, ho!'
+
+"So he said no more, but, at my command, put panniers on another ass,
+which I had in mind to have loaded by the men of Nyagong.
+
+"When we returned to the fire, the dog Hasteen and the Jemadar were as
+we had left them; and the Jemadar's teeth shook in his head with fear
+and cold. So I called Hasteen to me, and when the Jemadar had risen from
+the ground and put his turban on, I spake:
+
+"'O Jemadar, and ye, O men of Nyagong, I would have ye witness that I
+brought this bhalee of sugar from the bunnia's stall. Is it not so, O
+great mahajun (banker)?'
+
+"And the bunnia assented. So I placed the great lump of raw sugar in a
+bag which I had brought from the bunnia's shop. Then, at my bidding and
+in the presence of his people, the Jemadar sealed the bag with his seal,
+which was well known to the Thanadar of Kaladoongie.
+
+"Then I spake thus to those assembled there: 'Jemadar Sahib, and men of
+Nyagong, ye have brought shame on the Kumaon Terai, and, in the eyes of
+all men, ye have blackened the faces of those who dwell in this paradise
+of God. This child that ye see here--and he is a very little child and
+hath nor father nor mother--came amongst ye but a moon since, and ye
+slew those who fed and cared for him. And him--his milk-teeth still in
+his mouth--ye would have burnt to death in his sleep had Nana Debi and
+this dog slept, too. It were a good deed done to burn your huts about
+your ears, and give your fields to the wild boar and to the Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie, who is my friend and the friend of this little one, and who
+would say that a jungle fire had swept your village away; but I am more
+merciful than ye. Inasmuch, then, as ye took the bread from this little
+one's mouth, and slew his people, it is but right that ye should feed
+him, and be his father and his mother. The bunnia hath already made some
+small reparation for the sudden taking off of the little one's mother.
+What will ye do for him whose hut ye burnt? Or would ye that the
+Thanadar of Kaladoongie should ask, or the Commissioner Sahib, he who
+can put ropes round the necks of murderers, how it was that the corpse
+of this child's father had its hands tied behind its back and a stone
+fastened to its feet?'
+
+"Then the Jemadar, clasping suppliant hands, whined, saying, 'Ram Deen,
+Rustum of the Terai, gentle as thou art brave and strong! the child's
+mother died of Terai fever, as thou knowest; and his worthy father, the
+chamar, leaned too far over the edge of the well in drawing up his
+lotah, and so fell in. Why speak to us, then, of slaying? We be sorry
+for the little chamar, Brahmins though we be, and we would have been
+father and mother to him, but he ran away, and the village mourned,
+thinking he had fallen a prey to the jackals. To none else but thee
+would we give up the boon of rearing him. Brothers,' he went on, turning
+to those about him, 'naught can restore a child's father to him, but a
+brass lotah with sufficient coin therein, and a necklace of gold and
+plum-seeds, such as I will bestow upon him, may help him in time of
+need, and, mayhap, resolve the Thanadar not to visit our village. Eh,
+coach-wan ji? Brothers, see to it that our much-loved orphan goeth not
+empty-handed from the generous village of Nyagong.'
+
+"So it was that the other ass groaned beneath a weight of silver bangles
+and toe-rings still warm from the taking off, blankets and hide-sewn
+shoes, sweetened tobacco and unbleached cotton cloth, and many a purse
+filled with two-anna pieces.
+
+"And when the ass's knees shook, by reason of the load on his back, I
+said, 'Men of Nyagong, perchance the Thanadar of Kaladoongie may have an
+asthma to-morrow.'
+
+"And one said, 'Of a surety he hath scant breath. Ho, ho!'
+
+"Then I set Biroo upon the second ass; and when we had reached the Bore
+Nuddee I blew upon the bugle.
+
+"When the Thanadar of Kaladoongie came out to meet me I put my hand on
+Biroo's shoulder, saying, 'Much care awaiteth thee, Thanadar Sahib, in
+tending this little budmash, whose merchandise this is. Moreover, he is
+a mahajun now, and hath much money to lend.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+_The Woman in the Carriage_
+
+
+When Ram Deen's bugle was heard at the Bore bridge, the munshi from the
+post-office came across the road and joined the group sitting round the
+fire in front of the police-station, at which only the great felt free
+to warm themselves.
+
+The munshi was struggling with "the po-ets of the In-gel-land," as he
+expressed it in Baboo-English, and did not often take part in the
+proceedings round the Thanadar's fire; but that night he took his place
+with the assurance of one who has something to tell. A mem-sahib, in
+evident distress, with a very young baby in her arms, and unattended,
+had taken special passage to Moradabad on the mail-cart; and Ram Deen,
+the driver, would therefore have to return to Lal Kooah that night
+without any rest. Such a thing had never happened before, and beards
+wagged freely round the fire in all sorts of surmisings. For once in
+his life, the munshi, whom Kaladoongie had always looked upon as a mere
+rhyme-struck fool, held the public eye, and moved largely and freely
+among his fellows.
+
+Beauty in distress appeals even to the "heathen in his blindness," and
+the munshi drove round to the dak-bungalow to receive and translate the
+lady's final instructions to Ram Deen. Not that there was any occasion
+for his services, for the lady with the fair hair and blue eyes used
+excellent Hindustani; her soft "d's" and "t's" showed that she had been
+born in India, and that she had spoken Nagari before she acquired
+English.
+
+She was waiting on the veranda with her baby in her arms when the
+mail-cart drove up; and, ignoring the fussy little munshi, from whom no
+help could be looked for in the troubles that beset her, she spoke to
+Ram Deen, who soon won her confidence, for he showed himself to be
+thoughtful and a man of resource.
+
+"The mem-sahib must be well wrapped up to-night," he said, "and the
+little one too, for it will be exceedingly bitter as soon as we pass
+through the timber and arrive at the tall grass. And the babe seemeth
+very young from its cry."
+
+"It is but two weeks in age, coach-wan, and we are well wrapped up; but
+make haste, oh, make haste!"
+
+When Ram Deen had lifted her on to the seat, he fastened her to the back
+of it with his waistband, and wrapped her feet up in his own blanket.
+"There be ruts and stones on the road," he explained, "and the mem-sahib
+will have to hold the little one with both arms, and very close to her
+to keep it warm."
+
+By the time they had reached the level plateau beyond the Bore Nuddee,
+the horses, at her urgent and repeated request for more speed, were
+being driven as fast as Ram Deen dared to drive, seeing there were ten
+miles to be covered by the same team.
+
+As they proceeded, the lady showed her distress by an occasional deep
+sigh; and once, when Ram Deen looked at her face, dimly illuminated by
+the lamps of the mail-cart, he saw the gleam of a tear on her eyelashes.
+He was glad when she spoke and gave him an opportunity of trying to
+distract her mind.
+
+"Sawest thou any travellers on the road to-day, coach-wan?" asked the
+lady, timidly.
+
+"Yea, Most Worshipful. A carriage, with a sahib and an English woman,
+stopped by the well at Lal Kooah this evening; and the sahib warmed
+himself at the bunnia's fire and bought milk, whilst his man-servant
+made preparation for their evening meal."
+
+"What manner of man was he, coach-wan; and didst thou learn his name?"
+
+"The servant told me that the sahib's name was Barfield,--Captain
+Barfield,--mem-sahib, and that he was going to Meerut to join the
+regiment to which he belongs. Moreover, he said that the woman in the
+carriage was not his master's wife--but, toba, toba! what am I saying?
+This is shameful talk for the mem-sahib to hear, and I ask the
+forgiveness of the Provider of the Poor for my stupidity."
+
+"Go on, go on, coach-wan," she said, eagerly, laying a hand on his arm.
+And as he talked, she fell aweeping bitterly, and Ram Deen knew not how
+to comfort her, for he had never spoken to a mem-sahib before. So he
+blundered into speech again.
+
+"What manner of man, Most Worshipful, was the sahib? As he stood by the
+fire, I saw that he was nearly as tall as I,--and I am a span higher
+than most men; the beard on his upper lip was very fair, and his face
+showed red in the firelight; furthermore, he smelled of strong waters.
+He stood awhile, unmindful of those about him, twitching his beard and
+digging his nails into the palms of his hands; and he looked as a man
+who hath a new sorrow."
+
+"Oh, coach-wan! that is the first good word I have heard this day. It
+shall enrich thee by ten rupees ere the sun rise."
+
+"Presently," resumed the driver, "as the sahib stood before the blaze,
+the woman in the carriage began to sing, and it was as the song of one
+who hath smoked opium or bhang. Then the sahib stamped his heel on the
+ground, and with an oath--such I took it to be, for it sounded
+terrible--he went towards the carriage; and the woman, opening the door
+thereof, put forth her head, and we saw that her hair was unloosed and
+hung about her shoulders.
+
+"She fell to scolding the sahib, who thrust her back into the carriage,
+so that we should not look upon her disorder. Then he fastened the
+doors, so that she could not open them. Whereon she fell to screaming
+and beating on the sides of the carriage like a wild beast newly caged.
+
+"So the sahib, being shamed, gave orders, and his horses, which were
+already spent, were again yoked to the carriage; they departed slowly
+into the darkness, and we could hear the woman scolding long after they
+had passed out of sight."
+
+"What time was it when they left Lal Kooah, coach-wan?"
+
+"About the seventh hour, and now some two hours ago, mem-sahib."
+
+"Oh, make haste, make haste, coach-wan! Twenty rupees to thee if we
+overtake them ere they reach Moradabad!"
+
+"Fear not, mem-sahib. We shall come up with them or ever they get to the
+next chowki, where fresh horses await the mail-cart."
+
+"Oh, coach-wan, it is my husband we follow! The woman with him is of
+those who steal men's senses from them and rob women of their husbands.
+Oh, make haste, make haste!"
+
+They flew along the road. And when the light of the wayside fire at Lal
+Kooah gleamed in the distance the lady said, "Thou wilt not leave me
+here to another driver, coach-wan?--Thou art a man, and I may need a
+man's services to-night."
+
+"Mem-sahib, I am thy servant even as far as Moradabad if it be
+necessary."
+
+"God reward thee!" she exclaimed.
+
+And then Ram Deen woke the jungle echoes with a brave blast.
+
+The hostler at Lal Kooah had fresh horses ready by the time the
+mail-cart drove up, and in less than five minutes Ram Deen and his
+charge were speeding along the level road.
+
+The jungle had now ceased, and they were in the region of the tall
+plumed grass. The stars twinkled frostily, for the night was bitterly
+cold, and the clatter of the horses' hoofs on the hard road rang out
+sharply.
+
+"The little one,--is it well wrapped up, mem-sahib?" asked Ram Deen.
+
+"It is asleep, and quite warm, coach-wan. Proceed."
+
+When they had left Lal Kooah two or three miles behind them, Ram Deen's
+keen eye caught the glimmer of a fire through the tall grass that came
+up to the edge of the road where it curved.
+
+"We have found those ye seek, mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, bringing his
+horses to a stand-still.
+
+Through the quiet night came the voice of a drunken woman singing a
+ribald barrack-room ditty interspersed with fiendish laughter and oaths:
+
+    "I'm the belle of the Naini Tal mall.
+                   Houp la!
+      Not a colonel nor sub at the mess
+    But makes love when he can to sweet Sal.
+      To their wives do they dare to confess
+    That I'm belle of the Naini Tal mall?
+    Yes, I'm belle of the Naini Tal mall.
+                   Houp la!"
+
+Then the singer called aloud, "Captain! Captain Barfield!" But, getting
+no response, she beat a furious tattoo on the wooden panels of the
+carriage, shouting at the top of her voice, "Pretty sort of a jaunt to
+Moradabad this is! You're a liar, captain! But I'll tell your doll-faced
+wife how you treated her when her baby was only two weeks old." She then
+swore a round of torrid oaths, and wound up with a scream that might
+have been heard a mile off.
+
+"Mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, "bide here with the hostler till I have
+tamed that she-devil, and then I will take thee to the captain sahib.
+The little one,--is it warm?"
+
+"Quite warm, and still asleep, coach-wan. Go, and God advance thee!"
+
+Ram Deen found the captain seated on a log in front of a blazing fire.
+With his elbows on his knees, the captain pressed a finger to each ear
+to escape the tirade of the terrible woman in the carriage. A touch on
+his shoulder made him start to his feet, and as he turned round Ram Deen
+salaamed gravely.
+
+"I thought the sahib slept. No? Her speech galled thee," pointing to the
+carriage, "and thou wast fain not to hear it?"
+
+The captain nodded assent. He was worn with the trying position his
+folly had placed him in, and, at another time, he might have resented
+the touch on his shoulder, but the tall native in front of him spoke
+with dignity and a quiet assurance indicative of a large fund of reserve
+force,--and he might be helpful.
+
+"Where are thy servants, sahib?"
+
+"They fled when she cursed them. May the devil take them!"
+
+"I am the driver of the mail-cart on this road, sahib, as thou mayest
+see," said Ram Deen, pointing to his badge and bugle, "and this woman's
+tongue stayeth the Queen's mail; for on my cart, which I have left
+behind the bend of the road yonder, is a mem-sahib who perchance knoweth
+thee, for she, too, cometh from Naini Tal, and 'twere well she should
+not hear thy name on this woman's lips. She must not be kept waiting
+long, sahib, for the babe in her arms is but two weeks in age" (the
+captain started), "and the night is exceedingly bitter. Have I the
+sahib's permission to drive his carriage beyond the hearing of those who
+are fain to pass?"
+
+"Drive her to Jehandum, coach-wan, so she come to no hurt."
+
+Thereupon Ram Deen approached the carriage, and tapped on the door,
+saying, "Woman, it is not meet that the worthy traffic of the Queen's
+highway should be disturbed by thy unseemly conduct."
+
+For answer he received a volley of curses in broken Hindustani, such
+curses as are in vogue in the barracks of English regiments in India;
+and the woman in the carriage wound up with a request for more brandy.
+
+"Nay, it is not brandy thou shouldst have, but water,--cold water to
+cool thy hot tongue," and mounting the carriage Ram Deen urged the jaded
+horses into a trot.
+
+Two hundred yards farther on the road crossed the Bore Nuddee, now a
+sluggish river about four feet deep. Leaving the road Ram Deen drove
+down the bank and into the stream. When the woman in the carriage heard
+the splashing of the horses, and felt the water rise to her knees, she
+screamed with fear and became suddenly sober.
+
+"Hast had water enough to cool thy tongue?" asked Ram Deen, tapping on
+the roof of the carriage.
+
+"Stop, stop!" she entreated, frantically. "I will do whatever you wish."
+
+"Canst thou forget Captain Barfield's name, or must I drive into deeper
+water?"
+
+"I know not whereof you speak."
+
+"'Tis well! And who is thy husband?"
+
+"A soldier whose regiment is at Delhi, whither I go."
+
+"Thou must be true to him hereafter.--Ho there, horse! the alligators
+cannot swallow thee!"
+
+"Alligators! Are there alligators in this river?" whined the woman in
+the carriage.
+
+"There is scarce room for them within its banks."
+
+"Oh, sahib, I am fain to go to my husband, whom alone I care for.
+Proceed, for the love of God!"
+
+So Ram Deen drove her through the stream and up the opposite bank on to
+the road. When he had tied the horses to a tree by the highway, he
+said, "There will be travellers going thy way presently, and they will
+drive thee to Moradabad. Remember, I may have business in Delhi very
+soon. Salaam, Faithless One."
+
+And the woman responded in a very meek tone, "Salaam."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Come, mem-sahib," said Ram Deen, as he resumed his seat on the
+mail-cart; "the captain sahib awaits thee."
+
+When they were abreast of the fire, she called in a faint, tremulous
+voice, "Harry, Harry, my dear husband! I am very tired, and very cold.
+Won't you come to me?"
+
+Leaving the hostler in charge of the mail-cart, Ram Deen followed the
+captain as he carried his wife to the fire.
+
+Seating her on the log, Captain Barfield knelt beside his wife, chafing
+and kissing her hands.
+
+"Thank God, you found me!" he sobbed.
+
+"The ayah told me a few hours after you left me that that--that woman
+had been seen to join you beyond Serya Tal; so I and the baby came to
+help you. You still love us, dearest?" she asked, pleadingly.
+
+"My beloved, I am not worthy of you! There is a sword in my heart!" And
+he bowed his head on her lap and wept, whilst she stroked his hair with
+a slender hand.
+
+"God has been very good to me to-night," she said, softly.
+
+Soon after, removing the shawl from the little one's face, she said,
+"Kiss your baby, Harry."
+
+His lips touched the little face.--It was very cold. He started back,
+and, taking the child from its mother's arms, he held it near the
+firelight.--It was dead!
+
+As they looked across the little limp body into each other's eyes with
+speechless agony, Ram Deen bent over them and took the little one
+tenderly from the captain's hands.
+
+"Attend to the living, sahib; I will see to thy dead," he said, softly.
+
+He turned away his face from the sorrow that was too sacred to be
+witnessed by any one save God.
+
+As Captain Barfield folded his young wife in his arms, a deep groan
+rent his breast at the thought of his folly and its consequence.
+
+"Thou wert very tender--a mere blossom--and the frost withered thee,"
+said Ram Deen very gently, composing the baby's limbs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+_For the Training of Biroo_
+
+
+"Ah, small villain, budmash! must I send thee back to Nyagong, thee and
+thy dog, to learn respect for thy betters? The Thanadar's son hath the
+ordering of thee, and thou hast beaten him,--toba, toba!"
+
+"My father," replied Biroo, respectfully, to Ram Deen, "Mohun Lal took
+my kite, and when I strove to hold mine own he smote me, whereon I
+pulled his hair; and 'twas no fault of mine that it lacked strength and
+remained in my hand. So he set his dog on me; but Hasteen slew it.
+Wherein have I offended, my father?"
+
+And the Thanadar laughed, saying, "Ram Deen, Mohun Lal but received his
+due." To the "defendant in the case" he said, "Get thee to sleep, Biroo;
+and be brave and strong; so will Nana Debi reward thee." Then turning
+to those who sat round the fire, he went on, "Brothers, 'tis late, and I
+would have speech with Ram Deen. Ye may take your leave."
+
+When they were by themselves, the Thanadar spoke. "The man-child waxeth
+fierce and strong, my old friend; 'twere well he were restrained. He
+will be wealthy by thy favor, and the favor of Nyagong, when he cometh
+to man's estate, and 'twere pity that he should lack courtesy when he is
+a man grown."
+
+"Thanadar ji, thou art his father as much as I am. Thou shouldst correct
+him with strokes whenas I am on the road and carrying the Queen's mail."
+
+"Blows but inure to hardness, and--Gunga knoweth!--little Biroo is hard
+already. Why dost thou not give up the service of the Queen, and----" He
+paused, and after awhile asked, "What didst thou receive from Captain
+Barfield?"
+
+"The gun thou hast seen, Thanadar ji; but from his mem-sahib five
+hundred rupees, a timepiece of gold, and whatsoever I may want
+hereafter. The money lieth in the hands of Moti Ram, the great mahajun
+(banker) of Naini Tal."
+
+"Wah! Ram Deen, thou art thyself rich enough to be a mahajun. Consider,
+too, the kindness bestowed by Nyagong on Biroo at thy asking,--two
+hundred rupees and over, and much merchandise. Leave the road, my
+friend, and put thy money out at usury. A woman in thy hut to cook thy
+evening meal, and mend Biroo's ways, were not amiss. Eh? The daughters
+of the Terai are very fair, as thou knowest, coach-wan ji."
+
+"The road hath been father and mother to me, Thanadar Sahib, since I
+lost my Buldeo, who knew not his mother; so I may not leave it. And when
+I think of Bheem Dass, bunnia and usurer of the village whereof I was
+potter three years ago, and whom ye found dead on the road the day I
+brought in the mail, and was made driver, as thou rememberest, I may not
+live by harassing the poor and the widow and fatherless. God forbid! As
+for women,--they be like butterflies that flit from flower to flower;
+perchance, if I could find a woman who cared not to gossip at the
+village well, and had eyes and thoughts for none save her husband, I
+might--but I must be about my business on the road, and I have no time
+for the seeking of such a woman. Wah! I have not, even as yet, tried the
+gun Barfield sahib gave me."
+
+Soon afterwards, by an alteration of the service, Ram Deen brought the
+mail to Kaladoongie in the early afternoon, and availed himself of the
+opportunity thus afforded of rambling about during the rest of the day
+in the jungle with Biroo and Hasteen, in search of small game.
+
+One day they came upon a half-grown fawn, at which Ram Deen let fly with
+both barrels; but as his gun was loaded with small shot only, the deer
+bounded away apparently unhurt, with Hasteen in hot pursuit, whilst Ram
+Deen and Biroo followed with what haste they could.
+
+Presently, they could hear the baying of the great dog and the shrill
+cries of a woman in distress. Directed by these sounds, they crossed the
+road that leads to Naini Tal, and, scrambling up the bank and over a
+low stone wall, they found themselves in a neglected garden, in the
+middle of which was a grass hut, whence issued the cries that had
+quickened their steps. They arrived just in time, for Hasteen had almost
+dug himself into the hut.
+
+Calling off the dog, Ram Deen hastened to allay the fears of the woman
+in the hut, who was still giving voice to her distress in the Padhani
+patois. "The dog will not harm thee; see, I have tied him with my
+waistband to a tree."
+
+"Who art thou?" asked the woman. The tones of her voice, when she spoke,
+were exceedingly soft and pleasant, and made one long to look upon the
+face of the speaker.
+
+"I am Ram Deen, the driver of the mail-cart, and well known in
+Kaladoongie."
+
+"I have heard of thee and thy doings, and will come forth. But the dog
+(Nana Debi, was there ever such a dog!--he almost slew my fawn), art
+thou sure he cannot harm us?"
+
+"Kali Mai twist my joints, if he be not well secured."
+
+Whereupon the door of the hut was opened a few inches. Having satisfied
+herself that all was as Ram Deen had said, the young woman came out of
+the hut with one arm about the fawn.
+
+She was a Padhani, and in her early womanhood. The simple kilt she wore
+allowed her shapely ankles to be seen, and her bodice well expressed the
+charms of her youthful figure. Ram Deen thought her eyes were not less
+beautiful than the fawn's.
+
+After salaaming to him, she looked at her pet. "Oh, sahib, she
+bleeds,--my Ganda bleeds!" she exclaimed, pointing to a slender streak
+of red on the fawn's flank.
+
+"Belike some thorn tore her skin as she fled," said Ram Deen; but he
+knew that at least one shot from his gun had taken effect.
+
+"'Tis a sore hurt, Coach-wan sahib. Will she die?"
+
+"Nay, little one, 'tis nought. See!" and with a wisp of grass Ram Deen
+wiped the blood from the fawn's skin.
+
+"But the dog, coach-wan,--thou wilt not permit him to fright my Ganda
+again?"
+
+"Of a surety, not." Then, with a hand on the fawn's head, he rebuked
+Hasteen, saying, "Villain, the jackals shall pursue thee if thou huntest
+here again!" And Hasteen hung his head, putting his tail between his
+legs; and the young girl knew that Ganda was safe thereafter from the
+great dog.
+
+As they talked together, a very decrepit old man appeared at the door of
+the hut; after peering at Ram Deen from under his hand, he spoke in the
+flat, toneless voice of a deaf man: "Tumbaku, Provider of the Poor, give
+me tumbaku."
+
+Ram Deen put his pouch of dried tobacco-leaf in the old man's hand, and
+looked inquiringly at the young woman.
+
+"It is my grandfather, and he is deaf and nearly blind,--and a sore
+affliction. Give back his tumbaku to the sahib, da-da," she said in a
+louder voice to the old man.
+
+"Nay, nay, let him keep it!" said Ram Deen; then after a pause, and by
+way of excuse for staying a little longer, he inquired the old man's
+name.
+
+"Hera Lal, Coach-wan sahib; our kinsman is Thapa Sing, of Serya Tal, who
+was accounted rich, and planted this garden and these fruit trees many
+years ago. We stay here by his leave in the winter time, to keep the
+deer and wild hog out. My name is Tara, and I sell firewood to Gunga Ram
+the sweetmeat vender."
+
+Whilst she was speaking, Biroo had approached the fawn with a handful of
+grass.
+
+"Is this the little one they say ye found on the Bore bridge, sahib?"
+inquired the young Padhani.
+
+Ram Deen nodded affirmatively.
+
+"Poor child!" she exclaimed, and, moved by a sudden impulse of pity, she
+knelt beside Biroo, and smoothing the hair from his face she put a
+marigold behind his ear.
+
+Next day, after he had delivered the mail, Ram Deen, making a bundle of
+his best clothes, started off into the jungle. When he was out of sight
+of the village, he donned a snowy tunic and a scarlet turban, and
+encased his feet in a pair of red, hide-sewn shoes. When Tara, on her
+way to the bazaar with a load of firewood, met him soon after, she
+thought she had never seen any one so bravely attired, and stepped off
+the path to make room for him to pass.
+
+"Toba, toba!" he exclaimed; "it maketh my head ache to see the load thou
+bearest. Gunga Ram will, doubtless, give thee not less than eight annas
+for the firewood."
+
+"Nay, Coach-wan sahib, Gunga Ram is just, and besides giving me the
+market price,--two annas,--he often bestoweth on me a handful of
+sweetmeats."
+
+"Thou shalt sell no more wood to Gunga Ram. He is base, and his father
+is a dog. Set thy load at my door; here is the price thereof," and Ram
+Deen laid an eight-anna piece in her palm. Before she could recover from
+her astonishment he said, "The fawn Ganda, is her hurt healed?"
+
+"It is well with her. And what of Biroo, sahib?"
+
+"He is a budmash, Tara, and I repent me of befriending him."
+
+"Nay, Coach-wan sahib, he is but little, and hath no mother."
+
+"That is the evil of it," said Ram Deen, leaving her abruptly.
+
+When Tara returned to her home that evening, she noticed the footprints
+of a man's shoes in the dust in front of the hut; her grandfather,
+looking at her cunningly, smoked sweetened tobacco that was well
+flavored, and the clay bowl of his hookah was new and was gayly painted.
+
+A similar scene was enacted on the jungle path the next day, and many
+days in succession, and the tale of Biroo's iniquities grew at each
+recital. Every day there was some fresh villainy of his to relate, and
+each day Tara's grandfather waxed in affluence, which culminated one day
+in a new blanket and a small purse with money in it.
+
+"Tara," said Ram Deen one day, "put down thy load; I have bad tidings to
+tell thee concerning Biroo. He and Hasteen killed a milch-goat to-day
+belonging to the Thanadar."
+
+"'Twas the dog's doing, Ram Deen."
+
+"Nay, Biroo is the older budmash, and planneth all the villainies.
+To-morrow I must pay the Thanadar three rupees and eight annas, or
+Hasteen will be slain and Biroo beaten with a shoe by the Thanadar's
+chuprassi."
+
+"Biroo shall not be beaten for a matter of three or four rupees, sahib.
+Lo, here is the money," and Tara, taking a small purse from a tiny
+pocket in her bodice, held it out to him.
+
+"Nay, listen further!" exclaimed Ram Deen, holding up his hands; "thou
+knowest I am wifeless, and I might have the best and fairest woman in
+the Terai for my wife; but she liketh not Biroo, and will not share my
+hut because of him. Verily, I shall return him to the men of Nyagong."
+
+"Thou art, doubtless, entitled to the best and the fairest wife in the
+Terai," said Tara, with a sudden catch in her voice; "but Biroo goeth
+not back to Nyagong as long as our hut standeth and as long as Gunga
+Ram, who is a just man and a generous, will pay me two annas each day
+for wood." She turned away her face, so that Ram Deen should not see
+the tears that suddenly filled her eyes.
+
+"'Tis well, Tara; thou shalt have him, but thou must beat him every day,
+and often, to make an upright man of him."
+
+"Nana Debi wither the hand that striketh him! He is not a dog to be
+taught with stripes." Then, after a pause, she went on, "And the--the
+woman who is to be the best and fairest wife in the Terai,--what manner
+of woman is she?"
+
+"She is about thine age."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"And as tall as thou art."
+
+"Proceed."
+
+"Her voice is soft and sweet as a blackbird's, and her eyes are like a
+fawn's. Her name is----"
+
+"Well, what is her name?"
+
+"'Tis the most beautiful name that a woman can bear. Nay, how can I tell
+thee her name if thou wilt not look at me?"
+
+When she had turned her eyes on him, he put his hands on her shoulders,
+saying, "Her name is Tara, star of the Terai."
+
+And Tara put her head on his breast, and was very happy.
+
+"Thou must beat Biroo, Beloved, or he will be hanged."
+
+"Thou wouldst have been hanged, budmash, hadst thou been motherless and
+beaten by strangers. Biroo's mother will make him a better man than thou
+art, O Beater of Babes."
+
+"And thou takest me for love?"
+
+"Nay, coach-wan ji, but for the training of Biroo."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+_Chandni_
+
+
+About a mile below the eastern gorge of Naini Tal, the favorite
+hill-station of Kumaon, is a Padhani village overlooking Serya Tal. It
+is inhabited by a few score of low-caste hill-men, who earn a living,
+they and their women-folk, by carrying rough-hewn stones from the
+hillsides for contractors engaged in building houses, or by selling
+fodder-grass and firewood to the English residents.
+
+When a Padhani has accumulated sufficient means he purchases a wife and
+stays at home every other day; and when he has attained affluence and
+bought two wives, he stays at home altogether; which accounts for the
+fact that a large majority of these carriers of wood and stone are
+women.
+
+It is not to be supposed that the Padhani women look upon their toilsome
+tasks as a hardship: nature, and the decrees of evolution, have endowed
+them with superb health and strength, and they are wont, as they carry
+the most astonishing loads, to sing joyous choruses, and so lighten
+their toils. Every one who has been to Naini Tal is familiar with the
+sight of a string of Padhani women, short-kilted, showing a span of
+brown skin between their bodices and skirts, and singing in unison.
+
+They never seem to weary of their choruses, and Captain Trenyon of the
+Forest Department, and his _khansamah_, Bijoo, never tired of looking at
+them as they passed below his bungalow with swaying hips and jaunty
+carriage. They were a trifle darker than their Rajpoot sisters (_quod
+tune, si fuscus Amyntas_), and they might have been akin to Pharaoh's
+daughter, she who was "black but comely."
+
+Now, Bijoo was a Padhani, and he took more than a casual interest--such
+as Captain Trenyon's, doubtless, was--in the laughing and singing crowd
+that filed below the captain's house several times a day. Chiefest among
+them, and distinguished by her beauty and her stature, was Chandni;
+and, ere the season was over, Bijoo purchased her from her crippled
+father for ten rupees, and, thereafter, Captain Trenyon turned his back
+on the Padhani traffic of the Mall to watch Chandni instead, as she
+helped Bijoo to clean the silver; and the songs of the Padhani women
+attracted him no more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The following year, before the snows of February had cleared off from
+Shere-ke Danda and Larya Kata, Chandni returned alone to the house of
+her father, Thapa, at Serya Tal. It was night when she pushed back the
+thatch door of his hut, which was in darkness within, and called him by
+name:
+
+"It is I, father, Chandni, thy daughter."
+
+"Moon of my Heart!" said the old man, waking from his sleep, and he
+would have "lifted up his voice and wept," as is the manner of all
+orientals when greatly moved, but she prevented him by the
+impressiveness of her "Choop, choop! father; proclaim not my return to
+the village!"
+
+"Where is Bijoo, the man thy husband?"
+
+"Nana Debi alone knoweth, my father, and I have come back to thee."
+
+"Is he dead, little one?"
+
+"He is dead to me, da-da; and I have returned to cook thy food and carry
+wood and stone for thee, if thou wilt let me."
+
+"Let thee, O Spray of Jessamine!" and the old man caught his breath, and
+once more she had to check his emotions with an imperative "Choop,
+choop!"
+
+He left his charpoi, and raking together the embers in the chula, he
+blew on them till they kindled into a blaze, at which he lit a smoky
+chirag, whose dim light showed Chandni sitting on the ground with her
+back towards him, swaying to and fro, and crying softly "Aho, aho, mai
+bap!"
+
+He sat by the fire patiently, waiting for her to speak, his hands
+trembling with apprehension.
+
+When her composure was sufficiently restored, she said, "Thapa Sing, my
+father, Nana Debi hath no ears for a woman's prayers; do thou,
+therefore, sacrifice a goat to him to-morrow at Naini Tal, and entreat
+his curses on all Faringis. See, here is money," and she threw a small
+bag of coins towards him.
+
+He picked up the purse, and after a pause she went on:
+
+"My father, the Mussulmanis do well to veil their women's faces. Trenyon
+sahib looked upon me ere I was married to Bijoo, and since then, daily,
+in his jungle camp hath he scorched me with his eyes, till my cheeks
+felt as though the hot wind had blown on them.
+
+"One day, Bijoo came home with a coin of gold in his hand, such as I had
+never seen before, and which, he said, the sahib had given him; and he
+bored a hole through it and hung it on my forehead, and bade me wear it
+there at the sahib's request; but he stabbed me with his eyes as he put
+it on me.
+
+"And the next day, Bhamaraya, the sweeper's lame wife, (Kali Mai afflict
+her with leprosy!) came to the door of our hut, Bijoo being gone to the
+village market for food supplies, and she extolled my beauty, and
+showed a picture of myself made by Trenyon sahib by the help of the sun;
+and thereafter I veiled myself when I went abroad.
+
+"She came again the next day, and whensoever Bijoo was away from home,
+always praising my lips and my eyes, and telling me what Trenyon sahib
+spake concerning me. And yesterday she came to me and said, 'Chandni, O
+Moon of the Jungle, Trenyon sahib would fain have speech with thee.
+To-night will he send Bijoo with a message to the thana at Kaladoongie,
+and when he is gone and the other servants be asleep I will conduct thee
+to the sahib's tent. See what he hath sent thee,' and she placed at my
+feet a gold bangle.
+
+"When I would have spurned her and her lures from my door she laughed
+wickedly, saying, 'Ho, ho, my Pretty Partridge! if golden grain will not
+catch thee, assuredly thou art entangled in the snare of necessity, thou
+Wife of a Thief!' and she pointed at the coin on my forehead.
+
+"Then, as my heart turned to water, she went on: 'To-morrow the
+Thanadar will return with Bijoo, and, unless thou asketh the clemency of
+the sahib, Bijoo will be charged with theft and taken back to
+Kaladoongie as a prisoner.--The Sircar sends men across the Black Water
+for lesser offences than this!'
+
+"And being a woman, and fearing I knew not what dangers for Bijoo and
+myself, I entreated Bhamaraya to take me to the sahib's tent, promising
+to say naught to Bijoo.
+
+"And thus it fell out, Bijoo being away, that I went with the lame
+she-wolf to Trenyon sahib's tent last night to make appeal for my
+husband."
+
+She paused in her narrative once more, swaying herself to and fro and
+moaning, "Aho, aho!" Then, after a while, she went on:
+
+"When we were in the sahib's presence Bhamaraya plucked the chudder from
+my face, saying, 'Lo, sahib, I have brought thee the Rose of the Terai!'
+Whereon he filled her palms with rupees. And as she left the room she
+spake to me, saying, 'The saving of Bijoo were an easy task for thy
+beauty, thou Flower-Faced Chandni.'
+
+"And I stood suppliant before the sahib, with folded palms and downcast
+eyes, and in the silence I could hear the beating of my heart. After a
+while, and because he spake not, I looked up and met his eyes that
+burned upon my face; and then I knew the price that was set on Bijoo's
+safety.
+
+"Falling before him, I clasped his feet, saying, 'Provider of the Poor,
+let thy servant depart in honor, and so add one more jewel to the crown
+of thy worth. See, here is the coin Bhamaraya says was stolen from thee
+by the man Bijoo, my husband.' And, unwinding the gold piece from my
+head, I laid it at his feet.
+
+"Thereupon he raised me from the ground, and because great fear was upon
+me, and because my limbs shook, he seated me upon his bed, whereon was a
+leopard's skin. Then, filling a crystal vessel with sparkling waters
+that bubbled and frothed, he bade me drink. And my courage revived, and
+once more I made plea for Bijoo.
+
+"And then I noticed, for the first time, that the air of the tent was
+heavy with the odor of attar; slumbrous music came from a magical box on
+the table, and the thought of Bijoo seemed to go far from me, as though
+he were in another land, and I became as one who had smoked apheem or
+churrus. Then the sahib bound the gold coin on my brow again, and spake
+words to me such as I had never heard from man, assuring me of Bijoo's
+safety, and calling me Queen of the Stars, Dew of the Morning, Breath of
+Roses, and putting a strange stress upon me that cared not for any
+consequences.
+
+"When I had flown, as it seemed to me, to the highest peak of elation,
+he gave me another draught of the sparkling waters, and, as I sank back
+on the pillows, the last thing I had sense of was his hand on mine. Oh,
+Nana Debi, that I had never waked again! Aho, aho!"
+
+And once more the woman stopped to indulge her grief.
+
+"When I waked again," she resumed, "the sahib sat by the table, asleep,
+with his head on his arm, the light still burning brightly over him. A
+bird cheeped uneasily in the peepul-tree above the tent, and through the
+chink of the doorway I could discern the faint glimmer of the false
+dawn. Fearing to be seen in or near the sahib's tent by the servants,
+who would soon begin to stir, I made shift to rise from the bed, but my
+head swam from the effects of the strong waters I had drunk, and I fell
+back on the pillows and shut my eyes for a few moments.
+
+"When I looked again Bijoo stood within the doorway. Holding up a
+menacing finger that enjoined silence, he advanced stealthily on Trenyon
+sahib with an unsheathed khookri. Arrived within striking distance, he
+touched the sahib on the shoulder, and, as the sleeper raised his head
+from the table, the heavy blade descended on it and shore it from the
+shoulders, and Trenyon sahib passed from sleep to death without any
+waking.
+
+"Tearing the coin from my forehead, Bijoo wound his fingers in my hair
+and bade me follow him without any outcry on pain of instant death.
+
+"When we had passed into the jungle a mile from the camp he bade stand,
+and then, O my father, he inflicted the punishment our men exact from
+unfaithful wives."
+
+"O Moonlight of my Heart, say not thou art a nakti! Not that! not that!"
+
+For answer she rose slowly to her feet and turned towards him. Drawing
+from her face the chudder, which was soaked with blood, she disclosed to
+his horrified gaze a countenance with a hideous gap between the eyes and
+mouth, and bearing no resemblance to that of the once beautiful
+Chandni.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+_One Thousand Rupees Reward_
+
+
+The Terai was in consternation: Captain Trenyon of the Forest Department
+had been killed by his khansamah, Bijoo; the latter's wife, Chandni, had
+been horribly mutilated by her infuriated husband in accordance with an
+immemorial right claimed by the men of the Terai in such cases, and the
+government had offered a reward of one thousand rupees for the capture
+of the injured husband.
+
+"Are we dogs?" said Ram Deen, indignantly, when the Thanadar had
+displayed a notice of the reward printed in Nagari that was to be posted
+throughout the Terai. "Are we dogs, brothers, that the sircar should
+tempt us with base money to betray men for exacting just retribution
+from those who wrong them?"
+
+"We be men, coach-wan ji," said the bullock driver, valiantly; and
+whilst he spoke the great dog, Hasteen, who lay at Ram Deen's feet,
+pricked up his ears and growled as a shadow crept along the ground from
+the peepul tree in front of the village temple to a clump of tall grass
+some fifty paces from the Thanadar's fire.
+
+"Peace!" exclaimed Ram Deen, venting his spleen on the dog with a blow
+from his shoe; "dost thou not know a jackal as yet?" Then to those
+assembled round the fire he went on, raising his voice: "Kali Mai wither
+the hand that betrayeth Bijoo, and fire consume his hut! There is
+contention even in my house, because the woman Chandni is kin to my
+wife, who believes in her innocence; but better such contention, and
+bitter silence for kindly speech, than that brothers should sell
+brothers, and so make light the honor of men in the Terai!"
+
+"Nevertheless," said the Thanadar, "this notice must be posted wherever
+men pass or congregate throughout this Zemindaree."
+
+"Nevertheless," retorted Ram Deen, bitterly, "without disrespect to
+thee, Thanadar Sahib, it shall be told throughout the Terai that Ram
+Deen spat on the notice of the sircar and tore it in shreds," and the
+driver of the mail-cart proceeded to make his words good.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next evening, when the mail-cart drove up to the post-office, little
+Biroo plucked Ram Deen's sleeve as he dismounted. "Thou must come with
+me," he said, simply.
+
+"Must, Little Parrot?"
+
+"Ay, father mine. Tara wanteth thee; and there is pillau for thy evening
+meal."
+
+Now Ram Deen had fed on Gunga Ram's stale cates the evening before for
+having expressed approval of the mutilation of Chandni, and this
+prospect of pillau, besides appealing shrewdly to his eager stomach,
+was, perhaps, a sign of capitulation on the part of the young wife he
+had but lately wedded.
+
+As he approached his hut his nostrils were assailed with the odors of a
+great cooking.
+
+"Thou seest, my father," said little Biroo, with the ineptitude of
+infancy, "thou seest what awaits thee inside."
+
+When Ram Deen entered his abode a woman's voice came to him from the
+inner apartment, saying, "Feed, Big Elephant, stupid as thou art tall!"
+
+As Ram Deen fell to, Biroo also dipped his hand in the dish, mouthful
+for mouthful; and when his little stomach was pleasantly distended, he
+paused and said, "Where didst thou sleep last night, my father?"
+
+"'Twere better to eat pillau, little Blue Jay, than ask questions that
+may be answered only through the soles of thy feet," replied Ram Deen.
+
+"O valiant Beater of Babes!" said the voice from the inner room, "were
+it not for Biroo, I would return to my grandfather's house; but thou
+wouldst starve and ill-use the little one."
+
+"Nay, my Best Beloved," said Ram Deen, in a conciliatory tone, "thou art
+not even just to me. Listen----"
+
+"I will not listen, O Brave to Women, till thou hast answered Biroo's
+question."
+
+"My Star, an' you should tell it abroad that I did not sleep in mine own
+house last night, it would blacken my face in Kaladoongie."
+
+"Thou wilt say, perchance, that I gossip at the village well. Go on,
+what next?"
+
+"Nay, then, if thou must know it, I slept in Goor Dutt's bullock-cart."
+
+"'Twas well, Lumba Deen (Long Legs). Ho, ho, ho! Thy case was that of a
+ladder balanced across a wall. Proceed."
+
+"The grain bags I lay on, Heart of my Heart, were stony, and the night
+was full of noises."
+
+"Yes. And thou wast warm?"
+
+"Nay, Beloved, for there was not room for the drawing up of my knees
+between myself and Goor Dutt, so my feet were frozen, and Goor Dutt
+ceased not from snoring."
+
+"'Twas well, Oppressor of Women and Children. And thy evening meal?"
+
+"Light of the Terai, Gunga Ram's stale pooris were ill-bestowed on a
+pariah dog,--but the savor of thy pillau hath effaced the wrong done to
+my stomach last night."
+
+"Ah! And now what thinkest thou of my kinswoman Chandni?"
+
+"Tara, Light in Darkness, thou art dearer to me than life itself, and I
+would not lightly vex thee. What is done is done; why slay me with thy
+questions? I were not worthy of thee if I answered thee differently
+concerning the price to be demanded for the virtue of a woman; nay, do
+not cry, little one."
+
+A sound of wailing came from the inner room, where two women were
+weeping in each other's arms. "Aho! aho!"
+
+"Tara," exclaimed Ram Deen, starting to his feet, "who is the woman with
+thee? and why is she here?"
+
+"It is I, Chandni," said a thick, muffled voice, "and thou doest me
+wrong, coach-wan ji. Listen!" Then the strange woman proceeded to tell
+Ram Deen of the slaying of Trenyon sahib, and of her own horrible
+mutilation.
+
+When she had finished, Ram Deen said, "It was a brave stroke that Bijoo
+gave the sahib."
+
+"It was well done, khodawund."
+
+"And thou art not sorry for the killing of the sahib?"
+
+"Doorga restore me and afflict me again, if I do not think it was a good
+killing!"
+
+"They will hang Bijoo for it; a thousand rupees hath been offered for
+his taking, alive or dead."
+
+"Aho! aho!" wailed the strange woman. "Men will be wicked for even ten
+rupees."
+
+"But he robbed thee of thy beauty," remonstrated Ram Deen.
+
+"'Twas right to do so, in his eyes," was the reply.
+
+"And 'tis true thou wast in Trenyon sahib's tent for the helping of
+Bijoo?"
+
+"As Nana Debi is my witness. And I know not all that happened, for the
+sahib gave me strong waters to drink that robbed me of my senses."
+
+"Toba! toba!" exclaimed Ram Deen, walking towards the outer door. "Wife,
+see to it that thy relative is properly lodged this night."
+
+"And to-morrow night?" queried Tara.
+
+"To-morrow night I would eat of a kid seethed in milk and stuffed with
+pistachios by thy honorable kinswoman. Moreover, I will make provision
+for her ere the week is out."
+
+"My lord is good as he is great," said Tara, as Ram Deen left the hut.
+
+The next night, as they sat around the fire, Ram Deen waited till the
+shadow crept from the peepul tree to the clump of tall grass.
+
+"Brothers," he began, speaking deliberately and in loud tones, "the
+woman we spake of last night is guiltless of wrong, as I now know. She
+is here and in my hut, and an honored guest." He paused and looked round
+the circle grimly.
+
+"We be poor men, coach-wan ji," said the little driver, deprecatingly,
+"and thy honorable kinswoman is deserving, doubtless, of thy exalted
+consideration."
+
+"She is deserving of the consideration due to a woman who was greatly
+wronged by the villain who was slain, and by the madman, his slayer. She
+was lured, brothers, into the sahib's tent by the sweeper's wife,
+Bhamaraya,--who is a lame she-wolf!--for the purpose of pleading for her
+man, Bijoo, who was accused of theft; and then she was robbed of her
+senses by the sahib's strong waters, and hath done no wrong; let no man
+in the Terai gainsay it!"
+
+Ram Deen paused awhile to "drink tobacco," but nobody made comment on a
+matter in which he was so greatly interested.
+
+"Bijoo's life is forfeit," he resumed; "and the rope that shall hang him
+is already made, for the sircar never fails to find whom it seeks. But
+Bijoo, alive or dead, is worth a thousand rupees to the man who shall
+take him. 'Twere pity that the money should go to some jackal of a man,
+for it belongs, of a right, to Chandni, whom he hath wrongfully
+mutilated; but he is a man, and will, doubtless, make the only
+reparation in his power, and yield himself up, for her sake, to some one
+who will bestow the blood money upon her."
+
+The shadow rose from the tall grass and speedily disappeared in the
+darkness. Soon after, those who sat round the fire heard the dreadful
+lamenting of a strong man who walks between Remorse and Despair.
+
+"Brothers," said Ram Deen, as he rose to go to his hut, "alive or dead,
+Bijoo will be here to-morrow night."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the fire, next evening, no one spoke; they were waiting for the
+fulfilment of Ram Deen's prediction, and the bugle-call of the fateful
+man had just been heard in the direction of the Bore bridge.
+
+"Bijoo hath come, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen, as he dismounted from the
+mail-cart.
+
+He then proceeded, with the help of his hostler, to lift a heavy burden
+covered with a cloth from the back seat of the mail-cart. The limp hands
+trailing on the ground as they carried it showed their burden to be a
+corpse. They laid it in the firelight; and Ram Deen, drawing the
+covering from its face, disclosed the dreadful features of a man who had
+been hanged; part of the rope that had strangled him still encircled his
+throat.
+
+"This was the way of it," began Ram Deen, after due identification had
+been made and the corpse had been carried to the thana; "this was the
+way of it: this evening, just before we began the descent that leads to
+the Bore bridge, a man sprang from the darkness in front of the horses
+and stayed the mail-cart below the great huldoo tree that stretches its
+arms across the road. The light of the lamps showed him to be Bijoo. So
+I sent the hostler forward to the bridge to await my coming, for Bijoo
+and I were fain to be alone for that which had to be said between us.
+
+"When we were by ourselves I bade him mount the mail-cart and sit beside
+me. As he took his place, he said, 'Wah! coach-wan, dost thou not fear
+to be alone with a hunted man on a jungle road? I might slay thee now,
+for I am armed, and so remove the only man who can match me in the
+Terai.'
+
+"'Nevertheless,' I replied, 'I will take thee to-night to Kaladoongie
+with my naked hands, if need be.'
+
+"'We will speak of that hereafter,' said Bijoo; 'but now tell me of
+her.'
+
+"'She is as you made her,--nakti and poor and a widow; for thou art but
+a dead man, Bijoo.'
+
+"'And you spake the truth, last night, when you said she went to the
+sahib's tent to plead for me?'
+
+"Taking one of the lamps, I held it to my face, saying, 'Draw now thy
+khookri, Bijoo, and slay me if thou thinkest I have lied.'
+
+"''Tis well,' he replied, sheathing his weapon. 'And what will become of
+Chandni?'
+
+"'She shall dwell honorably with her kinswoman in my hut, and respected
+of all men as long as I live; but the road is not safe, Bijoo, and bad
+men and jungle fever and wild beasts have slain better men than I; and,
+bethink thee, by yielding thyself my prisoner thou canst bestow one
+thousand rupees on Chandni, and so set her beyond the reach of want and
+scoffers till her end come.'
+
+"He mused awhile, and then replied quietly, 'I will go with thee.
+Proceed. I know thou wilt bestow upon her the reward offered by the
+sircar.'
+
+"'But they will hang thee, Bijoo.'
+
+"'Of a surety. Proceed.'
+
+"''Tis a shameful death, for the hangman is a sweeper,--some brother to
+Bhamaraya, perhaps.'
+
+"'Nevertheless, proceed; but promise me that thou wilt trap the lame
+witch in some pit of hell, Ram Deen.'
+
+"'Fret not thyself on that score, Bijoo; I have already given the matter
+thought. But why should the sircar hang thee? They--would--not--hang--a
+dead man;' and I flicked a branch that overhung us with my whip.
+
+"'Thou art right, Ram Deen,' he said, quietly; 'but, lo! I have not
+slept for many nights, and my thought is not clear.' He then stooped
+downward, groping in the bottom of the mail-cart, and drew forth one of
+the heel ropes of the horses.
+
+"Throwing one end of the rope over the branch that was above us, he
+fastened it thereto with a running loop, and then encircled his neck
+with a noose at the other end.
+
+"As he stood up on the seat, he asked, 'Thou wilt give me honorable
+burning, Ram Deen?' And I replied, 'I will be nearest of kin to thee in
+this matter.'
+
+"'Tis well. Thou wilt not forget thy reckoning with Bhamaraya?'
+
+"But ere I could make reply, the gray wolf that hunts beyond the bridge
+bayed, and the horses broke from me in their fear, so that I could not
+stay them till we reached the Naini Tal road."
+
+"Yea, brothers," said the hostler, at whom Ram Deen looked for
+confirmation of this part of his story, "I had scarce time to leap to
+one side, as the mail-cart sped past me whilst I waited on the bridge."
+
+More he would have said,--for he had never before enjoyed the privilege
+of speech at the Thanadar's fire, and the occasion was epochal,--but he
+saw in Ram Deen's face that which made him whine and say, "But I am a
+poor man, and know nothing, and my sight is dim by reason of sitting
+overmuch by grass fires,--only Ram Deen, Bahadoor, could not stay the
+horses, though he cursed their female relatives for many generations,
+and----"
+
+"So, Thanadar ji," interrupted Ram Deen, "as soon as I could restrain
+the horses I turned them back, and, after picking up the hostler (who,
+because he is more silent, is wiser than most poor men who are ever
+talking of what they know not), I drove to the huldoo tree where hung
+Bijoo as dead as you saw him but now."
+
+Then, after a pause, he said, "Brothers, let it be told in the Terai
+that Bijoo came back as befitted an honorable man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+_The Rope that Hanged Bijoo_
+
+
+"Thy man-child is very beautiful, my lord," said Tara.
+
+Ram Deen was sitting outside of his hut on a charpoi, whilst Tara rubbed
+their month-old babe with "bitter oil" in the forenoon sun.
+
+The little brown manikin, without a stitch on him to conceal God's
+handiwork, sprawled on his stomach across his mother's knees, making
+inarticulate noises, and wriggling after the manner of infants when it
+is well with them, for the sun was pleasantly warm, and his mother's
+rubbing appealed to his budding sensations.
+
+"It is not so beautiful as its beautiful mother," said Ram Deen.
+
+"Thou Worthless!" exclaimed Tara. "Sawest ever such hands?" and she put
+a finger into the wee palm that clasped it by "reflex action."
+
+"Toba! toba!" swore Ram Deen. "Nana Debi send grace to evil-doers in the
+Terai in the days to come, or else shall they be undone by these hands.
+Why, they might almost crush a fly!"
+
+"Nevertheless, coach-wan ji, my lord, thy son shall be taller than thou
+when he is a man grown."
+
+"Khoda (God) grant it, for thy son must drive the mail-cart in the time
+to come, and the Terai is full of dangers."
+
+"But he _shall not_ drive the mail-cart," said Tara; "he shall be
+Thanadar of Kaladoongie, and he shall feed his father and his mother
+when his beard begins to sing on a scraping palm. Eh, my butcha?" and
+the young mother, after the manner of young mothers the world over, bent
+her head and kissed the little one's dimples.
+
+"He shall be rich, too, coach-wan ji," said a tall woman with a
+beautiful figure appearing in the doorway of the hut. Her eyes made
+beholders long to look upon the rest of her face; but that was closely
+veiled, for it was horribly mutilated.
+
+Her voice was thick and muffled, and she spoke with difficulty. It was
+the unhappy Chandni.
+
+"He shall be rich, if a thousand rupees can make him rich, and the
+wishes of thy humble servant. Tulsi Ram, pundit, hath this day indited a
+letter for me to Moti Ram, the great mahajun of Naini Tal, directing him
+to hold the money, that was the price of Bijoo, for thy son till he
+comes to man's estate."
+
+"Now, nay, Chandni," remonstrated Ram Deen; "I am richer than most men
+in the Terai, and, through the advice of my friend, the Thanadar, my
+wealth groweth apace, and my son shall lack nothing. Biroo, too, is
+provided for; thou mayest need the money thyself, for the thread of life
+parts easily in the Terai, as thou knowest, and the shelter of my hut
+may be wanting to thee some day."
+
+"Nevertheless, my lord and my master, thy lowly handmaid must not be
+thwarted in this matter," and Chandni disappeared into the hut.
+
+"Let her have her will, my lord," pleaded Tara; "we owe her much," and
+with a sweeping gesture she indicated the garden in which they sat and
+which was Chandni's special care.
+
+The enclosure in which Ram Deen's hut stood used to be, ere the days of
+Tara and Chandni, the most neglected spot in the village; but, after the
+arrival of the latter, it gradually began to assume an appearance of
+neatness and thrift that made Ram Deen's home-coming a daily delight to
+him.
+
+The young peepul tree in front of the hut was aflame with a gorgeous
+Bougain-villea, and the flower-beds laughed with marigolds and poppies
+of many hues sown broadcast. A little runnel sparkled through the
+garden, and, in one part of its career, chattered pleasantly over a tiny
+pebbly reach artfully contrived to produce the "beauty born of murmuring
+sound," which is nowhere more grateful than in the domain of the Hot
+Wind.
+
+In one corner of the garden were planted radishes, and turnips, and
+carrots, with their delightful greenery. Chili plants and Cape
+gooseberries abounded, and many a potherb pleasant to behold and good in
+a curry. Every plant and shrub gave evidence of loving care, and repaid
+the tilth bestowed upon them with lavish interest.
+
+A little machand (dais) of plastered mud, under the peepul tree, had
+been specially built for little Biroo, who decorated it, after the
+manner of the small boy, with bits of gayly-tinted glass and potsherds,
+bright feathers and cowries, and such other gauds as appeal to his kind.
+
+In another corner of the compound was a tiny hut, wherein Heera Lal,
+Tara's old grandfather, lived in such ease and affluence as he had never
+dreamed of in his wildest imaginings. His day was setting in scented
+clouds of sweetened tobacco, and he had tyre to eat every morning. Every
+week he added two annas (six cents) to the hoard under his hearth; it
+was saved from the allowance made to him by Ram Deen; and he owed no man
+anything. Moreover, in Ram Deen he had found one who could be most
+easily overreached, and Ram Deen delighted to be swindled by the old man
+in matters involving small change.
+
+Even Hasteen had not been forgotten in the improvements made in the
+enclosure: in one corner a small space had been carefully lepoed
+(plastered) and roofed with thatch for him. Farther on, Nathoo, Biroo's
+kid, was tethered to a stake; and beyond that the fawn, Ganda, had a
+little paddock to herself.
+
+The whole compound was fenced in by a flourishing mandni hedge, which
+gave Ram Deen a fuller sense of possession. As he sat on the charpoi,
+lazily smoking his hookah and drinking in the beauty of the garden and
+of the day beyond, he was the happiest man in all the Terai. When Tara
+had finished the baby's simple toilet and put it to her breast, the
+thought passed through Ram Deen's mind that, if God ever smiled, it must
+be when he looked on a young mother suckling her first-born.
+
+"Respect the aged and infirm," said a whining voice, breaking in upon
+Ram Deen's pleasant reverie. The speaker, who stood outside the hedge,
+was an old mendicant equipped like his kind, with an alms-bowl
+containing a handful of small copper coin and cowries. He was smeared
+with wood ashes, and his tangled, grizzly hair hung to his waist.
+
+"Respect the aged and poor, Ram Deen, for the sake of the beautiful
+babe." (Tara immediately covered it with her chudder for fear of the
+evil eye.) "Listen, I have tidings for thee."
+
+"Speak, swami," replied the driver, throwing him a small piece of
+silver.
+
+"Bhamaraya, the lame mehtrani, cometh this way. She is on the road on
+the hither side of Lal Kooah, in a covered byli whereof one of the
+wheels has come off. The byl-wan walked into Kaladoongie with me this
+morning to seek assistance, leaving the old woman on the road."
+
+"'Tis well, jogi ji. Durga will doubtless protect her own. Salaam," said
+Ram Deen, dismissing the mendicant.
+
+The time had come for the fulfilment of his promise to Bijoo. What he
+should do when he came across the mehtrani who had wrecked Chandni's
+life would doubtless be suggested to him by the circumstances of the
+place and the hour, but for the present he was satisfied that she was
+completely in his power.
+
+That day Chandni was absent from the mid-day meal.
+
+The Hot Wind blew fiercely, rattling the leafless branches of the forest
+trees. The Bore Nuddee, below the head of the canal that supplied
+Kaladoongie, had shrunk to a few scattered pools that became shallower
+every day.
+
+"Nana Debi send thy kinswoman is in a cool shade this day," said Ram
+Deen, addressing Tara.
+
+"She hath doubtless gone to the ford of the Bore Nuddee to bleach her
+new chudder," explained Tara.
+
+But when evening came and Chandni had not returned, the driver became
+alarmed. After he had made his preparations for taking the mail to Lal
+Kooah he joined the circle in front of the Thanadar's hut.
+
+The Hot Wind had abated its fury to little puffs that came at intervals
+and seemed to sear the skin, and the sun had set like a copper disk in
+the haze that overhung the western sky. As the hostler brought the
+mail-cart round, Ram Deen told the Thanadar of Chandni's absence, and
+received his assurance that immediate search should be made for her.
+
+As they spoke together a little puff of wind came out of the west, laden
+with the smell of fire. They instinctively turned their faces windwards.
+The glow of the setting sun, that had but just disappeared, seemed to be
+returning in the west and illuminated the under surface of a huge black
+cloud that was growing rapidly in size.
+
+"The jungle through which thou must drive is on fire, Ram Deen, and thou
+must make haste if thou wouldst take the mail to Lai Kooah to-night."
+
+"But thou must not go to Lai Kooah to-night," said little Biroo, running
+up to Ram Deen. "Chandni said so ere she went away this morning. I was
+to tell thee, but I had forgotten till I saw just now the money she gave
+me for the telling of this to thee;" and opening his hand he showed the
+men a rupee.
+
+"Therefore must I go, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen. "Had this little
+budmash spoken sooner Chandni had been home now, and not on a quest that
+belongs properly to me. Toba, toba!" he exclaimed, as a tongue of flame
+shot high into the air, "was ever such fire lit for the purification of
+the jungle? But I must make haste if I would save Chandni;" and the next
+minute Ram Deen was speeding towards the Bore bridge. Two miles beyond
+the bridge they reached the hither end of the fire, which was now being
+driven furiously by a storm of its own creation towards the road, from
+which it was distant about half a mile. The hostler leaped to the
+ground, refusing to go any farther; but the element of danger and the
+risk to Chandni only stirred Ram Deen's pulses into activity, and he
+shook the reins and urged his horses into a headlong gallop.
+
+The wild things of the Terai fled in front of the fire and across Ram
+Deen's path, heedless of the presence of man, who was but a pygmy to the
+wrath behind them. The roar of the giant fire put a great stress upon
+the fleeing animals, so that they were as of one kin in the presence of
+a common danger. A herd of spotted deer, with a leopard in their very
+midst, dashed across the road in front of the mail-cart. A wild boar
+came next in headlong fashion. Jackals, hares, nyl-gai followed each
+other pell-mell, making for the shelter of the bed of the Bore Nuddee,
+whilst overhead was seen the flight of the feathered denizens of the
+Terai.
+
+All this confusion and rush but accented the roar of the pursuing fire.
+When Ram Deen looked back for an instant he saw that it had leapt across
+the road at a point he had passed but a minute before, and now he knew
+that he was running for his life.
+
+A quarter of a mile farther on the road turned to the left, thus
+increasing his chance of reaching the southern limit of the fire, which
+was travelling due east. By the light of the flames he could see a tall
+woman sitting on the parapet of a small culvert, about one hundred yards
+in front of him. On the edge of the jungle beside her was an overturned
+byli, and from it there came the most appalling screams that could be
+distinguished even through the din of the fire.
+
+The woman on the culvert saw him as soon as he turned the bend of the
+road, and forthwith mounted the parapet; and he saw it was Chandni. As
+the mail-cart swept past her she sprang towards it, and Ram Deen passed
+an arm round her and drew her on to the seat beside him.
+
+"For the love of God, Chandni, for the love of God!" screamed the woman
+in the byli as a burning branch fell on it. But the mail-cart sped away,
+and presently only the roar of the angry fire could be heard.
+
+A quarter of a mile farther on they had passed the southern edge of the
+fire, which was within fifty yards of the road when they reached safety.
+
+"The woman in the byli?" asked Ram Deen.
+
+"Bhamaraya," was the quiet reply.
+
+"And why came she not forth?"
+
+"Because of the rope that hanged Bijoo."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+_Coelum, Non Animum Mutant_
+
+
+The Commissioner of Kumaon had arrived at Kaladoongie in the course of
+his winter tour of inspection, and the same evening Joti Prshad, his
+butler, sat beside the Thanadar on a charpoi and smoked with
+metropolitan ease amidst the awe-struck notables of the jungle village.
+
+Ram Deen alone was not abashed, and puffed his hookah unconcernedly,
+although Joti Prshad told many wonderful things of the sahiblogue, and
+spoke concerning the doings of the great world of Naini Tal during the
+greater rains.
+
+Joti Prshad was a small man, and Ram Deen's _blase_ mood galled his
+sense of superiority; it was but right that he should snub this
+exasperatingly cool villager.
+
+"Thanadar ji," he began, "thou and I know that nowhere in Hindoostan is
+there such greatness assembled as at Naini Tal during the Greater
+Barsat."
+
+"Men say that the governor-general still goeth to Simla, but, doubtless,
+the sirdar knoweth best," said Ram Deen.
+
+"The Lat-sahib, indeed, goeth to Simla, but those with him be mere
+karanis (clerks), and shopkeepers, and half-castes. 'Tis plain thou hast
+not seen Naini Tal, coach-wan."
+
+"The Terai sufficeth me, Joti Prshad."
+
+"They say," piped Goor Dutt, the little bullock driver, "that the
+mem-sahibs at Naini Tal bare their shoulders and bosoms and dance with
+strange men. Toba, toba!"
+
+This being an indisputable fact, and one to which Joti Prshad had never
+reconciled himself, the latter did not speak, and the diversion thus
+made by the byl-wan was felt by all to be in Ram Deen's favor.
+
+Taking advantage of the silence of Joti Prshad, Ram Deen went on: "The
+people of Naini Tal come and go, but the children of the Terai never
+forget their mother. What sayest thou, Thanadar ji?"
+
+"'Tis even so, brothers," said the Thanadar, with the gravity of one who
+is in authority and under the stress of weighing his words.
+
+As they evidently waited for him to proceed, the Thanadar continued:
+"The jungle is our father and our mother, and the huldoo trees our near
+kin, O my brothers; and we who have once seen the beauty of the morning
+in the jungle, and the rye-fields laughing in the clearings in the
+winter, may not live elsewhere."
+
+"Ay, Thanadar ji," said Ram Deen; "and, moreover, the senses of those
+who live in bazaars are asleep as with bhang, and they cannot see nor
+hear the wonders of God."
+
+A general "humph" of assent followed Ram Deen's speech.
+
+"If the sirdar will stay with us we will show him whereof we speak,"
+said the Thanadar. But the butler had fond recollections of Oude and the
+rose-fields of Shahjahanpoor, where they make attar, and shook his head
+dissentingly. So the Thanadar went on: "Many seasons since, a holy
+man--a Sunyasi--who had given up his wife and children and lived in a
+hollow tree by the Rock of Khalsi (whereon are written the laws of the
+great king Asoka) returned to Gurruckpoor, his native village, when he
+felt the Great Darkness coming on. He told the village Brahmin that he
+longed for death, but that he could not die outside of the Terai."
+
+After a pause, during which the bubbling of his narghili was heard, the
+Thanadar said: "It is the same with all who are born in the
+Terai,--Faringi and Padhani, Brahmin and Dome, Sunyasi and fair
+woman,--all are alike in bondage, and return, sooner or later, to their
+jungle mother. Listen. Twelve years ago there came to Gurruckpoor to
+hunt big game an Englishman named Fisher Sahib. He was of those favored
+by God who have much wealth, and to whom sport standeth for occupation.
+As he was accustomed to fulfil his heart's desires, he hired two
+shooting elephants from the Rajah of Rampore,--one for himself and the
+other for his mem-sahib, who accompanied him. And he had a great camp,
+and many servants, and beaters, and shikaris, chief of whom was Juggoo,
+whose fame as a hunter reached from Phillibeet to Dehra. He it was who
+always rode with the sahib in his howdah, and he had command from the
+mem-sahib never to leave the sahib's side in the jungle, in that he was
+rash and loved danger, and many a time fell into it unawares by reason
+that he saw not clearly except he looked through a piece of glass that
+he wore in one eye.
+
+"One day the sahib had shot a deer, and let himself down from his
+elephant--Juggoo going with him--to give it hallal, according to the
+rule of the Koran,--for he intended the deer as a gift to the
+Mussulmanis in his camp. As he bent over the deer to cut its throat with
+his khookri, a great boar ran upon them from a thicket. Juggoo uttered a
+cry of warning, but ere the sahib could find his sight the boar was upon
+them, and Juggoo thrust himself in its way and got his death, or the
+sahib had been killed.
+
+"So they carried the dead man to the camp, where his daughter, Chambeli,
+having cooked his evening meal, awaited the return of her father. She
+was fifteen years in age, and a widow,--for her betrothed husband and
+all his people had died five years before of The Sickness (small-pox);
+so she had returned to her father, and had cared for his house ever
+since. And Kali Dass, who was learning jungle-craft from her father,
+would have had her to mistress. 'Come and live with me, my beloved,
+beyond the head-waters of the Bore Nuddee,' he had pleaded; 'and when
+thy hair hath grown again none shall know thou art a widow, and the
+people of the foothills shall wonder at thy beauty.'
+
+"'But I shall know and Nana Debi,--and the others matter not, Kali
+Dass'" she replied firmly.
+
+"So Kali Dass went his way; and the young man and Chambeli looked at
+each other, but spake no more together.
+
+"The mem-sahib it was who told Chambeli of her father's death, Kali Dass
+standing by, and she turned on him like a leopard bereft of its young
+and upbraided him, saying, 'Hadst thou been a man, Kali Dass, my father
+were still living.' Thereafter she swooned, and the mem-sahib laid her
+on her own couch, and held her in her arms and comforted her, because
+Juggoo had died to save the sahib.
+
+"Then for that she was childless and very wealthy, and could do
+whatsoever seemed good in her eyes, the mem-sahib took Chambeli across
+the Black Water. They brought her up as their own kin, teaching her
+whatsoever it is fitting the daughter of a Faringi should know, and
+training her to work amongst our women and children when they should be
+afflicted with sickness; and, furthermore, she was to turn them from
+Nana Debi to the God of the Faringis.
+
+"Moreover, to aid her in her work she was married to a young English
+padre; and they came to Kaladoongie six years ago, when the next
+new-year festival of the Faringis shall arrive. And because we knew her
+and still remembered Juggoo, her father, we of Kaladoongie waited on her
+at the dak-bungalow on the day she returned.
+
+"She came out to us on the veranda, dressed in the garments of a
+mem-sahib, and we saw that she was a woman grown and in the mid-noon of
+her beauty. She was glad to see us, calling us all by our names, and we
+greeted her with such gifts as we could,--fruit and flowers and
+sweetmeats. Last of all came Kali Dass, and behind him four men bearing
+a leopard but newly slain, slung from a pole.
+
+"They laid the beast at her feet, and Chambeli laughed and clapped her
+hands till the little padre, her husband, frowned at her; whereon her
+nostrils twitched and she looked at him in wonderment, as though she saw
+for the first time that he was a small man with a pale face, and void of
+authority.
+
+"Then turning to Kali Dass she said in our Terai tongue, 'Is it well
+with thee, shikari ji? Thou art doubtless married and happy?'
+
+"And he said, 'Nay; I have no spouse, save only my jungle-craft.'
+
+"'And the jungle?' she asked, looking on the ground.
+
+"'It is my father and my mother, and fairer than any of its daughters,
+mem-sahib. But thou hast been in great cities, and across the Black
+Water; thou hast read in books, and hast changed thy gods,--what
+shouldst thou care for the jungle?'
+
+"'It is the garden of God, Kali Dass, and I am fain to see it again, for
+I am a Padhani born, and a daughter of the Terai.'
+
+"Ere she gave us leave to depart it was arranged that she and the padre
+sahib, accompanied by me and Kali Dass, should start in the early
+morning and follow the Bore Nuddee backward into the foothills.
+
+"Kali Dass was at the dak-bungalow before me in the morning; and he was
+dressed in holiday clothes; his face shone, and behind one ear he had
+placed a marigold.
+
+"When the padre and his mem-sahib came forth from their chamber, behold!
+she was dressed as a Padhani; and she was the Chambeli we knew of old,
+only taller.
+
+"'I am but a Padhani,' she explained, 'and shall get nearer to my people
+the more I am like to them.'
+
+"It was a time of great stillness when we started, for the morning was
+just born, and the dew lay on all things. Taking the road to Naini Tal,
+we struck into the jungle when we came to the path that leads to the
+ford of the Bore Nuddee, and Chambeli alighted from her pony and walked
+in front of the rest with Kali Dass. A faint flush showed in the east,
+and presently a jungle-cock greeted the dawn. Chambeli stopped, and,
+with joy in her face, she turned round to the padre sahib, exclaiming,
+'Didst hear that?' And he laughed, saying, 'It was but the crowing of a
+cock.'
+
+"'But it came out of the stillness of the morning, and the dew accorded
+with it,--and it was a wild thing,--but how shouldst thou understand?
+thou art not of the Terai,' she said.
+
+"Soon the glow in the east became brighter, and the jungle burst into
+its morning song. Chambeli stopped and put her hands to her forehead, as
+if she would remember something; then she said to the shikari,
+'Something is lacking, Kali Dass; what is it?' And even as she spake
+there came the call of a black partridge from a thicket near by: 'Sobhan
+teri koodruth!' Brothers, ye know that the black partridge is the priest
+of the Terai, and at its voice Chambeli fled with a cry of joy from the
+path and into the thick jungle.
+
+"The little padre sahib, knowing not what to think, urged us to follow
+her. When we came up with her, Kali Dass stood by regarding her with a
+smile, whilst she lay on the ground with her face buried in the dewy
+grass, moaning and saying, 'O Jungle Mother, I will never leave thee
+again, I will never leave thee again!' And the little padre chid her in
+his own tongue; whereat she rose shuddering; and brushing the dew and
+the tears from her face, she returned to the path.
+
+"She had eyes and ears for everything that morning, and was as a wild
+thing that had just fled from captivity.
+
+"When we came to the brow of the hill that slopes down to the ford, the
+sun rose over the tops of the trees and laid a gleaming sword across the
+stream; and as we looked at the brightness and wonder of it all there
+came to us the song of a string of Padhani women approaching the ford.
+In an instant Chambeli took up the song, and set off swiftly down the
+narrow path, we following as we could.
+
+"As she neared the ford she lifted her sari and took the water with her
+bare limbs; and I looked at the little padre, who seemed sore amazed.
+
+"When we had all crossed the ford, Chambeli and Kali Dass were not to be
+seen on the road that ran by the stream. A traveller on his way to
+Kaladoongie said he had not met them, and as we questioned him there
+came the report of a gun.
+
+"'Kali Dass hath met game, padre sahib,' said I.
+
+"'Find them, and bring them back instantly, Thanadar,' commanded the
+holy man, and his voice shook with anger.
+
+"Following the direction of the shot, I came upon their tracks, and
+thereafter I found a handful of fresh feathers. A few paces beyond lay a
+small book; it was the sacred book of the Faringis printed in Nagari,
+and on the first leaf, which was held down by a stone, was writing in
+English. On the path a pace farther were two sticks crossed, and beyond
+that other two; and I knew it was the warning of Kali Dass, who must not
+be followed.
+
+"So I returned with the little book to the padre sahib. And when he had
+read what was written on the first leaf he trembled and clutched at his
+throat, and I caught him in my arms as he fell from his horse.
+
+"I returned with him to Kaladoongie; but Chambeli and Kali Dass never
+came back.
+
+"I showed the writing in the book to Tulsi Ram. Speak, pundit, and tell
+our brothers what it meant."
+
+Tulsi Ram, pleased and proud to give an exhibition of his scholarship,
+replied, "Brothers, and you, O Joti Prshad, the writing said: 'Like to
+like: Kali Dass is of my blood, and the great jungle hath claimed her
+daughter this day.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+_The Lame Tiger of Huldwani_
+
+
+It was in the middle of May--just before the beginning of the lesser
+rains--that Ram Deen and certain wayfarers sat round a handful of fire
+at Lal Kooah from mere force of habit, for the heat of the evening was
+great, and not a breath of air stirred in the jungle. The sal trees had
+lost their leaves and looked like ghosts; the grass had been burnt in
+all directions; and as the sun set in the copper sky, it lit up a
+landscape that might have stood for the "abomination of desolation."
+
+The dry chirping of the crickets, just beginning to tune their first
+uneasy strains, accorded with the unholy scene. Even the horses waiting
+for the mail-cart were imbued with the depressing influence of the
+season, and hung their heads with a sense of despair, as though they
+thought the blessed monsoon would never set in.
+
+No one spoke, and the hookah passed from hand to hand in a dreary
+silence. Suddenly, the attention of those assembled was attracted by the
+curious action of a bya (tailor) bird in a neighboring mimosa tree. It
+was calling frantically, and dropping lower from bough to bough, as
+though against its will.
+
+"Nag!" exclaimed the bunnia; and, directed by his remark, all eyes were
+turned to the foot of the tree, where an enormous cobra with expanded
+hood was swaying its head from side to side, and drawing the wretched
+bird to its doom through the fascination of fear.
+
+Ram Deen, whose sympathies were always with the weak and defenceless,
+rose to his feet, and, throwing a dry clod of earth at the reptile,
+drove the creature from the tree; whilst the bird, released from its
+hypnotic influence, flew away.
+
+"Brothers," said Ram Deen, "fear is the father of all sins, and the
+cause of most calamities. He who feareth not death is a king in his own
+right, and dieth but once; but a coward--shabash! who can count his
+pangs?"
+
+"Ho! ho!" chuckled the little bullock driver; "Ram Deen, The Fearless,
+shall live to be an hundred years old."
+
+"Nay, Goor Dutt," said Ram Deen, gravely regarding the little man, "I,
+too, have known fear. No man may drive the mail to Kaladoongie without
+looking on death."
+
+Ram Deen smoked awhile in silence; and, when the expectation of his
+listeners was wrought to a proper pitch, he went on: "Ye all knew
+Nandha, the hostler, who used to go with me last year from this stage to
+Kaladoongie?"
+
+"Ay, coach-wan ji," responded the carrier for the others. "'Tis a great
+telling, but not known to these honorable wayfarers who come from beyond
+Moradabad."
+
+"Brothers, ye saw the plight of the bya bird but now; so was it with
+Nandha," said Ram Deen.
+
+"One evening, ere the mail arrived, he called me to where he stood by
+the kikar tree yonder, looking down at the ground. In the dust of the
+road were large footprints.
+
+"'These be the spoor of a tiger lame in its left hind foot,' I said to
+Nandha; 'see, here it crouched on its belly, and wiped away the wheel
+tracks made by the mail-cart this morning.'
+
+"''Tis the lame tiger of Huldwani, coach-wan; he is old, and he hunteth
+man. Gunga send he is hunting elsewhere to-night!' replied Nandha.
+
+"When we came within a mile of the Bore bridge that night, the horses
+stopped suddenly; they were wild with fear, and refused to move. The
+night was as dark as the inside of a gourd, and beyond the circle of
+light made by our lanterns we could discern in the middle of the road
+two balls of fire close to the ground.
+
+"'Bag! (tiger),' said Nandha, as he climbed over into the back seat; 'we
+be dead men, Ram Deen.'
+
+"'Blow!' I commanded, giving him the bugle; and as he startled the
+jungle with a blast, I gathered up the reins, and, adding my voice to
+the terrors of Nandha's music, I urged the horses with whip and yell to
+fury of speed; and the light of the lanterns showed the great beast
+leaping into the darkness to escape our onset.
+
+"Nandha ceased not from blowing on the bugle till I took it from him by
+force at the door of the post-office at Kaladoongie.
+
+"They gave him bhang to smoke and arrack to drink ere he slept that
+night, for his great fear had deprived him of reason for awhile; and he
+looked round him as though he expected to see the tiger's eyes
+everywhere.
+
+"'The bag followed me to the hither side of the Bore bridge,' he said to
+me next morning, as we prepared to return to Lai Kooah. But I laughed at
+his fears, to give him courage.
+
+"'It is a devil,' he whispered, looking cautiously round him, and I saw
+that the light of his reason flickered.
+
+"When we came to the Bore bridge, Nandha leaped to the ground, and in
+the dim light of the morning I could see the tracks of a great beast on
+the ground, to which he pointed; and, even as we looked, there came the
+roar of a tiger. I could scarce hold the horses whilst Nandha, whose
+limbs were stiff with fear, scrambled into the back seat of the
+mail-cart.
+
+"When a tiger puts its mouth to the ground and gives voice, no man may
+tell whence the sound comes; so I stayed not to see, if I might, where
+the danger lay, but gave the horses free rein.
+
+"As we cleared the end of the bridge, Nandha screamed, 'Bag, bag!' and
+glancing back, I saw the tiger in full pursuit of us, and within a
+hundred paces.
+
+"'Blow!' I commanded, handing the bugle to Nandha; but, though he took
+it from me, he appeared not to understand what he was required to do.
+
+"'Blow!' said I, once more, shaking him; but he took no heed of me, and
+was as a man who walks in his sleep. So I put my arm round him and
+lifted him on to the front seat beside me; and even as I pulled him to
+me, his head was drawn over his shoulder by the spell of fear. There was
+a foam on his lips and on his beard, and he shook so that I feared he
+would fall off the mail-cart.
+
+"'Be brave, Nandha,' I shouted to him, 'the beast is lame, and we shall
+soon leave it behind.' For answer, he turned his face to me for one
+instant, and his lips framed the word 'bag,' but no sound came
+therefrom.
+
+"Suddenly, he laughed like a child that is pleased with a toy, babbling,
+and saying, 'How beautiful is my lord! Soft be the road to his feet!
+But, look! my lord limpeth; belike he hath a thorn in his foot.' As he
+rose, I put an arm round him and forced him down again; and at that
+instant the tiger uttered another roar. The horses swerved, and would
+have left the road in their fear, had I not put forth the full strength
+of both my arms; and as soon as Nandha felt himself free, he leaped to
+the ground, and advanced towards the tiger. He walked joyously, as a
+loyal servant who goeth to meet his lord.
+
+"Looking over my shoulder (for now the horses were in the middle of the
+road, which here stretched straight ahead of us), I beheld Nandha
+proceed towards the tiger, which now crouched in the road, waiting for
+him, its tail waving from side to side. When he was within five paces
+of the beast, he salaamed to the ground, and as he stooped the tiger
+sprang on him with another roar, and throwing him over its shoulder it
+bounded with him into the jungle.
+
+"More there is to tell concerning the lame tiger of Huldwani, but here
+is the mail-cart, and here is that which had saved Nandha's life had I
+not also looked upon fear that morning."
+
+Putting the bugle to his mouth, Ram Deen blew a blast that would have
+routed any jungle creature within hearing, and which made the leaves of
+the peepul tree overhead rattle as he dashed away on the mail-cart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+_How Nandha was Avenged_
+
+
+The travellers from beyond Moradabad having reached Kaladoongie, were
+discovered to be men of consequence by the Thanadar, and were invited by
+him to join the circle of the great round his fire on the evening of
+their arrival.
+
+It was very warm, and the dismal silence was only accented by the
+distant howl of a lonely jackal. The sheet lightning flickered fitfully
+over the foothills, mocking the gasping Terai with its faint promise of
+a coming change.
+
+The conversation round the fire flagged, and the hookah passed languidly
+from hand to hand. Those present would have retired to sleep, had sleep
+been possible; but as that was a consummation not easily attained at
+this season of the year, they preferred their present miseries to those
+that come in the wakeful night watches when the Terai is athirst.
+
+Ram Deen's arrival was a nightly boon to those who were wont to assemble
+round the Thanadar's fire; there was always the possibility of his
+having news; and, besides, men seemed to acquire fresh vitality from
+contact with his vigorous personality.
+
+The strangers were especially grateful for his arrival; and when he had
+taken his usual place beside the fire, the hookah was at once passed to
+him.
+
+"Any tidings, coach-wan ji?" inquired the Thanadar.
+
+"None, sahib; save that the great frog in the well at Lal Kooah--who is
+as old as the well, and wiser than most men--gave voice just ere I
+started, and the bunnia said it was a sure sign of rain within two days,
+as the frog's warning had never been known to fail."
+
+"Nana Debi send it be so," exclaimed the little carrier, "for my
+bullocks be starved for the lack of green food, and _bhoosa_ (chaff) is
+past my means."
+
+"Thou shouldst not complain, Goor Dutt," said Ram Deen, with a smile;
+"their very leanness is thy passport through the jungle. Fatter kine had
+been devoured, and their driver with them, long ere this."
+
+Hint of danger that might be encountered in the jungle having been thus
+given, one of the strangers was moved to ask concerning the lame tiger
+of Huldwani, part of whose biography they had heard from Ram Deen at Lal
+Kooah on the previous day.
+
+"Coach-wan ji, wast thou not afraid to carry the mail after the slaying
+of thy hostler, Nandha?"
+
+"Those who carry the Queen's mail may not stop for fear. Nevertheless,
+fear rode with me a day and a night after the death of Nandha."
+
+"It is a great telling," said the little carrier, nodding at the
+wayfarers, whilst Ram Deen "drank tobacco."
+
+When Ram Deen had passed the hookah to his neighbor, he went on:
+
+"Brothers, on the day that Nandha was carried off by the tiger, I sent
+word to the postmaster of Naini Tal concerning the killing, and the
+out-going mail brought me word that the sircar (government) would send
+me help.
+
+"Ye know that a tiger kills not two days in succession; so I had no fear
+when I traversed the road to and from Lal Kooah till the second day
+after the slaying of Nandha. Ere I started on that morning, the munshi
+told me to drive to the dak-bungalow for a sahib who had been sent to
+slay the slayer of men.
+
+"Brothers, when I went to the dak-bungalow, there came forth to me a
+man-child--a Faringi--whose chin was as smooth as the palm of my hand.
+
+"I would have laughed, but that I thought of the tiger that, I knew,
+would be waiting for us; and taking pity on him, I said, 'The jungle
+hereabout is full of wild fowl, sahib, an 'twere pity, when shikar is so
+plentiful, you should waste the morning looking for a budmash tiger who
+will not come forth for two days as yet.'
+
+"He answered me never a word, but went into the dak-bungalow for
+something he had forgotten; and, whilst he was gone, his butler spake
+to me, saying, 'Coach-wan, make no mistake; thy life depends upon thy
+doing the sahib's bidding. He is a very Rustum, and he knoweth not fear,
+for all he is so young.'
+
+"'He is a man after my own heart then, sirdar; but, mashallah! I would
+he had a beard,' I replied.
+
+"Presently the young sahib came forth with an empty bottle in one hand
+and his gun in the other. Throwing the bottle into the air, he shattered
+it with a bullet ere it reached the ground. Startled by the report, a
+jackal fled from the rear of the cook-house towards the jungle, and the
+sahib stopped its flight with another bullet. Then, replenishing his
+gun, he took his seat beside me on the mail-cart, saying 'Blow on thy
+bugle, coach-wan, and announce our coming to Shere Bahadoor, His Majesty
+the Tiger.'
+
+"It was a brave jawan (youth), brothers; but he was very young, and,
+belike, he had a mother; so I swore in my beard to save him, whatever
+might befall.
+
+"As we proceeded, he questioned me concerning the killing of Nandha,
+speaking lightly, as one who goeth to shoot black partridge.
+
+"'He is lame, coach-wan, and will doubtless be waiting for us by the
+Bore bridge,' said the sahib. 'As soon as he appears, stay the horses
+for an instant whilst I get off the mail-cart, and then return when your
+horses will let you.'
+
+"'Bethink thee, sahib,' I answered; 'the Lame One of Huldwani is old and
+cunning; it is no fawn thou seekest this morning. Perchance the sircar
+will dispatch some great shikari to help thee in this hunting. Gunga
+send we may not meet the tiger; but if we should, shame befall me if I
+permit thee to leave the mail-cart whilst the horses are able to run!'
+
+"For answer, my brothers, the sahib flushed red, and, calling me coward,
+he drave his elbow into my stomach with such force that the reins fell
+from my hands. Taking them up, the while I fought for my breath, he
+turned the horses round, saying, 'A jackal may not hunt a tiger! I have
+need of a man with me this morning, and Goor Deen, my butler, shall take
+thy place.'
+
+"'The sahib, being a man, will not blacken my face in the eyes of
+Kaladoongie,' I said. 'I spake for thy sake, sahib; but I will drive
+thee to Jehandum an' thou wilt,--for no man hath ever called me coward
+before.'
+
+"Then the sahib looked in my face, as I tucked the ends of my beard
+under my puggri; and seeing that my eyes met his four-square, he gave up
+the reins to me, saying, 'If thou playest me false I will kill thee like
+a dog;' and he showed me the hilt of a pistol that he had in his pocket.
+
+"We spake no more together, but when we came to the Bore bridge I shook
+the jungle with a blast from my bugle.
+
+"'Shabash! coach-wan,' exclaimed the sahib; 'thou art a man, indeed, and
+shalt have Shere Bahadoor's skin as recompense for the hurt to thy
+stomach. Bid him come again.'
+
+"Half a mile beyond the bridge, as we sped along the level road above
+the river, I again blew upon the bugle. The sound had scarcely ceased,
+when we heard the angry roar of a charging tiger.
+
+"'Stop!' exclaimed the sahib; and I threw the frightened horses on their
+haunches, whilst he leaped to the ground.
+
+"Then, whilst the horses flew along the road, I looked back over my
+shoulder and beheld the Lame One bound into the middle of the road; and
+the sahib blew on his fingers, as one would whistle to a dog. The great
+beast stopped on the instant and crouched on the ground, ready to spring
+on the sahib as he advanced towards it, and I prayed to Nana Debi to
+befriend the young fool.
+
+"When he was within thirty paces or so from the tiger, the sahib halted
+and brought the gun to his shoulder. The next instant there was the
+crack of a rifle, and the Lame One leaped straight into the air.
+
+"I knew the tiger was dead; and immediately thereafter the mail-cart ran
+into a bank and spilled me on the road. Leaving the stunned horses tied
+to a tree, I proceeded to seek the sahib.
+
+"Wah ji, wah! brothers, we must pay taxes to the Faringis until we can
+raise sons like theirs. When I joined the boy sahib he was smoking, and
+taking the measure of the tiger with a tape!
+
+"His bullet had struck the beast between the eyes, and the Lame One had
+died at the hands of a _man_!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+_An Affront to Gannesha_
+
+
+"A little brother hath come," said Biroo, as Ram Deen dismounted from
+the mail-cart. The tall driver snatched up the little boy and hurried to
+his hut, over the door of which was affixed the green bough that is
+customary on such occasions, and whence came the wailing of a new-born
+child.
+
+The inner apartment was guarded by a lean old woman, who refused Ram
+Deen admittance thereto, and who would have prevented even speech on his
+part had she been able. But Ram Deen was not to be denied such solace as
+could be gained from the voice whose accents had taken him captive the
+first time he had heard them.
+
+The feeble wailing of the babe made the strong man tremble.
+
+"Tara, Light in Darkness, is it well with thee?" he asked.
+
+"Quite well, my lord and my master," came the faint answer. "Thy
+handmaid hath bestowed a man-child upon thee, and Nana Debi will require
+a kid of thee in recompense."
+
+"He shall have a flock of goats, Heart of my Heart----"
+
+"Nay," interrupted Tara; "it is a very little child and a kid will
+suffice; but go now, my master, I am very tired and would fain sleep."
+
+"May the stars in heaven shower their blessings on thee, my Best
+Beloved;" and with this invocation Ram Deen left the hut, leading little
+Biroo by the hand.
+
+"See what Gunga Ram gave me but now, father mine," said Biroo, unfolding
+a plaintain leaf wherein was wrapped a sweetmeat made of rice and milk;
+"and he hath a great cooking forward to-night."
+
+"Wherefore?" asked Ram Deen.
+
+"For that a man-child hath come to Nyagong, as well as Kaladoongie, this
+day."
+
+"Oh, ho," said Ram Deen, chuckling softly, "we will have speech with
+Gunga Ram."
+
+When they had arrived at the methai-wallah's booth, Ram Deen, looking on
+the thalis (trays) heaped with sweetmeats crisp from the making, said,
+"Wah ji, wah! Gunga Ram, is the Hurdwar mela (fair) coming to the Bore
+Nuddee, that thou shouldst make such preparations?"
+
+"Nay, coach-wan ji, but a man-child hath come to the house of the
+Jemadar of Nyagong, and he hath commanded fresh sweetmeats and cates for
+a feast in honor of an honorable birth."
+
+"There is no honorable thing done in Nyagong, Gunga Ram. They be all
+thugs and thieves there, and it shall not be said that Ram Deen's
+friends at Kaladoongie ate stale pooris whilst the Jemadar of Nyagong,
+whose face I have blackened, set fresh cates before his guests.
+Therefore bid carry these sweetmeats to my friends who sit round the
+Thanadar's fire, and to-morrow thou shalt make enough for all the people
+of Kaladoongie, so that they may know that a son hath been born to Ram
+Deen."
+
+"But, coach-wan ji," remonstrated Gunga Ram, "the Jemadar's men wait to
+carry these things to Nyagong."
+
+"Tell them, Gunga Ram, that I had need of them; but, nevertheless, for
+the kindness the men of Nyagong did to little Biroo last year, send
+them, on his behalf, two rupees' worth of gur and parched gram;" and Ram
+Deen laid the money in the sweetmeat vender's palm.
+
+To the impromptu feast round the fire that evening Ram Deen contributed
+also a chatty of palm-toddy that Goor Dutt had brought for him from
+Moradabad. By the time the circling hookah had crowned the feast beards
+were wagging freely round the fire; and even Tulsi Ram, the village
+pundit, most modest and unassuming of men, was moved to unusual speech.
+Once more Ram Deen had told the story of the avenging of Nandha; and the
+Thanadar, whose utterances were always sententious, owing to the
+responsibility and dignity of his office, said, "Verily, the young and
+not the old Faringi is the true subduer of Hindoostan."
+
+"Thou sayest it, Thanadar ji," assented Tulsi Ram. "I knew such a young
+sahib as he who slew the lame tiger of Huldwani when I worked as munshi
+at Hurdwar for certain Faringis who had business there. He I speak of
+feared not even the Gods."
+
+When all eyes were turned upon the pundit, and he found himself in the
+trying position of one who was expected to give proof of his opinion,
+his natural modesty overcame him and he was suddenly silent. It was not
+till he had swallowed a generous draught of the toddy that his courage
+revived to the point of telling the following narrative, for which his
+audience waited patiently:
+
+"Brothers," he began, "some three years after the great Mutiny there
+came to Hurdwar two Faringis, by name Scott Sahib and Wilson Sahib, of
+whom the latter was a great shikari, as all Hindoostan is aware, and who
+was further known amongst the Faringis as 'Pahari Wilson.'
+
+"They hired me to cut down sal timber on the upper waters of the Gunga
+and float it down to Hurdwar, where they established a post, over which
+they set in charge a young Faringi named Clements Sahib, whose munshi I
+was, and whose duty it was to stamp the timber with the seal of his
+employers and make it into rafts that were then floated on to Allahabad.
+
+"Clements Sahib had been found by Pahari Wilson Sahib in one of the
+villages of the Rajah of Tiri, whither he had fled from Cawnpore, where
+his father and mother had been killed by the people of the plains during
+the season of the Mutiny.
+
+"He was a man grown when he came to Hurdwar, speaking Nagari and
+Padhani, and knowing well the ways of our people. And wherever he went
+men's eyes followed him, for he walked amongst them with the air of a
+master. His face was scarred with small-pox; his nose was curved like a
+hawk's, and his nostrils were terrible to behold when he was angered,
+which was often, for he lacked patience with men of our race, because of
+the slaying, and worse, of his mother, which he had witnessed; and his
+words did not often go before his blows, which were weighty by reason of
+his great strength. He limped, for that his right leg had been broken
+by a bear whilst he lived amongst the hill men.
+
+"But, great and terrible as he was on land, the wonder of him when he
+swam in the Gunga, as he did daily, man never saw before.
+
+"He feared nothing, brothers,--neither man nor beast, nor even Gannesha,
+upon whom he put an affront one day, when he beat his priests in the
+temple and in the presence of the God.
+
+"This was the way of it: There passed daily through our compound, on its
+way to the jungle, a young, sacred bull that was fed by the priests of
+Gannesha; and its horns had silver tips, whereon was graved a picture of
+the God bearing an elephant's head. And because the bull pursued one of
+his dogs, one day, the sahib shot it; and the bazaars of Hurdwar buzzed
+with angry men.
+
+"'Sahib,' said I to him, 'this is not well done; the Gods never forget
+an insult.' But he only laughed.
+
+"That evening, as the sahib ate his meal, the lamps being lit, there
+came an arrow through an open window and transfixed the dog which was
+lying at his feet.
+
+"The beast yelped as one that is stricken to the death, and I, who sat
+at my book in the adjoining room, looked up as Clements Sahib, snatching
+up a gun from the corner, ran to the veranda and fired at a man who
+passed swiftly through the darkling garden. For answer there came the
+lowing of a bull; and the sahib, being lame, soon gave up the chase and
+returned to the house.
+
+"By the light of a lantern we searched the garden, and when we found
+drops of blood on the ground the sahib laughed, and said, 'Aha! Tulsi
+Ram; I wounded the shikar, after all.'
+
+"''Tis bad hunting, sahib,' I made reply.
+
+"The next moment he stopped, and held the lantern to a necklace of plum
+seeds and gold that hung on the branch of an orange tree. To the
+necklace was attached an agate, whereon was graven the head of an
+elephant."
+
+"When we returned to the house the sahib drew the arrow from the dead
+dog, and on the bolt of that, too, was graven the head of Gannesha. And
+I said, 'Thou hast affronted the Gods, indeed, sahib! 'Twere well to
+restore his beads to some priest of Gannesha.'
+
+"'Of a surety,' he replied, 'when I find the owner; but, till then, I
+will wear the thing round my own neck.'
+
+"The next morning, as we rode on an elephant through the jungle to the
+river, there came the lowing of a bull from a thicket, and an arrow
+whistled through Clements Sahib's sola topee, and another struck the
+cheroot from his mouth. So I said, 'The man with the bow could slay
+thee, sahib, had he a mind to do so.' But the sahib flushed like an
+angry dawn, and gave the mahout orders to beat through the thicket for
+the man with the bull's voice; whereon the bellowing came from behind
+us. Now it was here, and now there, but never where we looked for it,
+and, whenever the sahib fired into some likely thicket, the archer gave
+us further proof of his skill.
+
+"'To the temple of Gannesha!' shouted the sahib, roused to frenzy, and
+there was that in his face that forbade speech.
+
+"When we reached the city, the main street was already packed with a
+menacing crowd,--for word of our coming had gone before us, and the
+thoroughfare resounded from end to end with lowings as of a thousand
+bulls. The weight of the great beast that bore us alone took us through
+the crowd.
+
+"When we reached the gate of the temple of Gannesha, behold! the priests
+formed a lane through the court-yard, and the crowd fell back at their
+bidding. We alighted from the elephant, and walked through the priests
+till we came to the inner door of the temple, where stood a venerable
+jogi naked, save for a loin-cloth, and covered with wood-ashes from his
+head to his heels.
+
+"'Welcome, brother,' he said, as Clements Sahib approached him; 'but thy
+rosary will not admit thee farther than this, and 'tis not fitting that
+thou shouldst enter the presence of Gannesha without thy _teeka_ of
+purification;' and, with an agility that was surprising in such an old
+man, he sprang towards the sahib and touched him on the forehead, at the
+same time snatching at the necklace. But the sahib swept him aside, and
+the next moment we entered the temple, the door of which closed with a
+threatening crash as the last of the priests followed us in.
+
+"When they saw the sahib advance with set purpose towards the great god
+Gannesha, they raised a shout and ran upon him; and I, being unarmed and
+a man of peace, and, moreover, a Brahmin, slipped behind a pillar and
+watched the beginning of a great combat, wherein one man fought with
+twenty, and they with staves in their hands.
+
+"And the sahib waited not for his foes, but, firing his gun at their
+legs, he whirled it aloft and hurled it into the crowd that advanced
+upon him; wherefore three priests lay on the ground and were as dead
+men. And, ere they could recover from their confusion, the sahib ran in
+upon them with clinched hands, and his face was terrible to look upon.
+
+"So thick were they that many of them fell from their brothers' blows;
+and whenever the sahib struck, a man fell to the ground and remained
+there. Toba! toba! never saw I such fighting.
+
+"When there were but three or four of them able to stand, they broke and
+fled to an inner shrine, whence they besought the sahib to depart and
+molest them no more. But he said, 'Nay, not till ye have delivered up to
+me him to whom this rosary belongs.'
+
+"'It is mine, Faringi dog,' screamed the old jogi, darting upon the
+sahib from behind a pillar, a long knife in his hand. The sahib had
+scarce time to turn, when the knife passed through the fleshy part of
+his arm. The next instant the sahib wrenched his weapon from the old
+jogi, and, putting the necklace round him, he bore him to a window and
+threw him into the river which flowed below, saying, 'Gunga will
+doubtless succor a follower of Gannesha.'
+
+"After I had tied his handkerchief round his arm to stay the bleeding he
+took up his gun, and, opening the door of the temple, he went forth.
+And the people marvelled to see him come out again.
+
+"Having mounted his elephant, he spake to those standing round, saying,
+'Dogs and swine! neither ye, nor your priests, nor your Gods can avail
+against a Faringi. Go into the temple and see for yourselves if I speak
+not the truth. Let no man of Hurdwar cross my path hereafter, or I will
+scourge the streets of your city.' So the crowd opened before us, and we
+returned in peace.
+
+"And as the sahib dismounted from the elephant, I said, 'The teeka,
+sahib: it is still on thy forehead.'
+
+"'Ah,' he exclaimed, 'that was what the old jogi put on me.' And he
+plucked it off. It was made of silver and stamped with the image of
+Gannesha on both sides, and the impress of the stamp showed red on the
+white skin of the sahib's forehead.
+
+"The next morning, when I went to my work, the sahib called me into his
+room, and behold! the stamp of Gannesha showed as brightly on his
+forehead as it did the day before! and I feared greatly for the sahib,
+for it is no small thing to affront a God.
+
+"For a whole week the mark remained on the sahib, and he wore his hat
+before all men. None dared to speak to him, for he answered mostly with
+blows.
+
+"'Tulsi Ram,' said he to me one day, 'tell the old jogi of the temple of
+Gannesha that I desire speech with him.'
+
+"And when the old man had come the sahib spake: 'So Gunga bare up thy
+chin, swami?'
+
+"'Ay, ji; and I told him much concerning thee. Thine arm?'
+
+"''Tis well,' replied the sahib. 'But now remove me the mark from my
+forehead.'
+
+"'I may not do anything without the permission of Gannesha, whom thou
+hast angered. He must be propitiated in a manner befitting the sahib's
+station,' returned the jogi.
+
+"'State thy demands, swami,' said the sahib.
+
+"'Now, nay, not mine, sahib, but Gannesha's,' remonstrated the old jogi.
+Then, after musing awhile, he went on: 'The God requireth of thee two
+hundred rupees for the use of his temple, and ten rupees a month, for
+twenty months, to salve the hurts of his twenty priests.'
+
+"''Tis well,' said Clements Sahib, opening a drawer of the table whereat
+he sat, and pushing two hundred rupees across to the old man. 'Proceed.'
+
+"After the jogi had tied the money in his loin-cloth he touched the mark
+on the sahib's forehead with his finger, and, lo! at the touching it
+disappeared.
+
+"'And what if I should not pay thee the rest of thy demand?' asked
+Clements Sahib after he had looked in a mirror and seen that the mark of
+Gannesha was gone.
+
+"'Thou art a Faringi ji, and wilt not fail of thy word,' replied the
+jogi.
+
+"'There be bad Faringis, swami, and my heart inclineth me to their
+number.'
+
+"''Twere easy to persuade thee to a right course, sahib,' said the old
+man, pointing his finger at Clements Sahib. 'Behold!' And the livid mark
+leapt out on the sahib's forehead again.
+
+"After the mark had been removed once more by the jogi, and as he was
+preparing to depart, Clements Sahib said, 'Come for your monthly payment
+when the new moon shows, but cross not my path at any other time, or
+harm shall befall thee.'
+
+"'Brave words, sahib,' returned the mendicant; 'and be careful, thyself,
+not to insult the Gods. Salaam,' and he went forth. So there was peace
+between the Gods and Clements Sahib until the jogi had received three
+payments.
+
+"Then, on a day, the sahib bade me accompany him to the Hurke Piree, for
+he was fain to catch the great mahser that abound there, where they feed
+on the offerings of the pilgrims.
+
+"And I would have prevented him, saying, 'The fish, Provider of the
+Poor, are tame; 'twere no sport to catch them. Besides, the Hurke Piree
+is holy, and 'twere not well to pollute the great steps with the killing
+even of fish.'
+
+"'Therefore it is in my mind, O Brown Mouse, to catch fish for my
+evening meal,' replied the sahib, his nostrils twitching; so I spake no
+more.
+
+"When the sahib had drawn forth the first fish that took his bait, there
+came the voices of an angry crowd, and, looking up, behold! the great
+stairs were black with people; and, taking four steps at a bound, there
+came towards us a young priest stripped for bathing, and it was Salig
+Ram, the greatest pylwan (wrestler) in Hurdwar.
+
+"Ere the sahib could guess the purpose of the priest, the latter sprang
+upon him, and they twain fell together into the deep water.
+
+"When they came to the surface again, the sahib had an arm round Salig
+Ram's throat, and was beating him with his clinched hand till the blood
+ran down his face, and he spat forth a handful of teeth. The priest was
+as one who is amazed, crying feebly, 'Ram dhwy, ram dhwy!' and he was as
+a frightened child in the sahib's hands.
+
+"Thinking that the sahib would slay their champion before their eyes,
+and so desecrate the gates of heaven, two or three score of angry
+Brahmins leapt into the river to the rescue of Salig Ram, and I
+followed, likewise, to see the end of the matter.
+
+"Releasing the young priest, the sahib swam away easily from those who
+followed, slipping off his upper garments as he proceeded down the
+river, and then his shoes, which he threw in derision at those who
+followed.
+
+"Now, when he came to the temple of Gannesha, there appeared in the
+window that overlooks the river the old jogi, who swung something round
+his head that glittered in the sun; and he shouted aloud, 'Gunga, take
+thee! Gunga, take thee!'
+
+"The sahib turned his face towards the temple, and, as he did so, the
+jogi threw the thing he swung at him. It flashed as it circled through
+the air, and settled over the sahib's head; and, in that instant, he
+threw up his arms and disappeared, and thereafter a few bubbles came to
+the surface.
+
+"Two days afterwards, the dead body of a Faringi was found ten miles
+below Hurdwar and taken to Roorkie, whither I went by order of the
+sircar, to assist in the identification of the dead man.
+
+"Brothers, the corpse was that of Clements Sahib. Round his neck was a
+rosary of gold and plum seeds, with an agate amulet; and on his forehead
+was the presentment of an elephant's head, the seal of Gannesha, whom no
+man may affront."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+_A Daughter of the Gods_
+
+
+To those in evening conclave round the fire came a long refrain sung on
+one high note by Goor Dutt, as his bullock-cart approached the village.
+"She died in the night of co-o-o-old," he keened. There was a pathos in
+his voice which told of his own sufferings, for the night was frosty,
+rather than those of some fictitious person.
+
+"What freight to-night, byl-wan?" inquired the Thanadar, when he came
+within speaking distance.
+
+"Vessels of clay, and a dead man," replied the little bullock driver.
+
+Some one held a torch to the thing that lay across the end of the
+bullock driver's wagon, shrouded in a white cloth, on which was a red
+wet stain as big as a man's hand.
+
+"'Tis Lakhoo, the dacoit," said the Thanadar, when the face of the
+corpse had been uncovered; "now, Nana Debi be praised for his taking
+off! Some one will be the richer for this deed by five hundred rupees."
+
+Below the left breast of the corpse, and beneath the stain on the cloth
+that covered it, was a little hole that would scarce admit the tip of a
+man's finger, but whence, nevertheless, had issued the life of one of
+the terrors of the Terai. The dead man had been the head of a daring
+band of dacoits, whose depredations ranged from Rajpore to Bareilly, and
+on each of whose heads was a large reward, for they had not hesitated to
+commit murder when committing theft.
+
+After Goor Dutt had refreshed his inner man and taken his place at the
+fire, he began: "This was the way of it: This evening, as I came
+hitherwards, there passed me two doolis, and he who held the torch to
+light the way was Lakhoo, whom I had seen once before at the thana at
+Moradabad, whence he afterwards escaped. As the doolis passed, he held
+the torch to my face, but I feigned sleep, and so he did not molest me.
+
+"The baggage, slung on poles across the shoulders of the bearers, showed
+the people in the doolis to be Faringis; and I was minded to see what
+would happen, and, if need were, bring thee early word, Thanadar ji, as
+to Lakhoo's doings. So I tied my bullocks to a tree and followed the
+doolis, treading where the dust was thick and the shadows deepest.
+
+"When the doolis arrived at the path that leads to Nyagong, men came out
+of the jungle and stopped the bearers; and I crept behind a bael tree on
+the edge of the road and within fifty paces of the travellers, so that I
+could see and hear all that passed, for the torch was bright and the
+night was still, and Lakhoo spoke as one who knoweth not the need for
+speaking low.
+
+"And when those who carried the doolis knew that it was Lakhoo who had
+borne the torch for them, and that they were in the midst of his men,
+their livers turned to water. One, less frightened than the others,
+attempted to flee, but a bamboo lat descended on his skull, and he lay
+as one dead, and the rest moaned, 'Ram dhwy, ram dhwy!'
+
+"'Ye Sons of Jackals! ye have naught to fear,' said Lakhoo. 'What were
+your miserable dole for the carrying of these doolis to me? But,
+remember, ye have nor eyes nor ears now if ye would have them
+hereafter!'
+
+"And they whined, saying, 'We be blind and deaf, Bahadoor; and we know
+nothing, for we be poor men.'
+
+"'Therefore are ye safe, ye sons of mothers without virtue, for they who
+sleep in the doolis are rich, and the family of the sahib who hanged my
+brother last year. Who would crack dry bones for sustenance when savory
+meat is at hand?'
+
+"Thereafter he tapped on the roof of one of the doolis, saying, 'Wake,
+mem-sahib, wake!'
+
+"'What is the matter, dooli-wallah?' was the reply, in the feeble voice
+of a sick woman.
+
+"'This is the chowki, khodawund; but the fresh bearers are not here, and
+those who brought thee hither are spent and cannot proceed farther. But
+there are those here who will bear thee on thy journey for a proper
+price.'
+
+"So she called aloud in her own tongue, and there came forth into the
+night, from the other dooli, a young lad rubbing the sleep from his eyes
+and yawning; and whilst he parleyed with his mother, the curtain of her
+dooli was lifted, and a young mem-sahib rose from it and stood beside
+the boy, and we could see they were brother and sister, but she was the
+older and taller by a span, and in the budding of her womanhood. The
+hair, that fell to her waist, was as spun gold in the light of the
+torches; rings and stones flashed in her ears and on her fingers, but
+they were nothing to the glances of her eyes, which met four-square the
+eyes of those to whom she spoke; and she looked at those who were
+present as though they were there to do her bidding.
+
+"When the sick mem-sahib in the dooli had finished speaking, the younger
+one addressed the masalchi (torch-bearer), saying, 'How far is it to the
+next chowki, and what do you ask for taking us there?'
+
+"'Two kos (six miles), mem-sahib, and the hire of my men is fifty
+rupees,' answered Lakhoo.
+
+"'And what did you get for bringing us here?' asked she, turning to the
+dooli-bearers who stood round them.
+
+"'They are poor men, missy baba, and know nothing,' said Lakhoo, at whom
+the dooli-bearers looked for instructions.
+
+"'Son of a Pig!' exclaimed the young lad, taking a leather bag from his
+sister's hand and throwing the money, a rupee at a time, on the ground;
+'there are fifty rupees. Proceed, for the mem-sahib, my mother, is sick,
+and must be on the hills ere the morning sun give heat,' and his face
+flushed in the torchlight.
+
+"So Lakhoo tied the money in his waistband, and, without further speech,
+sat down and smoked the hookah that was passed to him.
+
+"And after awhile the baba (boy), who had been walking to and fro with
+the young woman, his sister, stopped opposite Lakhoo, and spoke,
+saying, 'Why do you not proceed, dooli-wallah?'
+
+"'Because I am waiting for my hire, baba ji,' replied Lakhoo.
+
+"'I paid you but now,' exclaimed the young sahib.
+
+"'The sahib is scarce awake,' said Lakhoo, in a bantering tone, 'and
+hath been dreaming.' And his men who formed the outer circle laughed
+insolently.
+
+"'Liar!' shouted the young sahib, bursting into tears and clinching his
+hand; but his sister laid a restraining finger on his arm, and whispered
+in his ear.
+
+"'We will give thee thy due, masalchi,' she said, as she went to her
+mother's dooli.
+
+"When she returned, she put a three-cornered bag of leather in her
+brother's hand.
+
+"'The young mem-sahib is as generous as she is beautiful,' said Lakhoo,
+fixing hot eyes on her, whereat her nostrils twitched; 'and her hair is
+more precious than gold.' And as he spake, he laid a desecrating hand on
+her locks.
+
+"'Swine-born!" shouted the young lad, and drawing from the bag in his
+hand a toy that glittered in the torchlight, he put it to Lakhoo's
+breast and fired. The tall man bounded into the air like a stricken
+deer, and fell prone on his face. As the dacoits rose to their feet, I
+smote on the branches of the bael tree that sheltered me with my bamboo
+staff, shouting like three men, 'Thieves, thieves!' So Lakhoo's men fled
+headlong, and I came forth from my shelter, and salaamed to the baba and
+the young mem-sahib.
+
+"'Thou hast earned five hundred rupees, sahib,' said I, 'by the killing
+of the great dacoit, Lakhoo.'
+
+"'We had been slain, an' it had not been for thee,' said the young
+mem-sahib. 'Who and what art thou?'
+
+"'Goor Dutt, byl-wan, mem-sahib,' I replied; 'and it is my highest
+reward to have served thee and thine.'
+
+"'Now, nay, byl-wan, my brother, Charlie Sahib, herewith bestows on thee
+whatsoever reward is due for the killing of this dog.'
+
+"'Ay, and this pistol, too,' interrupted the young lad, putting his
+glittering toy in my hand. And he showed me the wonder of it,--how it
+spake five times, if need were, and how to charge it.
+
+"Then they put the dead man on my bullock-cart, which one of those
+present had been sent to fetch. And when the bearers took up the doolis,
+they shouted, as one man, 'Chali Sahib ke jhai!'"
+
+"Wah, byl-wan ji, wah!" exclaimed Ram Deen, when Goor Dutt had finished,
+"thou art taller than most men. Let us honor a man, my brothers."
+
+And those who sat round the fire sprang to their feet, and woke the
+slumbering village with the heartiness of their salutation, as they
+shouted, "Goor Dutt ji ke jhai!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"_Ich Liebe Dich_"
+
+
+Early one morning in December, in the year 186--, I left my camp with a
+pointer at my heels to explore the foothills to the northwest of
+Nyagong. The region abounded with iron ore, and the mining syndicate I
+represented instructed me to conduct my prospecting in a way that would
+not arouse the suspicion of the manager of another company that had
+already established iron works at Kaladoongie. So it speedily became
+noised about in that section of the Terai that I was one of the many
+Englishmen who spend their leave of absence in the jungle for the
+purposes of sport.
+
+There was a shrewd nip in the air when I started, and the barrels of my
+gun were so cold that I was glad I had put on a pair of thick gloves.
+
+The jungle was hardly awake when I struck into the path that skirted the
+Bore Nuddee. Presently, a green parrot "kr-r-r-d" tentatively, as a
+faint flush appeared in the cloudless east. A wild boar jumped a fence a
+few hundred yards ahead of me, followed by the sounder, of which he was
+chief, as they left the fields they had been marauding during the night.
+A nilghai, with his wicked-looking horns, soon followed, and lumbered
+noiselessly away. These were the thieves of the Terai, and they were,
+naturally, hurrying to their coverts before the coming day should be
+upon them.
+
+Suddenly, the dewy silence was broken by the invocation of a black
+partridge,--the muezzin of the jungle. "Sobhan theri koodruth!" How
+solemnly, and with what splendor of utterance and pause this voice of
+the Terai announces the miracle of the morning! The cry was taken up and
+passed on with a significance that dwarfed the passing of the fiery
+torch as told by Scott in "The Lady of the Lake." And immediately
+thereafter the jungle was singing its many-voiced matin, not the least
+"notable note" of which was the challenge of the jungle-cock, who is a
+native of the Terai, and whose vigorous voice is not raucous with the
+civilized laryngeal affections of the "tame villatic fowl."
+
+And then, in the awakening of the forest, there came--Italian opera! A
+well-poised soprano voice silenced the jungle choir by a brilliantly
+executed chromatic scale, as though the singer were trying her voice.
+Finding it flexible enough for her purpose, she launched into the
+difficult--and abominable--aria, "Di tale amore che dirsi" in "Il
+Trovatore." She suddenly stopped, as though she were ashamed of the
+rubbish she sang; and, after a pause of half a minute, my soul was
+stirred by the air of Beethoven's immortal "Ich Liebe Dich," sung to the
+following words, which were beautifully enunciated:
+
+    I love thee, dear! All words would fail
+      To tell the true and tender theme;
+    Such ardent thoughts, and passion pale,
+      And humble suit, I fondly deem,
+    Would need a poet's rapturous mind.
+      Oh! if fit words could but be bought,
+    If Love's own speech I could but find,
+      I'd sell my soul to express my thought,
+      So you should in Love's toils be caught!
+
+    Oh! then a kindlier sun would shine,
+      The vermeiled flowers would look more fair,
+    The common world would seem divine,
+      And daily things appear most rare;
+    My soul, a soaring lark, would rise
+      To greet the morning of thy love
+    So sweetly dawning in thine eyes,
+      And in thy smiles, which should approve.
+
+The tender charm of the sweet old song--now utterly neglected for more
+brazen utterances, and which only Beethoven could have written--was
+thoroughly appreciated by the singer.
+
+Wishing to see her without myself being discovered, and hoping to hear
+her sing again, I "stalked" her--and, behold, she was a Padhani! I
+couldn't be mistaken, for she was singing David's "O ma maitresse," as I
+watched her from behind the bole of a great huldoo tree.
+
+A little boy, about three years in age, played beside her as she sat on
+a fallen tree trunk and took part in the matin of the Terai. There was a
+noble breadth between her eyes that reminded one of the Sistine
+Madonna, and an air of repose about her figure which was set off by her
+simple garments.
+
+She was, without doubt, Chambeli, the Padhani protege of the Fishers,
+whose flight from her husband, the Rev. John Trusler, immediately after
+her return to the Terai, had been the sensation of the season at Naini
+Tal a few years ago.
+
+Snapping a dry twig with my foot to attract her attention, I stepped
+into the open and approached her. Her first impulse was to flee, but she
+quickly regained her composure and awaited me, standing, her eyes
+meeting mine without the least embarrassment.
+
+"Your singing attracted me," I began, taking off my hat to her.
+
+"Yes?" she replied, evidently not at all anxious to come to my relief in
+the awkward position I had sought.
+
+"It was very beautiful----"
+
+"And it is finished," she interrupted. There was a slight tone of
+contempt in her voice as she thus gave me to understand that my
+presence was unwelcome. But, as a student of psychology, I was not to be
+so easily moved from my design of "investigating the case" before me.
+
+"The Rev. John Trusler is dead." I paused awhile to see how she would be
+affected. Then, as she gave no sign of emotion, I went on, "He hanged
+himself a few days after you left him."
+
+"My God!" she exclaimed, putting her hand to her side and seating
+herself on the fallen tree.
+
+The child, who had been clinging to his mother's dress and regarding me
+with round, brown eyes, began to cry when he saw his mother's sudden
+emotion. She took him up in her arms and cuddled his head to her bosom,
+saying in the Padhani patois, "Mea mithoo, mea mithoo! hush, my butcha."
+
+In the silence that ensued after the child had been quieted there came
+the regular stroke of a woodman's axe, and presently the refrain of a
+Padhani song sung by a man.
+
+When the woman had regained her calm, she looked up at me somewhat
+defiantly and said, "What business had they to come between me and my
+jungle mother? What right had they to impose moral shackles on one who
+was above their petty codes?"
+
+"The Fishers were moved by kindness, surely; they educated you, and
+Christianized you, and through them you met and married an honorable
+man."
+
+"Educated me, forsooth!" she exclaimed with scorn, her nostrils
+twitching; "they robbed me of my five senses, and gave me
+instead--accomplishments. Can you tell the time of the day from the sun,
+sir? Can you say when the sambhur passed whose track is at your feet,
+and how many wolves were in the pack that followed him? Would your sense
+of smell lead you to a pool of fresh water in mid-jungle? Can you feel
+the proximity of a crouching leopard without seeing it? What sort of
+education is it that neglects the senses? Oh, the highest product of
+your civilization--your poet-laureate, Tennyson--felt the same thing
+stir in his pulses when he wrote 'Locksley Hall,' and deprecated the
+'poring over miserable books' with blinded eye-sight."
+
+"'Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay,'" I quoted, as
+she paused in her rapid discourse.
+
+"For the European, perhaps; not for the Chinaman. No, I have no feeling
+of gratitude towards those you speak of; for the large freedom of the
+Terai they gave me a brick cage in London; they gave me endless crowds
+of miserable men and women for these, my green brothers, who are always
+happy," and she put out her hand and caressed a tree that grew beside
+her.
+
+"As for Christianity," she resumed, "it is but one facet in the jewel,
+morality. Christ was but an adept, I take it, who attained to his
+miraculous powers--as do our rishis and jogis--by prayer and fasting and
+meditation. I cannot see that Christian vices are fewer or more venial
+than those of our people."
+
+"But don't you miss your books, and the keeping in touch with the
+progress of civilization?" I asked.
+
+"Must I quote 'books in the running brooks' to you? What book is there
+like this book of God's?" and she swept her arm round her. "And if my
+son grow up to be brave and strong, that will be civilization enough for
+me."
+
+"But your music?"
+
+"Ah! that is the only thing I miss. But I recollect all of Schumann's
+songs and Schubert's, some of Beethoven's--and then I make songs of my
+own to fit the moods of my jungle mother, and I have some small skill in
+weaving words for them."
+
+"And the man who hanged himself?"
+
+"He was no man," she flashed; "who had not the strength of a girl, and
+who was as weak-eyed as the bat in daytime! You shall see a man indeed,
+one who fears not to track the tiger afoot, and who even beats me when
+he sees fit," and she called aloud, "Aho! Kali Dass, aho!"
+
+The sound of the woodman's axe ceased, and presently we heard some one
+approaching through the jungle.
+
+"'Twere better that he should know from me that you and I had had
+speech together, than that he should learn it from the Terai, for our
+men are very terrible when they are wrought upon by jealousy." Then,
+after a pause, she went on, "Don't speak to me in English in his
+presence. He won't like it."
+
+She rose and half veiled her face with her chudder, as a splendid young
+Padhan bearing an immense load of wood entered the glade. He threw down
+his burden as soon as he perceived me, and, snatching up his axe,
+advanced menacingly towards me. He was a bronze Apollo, with the air of
+freedom that is native to mountaineers and woodsy folks.
+
+"The sahib intended no harm, Kali Dass," began the woman; "and he hath
+given me tidings of _his_ death."
+
+"What of it? He was but a quail."
+
+"But now canst thou become a Christian, and--marry me."
+
+"Marry one who was twice a widow? Nana Debi forbid! I must admonish thee
+when we return to our hut. Come."
+
+Fearing that any further interest in the case on my part would but
+increase the severity of her punishment, I turned down the jungle path.
+
+Just before leaving the glade I looked back; the woman had one knee on
+the ground, and with outstretched arms she was balancing the load of
+wood that Kali Dass was putting on her head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+_The Smoking of a Hornets' Nest_
+
+
+"The 'big rains' will begin to-night," said the bunnia at Lal Kooah, as
+Ram Deen took his seat on the mail-cart.
+
+"And there will be much lightning and thunder," added one of the
+by-standers, "the night is so still."
+
+The sky was inky, and the Terai awaited the coming storm in a breathless
+silence which was only emphasized by the parting blasts of Ram Deen's
+bugle. The horses had their ears twitched forward apprehensively, and
+started, every now and then, at the objects revealed by the light of the
+lamps. A mile or so beyond Lal Kooah a few heavy drops of rain pattered
+on the broad leaves of the overarching huldoos. Suddenly the sky was
+rent by a streak of lightning,--the _avant courier_ of the mighty
+monsoon,--and it was immediately followed by the terrific thunder that
+bayed at its heels.
+
+In the intensified silence that ensued Ram Deen blew his bugle to
+reassure the frightened horses. He had barely ceased when there came the
+sharp crack of a pistol-shot, and a far cry, "Ram dhwy! ram dhwy! Aho!
+Ram Deen, aho!"
+
+"Tis the voice of Goor Dutt," said the hostler, "and he looketh on
+fear."
+
+Ram Deen urged his team into a flying gallop as the storm struck the
+jungle and woke its mighty voices. Wind and rain, and trees with
+leafless branches for stringed instruments, made an elemental orchestra
+that discoursed cataclysmic music.
+
+Whilst the thunder crackled and crashed overhead to the steady and
+sullen roar of the rain the horses came to a sudden stand-still. In the
+feeble lamplight Ram Deen discerned a man lying in the middle of the
+road. Taking one of the lamps, he held it to his face. It was Goor Dutt,
+the little bullock driver. He was unconscious, and had a deep wound on
+his head from which the blood was still welling.
+
+Hanging on a wild plum-tree that grew on the edge of the road was a
+bloodstained turban that fluttered in the storm. Tying it securely to
+the branch whence it hung, Ram Deen placed the unconscious bullock
+driver at the bottom of the mail-cart, the hostler supporting his head.
+
+Arrived at Kaladoongie, Ram Deen roused the native apothecary at the
+dispensary. Goor Dutt was carried in and laid on a charpoi, and whilst
+the apothecary attended to his hurts Ram Deen knocked on the Thanadar's
+house, saying, "Wake, Thanadar ji. There be bad men abroad to-night, and
+blows to pay."
+
+When the two friends returned to the dispensary Goor Dutt was looking
+about him in a dazed fashion. The stimulant administered to him had
+begun to take effect, and the sight of the tall driver roused him to a
+recollection of the events of the night.
+
+"Lakhoo's men," said he, feebly. "I counted five by the light of the
+torch they burned. They beset me, and doubtless I had been slain, but
+they heard thy bugle, and, whilst they hesitated, I shouted to thee,
+and, freeing one hand, I drew the pistol Charlie Sahib gave me and fired
+once, and then a great darkness fell upon me."
+
+Whilst the Thanadar roused a couple of his men Ram Deen slipped into his
+own garden to release Hasteen, for the great dog would be needed in the
+hunting of that night.
+
+The sky was emptying itself in great sheets of rain as the mail-cart
+sped away with the dog running beside it. When they reached the tree to
+which the turban was tied Ram Deen removed it and held it out to
+Hasteen, who, after sniffing at it for a moment, started off at a trot,
+with his nose to the ground. But the scent was bad, owing to the heavy
+rain, and the dog began to run round in widening circles in his search
+for a trail, whilst the men stayed on the edge of the road. Suddenly the
+dog bayed, and, following the direction of the sound, they came up with
+him as he stood by Goor Dutt's cart, from which the bullocks had been
+removed.
+
+"The man stricken by Goor Dutt rode hence on a bullock," said Ram Deen,
+who had been examining the tracks in the mire with a lantern; "there be
+signs of but four men going hence, Thanadar Sahib, whereas five walked
+beside the wagon till it stopped here."
+
+The cart was in the jungle about a hundred yards from the road. The
+noise made by its progress had been entirely drowned in the roar of the
+storm, so that Ram Deen had not heard it.
+
+"See, sahib," said Ram Deen, pointing to the trail made by the heavy
+animals in their course through the jungle, and which not even the rain
+had effaced, "we shall not need Hasteen's nose, but his teeth, ere the
+daybreak."
+
+Fastening the turban taken from the tree round Hasteen's neck, Ram Deen
+struck into the trail, the dog walking beside him, whilst the others
+followed in single file. The tall driver stopped occasionally to examine
+the ground with his lantern. He had with him the revolver given to him
+by Captain Barfield, but his main dependence was on the long bamboo
+club, loaded with lead, which he carried in his right hand.
+
+The events that followed were thus told to Captain Fisher, the deputy
+commissioner of the district, who came down the next day from Naini Tal
+to investigate them.
+
+"Sahib," began Ram Deen, whose left arm was in a sling, "it was thus: We
+followed the trail that led along the right bank of the Bore Nuddee,
+till we came to the ford, where the stream was now a roaring torrent
+owing to the great rain, which never ceased to drum on the Terai all
+that night.
+
+"Here those we sought had crossed to the left bank, and then continued
+up the hill to the garden of Thapa Sing; through the door of the hut,
+wherein Heera Lal, who is kin to me, used to dwell, there came the gleam
+of firelight.
+
+"Then the Thanadar bid stand, saying, ''Twere well to take them alive,
+Ram Deen, so that the sircar may not be despoiled of the hanging of
+them. What sayest thou?'
+
+"'Such as these cannot be taken alive, Thanadar ji,' I replied.
+
+"'What would you?' he inquired.
+
+"'They be hornets, khodawund,' I made answer, 'and must be smoked out of
+their nest. When they come forth we will take them as we best may.'
+
+"So we proceeded without noise to the hut, and when we reached it the
+lantern showed us that the Thanadar, and I, and Hasteen, whom I had
+unloosed, were alone. For, behold, the policemen had fled, not having
+stomachs for blows; their blood had turned to milk and their livers to
+water. For their fathers are jackals and their mothers without honor;
+and the sahib will doubtless bestow upon them the reward due to their
+valor.
+
+"And the Thanadar growled in his beard at the baseness of his men, and
+whispered, 'Those dogs of mine have made it necessary that we should
+slay these within, Ram Deen, should they refuse to surrender, instead of
+taking them alive;' and I nodded assent.
+
+"We could hear the wounded man groan inside the hut, and one said,
+'Never mind, Kunwa, I slew Goor Dutt for thy hurt, and had these who are
+with us been men instead of children, we had slain the driver of the
+mail-cart, whose voice is greater than his strength, and his legs but
+female bamboos.'
+
+"'Thou art a liar!' I shouted, kicking in the thatch door of the hut,
+which fell in the fire on the hearth. In a moment the hut was in a
+blaze. Two men ran forth through the doorway, and, in the light of the
+burning hut, I could see other twain breaking through the wall of thatch
+at the rear, whilst Kunwa, the wounded man, who was unable to move,
+greeted with appalling screams the death that approached him.
+
+"'I will attend to these, Thanadar Sahib!' I shouted; 'do thou and
+Hasteen look to those that escape from the rear.' And the Thanadar,
+calling the dog, ran to the back of the hut.
+
+"Seeing but one man in front of them, the dacoits--strong men and
+tall--ran in upon me. I anticipated the blow of one, and he fell to the
+ground without even a cry; but the club of the other had crushed my
+skull, had I not warded it with my left arm, which was broken thereby;
+and ere my assailant could again swing his weapon I had stretched him
+beside his companion.
+
+"From the other side of the burning hut came the sounds of a terrible
+combat and of heavy blows. I made what haste I could, and as I turned
+the corner of the hut I stumbled over the body of the Thanadar. Six
+paces beyond was Hasteen, and he was serving the sircar as he best
+might. He stood over one of the dacoits, whom he held by the throat,
+whilst the other rained blows on him, till I made the fight an equal one
+between dog and man; and then, because my arm pained shrewdly, I was
+fain to sit on a fallen tree, whilst Hasteen finished the fray in his
+own manner; the man in the hut, meanwhile, uttering screams that even a
+strong man might not hear unmoved.
+
+"But he on the ground could not scream by reason of the fangs at his
+throat; he only gurgled, and rattled dreadfully, and the foam flew from
+his lips as the great dog shook him from side to side. When his head
+swayed helplessly I knew he was dead, so I bade Hasteen release him; and
+the man in the hut having ceased his outcries, I made shift to raise the
+Thanadar, and lo, he was dead, and the Terai bereft of a great and a
+good man, and I of the best of friends. And now, as the sahib knoweth
+but too well, there be none in the Terai to maintain the orders of the
+sircar."
+
+"Nevertheless, Ram Deen," said Captain Fisher, "the sircar will look to
+you in the future to be a terror to evil-doers, and here are papers
+making you Thanadar of this district. What say you?"
+
+"The sircar is my father and my mother, Fisher Sahib; but this thing may
+not be. I have neither learning nor wisdom to uphold the English raj as
+it should be upheld. Besides, who is to drive the mail-cart?"
+
+"There be drivers a-plenty, Ram Deen, but not many who will strike a
+blow for the right and defend the poor and the fatherless. Thy munshi
+will instruct thee in the duties of thy office. But beyond all things,
+remember this: There must be no budmashes in thy district, Ram Deen,
+Thanadar." Then, before Ram Deen could make reply, he went on, "Oh, yes,
+the reward; thou wilt receive from the sircar two thousand five hundred
+rupees for the slaying of Lakhoo's men."
+
+"But Goor Dutt slew one of them, Captain Sahib, and Hasteen another."
+
+"Well, give Goor Dutt what thou wilt and bestow a collar of honor, with
+spikes of brass, on Hasteen. Thou art Thanadar henceforth, and the
+sircar expects you to be just in all your dealings."
+
+And as he finished, word having gone through Kaladoongie that Ram Deen
+was now Thanadar, the men who crowded round the Deputy Commissioner's
+tent raised a mighty shout: "Ram Deen, Thanadar, ke jhai!"
+
+"What meant that shout?" asked Tara, when Ram Deen returned home an hour
+later.
+
+"Congratulation to thy Lumba Deen (long legs) for a trifle of money and
+some little honor as salve for a broken bone, Light in Darkness."
+
+"What honor?" she inquired, eagerly.
+
+"But the money was the greater, my Star----"
+
+"Now, nay, my lord trifles with me. The honor, the honor!" she demanded.
+
+"And if I were to tell thee that they have made me Thanadar of this
+Zemindaree?"
+
+"'Tis but thy due, my lord; and thou hast but prepared the way for thy
+man-child. Said I not many moons ago that he should be Thanadar of
+Kaladoongie one day!"
+
+"See to it that he is brave and strong, Heart of my Heart, else were he
+better dead."
+
+"I will help her in the bringing up of thy son," said a tall woman,--she
+of the muffled face,--coming into the room; "and he shall be worthy of
+thee, who art now as great as thou hast been always good."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Taming of the Jungle, by Dr. C. W. Doyle
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