The Jungle Girl

with cheery Mongolian features, wearing a white cloth garment, kimono-shaped and kilted up to give freedom to the sturdy bare thighs and knees-the legs and feet cased in long, felt-soled boots.

owed by three or four score Bhutanese swordsmen, thick-set and not unlike Gurkhas in feature, with bare heads, legs and feet, and clad only in a single garment similar to their leader's and

d undergrowth clothing the mountains the Deb Zimpun pointed to the roofs of the buil

id briefly. The Chinaman be

e stopped our invading troops in the war," h

think him a god or devil. They say he can call up a horde of demons i

g. But if even a part of what I have heard about this man be true he is more dangero

the Deb Zimpun shortly,

ritory, detailed to receive and guide them to the Government Dak Bungalow in which the Deb Zimpun and as many of his

lonel Dermot and Wargrave watched

n khaki uniform, sir?

er lowered his bino

end to exercise over the country. I'm curious to see him. He is a product of the times, an example of the modern Celestial, educated at Heidelberg University and Oxford, speaking German, French and English. He has been s

the Chinese to

the suzerainty they once had over it. This Amban, Yuan Shi Hung by n

now a lot abou

pun, nor has he a right to. But I won't object, for I want to study and size him up. By the

f India and learning all I can about them. I'd love a job like yours,

ooked at him thoughtfully. "Are you

tandard Hindustani first go and have passed in

ded him critically a

efore eleven. That's the hour I've

ty sepoys under an Indian officer was drawn up. Passing along the verandah he entered the office and saluted the Colonel

of the Envoy and his Chinese companion, followed by a train of attendants and swordsmen. They passed in through the gate. The Political Officer rose as the Deb Zimpun, removing his cap, entered the office and rushed towards him. The bullet-headed, cheery

h an accent that showed that he had f

t you, Colonel. I have he

Excellency's acquaintance and to welcome

ilk and placed one round each officer's neck in the custom known as "khattag". All sat down and the Envoy plunged into an animated conversation w

Bhutanese official and his companion, in whom the most modern civilised gentleman's manners were successfully grafted on the old-time courtesy of the Chinese aristocrat, was very striking. The old Envoy was a frank barbarian. He laughed loudly and clapped his hands in glee when Colonel Dermot presented him with a gramophone-which, it appea

to carry off the royal gift of the flesh of the bison, the sight of which made the Envoy's eyes glisten. He shook Wargrave's hand warmly when he learned to whose rifle he owed it. Then he and his Chinese c

the interview, which had interested him greatly, the subaltern

Burke asking you to tea this afternoon. A coolie has arrived from the peelkhana to say that Mr. and Miss Benson and Mr. Ca

me should I be a little late. I've got to take the signallers' parade this af

will save me wr

h footboards hanging by short ropes-sat a lady and two European men holding white umbrellas up to keep off the vertical rays of the noonday sun. When the animal sank to its knees in front of the bungalow Wargrave saw the girl-it could only be Mis

e found the strangers present, one man talking to Mrs. Dermot at her tea-table, the other chatting with the Colonel, while Burke was installed beside a girl seated in a low cane chair and dressed in a smart, hand-embroidered Tussore

was astonishingly pretty, with silky black hair curving in natural waves, dark-bordered Irish grey eyes fringed with long, thick lashes, a rose-tinted complexion, a pouting, red-lipped mouth and a small nose with the most fascinating, provoking suspicion of a tip-tilt. She was as small and daintily-fashioned as her hostess; and Wargrave

with the first moment I saw her, Wargrave. Doesn't it fit her?" Then turning to the girl again, he cont

eady-witted match for the doctor's Celtic exuberance; though to Wargrav

of the joy of living as a school-boy. He thought her laugh delightfully musical, and it was frequently and readily evoked by Burke's droll remarks or the quaint ora

mpetent individual, more fitted to be a recluse and a bookworm than a roamer in wild jungles where his work brought him in contact with strange peoples and constant danger. It was evident that the reputation which his large section of the Terai Forest bore as being well managed and efficiently run was not due to h

to the company and bore them reluctant away to their beds. As the darkness deepened the servants brought out a small table and placed a lamp on it, and by its light carried round drinks to the men of the party. Miss Benson was leaning back in a cane chair and chatting lazily with Burke, who sat beside her. She had one shapely silk

Remain perfectly still. A snake is passing u

ng faintly and apparently not frightened by the Death almost touching her. One pink hand lay without a tremor in her lap, but the other rested on the arm of her chair and the knuckles showed white as the fingers gripped the bamboo tightly. She did not even glance down. But the men, frozen with dread, watched the shadowy writhing line pas

their seats; but the girl rem

trodden on the snake. I've seen so many of the horrid things in camp lately. Now, Cap

ing into exclamations of relief and congratul

ppealed to Wargrave for confirmation of the story of her plucky behaviour. Later in his room as he was going to bed Frank smiled at the r

eyes she's got-and what a provokingly attractive little nose! Well, the doctor's a lucky man if she marries him. She see

mself, these two would probably refuse to know a woman who had run away from her husband to another man. When he had turned out the light and jumped

e remembered Burke's account of the panther that haunted the Mess; and a thrill of excitement ran through him and drove all his unhappy thoughts away. He sprang out of bed and rushed across the room to get his rifle, but in the darkness overturned a chair which fell with a crash to the ground. This scared the animal; for there was a sudden s

from a small group of Bhuttia huts on a shoulder of the hills hundreds of feet above the Mess. He called out but got no answer; and after listening for some time and hearing nothing further he returned to bed and at last fe

red sepoys to salute, first the Political Officer and afterwards the Deb Zimpun when he arrived on a mule at the head of his swordsmen and coolies. The solemnity of his dignified greeting to Colonel Dermot was somewhat spoiled by shrieks of delight and l

impun and the Amban were present. The latter wore conventional evening dress cut by a London tailor, with the stars and ribands of several orde

n Mansion House?" said Burke, looking around the company gathered about the oval dining-table.

us of it herself. The unveiled flesh of a white woman is peculiarly attractive to the Asiatic, the better-class females of whose race are far less addicted to the public exposure of their charms than are European ladies. While the Deb Zimpun touched nothing

res of life in London, Berlin and Paris, where he had been attached to the Chinese Embassies. He glared at Burke when the doctor persisted in mentioning the panther's v

like Mrs. Dermot? And I've n

and the Colonel

nd among them was the famous man-eater of Mardhura, which had killed twen

s a prettier one, Miss Be

at him, but said

oughtn't to complain-you've only been a few days here and you'v

host. "When you hear of a kill anywhere convenientl

rest; and, as you know, there are usually tigers to be found in the nullah

," said Wargrave. "I

is attention. And she was still more relieved when dinner ended and Mrs. Dermot rose to leave the table. When the men joined them later on the verandah Burke and War

had left the bungalow she

ear me. He makes me afraid. There's something so

Burke hotly. "Don't ye be afraid. We won't let th

approaching her. During the sports Wargrave noticed on one occasion that he seemed to be speaking of her to the commander of his escort of Chinese soldiers, a tall, evil-faced Manchu, pock-marked and blind of the right eye, who stared at her fixedly for some time. At the

ing to visit the Maharajah of Bhutan. In the course of the day the Chinese Amban had announced to Colonel Dermot that he did not wish to leave s

hah, pad strapped on ready for the road, was standing at one side of the bungalow swinging his trunk and shifting from foot to foot as he patiently awaited his master. The girl gr

sh voice sound

but those fools were ever in my way.

dy to march, behind her. Courageous as she usually was the extraordinary rep

en I rule my country shall no longer be the effete, despised land torn with dissension that it is now. I can give you everything that the heart of a woman, white o

ed around. The tall, red-leaved bushes hid them; there was no one

he said almos

sprang forward and

must answe

ouch and struggled in va

enly she

dsh

ce, inflamed with passion

y force, if not willingly," he gro

alf-stunned he looked up and saw the elephant standing over him with one colossal foot poised over his prostrate

sounded clear th

! (Let h

e him if the invisible speaker gave the word. The girl shrank against the great animal, clinging to it and looking with horror a

tle caress. Then she fled into the bungalow to find Colonel Dermot on the verandah grimly watching the

y, Muriel," said the Political

h field-glasses they could distinguish Badshah with his master on his neck, the Deb Zimpun and his follow

longer time with her friend and, as she told Wargrave, to try and

bird's crow or the telltale pattering over the dried leaves. Peering into the undergrowth and searching the ground he crept quietly forward. Suddenly his heart seemed to leap to his throat. In a patch of dust he saw the unmistakable pug (footprint) of a large panther. One claw had indented a new-fallen leaf, showing that the animal had very recently passed. Wargrave halted and thought hard. He had only his shotgun, but the sun was near its setting and if he returned to the Mess to get his rifle-which was taken to pieces and lock

refinding the trail. Creeping through a clump of thin

was bravely facing in her defence an animal crouching on the ground not twenty yards away. It was a large panther. Belly to earth, tail lashing from side to side, it was crawling slowly, imperceptibl

hurt you," said the little boy en

et the beast harm his tiny sister. The panther crouched lower. The watcher in the bushes saw the powerful limbs gathering under th