Rujub, the Juggler

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER VIII.

  "I have some bad news, Isobel. At least I suppose you will consider itbad news," the Major said one morning, when he returned from the orderlyroom. "You heard me say that four companies were going to relieve thoseat Deennugghur. Well, I am going with them. It seems that the General isof opinion that in the present unsettled state of affairs there ought tobe a field officer in command there, so I have to go. For myself I don'tmind, but you will find it dull in a small station like that, after thegayeties of Cawnpore."

  "I don't mind a bit, uncle, in that respect. I don't think I caremuch for gayeties, but of course the move will be a trouble. We haveeverything so nice here, it will be horrid having to leave it all. Howlong will it be for?"

  "Six months, in the ordinary state of things, though of course somethingmay occur to bring us in before that. Still, the change won't be as muchtrouble as you fancy. When we get there you can stay for two or threedays with the Hunters till we have got the things to rights. There isone thing that you will be pleased about. Wade is going with us, at anyrate for the present; you are a favorite of his, you know, and I thinkthat is the principal reason for his going. At any rate, when he heard Iwas in orders, he told the Colonel that, as there was no illness in theregiment, he thought, if he did not object, he would change places fora bit with M'Alaster, the assistant surgeon, who has been with thedetachment at Deennugghur for the last year, so as to give him a turnof duty at Cawnpore, and do a little shikaring himself. There is morejungle and better shooting round Deennugghur than there is here, and youknow the Doctor is an enthusiast that way. Of course, the Colonel agreedat once."

  "I am very glad of that, uncle; it won't seem like going to a strangeplace if we have him with us, and the Hunters there, and I suppose threeor four officers of the regiment. Who are going?"

  "Both your boys," the Major laughed, "and Doolan and Rintoul."

  "When do we go, uncle?"

  "Next Monday. I shall get somebody to put us up from Friday, and thatmorning we will get everything dismantled here, and send them off bybullock carts with the servants to Deennugghur, so that they will bethere by Monday morning. I will write to Hunter to pick us out the bestof the empty bungalows, and see that our fellows get to work to cleanthe place up as soon as they arrive. We shall be two days on the march,and things will be pretty forward by the time we get there."

  "And where shall we sleep on the march?"

  "In tents, my dear, and very comfortable you will find them. Rumzan willgo with us, and you will find everything go on as smoothly as if youwere here. Tent life in India is very pleasant. Next year, in the coolseason, we will do an excursion somewhere, and I am sure you will findit delightful: they don't know anything about the capabilities of tentsat home."

  "Then do I quite understand, uncle, that all I have got to do is to makea round of calls to say goodby to everyone?"

  "That is all. You will find a lot of my cards in one of those pigeonholes; you may as well drop one wherever you go. Shall I order acarriage from Framjee's for today?"

  "No, I think not, uncle; I will go round to our own bungalows first, andhear what Mrs. Doolan and the others think about it."

  At Mrs. Doolan's Isobel found quite an assembly. Mrs. Rintoul had comein almost in tears, and the two young lieutenants had dropped in withCaptain Doolan, while one or two other officers had come round tocommiserate with Mrs. Doolan.

  "Another victim," the latter said, as Isobel entered.

  "You look too cheerful, Miss Hannay. I find that we are expected to wearsad countenances at our approaching banishment."

  "Are we, Mrs. Doolan? It seems to me that it won't make very muchdifference to us."

  "Not make any difference, Miss Hannay!" Captain Doolan said. "Why,Deennugghur is one of the dullest little stations on this side ofIndia!"

  "What do you mean by dull, Captain Doolan?"

  "Why, there are only about six white residents there besides the troops.Of course, as four companies are going instead of one, it will makea difference; but there will be no gayety, no excitement, and reallynothing to do."

  "As for the gayety, I am sure I shall not regret it, Captain Doolan;besides, our gayeties are pretty well over, except, of course, dinnerparties, and it is getting very hot for them. We shall get off having togo out in the heat of the day to make calls, which seem to me terribleafflictions, and I think with a small party it ought to be very sociableand pleasant. As for excitement, I hear that there is much bettershooting there than there is here. Mrs. Hunter was telling me that theyhave had some tigers that have been very troublesome round there, andyou will all have an opportunity of showing your skill and bravery.I know that Mr. Richards and Mr. Wilson are burning to distinguishthemselves."

  "It would be great fun to shoot a tiger," Richards said. "When I cameout to India I thought there was going to be lots of tiger shooting, andI bought a rifle on purpose, but I have never had a chance yet. Yes, wewill certainly get up a tiger hunt, won't we, Wilson? You will tell ushow to set about it, won't you, Doolan?"

  "I don't shoot," Captain Doolan said; "and if I wanted to, I am not surethat my wife would give me leave."

  "Certainly I would not," Mrs. Doolan said promptly. "Married men have noright to run into unnecessary danger."

  "Dr. Wade will be able to put you in the way, Mr. Richards," Isobelsaid.

  "Dr. Wade!" Mrs. Rintoul exclaimed. "You don't mean to say, Miss Hannay,that he is going with us?"

  "Yes, he is going for a time, Mrs. Rintoul. My uncle told me that he hadapplied to go with the detachment, and that the surgeon there would comeback to the regiment while he is away."

  "I do call that hard," Mrs. Rintoul said. "The only thing I was glad wewere going for was that we should be under Mr. M'Alaster, who is verypleasant, and quite understands my case, while Dr. Wade does not seem tounderstand it at all, and is always so very brusque and unsympathetic."

  There was a general smile.

  "Wade is worth a hundred of M'Alaster," Captain Roberts said. "There isnot a man out here I would rather trust myself to if I were ill. He isan awfully good fellow, too, all round, though he may be, as you say, alittle brusque in manner."

  "I call him a downright bear," Mrs. Rintoul said angrily. "Why, onlylast week he told me that if I would get up two hours earlier and go fora brisk walk just after sunrise, and give up eating meat at tiffin, andconfine myself to two or three dishes at dinner, I should be perfectlywell in the course of a month; just as if I was in the habit ofovereating myself, when I have scarcely the appetite of a sparrow. Itold Captain Rintoul afterwards that I must consult someone else, forthat really I could not bear such rudeness."

  "I am afraid we are all against you, Mrs. Rintoul," Mrs. Doolan said,with a little shake of her head at Isobel, who was, she saw, going tospeak out strongly. "No one could possibly be kinder than he is whenanyone is really ill. I mean seriously ill," she added, as Mrs. Rintouldrew herself up indignantly. "I shall never forget how attentive he wasto the children when they were down with fever just before he went toEngland. He missed his ship and lost a month of his leave because hewould not go away till they were out of danger, and there are very fewmen who would have done that. I shall never forget his kindness. And nowlet us talk of something else. You will have to establish a little messon your own account, Mr. Wilson, as both the Captains are married men,and the Major has also an incumbrance."

  "Yes, it will be horribly dull, Mrs. Doolan. Richards and I havequarters together here, and, of course, it will be the same there, andI am sure I don't know what we shall find to talk about when we come tohave to mess together. Of course, here, there are the messroom and theclub, and so we get on very well, but to be together always will beawful."

  "You will really have to take to reading or something of that sort, Mr.Wilson," Isobel laughed.

  "I always do read the Field, Miss Hannay, but that won't last for awhole week, you know; and there is no billiard table, and no racquetcourt, or anything else at Deennugghur, and one
cannot always be ridingabout the country."

  "We shall all have to take pity on you as much as we can," Mrs. Doolansaid. "I must say that, like Miss Hannay, I shall not object to thechange."

  "I think it is all very well for you, Mrs. Doolan; you have children."

  "Well, Mr. Richards, I will let you both, as a great treat, take themout for a walk sometimes of a morning instead of their going with theayah. That will make a change for you."

  There was a general laugh, but Wilson said manfully, "Very well, Mrs.Doolan; I am very fond of youngsters, and I should like to take, anyhow,the two eldest out sometimes. I don't think I should make much hand withthe other two, but perhaps Richards would like to come in and amuse themwhile we are out; he is just the fellow for young ones."

  There was another laugh, in which Richards joined. "I could carry themabout on my back, and pretend to be a horse," he said; "but I don't knowthat I could amuse them in any other way."

  "You would find that very hot work, Mr. Richards," Mrs. Doolan said;"but I don't think we shall require such a sacrifice of you. Well, Idon't think we shall find it so bad, after all, and I don't supposeit will be for very long; I do not believe in all this talk aboutchupaties, and disaffection, and that sort of thing; I expect in threemonths we shall most of us be back again."

  Ten days later the detachment was settled down in Deennugghur.The troops were for the most part under canvas, for there was onlyaccommodation for a single company at the station. The two subalternsoccupied a large square tent, while the other three officers tookpossession of the only three bungalows that were vacant at the station,the Doctor having a tent to himself. The Major and Isobel had stayedfor the first three days with the Hunters, at the end of which time thebungalow had been put in perfect order. It was far less commodious thanthat at Cawnpore, but Isobel was well satisfied with it when all theirbelongings had been arranged, and she soon declared that she greatlypreferred Deennugghur to Cawnpore.

  Those at the station heartily welcomed the accession to their numbers,and there was an entire absence of the stiffness and formality of alarge cantonment like Cawnpore, and Isobel was free to run in as shechose to spend the morning chatting and working with the Hunters, orMrs. Doolan, or with the other ladies, of whom there were three at thestation.

  A few days after their arrival news came in that the famous man eater,which had for a time ceased his ravages and moved off to a differentpart of the country, principally because the natives of the villagenear the jungle had ceased altogether to go out after nightfall, hadreturned, and had carried off herdsmen on two consecutive days.

  The Doctor at once prepared for action, and agreed to allow Wilson andRichards to accompany him, and the next day the three rode off togetherto Narkeet, to which village the two herdsmen had belonged. Both hadbeen killed near the same spot, and the natives had traced the return ofthe tiger to its lair in the jungle with its victims.

  The Doctor soon found that the ordinary methods of destroying the tigerhad been tried again and again without success. Cattle and goats hadbeen tied up, and the native shikaris had taken their posts in treesclose by, and had watched all night; but in vain. Spring trapsand deadfalls had also been tried, but the tiger seemed absolutelyindifferent to the attractions of their baits, and always on the lookoutfor snares. The attempts made at a dozen villages near the jungle hadall been equally unsuccessful.

  "It is evident," the Doctor said, "that the brute cares for nothing buthuman victims. No doubt, if he were very hungry he would take a cow ora goat, but we might wait a very long time for that; so the only thingthat I can see is to act as a bait myself."

  "How will you do that, Doctor?"

  "I shall build a sort of cage near the point where the tiger has twiceentered the jungle. I will take with me in the cage a woman or girl fromthe village. From time to time she shall cry out as if in pain, andas the tiger is evidently somewhere in this neighborhood it is likelyenough he will come out to see about it.

  "We must have the cage pretty strong, or I shall never get anyone to sitwith me; besides, on a dark night, there is no calculating on killingto a certainty with the first shot, and it is just as well to be on thesafe side. In daylight it would be a different matter altogether. I canrely upon my weapon when I can see, but on a dark night it is prettywell guesswork."

  The villagers were at once engaged to erect a stout cage eight feetsquare and four high, of beams driven into the ground six inches apart,and roofed in with strong bars. There was a considerable difficulty ingetting anyone to consent to sit by the Doctor, but at last the widowof one of the men who had been killed agreed for the sum of twenty-fiverupees to pass the night there, accompanied by her child four years old.

  The Doctor's skill with his rifle was notorious, and it was rather thedesire of seeing her husband's death avenged than for the sake of themoney that she consented to keep watch. There was but one tree suitablefor the watchers; it stood some forty yards to the right of the cage,and it was arranged that both the subalterns should take their stationin it.

  "Now look here, lads," the Doctor said, "before we start on thisbusiness, it must be quite settled that you do not fire till you hearmy rifle. That is the first thing; the second is that you only fire whenthe brute is a fair distance from the cage. If you get excited and blazeaway anyhow, you are quite as likely to hit me as you are the tiger.Now, I object to take any risk whatever on that score. You will have anative shikari in the tree with you to point out the tiger, for it istwenty to one against your making him out for yourselves. It will bequite indistinct, and you have no chance of making out its head oranything of that sort, and you have to take a shot at it as best youmay.

  "Remember there must not be a word spoken. If the brute does come,it will probably make two or three turns round the cage before itapproaches it, and may likely enough pass close to you, but in no casefire. You can't make sure of killing it, and if it were only woundedit would make off into the jungle, and all our trouble would be thrownaway. Also remember you must not smoke; the tiger would smell it halfa mile away, and, besides, the sound of a match striking would be quitesufficient to set him on his guard."

  "There is no objection, I hope, Doctor, to our taking up our flasks; weshall want something to keep us from going to sleep."

  "No, there is no objection to that," the Doctor said; "but mind youdon't go to sleep, for if you did you might fall off your bough andbreak your neck, to say nothing of the chance of the tiger happening tobe close at hand at the time."

  Late in the afternoon the Doctor went down to inspect the cage, andpronounced it sufficiently strong. Half an hour before nightfall he andthe woman and child took their places in it, and the two beams in theroof that had been left unfastened to allow of their entry were securelylashed in their places by the villagers. Wilson and Richards were helpedup into the tree, and took their places upon two boughs which sprangfrom the trunk close to each other at a height of some twelve feet fromthe ground. The shikari who was to wait with them crawled out, and witha hatchet chopped off some of the small boughs and foliage so as to givethem a clear view of the ground for some distance round the cage, whichwas erected in the center of a patch of brushwood, the lower portionof which had been cleared out so that the Doctor should have anuninterrupted view round. The boughs and leaves were gathered up by thevillagers, and carried away by them, and the watch began.

  "Confound it," Richards whispered to his companion after night fell, "itis getting as dark as pitch; I can scarcely make out the clump where thecage is. I should hardly see an elephant if it were to come, much less abrute like a tiger."

  "We shall get accustomed to it presently," Wilson replied; "at any ratemake quite sure of the direction in which the cage is in; it is betterto let twenty tigers go than to run the risk of hitting the Doctor."

  In another hour their eyes had become accustomed to the darkness, andthey could not only see the clump in which the cage was clearly, butcould make out the outline of the bush all round the open space
in whichit stood. Both started as a loud and dismal wail rose suddenly in theair, followed by a violent crying.

  "By Jove, how that woman made me jump!" Wilson said; "it sounded quiteawful, and she must have pinched that poor little beggar of hers prettysharply to make him yell like that."

  A low "hush!" from the shikari at his elbow warned Wilson that hewas speaking too loudly. Hours passed by, the cries being raised atintervals.

  "It is enough to give one the jumps, Richards; each time she yells Inearly fall off my branch."

  "Keep on listening, then it won't startle you."

  "A fellow can't keep on listening," Wilson grumbled; "I listen each timeuntil my ears begin to sing, and I feel stupid and sleepy, and then shegoes off again like a steam whistle; that child will be black and blueall over in the morning."

  A warning hiss from the shikari again induced Wilson to silence.

  "I don't believe the brute is coming," he whispered, an hour later. "Ifit wasn't for this bough being so hard I should drop off to sleep; myeyes ache with staring at those bushes."

  As he spoke the shikari touched him on the shoulder and pointed."Tiger," he whispered; and then did the same to Richards. Grasping theirrifles, they gazed in the direction in which he pointed, but could forsome time make out nothing. Then they saw a dim gray mass in front ofthe bushes, directly on the opposite side of the open space; then fromthe cage, lying almost in a direct line between it and them, rose thecry of the child. They were neither of them at all certain that theobject at which they were gazing was the tiger. It seemed shapeless,the outline fading away in the bush; but they felt sure that they hadnoticed nothing like it in that direction before.

  For two or three minutes they remained in uncertainty, then the outlineseemed to broaden, and it moved noiselessly. There could be no mistakenow; the tiger had been attracted by the cries, and as it moved alongthey could see that it was making a circuit of the spot from whence thesounds proceeded, to reconnoiter before advancing towards its prey. Itkept close to the line of bushes, and sometimes passed behind some ofthem. The shikari pressed their shoulders, and a low hiss enforced thenecessity for absolute silence. The two young fellows almost heldtheir breath; they had lost sight of the tiger now, but knew it must beapproaching them.

  For two or three minutes they heard and saw nothing, then the shikaripointed beyond them, and they almost started as they saw the tigerretreating, and knew that it must have passed almost under them withouttheir noticing it. At last it reached the spot at which they had firstseen it. The child's cry, but this time low and querulous, again rose.With quicker steps than before it moved on, but still not directlytowards the center, to the great relief of the two subalterns, who hadfeared that it might attack from such a direction that they would notdare to fire for fear of hitting the cage. Fortunately it passed thatpoint, and, crouching, moved towards the bushes.

  Wilson and Richards had their rifles now at their shoulders, but, in thefeeble and uncertain light, felt by no means sure of hitting theirmark, though it was but some thirty yards away. Almost breathlessly theylistened for the Doctor's rifle, but both started when the flash andsharp crack broke on the stillness. There was a sudden snarl of pain,the tiger gave a spring in the air, and then fell, rolling over andover.

  "It is not killed!" the shikari exclaimed. "Fire when it gets up."

  Suddenly it rose to its feet, and with a loud roar sprang towards thethicket. The two subalterns fired, but the movements of the dimly seencreature were so swift that they felt by no means sure that they had hitit. Then came, almost simultaneously, a loud shriek from the woman, ofa very different character to the long wails she had before uttered,followed by a sound of rending and tearing.

  "He is breaking down the cage!" Richards exclaimed excitedly, as he andWilson hastened to ram another cartridge down their rifles. "Come, wemust go and help the Doctor."

  But a moment later came another report of a rifle, and then all wassilent. Then the Doctor's voice was heard.

  "Don't get down from the tree yet, lads; I think he is dead, but it isbest to make sure first."

  There was a pause, and then another rifle shot, followed by the shout"All right; he is as dead as a door nail now. Mind your rifles as youclimb down."

  "Fancy thinking of that," Wilson said, "when you have just killed atiger! I haven't capped mine yet; have you, Richards?"

  "I have just put it on, but will take it off again. Here, old man, youget down first, and we will hand the guns to you."--this to the shikari.

  With some difficulty they scrambled down from the tree.

  "Now we may as well cap our rifles," Richards said; "the brute may notbe dead after all."

  They approached the bush cautiously.

  "You are quite sure he is dead, Doctor?"

  "Quite sure; do you think I don't know when a tiger is dead?"

  Still holding their guns in readiness to fire, they approached thebushes.

  "You can do no good until the villagers come with torches," theDoctor said; "the tiger is dead enough, but it is always as well to beprudent."

  The shikari had uttered a loud cry as he sprang down from the tree, andthis had been answered by shouts from the distance. In a few minuteslights were seen through the trees, and a score of men with torches andlanterns ran up with shouts of satisfaction.

  As soon as they arrived the two young officers advanced to the cage.On the top a tiger was lying stretched out as if in sleep; with somecaution they approached it and flashed a torch in its eyes. There wasno doubt that it was dead. The body was quickly rolled off the cage, andthen a dozen hands cut the lashing and lifted the top bars, which wasdeeply scored by the tiger's claws, and the Doctor emerged.

  "I am glad to be out of that," he said; "six hours in a cage with awoman and a crying brat is no joke."

  As soon as the Doctor had got out, the subalterns eagerly examined thetiger, upon which the natives were heaping curses and execrations.

  "How many wounds has it got?" they asked the Doctor, who repeated thequestion to the shikari in his own language.

  "Three, sahib. One full in the chest--it would have been mortal--twoothers in the ribs by the heart."

  "No others?" the subalterns exclaimed in disgust, as the answer wastranslated to them. The Doctor himself examined the tiger.

  "No; you both missed, lads, but you need not be ashamed of that; it isno easy matter to hit a tiger even at a short distance on a dark nightlike this, when you can scarce make him out, and can't see the barrel ofyour rifle. I ought to have told you to rub a little phosphorus off thehead of a match onto the sight. I am so accustomed to do it myself asa matter of course that I did not think of telling you. Well, I amheartily glad we have killed it, for by all accounts it has done animmense deal of damage."

  "It has been a fine tiger in its time, although its skin doesn't lookmuch," Wilson said; "there are patches of fur off."

  "That is generally the case with man eaters. They are mostly old tigerswho take, when they get past their strength, to killing men. I don'tknow whether the flesh doesn't agree with them, but they are almostalways mangy."

  "We were afraid for a moment," Richards said, "that the tiger was goingto break into your cage; we heard him clawing away at the timber, and asyou didn't fire again we were afraid something was the matter."

  "The mother was," the Doctor said testily. "The moment the tiger sprang,the woman threw herself down at full length right on the top of mysecond rifle, and when I went to push her off I think she fancied thetiger had got hold of her, for she gave a yell that fairly made me jump.I had to push her off by main force, and then lie down on my back, so asto get the rifle up to fire. I was sure the first shot was fatal, for Iknew just where his heart would be, but I dropped a second cartridge in,and gave him another bullet so as to make sure. Well, if either ofyou want his head or his claws, you had better say so at once, for thenatives will be singeing his whiskers off directly; the practice is asuperstition of theirs."

  "No, I don't w
ant them," Wilson said. "If I had put a bullet into thebrute, so that I could have said I helped to kill him, I should haveliked the head to get it preserved and sent home to my people, but as itis the natives are welcome to it as far as I am concerned."

  Richards was of the same opinion, and so without further delay theystarted back for the village, where, upon their arrival, they weregreeted with cries of joy by the women, the news having already beencarried back by a boy.

  "Poor beggars!" the Doctor said. "They have been living a life of terrorfor weeks. They must feel as if they had woke from a nightmare. Now,lads, we will have some supper. I dare say you are ready for it, and Iam sure I am."

  "Is there any chance for supper, Doctor?--why, it must be two o'clock inthe morning."

  "Of course there is," the Doctor replied. "I gave orders to my man tobegin to warm up the food as soon as he heard a gun fired, and I willguarantee he has got everything ready by this time."

  After a hearty meal and a cigar they lay down for a few hours' sleep,and at daybreak rode back to Deennugghur, the two subalterns rathercrestfallen at their failure to have taken any active part in killingthe tiger that had so long been a terror to the district.

  "It was an awful sell missing him, Miss Hannay; I wanted to have had theclaws mounted as a necklace; I thought you would have liked it."

  "I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Wilson, but I would much rather nothave had them. If the tiger hadn't been a man eater I should not haveminded, but I should never have worn as an ornament claws that hadkilled lots of people--women and children too."

  "No, I never thought of that, Miss Hannay; it wouldn't have beenpleasant, now one thinks of it; still, I wish I had put a bullet intohim."

  "No doubt you will do better next time, Mr. Wilson. The Doctor has beentelling me that it is extremely difficult to hit an animal in the darkwhen you are not accustomed to that sort of shooting. He says he was ina great fright all the time he was lying in the cage, and that it was animmense relief to him when he heard your rifles go off, and found thathe wasn't hit."

  "That is too bad of him, Miss Hannay," Wilson laughed; "we were not suchduffers as all that. I don't believe he really did think so."

  "I am sure he was in earnest, Mr. Wilson. He said he should have feltquite safe if it had been daylight, but that in the dark people reallycan't see which way the rifles are pointed, and that he remembered hehad not told you to put phosphorus on the sights."

  "It was too bad of him," Wilson grumbled; "it would have served himright if one of the bullets had hit a timber of the cage and given hima start; I should like to have seen the Doctor struggling in the darkto get his second rifle from under the woman, with the tiger clawing andgrowling two feet above him."

  "The Doctor didn't tell me about that," Isobel laughed; "though he saidhe had a woman and child with him to attract the tiger."

  "It would have frightened any decent minded tiger, Miss Hannay, insteadof attracting it; for such dismal yells as that woman made I neverlistened to. I nearly tumbled off the tree at the first of them, it mademe jump so, and it gave me a feeling of cold water running down my back.As to the child, I don't know whether she pinched it or the doctor stuckpins into it, but the poor little brute howled in the most frightfulway. I don't think I shall ever want to go tiger shooting in the darkagain; I ache all over today as if I had been playing in the firstfootball match of the season, from sitting balancing myself on thatbranch; I was almost over half a dozen times."

  "I expect you nearly went off to sleep, Mr. Wilson."

  "I think I should have gone to sleep if it hadn't been for that woman,Miss Hannay. I should not have minded if I could have smoked, but tosit there hour after hour and not be able to smoke, and not allowed tospeak, and staring all the time into the darkness till your eyes ached,was trying, I can tell you; and after all that, not to hit the brute wastoo bad."

  The days passed quietly at Deennugghur. They were seldom alone at MajorHannay's bungalow in the evening, for Wilson and Richards generally camein to smoke a cigar in the veranda; the Doctor was a regular visitor,when he was not away in pursuit of game, and Bathurst was also often oneof the party.

  "Mr. Bathurst is coming out wonderfully, Miss Hannay," Mrs. Huntersaid one day, as Isobel sat working with her, while the two girls werepracticing duets on a piano in the next room. "We used to call himthe hermit, he was so difficult to get out of his cell. We were quitesurprised when he accepted our invitation to dinner yesterday."

  "I think Dr. Wade has stirred him up," Isobel said calmly; "he is agreat favorite of the Doctor's."

  Mrs. Hunter smiled over her work. "Perhaps so, my dear; anyhow, I amglad he has come out, and I hope he won't retire into his cell againafter you have all gone."

  "I suppose it depends a good deal upon his work," Isobel said.

  "My experience of men is that they can always make time if they like, mydear. When a man says he is too busy to do this, that, or the other, youmay always safely put it down that he doesn't want to do it. Of course,it is just the same thing with ourselves. You often hear women say theyare too busy to attend to all sorts of things that they ought to attendto, but the same women can find plenty of time to go to every pleasuregathering that comes off. There is no doubt that Mr. Bathurst is reallyfond of work, and that he is an indefatigable civil servant of theCompany, but that would not prevent him making an hour or two's timeof an evening, occasionally, if he wanted to. However, he seems to haveturned over a new leaf, and I hope it will last. In a small station likethis, even one man is of importance, especially when he is as pleasantas Mr. Bathurst can be when he likes. He was in the army at one time,you know."

  "Was he, Mrs. Hunter?"

  "Yes. I never heard him say so himself, but I have heard so from severalpeople. I think he was only in it for a year or so. I suppose he did notcare for it, and can quite imagine he would not, so he sold out, anda short time afterwards obtained a civil appointment. He has very goodinterest; his father was General Bathurst, who was, you know, a verydistinguished officer. So he had no difficulty in getting into ourservice, where he is entirely in his element. His father died twoyears ago, and I believe he came into a good property at home. Everyoneexpected he would have thrown up his appointment, but it made nodifference to him, and he just went on as before, working as if he hadto depend entirely on the service."

  "I can quite understand that," Isobel said, "to a really earnest mana life of usefulness here must be vastly preferable to living at homewithout anything to do or any object in life."

  "Well, perhaps so, my dear, and in theory that is, no doubt, the case;but practically, I fancy you would find nineteen men out of twenty, evenif they are what you call earnest men, retire from the ranks of hardworkers if they come into a nice property. By the way, you must come inhere this evening. There is a juggler in the station, and Mr. Hunter hastold him to come round. The servants say the man is a very celebratedjuggler, one of the best in India, and as the girls have never seenanything better than the ordinary itinerant conjurers, my husband hasarranged for him to come in here, and we have been sending notes roundasking everyone to come in. We have sent one round to your place, butyou must have come out before the chit arrived."

  "Oh, I should like that very much!" Isobel said. "Two or three men cameto our bungalow at Cawnpore and did some conjuring, but it was nothingparticular; but uncle says some of them do wonderful things--things thathe cannot account for at all. That was one of the things I read about atschool, and thought I should like to see, more than anything in India.When I was at school we went in a body, two or three times, to seeconjurers when they came to Cheltenham. Of course I did not understandthe things they did, and they seemed wonderful to me, but I know thereare people who can explain them, and that they are only tricks; butI have read accounts of things done by jugglers in India that seemedutterly impossible to explain--really a sort of magic."

  "I have heard a good many arguments about it," Mrs. Hunter said; "anda good many people, especially t
hose who have seen most of them, areof opinion that many of the feats of the Indian jugglers cannot beexplained by any natural laws we know of. I have seen some very curiousthings myself, but the very fact that I did not understand how they weredone was no proof they could not be explained; certainly two of theircommonest tricks, the basket trick and the mango, have never beenexplained. Our conjurers at home can do something like them, but thenthat is on a stage, where they can have trapdoors and all sorts ofthings, while these are done anywhere--in a garden, on a road--wherethere could be no possible preparation, and with a crowd of lookers onall round; it makes me quite uncomfortable to look at it."

  "Well, I must be off now, Mrs. Hunter; it is nearly time for uncle to beback, and he likes me to be in when he returns."