“ A couple of brightly plumaged birds were crossing the river at a goodly height and quite fifty yards away, and quick as thought, Hollins raised his gun, fired right and left, and brought them down, when a murmur of surprise and admiration ran along the deck, as the birds fell into the gliding stream, and lay fluttering and splashing the surface.
"Tell our men to pick 'em up, lad.—Bah! Too late!" For all at once a hideous head appeared above the surface, there was a sharp snap repeated, the birds were gone, and the crocodile's head disappeared. ”

“ Meanwhile, with the appearance of the sun the wind dropped fast, until by about eight o'clock it had died away to a flat calm, leaving the water oil-smooth everywhere, save where the fins of the persistent sharks cleft the surface into two thin, wedge-like ripples as they lazily cruised to and fro, never widening the space between them and the boat by more than half-a-dozen fathoms. ”

“ At that very moment a tiger sprang upon the syce. Frank instantaneously flung himself off his horse and struck the animal across the loins with the butt of his heavy riding-whip. Dropping his prey, the tiger turned on his assailant, seized him by the thigh and hurled him to the ground. Instinctively Frank threw his arms round the head of the enraged animal, but in a second he would have been torn to pieces, had not a man leaped out of the jungle and fired at the tiger, who once more dropped his prey and retreated with an ominous growl into the thick jungle. ”

“ I bring thee 5000 rupees, with bullocks and carts; thou left me with but one son, I bring thee two."
So spake Rajhani, lying prostrate at Hari Rām's feet, as he landed after his long exile. The remembrance of those five years of misery was fresh upon him, the iron had entered into his soul, and he spurned her from him; but a young man touched his arm and called him by his name—
"Are you blind, Hari Rām?" he said; "surely she has done wisely. She has laboured for you in love and patience; you must see she betrayed you for very love, to save your life." ”

“ The great war that had been threatening so long had fairly broken out at last. The Mahratta hosts were sweeping over the great central plain, the English troops advancing to meet them; and all Northern India was holding its breath, as it were, to see which would win. A single disaster to the British arms, and all the subject provinces would blaze at once into open insurrection; and the unheard-of boldness of these native banditti in daring to attack British soldiers in open daylight, plainly showed which of the two parties they thought more likely to get the best of it. ”

“ From first to last, that match against time with death was like one of those wild and feverish dreams, in which you are for ever rushing at full speed over a boundless waste, without advancing a single foot nearer to the goal. On, on, mile after mile—passing with bewildering suddenness from darkness to moonlight, and from moonlight into darkness again—now splashing through a swollen stream, now plunging down into a gloomy hollow, now bursting with a crash through a mass of tangled creepers, now checking their horses, barely in time, on the brink of a yawning chasm. ”

“ Why, Dick, lad, we seem to have dropped in upon jail delivery day."
"What do you mean?" said Beecher sharply, as he heard Jerry once more draw a sharp hissing breath.
"More prisoners. They're bringing them out from that hut yonder."
"Ah!" exclaimed Beecher, in a low excited whisper; "the wretches, the fiends! They're surely not going to kill those two girls. Oh, I can't stand this!"
"Quiet, man!" growled Hollins. "It's as much as our lives are worth to interfere."
"My life will be nothing to me if I sit here and see this horror. Here, Rajah. Those women; they are not going to be killed?" ”

“ He stopped dead and crouched, intending to drop upon his stomach and crawl into cover.
But the stranger, it seemed, was quick-eyed, and had already seen him.
"Aha!" he called out, "young boy Englishman! do not hide; I am not one to hurt those that have white skins!"
Bruce was soon upon his feet again at the sound of his own language, though it was spoken in an odd, guttural way, and with a peculiar accent. He stared at the stranger coming splashing through the shallow water.
"Who are you?" he blurted; "and why do you speak so curiously?"
"I am Umkopo, the white witch of the Matabele. ”

“ Ben answered at the fullest pitch of his voice—
"His Majesty's brig Aurora. For the love of God stand by us!"
"The very craft we're in search of," returned Captain Speeding's messenger. "Throw us a line, and I'll come aboard you!"
Ben flung a coil of rope; but before he could see whether or not it had been caught, John Goff had run up on deck, furious and cursing.
"You young traitor!" he cried, seeing what was going on. "What are you up to?"
"I'm up to saving his Majesty's ship," coolly returned Ben, levelling his pistol at the pirate. "Stand back, John [192] Goff, or you're a dead man!" ”

“ The worst of it is, that what tide there is, has just turned against us, and the wind is dropping every minute. In half-an-hour it will be a stark calm, and I should not be surprised if they send gunboats out from Toulon when they hear that a schooner and a barque, the latter probably a prize, are lying here becalmed. ”

“ With a mingled expression of sorrow and anger in her face, Rajhani rose. She was not quite like other Indian women. Till her mother died she had been brought up with Vansie, then her father married her to Hari Rām and she left the district. Her nature was gentle and she had imbibed a certain amount of religious knowledge, but an Eastern woman is a thing with no personality, a creature to be driven to and fro like the leaves in autumn. ”

“ Listen! yonder fall more bedizened nobles, with good gold nobles in their purses moreover to prove their nobility!"
I had heard plainly enough. The cold wind of Maytime set from far-off Hexham level to where we were standing under the shadow of Blockhill, and not for the first time that day the heavy sound of cannon came down it, like and yet unlike thunder. There was another battle on hand between the white rose and the red. Margaret of Anjou was making one more struggle, for herself and her son and husband, against Edward of York. ”

“ But where's the danger, if you mean ordinary danger?"
"He is great," she almost whispered now, "and powerful, even in Paris. He is, too, enormously rich, richer than I am, and can hire people to do whatsoever he wishes. He might hire vagabonds to assault you—to—to—oh! Adrian!—throw you into the Seine with your throat cut, or stab you under the shoulder in a dark alley, and—and—all because you do this out of friendship for me, and with no hope of reward." ”

“ Gilbert had listened to this conversation with considerable zest. He had not imagined there could be anything so delightful as Robin Hoods in India. Tigers and leopards he was prepared for, but to chase a real live robber was an adventure beyond his wildest imaginings.
"What do you call these robbers, sir?" he asked.
"Dacoits," answered Fergusson. "Are you inclined to give this one a chase?" he said with a smile. "I think you'll find him too tough for you. He's up, they say, to every imaginable dodge; no one can get near his hiding-place. ”

“ Thenceforth the river began to grow bright and clear, there was a cessation of muddy deposit upon the leaves and twigs which dipped below the surface, and the oars were laid in by the men who had been using them, a couple taking their places, one in front, the other astern, each armed with a long bamboo pole, with which they thrust the boat along against the clear rippling stream, now broken up into shallows and swirling deeps. ”

“ He was in high spirits at the prospect before him.
"Just keep your eye on the woman," he said in a low voice to a subaltern; but Rajhani heard, and called out—
"You need have no fear, my lord sahib; life is better than death. What I have said I will do."
"There, you have but to go and take him," and Rajhani pointed to a mud hut, hidden in the very thickest part of the jungle. ”

“ Then, turning to Giles, I said, "Pick up this fellow's weapon and give it to him."
"No," exclaimed Damaris; while, looking round as Giles did as I bade him, I saw her standing by me, pale, and like a statue, yet with her beautiful eyes ablaze. "No, you shall not fight with him, Adrian. Prince as he is, and, alas! of my land, he is unworthy to cross swords with you.—As for you," she said, addressing Csaba, "begone. Begone from off this place, which belongs to my hotel and is mine, and let me never see your face again. Go," she said, stamping her foot on the rough cobblestones; "go, I say." ”

“ It seems a shame to fire. It's like gliding along in some dream."
"Was," said Hollins, quite briskly. "I feel more awake now. There's another of those crocs!—Going to fire?"
"No, I don't want to kill anything now."
"Nor do I," said Hollins. "Let's have something to eat."
"Yes, sir; directly, sir," came from the stern of the boat, proving that every word uttered had been heard. "Now Joey, stir about and help." ”

“ He turned and looked fixedly first at the woman still lying prostrate before him, then at Gilbert Lindsay, who had spoken.
"Sahib," he said, and his voice trembled.
[331]
"You are too brave a man to despise her for what she has done, Hari Rām," Gilbert continued. "See, she has come to you in all humility, with children and wealth, so that from henceforth you may live prosperously. Five years is but a little span in a man's life. Lift her up and go home with her and your children; let this hour be as the rising of the sun at the dawn of a new day." ”

“ Ben's alert eyes sought for an anchorage, and soon, near the western headland of the largest island, he caught a glimpse of sandy beach, and the gleaming white ribbon of a watercourse. The beach sloped down to a channel of calm sea that was sheltered behind the hill of a protecting island. The calm bay seemed to offer a likely refuge, and towards it Ben steered the brig. Another hour's slow sailing brought the little vessel into the safety of this roadstead, where she lost her headway and rode for the time secure on the swell of the clear green water. ”

“ DANGER AHEAD
In looking back upon the events of those days—as I now do from the calm autumn of my life—I am always struck by the extraordinary fact that I am still alive. For, from the moment that it began to be whispered about in the fashionable parts of Paris that the Princesa Ana de Carbajal was tricking his Highness the Prince of Csaba (in Hungary) and Miranda Vitoria (in Spain) , who, although of the Royal House of Austria, intended to espouse her morganatically if he possibly could, my life began to be in danger. ”

“ Sail was made upon the boat, and we soon had the satisfaction of finding ourselves sliding along before the wind at a speed of between four and five knots. I took the yoke-lines, believing that I could steer a truer course than Ned, while he maintained a sharp look-out for a sail. Hour after hour dragged wearily by however, and still the ocean remained deserted, save for our own tiny sail; and meanwhile our hunger and thirst grew apace, until [283] there were times when my torment was so exquisitely keen that I felt sorely tempted to follow Joey's example, and end it all. ”

“ Not a word said Colonel Hardman when this attack, and the juggler's identity with the bandit chief who had led it, were reported to him. But the best of his native scouts, a jungle veteran, who had slain as many tigers as he had seen birthdays, knew enough of his master's ways to remark shrewdly to his comrades that evening—
"Brothers, there is evil in store for these Dacoits (robbers) , whoever they be. When the Colonel Sahib looks fierce, and speaks angry words, it is as a strong wind that sweeps by and is gone; but when he says nothing, it is the hush before the thunderstorm." ”

“ Uncle Ben and his young companion ducked behind their cover none too soon, for hardly had they done so when, scarcely a couple of hundred yards away, there came a line of dusky forms, four or five abreast, that broke out of the scrub cover into the open, followed at a few paces by other lines, in what appeared to Bruce to be interminable numbers. Uncle Ben, watching the lad's face, saw it flush and pale and then flush again; his hand went to the revolver at his belt, but there the old man's nervous grip arrested it.
"No, no," he whispered, "no fooling; not if you value your life." ”

“ Dick, lad, they've uncovered the hilts of their krises—cleared for action."
"No, no, they wouldn't dare, with our men lying at the camp."
"I don't know that. It looks bad. Our lads can't help us now."
"Then we must help ourselves," said Beecher, through his teeth. "If that dog there has betrayed us into the hands of the enemy, curse him! he shall have the contents of my gun."
"Steady!" said Hollins gravely. "He knows what you are saying by your tone, and his right hand has stolen to the hilt of his kris. This is a time for diplomacy. ”