g bowed in
satisfaction. Had he not looked twice at the face under the
helmet--and followed without words?

"How far do they go into the jungle for tigers?" he asked.

"An hour's journey, or a day, as it happens. Tigers are everywhere in
season."

"Within an hour's walk?" Skag asked quietly. The other repeated his
words in a voice that made Skag think of a grey old man, instead of the
fat brown one before him.

"Within an hour's walk? Ha, Ji! They come to the edge of the village
and slay the goats for food--and the sound cattle--and the children!"

Skag laughed inwardly, thinking how good it had been in the deep
places. However, it was now plain that these native folk were afraid
of tigers--afraid as of a sickness. He walked out into the street.
Though dark, it was still hot, and the breeze brought the dry green of
the jungle to him and life was altogether quite right.

That night he met Cadman Sahib. They talked until dawn. Skag was
helpless before the other who made him tell all he knew, and much that
had been nicely forgotten. Sometimes in the midst of one story, the
great traveller would snap over a question about one Skag had already
told. Then before he was answered fully, he would say briefly:

"That's all right--go on!"

". . . Behold a phenomenon!" he said at last. "Here is one not a liar,
and smells have meanings for him, and he has come, beyond peradventure,
to travel with me to the Monkey Forest and the Coldwater Ruins!"

It had been an altogether wonderful night for Skag. Talking made him
very tired, as if part of him had gone forth; as if, having spoken, he
would be called upon to make good in deeds. But he had not done all
the talking and Cadman Sahib was no less before his eyes in the morning
light--which is much to say for any man.

These two white men set out alone, facing one of the most dangerous of
all known jungles. The few natives who understood, bade them good-bye
for this earth.

Many stories about Cadman had come to Skag in the three or four days of
preparation--altogether astonishing adventures of his quest for death,
but there was no record of Cadman's choosing a friend, as he had done
for this expedition. Skag never ceased to marvel at the sudden
softenings, so singularly attractive, in Cadman's look when he really
began to talk. Sometimes it was like a sudden drop into summer after
protracted frost, and the lines of the thin weathered face revealed the
whole