though he
had neither heard nor comprehended what Bathurst was doing. Presently
the girl moved slightly and opened her eyes. At first there was no
expression in them; then a vague wonder stole into them at the white
face looking down upon her.

She closed them again, and then reopened them, and then there was a
slight struggle to free herself. He allowed her to slip through his arms
until her feet touched the ground; then her eyes fell on the kneeling
figure.

"Father!" she exclaimed. With a cry the man leaped to his feet, sprang
to her and seized her in his arms, and poured out words of endearment.
Then suddenly he released her and threw himself on the ground before
Bathurst, with ejaculations of gratitude and thankfulness.

"Get up, man, get up," the latter said; "your daughter can scarce stand
alone, and the sooner we get away from this place the better; that
savage beast is not likely to return, but he may do so; let us be off."

He mounted his horse again, brought it up to the side of the girl, and
then, leaning over, took her and swung her into the saddle in front of
him. The man took up a large box that was lying in the road and hoisted
it onto his shoulders, and then, at a foot's pace, they proceeded on
their way--Bathurst keeping a close watch on the jungle at the side on
which the tiger had entered it.

"How came you to travel along this road alone?" he asked the man. "The
natives only venture through in large parties, because of this tiger."

"I am a stranger," the man answered; "I heard at the village where we
slept last night that there was a tiger in this jungle, but I thought
we should be through it before nightfall, and therefore there was no
danger. If one heeded all they say about tigers one would never travel
at all. I am a juggler, and we are on our way down the country through
Cawnpore and Allahabad. Had it not been for the valor of my lord sahib,
we should never have got there; for had I lost my Rabda, the light of
my heart, I should have gone no further, but should have waited for the
tiger to take me also."

"There was no particular valor about it," Bathurst said shortly. "I saw
the beast with its foot on your daughter, and dismounted to beat it off
just as if it had been a dog, without thinking whether there was any
danger in it or not. Men do it with savage beasts in menageries every
day. They are cowardly brutes after all, and can't stand the lash. He
was taken altogether by surprise,