l costs. If mortal, I must kill it, if ghostly, the noise
of my rifle might dematerialize it. And, as God is my judge, O'Donnell,
at that moment I had not the least idea which of it was--tiger or
phantom. It sprang--my brain reeled--my fingers grew numb, and as my
wife suddenly bounded forward, the shadowy form of Nahra seemed to rise
from the ground and mock me. With a supreme effort I jerked my finger
back and fired. Bang! The sound of the explosion acted like a
safety-valve to the pent-up feelings of all, and there was a chorus of
shrieks. I rushed forward--the ayah lay on the ground, face downward and
motionless. My wife had hold of Eric, who was shaking all over. Of the
tiger there were no signs. It had completely vanished.

"'Thank God,' I exclaimed, kissing my wife feverishly. 'Thank God! It
was only a ghost! but it was very alarming, wasn't it?'

"'Alarming!' my wife gasped, 'it was awful! I quite thought it was real!
so did Eric, and so did ---- '--then her eyes fell on the ayah, and she
gave a great start. 'Charlie!' she cried, 'for mercy's sake look at her!
I dare not! Is she all right?'

"I turned the ayah over--she was dead! Fright had killed her!

"I then told my wife of the curse of Nahra, and of the phantom I thought
I had seen of him, when the white tiger was springing. When I had
finished, my wife hid her face in my shoulder.

"'Charlie!' she said, 'I did something awful. I saw what I then took to
be the real white tiger single out Eric, and in my anxiety to save him
from the brute, I pushed the ayah in front of him. And the thing sprang
on her instead. It was nothing short of murder! And yet--well, there
were extenuating circumstances, weren't there?'

"'Of course there were,' I said--for I verily believed, O'Donnell, fear
had, for the time being, turned her brain.

"On our way home she suddenly called my attention to Eric.

"'Charlie,' she cried, 'what's that mark on his cheek? He's hurt!'

"I looked--and my heart turned sick within me. On the boy's cheek was a
faint red scratch, just as might have been caused by a slight, very
slight contact with some animal's claw.

"'Sahib!' Cushai whispered to me, when he saw it and heard of our
adventure. 'Sahib! Beware! Nahra was a clever man. He must have used the
spirit of the white tiger as his tool. Let the medicine man examine the
scar.'

"I did so. I took Eric to a Dr. Nicholson, who lived close by.

"He looked at the wound curiously for a fe