Rujub, the Juggler | Page 7

matter would be settled without
expense and trouble; whereas, if it goes up to Lucknow it may all have

to be gone into again; and if the decision is given against you, and as
far as I can see it is just as likely to be one way as another, it will be a
serious thing for the village."
"We are in my lord's hands," the native said; "he is the protector of the
poor, and will do us justice."
"I will do you justice, Childee, but I must do justice to the other side
too. Of course, neither of you will be satisfied, but that cannot be
helped."
His perfect knowledge of their language, the pains he took to sift all
matters brought before him to the bottom, had rendered the young
officer very popular among the natives. They knew they could get
justice from him direct. There was no necessity to bribe underlings: he
had the knack of extracting the truth from the mass of lying evidence
always forthcoming in native cases; and even the defeated party
admired the manner in which the fabric of falsehood was pulled to
pieces. But the main reason of his popularity was his sympathy, the real
interest which he showed in their cases, and the patience with which he
listened to their stories.
Bathurst himself, as he rode homewards, was still thinking of the case.
Of course there had been lying on both sides; but to that he was
accustomed. It was a question of importance--of greater importance, no
doubt, to the villagers than to their opponent, but still important to
him--for this tract of land was a valuable one, and of considerable
extent, and there was really nothing in the documents produced on
either side to show which ditch was intended by the original grants.
Evidently, at the time they were made, very many years before, one
ditch or the other was not in existence; but there was no proof as to
which was the more recent, although both sides professed that all
traditions handed down to them asserted the ditch on their side to be the
more recent.
He was riding along the road through the great jungle, at his horse's
own pace, which happened for the moment to be a gentle trot, when a
piercing cry rang through the air a hundred yards ahead. Bathurst

started from his reverie, and spurred his horse sharply; the animal
dashed forward at a gallop. At a turn in the road he saw, twenty yards
ahead of him, a tiger, standing with a foot upon a prostrate figure, while
a man in front of it was gesticulating wildly. The tiger stood as if
hesitating whether to strike down the figure in front or to content itself
with that already in its power.
The wild shouts of the man had apparently drowned the sound of the
horse's feet upon the soft road, for the animal drew back half a pace as
it suddenly came into view.
The horse swerved at the sight, and reared high in the air as Bathurst
drove his spurs into it. As its feet touched the ground again, Bathurst
sprang off and rushed at the tiger, and brought down the heavy lash of
his whip with all his force across its head. With a fierce snarl it sprang
back two paces, but again and again the whip descended upon it, and
bewildered and amazed at the attack it turned swiftly and sprang
through the bushes.
Bathurst, knowing that there was no fear of its returning, turned at once
to the figure on the road. It was, as in even the momentary glance he
had noticed, a woman, or rather a girl of some fourteen or fifteen years
of age--the man had dropped on his knees beside her, moaning and
muttering incoherent words.
"I see no blood," Bathurst said, and stooping, lifted the light figure.
"Her heart beats, man; I think she has only fainted. The tiger must have
knocked her down in its spring without striking her. So far as I can see
she is unhurt."
He carried her to the horse, which stood trembling a few yards away,
took a flask from the holster, and poured a little brandy and water
between her lips.
Presently there was a faint sigh. "She is coming round," he said to the
man, who was still kneeling, looking on with vacant eyes, as though he
had neither heard nor comprehended what Bathurst was doing.
Presently the girl moved slightly and opened her eyes. At first there

was no expression in them; then a vague wonder stole into them at the
white face looking down upon her.
She closed them again, and then reopened them, and then there was a
slight struggle to free herself. He allowed