IN THE TERAI JUNGLE
In the pleasant light of the morning the little outpost looked as
charming to Wargrave as it had done on the previous evening. Above Ranga
Duar the mountains towered to the pale blue sky, while below it the
foot-hills fell in steps to the broad sea of foliage of the great forest
stretching away to the distant plains seen vaguely through the haze. The
horse-shoe hollow in which the tiny station was set was bowered in
vegetation. The gardens glowed with the varied hues of flowers, and were
bounded by hedges of wild roses. The road and paths were bordered by the
tall, graceful plumes of the bamboo and shaded by giant mango and banyan
trees, their boughs clothed with orchids.
Frank had noticed the previous day that the Fort, barracks and bungalows
were all newly built, and he learned that during the great war which had
raged along the frontiers of India five years before, the post had been
fiercely attacked by an army of Chinese and Bhutanese and the little
station practically wiped out of existence, although victory had finally
rested with the few survivors of the garrison.
From the first the subaltern took a great liking to the tall Punjaubi
Mahommedan and hook-nosed, fair-skinned Pathan native officers and
sepoys of the detachment. The work was light and scarcely required two
British officers; and Frank soon found that Major Hunt, who seemed
driven by a demon of quiet energy, preferred to do most of it himself.
Frank got the impression that to the elder man occupation was an anodyne
for some secret sorrow. Although the subaltern had no wish to shirk his
duty he could not but be glad that his superior officer seemed always
ready to dispense with his aid, for thus he would find it easier to get
permission to go shooting.
His first excursion into the jungle was arranged at dinner at the
Dermots' house on his second evening in Ranga Duar. The Colonel proposed
to take him out on the following Monday, for on the next day the _Deb
Zimpun_ would arrive.
"He always brings a big train of Bhuttias with him, eighty swordsmen as
an escort to the small army of coolies necessary to carry a hundred
thousand silver rupees in boxes over the Himalayan passes. I like to
give them the flesh of a few _sambhur_ stags as a treat," said the
Colonel.
"Hiven hilp ye av ye bring any _sambhur_ flesh to the Mess, Wargrave,"
said Burke. "We want something we can get our teeth into. No, we expect
a _khakur_ from you."
"What's a _khakur_?" asked Frank.
"It's the _muntjac_ or barking deer," replied Dermot. "You wouldn't know
it if you haven't shot in forests. It gets its English name from its
call, which is not unlike a dog's bark."
"Whin ye hear one saying '_Wonk! Wonk!_' in the jungle, Wargrave, get up
the nearest tree; for the _khakur_ is warning all whom it may concern
that there's a tiger in the immajit vicinity."
Frank had already learned to distrust most of Burke's statements on
sport, for the doctor was an inveterate joker. So he looked to the
Political Officer for confirmation.
"Yes, it's supposed to be the case," agreed the Colonel. "And I've more
than once heard a tiger loudly express his annoyance when a _khakur_
barked as he was trying to sneak by unnoticed. There's a barking-deer."
He pointed to the well-mounted head of a small deer on the wall of the
dining-room.
"Whom do you expect up for the Durbar, Mrs. Dermot?" asked Major Hunt.
"Only Mr. Carter, the Sub-divisional Officer, and probably Mr. Benson."
"Eh--is--isn't Miss Benson coming too?" asked the doctor in a hesitating
manner so unlike his usual cheery and assured self that Frank looked at
him. It seemed to him that Burke was blushing.
"Oh, yes, I hope so," replied Mrs. Dermot.
"Er--haven't you heard from her?" persisted the doctor anxiously.
"I had a letter this afternoon brought by a coolie. Muriel wrote to say
that they were in the Buxa Reserve but hoped to get here in time. I'm
looking forward to her coming immensely. It's four months since I saw
her."
Frank could not help noticing that Burke seemed to hang on Mrs. Dermot's
words; and he began to wonder if the unknown lady held the doctor's
heart.
"It's rather hard on a girl like Miss Benson to have to lead such a
lonely life and rough it constantly in the jungle as she does," remarked
Major Hunt. "At her age she must want gaiety and amusement."
"Muriel doesn't mind it," replied the hostess. "She loves jungle life.
And she thinks that her father couldn't get on without her."
"Sure, she's right there, Mrs. Dermot," cried Burke. "The dear ould
boy'ud lose his head av he hadn't her to hould it on for him. She does
most av his work. It's a sight to see that slip av a girl bossing all
the forest guards and _habus_ and giving them their ordhers."
Wargrave was anxious to hear more of this girl, in whom it appeared to
him Burke was very much interested; but Colonel Dermot broke in:
"Talking of orders, have you any for the butcher's man, Noreen?" he
asked, smiling at his wife.
"Yes, dear; will you please bring me a _khakur_ and some jungle fowl?
And if you can manage it a brace of _Kalej_ pheasants," said the good
housewife seriously.
"Well, Wargrave, we've both got our orders and know what to bring back
from the jungle," said the Colonel, turning to Frank, who was sitting
beside him. Then the conversation between them drifted into sporting
channels until all adjourned outside for coffee on the verandah.
Next afternoon the subaltern, passing down the road, was hailed from the
Dermots' garden by an imperious small lady with golden curls and big
blue bows and ordered to play with her. Her brother and Badshah had to
join in the game, too. Frank, chasing the dainty mite round and round
the elephant, began to think himself in the Garden of Eden.
But that same evening he found that his Himalayan Paradise was not
without its serpent. The three officers of the detachment were seated at
dinner on the Mess verandah, Major Hunt with his back to the rough stone
wall of the building. A swinging oil lamp with a metal shade threw the
light downward and left the ceiling and upper part of the wall in
shadow.
When dinner was ended the Commandant, lighting a cheerot, tilted his
chair on its back legs until his head nearly touched the wall. Frank,
talking to him, chanced to look up at the roof. He stared into the
shadows for a moment, then, suddenly grasping the astonished major by
the collar, jerked him out of his chair. And as he did so a snake, a
deadly hill-viper, which had been trying to climb up the rough face of
the wall, slipped and dropped on to the Commandant's chair, slid to the
floor and glided across the verandah and down into the garden before
anyone could find a stick with which to attack it.
Major Hunt, his sallow face a little paler than usual, looked up at the
wall to see if any more reptiles were likely to follow, then sat down
again calmly.
"Thank you, Wargrave," he said quietly. "But for you that brute would
have got me. And his bite is death. Ranga's full of snakes, like all
these places in the hills. We've killed several in the Mess since I've
been here; but no one's had such a close shave as this. I'll stand you a
drink for that. Hi, boy!"
But for all this quiet manner of taking it Frank had made a staunch
friend that night by his prompt action.
As Burke took the filled glass that the Gurkha mess-servant brought him
at the Major's order he said:
"I hate snakes worse than the Divil hates holy wather. They're the only
things in life I'm afraid av. I never go to bed without looking under
the pillow nor put on my boots in the morning without first turning them
up and shaking them. I wish St. Pathrick had made a trip to India and
dhriven the sarpints out av the counthry the same as he did in
Ireland."
"We've the worst snake in the world, I believe, here in the Terai,
Wargrave," said Major Hunt. "Look out for it when you're in the jungle.
It's the hamadryad or king-cobra. Have you heard of it?"
"I saw the skin of one sixteen feet long in a Bombay museum, sir,"
replied the subaltern.
"It's the only snake in Asia that will attack human beings unprovoked;
it's deadly poisonous, unlike all other big snakes, and they say it
moves so fast that it can overtake a man on a pony. Benson, the Forest
Officer of the district, tells me there are many of them in the jungles
here."
"One av the divils chased Dermot's elephant once and turned on the
Colonel when he interfered. It got its head blown off for its pains,"
put in the doctor.
"Don't tell me any more, Burke," exclaimed Wargrave laughing, "or I
won't be able to sleep to-night."
He pushed back his chair as the Commandant rose from the table and,
saying goodnight to the two junior officers, picked up from the verandah
and lit a hurricane lantern and walked down the Mess steps with it on
his way home to his bungalow. Europeans in India do not care to move
about at night without a lamp lest in the darkness they might tread on a
snake.
Early on the following Monday morning Wargrave, dressed in khaki
knickerbockers, shirt and puttees, and wearing besides his pith helmet
a "spine protector"--a quilted cloth pad buttoned to the back--as a
guard against sunstroke, went down to the Dermots' bungalow. In the
garden the Colonel, also prepared for their shooting expedition, stood
talking to his wife, while their children were trying to climb up
Badshah's legs. The elephant was equipped with a light pad provided with
large pockets into which were thrust Thermos flasks, packets of
sandwiches and of cartridges. Close by two servants were holding guns.
"Good morning, Wargrave," said the Colonel, as the subaltern greeted him
and his wife. "You're in good time."
Eileen, deserting Badshah, ran to Frank and demanded to be lifted up and
kissed. When he had obeyed the small tyrant, he said:
"I haven't brought a rifle, sir."
"That's right. I have one and a ball-and-shot gun for you. We'll walk
down to the _peelkhana_ by a short cut through the hills to look for
_kalej_ pheasant on the way. Take the gun with you and load one barrel
with shot; but put a bullet in the other, for you never know what we may
meet. Badshah will go down by the road, as well as one of the servants
to bring the rifles and tell the _mahouts_ to get a detachment elephant
ready. It will follow us in the jungle to carry any animals we kill,
while we'll ride Badshah."
Kissing his wife and children the Colonel led the way down the road,
followed by Frank and the servant, Badshah walking unattended behind
them.
"Good sport, Mr. Wargrave!" called out Mrs. Dermot, as the subaltern
turned at the gate to take off his hat in a farewell salute; and the
little coquette beside her kissed her tiny hand to him.
After they had gone half a mile the two officers, carrying their
fowling-pieces, turned off along a footpath through the undergrowth,
leaving the servant and the elephant to continue down the road. The
track led steeply down the mountain-side, at first between high,
closely-matted bushes, and then through scrub-jungle dotted with small
trees, among the foliage of which gleamed the yellow fruit of the limes
and the plantain's glossy drooping leaves and long curving stalks from
which the nimble fingers of wild monkeys had plucked the ripe bananas.
Here and there the ground was open; and the path following a natural
depression in the hills gave down the gradually widening valley a view
of the panorama of forest and plain lying below.
As they passed a clump of tangled bushes a rustle and a pattering over
the dry leaves under them caught the Colonel's ear.
"Look out! _Kalej_," he whispered, picking up a stone and throwing it
into the cover. A large speckled black and white bird whirred out; and
Wargrave brought it down.
"Good shot! There's another," called out Dermot, and fired with equal
success. "We're lucky," he continued. "As a rule they won't break, but
scuttle along under the bushes, so that one often has to shoot them
running."
Frank picked up the birds and examined them with interest before the
Colonel stuffed them into his game bag and moved on down the path, which
was growing steeper. The trees became more numerous and larger as they
descended nearer the forest. Out of another clump of bushes the
sportsmen succeeded in getting a second brace of pheasants. Lower down
they passed through a belt of bamboos, where in one spot the long
feathery boughs were broken off or twisted in wild confusion for a space
of fifty yards' radius.
"Wild elephants," said the Political Officer briefly and pointed to a
patch of dust in which was the round imprint of a huge foot.
Frank was a little startled; for he felt that against these great
animals the bullets in their guns would be useless.
"Are they dangerous, sir?" he asked.
"Not as a rule when they are in a herd, although cow-elephants with
calves may be so, fearing peril for their young. But sometimes a bull
takes to a solitary life, becomes vicious and develops into a dangerous
rogue. It probably happens that, finding crops growing near a jungle
village and raiding them, he is driven off by the cultivators, turns
savage and kills some of them. Then he usually seems to take a hatred to
all human beings and attacks them on sight. Hallo! here we are at the
_peelkhana_ at last."
They had reached the high wooden building which housed the three
transport elephants of the detachment. In the clearing before it Badshah
and another animal were standing, a group of _mahouts_ and coolies near
them.
"We'll mount and start at once," said Colonel Dermot, beckoning to his
elephant, which came to him. "Get up, Wargrave."
The subaltern looked up doubtfully at the pad on Badshah's back.
"How can I, sir? Isn't he going to kneel?" he asked.
"Put your foot on his trunk when he crooks it and grab hold of his ears.
He'll lift you up then."
The understanding elephant at once curled its trunk invitingly and
cocked its great ears forward. Frank did as he was directed and found
himself raised in the air until he was able to get on to the elephant's
head and from it scrambled on to the pad. Dermot followed and seated
himself astride the huge neck.
"_Mul_! (Go on!)" he ejaculated.
With a swaying, lurching stride Badshah at once moved across the
clearing, followed by the transport elephant, on to which a _mahout_ and
a coolie had climbed, and plunged into the dense undergrowth which was
so high that it nearly closed over the riders' heads. The sudden change
from the blinding glare of the sun to the enchanting green gloom of the
forest, from the intense heat to the refreshing coolness of the shade,
was delightful.
Beyond the clearing the vegetation was tangled and rank, high grass
concealing thorny shrubs, tall matted bushes covered with large, white,
bell-shaped flowers, all so dense that men on foot could not push their
way through. But it divided like water before the leading elephant's
weight and strength. The trees were now not the lesser growths of
bamboo, lime and sago-palm that covered the foot-hills. They were the
great forest giants, enormous teak, _sal_ and _simal_ trees, towering up
bare of branches for a good height above the ground, rising to the green
canopy overhead and thrusting their leafy crowns through it, seeking
their share of the sunlight. Their massive branches were matted thick
with the glossy green leaves of orchid-plants and draped with long
trails of the beautiful mauve and white blossoms of the exotic flowers.
Hanging from the highest branches or swinging between the massive boles
creepers of every kind rioted in bewildering confusion, a chaos of
natural cordage, of festooned _lianas_ thick as a liner's hawser, some
twisting around each other, others coiling about the tree-trunks, biting
deep into the bark or striving to strangle them in a cruel grip. Not
even the elephants' weight and strength could burst through the stout
network of these creepers in places. While they tore at the obstructions
with their trunks it was necessary for their drivers to hack through the
creepers with their sharp _kukris_--the heavy curved knives carried in
their belts and similar to the Gurkha's favourite weapon.
Here and there the party came upon glades free from undergrowth, where
in the cool shade of the great trees the ground was knee-deep in
bracken. In one such spot Wargrave's eye was caught by a flash of bright
colour, and his rifle went half-way to his shoulder, only to be lowered
again when he saw two _sambhur_ hinds, graceful animals with glossy
chestnut hides, watching the advancing elephants curiously but without
fear. For, used to seeing wild ones, they did not realise that Badshah
and his companion carried human beings. Their sex saved them from the
hunters who, leaving them unscathed, passed on and plunged into the
dense undergrowth on the far side of the clearing.
The elephants fed continually as they moved along. Sweeping up great
bunches of grass, tearing down trails of leafy creepers, breaking off
branches from the trees, they crammed them all impartially into their
mouths. Picking up twigs in their trunks they used them to beat their
sides and legs to drive off stinging insects or, snuffing up dust from
the ground, blew clouds of it along their bellies for the same purpose.
Suddenly the Colonel stopped Badshah and whispered:
"There's a _sambhur_ stag, Wargrave. There, to your left in the
undergrowth. Have a shot at him."
The subaltern looked everywhere eagerly, but in the dense tangle could
not discern the animal. Like all novices in the jungle he directed his
gaze too far away; and suddenly a dark patch of deep shadow in the
undergrowth close by materialised itself into the black hide of a stag
only as it dashed off. It had been standing within fifteen paces of the
elephants, knowing the value of immobility as a shield. At last its
nerve failed it; and it revealed itself by breaking away. But as it fled
Colonel Dermot's rifle spoke; and the big deer crumpled up and fell
crashing through the vegetation to the ground. The second elephant's
_mahout_, a grey-bearded Mahommedan, slipped instantly to the earth and,
drawing his _kukri_, struggled through the arresting creepers and
undergrowth to where the stag lay feebly moving its limbs. Seizing one
horn he performed the _hallal_, that is, he cut its throat to let blood
while there was still life in the animal, muttering the short Mussulman
creed as he did so. For his religion enjoins this hygienic
practice--borrowed by the Prophet from the Mosaic law--to guard against
long-dead carrion being eaten. At the touch of the Colonel's hand
Badshah sank to its knees; and Wargrave, very annoyed with himself for
his slowness in detecting the deer, forced his way through the
undergrowth to examine it. The stag was a fine beast fourteen hands
high, with sharp brow antlers and a pair of thick, stunted horns
branching at the ends into two points.
Leaving the elephants to graze freely the _mahout_ and his coolie
disembowelled the _sambhur_ and hacked off the head with their heavy
_kukris_. Aided by the Political Officer and Wargrave they skinned the
animal and then with the skill of professional butchers proceeded to cut
up the carcase into huge joints. While they were thus engaged the
Colonel went to a small, straight-stemmed tree common in the jungle and,
clearing away a patch of the outer mottled bark, disclosed a white inner
skin, which he cut off in long strips. With these, which formed
unbreakable cordage, they fastened the heavy joints to the pad of the
transport elephant.
When this was done Wargrave, looking at his hands covered with blood and
grime, said ruefully:
"How on earth are we to get clean, sir? Is there any water in the
jungle? We haven't seen any."
The Political Officer, looking about him, pointed to a thick creeper
with withered-seeming bark and said with a laugh:
"There's your water, Wargrave. Lots of it on tap. See here."
He cut off a length of the _liana_, which contained a whitish, pulpy
interior. From the two ends of the piece water began to drip steadily
and increased to a thin stream.
"By George, sir, that's a plant worth knowing," said Frank.
"It's a most useful jungle product," said the Colonel, holding it up so
that his companion, using clay as soap, could wash his hands. "It's
called the _pani bel_--water-creeper. One need never die of thirst in a
forest where it is found. Try the water in it."
He raised it so that the clear liquid flowed into the subaltern's mouth.
It was cool, palatable and tasteless.
"By George, sir, that's good," exclaimed Wargrave, examining the plant
carefully. "Now let me hold it for you."
After Dermot and the two natives had cleansed their hands and arms the
party moved on, the transport elephant looking like an itinerant
butcher's shop as it followed Badshah. Again the undergrowth parted
before the great animals like the sea cleft by the bows of a ship and
closed similarly behind them when they had passed. Of its own volition
the leader swerved one side or the other when it was necessary to avoid
a tree-trunk or too dense a tangle of obstructing creepers. But once
Dermont touched and turned it sharply out of its course to escape what
seemed a very large lump of clay adhering to the under side of an
overhanging bough in their path.
"A wild bees' nest," said the Colonel, pointing to it. "It wouldn't do
to risk hitting against that and being stung to death by its occupants."
A few minutes later he suddenly arrested Badshah at the edge of a
fern-carpeted glade and whispered:
"Look out! There's a barking-deer. Get him!"
Across the glade a graceful little buck with a bright chestnut coat
stepped daintily, followed at a respectful distance by his doe. Their
restless ears pointed incessantly this way and that for every warning
sound as they moved; but neither saw the elephants hidden in the
undergrowth. Raising his rifle Frank took a quick aim at the buck's
shoulder and fired. The deer pitched forward and fell dead, while its
startled mate swung round and leapt wildly away.
"A good shot of yours, Wargrave," remarked Colonel Dermot, when Badshah
had advanced to the prostrate animal. "Broke its shoulder and pierced
the heart."
Frank looked down pityingly at the pretty little deer stretched lifeless
among the ferns.
"It seems a shame to slaughter a harmless thing like that," he said.
"Yes; I always feel the same myself and never kill except for food,"
replied the Political Officer. "Unless of course it's a dangerous beast
like a tiger. Well, the _khakur_ is too dead to _hallal_; but that
doesn't matter, as we're going to eat it ourselves and not give it to
the sepoys."
The _mahout_ and the coolie were already cleaning the deer and, without
troubling to cut it up, bound its legs together with _udal_ fibre and
tied it to the pad of their elephant; and the party moved on again.
Half a mile further on the silence of the forest was broken by the loud
crowing of a cock, taken up and answered defiantly by others.
"Hallo! are we near a village, sir?" asked Wargrave, surprised at the
familiar sounds so far in the heart of the wild.
"No; those are jungle-fowl," whispered the Political Officer. "Get your
gun ready."
He halted the elephant and picked up his fowling-piece. Frank hurriedly
substituted a shot cartridge for the one loaded with ball in his gun. He
heard a pattering on the dry leaves under the trees and into a fairly
open space before them stalked a pretty little bantam cock with red comb
and wattles and curving green tail-feathers, followed by four or five
sober brown hens, so like in every respect to domestic fowl that
Wargrave hesitated to shoot. But suddenly the birds whirred up into the
air; and, as the Colonel gave them both barrels, Frank did the same. The
cock and three of his wives dropped. The _mahout_ urged his elephant
forward and made the reluctant animal pick up the crumpled bunches of
blood-stained feathers in its curving trunk and pass them to him.
Colonel Dermont searched the jungle for some distance around but could
not find the other jungle-cocks that had answered the dead one's
challenge. Looking at his watch he suggested a halt for lunch, which
Wargrave, whose back was beginning to ache with fatigue, gladly agreed
to. Dismounting, they sat on the ground and ate and drank the contents
of the pockets of Badshah's pad, but with loaded rifles beside them lest
their meal should be disturbed by any dangerous denizen of the jungle.
The two natives sat down some distance away and, turning their backs on
each other, drew out cloths in which their midday repast of _chupatis_,
or thick pancakes, with curry and an onion or two was tied up. The
elephants left to themselves grazed close by and did not attempt to
wander away.
Their meal and a smoke finished the party mounted again and moved on.
But luck seemed to have deserted them. Much to the Political Officer's
disappointment they wandered for miles without adding anything to the
bag. He had calculated on getting another couple of _sambhur_ stags to
present to the _Deb Zimpun_ as food for his hungry followers. The route
that they were now taking led circuitously back towards the _peelkhana_,
which they wished to reach before sundown. They had got within a mile of
it and were close to the foot of the hills when Badshah stopped suddenly
and smelt the ground. Colonel Dermot leaned over the huge head and
stared down intently at something invisible to his young companion.
"What is it, sir?" asked Wargrave in a whisper.
"Bison. Badshah's pointing for us. We can't shoot them here, for we're
in Government jungle where the killing of elephants, bison and rhino is
forbidden unless they attack you. But the track leads north towards the
mountains and at their foot the Government Forest ends. That's only half
a mile away and we can bag them there. Load your rifle with solid-nosed
bullets. This is the _pug_ (footprint) of a bull, I think."
The two natives had seen the tracks by this and were wildly excited.
Badshah without urging moved swiftly through the trees and soon brought
his riders to the hills and into sight of the sky once more. The
mountains stood out clear and distinct in the slanting rays of the
setting sun. Suddenly a loud though distant, almost musical bellow
sounded, seeming to come from a bamboo jungle about a mile away.
"That's a cow-bison calling," said Dermot in a low voice. "There's a
herd somewhere about; but the '_pugs_' we're following up are those of a
solitary bull. We're in free forest now; so with luck you may get your
first bison. It's very steep here; we'll dismount, leave the elephants
and go on foot."
The subaltern was wildly excited, and his heart thumped at a rate that
was not caused by the steep slope up which he followed Dermot. The
Colonel tracked the bull unhesitatingly, although to Wargrave there was
no mark to be seen on the ground.
They were creeping cautiously through bamboo cover on a hill when
Dermot, who was leading, suddenly threw himself on his face, lay still
for a minute or two, then, motioning to his companion to halt, crawled
forward like a snake. A few paces on he stopped and beckoned to
Wargrave, and, when the latter reached him, pointed down into the gully
below. They were almost on the edge of a descent precipitous enough to
be called a cliff. Immediately underneath by a small stream was a
massive black bull-bison, eighteen hands--six feet--high, with short,
square, head, broad ears and horizontal rounded horns. The only touches
of colour were on the forehead and the legs below the knees, which were
whitish. The animal, with head thrown back, was staring vacantly with
its large, slatey-blue eyes.
Wargrave trembled with excitement and his heart beat so violently that
the rifle shook as he brought it to his shoulder and gently pushed the
muzzle through the stiff, dry grass at the edge of the cliff. But for
the one necessary instant he became rigidly steady and without a tremor
pressed the trigger. Then the rifle barrels danced again before his
eyes, when he saw the great bull collapse on the ground, its fore-legs
twitching violently, the hind ones motionless.
"Good shot. You've broken his spine," exclaimed Dermot, springing to his
feet and sliding, scrambling, jumping down the steep descent. The
excited subaltern outstripped him; but before he reached the bull it
lay motionless, dead.
"You're a lucky young man, Wargrave. A splendid bison on your first day
in the jungle. Those horns are six feet from tip to tip I bet," and the
Political Officer held out his hand.
Frank shook it heartily as he said gratefully:
"I've only you to thank for it, sir. It was ripping of you to let me
have first shot; and you gave me such a sitter that I couldn't miss.
Thank you awfully, Colonel."
Dermot gave a piercing whistle and stood waiting, while the overjoyed
subaltern walked round and round the dead bison, marvelling at its size
and exclaiming at his own good fortune.
When in a few minutes Badshah appeared, followed by the panting men,
Colonel Dermot sent the _mahout_ on his elephant to the stable to fetch
other men to cut up and bring in the bison. Then he and Wargrave on
Badshah made for the road to Ranga Duar.
It was dark long before they reached the little station. The Colonel
brought his companion in for a drink after the three thousand feet
climb, most of which they had done on foot. Mrs. Dermot met them in the
hall; and, after she had heard the result of the day's sport, warmly
congratulated Wargrave on his good luck. Loud whispers and a scuffle
over their heads attracted the attention of all three elders, and on
the broad wooden staircase they saw two small figures, one in pyjamas,
the other in a pretty, trailing nightdress daintily tied with blue bows,
looking imploringly down at their mother. She smiled and nodded. There
was a whirlwind rush down the stairs, and the mites were caught up in
their father's arms. Then Frank came in for his share of caresses from
them before they were sternly ordered back to bed again. And as he
passed out into the darkness he carried away with him an enchanting
picture of the charming babes climbing the stairs hand in hand and
turning to blow kisses to the tall man who stood below with a strong arm
around his pretty wife, gazing fondly up at his children.
And the picture stayed with him when, after dinner at which he was
congratulated by his brother officers, he went to his room and found a
letter overlooked in his rush to dress for Mess. It was from Violet, the
first that had come from her since his arrival in Ranga Duar. It
breathed passion and longing, discontent and despair, in every line. As
he laid his face on his arm to shut out the light where he sat at the
table he felt that he was nearer to loving the absent woman than he had
ever been. For the vision of the Dermots' married happiness, of the deep
affection linking husband and wife, of the children climbing the stair
and smiling back at their parents, came vividly to him. And it haunted
him in his sleep when in dreams tiny arms were clasped around his neck
and baby lips touched his lovingly.