e heard racing to her rescue.

"By Jove!" he cried, and "_By_ Jove!" repeated the others behind, and
"By _Jove_!" echoed the distant on-lookers as, without hesitation or
click of hoof on wood, the Devil rose to the first, the second, the
third and the fourth rail, skimming them like a bird, while the bay,
just two rails behind, crashed over them with nothing to spare.

Inky words take a long time to write, but Leonie's perilous career
towards the river was merely the matter of a few cyclonic minutes,
leaving the drivers of bullock and water-buffalo carts, _gharries_ and
trams no time in which to make an opening for her tempestuous passage.

"Wah! Wah!" shouted a group of natives, draped in gaily coloured
shawls, who watched admiringly the woman's perfect seat, caring not an
_anna_ that she might be thrown and break her neck or be crushed to
death. In fact, the halo of death encircling the woman's head lent
enchantment to the sport, causing some of the more wealthy to bet upon
her end.

A woman, white or brown, more or less in India of what account? though
it were a different matter in the case of the sahib who rode in
pursuit, with a mouth like a steel trap and eyes of fire.

Two women, with babes astraddle on the hip, turned to watch Leonie,
then stuffing more betel nut into their already crimson mouths, moved
lightly through the dust towards the bazaar. Crouched at the foot of a
tree, inhaling the smoke from the bowl of his rude native pipe, an old
man under the benign influence of the drug, lost in dreams, took no
notice whatever of the disturbance around him.

But the drivers, with raucous cries, twisted the tails of their kine to
port or starboard, or beat them forcibly, and the tram driver, roused
from the lethargy engendered by the cool of the early morning, by the
shouts and cries, put on his brake, bringing his tram to a stand-still
just as, with a terrific clatter of hoofs, Leonie dashed past the front
of it with Cuxson at her heels.

There was a moment's uproar when, wishing for a better view, the driver
of a tawdry _ekka_ urged his half-starved pony forward.

The bay caught the side of the pony's bleeding mouth, causing the
wretched animal to rear from pain and twist sideways into a bullock
cart.

In its usual leisurely way the bullock swung itself also sideways, and
almost under the bay's feet, causing him to lose a precious second, for
which Cuxson made up by a ruthless use of his spurs, whils