TIGERLAND 



One morning, shortly after Kishto and his accommo- 

 dating friend had arranged their little scheme, a villager 

 going to the old usurer's hut to reclaim some jewellery 

 he had pledged, was horrified to find him lying dead inside. 

 At once he raised an outcry, and soon the whole village had 

 collected. Among the first to arrive upon the scene was 

 the headman, who, by virtue of his position, was legally 

 bound to hold an investigation. He ascertained that the 

 old man had been stabbed through the heart, the motive 

 for the crime being evidently plunder, for not a single coin 

 or ornament was to be found inside the hut. 



The murderer had left no clue of any kind behind him, 

 and but for a suggestion made by the astute Kishto, it is 

 unlikely that any great effort would have been made to 

 trace him. 



The wily youth, who had evinced the keenest interest 

 in the proceedings, now suggested that the huts of all 

 persons living in the immediate vicinity should be searched. 

 This suggestion was no sooner made than it was carried out, 

 and, commencing with the nearest, the searchers reached 

 Pembu's hut, where, carefully concealed inside the thatching 

 of the roof, was found a blood-stained knife and two silver 

 anklets. A death-like silence greeted this discovery, for 

 Pembu was beloved by all, and none could believe him 

 guilty of so cruel and dastardly an act as the murder of the 

 old usurer. 



But appearances were certainly against him. The 

 knife was undoubtedly his, the one he always used, made 

 for him by his friend the village smith ; the anklets, too, 

 were recognized by two women present, who had pledged 

 them with the money-lender a week or two before. 



It was a terrible position for the unfortunate youth. 

 With such convincing evidence of his guilt before their 

 eyes, how was it possible for his friends to believe him 

 innocent of the crime ? It is true he had missed his knife 

 some days before, but, unfortunately, had made no mention 

 of the fact, and to do so now, he felt, was useless. Still, 

 his was not a nature to be easily cast down, and looking at 

 the sea of faces pressing round him, with sorrow and 

 sympathy depicted on them all, he was encouraged to make 

 an effort. 

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