els had done it more than
once. Afterward the Sahib would sometimes take Nels on a
hunting-furlough.

It was the first Mrs. Hichens who took the puppy with her, when she
went to India with Police Commissioner Hichens; and before she died he
was made to promise her on his honour, that he would care for and
protect Nels as if Nels were his own son, so long as Nels should live.
There was no help for it.

Especially as it was quite well known among the servants, that on the
very day of her death she had made the Sahib with his own hands lay the
sleeping child over on the bed underneath Nels' out-stretched paws;
because this was done in the presence of Baby's ayah and of her own
ayah also, and therefore two witnesses had heard her say:

"Nels, I am giving my baby to you. The Sahib her father is not able to
be with her, much. But you are to care for my baby for me. Do you
understand, my dear?" She often called Nels "my dear" with a peculiar
inflection on the _dear_ and an upward lilt of tone.

And Nels had agreed, because he pressed the little body hard and lifted
up his big grey head and cried a long, low cry. And the lady had
laughed a little and wiped glistening tears from her death-misted face,
for her baby would be--not _quite_ alone.

So all the servants knew that Nels had owned the child from that day.
Now it is not a wise thing to antagonise a body of East Indian servants
in matters which they consider sacred; and Police Commissioner Hichens
was a lawyer and a judge and a wise man. He might fear Nels as he
feared death itself, the two being equivalent in his mind, but he might
not destroy Nels with his own hand, nor let it be known that he had
caused the great dog's death. Still, if he took Nels with him on
hunting-furloughs, as often as possible setting him to charge most
deadly game, there was always the possibility of an accident.

To many it seemed strange that the present Mrs. Hichens, a regal young
English thing, was made to live in a lonely tent, well back among dense
jungle growths, quite out of sight or call away from any human
habitation, with her husband's little son and littler daughter and the
Great Dane dog. Certainly the servants were about during the daytime;
as much out of sight as possible, according to their good teaching.
But at night there were no servants about; they were all far away at
the other end of the village, because the natives who lived at this
side were low caste.

An