the Government, and must not get lost).

"At least command him to drop the dead body before he mangles it, so
that we may burn it with decent ceremony," was the last request of the
head man.

But Maharaj would not listen to the command, and made certain noises in
his throat by which he meant Alec to understand that he was going to
carry the dead man home whether he liked it or no.

The lights of the village were soon lost in the distance, and Maharaj
strode into the empty darkness, trailing a picket pin behind him and
carrying that horror in his trunk.

Till that day Alec had loved Maharaj for his great strength and
docility, his wisdom, and his endearing ways with children, but when he
saw him in anger extinguish the life of a man as easily as one could
pulp a gooseberry in the fingers, the elephant changed at once in his
eyes, and Alec saw in him nothing but the grim executioner of the
Moguls, and stamping out lives his daily task. The boy felt the touch of
the beast almost loathsome, and longed to escape from his situation on
its neck.

Soon the cramped position began to tell, for they were jammed together,
and Tippoo felt like a mustard-plaster upon Alec's back. Alec tried to
vary the discomfort by lying forward on the head of the elephant, and
Tippoo tried leaning back as far as he could without being in danger of
falling off, but they both felt they could not hold on the eight hours
that the journey would take.

By-and-by they noticed that something was making Maharaj restive; twice
he swung his trunk as if trying to drive away that something, after
which he quickened his pace, then he turned round once in his tracks and
faced his unseen tormentor. Alec wondered greatly what was worrying him,
but he heard and saw nothing in the blackness that reigned. The
elephant's restiveness increased, and again he swung round suddenly and
charged that invisible thing in the dark; again Alec strained both eyes
and ears to no avail. The only sound on the air came from the trailing
picket pin.

"Whatever is worrying Maharaj?" he said anxiously.

"He sees that which our eyes can't see--an evil thing," answered
Tippoo.

"What! do you mean the ghost of Piroo?" Alec asked.

"No, Sahib," said Tippoo. "It is a churail, an evil spirit that eats
dead men, and it wants the body of Piroo."

"Nonsense," Alec replied.

"It is true, Sahib. Many have seen it at work in the graveyards of the
Mussulman, but to-night no one may s