ere like steel springs. He grunted a little to
himself as he bore her across, but he neither paused nor faltered till
he set her upon the bank.

"The _mem-sahib_ will soon see the road to Kundaghat," he observed then.
"She has but three miles yet to go."

"Only three miles to Kundaghat!" she ejaculated in amazement.

"Only three miles, most gracious." For the first time a hint of pride
was mingled with the humility in his reedy voice. "The _mem-sahib_ has
travelled hither by a way that few know."

Beryl was fairly amazed at the news. She had believed herself to be many
miles away. She began to wonder if her friend in need would consider the
few rupees she had left adequate reward for his pains. Since she had
parted with Fletcher's gift, she reflected that she had nothing else of
value to bestow.

The way now lay uphill, and all undergrowth soon ceased. They came out
at last through thinning pine trees upon the crest of the rise, and from
here, a considerable distance below, Beryl discerned the road along
which she had travelled with Fletcher that morning.

White and glaring it stretched below her, till at last a grove of mango
trees, which she remembered to be less than a mile from Kundaghat,
closed about it, hiding it from view.

"The _mem-sahib_ will need her servant no more," said her guide, pausing
slightly behind her while she studied the landscape at her feet with the
road that wound through the valley.

She took out her purse quickly, and shook its contents into her hand. He
had been as good as his word, but she knew she had but little to offer
him unless he would accompany her all the way to Kundaghat. She stopped
to count the money before she turned--two rupees and eight annas. It did
not seem a very adequate reward for the service he had rendered her.

With this thought in her mind she slowly turned.

"This is all I have with me--" she began to say, and broke off with the
words half-uttered.

She was addressing empty air! The snake-charmer had vanished!

She stood staring blankly. She had not been aware of any movement. It
was as if the earth had suddenly and silently gaped and swallowed him
while her back was turned.

In breathless astonishment she moved this way and that, searching for
him among the trees that seemed to grow too sparsely to afford a screen.
But she searched in vain. He had clean gone, and had taken his repulsive
pet with him.

Obviously, then, he had not done this thing for