at the bar to chat.

Noreen had a small court round her, Chunerbutty clinging closely to her all
the afternoon, to her secret annoyance. For whenever he accompanied her to
the club he seemed to make a point of emphasising the friendly terms on
which they were for the benefit of all beholders. As a matter of fact he
did so purposely, because he knew that it annoyed all the other men of the
community to see him apparently on intimate terms with the girl.

On the afternoon, when at her request he had gone out to the back verandah
to tell her servants to prepare tea, he called to her across the club and
addressed her by her Christian name. Noreen took it to be an accidental
slip, but she fancied that it made Mrs. Rice smile unpleasantly and several
of the men regard her curiously.

The day passed all too quickly for these exiled Britons, whose one bright
spot of amusement and companionship it was in the week. The setting sun
gave the signal for departure. After exchanging good-byes with their
guests, the Malpura party mounted their ponies and cantered home.

One morning, a week later, Noreen over-slept herself, and, when she came
out of her room for her _chota hazri_, she found that her brother had
already started off to ride over the garden. Ordering her pony she followed
him. She guessed that he had gone first to the nursery, and when she
reached the short cut through the forest she rejoiced at being able to
enter it without the usual battle. She urged the reluctant Kitty on, and
rode into it carelessly.

Suddenly her pony balked and shied, flinging her to the ground. Then it
turned and galloped madly home.

As Noreen, half stunned by the fall, picked herself up stiffly and stood
dazed and shaken, she shrieked in terror. She was in the middle of a herd
of wild elephants which surrounded her on every side; and, as she gazed
panic-stricken at them, they advanced slowly upon her.

CHAPTER IV

THE MADNESS OF BADSHAH

Badshah's rescue of Dermot from the rogue caused him to be more venerated
than ever by the natives. The Mohammedan sepoys of the detachment, who
should have had no sympathy with Hindu superstitions, began to regard him
with awe, impressed by the firm belief in his supernatural nature held by
their co-religionists among the _mahouts_ and elephant coolies. Among the
scattered dwellers in the jungle and the Bhuttias on the hills, his fame,
already widespread, increased enormously; and these ignorant