VENGEANCE OF JHAPOO THE GOND 263 



and clear. Old Jhapoo was sitting up on his cot ; he 

 touched my sleeve as he had touched it at many an Indian 

 dawn. 



" ' See ! ' he whispered, pointing into the unseen. Then 

 he raised one hand with extended fingers, and his glazing 

 eye burned an instant 



" ' Five khandis ! ' he said loudly. ' Five khandis of male 

 tigers ! Five ... full ... khandis ! ' 



" Then I laid what was left of him back on the rough 

 blanket, and called up the servants gently." 



Of the Colonel's yarn there is not much more to recall. 

 He touched lightly on the matter of the ghastly taxidermy, 

 and the means by which he was at length enabled to have 

 old Jhapoo's wishes carried out to the letter. Things of 

 that sort seem to have been easier in the old days than they 

 would be now. He described how he had arranged the 

 details, down to the bunniaKs chest, and the finding of the 

 lost "something" which turned out to be a short length of 

 hollow bamboo filled with a curious grey ointment and 

 then how he had locked all up in the casket and put the 

 latter secretly away. In the East remarkably little escapes 

 the notice of one's native servants, who may be said to know 

 more about their masters than the masters know about 

 themselves, and I wondered how on earth old Mulligatawny 

 had faced this problem. 



Abdul Ghani, of course, knew. But the Colonel in- 

 formed me that years afterwards, when once more the 

 cycle of his duties brought him within reach of tiger 

 country, the appearance of the long-closed chest always 

 excited the liveliest horror among his retainers, although 

 he had many times changed his servants, as is common in 

 India on being ordered to different parts of the country. 



As the old gentleman wound up his story, he rose, and 

 placing his fingers on the head of the tiger-skin that hung 

 on the wall above the copper - bound box, revealed a 



