TIGERLAND 



come in, he lay down upon the bed, and promising he 

 would try to get some sleep, they left him for the night, 

 feeling that a good night's rest would be the best thing 

 for him. 



" ' However, the next morning, his servant going into 

 the room with the early-morning tea, was horrified to find 

 his master lying dead in bed with his throat cut from ear 

 to ear, and his hand still grasping the razor that he had 

 used. 



" * Now, had I heard this story before witnessing the 

 terrible scenes I have described, I might perhaps, in time, 

 have come to look upon the latter as some freak of my 

 imagination ; but now I was more puzzled than ever, for 

 sceptical as I am as to supernatural happenings, I could 

 not well ignore the extraordinary connection between 

 what I had seen and this previous tragedy enacted in that 

 room ! 



" ' But, as I said before, the mystery still remains un- 

 solved, and must remain so to the end, for no light can now 

 be thrown upon it, and now good night ! for it's time 

 we were in bed.' 



"Concluding his story with these words, the Major rose 

 abruptly and, evidently unwilling to discuss the subject 

 further, retired into his tent. We all agreed that his was 

 quite the best story, but, as he had himself announced, 

 one somewhat difficult to believe, except by one of the 

 audience who, as it happened, had once spent his leave at 

 that hill station many years before.* He said he had 

 often heard the story, and moreover, had met a man there 

 who had lived in the house, and had been disturbed at 

 nights by what seemed to be the sound of some one tramp- 

 ing up and down the verandah." 



* NOTE BY THE AUTHOR. I have been at this hill station myself and 

 have seen the house, which, many years ago, used to be known as the 

 "Haunted House"! 



150 



