TIGERLAND 



once ; indeed, the headman and his colleagues found some 

 difficulty in preventing it. However, the influence of the 

 former finally prevailed, and after promising the infuriated 

 crowd that justice would be done, he gave orders for Pembu 

 to be arrested. 



The next morning, with his arms tightly bound behind 

 him, and escorted by a gang of his fellow villagers, with the 

 exultant Kishto at their head, the unhappy Pembu was 

 sent into Tura, the headquarters of the district, to stand 

 his trial for the murder. 



The journey was a long and perilous one, through dense 

 jungle infested with wild elephants and dangerous beasts 

 of every kind. For these children of Nature, however, as 

 wild and savage as the beasts themselves, these animals 

 had no terrors. Familiarity had bred, if not contempt, 

 at least indifference and they gave no thought to the dangers 

 that surrounded them. Yet there was one amongst them 

 visibly less callous than the rest. This man, when a herd 

 of elephants once crossed the path, had quailed and sought 

 the shelter of a tree. His comrades, noticing this, jeered 

 at him, but little they guessed the real cause of his 

 alarm. The prisoner had noticed it too, and recognized 

 in the skulking wretch the man who had sworn falsely on 

 the sacred oath ; and a ray of light shot through Pembu's 

 clouded brain as he remembered that this was the friend 

 of Kishto, whom he had so severely chastised and who 

 had sworn to be avenged ! 



All that had seemed a mystery was made clear to him 

 now. The stolen knife and the anklets concealed within 

 his roof all was explained ; the whole affair was a vile 

 plot of Kishto's to bring about his ruin ! But what 

 availed this discovery to him now ? How was he to prove 

 his own innocence, much less place the responsibility for the 

 crime on those he now knew were guilty of it ? It was true 

 that he had heard that their white rulers at Tura were both 

 merciful and just, but would they believe his unsupported 

 word in face of such evidence as would be brought against 

 him ? No ; it was impossible that they would ! Then 

 his thoughts turned to Michmi, the brave, true-hearted 

 girl who had stood by him throughout. What would be 

 her fate, once in the power of his relentless rival ? The 

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