a cage!"

The girl smiled, and the Colonel answered for her.

"Miss Benson has got at least six. Seven, is it? More than my wife has.
And among them was the famous man-eater of Mardhura, which had killed
twenty-three persons. The natives of the district call her 'The Tiger
Girl.'"

"Troth, my name for you is a prettier one, Miss Benson," said Burke
laughing.

She made a _moue_ at him, but said to the subaltern:

"Cheer up, Mr. Wargrave, you've lots of time before you yet. You
oughtn't to complain--you've only been a few days here and you've
already got a splendid bison. And they're rare in these parts."

"We'll have to find him a tiger, Muriel," said their host. "When you
hear of a kill anywhere conveniently near, let me know and we'll arrange
a beat for him."

"With pleasure, Colonel. We're soon going to the southern fringe of the
forest; and, as you know, there are usually tigers to be found in the
_nullahs_ on the borders of the cultivated country. I'll send you
_khubber_ (news)."

"Thank you very much," said Wargrave. "I do want to get one."

All through the conversation the girl felt the Chinaman's bold eyes
seeming to burn her flesh, and she was glad when the Political Officer
spoke to him and engaged his attention. And she was still more relieved
when dinner ended and Mrs. Dermot rose to leave the table. When the men
joined them later on the verandah Burke and Wargrave made a point of
hemming her in on both sides and keeping the _Amban_ off; for even the
short-sighted doctor had become cognisant of the Chinaman's offensive
stare.

When he and the _Deb Zimpun_ had left the bungalow she said to the two
officers:

"I'm so glad you didn't let that awful man come near me. He makes me
afraid. There's something so evil about him that I shudder when he looks
at me."

"The curse av the crows on the brute!" exclaimed Burke hotly. "Don't ye
be afraid. We won't let the divil come next or nigh ye, will we,
Wargrave?"

And on the following day when the visitors were entertained by athletic
sports of the detachment on the parade ground and an interesting archery
competition between excited teams of the _Deb Zimpun's_ followers and
of local Bhuttias, they allowed the _Amban_ no opportunity of
approaching her. During the sports Wargrave noticed on one occasion that
he seemed to be speaking of her to the commander of his escort of
Chinese soldiers, a tall, evil-faced Manchu, pock-marked and blind of
the right e