dol turned me cold. I stood
there watching them, and saw the stones of the temple all bloody like
a shambles, and the dark faces of the worshippers distorted like
maniacs, amid the smoke and flare of the torches, and a din like that
of the pit; and remembering the different worship in which I had been
brought up, and the pious services conducted by good Mr. Walpole, I
thanked the Almighty who had granted me the blessed privilege of being
born in a Christian land.

And with this prayer in my heart I was turning to go when all at once
I was aware that I had been spied; the noise of the tom-toms and the
screaming dropped as if by magic, the torches were extinguished as
though a wind had suddenly passed through the place, and as I turned
and fled I heard the pattering of innumerable naked feet behind me on
the stones.

CHAPTER XV

_THE COMING OF SABAT JUNG_

If ever I felt afraid in my life it was when I fled out of the Indian
temple with the whole swarm of devil-worshippers in full pursuit. I
never thought I should have escaped alive, yet by the aid of
Providence I did so, leaping down the steps by great bounds, finding
my horse and unloosing him in the nick of time, and galloping off out
of their reach. They kept up the pursuit for at least a mile, running
with extraordinary swiftness, and tracking me like wolves;
nevertheless in the end I got clean away.

This adventure served as a wholesome lesson to me to beware of
meddling with the ways of strange peoples in a strange land. By dint
of following Meer Jaffier's wise and prudent directions I got over the
rest of my journey without hindrance, and as day was breaking at the
end of the following night I rode down on to the shore of the
Hooghley.

There the first thing that met my eyes was the pennant of my old
commander, Admiral Watson, flying from the main truck of his
Majesty's ship _Kent_, where she lay in the river, surrounded by a
fleet, comprising the _Tyger_, _Salisbury_, _Bridgewater_, and a
number of merchantmen. I gloated over this welcome sight almost with
tears, as I realised that I was restored to my countrymen once more,
after all my perils and wanderings. It did not take me long to reach
the English camp on the edge of the river, where the spectacle of a
turbaned Moor riding in on a white horse excited no small commotion.

I inquired for Colonel Clive, and was quickly brought to the door of
his tent, where my kind friend Mr. Scrafton came ou