the Heridithary Cup
Bearer to the Deb Raja."

"To the what?" demanded the bewildered Frank.

Major Hunt smiled.

"Bhutan is supposed to be ruled by a temporal monarch called the Deb
Raja and also by a spiritual one, known in India as the Durma Raja. In
reality it is under the sway of the most powerful of the several great
feudal lords of the land, the Tongsa Penlop or Chief of Tongsa, whom we
regard as the Maharajah of Bhutan. He has placed himself, as far only as
the foreign relations of the country go, under the suzerainty of the
Government of India; and in return we grant him a subsidy of a _lakh_ of
rupees a year. It used to be fifty thousand, but the sum was doubled
years ago. To get the money one of the State Council comes every year.
He is an official called the Deb Zimpun."

"Faith! he's a rum old beggar, Wargrave," broke in Burke. "Looks like
the Pope av Rome in his thriple crown, for he wears a high gold-edged
cap and a flowing red robe av Chinese silk, out av which sticks a pair
av hairy bare legs."

"The Political Officer receives him in _durbar_; and we furnish a Guard
of Honour. The Colonel gives a dinner to him and us, and we have another
spread in the Mess. That reminds me. I suppose Dermot will be going into
the jungle soon to shoot for the pot, as the _durbar_ is next week.
You'd better get him to take you. You can have one of our elephants and
provide for our larder."

"Thanks very much, Major," said the delighted subaltern. "The Colonel
promised to let me accompany him and lend me a rifle."

When he went to his room that night the subaltern turned up the oil lamp
that lighted it and before he undressed sat down before Violet's
photograph. As he looked at it he thought affectionately and a little
sadly of the lonely woman so far away from him now. He pitied her for
the isolation in which she lived, an isolation far completer than his
own, for she had few friends, no intimates, and a husband worse than a
stranger in his lack of understanding of her. Surely it would be only
right to take her from such a man, right to give her a fresh chance of
finding the happiness that she had missed; for the warm-hearted,
intelligent and artistic-natured woman would be far happier with him in
this beautiful spot, remote from the world though it was. And his new
comrades would appeal to her, Dermot, strong, capable, one who would
always stand out from his fellows; Hunt grave, kindly, well-read; Burke
witty, c