jungle still more deep by
contrast. All was hushed in silence; the busy hum in the village had
ceased and no sound broke on the silent night, except the occasional
bark of the Parrier dog, or the cry of the lurking jackall and the
measured tread of the native sentinel, as he paced to and fro in front
of the door of the tent. The remainder of the small guard were soundly
sleeping in a little routie tent on the opposite side of the road.

Arthur had been out shooting the latter part of the afternoon and
evening, and had, as usual, taken from the village several natives as
guides and beaters. On his return he had called them to the door of his
tent, opened one of his trunks, and out of a bag, containing two or
three hundred rupees, paid them liberally for their trouble; one of the
party he noticed appeared to eye the bag with a greedy, covetous eye,
but he said nothing, and the party left, seeming well satisfied with
what they had received. After indulging in a bath he was ready for the
evening meal, which consisted of chicken, curry or broiled partridge
with several etceteras, which he washed down with a bottle of Allsopps'
pale ale, and betook himself to his easy chair and cheeroot under the
majestic Tamarinds, which were undulating gently in the soft breeze of
the evening.

There was a small shade lamp burning on the camp table by the side of
the iron cot, on which Arthur had thrown himself, being somewhat tired
of his ramble in the jungle. He had taken up a volume of the Pindaree
war, but had not perused more than a dozen pages when he felt drowsy and
sleepy. He had accustomed himself to sleep with his revolver under his
pillow, his right hand grasping the handle. Somewhere about eleven
o'clock he was lying on his back with his left arm thrown across his
chest, and his hand over his face, half asleep and half awake, he
fancied he heard a sound similar to that made by sand rats or rabbits
while burrowing. The sinister look of the Bheel he had paid in the
evening instantly flashed across his mind. Separating his fingers,
sufficiently to admit of his seeing through them, he glanced in the
direction from which the sound proceeded, and waited patiently, keeping
a firm grasp of his pistol. Presently the sand beneath the wall of the
tent near the foot of his cot gave way gradually, and a small aperture
presented itself, which increased by degrees. By and by the head and
shoulders of the identical Bheel showed themselves ins