were all seated he listened with the deepest interest.

At the end of her narrative he could not help saying:

"I warned you, young woman. What on earth would have happened to you if
Major Dermot had not been there?" He turned to their visitor and continued:
"I must thank you awfully, sir. There's no doubt that Noreen would have
been killed without your help."

"Oh, perhaps not. But certainly you were right in advising her not to enter
the forest alone."

"There, you see, Noreen?"

The girl pouted a little.

"Is it really so dangerous, Major Dermot?" she asked.

"Well, one ought never to go into it without a good rifle," he replied.
"You might pass weeks, months, in it without any harm befalling you; but on
the other hand you might be exposed to the greatest danger on your very
first day in it. You've just had a sample."

"You were attacked yourself by a rogue, weren't you?" asked the girl. "You
said that your elephant saved you? Was this the one? Do tell us about it."

Dermot briefly narrated his adventure with the rogue. Brother and sister
punctuated the tale with exclamations of surprise and admiration, and at
the conclusion of it, turned to look at Badshah, who had taken refuge from
the sun's rays under a tree and was standing in the shade, shifting his