ore
than the fact that Noreen had been rescued by him from the raiders, had
concluded at first that the crime was what it appeared on the surface--a
descent of trans-frontier Bhuttias to carry off a white woman for ransom.
But when these stories reached the tea-garden villages and eventually came
to his ears he was very puzzled. For he knew that, in spite of their
extravagance, there was probably a grain of truth somewhere in them. They
made him suspect that some other agency had been at work and another reason
than hope of money had inspired the outrage.

In the Palace at Lalpuri a tempest raged. The Rajah, mad with fury and
disappointed desire, stormed through his apartments, beating his servants
and threatening all his satellites with torture and death. For no news had
come to him for days as to the success or failure of a project that he had
conceived in his diseased brain. Distrusting Chunerbutty, as he did
everyone about him, he had sent for Narain Dass, whom he knew as one of the
_Dewan's_ agents, and given him the task of executing his original design
of carrying off Miss Daleham. To the Bengali's subtle mind had occurred the
idea of making the outrage seem the work of Bhuttia raiders. But for
Dermot's prompt pursuit his plan would have been crowned with success. The
girl, handed over as arranged to a party of the Rajah's soldiers in
disguise, would have been taken to the Palace at Lalpuri, while everyone
believed her a captive in Bhutan.

At length a few poor wretches, who had escaped their comrades' terrible
doom under the feet of the wild elephants and, mad with terror, had
wandered in the jungle for days, crept back starved and almost mad to the
capital of the State. Only one was rash enough to return to the Palace,
while the others, fearing to face their lord when they had only failure to
report, hid in the slums of the bazaar. This one was summoned to the
Rajah's presence. His tale was heard with unbelief and rage, and he was
ordered to be trampled to death by the ruler's trained elephants. Search
was made through the bazaar for the other men who had returned, and when
they were caught their punishment was more terrible still. Inconceivable
tortures were inflicted on them and they were flung half-dead into a pit
full of live scorpions and cobras. Even in these enlightened days there are
dark corners in India, and in some Native States strange and terrible
things still happen. And the tale of them rarely re