h I know that you are holding
me."

"You will be all the better after a night's rest, child; no wonder you
feel strange and shaken. Another quarter of an hour and we shall be at
the village. I suppose, Rujub, you were born a conjurer."

"Yes, sahib, it is always so; it goes down from father to son. As soon
as I was able to walk, I began to work with my father, and as I grew
up he initiated me in the secrets of our craft, which we may never
divulge."

"No, I know they are a mystery. Many of your tricks can be done by our
conjurers at home, but there are some that have never been solved."

"I have been offered, more than once, large sums by English sahibs to
tell them how some of the feats were done, but I could not; we are bound
by terrible oaths, and; in no case has a juggler proved false to them.
Were one to do so he would be slain without mercy, and his fate in the
next world would be terrible; forever and forever his soul would pass
through the bodies of the foulest and lowest creatures, and there would
be no forgiveness for him. I would give my life for the sahib, but even
to him I would not divulge our mysteries."

In a few minutes they came to the first village beyond the jungle. As
they approached it Bathurst checked his horse and lifted the girl down.
She took his hand and pressed her forehead to it.

"I shall see you tomorrow, then, Rujub," he said, and shaking the reins,
went on at a canter.

"That is a new character for me to come out in," he said bitterly; "I do
not know myself--I, of all men. But there was no bravery in it; it never
occurred to me to be afraid; I just thrashed him off as I should beat
off a dog who was killing a lamb; there was no noise, and it is noise
that frightens me; if the brute had roared I should assuredly have run;
I know it would have been so; I could not have helped it to have saved
my life. It is an awful curse that I am not as other men, and that I
tremble and shake like a girl at the sound of firearms. It would have
been better if I had been killed by the first shot fired in the Punjaub
eight years ago, or if I had blown my brains out at the end of the day.
Good Heavens! what have I suffered since. But I will not think of it.
Thank God, I have got my work; and as long as I keep my thoughts on that
there is no room for that other;" and then, by a great effort of will,
Ralph Bathurst put the past behind him, and concentrated his thoughts on
the work on which he had been