ed temple but not a tiger,
'cause he says it would be too risky a job at such short notice; also,
and the real reason _I_ should say, there hasn't been a tiger seen,
anyway killed, since one was wounded and caught near that same Hindu
temple umpteen years ago."

Leonie wrinkled her forehead at the last sentence, and looking up
caught Jan Cuxson's eyes upon her.

"That sounds _so_ familiar," she said perplexedly, "I----"

"The tiger at the Zoo which we knew all those years ago was trapped
near a ruined Hindu temple in the Sunderbunds, Lady Hickle," he said
quietly, watching the curious dilation of the pupils in the greenish
eyes as he spoke.

"The very one!" broke in young Dean, as he suspiciously eyed a
proffered curry.

"How did you come to think of the stunt?"

"I ran up against a perfectly top-hole native prince at polo last
month. Amongst other things we started talking elephant and
_bagh_--tiger, you know," laughed the lad, who always seemed to be on
the point of bursting with high infectious spirits. "No, take it away,
I will _not_ eat a cold _chupattie_ of the consistency of a bicycle
tyre--as I was saying, we talked tiger, and somehow or other he
suggested a few days' pursuit, through the Sunderbunds, of the spotted
deer, muntjak or sambur----"

"Neither."

"Well, they're _spotted_."

"Dogs, perhaps."

Ignoring the execrable repartee, the boy turned completely round to
Leonie.

"By the way, Lady Hickle, if you ever go to Benares, don't forget to
get off _en route_ and visit the tomb of what's-its-name, it's quite
near--oh! I forget--but it's on one of this fellow's father's estates.
They don't let many people go and see it--afraid, I expect, of paper
bags but if you _do_ go you'll find an elephant or two hanging about to
take you to the place in state. He's, the native prince, got some of
the finest elephants in the whole of this mosquito-ridden land--makes a
hobby of them."

"What happened to the original tiger?"

"Noah pushed him into the ark."

The lad grinned, and offered his cigarette to Leonie, who shook her
head.

"Oh! stop fooling, Dean. Did a sahib manage to trap the brute, or
what?"

"Yes! and sent it across to Blighty and shoved it into the Zoo.
They're frightfully sick about that tiger being in a cage; they
wouldn't have minded a sahib killing it for the good of mankind it
seems, but putting it behind bars is an insult to some god, or
something like that. Are you any go