"_They_ said?" he exclaimed. "Who are 'they'?"

"The men at the club. We have a planters' club for the district, you know.
At our last weekly meeting they spoke of you and said that you had nearly
been killed by a rogue. Mr. Payne told us that he used to know you."

"What? Payne of Salchini? I knew him well. Awfully good chap."

"Yes, isn't he? I like him so much."

"I saw a lot of him when I was stationed at Buxa Duar with my Double
Company. Hullo! here we are at a tea-garden."

They had suddenly come out of the forest on to the open stretch of furrowed
land planted with the orderly rows of tidy bushes.

"Yes; it is ours. It's called Malpura," said Noreen. "My brother is the
assistant manager. Our name is Daleham."

"Here comes somebody in a hurry," remarked Dermot, pointing to where, on
the road ahead of them, a man on a pony was galloping towards them with a
cloud of dust rising behind him.

"Yes, it's my brother. Oh, what's happening?" she exclaimed.

For as he approached his pony scented the elephant and stopped dead
suddenly, nearly throwing its rider over its head.

"Fred! Fred! Here I am!" she cried.