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 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET
 
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 A Fury in White Velvet 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT COMPTON 
 
 AUTHOR OF "A FREE LANCE IN A FAR LAND,' 
 
 "THE INIMITABLE MRS MASSINGHAM,' 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 ANTHONY TREHERNE & CO. LIMITED 
 
 3 AGAR STREET 
 
 CHARING CROSS 
 
 1901
 
 
 r 
 
 tL 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PASE 
 
 I. A GOD AND SOME LITTLE FISHES . . I 
 
 II. "shikari" GOTCH . . " . -15 
 
 III. THE PEARL OF THE SNOWS . . • ^S 
 
 IV. INTO WILD LAHOUL . . . -38 
 
 V, BEWARE THE 'SEMCHOON" . . . 49 
 
 VI. STALKING AN IBEX . . . . 61 
 
 VII. THE BLACK CASTLE . . . -71 
 
 VIII. THE LEOPARD WOMAN . . .80 
 
 IX. BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE . " . -91 
 
 X. THE DURBAR ..... 106 
 
 XI. DOOLCHI, THE THAKORINE . . .117 
 
 XII. SOME REFLECTIONS AND A BEAR HUNT . 130 
 
 XIII. THE CHASM UNDER THE SNOW . . 138 
 
 XIV. A SLAVE OF SIVA . . . -145 
 XV. THE THAKORINE'S FLIGHT . . -155 
 
 XVI. LENA SINGH ..... 166 
 
 XVII. THE DEVIOUS WAY . . . -177 
 
 XVIII. REHLU'S WARNING . . . . 187 
 
 XIX. THE LAST APPEAL OF LOVE . . -195 
 
 XX. THE BREATH OF LIFE . . . . 307 
 
 XXI. AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS . . , 215 
 
 VI 1
 
 A Fury in White Velvet 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A GOD AND SOME LITTLE FISHES 
 
 " What is it all about, Jenkinson ? " asked 
 the Viceroy, pushing away, with a gesture 
 of petulant irritation, a docket of printed 
 papers which his secretary laid before him. 
 " And how did I ever come to give this 
 Mr — Mr Howard an audience?" 
 
 " You will remember, your Excellency, he 
 is a connection of Lord Westerham, and he 
 sent in a Memorial — " 
 
 " Westerham ? Ah, yes — of course. 
 But this change in the Ministry alters the 
 situation. Westerham has lapsed into a 
 neglectable quantity. And this- — Really ! " 
 His Excellency pointed fretfully to the 
 bundle of papers and sighed. ''What is it 
 all about ? Tell me in ten words if you 
 
 can.
 
 2 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 "The Memorialist is Lieutenant Howard 
 of the PoHtical Department. He was 
 assistant to Mr Badger on the Punjab 
 Frontier. When the Afghan tribesmen 
 made their raid last December, and took the 
 outpost of Putghurri, it appears Howard 
 was out shooting somewhere. Badger 
 ascribed the surprise to want of intelligence 
 which Howard should have obtained, and 
 applied for the appointment of another 
 assistant. Howard contends that Badger's 
 action was unjust, and the result of personal 
 feeling ; and files copies of several official 
 letters to show how he was treated — " 
 
 "Pooh! Pooh!" broke in his Excellency. 
 " And I am supposed to waste my time 
 adjudicating between a Political Resident and 
 his trumpery assistant who are squabbling .'* 
 What did the Lieutenant-Governor do 
 in the matter ? " 
 
 "Sir Henry supported Badger, but mainly 
 on a side issue." 
 
 "And what was that?" 
 
 "A passage in one of Howard's letters of 
 which Badger filed a copy. It was a private 
 letter, and Howard wrote, ' He would not 
 be addressed, either privately or officially,
 
 A GOD AND SOME LITTLE FISHES 3 
 
 in such offensive terms as Badger used, 
 by a gentleman whose ancestors for three 
 generations had .supplied the Howard family 
 with trousers.' " 
 
 "And was the ancestorial relationship 
 between the Howard family and Badger 
 really sartorial ? " asked the Viceroy, with 
 a grim smile. 
 
 ** There is no denial of it, sir." 
 
 "What did Sir Henry do ? " 
 
 " Gazetted Howard for transfer to Juggra- 
 pore, which was tantamount to reducing 
 him a grade." 
 
 " Well — introduce Mr Howard." 
 
 Mr Jenkinson left the chamber, and a 
 minute later returned accompanied by a 
 young officer, in full-dress uniform, whom he 
 formally presented to the Viceroy before 
 retiring. 
 
 " Sit down, Mr Howard," said his Ex- 
 cellency, with a slight bend of the head in 
 return for the young man's elaborate salute. 
 
 Howard dropped into a chair, within whose 
 capacious arms many hearts had beaten fast 
 and heavily at interviews with the Pro-Con- 
 sul, who has been called His Majesty's 
 Greatest Subject.
 
 4 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 The subaltern was a handsome, soldierly- 
 looking young man of six-and-twenty, with 
 clear grey eyes, black hair and moustache, 
 and an aristocratic cast of features. He ex- 
 hibited none of the nervousness usually 
 associated with the chair of doom he sat in. 
 
 " And so you were out shooting when 
 Putghurri, which was under your jurisdiction, 
 was surprised ? " began his Excellency, with 
 a suave air of omniscience implying complete 
 knowledge of the case. 
 
 ** It is so far true, your Excellency, that 
 I was on a tour of inspection duty, and in 
 marching from camp to camp carried my 
 gun." 
 
 " It would have been better, Mr Howard, 
 if you had denied yourself the distraction 
 of carrying a gun, under the circumstances 
 of your district being in a disturbed state, 
 and confined your attention to your duties." 
 
 " With every respect for your Excellency's 
 assumption, my district was not in a disturbed 
 state. The raid was made unexpectedly by 
 a tribe that lived forty miles beyond the 
 border. And in those parts a gun is neces- 
 sary for self-defence." 
 
 " You had your escort ? "
 
 A GOD AND SOME LITTLE FISHES 5 
 
 "Two troopers were all Mr Badger 
 allowed me ; and they were in charge of my 
 baggage." 
 
 The calm, almost cool, attitude of the 
 young officer, albeit perfectly respectful, and 
 the easy and resourceful way in which he 
 parried the points raised were not calculated 
 to propitiate this terrestrial god of three 
 hundred million destinies. His Excellency's 
 knowledo^e of the facts of the case beinsf 
 limited, he was glad of the aid to memory 
 afforded by the mention of Mr Badger. 
 
 " You appear, Mr Howard, to have ad- 
 dressed a most unwarrantable letter to your 
 superior ? " 
 
 " The letter of which Mr Badger complains 
 was a private one, relating to a social dispute 
 which originated at the club. I am quite 
 prepared to justify my letter and my action 
 on that account to your Excellency. It has, 
 however, nothing whatever to do with the 
 official differences — " 
 
 "But the phrase you used was privately 
 and officially. Is that not so ? " 
 
 " I admit that. And if Mr Badger de- 
 graded the dignity of his office by using 
 such language officially as he did privately.
 
 6 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 I should resent it coming from an individual 
 whose social status — " 
 
 " That will do, Mr Howard," interposed 
 the Viceroy, snapping the elastic band of the 
 docket with a click which seemed to 
 punctuate the interview with a full stop. 
 "The Government of India, in its official 
 capacity, takes no cognisance of what you 
 are pleased to call * social status.' The 
 Commission of the Sovereign is the only 
 hall-mark that carries weight, and should 
 carry respect, in My Administration." 
 Then, in a sterner tone, '* You have been 
 guilty of a very imprudent and impudent 
 act. To sneer at your superior, for what 
 you are pleased to call his ' social status,' 
 is deserving of the reprimand and punish- 
 ment the Lieutenant - Governor has very 
 properly awarded. I confirm his order as 
 passed, and I trust that a month's quiet 
 reflection at — at — h'm — the station to which 
 you have been transferred, will enable you 
 to more rightly understand your official, 
 as apart from your social, duties in life." 
 
 His Excellency pressed a bell. It was a 
 little thing, this performing of the happy 
 despatch for a subaltern, who — poor devil —
 
 A GOD AND SOME LITTLE FISHES 7 
 
 smarting for three months under a sense 
 of injustice, had been confidently buoying 
 all his hopes on his Memorial. But little 
 things, neatly and swiftly performed (such, 
 for instance, as making a cannon at billiards, 
 or hitting off a reference in a book) some- 
 times soothe and satisfy majestic minds, 
 and his Excellency was pleased with the 
 dexterous way in which, on very insufficient 
 data, he had polished off this little fish. 
 
 Howard was staggered when he realised 
 this abrupt dismissal terminated an interview 
 in which he had not been allowed to utter 
 one word of justification or explanation about 
 the real merits of the case. It had been 
 his chief complaint that the Lieutenant- 
 Governor had burked the facts ; and the 
 plain facts were that Badger was a cad, 
 and had behaved caddishly. Was it 
 possible the Viceroy was going to adopt 
 the same line as the L.-G. ? 
 
 Not only possible, but accomplished. 
 "You can retire, Mr Howard," said his 
 Excellency. " I have nothing more to say." 
 
 Then arose in Howard a spirit of in- 
 contrition. Was it for this he had memorial- 
 ised the Satrap of India, to be flicked aside
 
 8 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 as a man flicks a fly off his writing-table ? 
 Instead of retiring, as was evidently ex- 
 pected, Howard took two steps forward. 
 
 " I thank your Excellency for your 
 advice," he said in a measured voice, 
 "which I regret I cannot follow." 
 
 The Viceroy jibbed as though a piece 
 of plaster, falling from the ceiling, had 
 just missed carrying his nose away. 
 
 " The appointment at Juggrapore does 
 not suit me, and a prospect of reflection 
 there is distasteful," murmured Howard. 
 
 At this moment the private secretary 
 entered the room, and his Excellency 
 loftily pointed to the door. 
 
 " For the more I pondered over your 
 Excellency's assertion," went on Howard, 
 ignoring the gesture, whilst the colour 
 rose in his face, and his voice grew very 
 distinct and assertive, " that I had been 
 impudent to the son of my tailor — in a 
 private dispute of which your Excellency 
 does, and can, know nothing — the more 
 dissatisfied I should be with your Ex- 
 cellency's consideration of my Memorial, 
 which, I fear, your Excellency has not even 
 read ! "
 
 A GOD AND SOME LITTLE FISHES 9 
 
 "Jenkinson!" gasped the Viceroy, with 
 a signal that commanded him to expel the 
 Memorialist, " Jenkinson ! Jenkinson ! " 
 
 But Howard held his ground. " How 
 would your Excellency like to be insulted, 
 say, for instance, by the son of your shoe- 
 maker ? " he asked argumentatively, but not 
 offensively. 
 
 The Viceroy shut his eyes, as a lady 
 might when confronted by a charging 
 cow. 
 
 "Come, sir," said the secretary, severely, 
 to Howard, laying a hand on his arm. 
 
 "Coming," declared Howard, without 
 doing so. 
 
 The Viceroy opened his eyes. *' A re- 
 legation to your regiment to learn discipline 
 will be endorsed on your Memorial, Mr 
 Howard." 
 
 " Unfortunately, your Excellency will be 
 too late to benefit me," said Howard, turn- 
 ing to retire, " for I have no intention of 
 continuing further under your Excellency's 
 authority or control." 
 
 He was in the act of working off a final 
 salute when the secretary ejected him and 
 shut the door. He might figuratively have
 
 lo A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 been said to have been chucked out — of 
 course with the due etiquette demanded by 
 the Viceregal Presence. 
 
 Cramming his helmet on his head, 
 he strode through the ante-halls, crowded 
 with native chupprassis and orderlies, 
 gorgeous in their scarlet liveries and 
 magnificent in their deportment, as be- 
 fitted the decorative fringe of Viceregality. 
 He was bubbling up with wrath and indig- 
 nation, and choking over the swift and 
 ignominious termination of that audience 
 on which he had based everything, as a 
 gambler does on his last stake. For a man 
 who memorialises the Viceroy, over the head 
 of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province 
 he belongs to, has, at least, a personal con- 
 viction of the justice of his cause. 
 
 Howard did not allow himself to think. 
 He knew, without thinking, he had crossed 
 the Rubicon and burnt his boats. He had, 
 in vulgar parlance, but in a polite way, 
 ** cheeked " the representative of his 
 Sovereign. You cannot cheek a Viceroy, 
 and come off scathless — unless he has a 
 very sound sense of humour. 
 
 There was only one course for Howard
 
 A GOD AND SOME LITTLE FISHES ii 
 
 to follow — to send in his papers. It meant 
 the absolute shipwreck of a career that, six 
 months before, had seemed as bright and 
 promising as any young officer's in India, 
 until that fatal promotion which placed him 
 under Badger — a Government official who 
 represented in his person all the vulgarity 
 and social nausea the Competitive System 
 introduces into State appointments 
 
 But more than Howard's material pros- 
 perity was affected by his ill-considered 
 conduct. The possession of private means, 
 moderate, but sufficient for his own bachelor 
 needs, had enabled him to air his independ- 
 ence in preference to stifling his pride. That 
 is often a grateful and comforting thing : 
 but sometimes it has its contingent disadvan- 
 tages. As in this case. For Howard was 
 engaged to be married, and now he had to 
 communicate the result of his appeal to the 
 Viceroy to Edith Ponsonby. This in itself 
 did not cause him much anxiety ; for he 
 believed her to be as true as most men 
 believe the girls they love ; but he had also 
 to communicate with Edith Ponsonby's 
 mother, which caused him to quail a little. 
 
 ** I wonder what Mrs Ponsonby will
 
 12 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 say?" was Howard's question to himself as 
 he sat down to write the necessary letters. 
 
 A little reflection and he might have 
 saved himself the speculation. There was 
 only one thing she could say, being a lady 
 with twenty years' experience of Indian 
 society, and a perfect appreciation of the 
 social, financial, and prospective value of 
 every branch, and every grade, of the 
 Government Service. 
 
 A young man without any ladder to climb 
 was a very different parti from one whose 
 foot was on the first rung that leads to the 
 rich prizes of that most prized of all 
 departments of State — the Political. 
 
 There was only one logical reply 
 possible. A young man who " in a fit of 
 pique could act with such folly " suggested 
 prospects Mrs Ponsonby could not contem- 
 plate without serious alarm for her daughter. 
 Mr Howard had wrecked his career, and 
 the engagement must be broken off. 
 
 And from Edith Ponsonby herself no 
 letter at all ! Perhaps she was not altogether 
 to blame for that, her mother being a strong- 
 minded lady. But her silence gave Howard 
 the cruellest cut of all.
 
 A GOD AND SOME LITTLE FISHES 13 
 
 His papers had been sent in. It only- 
 needed the formal sanction of publication in 
 the Gazette to retire him into private life. 
 For a week he was wracked and tormented, 
 and could find no repose of mind. The 
 regret that comes too late, the repentance 
 that misses the psychological moment, made 
 his life a misery. Whispers, too, were 
 getting abroad : '* the whole world was against 
 him," as it always seems to be against a man 
 who is jilted. Cold looks and cold shoulders 
 were his portion at the club, where half a 
 dozen men had already glanced askance at 
 him. "Young ass," "Cut his own throat," 
 were fragments of conversation he had over- 
 heard. And at all times he really began to 
 feel a young ass, and sometimes a suspicion 
 came to him that he would not mind cutting 
 his own throat. 
 
 ** I will book my passage and go back to 
 England," was the determination that came 
 to him one morning ; but the next he had 
 swept it aside. England was no place for 
 him now — at least, not until he had done 
 something to re-establish himself. There 
 would be people asking questions there, 
 as weir as here. He wanted to get out of
 
 14 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 the way, out of sight, out of mind, until fools 
 ceased to be curious about this cursed busi- 
 ness and stopped their inquisitorial cackling. 
 
 It was in this frame of mind that some 
 stray reference in one of the papers to 
 Central Asia — that portion of it which lies 
 north of India — set his mind speculating on 
 those snows and solitudes. Love of sport 
 was strong in Howard. The joys of the 
 jungle and the pleasures of the plain had 
 ever appealed to him ; and to bag an ibex or 
 ovis ammon had been as great an object of 
 his ambition as to plant himself in a Political 
 Resident's chair, or append his name to a 
 State Treaty. 
 
 Shooting and Exploration — they would 
 form a panacaea for his troubles ; they would 
 enable him to forget a fickle woman and an 
 act of folly, and carry him into scenes and 
 surroundings where, amidst the breathless 
 joys of sport, he would soon learn to smile at 
 what he had suffered at the hands — Ye gods 
 and little fishes ! — at the hands of Viceroys 
 and private secretaries, of spinsters and 
 tailors.
 
 CHAPTER I I 
 
 (< 
 
 >> 
 
 SHIKARI GOTCH 
 
 All roads lead to Rome, but practically only 
 one to Lahoul, Ladak and Yarkand, in the 
 heart of Asia — and that road crosses the Hima- 
 layas, fifteen thousand feet above the level 
 of the sea, by way of the Rotang Pass. For 
 two-thirds of the year the Pass is a contra- 
 diction in term, being impassable. During 
 the four summer months you may scurry 
 over, at your peril, before lo a.m. and after 
 4 p.m. Those are its working hours, when 
 there rush and whirl through it violent gusts 
 and eddies of icy, killing wind, with such 
 irresistible fury that human life cannot sur- 
 vive under the deadly blast. A simoom of 
 sand is less fatal than the cyclone of snow 
 which rages here. 
 
 The Pass runs through a narrow gullet or 
 slot which Nature has chiselled, more than 
 a mile deep, into the granite barrier that 
 hedges in India on the north — a barrier to 
 which the great Wall of China is but a sort 
 
 15
 
 i6 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 of " keep off the grass " netting. On either 
 side of the Pass perpendicular cliffs, tower- 
 ing many thousands of feet, rear up until 
 they are lost in the cloud canopy overhead. 
 For two miles the .rough narrow track runs 
 like a funnel, grooved deep through the 
 mountains. Two miles of inky shadow, of 
 appalling stillness (if the wind is down) and 
 of a sharp, keen atmosphere that pierces the 
 gasping lungs like a rapier. And to the 
 traveller hurrying through there is ever 
 present the perpetual terror that the icy 
 cyclone may suddenly rise, and rave, and 
 hoot and screech, and sweep the fatal passage 
 clear of every living thing. 
 
 Although ordinarily punctual in its peculi- 
 arities, during the four short months the 
 Pass is open the Rotang is not without its 
 vagaries, and occasionally in the summer, 
 for three or four days at a stretch, rages like 
 a raving maniac. Then all the weather- 
 bound traveller can do is to sit patiently at 
 its feet and wait for the hurricane to expend 
 itself. Which it does, after whitewashing 
 the precipices with granulated snow,- and, 
 mayhap, chalking some "death returns" on 
 the roadway.
 
 "SHIKARI" GOTCH 17 
 
 It happened on a certain day in the month 
 of June succeeding the events related in the 
 last chapter, that a couple of tents were 
 pitched on the southern slope of the hill 
 leading to the Rotang Pass. They belonged 
 to Howard, who had arrived three days 
 before to find the Pass closed by one of the 
 periodical blizzards, and was waiting patiently 
 for a change in the weather and a chance to 
 snick over into Central Asia. 
 
 And here, to his surprise, late one after- 
 noon another traveller and sportsman turned 
 up. He introduced himself as Godfrey Gotch 
 — " Shikari Gotch — you may have heard of 
 me? I write about shooting in the Field 
 and the Asian." 
 
 He was an ex-official in the Woods and 
 Forests Department, who had resigned the 
 Service because he was appointed to a district 
 in which there was no sport. 
 
 This independence of spirit appealed to 
 Howard in his present state of mind, which 
 may be briefly described as "dead against 
 all governments." To find a man who, like 
 himself, had "chucked the Service" suited 
 him to the ground. A community of griev- 
 ance draws men quicker and closer together 
 
 B
 
 i8 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 than a single umbrella in a shower of 
 rain. 
 
 "Of course I've heard of you," said 
 Howard. " Read no end of your articles on 
 shooting, and I am delighted to meet you in 
 the flesh." 
 
 After the manner of Englishmen meeting 
 unexpectedly in Central Asia, Africa, South 
 America, or Australia, Howard and Gotch 
 had fraternised, and established a commune 
 under canvas. You have but to find yourself 
 in Thibet, or Uganda, or up the Amazon, or 
 amidst sand and spinifex to realise how 
 easily that is done. 
 
 Done without thought or consideration, as 
 in this instance. Done from the gregari- 
 ous instinct of mankind. Done with that 
 spontaneous hospitality that prompts a man 
 with a lantern, on a black night, to play the 
 Good Samaritan to some luckless wight bark- 
 ing his shins in the dark. And, it may be 
 parenthetically mentioned, the arrangement 
 was considerably in favour of Gotch, whose 
 camp equipage, carried by coolies, and con- 
 sisting apparently of iron bars and wooden 
 frames, was Spartan in its simplicity compared 
 to Howard's snug Kabul tent and servant's
 
 "SHIKARI" GOTCH 19 
 
 " pal," and his six baggage mules — the whole 
 constituting the nearest approach to luxury 
 that the roads, the region, and his own 
 tolerably easy resources permitted. 
 
 Sunset found the two men thus strangely 
 met and mated sitting down to dinner. In 
 twenty minutes, with the swift chill that clings 
 to the skirts of night in Himalayan altitudes, 
 the thermometer had fallen to forty degrees. 
 Outside the tent a camp fire crackled and 
 glowed, and, when dinner was over, invited 
 an adjournment to its seductive warmth. 
 
 *' Go and make yourself comfortable, Gotch, 
 whilst I give Flirt her dinner," said Howard, 
 as he proceeded to make a dainty collection 
 of scraps from the plates for his little fox 
 terrier, and while she ate it patted and 
 fondled her with a tenderness that told of 
 affection reciprocated. 
 
 Two seats were the complement of the 
 tent — a comfortable deck chair and a 
 businesslike camp stool. Gotch dragged 
 the former to the fire, and proceeded to 
 spread himself out horizontally, without the 
 slightest diffidence or apology for appropriat- 
 ing the only comfortable lounge. 
 
 Howard joined him a moment later, after
 
 20 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 enveloping himself in a huge ulster great- 
 coat, within the capacious folds of which 
 Flirt very contentedly nestled, as her master 
 balanced himself on the camp stool, and, 
 lighting a cigar, handed his case to his 
 companion. 
 
 "And so you are in search of a snow- 
 leopard ? " he observed. " I've heard of such 
 a beast, but I did not know they were catch- 
 able." 
 
 " Every wild beast can be caught by a 
 trapper who has studied their ways," said 
 Gotch. " I've spent fifteen years of my life 
 circumventing the beasts of the jungle." 
 
 - Who for ? " 
 
 " Who for not ? All the Zoos in Europe 
 to begin with. Haifa dozen private collec- 
 tions to go on with. And for old Shadrach, 
 the wild beast dealer, when there was no one 
 who paid better. I have supplied him with 
 no end of stuff. Twenty-seven live tigers, 
 to order, for instance. But tigers don't pay 
 nowadays ; you can pick them up out of 
 the advertisement colums of the Pioneer. 
 They are a drug on the market." 
 
 " And a snow-leopard ? " 
 
 '• Ah, that's a different thing. No wild
 
 "SHIKARI" GOTCH 21 
 
 beast collection in the world that I know of 
 possesses one. It is the about rarest, most 
 fierce and most beautiful creature that exists. 
 Its pelt is worth a hundred guineas. The 
 Czar of Russia has a cloak of fabulous value 
 lined with snow-leopard's fur. It was given 
 him by the Emperor of China. That is how 
 my little job got started." 
 
 " Indeed. This sounds interesting. I 
 should like to hear more about your little 
 job." 
 
 " Well, I daresay it is worth hearing 
 about. And, perhaps, I don't mind telling 
 you. But, of course, business is business. 
 I'm a trader as well as a trapper. We are 
 both going into the same ground. If I tell 
 you what I am after, and why — you might 
 go after it too. And that would spoil my 
 market." 
 
 Howard gave a laugh, " I've never done 
 a stroke of trade in my life, and spoiling 
 markets is not in my line. I'm a sportsman 
 out for sport." 
 
 " Good man. I wish I could afford to be. 
 But I am out on strict biz. Look here. 
 Suppose we make a bundobast — a bargain, 
 and then I'll tell you the strangest story that
 
 22 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 you ever heard, camped out ten thousand 
 feet above sea level." 
 
 ** Let's hear the bundobast ? " 
 
 " You are after ibex, you tell me. The 
 snow-leopard lives on the ibex ground. It 
 is just possible you may come across one 
 out shooting. And by George, coming 
 across a snow-leopard sometimes means 
 coming across its cubs. Suppose you give 
 me the firm refusal for cash of all or any live 
 cub or cubs you may bag ? An off chance, 
 you know ? " 
 
 " Right you are." 
 
 ** Name your price." 
 
 "Oh, I'll leave that to you." 
 
 *' Well — shall we call it one hundred 
 rupees a cub } " 
 
 "Call it that." 
 
 " Done with you. Mind it's puccaJ' 
 
 '* There'll be n.o crying off." 
 
 "Good. Then I'll book it. Business is 
 business. And bets and bargains should 
 always be booked red-hot." Saying which, 
 Gotch very gravely unbuttoned his sheep- 
 skin coat, and drew out an old pocket-book, 
 on a blank page of which he proceeded to 
 write, —
 
 "SHIKARI" GOTCH 23 
 
 '' If the undersigned happens to capture one 
 or more snow-leopards^ he hereby binds him- 
 self to give Godfrey Gotch the absolute option 
 of purchasing them at rupees one hundred 
 each."" 
 
 " Just sign that as a matter of form," said 
 Gotch, handing Howard the open page. 
 
 The latter read it through with a tickled 
 twinkle in his eye. '* Your'e an original 
 character," he said, taking a side view of 
 Gotch's long, lean face, with its wispy, 
 unkempt, brindled beard, and its sly, slanting 
 eyes. " ' If I catch one, or more, snow- 
 leopards' — if I keddah a wild white elephant 
 — if I kidnap the Cham of Tartary. Well, if 
 — "he italicised the "if," good humouredly 
 scrawled his name under the writing, and 
 tossed the book back to its owner. 
 
 " You're out for sport," said Gotch, soberly, 
 not omitting to scrutinise the signature, 
 "and I'm out for business. Trade is trade. 
 I never let a chance slide. I've lived twenty 
 years in the jungles, and in hunting it is 
 oftener than not that the shot you never 
 dreamt of comes to you. So I always 
 insure against the unexpected, and keep 
 my gun loaded till I reach camp."
 
 24 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 " That's right enough," responded 
 Howard, amused rather than annoyed at his 
 companion's idiosyncrasy. "Good sound 
 hunter's craft, I don't doubt. And as you 
 have taken the precaution to book my co- 
 operation, and have the call of my snow- 
 leopards, fire ahead with your yarn."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PEARL OF THE SNOWS 
 
 " It is a queer and difficult contract I've 
 taken up," began Gotch. "I'm working, 
 directly or indirectly, for the three richest 
 kings in the world." 
 
 He paused and rubbed his lean hands 
 together, and heaved a sumptuous sigh. 
 
 " That's good," interjected Howard. 
 " How does it happen?" 
 
 "In this way. About six weeks ago I 
 was calling on Shadrach, the wild beast 
 dealer, down by the docks in London — 
 took - home a consignment of poisonous 
 snakes for him — and he asked me if I 
 would undertake a tough job in mountain 
 country. 
 
 ** I told him I had no objection, provided 
 there was money in it. And then he said 
 he wanted a live snow-leopard. 
 
 " Well, that seemed a pretty tall order. 
 Old Shadrach, I could see, was jolly keen 
 
 25
 
 26 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 about it. So I asked him who the beast 
 was for, but devil a bit would he let on. 
 I pretended I didn't care, and inquired 
 casually what he was prepared to give. He 
 answered * Two hundred and fifty pounds 
 for a healthy specimen, delivered alive on 
 board ship at Bombay.' 
 
 "It was evident the old fellow had a 
 fat commission up his sleeve. And it 
 occurred to me that if I could get to head- 
 quarters it would pay better. So I told him 
 that of course I could supply what he 
 wanted, but two hundred and fifty pounds 
 would not cover expenses. All the same 
 I thanked him for the tip, and thought I'd 
 have a try on my own account to get the 
 beast, and chance my market. 
 
 *• Now, Shadrach knows I'm in touch with 
 all the Zoos in Europe, and he saw I should 
 soon ferret out his principals. 
 
 " So he offered to go halves with me 
 if I would undertake the business. Of 
 course I couldn't do that without knowing 
 all about it. Not such a damned fool. He 
 hum'd and ha'd a bit, and at last came out 
 with it. 
 
 " It seems that about a year ago the
 
 THE PEARL OF THE SNOWS 27 
 
 Emperor of China presented the Czar of 
 Russia with a cloak lined with snow- 
 leopard's fur. The Czarina took a monstrous 
 fancy to this lining, and, Empress-like, 
 wanted a live snow-leopard. The sort 
 of whim a woman takes, like wanting the 
 moon — and when that woman happens to be 
 the wife of a Czar, it has got to be attended 
 to. The Czar gave an order that a snow- 
 leopard should be obtained at any cost, and 
 a circular was sent to all the Russian 
 ambassadors, ministers and consuls in 
 Asia to procure one. 
 
 ** Amongst others to the Russian Minister 
 at Teheran, who mentioned it to the Shah 
 of Persia during an audience. It was one 
 of those out-of-the-way requests that appeal 
 to the Oriental imagination. But what gave 
 it a special importance was the fact that 
 here was something the Czar wanted — 
 personally. Anyone could stuff him out 
 with diamonds, and Arab horses, and furs, 
 and all those sorts of things that the kings 
 who rule on the Russian frontiers are 
 accustomed to present to the Despot of the 
 North. But the gift of a live snow-leopard 
 was something it would be hard to duplicate.
 
 28 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Something practically unique. Something 
 that was as good as asked for. 
 
 " Now, between the Shah of Persia and 
 the Sultan of Turkey there has been a long- 
 standing dispute about their boundary in 
 Asia Minor, just where it adjoins the Black 
 Sea and the Caspian. And in this dispute, 
 by the natural order of things, it is bang 
 sure the Czar must come to be arbitrator. 
 You know what the Oriental mind is ? ' Give 
 and get. Don't give and go without' 
 From Constantinople to China backsheesh is 
 God. You can't backsheesh a Czar : but if 
 you can get him something he particularly 
 wants, and which it is improbable anyone 
 else can supply, it comes to pretty near the 
 same thing. 
 
 " It was the Prime Minister of Persia who 
 realised this, and gave the Shah the tip, 
 who determined to act on it. He sent 
 agents to the Chiefs in the Hindoo Koosh, 
 north of Afghanistan, commissioning them to 
 snare a snow-leopard for him at any cost. 
 
 " Naturally, this came to the ears of the 
 Sultan. Those two kings have a system of 
 espionage that beats the French and German 
 Secret Services hollow. The Sultan decided
 
 THE PEARL OF THE SNOWS 29 
 
 he must have a snow-leopard before the 
 Shah. Snow-leopards go up in the market. 
 Shadrach is the largest wild beast dealer in 
 the world, and an agent from the Turkish 
 Embassy visits him, and gives him an open 
 commission to obtain a live specimen of this 
 beast. 
 
 " Twenty-four hours later, down comes an 
 agent from the Persian legation, saying the 
 Kinpf of king's wants ' The Pearl of the 
 Snows,' which was his flowery language for 
 a snow-leopard. Expense no object. But 
 must have it. Shadrach books both orders. 
 
 " And there you have the biz in a nutshell 
 — two of the richest kings in the world 
 bidding against each other for a rarity which 
 is to obtain for the successful chap the favour 
 of the Czar in an arbitration over a disputed 
 boundary. Very ridiculous and very venal, 
 but likewise very Oriental and very true. 
 
 " I told Shadrach I would think his offer 
 over, and let him hear from me ; and, in the 
 process of doing so (as I was returning to 
 India), I came out by way of Constantinople. 
 
 "What happened there I am not going to 
 tell you, beyond that I arranged matters 
 satisfactorily for myself. This is June. By
 
 30 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 the 31st of December I have got to land a 
 snow-leopard alive at the Golden Horn, and 
 I am going to do it." 
 
 "And what about Shadrach ? " asked 
 Howard. 
 
 ' Oh, Shadrach is not in it now," answered 
 Gotch, airily. "You see, he wanted to sweat 
 me. I was to have all the risk, danger and 
 expense, and he to sneak half the profit. 
 That's not treating a trader fair. I wrote and 
 told him so, after I had landed in India, 
 and advised him to engage someone else." 
 
 " But, hang it, he gave you the tip." 
 
 " More fool he. I didn't ask him for it. 
 And to go and offer me only two hundred and 
 fifty pounds — " 
 
 " Better than a hundred rupees anyway," 
 interrupted Howard. 
 
 "Ah, that's different. You are on the 
 spot. It does not put you to any expense. 
 And, besides, I asked you to name your 
 own price, didn't I ? You might have 
 asked five thousand dibs. But with me 
 it's different. I have come up here specially 
 for this job. Suppose I fail, or the Shah of 
 Persia gets a specimen down from the 
 Hindoo Koosh first — where am I } Why, I
 
 THE PEARL OF THE SNOWS 31 
 
 shall have lost eight months' income. But 
 you don't stand to lose anything. You took 
 up a sporting offer, like the sportsman I see 
 you are, and I know you'll stick to it. You 
 don't think I'd have given myself away 
 otherwise, do you ? " 
 
 '• Oh, you're quite safe with me," laughed 
 Howard. " But if you secure the beast, 
 how are you going to carry it along ? " 
 
 "I've got three collapsing cages with me. 
 Had them made especially in Bombay. 
 Teak wood and steel bars. Fold up flat till 
 they're wanted." 
 
 '"First catch your hare,' the cookery-book 
 says." 
 
 " Improvident advice. If your oven isn't 
 ready, when does dinner come in ? " 
 
 " How are you going to set to work ? " 
 
 "Well, I'm turning it over. Lahoul is 
 the natural home of these beasts. Unfor- 
 tunately, they are nocturnal animals, and 
 very seldom seen in the day* But when 
 the Gadhis or nomad shepherds are 
 crossing with their flocks, as they are doing 
 now, the snow-leopards give over hunting 
 ibex high up, and come down lower to 
 prey on the sheep. That is what I am
 
 32 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 chiefly depending on. I shall offer a reward 
 to any shepherd who will bring me news of 
 a kill. I've got noose nets, spring nets 
 and a cage trap. If I can track a beast to 
 its cave I'll smoke it out ; or snare it, with 
 a kid or a dog, in a dropping-door cage. 
 All leopards and panthers are death on 
 dogs — you had better look out for that little 
 fox terrier of yours," and Gotch pointed to 
 Flirt, the tip of whose nose was peeping 
 from the folds of Howard's ulster. 
 '• Finally, there is a chance of finding cubs, 
 for this is the breeding season. I'm bound 
 to come through all right, one way or 
 the other. If I can only track a leopard to 
 its lair, leave me to catch it by hook or by 
 crook." 
 
 " You're sanguine," observed Howard. 
 
 *' Well, perhaps I've a right to be. I'm 
 the only man who has circumvented and 
 trapped the maneless lion of Kattywar. I 
 netted a male in the forests of Junaghur, 
 and it is in the London Zoo now. There 
 are few men who can set a net, or fling 
 one, better than I can. I haven't lived in 
 the forests with the Bheels and Naiks for 
 nothing. Only that was in the plains, and
 
 THE PEARL OF THE SNOWS 33 
 
 this is up here. I don't like the distances 
 and the cHmbing. A man can't tramp 
 the whole of Lahoul — cursed if he can. 
 And there are so few villages in these 
 parts to get news from. If it wasn't 
 for these shepherds I should shy off. But 
 you'll see — I'll have hundreds of eyes 
 speering for me, and when once a beast 
 is marked down — home — I'll have it pop 
 sure." 
 
 "You have undertaken a pretty tough 
 contract." 
 
 Gotch winked his eye. It was of a light 
 brown colour, very like a wild animal's. 
 *' And I've a pretty tough payment on 
 account in my pocket. When the Sultan 
 is spending for himself, he doesn't choke at 
 a cipher. The price of snow-leopards is 
 riz," declared Godfrey, with satisfaction, 
 "and I've got ten per cent, for expenses, 
 which will see me along." 
 
 "You don't seem doubtful of catching it?" 
 
 " I'm going to catch it," said Gotch, with 
 
 calm confidence. " I've never hunted a wild 
 
 beast yet, from rhino to ravine deer, that 
 
 I didn't bag. This snow-leopard will be 
 
 as good as a pension for life to me. Three 
 
 c
 
 34 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 kings coveting it. Man, it's the finest 
 chance any trapper in the whole wide world 
 ever had. And if the Shah doesn't get one 
 from the Hindoo Koosh I'm going to work 
 him and the bally old Sultan against one 
 another." 
 
 " But you have already received an ad- 
 vance from the Sultan ? " 
 
 ''Oh, I'll refund that. My goods go to 
 the best market — the one that bids the 
 most. That's trade." 
 
 Howard made no reply. He realised he 
 had stumbled across a rather rough diamond, 
 not to call him a sharp crystal. 
 
 " And now where have you come from ? " 
 asked Gotch. 
 
 " From Simla." 
 
 '* In the Service? " 
 
 " I was in the Political Department, but I 
 resigned." 
 
 Gotch turned his eyes round and expressed 
 his surprise with a whistle. 
 
 "Nibbling the loaves and fishes? Gad, 
 there is money to be made in the Political 
 Department. Christmas boxes all the year 
 round. I wouldn't have chucked that. 
 Damn it — no ! "
 
 THE PEARL OF THE SNOWS 35 
 
 The younger man shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "Ah, I see," said Gotch, with a con- 
 founded air of discovery. "A woman in 
 the case, of course ? " 
 
 Howard lowered Flirt from his lap and 
 rose from the camp stool. " I think," he 
 said, without replying to the question, "it 
 is time to turn in." 
 
 "Oh, hold on a minute! I'd like another 
 whack of that whisky," and with ludicrous 
 eagerness Gotch rose and replenished his 
 glass. " This sort of liquor doesn't travel 
 far. If I had a case of 'green-seal ' I'd give 
 it about twelve marches. But I never 
 carry luxuries about with me out in 
 camp." 
 
 " I'm glad you appreciate it," said 
 Howard, wishing that the appreciation ex- 
 tended to the decent conservancy of an 
 article that could not be obtained any- 
 where within three hundred miles, and of 
 which his stock was rigorously limited. 
 
 "Well— here's to Her. And better luck 
 next time," was the form of toast Gotch 
 considered appropriate. 
 
 "Confound it!" ejaculated Howard, 
 *' drink your peg without any toasts."
 
 36 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 And turning round abruptly, he walked 
 to the edge of the little plateau on which 
 the tent was pitched. 
 
 "Good-night," shouted the irrepressible 
 Gotch. " It's fining up and we shall be 
 able to get over the Pass to-morrow, I 
 think." And without more ado he turned 
 up the huge collar of his sheep-skin choga, 
 or coat, over his ears, and slipping his 
 feet and legs into a sheepskin bag, settled 
 himself to sleep with the unconcern of a 
 man who has passed many nights under 
 the stars. 
 
 " Better luck next time," sighed Howard, 
 mechanically, to himself, as he looked at 
 the young setting moon. 
 
 He was thinking of Edith Ponsonby. 
 
 "Flirt," he cried suddenly, "you're 
 worth a thousand of her. You at least 
 are faithful and true to me." 
 
 He snatched the dog up, and rubbed 
 his face against its head. " I don't want 
 any companion but you, Flirt. There is 
 no calculation in your affection. It is the 
 man, not his appointment, that you are 
 attached to. These Indian spins — they 
 marry appointments."
 
 THE PEARL OF THE SNOWS 37 
 
 He turned and looked towards the hills 
 behind him. 
 
 '* And our appointment, Flirt, is over 
 there. India lies behind us. So hurrah 
 for Central Asia ! "
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 INTO WILD LAHOUL 
 
 The shivering dawn found the camp struck, 
 the mules loaded, and Howard and Gotch 
 climbing the Rotang. 
 
 The Pass lay four thousand feet above 
 them. The path leading to it had been 
 carved and scarped out of the mountain-side, 
 up which it zig-zagged, presenting an 
 Observation Point at every turn. When 
 the sun rose and painted the snowy peaks 
 with warm and tender tints, relieved with 
 blue and purple shadows, it added the charm 
 of contrast and colouring to the cold aloof 
 snowdrifts and glaciers. It was a scene to 
 impress the human mind with the Infinite. 
 
 Thousands of feet below, the valley of the 
 Beas River wound in and out, now widening, 
 now narrowing, through ravines and gorges 
 draped with forests of graceful pine and 
 majestic deodars. Patches of emerald green 
 denoted the little hamlets hanging on the 
 
 38
 
 INTO WILD LAHOUL 39 
 
 hill-sides. Flocks of sheep, straggling up 
 towards the Pass on their annual migration, 
 dotted the grassy slopes of the lower hills. 
 More beautiful than an oasis in a desert 
 smiled this sinuous green valley, nestling up 
 amongst its bleak surroundings of grey 
 steeps, rugged rocks and snow-clad moun- 
 tains. It was a finger of fertile India thrust 
 into the arid heart of Asia. The range 
 which the Rotang Pass crossed marked the 
 utmost limit of the monsoon current. 
 Against these mighty walls the storm-clouds 
 flung themselves, and then rolled sullenly 
 back, scattering their precious blessings over 
 the peninsular. Beyond them lay the rain- 
 less region — treeless, stony, barren, and 
 deserted, but for the few hardy inhabitants 
 who clustered in small communities by the 
 rivers that flowed through this drear waste, 
 feeding the Indus with the melting drainage 
 of the Great Divide. 
 
 In the bustle of striking camp, hurrying 
 the servants, loading the mules, and collect- 
 ing coolies, the little over-night contretemps 
 had been obliterated, and Howard found 
 himself interested in his companion. Shikari 
 Gotch was a name well known to Indian
 
 40 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 sportsmen, for he was an authority on big 
 game shooting. His articles in the Field 
 and the Asian had secured for him a news- 
 paper reputation. He had hunted in 
 Kashmir and Gharwal, shot in the Terai 
 and jungles of Central India ; and from 
 Sinde to Assam, from Gilgit to the Neil- 
 gherries, there was not a branch of Indian 
 sport he was unacquainted with. He was a 
 hunter and trapper by profession, and a 
 trader by the light of nature. One of the 
 most lucrative branches of his business was 
 to supply English cold-weather shooting 
 parties with " spoils." He was a dead 
 shot, and shot purely as a matter of 
 business. So long as horn or hide of beast, 
 or feather or spray of bird, paid a profit on 
 powder and shot, he would slaughter it ; but 
 if it did not pay he preferred to save his 
 cartridges. To him cartridges were a sort 
 of coin, and each one had to be accounted 
 for. And very thrifty he was of the 
 currency. 
 
 These characteristics were not yet known 
 to Howard, who, as they toiled up the hill 
 together, was glad to avail himself of Gotch's 
 knowledge of Himalayan sport, and dip into
 
 INTO WILD LAHOUL 41 
 
 him as he would into a vade mecum ; and 
 Gotch, who thoroughly appreciated Howard's 
 style of travelling, particularly his whisky 
 and his cigars, assumed the bonhomie of a 
 fellow - sportsman, and discounted future 
 hospitality by the cheap method of paying 
 for it in advance with sporting hints and tips. 
 Given a man who wants and values your 
 advice, and you may reckon on much 
 hospitality from him, whether it be a 
 champagne lunch in the vicinity of the Stock 
 Exchange, or "green-seal" and Flor-de- 
 favas on the confines of Central Asia. 
 " Give and get " sometimes applies in the 
 West as in the East — especially if you are 
 giving to the stomach and getting from the 
 brain. 
 
 As it happened, a couple of incidents on 
 the road depicted Gotch in the spirit better 
 than any laboured description could do. A 
 little while after leaving camp a musk deer 
 broke from the ravine and crossed their path. 
 Howard, who carried a rifle, bowled it over 
 with a clever shot, as it paused for just a 
 second. A coolie was despatched to bring 
 the carcass, and no sooner had it arrived 
 than Gotch cut off the musk pod, and slipped
 
 42 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 it into his pocket, observing quite casually, 
 " This no good to you." 
 
 The bristly skin being useless, the pod 
 was the only valuable part of the deer, con- 
 taining as it did the secretion of musk whose 
 sickly scent is so fascinating to the Oriental 
 olfactory sense. It is worth, in fact, twenty 
 or thirty rupees in any Indian bazaar. 
 Howard, out of curiosity, asked what it was. 
 
 "Oh, something the natives use as 
 medicine," was all the enlightenment Gotch 
 afforded him. 
 
 A little later they flushed some partridges, 
 and although it was the close season, Gotch 
 walked the birds up and secured three. 
 
 " I say," expostulated Howard, " you 
 ought not to be shooting partridges in 
 June?" 
 
 "Pooh! They are good for the pot. 
 And the beggars here are charging sixpence 
 apiece for fowls in the villages. I call it a 
 rank swindle! But a cartridge only costs 
 twopence," was Gotch's reply, which to his 
 mind was conclusively logical and satis- 
 factory. 
 
 By eight o'clock they had reached the 
 entrance of the Pass. Snow still lay on
 
 INTO WILD LAHOUL 43 
 
 the ground, and the rarefied atmosphere made 
 them pant painfully as they struggled up the 
 last few hundred yards. But there was no 
 time to halt. If once the wind arose, it 
 would mean putting back. So the mules 
 were loaded up, the coolies hustled along, 
 and they began the passage. 
 
 It was early in the season and the road — 
 to allow it that name — had not been trampled 
 smooth by the feet of sheep. Here and 
 there the drifts of snow were still deep. 
 High above, on either side, reared pre- 
 cipices, throwing the Pass into sombre 
 shadow. The air struck chill, and they 
 caught their breath, and once or twice 
 halted for a minute or two, to shelter in the 
 caves, of which there were several in the 
 sides of the cliffs. 
 
 Many bones lay scattered about, and 
 Gotch pointed to them. 
 
 " Two hundred men lost their lives here 
 one day in a blizzard that bottled them in," 
 he said, " and I don't suppose there is a 
 more deadly place in the whole of the 
 Himalayas." It was not a cheerful obser- 
 vation ; but then Gotch was not cheerful, 
 only commercial.
 
 44 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Half way through the Pass one of the 
 coolies carrying Gotch's " kitchen-box 
 stumbled and fell. Gotch insisted on open- 
 ing it to see if any damage had been done, 
 and found a teacup broken. 
 
 "What's the price of teacups on the top 
 of the Rotang Pass ? " he asked Howard. 
 
 "Twopence-halfpenny," replied Howard, 
 jocularly, treating the broken fragments to a 
 kick. 
 
 " Twopence - ha'penny. Hang it all, I'll 
 give you a rupee for one ! " exclaimed 
 Gotch in a burst of extravagance. 
 
 *' I haven't one to spare, or you should 
 have it." 
 
 *' There you are. You haven't one to 
 spare ! Why does a bottle of beer cost a 
 guinea on newly - discovered goldfields ? 
 Because there's none to spare. Demand 
 and supply rule prices. The fortunate 
 man with teacups to sell can corner the 
 market on the Rotang Pass." 
 
 Howard could not make out what Gotch 
 was driving at, but imagined he was ex- 
 ploiting some joke too profound to follow. 
 But he chanced to learn a few days later 
 that his companion had fined the poor
 
 INTO WILD LAHOUL 45 
 
 wretch of a coolie who had met with the 
 accident four days' wages — which amounted 
 to exactly a rupee — for breaking his tea- 
 cup. Of such was Gotch. 
 
 It was a toilsome two miles, but they 
 were lucky enough to make the passage 
 without even a nip of wind on their noses, 
 and very glad to call a halt on the further 
 side under the lee of a rock. Breakfast 
 was ordered, and Shere Ali Khan, Howard's 
 kkattsamak, with the marvellous adapta- 
 bility of Indian servants, soon had a 
 substantial banquet of chops, eggs, and 
 curry and rice ready. 
 
 And now they had an opportunity of 
 looking into wild Lahoul, which to the 
 north stretched beneath them like a 
 panorama. It was a new and strange 
 scene that burst on their vision. The 
 green valleys, the forested mountains, the 
 sheep-dotted slopes, the smiling farms and 
 cornfields of the southern side of the 
 range — India, in short, had been left 
 behind. Before them stretched nothing to 
 gladden the heart of anyone save a Sports- 
 man or an Explorer. 
 
 As far as eye could reach a monstrous
 
 46 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 cataclysm of rock and broken ground, of 
 ice and snow, tumbled and jumbled. 
 Ridges, and crags, and precipices ; hills 
 piled on hills ; humps and hollows ; gorges 
 and ravines ; glaciers and snowdrifts ; a 
 relievo map, natural size, on which they 
 could look down. It was Lahoul — the 
 barren, inhospitable, pitiless, waterless, 
 wild waste of icy Lahoul. 
 
 Conceive some vast paleocrystic ocean 
 in storm, whose lashing waves had been 
 caught, as they reared aloft, and frozen, 
 but on a Titanic scale, and you may faintly 
 realise the grandeur and ruggedness of the 
 scene that met their gaze. 
 
 " So this is Central Asia ! " exclaimed 
 Howard. 
 
 "The home of the snow-leopard," was 
 Gotch's conception. 
 
 Below them, almost as a plummet drops, 
 the River Chandra swirled in flood, charged 
 and discoloured with the silt of avalanches 
 that turned its turgid torrent brown. Like 
 a snake it wriggled and squeezed through 
 gloomy narrow chasms, deep hid beneath 
 cliffs : chasms into which the sun could 
 only penetrate for two or three short hours
 
 INTO WILD LAHOUL 47 
 
 in the day. Opposite — perhaps ten miles 
 as the crow flies — a vast glacier spread its 
 gleaming surface, its dazzle more trying 
 to the eye than the mirage of the tropical 
 desert. And everywhere ice and snow — 
 ice and snow. 
 
 "Fine ibex ground," observed Gotch, 
 as he took stock of the sterile scene, *'and 
 there'll be good grazing in another week 
 or ten days." He nipped off a little bud 
 of bluish-coloured herbage, and showed it 
 to Howard. " There is no grass like that 
 in the world for fattening sheep, or tempt- 
 ing ibex into the lower ground. A pair 
 of forty-five-inch horns, my boy — what do 
 you say to that ? " 
 
 Howard's eyes glistened. The spirit of 
 sport stirred within him. A pair of forty- 
 five - inch ibex horns marked a man with 
 distinction. If he could only bag a trophy 
 like that, what could any Viceroy — or any 
 tailor — do to mar his satisfaction ? 
 
 " Give me an ibex — a forty-five incher 
 — fairly stalked, and fairly slain," he cried 
 enthusiastically, "and I'll say I've not come 
 to Central Asia in vain." 
 
 " I like your enthusiasm, Howard," said
 
 48 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Gotch, with the placid air of a veteran 
 hunter. "You don't show it often, but 
 when it comes it bubbles up refreshingly." 
 " It's bubble or bust," said Howard, as 
 he thought of some unavailing regrets that 
 still troubled him at times. " Over there, 
 on the other side," he jerked his thumb 
 behind him in the direction of India, "it 
 was bust. It shall be bubble here."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 BEWARE THE " SEMCHOON " 
 
 As they were chatting there came a sudden 
 weird shriek that filled the welkin. The 
 wind had risen in the Pass. Thin wisps 
 and torn tatters of mist and cloud swirled 
 out of the gap behind them, and from it 
 proceeded an unearthly concert of howls 
 and wails, eerie and fearful to listen to, as 
 the gale was compressed within the granite 
 walls. You might have thought that the 
 spirits of all the human beings who had lost 
 their lives in that trap of destruction were 
 calling in fright and agony to be freed. 
 
 " By George, it is time to be tumbling 
 down ! " cried Gotch. " The hurricane is 
 rising. Come along." 
 
 He led the way down the steep northern 
 side of the Pass, whither the mules and 
 baggage coolies had already preceded 
 them. There was a look of supernatural 
 horror on the face of Shere Ali Khan as 
 
 D 49
 
 50 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 he flung the breakfast things and im- 
 plements of his craft, hugger-mugger, into 
 a basket, and glanced timorously towards 
 the Pass, from whence those ghostly calls 
 came down like spirit voices. 
 
 "Buck up, old chap!" Howard called to 
 him jocularly, "they don't bite." 
 
 " My lord laughs," protested the 
 Mohammedan in a tone of pious reproof, 
 " but all the ghouls of the other world 
 are in that Jehanum (hell), and well for us 
 we have passed through in safety. Praise 
 be to the Prophet for his mercy." 
 
 Tucking Flirt under his arm, Howard 
 hurried off after Gotch. The road pre- 
 sented several ladder-like short cuts, and 
 in less than an hour they arrived at a 
 little group of huts, dignified by the name 
 of the village of Kokser. Here the 
 shepherds and Lahouli traders, who 
 passed by this route, were accustomed to 
 encamp. A couple of flocks were folded 
 in the vicinity. 
 
 Howard's tents were soon pitched. 
 Gotch, too, rigged up something that 
 looked like a bath sheet drying on a 
 towel-horse. He could crawl under it,
 
 BEWARE THE "SEMCHOON" 51 
 
 but there was no room to invite a guest 
 in, which suited Gotch, and saved his 
 commissariat. He set up this apology 
 for a tent as a sort of insignia of his 
 presence, and sponged on Howard, con- 
 tributing the partridges he had shot as 
 his share towards the larder. By this 
 plan he preserved his apparent independ- 
 ence, whilst benefiting by his companion's 
 hospitality. 
 
 After dinner that evening Gotch sent for 
 one of the shepherds in camp near by in 
 order to make inquiries about the haunts 
 and habits of the snow-leopard, and the 
 prospect of snaring one. He had hurried 
 upon this quest with but little practical know- 
 ledge of the animal, for it was one of the 
 very few wild beasts in India he had never 
 shot, or even seen. His scanty information 
 was derived from books ; but here again he 
 was forced to be content with the barest 
 details, for little was mentioned about the 
 beast owing to its rarity. However, one fact 
 seemed assured : at certain seasons of the 
 year the snow-leopard descended from its 
 solitudes and preyed on the shepherds' 
 flocks. This inferred a period when it came
 
 52 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 into contact with man. And in the in- 
 quiries he now proceeded to institute, Gotch 
 laid much store by this circumstance. 
 
 The shepherd who attended in reply to 
 his summons was a remarkable and pictur- 
 esque character. He might have sat for the 
 model of a Jewish Patriarch. His com- 
 plexion was no darker than the olive ones 
 seen in Spain or the southern provinces of 
 France. His face was wrinkled like that of 
 a weather-beaten sailor, for during his long 
 nomad life he had only known the shelter of 
 trees and caves. A long white beard, 
 descending half way down his breast, set off 
 his handsome features. A choga, or loose, 
 capacious coat, of horne-woven undyed wool, 
 reached to his knees, and a pair of baggy 
 pantaloons completed his attire. His name 
 was Rehlu, 
 
 Gotch had soon extracted his story. 
 Rehlu owned a flock of two thousand sheep 
 and goats. In the winter he pastured them 
 in the State of Mundi, where he disposed of 
 his wool, and sent his surplus stock for sale 
 to Simla. In the summer he wandered 
 grazing through Lahoul, as far as Ladak. 
 For over sixty years he had crossed and
 
 BEWARE THE "SEMCHOON" 53 
 
 re-crossed the Rotang Pass twice annually. 
 As for Lahoul, he knew every portion of it, 
 where grew the " neeroo,' or blue-grass, for 
 his sheep, and birch and bush-willow for 
 his goats. 
 
 ''And now," said Gotch, after he had 
 allowed Rehlu to have his say, "tell me, 
 grandfather, have you ever seen a shoon 
 (snow-leopard) ? " 
 
 " I have seen many semchoon (human 
 beings)," said the shepherd. 
 
 ^^ Semchoon? It is not concerning human 
 beings that I inquire, but about the snow- 
 leopard," corrected Gotch. " Of a surety 
 all have seen semchoon in Lahoul. Is it not 
 an inhabited country? But the shoon, 
 the burruf ki ^nerig (leopard of the 
 snows), with the soft white fur, dotted with 
 dark circles, and the tail like a squirrel — it 
 is concerning that I seek information." 
 
 ''Shoon is semchoon. Oh, honourable sir," 
 answered Rehlu, solemnly and oracularly, 
 " surely the wisdom of my lord knows 
 that ? " 
 
 " Indeed not. What you tell me I have 
 never heard." 
 
 " My lord is learned. He can read and
 
 54 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 write. And yet he has not heard of the 
 semchoon. Rehlu wonders." 
 
 "Cease wondering, grandfather, and ex- 
 plain thy words." 
 
 " What is there to explain ? Is it not 
 known to every shepherd of the mountains 
 — every inhabitant of Lahoul, man, woman 
 and child .-* Are not the souls of all men 
 ordained to be born again in a lower state ? 
 To some it is given to re-enter the world in 
 the happy image of noble wild beasts who 
 rule, like Rajahs, over the animal creation. 
 Others are condemned to lives of toil, as 
 with the mule that bears burdens; and the 
 buffalo that drags at the plough in the 
 valley below. Those who have lived evil 
 lives, do not their souls enter into dogs, and 
 rats, and suchlike unclean creatures .'* But 
 the souls of the highest and the noblest find 
 a tenement in the bodies of the snow- 
 leopards. Rajah, and Rai, and Tkakor 
 (king, and prince, and baron), who have 
 ruled with justice, and mercy, and generosity, 
 to them is permitted this happy transmigra- 
 tion of soul into the bodies of those pure and 
 sacred animals that live amongst the per- 
 petual snows."
 
 BEWARE THE "SEMCHOON" 55 
 
 "And those pure and sacred animals," 
 asked Gotch, with a touch of sarcasm, "do 
 they not prey upon your flocks ? " 
 
 " Of a surety, sahib," answered Rehlu. 
 " But it is their right. And we render them 
 tribute without murmuring." ^ 
 
 "Verily, old man, thou art long-suffering. 
 It is not wise or provident. But listen to 
 me. I have a desire to learn where the 
 snow-leopard lives. I do not fear its super- 
 natural powers. In short, it is my business 
 and my intention to catch one. And for that 
 purpose I have come hither to this land of 
 Lahoul." 
 
 " My lord will never catch a semchoon^' 
 answered Rehlu, gravely, and with emphasis. 
 
 Gotch gave a superior smile. " I have 
 captured the lion and the tiger alive, the 
 elephant and the stag, the mondl pheasant, 
 that drops faster down the gorge than a 
 stone, and the antelope that scuds over the 
 plain swifter than an arrow. And thou 
 say'st I shall not capture a snow-leopard ? 
 We shall see, grandfather." 
 
 The old shepherd bowed his head before 
 these related wonders, but held fast to his 
 opinion. "The semchoon is the Spirit of
 
 56 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 the snows. In the black night it wanders 
 forth, descending from the untrodden crags ; 
 at dawn it returneth to where the feet of 
 mortal may not reach. It is no common 
 beast. It is semchoon. The departed souls 
 of the high and noble are not subject to the 
 dominion of man. My lord will be wise to 
 beware of the semchoon.'' 
 
 Gotch laughed contemptuously. "Thou 
 art superstitious." 
 
 "All men who dwell in these lonely 
 mountains, who risk their lives in yonder 
 Pass, know there are spirits and ghosts and 
 demons in the air around them, and pay 
 respect to the Unseen." 
 
 " I dwell here now," retorted Gotch, "and 
 yet have no belief in thy foolish fancies. 
 Enough of this creed concerning the Trans- 
 migration of Souls. I am not here to talk 
 religion. I have told thee what I am seek- 
 ing. Give me thy help in finding a snow- 
 leopard." 
 
 "My help!" cried Rehlu, aghast. "My 
 help ! Never ! " 
 
 "Folly speaks without thought. At thy 
 age the answer should be slow. Thou art 
 an old man, experienced in these parts. Be
 
 BEWARE THE "SEMCHOON" 57 
 
 wise and turn thy experience to profitable 
 account." Gotch ostentatiously drew a few 
 rupees from his pocket, and tinkled them 
 before Rehlu's eyes. "Assist me in my 
 search for a snow-leopard, and I will pay 
 thee liberally for thy service." 
 
 '' Ask a Hindoo to slaughter a cow ! Ask 
 a Llama to turn his praying-wheel back- 
 wards! What shall be my lord's mead of 
 success ? And I — Rehlu, who live in these 
 solitudes — shall I tempt the wrath of the 
 semchoon ? My lord little knows what he 
 asks." 
 
 "Thou art a fool, old man. I have made 
 thee a profitable offer, and thou hast rejected 
 it. Thou wilt be sorry. There are a 
 thousand shepherds crossing the Pass pre- 
 sently who will show more wisdom than 
 thou hast done, for all thy grey hairs." 
 
 " A thousand shepherds are coming across 
 the Pass, truly. Is not this the season of 
 the blue-grass ? But not one amongst them 
 will help my lord in his quest. We Gadhis 
 worship the semchoon, and we fear it. We 
 are a simple folk. Peradventure we can earn 
 a few rupees ; but many rupees will not buy 
 us immunity ffom doom."
 
 58 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 " Did you ever see such idiots as these 
 hill folk?" asked Gotch, testily, turning to 
 Howard. "Do you follow the talk?" 
 
 "Perfectly," replied Howard, who had a 
 good colloquial knowledge of the native 
 language. " But I don't see why you should 
 blame him. It is the belief he has been 
 brought up- to, and at threescore years and 
 ten it is difficult to change one's creed. 
 Indeed, I should have a very poor opinion of 
 the old chap — who looks honest and sincere 
 enough — if, believing that the snow-leopard 
 is endowed with a human soul, he rounded 
 on it for a few rupees. His faith may be 
 erroneous, but his fidelity to it is credit- 
 able." 
 
 Gotch cast a slanting look at Howard. 
 He loved an argument ; but he suddenly 
 remembered it was not wise to dispute 
 with a man whose whisky and cigars he 
 was enjoying in the wilds of Lahoul. So 
 he turned to Rehlu. 
 
 "Get out, old fool! Verily thy beard 
 dangles from an ass's chin. Go and graze 
 on grass ! And may the semchoon feast on 
 thy carcass." 
 
 The old shepherd drew himself up with
 
 BEWARE THE "SEMCHOON" 59 
 
 offended dignity, and clasped his staff. 
 ** The kiang (the wild ass of Thibet) 
 wanders at will, and the semchoon never 
 stalks it. But when the hunter comes it is 
 the wild ass that gives all the game warn- 
 ing." 
 
 It was a neat retort; for the kiang, from 
 its inveterate habit of giving alarm to every 
 wild animal within reach, is the worst enemy 
 of the sportsman in Central Asia. 
 
 " Well done, Rehlu ! " cried Howard, with 
 a laugh, as he clapped the old man in a 
 friendly way on the shoulder. He was 
 not ill-pleased at the sally, and returned 
 the shepherd's kindly smile and salaam 
 courteously. Without another word or look 
 at Gotch, Rehlu stalked off. " Take care, 
 Gotch, or the ass with the beard on his 
 chin will mar your plans." 
 
 "I'll mar (beat) him if he does," re- 
 joined Gotch, savagely, making a pun in 
 the dialect. "And he might have earned 
 five rupees." 
 
 The contemplation of such a reward, 
 contumeliously rejected by a common hill 
 shepherd, struck Gotch as amazing, and he 
 could not get over it. " Five rupees ! " he
 
 6o A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 kept muttering to himself, "five rupees! 
 What an ass ! " 
 
 But all the same he found that Rehlu had 
 spoken prophetically. The shepherds re- 
 garded the snow-leopard with the same 
 awed reverence that the snake worshippers 
 display towards the cobra. Gotch's reward 
 went up from five to fifty rupees, each increase 
 costing him as much pain as the extraction 
 of a tooth, and yet brought no success in 
 bribing a single Gadhi to assist him in his 
 quest. 
 
 His face grew gloomier and gloomier. 
 " Damn it," he confessed at last, " this is 
 a bad look-out. I shall have to hoof it all 
 over these cursed hills hunting for a snow- 
 leopard by myself." 
 
 The hundreds of eyes he had reckoned 
 upon hiring to help him he had reckoned 
 upon in vain. And a lucrative task, that 
 had seemed so hopeful of execution when 
 he started, now appeared very far from 
 promising.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 STALKING AN IBEX 
 
 Leaving the Rotang Pass, the road lay along 
 the valley of the Chandra River, towards 
 Kailang, the capital of ' Lahoul, some 
 marches distant. Howard and Gotch 
 travelled in a leisurely way, for they were 
 now in ibex and snow - leopard country. 
 Howard was becoming a little weary of 
 his companion, and would have been glad 
 enough to part company, but Gotch was 
 far too satisfied with the existing condition 
 of things to do anything but stick to them. 
 There had been an informal ao^reement when 
 first they met to travel together, and as 
 there was only one road they could hardly 
 travel apart without an actual breach. 
 
 There came, however, a compensation for 
 uncongenial company when Howard shot 
 his first ibex. It gave him a laborious and 
 difficult stalk, but ended in a tremendous 
 triumph, destined to remain green and 
 
 6i
 
 62 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 grateful in his memory for many a long 
 day. There are few more exquisite per- 
 sonal delights than success in field sport — 
 be it after fur, feather, or fin ; antler, brush, 
 or skin. The death of the fox, the shot 
 that snaps a woodcock, the bullet that gives 
 its quietus to a tiger or a stag, the fly that, 
 deftly cast, hoodwinks and hooks the 
 salmon, and brings it to net — all these 
 things are often an epic in themselves to 
 the one man. And the death of Howard's 
 first ibex was an epic to him. 
 
 Gotch had first sighted the herd grazing 
 high up on an opposite mountain which was 
 divided from the camp by a deep gorge. A 
 long investigation with the glasses and a 
 consideration of the wind had decided the 
 policy of the stalk. It necessitated a descent 
 of a thousand feet, and a climb of five 
 thousand, traversing, probably, six miles of 
 ground, and requiring three to four hours 
 to accomplish. 
 
 •' You're on the bubble, so take the turn 
 at them," said Gotch, magnanimously. 
 
 Howard thanked him cordially. A coin 
 tossed should, by the custom of craft, 
 decide who was to have the stalk, and to
 
 STALKING AN IBEX 63 
 
 get it given up to him was a graceful con- 
 cession. 
 
 Away started Howard, with a single 
 attendant. The descent to the hill stream 
 which had to be crossed was easy enough, 
 but then came the tug of war — the hideous 
 tug. The ibex could no longer be seen, but 
 Howard had carefully noted their locality 
 under the base of a cliff that fell away from 
 a glacier of snow. That glacier was his 
 landmark and steering point. He had to 
 work well to its right, until he reached the 
 same level, and then take his chance of the 
 ground being suitable for his stalk towards 
 the herd. 
 
 The first thousand feet was all well 
 enough ; he was fresh and vigorous, and 
 stiff and keen with excitement. But after 
 surmounting the base of the hill, by which 
 time all spring had been taken out of his 
 action, he had to proceed with extreme 
 caution. That which, from the comfort of 
 a cosy camp over the way, seemed only a 
 bit of simple mountaineering, now assumed 
 the proportions of an acrobatic feat. The 
 loose shale and rubble stone slid away 
 from under his tread, and he had to pick
 
 64 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 and choose a foothold so as to avoid dis- 
 lodging stones that must go rolling and 
 rocketing noisily down the hill. The 
 ground beneath him inclined almost per- 
 pendicularly in places, and there were horrid 
 moments when he found himself glancing 
 giddily between his straddled legs into a 
 yawning abyss. Constantly he was com- 
 pelled to use his hands, as well as his feet, 
 to haul himself up. 
 
 Excelsior ! Himalayan mountaineering is 
 murderous work, even under conditions 
 which do not require silence and sleuth-like 
 genuflections. The calves of Howard's 
 legs, and the muscles of his thighs kept 
 collapsing ; his wind in the rarefied atmo- 
 sphere failed him at every few steps, and 
 forced him to rest and blow, like a horse drag- 
 ging a heavy load up a slippery hill. The 
 exertion was positively painful ; the sensation 
 of physical fatigue and " doneness " over- 
 powering ; he experienced those agonies 
 which the spent runner does in the last lap 
 of a three-mile race. 
 
 Then came to him those insidious sug- 
 gestions which assail every novice hunting 
 in hill country, and tempt him — even as
 
 STALKING AN IBEX 65 
 
 Christian was tempted — from the steep and 
 narrow path to the downhill grade. Was 
 the game worth the candle ? Would he get 
 a shot at the ibex ? Suppose he staggered 
 on to the end of this hellish climb, and did 
 not see a horn — what a fool he would look 
 when he lolloped back to camp empty- 
 handed ! 
 
 And Gotch would smile at him and his 
 disappointment with the superiority of the 
 old and experienced sportsman. He had 
 got to dislike Gotch notwithstanding all his 
 infernal complaisance. The idea galled him, 
 but it also acted as a spur. He might be 
 laughed at for being unsuccessful, but, con- 
 found it ! he should not be laughed at for 
 giving in. 
 
 So he stuck to it like grim death. Foot 
 after foot he won his way, keeping the 
 glacier as his landmark. A pebble in his 
 mouth was his only refreshment. He dared 
 not trust his lips to his flask, or crunch a 
 mouthful of the frozen snow that lay tempt- 
 ingly in the cracks and crevices. One sip 
 would mean several — one mouthful many. 
 And the man who sips on the hill-sides is 
 laying up for himself much store of sorrow, 
 
 E
 
 66 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 It seems a small thing to climb a hill to 
 kill a wild goat — but try it. Put sport aside, 
 and offer the mere toil to a thousand men 
 as contract labour to be paid for, and not one 
 in the thousand will carry it out. " It's devil- 
 ish work," a great hunter once confessed. 
 It requires the fever of sport to keep the 
 frame knit. And it was that spirit which, 
 after three hours of hooking and hauling 
 himself up by fingers and toes, carried 
 Howard to the point he started to reach. 
 
 And he was rewarded. He found it a 
 spot suitable for approach to the ibex. The 
 wind held favourable. He marked a coign 
 of vantage, left his attendant below, and 
 crawling up peered cautiously over. 
 
 And there — two hundred yards' distant — 
 squatting, utterly unconcerned, on a little 
 grassy plateau, were the herd of ibex, four 
 males and five females. 
 
 It was a long shot, and in that rarefied 
 atmosphere not easy. Howard was excited 
 and distressed with exertion, and well for him 
 he had the wisdom to compel self-control. 
 
 " If I shoot now I'll miss," he candidly 
 confessed, " and I won't shoot until I am 
 sure of hitting."
 
 STALKING AN IBEX ^j 
 
 So he crouched down behind his shelter, 
 took out his watch, and deliberately allowed 
 five minutes to elapse, until his breath 
 came easily and his hand had ceased to 
 tremble. 
 
 "What if the ibex had gone during those 
 five minutes ? " The idea made his heart 
 go pitter-patter again, and that was the very 
 thing he was trying to avoid. " Don't be a 
 damned fool, Howard," he abjured himself. 
 " Gotch is sure to be looking at you through 
 his glasses. Show him you're not a griffin 
 with a gun." 
 
 Which Howard certainly was not — but 
 a man's first ibex generally disturbs the 
 nerves. 
 
 At last he decided he was in a fit and 
 proper frame of mind and body to chance it. 
 He raised himself up again, rifle in hand, 
 ready cocked. 
 
 Even as he did so a distant shot rang out, 
 and its echoes reverberated across the 
 gorge, like the clatter of Rip Van Winkle's 
 ninepins. 
 
 "Gotch — the brute ! It could be nobody 
 else." 
 
 Up started the ibex» Another second and
 
 68 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Howard's toil had been wasted. Quick as 
 lightning he selected his beast, the one with 
 the big horns, and fired. It give a spring 
 into the air, bounded forward, and stood still 
 for a second. Another shot, and the rest of 
 the herd disappeared with leaps and bounds 
 down the break-neck steep. 
 
 But the old patriarch of the flock did not 
 follow them ! Rigid as a statue he stood. 
 Presently he began to paw the earth, and 
 before Howard " could cram in another 
 cartridge, swayed and sank to the ground. 
 
 At what speed Howard crossed those two 
 hundred intervening yards it would be idle 
 to speculate. Before he had reached the 
 carcass of the ibex his tape was out of his 
 pocket, and in another half minute he had 
 the satisfaction of knowing that, in his first 
 stalk, he had bagged a pair of thirty-eight- 
 inch horns ! 
 
 And what can Himalayan hunter want 
 more ? 
 
 If he danced, and he did dance — if his 
 antics were idiotic, and they were certainly 
 not conventional — if he backsheesh! d his 
 attendant with five rupees on the spot, and 
 he was guilty of that crowning act of folly —
 
 STALKING AN IBEX 69 
 
 well, no one but an Irishman shoots his first 
 ibex every day. 
 
 It was sunset by the time he reached 
 camp, luckily for Gotch, in a sublimely good 
 temper. 
 
 "What the devil did you go blazing away 
 for, when you knew I was stalking those 
 ibex ? " he demanded. 
 
 " Could you hear it up there ? " 
 
 " Hear it. It simply sprang^the herd. If 
 I had been a second later I should not have 
 had a shot at all." 
 
 "The wind must have changed," declared 
 Gotch, by way of excuse. " I spotted a hare 
 and got it for the pot." 
 
 "Damn your hare!" cried Howard, in- 
 dignantly. " I might have had a right and 
 left but for you." 
 
 Gotch would have liked to have resented 
 this plain spokenness, but he had a little 
 scheme on. There were still whisky and 
 cigars to be enjoyed free, gratis, and for 
 nothing. 
 
 " Well, my boy, I've got some news for 
 you that will make up for it," he said. 
 "Whilst you were shinning up there, a 
 man passed down the road from Kalakot
 
 70 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 (the Black Castle), where the Tkakor (Baron) 
 Sona Singh lives, who is one of the ruling 
 chiefs of this territory. The man told me 
 that the ibex are as common as cows on 
 the ranges round Kalakot. How's that for 
 you, old chap ? " 
 
 "Common as cows! Hang it! let's hear 
 more of this." 
 
 " Let's see more of it, you mean. Anyway, 
 I'm off to Sona Singh's territory. For, by 
 George, you'll hardly believe it, but he has 
 got a live snow-leopard ! " 
 
 " By gad, you're in luck, Gotch." 
 
 " Ain't I ? And what about you ? Red 
 bears as plentiful as jackals! How's that 
 for high sport ? " 
 
 " Great Scott, you don't say so ! " ex- 
 claimed Howard in a rapture. He had the 
 ibex fever on him after those thirty-eight- 
 inch horns. 
 
 " So come along with me. I'm bound 
 that way." 
 
 ** Right you are," assented Howard, joy- 
 fully.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE BLACK CASTLE 
 
 Kalakot lay six marches distant. It was 
 the Castle of Thakor Sona Singh, the chief 
 of the semi - independent Principality of 
 Kalapore. 
 
 Lahoul is divided into several small states, 
 governed by alien rulers, cadets of the 
 Rajpoot caste, who formed the warriors of 
 Ancient India, and were famed for their 
 chivalry. To them every woman is a queen, 
 every antagonist a belted knight. 
 
 In the high, cool altitudes of Lahoul a 
 curious physical change had crept over 
 these Rajpoots. They had lost the swarthy 
 complexion of sunny India, and might 
 almost be accounted a white race. But 
 they retained the striking physiognomy of 
 their ancestors, who were deemed the most 
 beautiful people in the East. The exquisite 
 loveliness of their women-folk had crystal- 
 lised into a proverb, and "as beautiful as a 
 
 71
 
 72 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Lahoul Rajpootni " was a synonym for 
 female perfection. 
 
 To Kalakot came Howard and Gotch 
 one afternoon. The Thakor sent them gifts 
 of sheep, and milk, and fodder for the mules, 
 and invited them to a durbar^ or reception, 
 the next day. 
 
 " He's a cheeky young cock ! " declared 
 Gotch, as they lounged about whilst their 
 tents were being pitched, " and is standing 
 on his dignity. The impudence of his not 
 calling on us sahibs first ! But these old 
 Rajpoot families, buried in the hills here, 
 retain all the pride and insolence their 
 ancestors possessed five hundred years ago. 
 They claim to be descended from the sun, 
 and have pedigrees that go back to before 
 Adam. I'd like to jam the Thakor into a 
 third-class railway carriage, and level him 
 down to the life of India as it is to-day. 
 Caste be damned ; cash is easte in the 
 nineteenth century. This beggar couldn't 
 table a thousand pounds if he were to be 
 shot. Very small potatoes are these hill 
 princes. But their side — why, the Czar 
 himself couldn't show more. It sickens 
 me."
 
 THE BLACK CASTLE 73 
 
 It was sunset. The Castle stood a couple 
 of hundred yards away from where their 
 tents were being pitched. A quaint pictur- 
 esque old ruin, built on the edge of a cliff, 
 over whose side it seemed tumbling. Below 
 a valley, that, for Lahoul, was most won- 
 drously fertile, being irrigated with numerous 
 small artificial canals. Behind the Fort 
 circled a matchless background of craggy 
 mountains, from whose summits the snow 
 never melted. The Castle itself, built of 
 rough-hewn granite, was black with age, 
 and weather-beaten with the storms of 
 centuries. The crumbling battlements, the 
 tottering look-out towers, the creviced walls 
 which gaped and cracked from many an 
 earthquake shock, the dry moat round its 
 upper side, now turned into a garden, all 
 told a tale of a time when life was fierce 
 and full of battle, and men built castles to 
 sustain sieges and protect their lands from 
 rapine and foray. 
 
 But with the Pax Britannica all that had 
 passed away. War remained the privilege 
 of the dominant race only. The ancient 
 dynasties might not unsheath the sword. 
 The Punjab to the south, once the cock-pit
 
 74 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 of India, was turned into a cornfield: 
 Kashmir to the west, where the clash of 
 arms for generations had never ceased, was 
 now as peaceful as a pocket borough. Only 
 the traditions of olden days lingered to be 
 read by the fading light of this ruined Castle. 
 
 The Thakor Sona Singh, now seated on 
 the throne, was a young man of five-and- 
 twenty. His predecessor, Lai Singh — "The 
 Lion of Lahoul " — had died a year before. 
 Lai Singh was a Baron of the old school, 
 and ruled with all the feudal state and 
 ceremony his ancestors had observed. But 
 he had left no heir, and the present chief, a 
 distant relative, was a very different person- 
 age to the grand old warrior who was gone. 
 
 Howard was not without romance, and 
 not without reading. The history of the 
 Rajpoots is as full of stirring legend and 
 thrilling tradition as the history of the 
 Paladins. And this Black Castle, perched 
 on its grey crag, guarding the valley below 
 like some ancient armoured sentinel, appealed 
 to him with its rugged beauty, and symbol- 
 ised in its crumbling walls the sad wreck of 
 all the legendary pride, heroism and chivalry 
 decaying in these unvisited wastes.
 
 THE BLACK CASTLE 75 
 
 And here was Gotch talking about third- 
 class railway carriages, and wanting to jam 
 the Thakor into one to level him down ! 
 Really, to be with Gotch was to be con- 
 stantly tasting garlic. 
 
 The conversation at dinner was about the 
 snow-leopard Gotch had come to obtain. 
 He was full of it, for he had been making 
 inquiries. It was full-grown and perfectly 
 tame. It had been taught to pursue game, 
 like the hunting cheetahs of the plains. It 
 actually lived in the Zenana^ or Women's 
 Quarters, and belonged to the Thakorine, 
 the widow of old Lai Singh. 
 
 " Sona Singh, the present Thakor, is a 
 confirmed opium-eater," said Gotch. " Half 
 sotted with it I am told, like thousands 
 of these old Rajpoot nobles are. The 
 main thing is to get him sober enough 
 to sell, and yet stupid enough not to 
 know the value of the beast. I wonder 
 what I can beat him down to ! I wish 
 I had brought some Malwa opium with 
 me. Malwa opium is to the hill drug 
 what a Havana cigar is to a Penny 
 Pickwick. Work on a man's weakness 
 when you want to trade with him. The
 
 7^ A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 best rifle I ever owned — a hundred-guinea 
 one — I got from an army officer who 
 drank. He was up shooting in Kashmir, 
 and had run out of Hquor, and was 
 pegging away at Worcestershire sauce. 
 You may laugh, but it's a frozen fact. 
 I whipped down to Srinuggur, bought a 
 couple of dozen of brandy, double marched 
 it back, hit his camp off, and by the time 
 he was fuddled off the first case, had 
 bought his rifle for two hundred dibs and 
 the remaining one. That's business. Ah, 
 if I only had a seer of Malwa opium, 
 I'd beat Sona Singh down to a bagatelle." 
 
 Howard was too disgusted to comment 
 on this reminiscence. " I think I'll have 
 a stroll out and give Flirt a run," he 
 said, as he rose from the table ; " i|'s a 
 lovely moonlight night." 
 
 "Scoot away," said Gotch. "I have 
 plenty to do to put my cages together 
 against to-morrow. I reckon I'll have a 
 snow-leopard rounded in by that time." 
 
 Whistling to Flirt, Howard strolled 
 down the road that led to the Black 
 Castle. Beautiful as the old ruin had 
 appeared by daylight, it looked more
 
 THE BLACK CASTLE 'j'j 
 
 picturesque now, with the moonbeams 
 glinting on its battlements and towers, 
 and picking out the quaint irregularities 
 of the rambling buildings clustered within 
 its walls. Passing the frowning gateway, 
 the iron-clamped door of which was closed 
 and bolted, Howard wandered along until 
 he reached the further side of the Castle. 
 Here a small artificial canal had been 
 cut, and carried like a streamlet past the 
 walls, to the cliff's edge, where it leapt 
 into the valley below, a thousand feet 
 sheer down, in a slender cascade of silver 
 foam ; and a fairly successful attempt had 
 been made to plant the precincts with 
 hardy trees and flowering shrubs. 
 
 It was the Castle garden. Howard was 
 unaware that he was trespassing, but, as 
 it happened, although no wall or fence 
 surrounded the spot, he was intruding 
 where he had no right to be. For this 
 garden was the recreation place of the 
 ladies of the Thakor's Zenana. 
 
 Quite innocent of any wrong - doing, 
 Howard strolled along, skirting the Castle 
 wall, towards the unprotected cliff over 
 which the stream flung itself. From time
 
 78 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 to time, unaware of its dangerous pro- 
 pinquity, he threw a stone for Flirt to 
 run after, and anon stopped to admire 
 the picturesque outlines of the castellated 
 battlements, silhouetted against the eastern 
 sky, in which the full moon was now 
 rising. 
 
 Once, as he was doing so, his attention 
 was suddenly arrested by a curious white 
 shape that appeared in one of the em- 
 brasures, and lightly lifted on to the edge 
 of the wall. 
 
 In the faint, misty light, for some 
 smoke issuing from the Castle was drift- 
 ing like a blue gauze between him and 
 the object, Howard mistook it for one of 
 the occupants of the Fort who, like him- 
 self, was enjoying the exquisite evening. 
 
 But in another instant he perceived his 
 mistake, for the white shape leaped from 
 the battlements, with an agility that could 
 belong to nothing but a wild animal, and, 
 before he had realised what had happened, 
 a scream of agony from Flirt struck 
 cruelly on his ear. 
 
 " Flirt ! Flirt ! " he shouted, and sprang 
 forward to the place from which the sound
 
 THE BLACK CASTLE 79 
 
 proceeded, under some dwarf willows that 
 fringed the canal. 
 
 A long, lithe white body, Its tail lash- 
 ing the air, its eyes gleaming like opals, 
 lay extended on the ground in the deep 
 shadow, and in its clutch the motionless 
 body of Flirt. 
 
 Howard had not even a walking-stick. 
 But the moaning cry of his little pet was 
 irresistible. Without a moment's thought 
 or consideration he snatched up a stone, 
 and hurled it with true aim, and all his 
 force, at the ravening beast. 
 
 A fierce snarl, a crouch back, a spring 
 like a flash of forked lightning leaping 
 from a cloud, and the snow-leopard was 
 charging at him.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE LEOPARD WOMAN 
 
 Too late Howard realised his folly. He had 
 no time to prepare for defence. Instinct 
 guided his hand to the Terai hat he was 
 wearing, and snatching it off his head, he 
 flung it full in the snow-leopard's face, and 
 profited by the momentary baffle to leap 
 aside and avoid its charge. 
 
 The white body swept past him from the 
 shadow of the black battlements into the 
 shining flood of moonlight beyond, where, 
 furious at missing its stroke, it stood lashing 
 its sides with its tail. 
 
 Truly it was an exquisite beast ! Lithe 
 and graceful, agile and undulating as only a 
 leopard can be. A leaf fluttering to the 
 ground could not touch earth more lightly, 
 a dolphin rising from the waves never leapt 
 with less apparent efl"ort. 
 
 But apart from this poetry of motion was 
 its wonderous coat and contour. Its long, 
 
 80
 
 THE BLACK CASTLE 8i 
 
 soft, dense fur, almost resembling a silken 
 fleece of creamy white, was picked out with 
 dark spots and circles ; and its tail spread 
 like the wake of foam behind a yacht. Fair 
 and velvety to look upon, but fierce and 
 violent to deal with. As it whipped round, 
 and crouched for a moment in the moon- 
 light, there came to Howard's mind the 
 thought, " A Fury in White Velvet ! " 
 
 But he had no time for imagery. With a 
 spring he cleared the little water-course, 
 snatched up Flirt's body, and sought refuge 
 behind a willow tree. The snow-leopard, 
 baulked in its first charge, shifted its legs 
 uneasily with a movement that was clearly 
 marking time for another. 
 
 Crouching in the silver beams, it 
 almost looked like a leopard moulded in 
 snow, save for the angry quiver of its 
 tail, and the glitter of its eyes. By some 
 muscular undulation of its body, some subtle 
 contraction of its claws, it worked itself 
 imperceptibly forward, and closer, into the 
 shadow of the battlements. Larger and 
 larger it loomed in the dim light ; its 
 round eyes scintillated with the quench- 
 less iridescence of opals ; and something 
 
 F
 
 82 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 between a growl and a snarl reverberated 
 with regular intonation in its throat. 
 
 Howard attempted further retreat, only 
 to find himself driven back to the edge of 
 the cliff, where the thin thread of water from 
 the stream was tossed into a gulf of mist 
 below. All escape was barred in that 
 direction ; he was between the devil and 
 the deep sea. 
 
 Taking up his position behind the last 
 willow tree that grew on the bank of the 
 stream within ten feet of the precipice, he 
 waited. Nearer and nearer crept the brute. 
 Without visible effort, without apparent 
 movement, and yet indisputably lessening 
 the distance between them. It was stalk- 
 ing Howard. 
 
 Nearer — nearer — nearer ! Howard had 
 plenty of natural pluck, and yet in that 
 extreme moment his nerve deserted him. 
 Those opal eyes fascinated ; the indistinct 
 tremor of the white body, now clearly per- 
 ceptible, made him start in spite of himself, 
 like a feint flutters a man at fencing. The 
 spring was coming. He could have yelled. 
 He ever afterwards wondered why he did 
 not yell.
 
 THE LEOPARD WOMAN 83 
 
 And then, suddenly and swiftly, there 
 glided between him and the crouching beast 
 a second form. White and willowy, and, as 
 it seemed to him, actually leopard-like itself. 
 With a step as light, with a movement as 
 lithe, and with an action as graceful as the 
 leopard's, the figure passed between him and 
 the white, sinuous body on the ground, whose 
 back was now arched for the final bound. 
 
 A human voice sounded ; two words, 
 sharply spoken, and the next instant the 
 snow-leopard was rolling on its back at 
 the foot of the figure, like a fawning spaniel 
 pleading not to be beaten. 
 
 The transition of circumstance was too 
 sudden to be grasped in an instant by one 
 whose brain was strung to such an acute 
 state of tension as Howard's. Vaguely 
 he recognised the danger was over, and 
 as vaguely remembered the shepherd 
 Rehlu's superstition, and connected his 
 salvation therewith. 
 
 " The Semckoon I " 
 
 What else could it be — this thing that 
 had saved him — but the manifestation of 
 the human spirit that inhabited the tenement 
 of the snow-leopard?
 
 84 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 A grotesque idea, and yet not so 
 grotesque as may appear. There was 
 something to lend colour to the fancy. The 
 form that stood before him seemed, to his 
 imagination, moulded in the accepted outline 
 of a ghost. 
 
 Moreover, it was a woman's form, and 
 is not the eternal feminine supreme in 
 Spirit-land ? 
 
 The tall and beautiful figure of a woman, 
 of about twenty years of age, draped in 
 the softest white raiment of that rare and 
 costly material of which the shawls of 
 Kashmir are woven, A material so soft 
 and pliable that you can pass a chudder 
 through a wedding-ring without crumpling 
 it ; as light as a feather to the touch, as 
 dense as velvet to the eye. 
 
 Its folds clung to the woman's figure, 
 following its exquisite proportions, and 
 displaying every curve of limb and line 
 that seemed as graceful and sinuous as 
 those of the snow-leopard which crouched 
 at her feet. It required no great stretch 
 of an imagination — dazed by danger — to be 
 persuaded there was some weird connection, 
 it might almost be some congenital link,
 
 THE LEOPARD WOMAN 85 
 
 between the woman form and the leopard 
 form. That here was the semchoon actually 
 prevailing in its double character — human 
 and animal. 
 
 Howard put his hand to his forehead. 
 The sweat was dripping from his brow, like 
 water. His limbs were still trembling. It 
 did not occur to him that it was his right 
 hand, and all gory from holding Flirt's 
 mangled body ; and that, by the action, he 
 had smeared his forehead with blood, and 
 given his face an appalling appearance. 
 Even as he did so he saw the figure was 
 that of a girl, who bent down and snapped 
 a silver chain on to a collar round the 
 leopard's neck. The tinkle of the metal 
 recalled him to his senses. 
 
 This, then, was the tame snow-leopard 
 Gotch had come to obtain, and the woman, 
 doubtless, one of those who served in the 
 Baron's Zenana. 
 
 And now Howard was furiously indignant 
 at the danger he had been subjected to, and 
 the death of his little dog. He emerged 
 from the shadow of the willow tree and 
 faced the orjrl. 
 
 o 
 
 She gave a cry of consternation, and fell
 
 86 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 back a few steps, whilst the snow-leopard 
 dragged at its chain and pricked its ears 
 uneasily. 
 
 Howard, unconscious of the gruesome 
 spectacle he presented, mistook the cry for 
 one of affright uttered by a native woman 
 of high caste surprised with her face un- 
 veiled. For many a Rajpoot lady, even in 
 these advanced times, would die sooner than 
 permit a strange man (especially an English- 
 man) to behold her features. Great was his 
 surprise when, instead of scurrying off with 
 the panic-stricken air of an inmate of the 
 Zenana, the girl dropped the silver chain and 
 came towards him, whilst the snow-leopard 
 bounded back to the battlements, its leash 
 clanking against the stones as it sprang up. 
 
 The moon was shining full in the girl's 
 face. He had been startled by her appari- 
 tion at first, when for a few bewildered 
 moments he believed her to be some spirit 
 form, but now, when he could see her 
 features clearly, his astonishment gave way 
 to marvel and admiration. 
 
 He had looked on many lovely faces — 
 but never such a one as this. It was a rare 
 and perfect type, entirely new to him. The
 
 THE LEOPARD WOMAN 87 
 
 delicate beauty of a high-caste Hindoo girl, 
 with large, luminous brown eyes, fringed 
 with curling lashes, and the exquisite oval 
 face and sensitive features of the East. In 
 a graceful, but concerned and dignified pose 
 she stood unveiled before him, yet displayed 
 the sweet hesitancy of the purdah nashin, and 
 the indefinable air of timidity which a woman 
 cannot hide who has never looked into a 
 strange man's eyes before. 
 
 "The sahib is wounded?" she exclaimed 
 in a low voice, like music. "Alas! that this 
 misfortune should have happened in the 
 Castle of Sona Singh." 
 
 The tones were those of tenderest concern — 
 soft, pitying unaffected, of a woman touched. 
 Howard could not understand her mention 
 of blood flowing, and thought she alluded to 
 the terrier, whose body he still held. He 
 bent his head in silence ; it was an uncon- 
 scious tribute to her loveliness. And then, 
 in a sort of agitation that seized him, knelt 
 down, and laying Flirt's body upon the 
 grass by the side of the stream, vainly 
 sought to revive it with water scooped up 
 in his hand. 
 
 The sudden realisation that the dog was
 
 88 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 dead transferred his immediate attention to 
 his Httle pet. It had been so true, so devoted 
 to him. He stroked it and called it by name, 
 and all so naturally and with such simplicity 
 of sorrow that the action was far more 
 eloquent than words. 
 
 But the girl only comprehended there was 
 blood on Howard's forehead, and she feared 
 he had been wounded by her leopard. His 
 inattention to his own hurt increased her 
 solicitude. She approached and knelt beside 
 him, and dipping her hand in water, attempted 
 to apply it to his fancied wound. 
 
 Amazed at her action, which from a native 
 woman seemed audacious, Howard rose to 
 his feet, and demanded, " Why do you do 
 this ? " 
 
 " There is blood on the sahib's brow. 
 Bijli has hurt him. Let me lave the wound," 
 she answered, with a gesture that indicated 
 her intention. 
 
 " I am not hurt," said Howard, as he drew 
 the cuff of his coat across his forehead, and 
 perceived a red stain upon it. Then more 
 gently, ''You mistake. The blood is not 
 mine. It is my little dog's, which that 
 cursed beast yonder has killed."
 
 THE LEOPARD WOMAN 89 
 
 Again he stooped down and fondled the 
 small white body at his feet. 
 
 "A dog! And the sahib loves it thus?" 
 exclaimed the girl in amazement. For to 
 her a dog was an outcast animal, altogether 
 unworthy of human affection. 
 
 " Ay — a dog. But it was as a child to 
 me. It ate at my table, and slept on my 
 bed. It loved me more than any human 
 being ever did. Thou, a Hindoo, can'st not 
 understand my loss." 
 
 " Oh, sahib, I am very sorry," came the 
 whispered regret from the girl's lips. " What 
 can I do ? I will punish Bijli." 
 
 " And is Bijli the name of the snow- 
 leopard that has killed my dog ? Well may 
 you call the brute ' Lightning.' He would 
 have killed me too, but — but — " it suddenly 
 occurred to him that to this girl he owed his 
 own escape, and he had not even thanked 
 her, '' but for thee, who came to rescue 
 me. 
 
 " Alas, would I had come sooner, to have 
 avoided this disaster. For Bijli is my child, 
 even as this little dog was thine. He is 
 Semchoon. The Spirit of my son dwells in 
 him. Oh, my lord, I pray thee forgive Bijli.
 
 90 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 He knew not thou wert here. This is the 
 garden of the Castle. Herein only we of 
 the Zenana are allowed to wander. And 
 every evening I bring Bijli hither that he 
 may gambol and play and stretch his 
 limbs." 
 
 Standing before Howard in an attitude 
 of appeal, her hands clasped, her slender 
 girlish figure bending forward, the soft, 
 fleecy folds of her creamy drapery revealing 
 her willowy grace of form — again there came 
 to Howard the suggestion of the semchoon. 
 Verily she seemed to him a leopard woman. 
 
 " And who art thou ? " he asked. 
 
 " I am Doolchi, the Thakorine," she 
 answered, " the girl widow of Lai Singh, 
 the Lion of Lahoul."
 
 CHAPTE R IX 
 
 BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE 
 
 It requires an acquaintance with the iron 
 law that governs the seclusion of ladies of 
 high caste in India to appreciate Howard's 
 utter astonishment when he learnt that this 
 lovely girl in front of him was not, as he had 
 taken for granted, some inferior waitingr 
 woman of the Zenana, but the widow of 
 the late ruling Baron. For, in our Eastern 
 Empire, not one Englishman in a thousand 
 has ever seen the face of a native lady of 
 high caste, and not one in a hundred thousand 
 the face of a princess of pure Rajpoot blood. 
 
 Human rrature is human nature, be it in 
 London or be it in Lahoul, and the first 
 inspiration that occurred to Howard was, 
 " By George ! what a lovely widow." 
 
 But the next moment he was ashamed of 
 himself. Here was a lady of lofty lineage, 
 over whose caste scruples the tenderness of 
 the woman had prevailed, and compelled her, 
 
 91
 
 92 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 under the misapprehension that he was 
 wounded, to discard for a moment the 
 reserve of the Zenana, and display the 
 emotions pity and regret awakened. 
 
 "Thakorine," he said, and bowed low 
 — bowed, as he felt in his heart, before 
 the beauty of the girl — " I have addressed 
 you without the consideration due to your 
 rank. I did not know it was the widow 
 of Lai Singh, the Lion of Lahoul, to whom 
 I had the honour of speaking." 
 
 " Little honour," she cried, with a strange 
 echo of bitterness in her tone. " Time was 
 when Doolchi, the Thakorine, was verily 
 a queen in the Castle of her lord. I ruled 
 this land." She swept her shapely arm 
 round with a gesture that might have in- 
 cluded all Asia. " But now, by the will of 
 God, all is changed. Sona Singh rules where 
 my son should have ruled. I am a widow, 
 and I have only Bijli left to comfort me." 
 
 She gave a soft, peculiar call, and the 
 snow - leopard sprang from the battle- 
 ments and came bounding towards her. 
 
 " Only Bijli left," she repeated sorrow- 
 fully. " My lord knows the Hindoo widow's 
 lot in life .'* "
 
 BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE 93 
 
 " Alas, I know it, Thakorine," said 
 Howard in a sympathetic voice. And, 
 noticing, now, how she was devoid of 
 jewels and ornaments, which the Hindoo 
 widow must renounce, he wondered he 
 had not before observed by this indica- 
 tion that her husband was dead. 
 
 " Bijli," she cried, and shook its silver 
 chain, " what hast thou done, O darling 
 of my soul ? Eat the dust of shame, 
 heedless and impetuous ! that has brought 
 pain to the heart of the stranger — the 
 sahib from distant Hindostan who deig^ns 
 to visit us." 
 
 She affected to raise her hand to strike, 
 but the next moment, with a woman's 
 impulsiveness, dropped on her knees and 
 began to caress the leopard, burying her 
 bare white shapely arms in its soft, velvety 
 fur and nestling her beautiful face against 
 its cheek as she kissed it. 
 
 At the sound of those kisses, at the 
 sight of that abandon, Howard felt strangely 
 stirred. For this woman was lovely — 
 lovely beyond compare. And yet, in 
 some mysterious way, so like the leopard 
 she fondled in her twining arms. He
 
 94 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 could not explain it, save that the sugges- 
 tion came clearly in the supple curvings 
 of her slender figure, and the white, soft 
 texture of her raiment that seemed akin 
 to the leopard's fleece as the two forms 
 blended in one embrace. 
 
 Bijli half closed its eyes with content, 
 and lifted its chin, like a huge Persian 
 cat, to be petted. The fierce, opalesque 
 glitter of its eyes had given way to a dull, 
 phosphorescent gleam, like that of a glow- 
 worm. A mellow purring sound issued 
 from its throat. White woman and white 
 leopard, there in the white moonlight — 
 surely such a picture as no man's eyes 
 had ever seen before. 
 
 " See how it loves Doolchi ! Doolchi, 
 the widow, the despised. Whose lord is 
 dead, whose son is dead, whose star is 
 set. What have I but Bijli?" 
 
 She seemed to lose herself kissing and 
 caressing the snow-leopard, and to forget 
 the presence of Howard. And, it so 
 happened, a tress of her raven hair became 
 unloosed, and strayed down. Howard 
 marvelled to see how long and wavy it 
 was. As she knelt its ends trailed on the
 
 BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE 95 
 
 ground, and a gust of wind stirred it. 
 Whereupon Bijli, like a playful cat, caught 
 at the strand with its paw, and tossed it to 
 and fro. 
 
 " Shame on thee, Bijli," she cried hastily, 
 as she perceived what had happened ; and 
 drawing back the lock coiled it behind her 
 head with a deft action that displayed her 
 rounded arms and bosom. ** Shame on 
 thee, Bijli, to tease me thus, and remind 
 me my head should be shaved in mourn- 
 ing for my lord, Lai Singh!" She spoke 
 to the beast, unconscious, for the moment, 
 that Howard stood by, and making re- 
 ference to that cruel custom which com- 
 pels the Hindoo widow to cut her hair off. 
 
 Then she suddenly remembered herself, 
 and turning to Howard, " My lord," she 
 cried, "thou see'st how Bijli loves me. 
 How can I punish him ? Verily he is 
 Semchoon. The Spirit of my dead son 
 dwells in him. He came to me when my son 
 died. I have had him since he was a little 
 blind ball of snow, no bigger than that" — 
 she rounded her two hands together in illus- 
 tration. " I nursed him. I reared him. I 
 have played with him. I have never struck
 
 96 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 him. He knows no fear of me. He is my 
 very child. In his ignorance he killed thy 
 little dog. Let thy resentment fall on me, 
 not on Bijli." 
 
 Kneeling before him, pressing the snow- 
 leopard to her bosdhi, enfolding it in her 
 arms, Doolfchi, the Thakorine, looked plead- 
 ingly up at the handsome young English- 
 man. And did not look in vain. 
 
 " I would not have thee punish it, 
 Thakorine," he replied. " The fault was 
 mine that wandered here unwittingly." 
 
 A load was lifted from the Thakorines 
 heart as she heard these words. It was 
 something Howard could not comprehend. 
 This Englishman, almost the first who had 
 visited Kalapore, was, in her belief, a 
 representative of the great White Power 
 which had conquered India; and the fact 
 that her snow-leopard had killed his dog 
 made her fear greatly. But for that 
 circumstance she had long since fled from 
 one whose coming had filled the Castle 
 with rumours and alarm. It was, there- 
 fore, a great relief to her to be assured 
 that she was forgiven, and the unpardonable 
 act overlooked.
 
 BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE 97 
 
 *' My lord is gracious and generous," she 
 said. 
 
 She was still kneeling, with one arm 
 round the leopard's neck, and the sight of 
 her there at his feet set the hot blood 
 coursing through Howard's veins. Had 
 she been a woman of his own race he 
 would have known how to act, but the 
 social gulf between the European man and 
 the native woman kept her aloof from him, 
 as oceans keep races asunder. 
 
 She waited a little spell, and then crept 
 nearer to him, still on her knees. " Let 
 Doolchi ask one more favour of the sahib ? " 
 she pleaded softly. 
 
 "Ask many, Thakorine. They shall all 
 be granted." 
 
 She glanced up to him and their eyes 
 met. And, in an instant, without knowing 
 why, she felt a sense of comfort. Her 
 hesitancy left her ; she rose to her feet, and 
 joined her hands in supplication as she 
 might have done to an idol in a temple. 
 
 " My lord will not tell of what has 
 happened to-night. Did Sona Singh hear 
 of it he would command Bijli's death." 
 
 Howard could not resist taking her out- 
 
 G
 
 98 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 stretched hands. It was the first time he 
 had touched her. A thrill ran through him, 
 as when for the first time a woman accepts 
 a man's embrace. This was no embrace, 
 and yet a mingling of pulsation. Warm 
 flesh and blood touched blood and flesh 
 that were warm. And in that touch the 
 social gulf dividing them was bridged. 
 
 " Thakorine, my mouth is sealed. I 
 would sooner cut ofi" my right hand than that 
 thou should'st suffer an instant's anxiety." 
 
 A shy glance from her melting eyes 
 thanked him. She bent low as one receiv- 
 ing a favour, and carrying his hand up 
 pressed it to her forehead. 
 
 It was a tacit sign of submission — 
 the surrender of the woman to the man. 
 
 The next moment the memory of her 
 condition, in that lonely moonlit garden 
 alone with this man, overwhelmed her. 
 The last hand she had carried to her fore- 
 head, in wifely homage, had been that of 
 her lord and master, Lai Singh. All her 
 womanly feelings returned — and yet did not 
 return, for unconsciously they had guided 
 her in her treatment of this stranger. She 
 marvelled at it, for this white man from the
 
 BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE 99 
 
 Far Yonder represented the great ruling race 
 of whom she had heard such grim and 
 terrible stories told in the Zenana. And, lo, 
 he was kind and gentle ; he had forgiven 
 Bijli's sin, and treated her with such 
 deference as womankind in the East never 
 experiences. He was young, he was 
 handsome, and he had pressed her hand. 
 
 What had she done ? This was a crime. 
 She — a purdah nashin princess, and a 
 widow — to carry the hand of another man to 
 her brow, as though he had been her lord 
 and husband ! 
 
 Bijli crouched at her feet. In an access 
 of emotion she flung herself upon the snow- 
 leopard, twining her arms about its neck, 
 and fondling it with some of the devour- 
 ing affection of a dam towards its off- 
 spring. 
 
 As he looked down on her there came 
 to Howard the sudden recollection of Gotch, 
 and the reason of his visit here. He felt he 
 could not leave the Thakorine in ignorance 
 of it. 
 
 *' Thakorine," he said, " I must set thee 
 on thy guard. The Englishman that ac- 
 companies me has come hither in search of a
 
 loo A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 snow-leopard. He has heard of thine, and 
 desires to purchase it." 
 
 The Thakorine sprang to her feet. " To 
 buy BijU ? " she cried, flinging back her 
 small shapely head. "To buy my semchoon 
 — the Spirit of my son. All the gold in 
 Hindostan could never do that," and she 
 laughed scornfully. 
 
 ** Craft succeeds where gold fails," 
 answered Howard, gravely. " My companion 
 is crafty. And Sona Singh — they say — 
 besots himself with opium." 
 
 There came into the Thakorine's face a 
 sudden expression of awakened alarm. " But 
 Bijli is mine ! Mine own ! The Spirit of 
 my son ! Have I not told my lord I reared 
 him ? " 
 
 "My companion is crafty," repeated 
 Howard, significantly, " therefore I set thee 
 on thy guard." 
 
 A new idea — a new danger, such as she 
 had never dreamt of before, suggested itself 
 to the Thakorine's mind. 
 
 "And Sona Singh is terrified," she 
 soliloquised to herself. " He fears thy com- 
 ing, sahib. He believes that thou and thy 
 companion are sent by the British Govern-
 
 BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE lol 
 
 ment to make inquiry into his misrule. It is 
 known to all that the people complain — that 
 Debi Ram, the Minister, administers injustice, 
 and practises extortion — that Sona Singh is 
 but a senseless sot, and coward, and tyrant, 
 in whom the blood of his race has turned 
 sluggish. Debi Ram is my enemy, and 
 Sona Singh is as dough in his fingers." 
 
 " So much I had learnt. Wherefore I 
 warned thee." 
 
 "And if — and if — " her lips slowly framed 
 the words, " the Thakor orders Bijli to be 
 given up — what can I do ? The Zenana has 
 no voice in the affairs of State." 
 
 " Thou must be firm, and refuse, 
 Thakorine." 
 
 " I — a widow — and oppose my will ? " 
 
 Her gesture was more eloquent than 
 words, as she stood wringing her hands, and 
 looked appealingly at Howard. 
 
 And then happened something very 
 strano-e. The sad inflection of her voice 
 seemed to convey her sense of sorrow to 
 Bijli, who, lifting lightly on its hind legs, 
 laid a paw on each of her shoulders, and 
 buried its soft head in her bosom. 
 
 She clasped it to her with a passionate
 
 102 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 caress, and kissed it wildly. Marvellous 
 was the degree of love, almost maternal it 
 seemed, of this woman for her leopard. 
 And even more marvellous the strange, 
 subtle similarity between them that in- 
 definably suggested an almost incompre- 
 hensible community of form and nature. 
 The white, velvety outline of the leopard, 
 erect, the voluptuous, willowy grace of the 
 slender girl figure, draped in that exquisitely 
 soft, white raiment ; the white faces close 
 together, white^ limbs and white arms 
 clasped and intertwined. Howard looked 
 at the conjunction, and his soul seemed to 
 accept the superstition of the semchoon. 
 
 A silence followed — long and almost pain- 
 ful. And then there came a sob from 
 Doolchi. 
 
 "Thakorine," said Howard, "thou must 
 be brave." 
 
 " Alas, my lord speaks without knowing 
 the disabilities under which I am placed. 
 Thy words have opened my understanding. 
 I perceive a great danger. Thy companion 
 has but to demand Bijli, and it will be 
 given to him. There is a great fear in 
 the Castle. A woman of the Zenana was
 
 BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE 103 
 
 murdered a month ago. Whispers of it 
 went abroad, and thy coming was connected 
 therewith. She was the daughter, young 
 and comely, of a Gadhi who is a subject of 
 the British Raj. Sona Singh would have left 
 his slippers at her door, but she repelled his 
 advances. There was trouble in the Zenana 
 — a great scandal it was difficult to hush. 
 One night the girl was carried here — " the 
 Thakorine took a few steps forward to the 
 edge of the precipice, and pointed down it. 
 " They said it was suicide. Is not this 
 called the Cliff of Suicide } And we of the 
 Zenana who rebel, hither we are forced to 
 come, and no more is heard of us ! Many 
 have trod this path. The stream that 
 splashes on the rocks below has washed 
 away the blood of many. Who knows but 
 that it may yet wash away the blood of 
 Doolchi, the Thakorine ? " 
 
 Howard glanced at her with awe, and a 
 great feeling of pity crept over him as he 
 saw her standing there, and realised some- 
 thing of the secret tragedies of the Zenana. 
 
 " But why tell my lord of these things ? " 
 she went on. " Only there is fear in the 
 Castle, and whatsoever thy companion
 
 104 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 demands that will be given him. And 
 unless thou wilt help me I shall lose Bijli." 
 "What help I can render is assuredly 
 thine. But between me and my companion 
 there is no friendship. He has come from 
 across the Black Water to secure an animal 
 of this rare species. He is avaricious and 
 crafty. It means to him much money. I 
 cannot turn him from his covetousness." 
 *• And he will seek to buy Bijli ?" 
 " Has he not come hither to buy it ? " 
 The Thakorine lowered Bijli to the 
 ground. For a moment she stood irre- 
 solute. Then, after the common suppliant 
 custom of the East, knelt down, and bending 
 her head to the ground, touched Howard's 
 feet with her hands joined together at her 
 forehead. 
 
 Men had done this a hundred times to 
 him. Amongst the lower castes of India it 
 is an ordinary form of appeal. Towards 
 the priestly Brahmin it is almost universally 
 adopted by suppliants of other castes. But 
 from a native lady to an English gentleman 
 the action assumed an entirely new light. 
 
 Howard stooped rapidly down, caught her 
 by both arms, and raised her to her feet.
 
 BY THE CLIFF OF SUICIDE 105 
 
 For a moment he held her and she made no 
 effort to break free. Again their eyes met. 
 
 The moon was shining on her face. He 
 could see its every feature. Her large, 
 luminous eyes glistened, and tears gathered 
 on their fringes. There was appeal in her 
 face — the appeal of the weak to the strong — 
 of the woman to the man. 
 
 Much might have happened in another 
 minute. Human nature might have bridged 
 the racial gulf, and made light of those limits 
 which the East imposes on the West. But, 
 from the battlements, came the quavering 
 voice of a woman, calling to the Thakorine. 
 Doolchi started with a timid look. " I must 
 go," she whispered. " It will be death to 
 me if I am discovered thus with the sahib." 
 
 "Go then," he answered, deeply anxious 
 not to compromise her, *'and trust to me to 
 help thee if I can." 
 
 " My lord," she answered, with one 
 fleeting look of gratitude, " I trust thee. 
 Am I not thy slave? " 
 
 And the next moment, to the tinkle of the 
 silver chain, the Thakorine and Bijli were 
 running towards a small door that opened 
 through the battlements into the Castle.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE DURBAR 
 
 Thakor Sona Singh, ruling chief of 
 Kalapore, sat in Durbar awaiting his 
 visitors. 
 
 The Hall of Audience was hung with 
 gorgeous draperies, and carpeted with rich 
 rugs, disposed with barbaric splendour. At 
 the upper end a cushioned divan represented 
 the throne. In front of it a magnificent 
 carpet was laid, flanked by two dilapidated 
 chairs, and surrounded by cushions, spread 
 in a semi-circle, for the officials of State. 
 Behind the throne two windows, concealed 
 by grilles, indicated that the ladies of the 
 Baron's Zenana were permitted, under suit- 
 able precautions, to witness the scene. For 
 a Durbar at the Castle of Kalakot, attended 
 by two sahibs, was a function without 
 precedent. 
 
 The Castle had been laid under contribution 
 to lend magnificence to the event. Troops 
 
 io6
 
 THE DURBAR 107 
 
 lined the approaches — handsome, stalwart 
 Rajpoots, wi^ fierce mustachio'd beards, 
 whose ends were twined and tucked behind 
 their ears. Their scarlet uniforms might 
 have lacked consistency, but they excelled in 
 colour. Crimson and gold gleamed and 
 glittered everywhere. Flags flaunted and 
 steel flashed, drums beat and horns were 
 blown. Half a dozen sentinels, in chain 
 armour that had been made a century before, 
 and wearing lacquered steel helmets of an 
 antique shape, plumed with scarlet egrets, 
 recalled a mediaeval age. 
 
 The Hall of Audience was crowded. The 
 Thakor's subjects had been commanded to 
 muster from miles around. Every man was 
 in his gayest garments to do honour to the 
 occasion. 
 
 Sona Singh sat on his cushioned throne — 
 a tall, thin debauchee, who might have been 
 handsome but for the ravages of the drug to 
 which he was a slave. The smudge oi surma 
 under his eyes, the tints of henna on his nails 
 and fingers, the languid attitude and gestures 
 he affected marked him as effeminate as well 
 as weak and sensual. More than one in the 
 hall whispered to his neighbour, "Alas
 
 io8 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 for the days of Lai Singh, the Lion of 
 Lahoul ! " 
 
 At the Thakor's foot, in a crouching 
 position of humiHty, squatted the Minister, 
 Debi Ram. He was a Hindoo of the com- 
 mercial caste, keen, cunning, unscrupulous, 
 extortionate, and, where he could be so with 
 safety to himself, tyrannical. He fawned on 
 his master, like the sycophant he was, and yet 
 he wielded supreme power in the State. He 
 was rich, as riches went in those parts, 
 notwithstanding you might have mistaken 
 him for a menial pipe-bearer, so unpretending 
 was his Durbar dress, so mean and mincing 
 his bearing. 
 
 And hidden in his girdle he carried Gotch's 
 promise to pay five hundred rupees if he 
 arranged the matter of the snow-leopard. 
 
 There came the report of matchlocks fired 
 in an indiscriminate fusilade. It was the 
 Kalakot substitute for a salute of State, and 
 a herald announced the Sahib Bahadhurs 
 Gotch and Howard. 
 
 Gotch, appreciating the importance of 
 thrusting himself into the place of seniority, 
 pushed forward, and striding up to Sona 
 Singh, who had risen to his feet, shook him
 
 THE DURB4R 109 
 
 by the hand. To Debi Ram he vouchsafed 
 a most poHte salaam. Then he coolly in- 
 troduced Howard, as if he were a sub- 
 ordinate. 
 
 The usual florid compliments passed. 
 The stereotyped polite inquiries as to each 
 other's health and happiness were formulated. 
 Sona Singh was a semi-independent chief, 
 who, had he ever entered civilised British 
 territory, would have been entitled to a 
 salute of nine guns. He was as full of pride 
 and punctilio as his miserable physical con- 
 dition permitted. 
 
 Howard, as an ex-political officer, took his 
 
 measure at once. He had often dealt with 
 
 debauched Rajahs and Nawabs — half 
 
 maudlin, wholly wrecked figure-heads, whom 
 
 their ministers encouraged in vicious habits 
 
 in order to incapacitate them from State 
 
 duties. The brandy bottle, the opium bowl, 
 
 the stimulating drugs of the Zenana, are all 
 
 lavishly used to enfeeble the brain of the 
 
 Indian potentate in those out-of-the-way 
 
 places where the protecting influence of the 
 
 British power is not represented by a 
 
 Resident. 
 
 Before coming to the Durbar, Gotch had told
 
 no A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Howard nothing of his intentions or designs. 
 The latter had to explain the loss of Flirt, 
 whose body he had cast over the Cliff of 
 Suicide — with a grievous pang — and whose 
 death he attributed to an accident. When 
 he endeavoured to find out Gotch's plans, a 
 knowing wink was the only answer he got. 
 
 So all he could do was to wait and watch 
 events, and trust to luck and his own wit to 
 find a way to assist the Thakorine. 
 
 Presently Gotch, with a significant look 
 at the Minister, broached the subject that 
 was nearest to his heart. 
 
 " Your Highness is aware," he said, flatter- 
 ing the Thakor with a title he had no claim 
 to, "that it is a custom with great rulers to 
 collect menageries of wild animals. Your 
 illustrious kinsman, the Maharajah of Jey- 
 pore, possesses a magnificent collection of 
 beasts of the jungle, and has presented 
 several noble specimens of tigers, and other 
 lordly animals, to the Great Queen, who has 
 accorded him her particular favour." 
 
 "That is true," concurred the Minister, 
 "Would that my lord might enjoy such a 
 favourable opportunity ! " And he leant 
 forward and whispered into Sona Singh's ear
 
 THE DURBAR in 
 
 some concocted story of benefits derived by 
 the means indicated. 
 
 " Possibly it is in your Highness's power to 
 so benefit," suggested Gotch, *' for I am 
 informed there is a tame snow-leopard in 
 your Castle. Have I heard aright.'*" 
 
 "The sahib has been truly informed," 
 said the Minister. 
 
 " Then assuredly the possession of it places 
 your Highness in a most fortunate position." 
 
 Sona Singh blinked his eyes, and looked 
 at his Minister for elucidation. 
 
 " Let the sahib explain his words," said 
 Debi Ram. 
 
 "The Great Queen," went on Gotch, 
 " desires to obtain a snow-leopard for her 
 menagerie, and I am commissioned to get 
 one. 
 
 "The Great Queen," gasped the Minister, 
 with assumed surprise, whilst a murmur of 
 wonder arose from the crowded hall. 
 
 "Assuredly the Great Queen." 
 
 " Then great is my master's good fortune," 
 declared Debi Ram, amidst a clatter of 
 " Wah Walls'' from the populace. 
 
 "I say, Gotch, this is not fair play!" 
 protested Howard.
 
 112 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 "What d'ye mean?" 
 
 " Well, you know you're not getting this 
 snow-leopard for the Queen, but for yourself." 
 
 "Pooh. What does it matter? Don't 
 put a spoke in my wheel. This is my busi- 
 ness," answered Gotch, roughly. " Mind 
 your own ! " 
 
 Meanwhile the Thakor and Minister were 
 whispering together, the latter evidently 
 intent on impressing his master, who lolled 
 over the cushion with sottish eyes. 
 
 " Debi Ram," insinuated Gotch, smoothly, 
 " a Minister of your special wisdom and 
 penetration must see how golden is the 
 opportunity presented to the Thakor 
 Sahib ? " 
 
 " My master can, of course, refuse the 
 Great Queen nothing," said Debi Ram, and 
 leant over towards the Thakor. " It is for the 
 Great Queen," Howard heard him whisper. 
 " My master must tender it as a gift." 
 
 " But the semchoon belongs to the 
 Zenana," objected Sona Singh. "And thou 
 knowest her temper, Debi Ram ! " 
 
 "And shall a voice from the Zenana pre- 
 vent my lord from advancing his own in- 
 terests?" demanded the Minister, in a
 
 THE DURBAR 113 
 
 sneering tone, that could be plainly heard by 
 those immediately surrounding. "Give the 
 command, my lord, and I, thy servant, will 
 see it obeyed." 
 
 " Be it so," said Sona Singh, wearily. And 
 then to Gotch, " Sahib, I present thee with 
 the semchoon for the Great Queen." 
 
 " Great is your Highness's generosity, and 
 great shall be your Highness's reward. In 
 the name of the Queen I accept the gift with 
 thanks." 
 
 " Stay ! Sona Singh," cried Howard, " you 
 are misinformed. This sahib is no agent of 
 the Queen of England. He is a bopari — a 
 trader, whose business it is to snare and sell 
 wild animals. He has been offered a fabulous 
 price for this snow-leopard, and seeks it only 
 to enrich himself." 
 
 "By God, Howard, I'll make you pay for 
 this," burst out Gotch, furiously, " spoiling my 
 trade." 
 
 " Don't Howard me. Do you think I am 
 going to sit here quietly and listen to you 
 deceiving these people with deliberate lies ? " 
 
 " Lies you call them ? " retorted Gotch ; 
 and changing his speech into the native 
 dialect, drew from his pocket a red silk bag, 
 
 H
 
 114 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 from which, with much parade, he extracted 
 a document, and holding it up for all to see, 
 " This is a Firman from the Sultan of Roum^' 
 he cried, "commissioning me to obtain a 
 snow-leopard for the Empress of Russia — 
 the Great Queen of Asia. Here is the 
 Sultan's seal — here his august signature. 
 And this sahib, who has come hither to 
 shoot goats by your Highness's favour, has 
 dared to call me a liar. Well for him your 
 Highness's presence prevents me from 
 punishing this insult to my birth and breed- 
 ing, who represent the Sultan of Turkey, and 
 the Emperor and Empress of Russia. These 
 are my credentials. I command they shall 
 be read ! " 
 
 As he spoke he flourished a parchment 
 with portentous seals attached to it, and 
 covered with Arabic characters. 
 
 Then, turning to Howard, asked him with 
 a sneer, so that all might understand, " Do 
 you dispute this ? " 
 
 The Minister took the parchment with 
 reverend hands, salaamed, and held it up 
 before Sona Singh. 
 
 "Who is the Empress of Russia in the 
 Queen of England's dominions?" demanded
 
 THE DURBAR 115 
 
 Howard, impetuously. "It was of the Great 
 Queen — the Queen of England — this trader 
 spoke." 
 
 "North of these snows," cried Gotch, 
 pointing dramatically through the open 
 windows at the mountains, " there is but 
 one King — the Czar of all the Russias ; but 
 one Queen — the Empress of Asia. It is for 
 her Majesty that I am here to accept his 
 Highness's gift." 
 
 "A gift to a trader," exclaimed Howard 
 in a tone of contempt. "Ask him, Sona 
 Singh, how many thousands of rupees he 
 will receive for this gift ? You are tributary 
 to the Queen of England ; pay not tribute to 
 another. Beware ! " He shook a warning 
 finger at the Thakor. " What will the Power 
 at Simla say if it is whispered Sona Singh 
 sends gifts to Russia ? " 
 
 The Thakor paled at this sudden turn of 
 the argument, and from the people in the 
 body of the hall arose a murmur of disap- 
 proval, which showed that the point had 
 struck home. 
 
 But Debi Ram was a cunning knave, and 
 had no intention of letting the discussion 
 wander out of strict lines.
 
 ii6 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 " A gift is a gift," he cried, " and the gifts 
 that pass between rulers can never be re- 
 called." 
 
 " I have heard," declared Howard, as a 
 last resource, " that the snow-leopard is not 
 Sona Singh's to give." 
 
 "Your Highness," cried Gotch, "I pray 
 you rebuke this sahib who dares to question 
 your authority in your own State." 
 
 " Whose, then, is the semchoon ? " sneered 
 the Minister. 
 
 " It is mine ! " cried a woman's voice, as 
 the purdahs parted that curtained an alcove 
 behind Sona Singh, and forth into the Hall 
 of Audience stepped Doolchi, the Thakorine, 
 leading Bijli by its silver chain.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 DOOLCHI, THE THAKORINE 
 
 A CRY of shocked astonishment and condem- 
 nation reverberated through the Hall of 
 Audience. Never before in the history of 
 the Court of Kalakot had such a shameful 
 public incident as this occurred. A Rajpoot 
 princess, unveiled, and standing there for all 
 men to see. 
 
 The Thakor was staggered. It was as a 
 blow struck in his face. The sluggish blood 
 drained into his sapless cheeks, and he lifted 
 his lean arms in frantic expostulation. 
 
 " Wanton, and without modesty," he 
 cried, *' back to thy purdah." 
 
 " Wanton," echoed the Thakorine, in ac- 
 cents of superlative scorn, as she drew her 
 tall figure proudly up. " Thou darest to call 
 me ' wanton ' ? Thou — the opium-soddened 
 disofrace of the illustrious line, whose honour 
 culminated and died with my goodly lord, 
 Lai Singh. Thou — that would'st rob me, his 
 
 117
 
 Ii8 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 widow, of her most precious possession ; that 
 would'st give this shop-keeping sahib" — she 
 flung a contemptuous gesture at Gotch — " the 
 semchoon of the widow of Lai Sineh. Where 
 is thy chivalry ? And thou " — she turned and 
 pointed her finger at Debi Ram — "mean 
 fawner — flatterer — huxter, who hast had the 
 effrontery to declare that if this puppet prince 
 gave thee the command thou would'st see 
 it obeyed — here is Bijli. Make good thy 
 words." 
 
 She drew the snow-leopard forward by its 
 silver chain, and uttered a peculiar cry that 
 roused its temper. In a moment its fur was 
 standing on end, as with ominous growls it 
 slowly turned its head round, only waiting 
 its mistress's further command. 
 
 Debi Ram slid behind Gotch's chair, terror 
 in his fat, oily features, whilst Gotch backed 
 his seat with an action that indicated incon- 
 venience. 
 
 "Witch," he cried, "keep back thy 
 cursed leopard. The brute is dangerous." 
 
 Holding the chain to restrain it to a limit, 
 the Thakorine deliberately allowed Bijli to 
 sniff the face of the shrinking Englishman. 
 Then, with a contemptuous laugh, snapped her
 
 DOOLCHI, THE THAKORINE 119 
 
 fingers, and gave a low, soft call. Bijli re- 
 turned and crouched at her feet. 
 
 A murmur of extorted admiration cluttered 
 in the crowded Hall of Audience. The 
 transcendent beauty of the girl, draped in 
 her exquisite garb of white, and her weird 
 mastery of the wild beast, appealed in all 
 its dramatic force. 
 
 The Thakor had drawn a jewelled sword, 
 and attempted to assume an attitude of 
 menace. A score of retainers and sepoys, 
 from the back of the hall, came hurrying 
 forward with clank of arms, unceremoniously 
 pushing their way through the crowd of 
 onlookers who had risen to their feet. 
 
 " Death to her ! " cried the Thakor, 
 choking with rage. " Death to her, who has 
 disgraced the purdah of my house ! Death 
 to her, who so shamelessly parades her face 
 before strange men ! " 
 
 There was more than anger, there was 
 jealousy, in his features as he looked at this 
 beautiful girl whom he had long desired. It 
 was as a stab to him to think that other 
 men should gaze on one whom he had 
 marked for his own, and used every en- 
 deavour to gain, but as yet without success.
 
 I20 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 And now he could have killed her. At 
 his orders the soldiery circled round the 
 Thakorine. Amongst them were warriors 
 worthy of the traditions of their tribe ; men 
 who, in another case, would sooner have 
 cast themselves upon their own swords than 
 drawn blade against a woman. But in their 
 eyes this girl had not only irrevocably dis- 
 graced her sex, but their chief, and through 
 him the whole clan. Death was her due ! 
 
 Motionless as a statue stood the 
 Thakorine, the snow-leopard couchant at 
 her feet. Her head was poised high, her 
 eyes flashed with a strange light, she was a 
 woman insensate to fear of death. Then, 
 with a frenzied sweep of her hand, she 
 struck her heaving bosom. 
 
 "Strike!" she cried. "Strike here! Let 
 the widow of Lai Singh die by the sword 
 blades of his warriors." 
 
 " Back with you ! " cried Howard, " cowards 
 and craven-souled! Would you raise weapons 
 against a princess ? " 
 
 '' She is no princess," shouted Sona Singh, 
 furiously. " Immodest and dishonoured 
 strumpet, let her die the death." 
 
 Goaded on by excitement and curiosity in
 
 DOOLCHI, THE THAKORINE 121 
 
 the extraordinary spectacle, the populace 
 were pressing forward almost to the edge of 
 the carpet. A few cries of pity, but more of 
 shame and condemnation rent the air. The 
 scandal was insupportable. Shrill voices 
 sounded from the latticed windows behind 
 the throne, calling for the Thakorine to be 
 killed. 
 
 But Debi Ram did not lose his head. 
 Creeping to his master's side, he eagerly 
 whispered into his ear words of caution. 
 
 "Later, my lord, later! Not here — not 
 now! It were not wise to kill her thus 
 publicly. Blood spilt in the open cannot be 
 washed away with a lota. There are too 
 many unfriendly eyes that witness. Simla 
 will hear of it." 
 
 " Back with you ! " shouted Howard, 
 stepping forward, as he noted a waver in 
 the ranks. "One step forward, and by Holy 
 Gunga the rule of the chief of Kalapore shall 
 be ended." 
 
 But Sona Singh had been roused from his 
 lethargic state by a stimulant more powerful 
 than opium. The poison of jealousy had 
 driven him half mad, and as he looked at 
 the Thakorine a conflicting tumult of thoughts
 
 122 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 filled his breast. His evil passions were 
 aroused ; she had by her action put herself 
 out of his reach, for she had made her 
 beauty public property, and other men had 
 enjoyed what he had hoped to monopolise. 
 Shaking off the Minister with an angry 
 movement, he advanced himself to do the 
 deed his soldiers hesitated at. His besotted 
 brain comprehended only that the honour of 
 his Zenana was compromised, and the fairest 
 and most coveted flower in it besmirched by 
 this exposure of her charms. 
 
 Howard caught sight of him reeling for- 
 ward, drunk with anger and jealousy, and 
 a demonish look in his face. The feeble 
 hands of the debauchee raised a shaking 
 sword, the curved blade trembled in the 
 light. 
 
 With a quick movement Howard grasped 
 the uplifted wrist, and forced the Thakor 
 back. " Enough ! Be seated, or — " and he 
 raised a threatening hand to add meaning 
 to his words. 
 
 A cry of indignation burst from the 
 populace. To lay a rude touch upon their 
 chief was an insult to the State. Howard's 
 liberty, if not his life, hung in the balance.
 
 DOOLCHI, THE THAKORINE 123 
 
 And now Gotch intervened. "You fool," 
 he cried, "to act like this. You, an ex- 
 Political ! " 
 
 Simultaneously the Minister came forward. 
 " Peace ! peace ! " he shouted, holding up his 
 arms to keep the guards and populace back. 
 Then to the Thakorine, " Retire, lady, to 
 the Zenana, and await his Highness's pleasure. 
 But for this wild beast, it belonged to the 
 Thakor Lai Singh, and has passed to my 
 lord, Sona Singh, by right of inheritance. It 
 is his Highness's command that thou shalt 
 deliver it up, and so soon as the Sahib 
 Bahadhur is ready, it will be required of 
 thee." 
 
 " Oh, I'm all ready now," said Gotch. " I 
 have a cage for the beast, and nets outside. 
 Let them be brought in." 
 
 Men were despatched for them, and a 
 minute later a cage was carried into the Hall 
 of Audience and set down. 
 
 During these proceedings the Thakorine 
 had remained standing in the centre of the 
 carpet like a woman in a dream. She made 
 no sign that she was conscious of what was 
 going on. 
 
 Gotch opened the cage door and set it
 
 124 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 ready to receive the animal. " Command 
 her, your Highness, to make the beast enter." 
 
 Sona Singh did so. But the Thakorine, 
 standing motionless, save for her hand that 
 gently fondled Bijli's head, took no heed. 
 
 Debi Ram came forward, and whispered to 
 Gotch, who nodded, " Yes. I can manage it." 
 
 Then he began to unfold the nets, and 
 hand them to attendants, with instructions 
 how they were to be spread. 
 
 Once more Howard attempted to intervene. 
 " I protest against this," he cried in a loud 
 voice. " The leopard belongs to the Thakor- 
 ine, and shall not be taken from her." 
 
 For an answer Gotch made a sign to the 
 guards, who immediately grouped themselves 
 round Howard, and prevented his further 
 interference by interposing themselves 
 between him and the girl. 
 
 Gotch advanced with the net poised to 
 cast it over the snow-leopard. It was an 
 extraordinary scene — an extraordinary task — 
 to snare a savage beast in open Durbar. It 
 needed skill and courage, but, where his 
 craft was concerned, Gotch was not lacking 
 in either. 
 
 In this last extremity the Thakorine gave
 
 DOOLCHI, THE THAKORINE 125 
 
 a pitiable glance round for her champion, 
 only to realise he was practically a prisoner 
 in the hands of the sepoys. 
 
 The snow-leopard lay at her feet ; Gotch 
 was stealthily approaching ; the net was 
 ready to be flung. Urged on by Sona Singh, 
 who was making signs, three men were 
 closings in to seize the Thakorine and draor 
 her away. A tragedy was imminent. 
 
 But ere the net was cast, the circle com- 
 pleted, the Thakorine assumed the offensive. 
 A cry to Bijli and the leopard reared up. 
 An imperious gesture, and the men fell back. 
 With stately steps she walked forward to the 
 edge of the carpet, and stood facing the 
 assembled host, her hand pressed to her 
 bosom. 
 
 "People of Kalapore!" she cried, "to 
 you I appeal. Brothers ! Descendants of 
 the Sun ! Warriors of my lord and husband's 
 caste — listen to the complaint of Doolchi, the 
 Thakorine, she who was wedded and who 
 bore a son to thy ruler, Lai Singh ! 
 
 "He whosits on the throne, this Sona Singh, 
 the cousin of my honoured lord, is my enemy. 
 And why? Because I have spurned him 
 many a time, as I now spurn him in public.
 
 126 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 He would have left his slippers at my door. 
 That is the honour he contemplated for the 
 widow of the Lion of Lahoul. This dog, 
 this jackal, would have lorded it in the dead 
 lion's den. 
 
 "He, and yon rogue who robs you, Debi 
 Ram — the panderer to his master's lust — have 
 never ceased from persecuting me since my 
 lord died. The walls of the Zenana are high 
 and thick, from within them no whispers 
 penetrate to the outer world. There are 
 things done there to helpless women that 
 may not be spoken of. My jewels have been 
 taken from me ; my lands, that my lord 
 dowered me with, have been escheated ; I 
 have been deprived of my waiting women, 
 all save one ; month by month my station 
 has been rendered more and more humiliat- 
 ing. And Bijli — Bijli, my semchoon — has 
 been my only protection against these vile 
 creatures and panderers who design dishonour 
 against me. 
 
 " And to-day there comes this trading 
 sahib. He would buy Bijli for his profit. 
 He has arranged the matter with Debi 
 Ram. The widow is not without friends in 
 the Zenana, and knows all.
 
 DOOLCHI, THE THAKORINE 127 
 
 " And this" — she kneh down and laid her 
 white arms about the snow-leopard's neck — 
 "is to me a son. In it dwells the Spirit of 
 my son. Ye know of the semchoon — the 
 human soul that enters into the snow-leopard. 
 Ye know I bore a son to my lord, Lai 
 Singh — a man-child who died. Had he 
 lived he would have ruled over Kalapore. 
 But Siva, the Destroyer, willed otherwise, 
 and I who was a happy wife and a proud 
 mother — widowed and childless am I. 
 
 " It was when my man-child died that my 
 lord, Lai Singh, brought Bijli to my chamber. 
 My lord's heart was broken with grief. But 
 even in his sorrow and affliction he thought 
 of me. 'Take this,' he cried. ' It may be 
 that the Spirit of thy son is here.' 
 
 " I took it. Little, and small, and white, 
 and helpless — like my dead son had been. 
 I placed it in my bosom to warm it. Had 
 not my lord said that the soul of my son 
 might be in this new-born semchoon ? Was 
 it for me to question my lord's wisdom ? 
 
 " And Bijli — little, and small, and white, 
 and helpless — lay in my bosom, where my 
 dead son had lain. The yearning of 
 maternity came to me. And I thought,
 
 128 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 * the soul of my dead man-child has passed 
 into thee, little helpless thing.' I suckled it. 
 And Bijli is to me my son." 
 
 For a moment she bowed her face, and 
 buried it in the leopard's neck. Then, with 
 an effort, rose to her feet and faced the 
 people. 
 
 " And now, brothers, ye know what all 
 the Zenana knew — what -this dog, Sona 
 Singh, knew — what Debi Ram knew when 
 he accepted the bribe now in his girdle to 
 part my son from me, and consign my 
 semchoon to the cage of this white outcast 
 bopari. And ye know, too, the reason of 
 this act that would have deprived me of my 
 sole protection against this shameless kins- 
 man of Lai Singh's, who sought to dis- 
 honour the chamber of my dead lord." 
 
 She slipped her hand into her- bosom and 
 drew forth a small glittering object. It was 
 an idol in the image of Siva, the Destroyer, 
 of pure gold, with emerald eyes, and ruby 
 lips, and flashing diamonds for ears. Press- 
 ing it to her forehead, she held it up aloft for 
 all to see and venerate. Immediately an 
 awe fell on the people, as their hands were 
 carried to their foreheads in adoration.
 
 DOOLCHI, THE THAKORINE 129 
 
 " Listen to my vow ! I, Doolchi, the 
 Thakorine, standing here unveiled before 
 you, command you to take heed and bear 
 witness thereto. I renounce allegiance to 
 Sona Singh, I renounce the Zenana, I re- 
 nounce my caste. By this image in my 
 hand I call on Siva, the Destroyer, to accept 
 me as his slave, and into his mighty keeping 
 I confide the Spirit of my son. And if he 
 barkens to my prayer, I vow that I will go 
 forth and serve in his Temples by Holy 
 Gunga's stream. To Siva I offer up my 
 body, and my soul, in return for his pro- 
 tection for my son ! " 
 
 She stopped speaking and again elevated 
 the idol. With one accord all heads were 
 bent before that awful symbol. Turning 
 slowly round, she passed towards the door, 
 and disappeared behind the purdah, followed 
 by the semchoon tinkling its silver chain.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 SOME REFLECTIONS AND A BEAR HUNT 
 
 Three days later Howard's camp was 
 pitched outside the boundaries of the 
 territory of Thakor Sona Singh, and he 
 found himself looking back at his strange 
 experiences at the Black Castle as a dream. 
 
 Directly the Thakorine had left the 
 Durbar Hall, Howard had taken advantage 
 of the effect caused by her dramatic exit, to 
 inform the Thakor that a full account of all 
 he had seen and heard that day would be 
 submitted to Simla, and, in the sensation 
 this public announcement created, stalked 
 out of the Hall of State. 
 
 Gotch, who was not aware of the peculiar 
 circumstances under which Howard had 
 retired from the Service, conceived that a 
 young man who had been so fortunate as 
 to obtain an appointment in the Political 
 Department, must necessarily be acquainted 
 with a host of influential friends. He 
 intimated this to Debi Ram. The Minister 
 
 130
 
 SOME REFLECTIONS 131 
 
 was exceedingly anxious to hush up the 
 scandalous incident of the Durbar. Too 
 much had already leaked out about the 
 secrets of the Zenana. So, in collusion, 
 these two conspirators agreed upon a plan 
 of action. 
 
 The next day a State intimation was sent 
 to the Englishmen's camp, politely request- 
 ing them both to quit Sona Singh's territory. 
 Gotch at once assented and Howard had no 
 choice but to acquiesce. He dared not 
 exhibit any personal anxiety about the 
 Thakorine, but he ventured on a stipulation 
 that she should remain unmolested, and be 
 allowed to retain Bijli. 
 
 " The wanton can no longer remain in the 
 Castle," declared Debi Ram, decisively. " She 
 will be sent to join the courtesans in the 
 Temple of Siva. As for the snow-leopard, 
 it was poisoned last night." 
 
 Between Howard and Gotch the briefest 
 parting words sufficed. " You go your way, 
 and I will go mine," said the Shikari. 
 Howard selected the west ; Gotch took the 
 east. 
 
 It was with a heavy heart Howard re- 
 sumed his journeyings. Visions of the
 
 132 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Thakorine, sorrowing for her slaughtered 
 pet, haunted his memory. He was far from 
 satisfied as to her own fate. The poison- 
 ing of BijH might be a prelude to her 
 murder. He remembered with a shudder 
 the Cliff of Suicide — that path so many had 
 been forced to tread. 
 
 He recalled the picture of Doolchi as it 
 lingered in his recollection ; not the one 
 during that last scene in the Hall of 
 Audience, when she faced, unveiled, the 
 assemblage of men, and dared the soldiers 
 to strike ; but the gentler picture of the 
 leopard girl, whose melting eyes had pleaded 
 and glanced timidly at his in the moonlit 
 garden. 
 
 Alas, between them yawned the gulf that 
 divides West from East ; the gulf of Caste 
 and Custom, of race and religion. In the 
 India of to-day, as in the India of olden 
 ages, a Rajpootni woman is further removed 
 from an Englishman than a European nun. 
 Easier to pierce the walls of a convent than 
 the purdah of a Zenana. What, then, was 
 the use of thinking of her ? Thinking would 
 never bring him in touch with the Thakorine 
 again.
 
 SOME REFLECTIONS 133 
 
 Despite the ridicule that has been lavished 
 on it, it is easy to fall in love at first sight. 
 And Howard had fallen in love. He knew 
 it was with " the impossible," but that did 
 not alter the initial fact. He endeavoured 
 to analyse his feelings, with the result that 
 he found himself wondering how he had 
 ever imaoined himself in love with Edith 
 Ponsonby. 
 
 A photograph of her remained in his 
 possession, and he drew it out and looked 
 at it. It was no longer able to stir his 
 feelings. It even seemed commonplace. 
 It represented an artificial, modern, civilised 
 woman. And yet she was what the world 
 calls "a pretty girl." Pretty! What, then, 
 was Doolchi .-* 
 
 He lay back on the hill side (it 
 happened he was out shooting, without an 
 attendant, in search of solitude rather than 
 sport), and closing his eyes, tried to summon 
 a picture of the Thakorine as he had seen 
 her in the Castle garden. There rose before 
 him a vision of a woman elegant and willowy 
 in form, almost leopard-like in her grace, 
 with her captive snow-leopard nestling in 
 her arms ; a face as fair, and more beautiful
 
 134 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 far, than 'the fairest in the West ; and eyes 
 that burned into his soul. He recalled it 
 all with a thrill, to think he should have been 
 permitted to look upon this forbidden flower 
 of the Zenana. 
 
 With a deliberate action he tore the photo- 
 graph in pieces, and let the fragments fall. 
 That romance was ended. 
 
 He was about five miles away from his 
 camp. Beneath him lay a deep, narrow 
 valley facing the north, where a drift of 
 snow still lingered, for the sun only shone on 
 it for a few hours daily. Down the centre 
 ran a stream which appeared to be frozen 
 over, its surface from bank to bank, a 
 distance of about fifty yards, presenting a 
 tolerably even sheet of ice. 
 
 Suddenly, as he looked across the gorge, 
 his attention was attracted by three figures 
 moving erratically down the opposite steep. 
 Adjusting his glasses, he discovered they 
 were red bears, feeding and travelling down- 
 hill. He glanced at the sun. There was 
 time, he thought, to have a try at them, and 
 get back to camp before nightfall. No 
 hunter likes to return empty-handed, and 
 although he had climbed high and descended
 
 SOME REFLECTIONS 135 
 
 low, and tramped far, it had been in no spirit 
 of sport, or seeking sport. 
 
 And here sport had come to him. It was 
 more than he deserved. Perish the ignoble 
 fellow who lets a westering- sun deter him 
 from taking advantage of a piece of luck ! 
 
 He immediately began to descend the 
 steep hill under cover of scant bushes and 
 jutting boulders. The wind was favourable, 
 the bears too busily engaged in grubbing 
 for food to notice him, and too far to hear. 
 Scent, sight and sound are the three dangers 
 sportsmen have to contend against in stalk- 
 ing Himalayan game. In all three fortune 
 favoured Howard. 
 
 He reached the bank of the frozen stream 
 whilst tlte bears were still high up, and 
 crouched behind a rock. Down-hill they 
 came, snouting and jogging each other in 
 their clumsy way, the dam scratching up 
 roots for her young. She was a magnificent 
 beast in full coat ; the cubs, too, carried 
 splendid pelts, and were nearly full grown. 
 It was evident they were coming to drink 
 from the melted drainage that percolated 
 from the base of the hill, and formed a swamp 
 by the side of the ice.
 
 136 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Howard waited patiently and allowed 
 them to descend to the opposite edge of 
 the frozen surface. He might have shot 
 one, even two, several times over, but his 
 ambition was to bag all three. He had 
 made up his mind what to do — to take the 
 cubs first, for the dam would certainly not 
 desert them. 
 
 They had reached the swamp, and were 
 beginning to drink when he fired. Crack ! 
 One cub fell. Crack ! The other toppled 
 over. There is joy in a right and left at 
 bears ! The reverberating echoes of the 
 two rifle shots rang like thunder through the 
 narrow valley, with appalling reiteration. 
 The dam looked up, sighted him (for he had 
 risen to his feet), and with a growl of deadliest 
 rage, and glistening teeth, came charging 
 blindly across the river bed. Scarce had she 
 shambled twenty paces, than the ice broke 
 and she fell through. 
 
 On the impulse of the moment Howard 
 ran forward to shoot, expecting to see her 
 scramble up immediately from what he con- 
 ceived to be the shallow bed of the stream. 
 
 As he trod the frozen surface, there came 
 several ominous cracks that should have
 
 SOME REFLECTIONS 137 
 
 warned him. But he never suspected 
 danger. He took it for granted the stream 
 was shallow, and its bed, like the frozen 
 surface, flat. 
 
 "Take nothing for granted that snow 
 covers in the Himalayas!" He had for- 
 gotten the tritest precaution of the hunter 
 in high altitudes. The rotten crust of ice 
 gave way beneath him, and instead of 
 plumbing bottom with his feet, he found 
 himself falling through dark space.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE CHASM UNDER THE SNOW 
 
 Although, as a matter of actual fact, 
 Howard only fell twenty feet, his whole 
 life history passed through his brain in the 
 brief space between the crust of frozen snow 
 giving way beneath his tread, and his 
 summary establishment on a sufficiently soft 
 substance at the dark bottom. 
 
 The jerk of his advent caused his rifle to 
 explode. In the pent-up space the report 
 sounded like a salvo of artillery, and was 
 instantly followed by an icy shower which 
 dripped from the roof of the extraordinary 
 place he had fallen into. The fumes of the 
 smoke hung round him, and the echoes of 
 the discharge jostled each other in what 
 seemed a subterranean eternity. Fortunately, 
 he was not injured by the fall, and his first 
 anxiety was about the bear. He crammed a 
 couple more cartridges into his rifle, and 
 paused to listen. There came to his ears 
 
 138
 
 THE CHASM UNDER THE SNOW 139 
 
 the thrashing sound of rushing water, and 
 battering boulders, proceeding from some 
 deep, indistinguishable cavity near at 
 hand. 
 
 Instinct warned him not to move. He 
 glanced up and saw the hole through 
 which he had fallen. It appeared small, out 
 of all proportion — a mere pennyworth of 
 blue sky to his wistful eyes. Around him 
 all was deepest gloom, and continual drip- 
 ping ; the air clung close and chill as in a 
 deep mine ; and there was a suggestion of a 
 horrible inferno in the crunching sound that 
 rumbled he knew not where. 
 
 In a few moments he was satisfied there 
 was no danger to be anticipated from the 
 bear. So he struck a match and took stock of 
 his surroundings. Not till then did he realise 
 his awful escape from instantaneous death. 
 Another couple of steps and he must have 
 fallen into an apparently fathomless abyss 
 which yawned within two yards of him. 
 
 For that seemingly fair surface above 
 covered no shallow stream bed, as he had 
 imagined, but a chasm bored deep into the 
 earth, through which the drainage of the 
 gorge forced its way, the boiling water
 
 140 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 escaping by a fissure whose bottom was lost 
 in blackness. 
 
 He had lodged on a ledge that bordered 
 the chasm. The bear must have fallen into 
 it. Groping round, inch by inch — for his 
 stock of matches was small — he cautiously 
 explored his surroundings. Behind him a 
 steep, slimy wall of rock, twenty feet high, 
 prevented his escape ; the ledge was semi- 
 circular, shaped like a wall bracket, and the 
 chasm wound all round it. 
 
 An avalanche had fallen here, and frozen 
 into a miniature glacier, which had been 
 hollowed out by the torrent cutting and 
 sapping at it from below, and subsequently 
 by a summer thaw, until but a thin ceiling 
 of frozen snow, stretching from bank to bank 
 above, and held up by an art which would 
 have defied engineering science, remained 
 to transform the place into a vast dark 
 natural cellar. It was clear that he was 
 hopelessly trapped between cliff and chasm. 
 And he was six miles from camp, in the 
 centre of solitude where, perhaps, a wander- 
 ing shepherd passed with his flocks half a 
 dozen times in the year. 
 
 He examined his belongings. A rifle and
 
 THE CHASM UNDER THE SNOW 141 
 
 twenty - one cartridges, a box containing 
 seventeen sulphur matches, the remains 
 of some chuppati and mutton sandwiches, 
 a flask of whisky, a pouch of tobacco, a 
 pipe, a knife, a watch, a pair of smashed 
 binoculars, and the clothes he stood in. 
 
 An uncommonly poor outfit for a pro- 
 longed residence in the bowels of the earth. 
 Prolonged ? By heavens ! it burst upon him 
 it might be a permanent residence. 
 
 He must do something. What ? Fire 
 shots as signals of distress ? He doubted 
 whether the sound would penetrate through 
 that little aperture in the roof. He looked 
 up. The blue sky had turned to violet. 
 Night was drawing on. 
 
 It was horribly cold. Was it possible to 
 light a fire ? In his exploration of the ledge, 
 which extended for some thirty or forty feet, 
 his hands had come in contact with brambles 
 and tufts of grass and wreckage of drift- 
 wood. He set to work to collect them, and 
 had soon gathered a goodly heap. 
 
 Divesting himself of his shirt, he tore it 
 into strips, and rubbed it with a mixture of 
 gunpowder and whisky. Then, selecting the 
 driest materials, and interweaving some strips
 
 142 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 into it, he carefully built them together, and 
 applied a match. By dint of infinite 
 patience, and nearly bursting his lungs with 
 blowing, he started a fire, and, when he 
 had dried some of the other brushwood, 
 eventually coaxed it into a good blaze. 
 
 The fire gave light, and enabled him to 
 see. He foraged round and gathered more 
 fuel. The ledge extended further than he 
 had at first imagined. With a knowledge 
 of his bearings his nervousness decreased. 
 He was no longer fearful of taking a header 
 into eternity every time be moved. The 
 ruddy flames illumined the vast artificial 
 underground chamber in which he was 
 imprisoned ; the dripping roof sparkled like 
 a stalactite cave, the reflection of the fire 
 danced on the slimy wet rocks and walls, 
 and the smoke collected in a thick canopy 
 overhead, unable to force its way out 
 through the narrow aperture. 
 
 And so he watched through the long night, 
 feeding the fire, and wondering if his 
 servants would come to search for him in 
 the morning. A little nip of whisky and 
 several pipes of tobacco comforted him. 
 Among his many inconveniences was the
 
 THE CHASM UNDER THE SNOW 143 
 
 ceaseless dripping of the water overhead, 
 which he attributed to the warmth of the 
 flames and smoke. At last, overcome with 
 fatigue, he piled a stock of wood on his fire, 
 and curled himself up to sleep, when his 
 watch (which he fortunately remembered to 
 wind up) indicated it was five of the morn. 
 For he knew there was little or no chance of 
 his servants ranging thus far until noon, as 
 they would not have left camp before day- 
 break. 
 
 When he awoke his fire was nearly out, 
 but the chasm was now filled with dull 
 light. He looked up. The ceiling was 
 opaque. It was evident the sun had climbed 
 over the hill, and was shining directly into 
 the valley, and on to the snowfield. 
 
 He stoked up his fire, and noted with 
 satisfaction that the smoke was being drawn 
 through the aperture by the natural draught, 
 knowing he could not have devised a better 
 signal for those regions. 
 
 At mid-day he decided to fire a shot. It 
 was possible the report might be heard out- 
 side. He loaded his rifle, aimed through 
 the aperture overhead, and, to increase the 
 sound, pulled both triggers simultaneously.
 
 144 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Instantly a tremendous cracking sound 
 stunned his ears ; the whole roof caved in 
 above him, jagged slits and rents of blue 
 sky opened in a score of places, and photo- 
 graphed themselves on his mind. The snow 
 ceiling collapsed, and came crashing down — 
 as when the ice breaks up on Canadian 
 rivers, and the liberated floes swirl swiftly 
 down the stream. 
 
 The next moment he was crushed to the 
 earth !
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A SLAVE OF SIVA 
 
 Even as the snow roof of the torrent bed 
 collapsed the figure of a native boy might 
 have been seen descending the hill-side, 
 almost by the very track Howard had 
 followed. He had been searching- for the 
 missing Englishman when his eyes caught 
 sight of smoke issuing apparently from the 
 river bed, and he knew he had found him. 
 
 But before he reached the place the 
 catastrophe occurred in front of his very 
 eyes. First a muffled report rang out, just 
 loud enough to be heard, and the next 
 instant the crash came. 
 
 The melting of the sun, the heat of the 
 fire, and the vibration of the explosion 
 acting on a condition of the ice ripe for 
 breaking up, had anticipated what, in the 
 ordinary course of events, would have 
 occurred in a day or two. And with the 
 
 K 145
 
 146 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 collapse a ghastly chasm yawned where all 
 had been smooth to see. 
 
 The boy stopped, terror-struck at what 
 he had witnessed. A moment later there 
 bounded towards him a snow-leopard. The 
 boy was Doolchi, the Thakorine. 
 
 A moment to catch her breath, and re- 
 cover courage, and she was hurrying down 
 the hill-side. There had been smoke : smoke 
 meant fire : fire meant life. The smoke no 
 longer curled ; were fire and life ex- 
 tinguished ? A minute before her heart 
 had pulsed with joy. But now — what joy 
 was left? She had not lived in the 
 mountains all her years without knowing 
 the danger that attended the collapse of the 
 snow bridges or roofs, which, in those high 
 altitudes, span many ravines and river beds. 
 
 She reached the edge of the scarp, from 
 the level of which but lately the smooth 
 surface had spread its treacherous pitfall. 
 The debris of the disaster was massed on a 
 ledge of ground twenty feet below her. 
 Beyond it gaped a hideous black fissure. 
 And in the centre of the ledge, half buried 
 under the snow, lay the body of a European. 
 
 It was her sahib — for there was only one
 
 A SLAVE OF SIVA 147 
 
 sahib in the world for her. She had seen 
 but two in her Hfetime : this one, her friend ; 
 the other, her enemy. 
 
 She gauged the drop on to the ledge, and 
 took in the descent and the ascent back, and 
 her quick wit instantly discovered a way out 
 of the latter difficulty. 
 
 Wound round her waist was one of the 
 ordinary, goat's-hair ropes worn by the 
 shepherds of the country for a girdle. 
 
 Quickly uncoiling- it, she fastened one end 
 to a boulder, and let the other drop over 
 until it reached within four feet of the ledge. 
 Then she lowered herself, whilst Bijli ran 
 backwards and forwards baulking on the 
 brink. 
 
 ** Lie down ! I will return ! " she cried to 
 it, and obedient to her command, the snow- 
 leopard crouched by the side of the chasm. 
 
 Cautiously she felt her way to where 
 Howard's body lay. One or two small slabs 
 of snow half concealed it, and she tossed 
 them aside, then turned him over and 
 looked into his face ; and, at that very 
 moment, he opened his eyes and looked 
 into hers. 
 
 " Thakorine," he whispered, "art thou
 
 148 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 come to me ? " He did not notice she was 
 dressed as a boy. He did not try to under- 
 stand why or how she had come here. All 
 he knew — and it was sufficient — was that, 
 by some miraculous means, here stood the 
 girl he loved. 
 
 "Is my lord badly hurt?" she asked, 
 bending over him. 
 
 " I do not think I am hurt. How long 
 is it since I have been here ? " He stretched 
 his limbs and slowly raised himself into a 
 sitting posture. " My head is bruised. The 
 ceiling of the chasm fell in. I lost conscious- 
 ness, and now" — he looked around him in a 
 dazed way — " I see sun and sky. It was all 
 gloom. I was imprisoned. And behold I 
 am free. Tell me, Thakorine, what meaneth 
 it?" 
 
 " My lord is safe, though the snow roof 
 fell in upon him. But, praise be to Siva, his 
 life is spared." She drew the golden idol 
 from her bosom, and holding it aloft, apos- 
 trophised it. "Oh, Siva, Destroyer, to 
 thee I have dedicated my service, and thou 
 hast already rewarded thy votary ! " 
 
 " Pray not to Siva, the Destroyer, but 
 rather to Brahma, the Creator — that has
 
 A SLAVE OF SIVA 149 
 
 created this day for me ! " cried Howard, 
 carried away by his sense of deUght. 
 
 ** My lord, I am already vowed. And my 
 vow is to Siva, the Destroyer, to serve in 
 his Temples." 
 
 "That must never be," protested Howard, 
 who knew what such service meant ; a 
 service of vice and infamy to which hundreds 
 of maidens are consigned, even in the India 
 of to-day. 
 
 "What is vowed — is vowed," murmured 
 the Thakorine, sadly. " And Siva has 
 spared Bijli, and has spared — thee." 
 
 "But why," he asked, "why art thou in 
 man's garb ? " 
 
 She coloured. " It is a long story, 
 my lord. Let us escape from here, and I 
 will tell thee everything. Thy tents are far 
 and thou art weak. Rest a while and eat " — 
 she produced food from her girdle — "and let 
 me make a way for thy escape." 
 
 He was thankful to sink back again, and 
 partake of the cake Doolchi had brought him, 
 and drink from his flask. The Thakorine 
 looked on with satisfaction to see the colour 
 returning to his cheeks and strength to his 
 body. Kneeling by his side, she shampoo'd
 
 ISO A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 his limbs, as her waiting women had been ac- 
 customed to shampoo her ; and this massage — 
 new to the West, but old to the East — worked 
 wonders on a system that was suffering more 
 from the petrifying effects of a shock than 
 from any actual physical hurt. 
 
 " Is my lord better? " she asked at length. 
 
 " Assuredly I am well, Thakorine," he 
 answered. " Thou hast cured me — thou 
 and thine eyes." And if any benefit could 
 be derived from gazing into Doolchi's eyes, 
 Howard was deriving it. 
 
 " I am vowed to the service of Siva, the 
 Destroyer,' she murmured more than once. 
 
 " May I not be thy Siva.-* " he asked her, 
 half in jest, half in earnest, and caught her 
 hand. 
 
 "Take not the Destroyer's name in vain," 
 she rebuked him gravely, and withdrawing 
 her hand. " Has he not just spared thy 
 life ? " She could not comprehend a light 
 word spoken on such a subject. Siva was 
 to her a Satan whose power was actual, and 
 constantly displayed. 
 
 " Forgive me," he cried. 
 
 " By me thou art forgiven," she answered 
 very simply. " May Siva, too, forgive thee."
 
 A SLAVE OF SIVA 151 
 
 She rose to her feet and examined the 
 diff down which she had descended. 
 Ahhough only twenty feet high, it was 
 perpendicular, and presented no easy exit. 
 But she had discounted the difficulty, and was 
 estimating the best way to carry out her plan. 
 
 Selecting a suitable place, she began to set 
 out the foundations of a buttress of snow 
 against the cliff. The material lay to hand 
 in semi-frozen slabs. Howard quickly 
 grasped her intention, and rose to his feet 
 to assist her. 
 
 " Nay, but thou must rest, my lord, and let 
 me do this work," she begged of him, '* for 
 toil is pleasure in the service of Siva, who 
 has spared thee." 
 
 "Thakorine, if this is the service of Siva, 
 let me help." 
 
 " For Siva's sake ? " she asked. 
 
 " For Siva's sake — and thine." 
 
 Again she averted her eyes. Conflicting 
 emotions crowded in her breast. If this 
 sahib was minded to do service to Siva, 
 who was she to hinder him ? But if for her? 
 — That might not be. She was vowed 
 to Siva. 
 
 She compromised with her soul, which
 
 152 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 was swayed by superstition, and yet was 
 womanly. If his service was for Siva, surely 
 she might accept it ? for the work was heavy, 
 and her hands unused to toil. 
 
 She made no further demur, but allowed 
 him to help her, trusting that his service 
 might be for the god. 
 
 It was a strange conjunction — the high- 
 caste, delicately-nurtured Rajpootni princess, 
 in male garb, and the young Englishman 
 toiling together building up a buttress of 
 snow slabs to slope against the cliffs. As its 
 height increased the Thakorine climbed up 
 and laid the slabs, which Howard handed to 
 her. It was fatiguing work, for as they used 
 up the material near at hand he had to go 
 further and further for it. But he felt no 
 fatigue ; there was a positive charm in work- 
 ing with her. 
 
 The buttress took shape and rose higher 
 and higher, affording a graduated flight of 
 steps to the summit of the cliff. As she 
 began to see the development of her inven- 
 tion, and with it a speedy prospect of escape 
 from this trap, the Thakorine could not 
 conceal her satisfaction at the success assured, 
 and playfully tossed little bits of frozen snow
 
 A SLAVE OF SIVA 153 
 
 at BijH above her, until suddenly, with a 
 bound, it descended to her side. Overjoyed 
 at joining her again, it reared itself up on its 
 hind legs, and buried its head in her bosom 
 with a happy purring sound as she caressed 
 it. 
 
 " Is he not fond of me ? I she not beautiful 
 — this son of mine? " she asked Howard. 
 
 As she stood there, stroking the animal's 
 velvet head, and glancing at Howard, again 
 he seemed to recognise the weird similarity 
 between thp slender figure of this girl and 
 the graceful leopard form. There came to 
 him a consciousness of her confession in the 
 Hall of Audience, and he instinctively bent 
 his face to hide it from her. His soul 
 rebelled at the affection she lavished on this 
 animal. He felt jealous of BIjli, the influence 
 it had over her, and the love it monopolised. 
 
 Her quick conception divined his thoughts. 
 To her, too, came the remembrance of the 
 Durbar scene. She felt it was present in his 
 mind now, even as it was in hers. And the 
 consciousness added to her embarrassment. 
 
 She gently pushed the leopard back and 
 resumed her work. 
 
 At length the buttress was finished. They
 
 154 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 completed it in absolute silence. With the 
 advent of the leopard a spell seemed to have 
 fallen on the woman and the man. It was 
 that which kept them asunder. 
 
 The road lay clear for exit. At a sign 
 from Doolchi, Bijli leapt out. The Thakorine 
 followed. Howard came last. She gave 
 him a hand to help him up, and as it lay in 
 his he pressed it.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE THAKORINE's FLIGHT 
 
 They climbed the hill together. The 
 shadow was already creeping over the 
 ghastly chasm behind them, but above 
 the sun shone warm and bright. From 
 time to time Howard put out his hand to 
 assist the Thakorine, with the same courtesy 
 he would have extended towards an English 
 lady. It was, of course, a trifling polite- 
 ness ; but for the Thakorine to be thus 
 served, who, since her widowhood, had 
 never known anything but neglect and 
 contumely, his act seemed gracious and 
 condescending. Bijli followed contentedly 
 at her heels after she had given it a short 
 word of command. 
 
 At the top of the hill Howard suggested 
 a halt, and they found a little spot, sheltered 
 by a rock, and pleasant to dally by, out 
 of the keen wind. 
 
 " My lord," said the Thakorine, as she 
 
 155
 
 156 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 slipped off her sandals out of becoming 
 respect, and sat down a little distance 
 from him, with her leopard by her side, 
 " it is time I told thee why I am here." 
 
 "Speak on, Thakorine," said Howard, 
 gently, feeling the relation she must make 
 could not be without its embarrassment for 
 her. "It is needful thou should'st explain 
 what will have to be explained when my 
 camp is reached. For as yet I know and 
 can guess nothing." 
 
 "It were difficult to guess such a strange 
 story as mine," answered Doolchi. " I, the 
 daughter of a Rajpoot, the widow of a 
 Thakor, driven to seek refuge with a 
 sahib in his camp. But listen. 
 
 " Thou dost remember the Durbar and 
 what occurred there. When I left the 
 hall of Sona Singh, and returned to the 
 Zenana, there broke on my ears such a 
 torrent of reproof and condemnation that 
 verily I felt undone. My lord cannot 
 know the pitiless vindictiveness of woman- 
 kind to a woman who is fallen in their 
 esteem. Those who dwelt behind the 
 purdah mocked at me as outcast and 
 lost to shame."
 
 THE THAKORINE'S FLIGHT 157 
 
 She sighed and bent her head low. 
 " Outcast and lost to shame am I ! And 
 yet what I did, I did for the sake oj 
 this, the Spirit of my son. The sacrifice 
 lay between Bijli and myself. And thou 
 dost know what Bijli is to me." 
 
 "Seek not to justify thyself, Thakorine. 
 Thy sacrifice has justified thee." 
 
 " Alas, the voices in the Zenana are 
 not charitable like my lord's. They rose 
 in judgment against me. They taunted 
 the widow of Lai Singh, as dancing girls 
 are taunted. 
 
 " I retired to my apartment, and thought 
 of my lord, whose memory I had disgraced. 
 Ah, that I had committed suttee upon his 
 funeral pyre ! 
 
 "The next morning I heard from my 
 waiting woman, who still remained faithful 
 to me, that it had been agreed between 
 Debi Ram and the evil sahib that the 
 two sahibs should leave Kalakot, and my 
 heart rejoiced (even in the midst of my 
 shame) because I thought the Spirit of 
 my son was saved. 
 
 " But on the third day all was changed. 
 The agreement had been a treacherous one,
 
 158 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 conceived by Debi Ram, to get rid of 
 my lord. No sooner wert thou reported 
 beyond the Thakor's territory, than back 
 came the evil sahib and demanded Bijli. 
 
 " Debi Ram sustained him in his demand, 
 and the order went forth that my semchoon 
 should be surrendered from the Zenana. 
 
 '" I refused obedience. Then Sona Singh 
 grew wrath, and came himself to my apart- 
 ment. It was not the first time he had 
 striven to enter there since my lord's death. 
 It was not the first time I had barred my 
 door against him. He beat on it now, and 
 clamoured loud and furiously, demanding 
 Bijli. 
 
 " Whereat my anger rose, and I cursed 
 him, and bade him depart, swearing I would 
 never obey his command. Muttering re- 
 venge, he left ; and a little later I heard the 
 tramp of men, and a guard was set at my 
 chamber door. 
 
 " Then, indeed, I realised there was no 
 hope left. The sun set, the light faded, and 
 darkness descended on the hills. The hour 
 of food came and went, but none was 
 broueht to me. I sat there alone with 
 Bijli, waiting the decree of Fate.
 
 THE THAKORINE'S FLIGHT 159 
 
 " Some hours passed, and then through 
 my window came a pebble, and fell with a 
 click upon the floor. I rose to see who had 
 cast it. It was my faithful waiting woman, 
 Bhagan, who had come to warn me. 
 Crouching in the shadow of the wall with- 
 out, she whispered up to me, — 
 
 " ' Beware, oh, my dear mistress. Thy 
 doom has been decided upon. The evil 
 sahib, with the face like a goat, cometh 
 to-morrow for Bijli, with his nets and cages. 
 Force will be used, and when thou hast been 
 deprived of thy protector thou wilt be 
 driven to the Cliff of Suicide, and it will be 
 promulgated that thou hast taken thine own 
 life in shame and repentance for what thou 
 hast done.' 
 
 " Then a great fear came over me — not 
 for myself, for death were welcome to the 
 widow! — but for the Spirit of my son. 
 Willingly would I have given him his 
 freedom, but he would not accept it. For 
 he will not leave me, not even to return to 
 the Snows where the semchoons dwell. 
 
 " On an altar in the corner of my chamber 
 stood the Idol of Siva, which my lord, Lai 
 Singh, had given me. Daily I worshipped
 
 i6o A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 at its shrine, and spread the precincts with 
 flowers, and sprinkled them with rice. 
 
 " I knelt before it now, in this my 
 extremity of peril, and prayed the god to 
 spare Bijli. I renewed my vow to become 
 henceforth his slave, and surrender myself 
 to the Holy Priests of his Temple, if he 
 would only spare Bijli ! 
 
 " And Siva heard me, and answered my 
 petition. There, in the dark, I perceived a 
 oflitter in his diamond ears as he listened : 
 there came a gleam into his emerald eyes 
 and ruby lips." 
 
 As she spake, the Thakorine, with an air 
 of great veneration, drew forth her idol again 
 and set it on the ground before her. And 
 thrice she made obeisance to it. 
 
 " And Siva sent the thought to me to dare 
 to do that which a Rajpoot princess has never 
 done before. To seek thee, oh, my lord, and 
 ask thy help. For thou alone art powerful 
 enough to save me from thy countryman. 
 
 " But a woman abroad from the Zenana 
 is as a bat fluttering in the sunshine. I have 
 a brother, who, since the death of my lord, 
 Lai Singh, has gone to India to seek service 
 in the Court of Oodeypore. When he de-
 
 THE THAKORINE'S FLIGHT i6i 
 
 parted he left in my keeping certain garments, 
 and they were in my chamber. I opened the 
 box, and drew them out, and clothed myself 
 in the dress in which you see me. I knotted 
 my hair, and bound a turban round my head. 
 And when I looked in the mirror, behold, 
 it was not Doolchi, but her brother, Lena 
 Singh, that answered the inquiry in my eyes. 
 
 *' With the newar \a.cing of my bedstead, I 
 fashioned a rope ladder, and escaped to the 
 ground. Bijli leapt after me. From Bhagan 
 I learnt the road my lord had taken. All 
 through the night I fled, with Bijli for my 
 guard ; ail through the next day. Those I 
 met questioned me. 
 
 "'Who art thou.?' they asked, and I 
 answered, * Lena Singh, the brother of 
 Doolchi, the Thakorine, who has been sent 
 by the Thakor Sona Singh to present this 
 semchoon to the sahib who is shooting.' 
 And they directed me to my lord's camp. 
 
 "When I reached it thy servants were 
 awaiting thy return. They, too, questioned 
 me, and I told them the same tale, and 
 showed them this letter " (she drew one 
 from her girdle), " and said it was from 
 Sona Singh to thee. 
 
 L
 
 i62 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 "When my lord did not return to camp, 
 his servants said, ' The sahib has been over- 
 taken in the chase. He will return to- 
 morrow. It often happens thus with these 
 hunting sahibs.' 
 
 " But I was anxious, and, when morning 
 came, started forth in the direction thou 
 had'st taken. I besought Siva to guide me 
 to thee. For I fear the pursuit of Sona 
 Singh and the evil sahib, and only with my 
 lord dare I look for safety. 
 
 " Hope was nearly exhausted, when a 
 flutter of something white attracted Bijli's 
 attention, and he ran playfully after it. I 
 found some fragments of paper on the 
 ground, such as is not manufactured in my 
 country, and on one piece was engraven the 
 face of a white woman. That guided me. 
 My lord had passed that way. Though 
 wherefore he should have destroyed the like- 
 ness of beauty, I could not understand. See, 
 I have brought the fragments back to thee." 
 And the Thakorine unknotted a corner of her 
 turban, and carefully produced the torn pieces 
 of Edith Ponsonby's photograph, and handed 
 them to Howard. 
 
 He took them from her, and weighing
 
 THE THAKORINE'S FLIGHT 163 
 
 them in his hands for an idle moment, tossed 
 them up in the air, and the next moment 
 they were wafted down the hill by the 
 breeze. 
 
 "See, see, my lord," she cried, "they are 
 like butterflies. Who was this white woman?" 
 
 " She was a butterfly," said Howard. 
 " Verily a butterfly who hovered round me 
 once and was gone — even as these forgotten 
 fragments are gone." 
 
 She comprehended there was a parable in 
 his speech and was silent. 
 
 " And then you found me, Thakorine, and 
 saved me — even as you saved me in the 
 garden of the Castle from Bijli ? " 
 
 "Not I, but Siva," she answered. "Siva 
 guided me to my lord. I am but an instru- 
 ment in his hands. He has accepted my 
 service ! " 
 
 Howard held his peace. He knew what 
 Doolchi meant, and he shuddered as he 
 thought of the priests in the Temples. 
 
 " And what do you propose to do, 
 Thakorine ? " asked Howard, after a long 
 silence. 
 
 " I am in my lord's hands. He alone can 
 save Bijli and me. I have told thy servants
 
 i64 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 I am come hither with a letter from Sona 
 Singh, and am charged to give thee this 
 snow-leopard. Let my lord pretend to accept 
 Bijli. Let him say, ' Here is a mistake. 
 The semchoon is meant for the other sahib, 
 but I will take care of it until the error can 
 be rectified. And then, my lord, I will offer 
 my services as keeper of tjie semchoon, and 
 thy personal attendant. Give heed to my 
 petition, and entertain my proposal. Let me 
 serve thee as thy servant. I am quick to 
 learn. Look upon me as Lena Singh — the 
 brother of Doolchi, the Thakorine. Forget 
 that I am a woman, saving only that in thy 
 heart thou wilt know 1 am a helpless one 
 who has sought thy protection. Escort me 
 to the Pass that leads to India. Once that 
 is crossed, all danger will be over. Speak, 
 my lord, and say — ' Lena Singh, thou art 
 promoted to my service,' or ' Return, woman, 
 to the Cliff of Suicide.' Pass sentence, and 
 Doolchi will obey." 
 
 "Stay with me," cried Howard, "stay 
 with me always, and I will guard thee." 
 
 " Nay, my lord," cried the Thakorine, 
 rising to her feet, and catching up the idol, 
 " it must be in thy service."
 
 THE THAKORINE'S FLIGHT 165 
 
 " Be it so, Doolchi — in my service," 
 
 The Thakorine shook her head sadly. 
 "Doolchi is vowed to the service of Siva. 
 He who craves employment by my lord is 
 Lena Singh." 
 
 " But Thakorine — dear Thakorine — " 
 
 "There must be no 'but,' my lord," said 
 Doolchi, gravely. " Doolchi is vowed to Siva. 
 Only Lena Singh can serve my lord." Her 
 hand in her bosom clutched at the Idol of 
 Siva. It was the talisman that crushed 
 womanhood out of her and made her strong. 
 
 "As thou wilt." 
 
 She approached him, and joining her 
 hands touched his feet, and then her fore- 
 head. 
 
 " Lena Singh is the servant of my lord."
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 LENA SINGH 
 
 There is a well-authenticated case of a 
 native youth assuming woman's garb, and 
 taking service as ayah or lady's maid with 
 an English lady in India, and the penalty 
 he paid for his indiscretion was ten years 
 hard labour. Of the lady it was sym- 
 pathetically said, where ignorance is bliss, 
 'tis folly to be wise. But the worst of it 
 was, she had always sung the praises of the 
 ingenuous and comely youth as an excellent 
 and devoted attendant. And there were 
 cynics who smiled. 
 
 What would the cynics have done in such 
 a scandal and gossip-loving stew as an 
 Indian hill station, if Howard and the 
 Thakorine had, by some blunder of Fate, 
 been located therein, instead of amidst 
 snows and solitude .'' For he could not 
 excuse himself with a plea of ignorance, 
 knowing full well that his newly-engaged 
 
 i66
 
 LENA SINGH 167 
 
 "orderly," Lena Singh — the phrase com- 
 prehends a combination of out-door personal 
 attendant and indoor valet — was a princess 
 with whom he was in love, and he was com- 
 pelled to admit she was most devoted in her 
 duties, and that he had never been served 
 so capably before by any of the dozen 
 "bearers" or body - servants, who had 
 dressed him and undressed him for five 
 years, taken care of his uniform, polished 
 his accoutrements, diligently looked after his 
 clothes, systematically stolen his cash, and 
 always slept at the door of his tent, as 
 guard, when he was out in camp. 
 
 The converse illustration of Doolchi's case 
 has been paralleled to indicate the practicabil- 
 ity of a native man or woman in India assum- 
 ing the disguise of the opposite sex. Amidst 
 religious medicants the change of garb is 
 common. You cannot distinguish a Buddhist 
 nun from a boy. India is full of effeminate 
 youth, who only need a woman's costume 
 to carry off the sex. And the young, hand- 
 some Rajpoot lad who, on reaching camp, 
 ostentatiously applied to Howard for service, 
 and with whose appearance the sahib 
 seemed so much taken, aroused no suspicion
 
 i68 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 as to his sex, though a good deal as to his 
 abiHty. He had given himself out as the 
 brother of the Thakorine, and that excused 
 his deHcately-nurtured frame and aristocratic 
 looks, whilst his high caste enabled " Lena 
 Singh " to hold himself completely aloof 
 from Howard's other servants. 
 
 There were, of course, many little diffi- 
 culties, many awkward conjunctions to over- 
 come. But the Thakorine, with a woman's 
 tact, -skirted them. Bijli helped her out of 
 most, for the idiosyncrasies of the snow- 
 leopard were ever a convenient excuse for 
 some unusual arrangement that might other- 
 wise have evoked criticism. There was the 
 question where Lena Singh was to live : 
 his caste prevented him from huddling in 
 the servants' pal with Mohammedans and 
 low-caste men ; and when he declared Bijli 
 must sleep with him, a positive scare seized 
 the underlings. 
 
 " If my lord will permit it," said Lena 
 Singh, calmly, " I will dwell under the fly 
 of the sahib's tent. My wants are small ; 
 I shall be very quiet, and not disturb my 
 lord." 
 
 But the open fly of a tent at an altitude of
 
 LENA SINGH 169 
 
 ten thousand feet above sea level, is no 
 sleeping place for a woman ; and that night 
 Lena Singh, with her idol in her bosom, and 
 her leopard in her arms, curled herself up on 
 the ground at the foot of Howard's bed, 
 absolutely declining his entreaties to sleep 
 under the outer fly himself, and only consent- 
 ing to this compromise to prevent him from 
 turning his servants out of their pal, on the 
 plea that Bijli disturbed him, and must be 
 under shelter. 
 
 As for her duties, it was marvellous how 
 quickly Lena Singh adapted herself to them. 
 
 By the third morning she had learnt the 
 art of tea-making, and that her sahib was 
 always awakened with a cup of tea brought 
 to his bedside. That was bearer's work. 
 Thereafter she called him every morning, 
 with his cup of tea ready. She made the 
 Mohammedan servants teach her everything 
 that was necessary for the proper service of 
 her master, learnt all the secrets of his 
 wardrobe, took charge of it, assumed control 
 of his firearms and cleaned them, made his 
 bed, kept his tent tidy, and, in short, became 
 a most excellent bearer. Howard's other 
 servants fully appreciated the relief of some-
 
 170 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 one else doing their work for them. Their 
 personal attendance on their master de- 
 creased, until it was limited to cooking 
 and serving him with his meals — for this 
 was a branch of duty Lena Singh's caste 
 would not permit, excepting in the case of 
 such trifles as making tea. 
 
 And it was Lena Singh who always ac- 
 companied the sahib out shooting, leading 
 Bijli by its silver chain. *' For Bijli was a 
 great shikari^' she declared. "Had not the 
 Thakorine caused him to be trained for the 
 chase like a hunting cheetah ? He would 
 pursue and overtake wounded game ! " 
 Thus did the youth occasionally introduce 
 the name of the Thakorine in conversation, 
 when the other servants were within hearing, 
 in so natural and precise a way, they were 
 completely satisfied she was at Kalakot. 
 
 In short, Lena Singh came to be Howard's 
 shadow. Day and night she lived within 
 closest touch of him. It is often the case in 
 India, where many servants are kept, that 
 one is favoured, and able to assume a sort 
 of proprietorship of his master. The others 
 recognise this, and every petition is pre- 
 sented through the favourite, through whom
 
 LENA SINGH 171 
 
 the sahib's favour is supposed to be reflected. 
 The post of favourite is in complete accord 
 with Oriental sentiment, and the immediate 
 favour Howard's comely, high-bred young 
 Rajpoot bearer found in his eyes created no 
 wonder. 
 
 So much for the outward relations between 
 this Englishman and the Rajpoot princess. 
 As for their private relations, they were but 
 little different. Doolchi was Lena Singh 
 to Howard. She was his orderly, his bearer, 
 his man-servant in everything but the secret 
 knowledge they shared concerning her real 
 sex. Once or twice, in a slip of the tongue, 
 he called her Doolchi or Thakorine ; and 
 then she would rebuke him with a stern, dis- 
 pleased look, that sent him back to his com- 
 pact. Indeed, it could not have been other- 
 wise. She acted her part so excellently, so 
 indefatigably. She never let her secret slip 
 out. And, as for appearances, entered com- 
 pletely into the character of her brother, 
 carrying and comporting herself like a boy. 
 
 And even as she was Howard's shadow, 
 Bijli was hers. Never was girl guarded 
 more closely, day and night, than Doolchi 
 by her snow-leopard. Happily, it soon took
 
 172 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 a liking to Howard, and permitted him to 
 stroke it (which he often did, when he saw 
 how his caress pleased its mistress). It 
 learnt to lap milk from his saucer, and 
 looked to him for little delicacies at his 
 meals, when it was generally chained to the 
 pole of the tent. Often it slept on his cot, 
 curling itself up like a monstrous Persian 
 cat, and he would lounge beside it, and toy 
 with it, whilst Lena Singh bustled about 
 duties in the tent, or sat on the ground 
 diligendy mending rents in Howard's clothes, 
 or holes in his socks. 
 
 Then there were days when the gale blew 
 on the mountains, and he could not go out 
 shooting because of the inclement weather, 
 which forced them to keep within the tent 
 for warmth. Long days and weary they 
 would have been accounted, but there was 
 no weariness in them now with Lena Singh 
 beside him. 
 
 Of course the whole original scheme of his 
 shooting expedition had been changed when 
 Doolchi sought his protection. Her safety 
 had become his first consideration, and she 
 could not be accounted safe until she had 
 crossed the Rotang Pass into British
 
 LENA SINGH 173 
 
 territory. It was true they were outside 
 the dominions of Sona Singh, but they were 
 not outside danger. The Thakorine could 
 never be safe while they lingered in Lahoul, 
 for Sona Singh would assuredly com- 
 municate with his neighbouring chiefs, who 
 would keep a look-out for her. Their march 
 was directed so as to skirt round the north of 
 the Kalapore State, by an unfrequented and 
 circuitous route, avoiding villages and 
 hamlets. But in such a long journey it 
 hardly seemed possible always to avoid 
 detection, or conceal Bijli, whose presence 
 was almost sure to betray them, if it were 
 noted by any of the wandering shepherds. 
 Sooner or later gossiping tongues would 
 convey the information of a strange sahib 
 moving about with a snow-leopard in his 
 camp. It was impossible to completely hide 
 the presence of an animal so rare and 
 beautiful. 
 
 In the wild and mountainous country they 
 traversed they could not cover great distance 
 in marching, and thus, although in flight, 
 their progress was slow, and Howard as he 
 tramped from camp to camp had ample 
 opportunities for sport.
 
 174 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 "What shall I do, Lena Singh, when thou 
 hast left me ? " he asked her one day, as they 
 sat on a hill-side together, resting after a 
 long stalk which had proved unsuccessful. 
 " And what will thou do ? " 
 
 " My lord must not think of me. My task 
 is assigned, and thou wilt return to thine 
 own people and forget Lena Singh." 
 
 " Nay, that is impossible. When I have 
 seen thee safe I shall turn again to the north 
 — to the snows and the glaciers. And my 
 gun will be my sole companion. What 
 matters it ? " 
 
 "And will there be no one to look after 
 my lord when Lena Singh is gone ? " 
 
 " There was no one before thou camest, 
 and the memory of thy service must suffice. 
 I desire none other." 
 
 " It must suffice," she answered sadly, 
 " for I am vowed." 
 
 " What is this vow of thine ? " 
 
 '* I have sworn by every hair of Bijli's 
 fur to serve Siva in return for the life and 
 freedom of this the Spirit of my son. The 
 Gods look deep into the souls of men and 
 women. The heart that lies is shrivelled 
 up. Thou hast seen Siva's power, who
 
 LENA SINGH 175 
 
 guided me to succour thee under the chasm 
 of snow. Not Bijli only, but thou too, 
 would'st come under his wrath if by sinful, 
 secret thought or wish I deviated from the 
 duty I have undertaken." 
 
 " I fear not Siva." 
 
 " Oh, my lord, recall thy speech ! " cried 
 the Thakorine, starting up, " if only for thy 
 servant's sake, recall it. It is Siva who has 
 permitted me, journeying to his Temples, 
 to serve my lord. Make not my sacrifice 
 unavailing — my task more difficult by thy 
 unbelief." 
 
 " Doolchi," he cried, " this is folly ! " 
 
 " My lord forgets his compact. I am 
 Lena Singh." 
 
 " Thou may'st call thyself Lena Singh — 
 but to me thou can'st never be anything but 
 Doolchi, the beautiful." 
 
 He bent forward and attempted to take 
 her hand in his, but she eluded his grasp. 
 
 "To me thou art the woman that I love." 
 
 ** Silence!" she cried, "I may not and I will 
 not listen," Her hand slipped into her 
 bosom, and she drew out her talisman, the 
 golden idol, and clasped it with a frenzy, as 
 if seeking support.
 
 176 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 " Cast that cursed thing away," he com- 
 manded her. " It is only that which stands 
 between me and thee." 
 
 " And thou — thou too — would'st sacrifice 
 the Spirit of my son ? Thou who dost know 
 that in this alone lieth his safety ? Thou 
 can'st bid me cast it away ? " She looked 
 at him with reproachful eyes, in which the 
 tears welled. " Thy camp, my lord, is no 
 longer a place of refuge for Lena Singh. 
 Suffer me to depart." 
 
 "And where wilt thou go?" 
 
 " Where Siva leads me." 
 
 " And if Sona Singh overtakes thee ? " 
 
 " I can defend myself." 
 
 He laughed bitterly, angry to think how 
 ready she was to leave him, and what little 
 influence he had over her. '* And yet will 
 not let me defend thee ! How wilt thou 
 defend thyself."*" 
 
 " With this," she cried, and drew dLphurpa, 
 or three-edged dagger, from her girdle. "It 
 is sharp, and can pierce to Bijli's heart and 
 mine."
 
 CHAPTER XVI I 
 
 THE DEVIOUS WAY 
 
 The next moment Doolchi had turned, and 
 was walking away, leading Bijli by its silver 
 chain. There was no hesitation in the act 
 of her departure. In the choice she had 
 to make between Howard and the sem- 
 choon, the leopard woman had been true to 
 her leopard. 
 
 Howard watched her receding figure — 
 watched it with a vague hope that she 
 would stop and turn for a moment. But 
 there was no indecision in her footsteps. 
 The Thakorine was leaving him. 
 
 He knew it was his own fault. It was he, 
 not she, who had broken the compact. And 
 she had done so much to carry out her share 
 of it — served him so untiringly, so faithfully, 
 so devotedly as Lena Singh. 
 
 He could not bear to let her go. He 
 wanted her back again, no matter the con- 
 ditions. For deep in his heart, against 
 M 177
 
 178 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 hope he hoped that even now something 
 might arise to break this spell that seemed 
 to crush the woman's nature out of her. 
 A forlorn pity filled his soul as he saw the 
 slight girl figure, in its boy's dress, setting 
 forth to brave fate. What would she do 
 wandering by herself amongst* those lone 
 mountains ? It was he who had trans- 
 gressed — it was for him to try and make 
 good the transgression. 
 
 " Lena Singh ! " he called, before she 
 was out of earshot. 
 
 And it pleased him to think her ears had 
 been alert for his voice. For she halted in 
 an instant. 
 
 "Come hither," he commanded her. 
 " Return to thy service, Lena Singh. I 
 have need of thee." 
 
 She came back and, with the respect of 
 a discharged servant who had been rein- 
 stated in his post, made her salaam. 
 
 " Let me carry my lord's gun ? " she 
 said. 
 
 ** There is no need. I am not tired." 
 
 "Nay, but it is thy orderly's work," 
 and she took it from him with the calm 
 insistence of one performing an ordinary
 
 THE DEVIOUS WAY 179 
 
 duty, and followed him as with blundering 
 steps he made his way back to camp. 
 
 And thus were they reconciled. 
 
 Thereafter he endeavoured to keep a 
 severe guard upon himself not to offend 
 again ; and but for this momentary lapse 
 there was no break in the relations she had 
 required between them. But he noticed 
 that she no longer carried her pkurpa, or 
 dagger, concealed, but wore it openly in 
 her girdle. 
 
 The necessity of avoiding Sona Singh's 
 territories carried them far to the north, 
 and prolonged their devious way to the 
 Rotang Pass for nearly a month. After 
 the first few days the Thakorine's anxiety 
 began to abate in the absence of all signs 
 of pursuit, and the rough and impassable 
 nature of the country they traversed en- 
 gendered a sense of security. 
 
 Lena Singh made no complaint of the 
 somewhat dilatory progress. She was 
 sophist enough to persuade herself that 
 Siva was appeased by the main resolution, 
 and that so long as her avowed destination 
 was his Temple, the speed attained in 
 journeying thither was merely a detail.
 
 i8o A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Delay counts for little to the Oriental mind, 
 where hurry is often considered a sign of 
 bad manners. 
 
 And thus it came to pass that the nominal 
 flight degenerated into a delightful journey, 
 during which Howard and Lena Singh 
 branched off and enjoyed daily excursions 
 over hill and vale. 
 
 He with his rifle, she with her leopard. 
 Deviating from the road as fancy, or the 
 locality of game, guided them, they wandered 
 together seeking sport. Her sight was 
 marvellously keen, and she it was who, 
 generally, first discovered the bear or the 
 burkel, the ibex or the curt that afforded 
 him a fine stalk. Great was her delight 
 when sometimes he would allow her to loose 
 Bijli after a wounded animal. It was a 
 beautiful and stirring sight to see the snow- 
 leopard extending itself in chase, springing 
 like a cascade, down the hill-side, and over- 
 taking and bringing to ground the hunted 
 quarry. These opportunities roused the 
 wild blood in Bijli, but though he cowered 
 over the carcass, and growled and snarled 
 and backed his ears at Howard, he would 
 leave it instantly at the Thakorine's call,
 
 THE DEVIOUS WAY i8i 
 
 and run trotting back to her, obedient as 
 a dog. 
 
 The weather was glorious ; the sky a 
 brilliant blue, the sun deliciously warm and 
 yet not striking, the keen mountain air 
 as invigorating as champagne. Weather to 
 make life a joy. 
 
 And, truth to tell, the Thakorine was 
 happy. She was a very Diana by nature, 
 and enjoyed the sport as much as Howard 
 did. And beyond all she loved to see Bijli 
 leaping down the hill-sides. There is no 
 parallel in European life for the emancipation 
 of a woman from the Zenana — or, at least, 
 a woman like Doolchi, the Thakorine. Born, 
 nurtured and matured on that high table- 
 land, where the keen air braces the body, 
 she had none of the languor of the East. 
 Custom had confined her to the women's 
 apartments : Nature intended her for the 
 mountain-side. She was, in constitution and 
 character, as strong and impatient of confine- 
 ment as any of the pretty and active shepherd 
 girls who accompanied their fathers, brothers 
 or husbands through the wilds of Lahoul, 
 never sleeping under a roof, and full of the 
 free, wild spirit of their nomad lives. Doolchi
 
 182 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 would have made a glorious wood nymph — 
 a fascinating maid of the mist. There were 
 moments when, in her becoming boy's dress, 
 she almost looked an Amazon. India has 
 not unseldom produced such types — heroines 
 in the field of war, Dianas in the chase, 
 Junos in the council chamber. History is 
 full of the noble deeds of women of the 
 Rajpoot race, in the old fighting days, who, 
 although nurtured in the Zenana, showed a 
 Spirit worthy of all that was bravest and best 
 in their chivalrous caste. 
 
 To Howard her character grew more and 
 more incomprehensible. Although she never 
 seemed to realise the strange conjunction in 
 which they were placed, and acted her man's 
 part as though it were a natural one, to him 
 she remained always a woman. His eyes 
 were blind to the masculine traits she paraded, 
 and saw only those which were feminine. 
 As he looked at her fondling Bijli, the caress 
 was a woman's caress. In her devoted care 
 of himself, the forethought, the diligence to 
 please, the desire to anticipate, were wholly 
 womanly. He found it impossible to regard 
 her as a man, notwithstanding her complete 
 abnegation of womanhood.
 
 THE DEVIOUS WAY 183 
 
 And so day followed day, and they neared 
 their destination, the Rotang Pass. The 
 time of parting had arrived, and the prospect 
 of it came to be very hard for Howard. 
 
 It was evening, and she was making his 
 bed. It had been a long march, and they 
 had reached the high road again between 
 Kalakot and the Pass. The mules were 
 late in arriving, and it was nearly sunset. 
 
 He watched her busying herself, and re- 
 membered all these days they had spent 
 together. 
 
 " Thou hast been happy with me, Doolchi?" 
 he asked her. " And now the time of part- 
 ing draws near." 
 
 " Bijli has truly been happy," she answered, 
 " and when Bijli is happy, how can I be 
 otherwise ? " 
 
 " Would that I could always think of thee 
 as thus happy." 
 
 " Lena Singh does not trust himself to 
 think of the future, when he shall have left 
 my lord's service. Short are the sweets of 
 life — the sorrows infinite." 
 
 " But it is wise to take forethought, whilst 
 there is yet time, and consider of the coming 
 day. The hour of thy service in the Temple
 
 i84 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 of Siva is at hand. Knowest thou the nature 
 of that service ? " 
 
 " I know it," she answered, and bowed her 
 head. 
 
 *' Can it not be averted } " he asked. 
 He saw her hand slip into her bosom, and 
 clutch at her talisman. " It cannot be. My 
 vow is sworn. Whilst Bijli lives, my service 
 belongs to Siva." 
 
 " Oh, child ! " cried Howard, appealingly. 
 " Reflect ere it is too late. I would save 
 thee if thou would'st let me. I cannot con- 
 template, save with horror, this fate that 
 awaits thee. Thou, the daughter of an ancient 
 royal race, to mingle with the votaries of the 
 Temple — the dancing girls — the courtesans 
 — the slaves of the priests. Listen to me ! 
 The vale of Kashmir lies to the west. Thou 
 hast heard of Kashmir — with its roses and 
 its fruits, its green glades and forests, its 
 lakes and rivers. It is an earthly paradise, 
 and its doors are open to us. Enter it with 
 me, and dwell there." 
 
 The Thakorine faced round at him, and 
 her hand fluttered over her phurpa. " My 
 lord talks of what is forbidden to Lena Singh, 
 thy orderly." She paused, and suddenly a
 
 THE DEVIOUS WAY 185 
 
 wave of weakness seemed to overwhelm her. 
 For a fleeting minute the woman was ap- 
 parent. She buried her face in her hands. 
 " Oh, my dear lord, tempt me not. I dare 
 not risk the wrath of Siva. I am not as other 
 women are. Between Bijli and me there is 
 the bond thou knowest of. The Spirit of my 
 son dwells in him. Were I to depart from the 
 vow that I have taken, Siva would punish 
 him." She wrung her hands in affliction, 
 and knelt before Howard. " Conceive, my 
 lord, if thou had'st taken a solemn vow to the 
 God that thou dost worship — would'st thou 
 forego it? Hadst thou bartered the life of 
 thy son at the awful altar for a favour vouch- 
 safed — thou, too, my lord, would'st see with 
 Lena Singh's eyes, hard though they seem 
 to be, and feel with Lena Singh's heart, 
 even though it appears to thee a heart 
 of stone." 
 
 " But the end of it all — the end of it all ? " 
 murmured Howard. " Bijli cannot live for 
 ever .-* 
 
 " His life is in Siva's hands. And whilst 
 he lives I am vowed to Siva." 
 
 There was no shaking her in her super- 
 stition. The idea was rooted in her mind
 
 i86 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 that the life and safety of her semchoon de- 
 pended upon her observance of the vow she 
 had taken. 
 
 Howard sadly acquiesced. This girl was 
 not for him.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 REHLU'S WARNING 
 
 The next morning, as Howard was dressing 
 in his tent, waited on by Lena Singh as 
 usual, his kkansamah announced that a 
 Gadhi desired to see the sahib. 
 
 "What Gadhi?" 
 
 ** It is Rehlu — if so be the sahib re- 
 members him." 
 
 " Rehlu ? Ah, yes. Bid him come for- 
 ward." 
 
 The old white-bearded shepherd appeared 
 a moment later, and made a low salaam. 
 
 "What is it, Rehlu.'*" inquired Howard. 
 
 " I have a favour to ask of the sahib." 
 
 "Speak." 
 
 " My wife lies ill. She was stricken with 
 fever after I crossed the Pass, and my flock 
 has been delayed here, until all the pasture 
 is eaten up. Unless I can proceed soon the 
 other shepherds will seize my rightful graz- 
 ing ground. Wherefore I have come to pray 
 
 187
 
 i88 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 the sahib for a little medicine for my wife, 
 that she may recover." 
 
 " Lena Singh," said Howard, " bring hither 
 my medicine chest." Then to Rehlu, " Sit 
 down, old man. I am going shooting over 
 these hills to-day, and thou can'st tell me the 
 best ground to hunt." 
 
 " Alas, my lord, there is no sport left here. 
 My sheep and goats have grazed to within 
 verge of the snows for a radius of eight miles 
 round. As the sahib knows, where the 
 sheep graze the game departs. But what is 
 this ? " Rehlu started to his feet, and fell 
 back as Bijli, who had been stretched on 
 Howard's bed, carelessly leaped down when 
 Lena Singh dived under it to bring out the 
 portmanteau that contained the medicine 
 chest. 
 
 " A semchoon ! " cried the old man, 
 amazed. "Verily a semchoon!'^ 
 
 " Fear not, it is tame," said Howard, 
 to reassure him. 
 
 " A semchoon — and tame ? Then who is 
 this ? " demanded Rehlu, pointing to the 
 Thakorine. 
 
 "My orderly, Lena Singh, and the 
 semchoon s keeper."
 
 REHLU'S WARNING 189 
 
 Rehlu looked hard at the Thakorine, who 
 had now come forward with the medicine 
 chest. Suddenly he bent down before her, 
 and touching her feet with his hand, carried 
 it to his forehead with a profound salaam. 
 
 The salutation to one who was, professedly, 
 only a servant of Howard, told its own tale. 
 Rehlu had guessed who Lena Singh was. 
 The Thakorine shrank back from him in 
 consternation. " Why dost thou salaam to 
 me ? " she whispered. 
 
 "Shall I not salaam to the widow of my 
 Prince, Lai Singh, the Lion of Lahoul ? " 
 
 " The widow of thy Prince ? Thou art 
 mistaken, old shepherd. I am Lena Singh, 
 the brother of the Thakorine of Kalapore." 
 
 Rehlu drew near and gazed hard at her. 
 " I have paid taxes to my lord, Lai Singh. 
 I have seen Lena Singh, who is now at 
 Oodeypore. My eyes are old but they do 
 not deceive. And the semchoon betrayeth 
 thee. Oh, Widow, thou hast not done 
 wisely to dwell in the tent of Feringhee. 
 This garb does not become thee." 
 
 The Thakorine paled at the undoubted 
 recognition, and shrank back into the 
 shadow at the back of the tent.
 
 I90 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 " Rehlu," cried Howard, realising the 
 situation. "Thou, too, hast not done well 
 or kindly. This — this — youth is Lena 
 Singh, my bearer. He came to my camp a 
 fugitive from the wrath of Sona Singh." 
 
 " I know, my lord. The story is bruited 
 abroad. The scandal is gone forth over 
 the country-side. But the scandal will not 
 escape over the Pass." 
 
 " What dost thou mean, Rehlu ? " 
 
 "The Gods only know how the sahib 
 has marched thus far without molestation. 
 Surely the semchoon has directed thy steps, 
 else thou had'st fallen into the hands of 
 Sona Singh." 
 
 "We came round by the mountains, by 
 tracks the sheep follow for their pastur- 
 age." 
 
 "Well for thee thou did'st so. For on 
 every road lurked the emissaries of the 
 Thakor, and the sahib that came to seek 
 the semchoon. It is said there is a bond 
 between them. The widow to the Castle, 
 the se77ichoon to the cage. And better the 
 cage than the Castle." 
 
 "Explain thy words." 
 
 " Can it be the sahib is ignorant — that
 
 REHLU'S WARNING 191 
 
 he thus marches without suspicion, and 
 without precaution." 
 
 "What should I know that have come 
 across the hills but yesterday ? Speak 
 fully." 
 
 " Great is the sahib's good fortune to 
 have escaped from those that are keeping 
 watch for the semchoon. The look-out is 
 keen. When the Thakorine left the Castle 
 it was said there was only one place whither 
 she could fly for refuge — to her brother, 
 Lena Singh, who serves in Oodeypore. 
 Directly she was missing, Sona Singh, in- 
 stigated by the sahib, despatched a guard 
 to the Rotang Pass. At Kokser yonder it 
 watches — is now watching. What the 
 mouth is to the gourd, the Rotang is to 
 Lahoul. To north, to east, to west, lie 
 mountain ranges, where the snow never 
 melts. Three roads pierce through them 
 like threads. All the Passes are guarded — 
 the Ladak Pass, the Slit in the Snows, 
 the Door of the Wind. North, east and 
 west the Sepoys of Sona Singh sit and 
 watch. And at Kokser the Thakor and 
 the sahib are encamped below the Pass." 
 
 And so they had been living in a fool's
 
 192 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 paradise within Lahoul ! And here at the 
 door their enemies lurked, ready to swoop 
 down upon them. 
 
 Howard turned to the Thakorine. 
 "We are trapped," he said. 
 
 " Say not so, my lord. Verily Siva has 
 sent this shepherd to warn us. Is not the 
 shielding hand of the God manifest in this 
 chance conversation.'* Old man," she cried 
 to Rehlu, "thou hast done well. Assuredly 
 thy wife is healed." 
 
 "Healed?" 
 
 "Ay, healed. It was no earthly sick- 
 ness she was suffering from. I, who am 
 vowed to the service of Siva, know it, and 
 tell thee so. Thou wast detained here for 
 this purpose — to give me warning. Behold, 
 I am Doolchi, the Thakorine. And this is 
 Bijli, my semchoon. In it dwells the Spirit 
 of my son. The evil sahib came to buy 
 Bijli, to carry it away in a cage to be a 
 mockery to strangers in a foreign land. 
 Thou knowest what a semchoon is ? " 
 
 "I know," said Rehlu, reverently, "in 
 the body of the snow-leopard are enshrined 
 the departed souls of Rajah, and Rai, and 
 Thakor, of the noble, the merciful and the
 
 REHLU'S WARNING 193 
 
 good who have ruled wisely and with com- 
 passion, as did my lord, Lai Singh, the 
 Lion of Lahoul." 
 
 "It is well said," replied Doolchi. "In 
 this, my semckoon, is enshrined the soul of 
 him who would have ruled this land had he 
 lived. Take heed ! It is the son of Lai 
 Singh who demands a service of thee." 
 
 She called to Bijli, who instantly raised 
 himself, and laying his front feet on her 
 shoulders lifted his head to be stroked. It 
 was impossible not to observe the mysterious 
 and subtle similarity the two figures pre- 
 sented. 
 
 " Semckoon and semchoons dam ! " cried 
 Rehlu, recoiling in wonder and veneration ; 
 " woman leopard and leopard of the snows." 
 
 With trembling limbs the superstitious 
 shepherd sank upon his knees. Here was 
 a manifestation of that belief he held, in 
 the tent of a sahib, not on the mountain- 
 side ! Here was the semckoon he wor- 
 shipped, revealed to him in its animal and 
 human form. Doolchi drew from her bosom 
 the golden Idol of Siva, with its emerald 
 eyes, and ruby lips, and ears of flashing 
 diamonds, and held it up aloft. " In Siva's 
 
 N
 
 194 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 name I command thee to escort me and 
 my semckoon in safety over the Pass. Thou 
 knowest the by - paths on this mountain. 
 Guide me by them, so that I may escape 
 this snare set for me." 
 
 The old shepherd bowed his head. "Oh, 
 Widow of my lord and master, be it as 
 thou dost command. There is a goat's 
 track that leadeth to the summit of the 
 Pass. In three hours I will set thee in 
 safety at its entrance." 
 
 Withdrawing for a moment, the Thakorine 
 returned with the bundle she had brought 
 with her when she came to Howard's camp, 
 and handing it to Rehlu, bade him lead the 
 way, while she slipped the silver chain on Bijli. 
 
 Then she turned to Howard. " Farewell, 
 my lord," she said, and joined her hands to 
 her forehead. " The time has come when I 
 must leave thee. But from my heart I 
 thank thee for the protection thou hast 
 afforded. And when I have reached the 
 Temple of Siva I will daily pray the God 
 to bless thee." 
 
 " Nay, but I cannot let thee go, Thakor- 
 ine," said Howard, "until I have seen thee 
 safe across the Pass."
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE LAST APPEAL OF LOVE 
 
 Howard hastily gave his servants orders 
 to make a forced march, as he intended 
 crossing the Pass that afternoon after the 
 gale had died down at four o'clock. If 
 questioned when passing through Kokser, 
 they were to say Howard was following, 
 and to preserve absolute secrecy about the 
 snow-leopard, under threats and penalties 
 of the heaviest punishment if they dis- 
 obeyed. 
 
 The road travelled low down, along the 
 banks of the River Chandra, until it reached 
 Kokser, where it turned at right angles and 
 ascended to the Pass. The goat's track by 
 which Rehlu guided them struck off at once 
 from the road, and by a diagonal, and in 
 places dangerous, route reached the Rotang 
 by traversing one side of a triangle, thus 
 completely avoiding Sona Singh's and 
 Gotch's encampment. 
 
 195
 
 196 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Noon found them half - way up the 
 mountain side, and as it was no use reach- 
 ing the Pass before four o'clock, they sat 
 down to rest and refresh themselves. 
 
 A magnificent view lay stretched at their 
 feet, and they could catch glimpses of the 
 road winding like a ribbon by the steep 
 banks of the river, sheer down below them. 
 In the distance hills and mountains, wastes 
 and wilds, gorges and ravines, snow-fields 
 and glaciers spread and stretched in chaotic 
 confusion. 
 
 Presently they made out their caravan, 
 as it emerged into a clear patch of the 
 road. It was close to Kokser, the smoke 
 of which could be seen rising from behind 
 an intervening ridge. 
 
 *'The sahib's cattle have journeyed 
 well," said Rehlu ; "they will reach the 
 Pass in ample time, even if they halt for 
 an hour at Kokser." 
 
 Howard rose and looked towards the 
 Rotang, whose great gap, chiselled deep 
 into the mountain, was a prominent land- 
 mark. 
 
 "Our way seems easy," he said, assess- 
 ing it with his eye.
 
 THE LAST APPEAL OF LOVE 197 
 
 "There is no difficulty from here on- 
 wards," declared Rehlu. "The part over 
 which I have led thee is the one that is 
 difficult and dangerous. But the sahib is 
 a hardy mountaineer, and the widow of my 
 Prince treads the hill - side with the con- 
 fidence of a Gddhis daughter." 
 
 "My lord," said the Thakorine, "if the 
 road is easy, wherefore should we require 
 Rehlu to accompany us .'* Let him now 
 return to his wife and satisfy himself that 
 she is cured." 
 
 With the discovery of her sex by Rehlu 
 there had come over the Thakorine a certain 
 sense of shyness she had not exhibited 
 before. The self-consciousness she had 
 been able to overcome while her secret was 
 only known to Howard, asserted itself before 
 a third person, and now made her feel 
 ashamed in her male garb. 
 
 Howard intuitively understood this. By 
 many signs he had learnt that Lena Singh, 
 his orderly, no longer existed when Doolchi 
 confessed herself a woman again. He 
 acquiesced in her proposal at once, and 
 presenting Rehlu with a present, gave him 
 leave to depart, which he gladly did, after
 
 198 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 prostrating himself before Bijli and the 
 Thakorine, whom he regarded with super- 
 natural reverence. 
 
 It was nearly two o'clock when Howard 
 and the Thakorine resumed their journey 
 alone. Their way lay along the stony 
 mountain-side, at an easy gradient. There 
 was no path, but many mingling tracks, the 
 configuration of the ground lending itself 
 to the passage of flocks. Howard was 
 carrying her bundle — a service on his part 
 she strongly deprecated. But he had told 
 her, " Thou art no longer Lena Singh, my 
 orderly, but Doolchi, the Thakorine. In my 
 country no man permits a girl to carry 
 burdens. I must treat thee as I would one 
 of my own race." 
 
 The Thakorine consented, but, since he 
 insisted on treating her thus ceremoniously, 
 she, too, must comport herself as a lady of 
 the Zenana, and accord him the respect due 
 to his sex. Tacitly she admitted that their 
 compact was ended : she was a woman now, 
 and, as became a Hindoo woman, walked 
 behind him, leading Bijli, and never 
 speaking unless addressed. All the frank 
 freedom of intercourse that had existed
 
 THE LAST APPEAL OF LOVE 199 
 
 between them during the last month vanished. 
 A restraint fell on her, and through her on him. 
 
 So they climbed the hill, mute as mourners 
 at a funeral. The silence harmonised with 
 his feelings, for they were sad and regretful. 
 With the resumption of her womanhood 
 there came to him that tender thrill, intensi- 
 fied a thousand times, he had experienced in 
 the moonlit garden of the Black Castle. And 
 now, after this happy month, during which 
 she had been everything to him, had, indeed, 
 become essential to his happiness, it grieved 
 him to think they were walking together for 
 the last time. 
 
 Nor was this the only thing that made his 
 heart heavy and rebellious against fate. 
 It was the contemplation of the life she had 
 vowed herself to that filled him with dismay 
 and horror. 
 
 The unspeakable life of the female votary 
 of the Temple of Siva, with its infamy and 
 degradation for this beautiful, high-bred girl, 
 whose only crime was her widowhood, and 
 who, while she might not marry again, 
 might yet, in the name of religion, sacrifice 
 her beauty to the passions of priests and the 
 hideous service of a heathen god.
 
 200 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Suddenly he halted, as with an irresistible 
 impulse, and turning round, faced her. " Oh, 
 girl," he appealed to her, "this cannot be — 
 this must not be — this shall not be." 
 
 "What shall not be?" she asked, with 
 paling cheeks, as she shrank back from 
 him. 
 
 " I cannot let thee go from me. Never to 
 the Temple. If go thou must — if between 
 thee and me the inexorable laws of race and 
 religion have set a barrier that may not 
 be passed — at least let me escort thee to thy 
 brother at Oodeypore, with whom thou shalt 
 find repose and happiness." 
 
 " Alas ! there is no happiness for Doolchi," 
 she said. " I have drunk the full cup of it. 
 In the service of my lord, in the enjoyment 
 of his favour, in the sunshine of his smiles 
 Doolchi has been happy. Henceforth the 
 doors of my caste are closed to me. The 
 Rajpootni woman, who has disgraced and 
 unsexed herself by this garb I wear, has 
 served in the tent of the Feringhee — thinkest 
 thou my people would ever admit such a one 
 again behind the purdah ? When I sought 
 refuge with thee, my lord, I left my home 
 for ever behind me. I am outcaste ! There
 
 THE LAST APPEAL OF LOVE 201 
 
 remains to me but one thing — this transient 
 gift of comeliness, whereof my mirror tells 
 me. It will gain for me favour in the 
 Temple." 
 
 *' Never ! " cried Howard. " I will give thee 
 a home. I will build thee a temple, where 
 thou shalt live, and serve, and worship 
 without the payment of price. Yonder, 
 across the Pass, there is a green valley where 
 the sun shines, where birds sing, where 
 water laughs, where fruit and flowers grow 
 and blossom as in fertile Kashmir. Where 
 all is calm, gentle and hospitable, and as 
 beautiful as thyself. There, in thine own 
 estate, I will settle thee, and leave thee." 
 
 "AndBijH?" 
 
 " Bijli shall be thy protector." 
 
 " Thinkest thou, oh, my lord, that Siva 
 would spare me if I broke my vow ? Never ! 
 Consider the dangers I have encountered 
 and passed through. Canst thou not per- 
 ceive therein the manifested favour of the 
 Destroyer, who has, up to now, spared me ? 
 Who has hitherto protected me from destruc- 
 tion ? And now, when safety is within sight 
 — when the gates of escape open for me — is 
 it for me to break my vow ? Siva has
 
 202 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 inclined his ear unto my prayer, and I must 
 perform my obligation." 
 
 " Say not so, dear Thakorine. I beseech 
 thee renounce this superstition. The God 
 that can exact such a service as is demanded 
 of thee is vile, and cruel, and wicked — " 
 
 "Hush! Hush!" broke in Doolchi. 
 •' Siva hears. His wrath will descend on 
 thy head." 
 
 " I care not for Siva," cried Howard. " I 
 care only for thee." 
 
 His eyes met hers in a longing gaze — a 
 gaze there was no mistaking. He held his 
 arms open. 
 
 The Rajpootni woman, imprisoned in the 
 Zenana, betrothed when she is a mere child, 
 married at the first dawn of womanhood, is 
 a stranger to the emotions of voluntary love. 
 She has no choice, no voice in the selection 
 of a husband. The economy of Hindoo 
 matrimony treats her as a household chattel. 
 She does not know what maiden love is who 
 never sees her husband till the day she is 
 married to him. For her it is a crime to look 
 on the face of another, or speak to any man 
 not related to her by blood. 
 
 And if the Thakorine, despite her vow to
 
 THE LAST APPEAL OF LOVE 203 
 
 Siva, felt her heart tremble, and was conscious 
 of a new emotion, it was but the victory of 
 woman over custom. 
 
 She made a step towards him, irresolute, 
 yet full of yielding. 
 
 Even as she did so Bijli gave a bound 
 forward and stood erect, gazing down into 
 the valley and growling. 
 
 Their eyes instinctively followed his. From 
 where they were standing they could see the 
 whole zig-zag ascent to the Pass. Half-way 
 up it Howard's mules were toiling in a string, 
 the drivers urging them forward. And, in 
 pursuit below, a group of mounted men 
 followed on horses, caparisoned, and carry- 
 ing weapons in their hands. At their head 
 rode Sona Singh and Gotch. 
 
 " Siva speaks ! " cried the Thakorine. 
 " Behold his answer to my lord's words. He 
 knows the frailty of woman's nature. He has 
 seen into my weak soul. And thus he directs 
 me anew and aright. There is only one path 
 for me to tread — the path that leads to his 
 Temple." 
 
 With hurried steps she climbed the hill, 
 urging Bijli forward. Howard followed her. 
 As they crossed the bleak mountain-side their
 
 204 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 figures came into full view and were perceived 
 by those below. With a shout the cavalcade 
 urged their horses into quicker motion. 
 
 ** Press on! Press on!" cried Doolchi. 
 '* Siva will save me." 
 
 They reached the last steep leading to the 
 Pass. There came a cold blast of wind 
 rushing down it, with wisps of torn murky 
 cloud and shattered mist, and the drift and 
 spume of snow, as it was swirled about and 
 swept off the ground like dust. 
 
 The Thakorine stopped, and looked at it 
 in alarm. 
 
 " The road is impassable," said Howard ; 
 "it is death to enter it. There is no chance 
 of crossing to-day." 
 
 " It is death to stay," she said, glancing 
 down at the pursuers, who were about half 
 a mile below. 
 
 " Not death, Doolchi. For I will save 
 thee. Put thyself under my protection, give 
 me but the right to say that thou art mine, 
 and not all the Thakors in Lahoul shall take 
 thee from me." 
 
 " But my lord cannot shield me from a 
 host ? " 
 
 " Yonder is Simla," said Howard, pointing
 
 . THE LAST APPEAL OF LOVE 205 
 
 through the Pass. " The power of that name 
 stretches even to here. Under the British 
 Raj all are free. If thou art Doolchi, the 
 Thakorine — then it is to Sona Singh thy 
 fealty is due. But if — if thou art Doolchi, 
 the Rajpootni, who, of thine own free will, has 
 accompanied Howard Sahib, then I can save 
 thee." 
 
 ** And the Spirit of my son — my Bijli — will 
 he, too, be free ? " 
 
 "That I cannot promise. But thee, Doolchi, 
 I can save ; and I will strive to save Bijli." 
 
 "Strive? Only strive? Then I cannot 
 consent. There must be no uncertainty. 
 See! Bijli sniffs the snowy wind. He drags 
 at his chain to enter the Pass. He leads me. 
 It is Siva's will and I must obey. Oh, 
 Siva ! " she cried in apostrophe, drawing 
 forth the idol from her bosom, and extending 
 her arms to the black threatening clouds 
 above, " Saviour or Destroyer, thy woman- 
 slave obeys. Spare, only spare, this the 
 Spirit of my son, and deal with me as thou 
 wilt." 
 
 Even as she spoke, Bijli, stirred by some 
 wild, impulsive yearning, stretched his sleak 
 face and sniffed at the hurricane that howled
 
 2o6 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 in the Pass, and tugged at his silver chain. 
 Step by step, as if impelled by some 
 mysterious influence, with eyes uplifted to 
 the snows, Doolchi allowed it to drag her 
 forward. 
 
 " Farewell, my lord ! " she cried, without 
 looking back, " farewell ! " 
 
 She dropped the silver chain. Bijli, re- 
 leased from restraint, bounded on ahead. 
 Howard glanced down the steep road ; 
 Gotch was spurring his pony ; the Thakor 
 and his troops slashing on behind to catch 
 them up. The form of the Thakorine was 
 melting in the thick, driving mist. Bijli 
 could no longer be seen. The hurricane 
 howled; the voices of the Pass shrieked ; the 
 snow came sheeting down ; the Rotang was 
 in full fury ! He could not resist the sight of 
 the slight woman's figure in the boy's dress 
 entering that pass of death all alone. 
 
 He turned and followed after her.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE BREATH OF LIFE 
 
 There was a thick carpeting of new-fallen 
 snow on the ground that deadened Howard's 
 footsteps, and Doolchi did not hear him 
 coming after her. He caught her up ere she 
 had gone a hundred yards, and touched her 
 on the shoulder. With a startled cry she 
 looked up — for she had been pressing against 
 the hurricane with her head bent low. And 
 he saw she had been weeping. 
 
 And then, all in a moment, there came a 
 smile into her face, and through her eyes, on 
 whose lashes the tears were clustered, there 
 beamed a sudden joy and happiness. And 
 it came to him, in an exquisite revelation, 
 she had been weeping because she had left 
 him. 
 
 Without a word of explanation he caught 
 her hand and helped her on. A little way 
 beyond its entrance the Pass broadened, the 
 road following the cliff on the left, whilst on 
 
 207
 
 208 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 the right embouched a sort of bay. Leaving 
 the track he directed her into this bay, where, 
 if the pursuit was pressed, they might lurk, 
 unperceived, in the thick bHnding snowstorm 
 or hide behind one of the many boulders 
 scattered about. Hugging the face of the 
 further cliff they struggled on in the teeth 
 of the tempest until they had put half a 
 mile between them and the entrance of the 
 Pass. 
 
 The icy wind froze and numbed them, as 
 it whirled and eddied through the funnel, 
 with eerie sounds that resembled the howling 
 and shrieking of fiends in Purgatory. They 
 could not see where they were going ; their 
 feet stumbled and slipped over the uneven 
 stony ground ; they floundered in drifts and 
 holes, and collided with objects that seemed 
 suddenly to rise in their path. From head 
 to foot they were wrapped in a covering of 
 snow with which the tempest plastered them. 
 The wind stifled them as it swooped past 
 their faces. Doolchi's slender form could 
 scarce make way against its buffeting, and 
 Bijli, still in front, no longer leaped and 
 gambolled, but crept along the ground on its 
 belly like a stalking animal, its ears laid back
 
 THE BREATH OF LIFE 209 
 
 and its beautiful velvety fleece flattened close 
 against its body by the wind. 
 
 The girl's steps failed. Accustomed though 
 she was to the rigours of the Central Asian 
 winter, this pitiless blizzard was more than 
 she could face. 
 
 Howard, himself, felt his strength failing, 
 and breathed with difficulty. He caught 
 Doolchi, now half fainting, by the waist. 
 
 " We must return," he shouted in her ears. 
 But the velocity of the wind swept his words 
 away. The report of a gun could not have 
 been heard in the roaring hurricane that, 
 towards the centre of the Pass, where two 
 opposing currents of wind met, assumed the 
 furious proportions of a cyclone. 
 
 She looked helplessly round ; a spume of 
 driven snow enveloped them ; above their 
 heads upreared an awful cliff, and down its 
 perpendicular face the blizzard dashed and 
 deflected like some material force, and beat 
 upon their faces and bodies as actual blows 
 might have done. 
 
 Bijli, a few feet distant, was scratching at 
 a drift of snow piled up against the base 
 of the cliff. Doolchi pointed to it feebly, 
 and strove to call it. But her voice was 
 
 o
 
 2IO A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 failing, and the animal could not hear 
 her. 
 
 Again she called — without avail. It 
 seemed to Howard, as they stopped there, 
 they were sacrificing their lives. If they 
 returned at once the wind, as it was blowing, 
 would be at their backs, and it was just 
 possible they might be able to accomplish 
 their retreat before insensibility overtook 
 them. But Doolchi would not leave Bijli. 
 
 Howard was conscious of that paralysing 
 feeling creeping over him which compels a 
 human being, overtaken in the snow, to give 
 up struggling and sink into the sweet seduc- 
 tive sleep that is painless and knows no 
 waking. And the Thakorine was more 
 affected than he. 
 
 He turned to retrace their steps. Her 
 footsteps dragged, her knees bent under her, 
 and she fell to the ground. Were she to be 
 saved she must be carried. Had he the 
 strength for it ? 
 
 He stooped to pick her up. As he did so, 
 he looked to see where Bijli was. The beast 
 had disappeared. But, in the drift of snow 
 at which it had been scratching, a hole gaped, 
 through which its body had passed,
 
 THE BREATH OF LIFE 211 
 
 It was a cave. And Howard suddenly 
 remembered he had seen several in his first 
 passage through the Pass. 
 
 Lifting Doolchi's insensible form, he 
 staggered with it against the blast towards 
 the cave. A few rapid scoops of his arms 
 enlarged the hole Bijli had made. And 
 there, thank God, a cavern loomed ; not 
 large, but sufficient to shelter them, and 
 wherein the air was at least still and man 
 might draw breath. 
 
 At the further end crouched Bijli, scared 
 by its unaccustomed experience. 
 
 With tender care Howard carried Doolchi 
 through the aperture. Her eyes were closed, 
 her face was white and rigid as marble, her 
 limbs already stiff. He thought she was 
 dead, until he placed his hand on her heart 
 and found it fluttering. 
 
 As he did so his fingers struck against 
 something hard. It was the golden Idol of 
 Siva, the talisman that kept this woman 
 apart from him, the senseless superstition 
 that had impelled her into this snare of 
 death. He drew it out, and, with a curse, 
 hurled it at Bijli — that other obstacle which 
 interposed between them. With an angry
 
 212 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 snarl the snow-leopard darted out of the cave. 
 And for the first time Howard seemed to 
 feel the Thakorine was his. 
 
 The cavern was circular and about eight 
 feet in diameter. A bare and dismal place, 
 and yet in comparison to that hellish horror 
 outside, that suffocation of snow and wind 
 in which man could not catch a breath, it 
 was a veritable palace. 
 
 With hasty hands he brushed the snow off 
 Doolchi's form. Then, seeing how wet her 
 garments were, the thought came to him to 
 open her bundle. W^hat should he find in 
 it but the white chudder in which she had 
 been arrayed the first evening he saw her — 
 an exquisite shawl of the finest Kashmir 
 weaving, dense as velvet, light as down, and 
 warm as a sunbeam. 
 
 He wrapped her in it and laid her down 
 in the most sheltered corner of the cavern. 
 
 But Doolchi moved not. The hand of 
 death was on her. Howard shampoo'd 
 her limbs ; he chafed her hands ; he strove 
 to bring back the circulation to her veins. 
 But without success. 
 
 A distraction seized him. The distrac- 
 tion of a man seeing the woman he loves
 
 THE BREATH OF LIFE 213 
 
 slowly dying before his eyes. He could not 
 let her die — this beautiful girl for whom his 
 soul craved. 
 
 He called to her; he pressed her icy 
 fingers ; he put his cheeks against her marble 
 face. It was like touching a snow- woman : 
 the coldness of a corpse was on her. Death 
 was dragging her away from him. 
 
 " Oh, Death ! " he cried in his despair and 
 agony, " thou shalt not have my darling ! 
 Or if thou takest her, thou shalt take me too." 
 
 Unfolding the chudder he laid himself 
 beside her, and opening his coat took her to 
 his bosom, wrapping and tucking the shawl 
 around them both. And then, with his lips 
 to hers, he breathed the breath of life into 
 her lungs. 
 
 Presently he was conscious of some addi- 
 tional warmth. Bijli had crept back into 
 the cavern and stretched itself in its usual 
 place by its mistress's side. 
 
 Again Howard sought her lips and 
 breathed the warm air from his lungs into 
 her cold breast. He drew her close to him ; 
 he chafed and rubbed her ; he tried to exert 
 those mesmeric forces of which he had read 
 and command her back to life.
 
 214 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Half-an-hour passed, and then he felt her 
 move in his arms. There came a throb ; 
 her clenched teeth relaxed ; her lips opened 
 to receive the breath of life from him ; her 
 arms moved and clasped him, and a sigh of 
 returning consciousness broke from her. 
 
 He felt that she was saved, and, in the 
 glorious ecstasy of the moment, pressed his 
 lips to hers and covered them with kisses. 
 
 " Where am I ? " she asked dreamily. 
 
 And Howard would like to have an- 
 swered, — 
 
 ** In heaven." 
 
 He felt her hand travelling to her bosom. 
 " My idol ? " she murmured. " Where is my 
 idol ? " 
 
 " Forget thy idol," he commanded her. 
 
 And she forgot it, and, clasped close in his 
 arms, fell asleep.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS 
 
 Night passed. At dawn the hurricane 
 abated. The snow had drifted over the 
 mouth of the cavern. It was dark, but 
 warm, and Doolchi slept. 
 
 Howard feared to disturb her. She had 
 been so near death, and exhausted nature 
 demanded this repose. Sleep and warmth 
 were as healing medicines to her. 
 
 But when Bijli grew restless, and began to 
 scratch his way out of the door of the cave, 
 Howard knew it must be morning. Softly 
 disengaging himself from his cramped posi- 
 tion he followed the leopard out. It was 
 broad daylight and the sun was shining upon 
 the heights. Bijli sniffed the keen fresh air 
 whilst Howard reconnoitred the pass. It 
 was calm and still ; the short fierce summer 
 storm had exhausted itself. But he knew 
 the tempest would rise at ten and close the 
 passage. He must awaken Doolchi. 
 
 21;
 
 2i6 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Re-entering the cave, he was surprised to 
 find Doolchi had risen and was robing her- 
 self in her chudder. It gave him a singular 
 pleasure to see her thus arrayed again in the 
 costume of her sex, and to feel there was an 
 end to the part she had acted. The soft 
 white drapery clinging, like velvet folds, 
 around her graceful form vividly reminded 
 him of her as he had first seen her in the 
 garden of the Black Castle. 
 
 "Doolchi," he said, '* we must start again." 
 
 There came a new-born timidity into her 
 demeanour, which she vainly strove to dis- 
 semble. " Where is Bijli ? " she asked. 
 
 " Safe. Fear nothing ! Only come whilst 
 there is yet time to complete the passage of 
 the Pass." 
 
 " And is it truly morning ? " she asked in a 
 bewildered voice. 
 
 "The sun strikes on the upper cliff." 
 
 " And it was evening when — oh, my 
 lord, it is not truly morning ? " and she 
 averted her eyes. 
 
 ** Sixteen hours have passed since thou 
 fell fainting in the snow. When I gathered 
 thee in my arms I scarce dared hope to see 
 thine eyes open again."
 
 AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS 217 
 
 *' In thy arms ! But was It not a dream ? " 
 
 '* It was no dream." 
 
 "And my god— my idol that was my 
 taHsman and made me strong? Restore to 
 me my idol thou hast robbed me of." There 
 came into her face a flush in which both 
 shame and anger seemed to mingle as she 
 drew herself up to her full height, and held 
 out her hand to receive it. 
 
 Ever the idol! He pointed petulantly to 
 where it lay in a dark corner of the cave. 
 
 She lifted it from the ground with rever- 
 ence, and thrusting it into the bosom of her 
 chudder pressed it to her heart with a 
 passionate glow of thankfulness. 
 
 With its recovery her maidenly timidity 
 vanished. She no longer averted her eyes, 
 but met his with a look that had no hesitancy 
 or weakness. 
 
 " And Sona Singh — where is he ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " I cannot tell. He may be following." 
 
 She passed out of the cave. Bijli bounded 
 towards her and laid its velvet paws on her 
 shoulders. Caressing and stroking its head, 
 she peered anxiously down the Pass. 
 
 " There is no pursuit. I am safe. For
 
 2i8 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 have I not my idol back ? Nothing can 
 hurt me — or tempt me now from Siva's 
 Temple." 
 
 A new strength and resolution stormed 
 her features. She caught Bijli's silver chain, 
 and turning to Howard, said, — 
 
 " My lord, for the last time — farewell." 
 
 "Thou art free to go," said Howard, 
 bitterly. " It was for the Temple of Siva 
 I breathed my life into thy cold bosom." 
 
 His hand clutched at her idol. " I 
 must depart," she said. " Siva has listened 
 to my prayer. He has saved the Spirit 
 of my son. I dare not disobey him now." 
 
 Even as she was speaking there came 
 to them on the still air a thud of hoofs, 
 and from behind a bend of the cliff a troop 
 of horsemen galloped. Before Howard and 
 the Thakorine had time to retreat they 
 were sighted, and in another minute sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 Gotch, followed closely by the Thakor 
 Sona Singh, was the first to spur up. 
 Throwing himself from his pony he ap- 
 proached Howard with an insolent air. 
 
 "And so, my abductor of Zenana women, 
 you are run to earth ! I came to bury you,
 
 AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS 219 
 
 but, by George, it seems I sha'n't have 
 that pleasure. Well, that's your luck. 
 And mine is a live snow-leopard, worth 
 a round lakh of rupees." 
 
 His eyes looked greedily at Bijli. This 
 unexpected prize, ready to his hand, had 
 awakened all the cupidity in his sordid 
 soul. For a month he had watched for this 
 day. But yesternight it seemed, at the last 
 moment, that his prize had eluded his 
 grasp. This morning's reconnaissance was 
 purely one of speculation. The storm in 
 the Pass left little chance of life surviving. 
 He had come with a faint hope that if 
 the snow-leopard had not escaped he might 
 find its carcass, and the skin was worth 
 a hundred guineas. To find it alive, 
 chained, ready to be captured, transcended 
 his most sanguine expectations. 
 
 "You brute!" cried Howard. "This 
 Pass is British territory, and if you in- 
 terfere with me, or those under my charge, 
 look out!" 
 
 " Don't talk rot. It's for you to look 
 out, I rather fancy. A man who abducts 
 a Rajpootni girl from a Thakor's Zenana I 
 Sona Singh would be justified in appre-
 
 220 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 bending you and sending you under escort 
 to the nearest European magistrate's court." 
 
 And now the Thakor approached. He 
 had been whispering to the commandant 
 of the guard, who had dismounted the 
 men and formed a cordon round the 
 Thakorine. 
 
 The Thakor strode up to her. 
 " Strumpet ! " he cried, bis evil features 
 contorted with jealousy and disappointed 
 desire as he looked at her beautiful face. 
 " Thou bast disgraced my house. Sur- 
 render thyself to me thy rightful ruler. 
 The manes of my kinsman call aloud in 
 indignation. And thou " — he turned to 
 Howard — "back to Hindostan! Thou 
 hast wrought evil in the house of Kalapore. 
 Simla shall hear of it." 
 
 Had Doolcbi given him but one look 
 Howard would have known how to act. 
 Had she thrown herself on his protection 
 be would have had words and deeds ready 
 for the occasion. 
 
 But in this extremity of peril the girl 
 was praying to the Idol of Siva, which 
 she bad drawn from her bosom, and on 
 which her fervent eyes were fixed.
 
 AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS 221 
 
 He made one last appeal to her. 
 
 " Doolchi, speak but the word I told 
 thee of. Give me the right to protect 
 thee, as — God knows — I have the will." 
 
 But even in that supreme moment, when, 
 as she knew, she had but to claim him 
 as her champion, the force of superstition 
 prevailed over her. She yet retained her 
 faith in Siva. Elevating the idol above 
 her head she called on the Destroyer to 
 succour her. To Howard she was deaf; 
 to his presence blind. 
 
 Meanwhile Gotch slipped aside to his pony. 
 From the saddle-bow hung a bundle of rope 
 nets. He quickly unloosed them and re- 
 turned, slinking back behind the troopers. 
 Doolchi had dropped Bijli's chain. The 
 sight of so many men crowding round it in 
 a circle had scared the animal. It crouched 
 down and half buried its head under the hem 
 of its mistress's robe. 
 
 Howard, unobservant of Gotch, was gazing 
 at the Thakorine. As he saw the girl's 
 beautiful face looking up, her dark eyes 
 fixed in an intense adoration on the insen- 
 sate image, a sort of hopeless despair seized 
 him. Had she a heart? It was impossible,
 
 222 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 He turned his back on her, frantic at this 
 final act of folly. 
 
 It was Gotch's opportunity. A swift cast 
 of the net and the snow-leopard was en- 
 veloped. An abortive spring, a scream, a 
 struggle, and the noose was drawn. 
 
 Then, too late, it regained its fierce, wild 
 nature. With teeth and claws it tore madly 
 at the snare ; it bit and scratched, rolling 
 over and over on the ground, indignant at 
 the indignity that fettered and confined the 
 lovely lithe frame and limbs which had 
 always been free. Its soft velvet fur was 
 ruffled and tossed about ; its opal eyes 
 gleamed with iridescent fires ; its small 
 round ears lay back upon its head, and it 
 displayed its glistening fangs. 
 
 But the more it struggled, the tighter the 
 noose was drawn, until it became hopelessly 
 entangled and powerless to move. 
 
 Then there burst from it a piercing cry, so 
 weird, so tortured, so unearthly, and yet so 
 human in its intonation of suffering, that it 
 appalled. And from its bonds its eyes looked 
 up with a pathetic appeal to its mistress. 
 
 Still the Thakorine stood motionless, hold- 
 ing aloft the golden Idol of Siva and suppli-
 
 AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS 223 
 
 eating it. Her face was drawn in agony ; 
 her eyes were fixed in an intense stare ; her 
 figure stretched tall and rigid. 
 
 At last, in a spasm, a prayer burst from 
 her lips, 
 
 "Siva!" she shrieked, in a voice that 
 might have pierced to heaven, "Siva! God 
 that dealeth death and destruction ! If thou 
 art God — make thyself manifest! Deal 
 destruction to these around ! Deal death to 
 me! Only spare my son." 
 
 A white figure standing in the white snow, 
 A woman offering up her life for sacrifice. 
 But Siva hearkened not. 
 
 At the awful invocation that threatened 
 them, the Thakor and his troops fell back 
 aghast. Their faith in Siva was as great as 
 hers. They bent their heads low, as in the 
 presence of a living God. 
 
 Gradually the Thakorine seemed to realise 
 the truth — to be at last convinced her faith 
 in the impotent image was vain. 
 
 In a revulsion of blasted hope and defeated 
 belief she dropped her arms, and, turning her 
 head, looked down at the semckoon, entangled 
 and helpless in the snow. 
 
 Its eyes met hers with their sad, sufTering
 
 224 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 animal look of pitiful entreaty ; but the wail 
 that sounded in her ears to her sounded 
 human. She knew every inflection of that 
 voice. It was the cry of the creature she 
 had suckled — the cry of the spirit of her son. 
 
 A quiver of agony passed over her frame. 
 Once more she raised the jewelled image up, 
 as if to give it one last chance of vindicating 
 its power. She waited a breathless instant 
 and then dashed it to the ground. 
 
 Gotch was bending over the snow-leopard, 
 deftly coiling and knotting the ropes, and 
 smiling to himself. 
 
 With a subtle, cat-like approach she moved 
 towards him and touched him on the shoulder. 
 
 " Sahib, the triumph is thine. Siva has 
 deserted me. The semchoon is in thy power. 
 Notwithstanding, grant me, I pray thee, one 
 favour. For the last time let me caress Bijli. 
 Let me bid him depart with thee in peace." 
 
 Gotch fell back a step or two, but did not 
 relinquish his hold of the master-rope. Slowly 
 the Thakorine sank down upon one knee by 
 Bijli's side. " Soul of my soul," she whispered 
 to it, whilst her trembling fingers passed 
 lightly over its velvet side and lingered by 
 its heart. " Thy mother's heart is breaking.
 
 AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS 225 
 
 Was it for this, my little one, I suckled thee — 
 I loved thee — I warmed thee in my breast ? " 
 She bent her face, and laid it against the 
 leopard's, and twined her arms about its body, 
 whilst the tears rained down her cheeks. 
 
 Then she slowly raised her head again. 
 Her right hand was concealed in her girdle. 
 Her eyes, as she turned them on Gotch, 
 narrowed with a hard, strange, devilish ex- 
 pression, and her lips were firm set. 
 
 " The sahib has granted me a great boon," 
 she said in a peculiar voice, "and Bijli will 
 be grateful." 
 
 Instantly a suspicion crossed Gotch's mind. 
 He sprang forward to arrest the hand she 
 was withdrawing from her girdle. 
 
 But, ere he could reach her, out flashed 
 her phurpa, and she plunged it into Bijli's 
 heart. 
 
 Her stroke struck true. With a convulsive 
 contortion of its body, and a long-drawn 
 moan, the leopard was dead. 
 
 Dropping the dagger, Doolchi sprang to 
 her feet. For one bitter moment she gazed 
 down at the creature she had stabbed, stand- 
 ing there like a statue sculptured out of 
 snow. 
 
 p
 
 226 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 Then she turned like a Fury on Gotch and 
 those who accompanied him. Her eyes con- 
 tracted, her brow was furrowed with a frown 
 as black as thunder, her stiffened, upstretched 
 arms beat the air, and she shook and trembled 
 in the insanity of her passion. 
 
 "Curses! Curses !" she shrieked. "Curses 
 on ye all ! " In her ungovernable frenzy she 
 tore at her hair, and rent her bared bosom 
 with her nails, and beat herself. " On ye, 
 and yours, and the generations that come 
 after you. Thou — damned Feringhee — 
 mayest thou be burnt, and thy ashes scattered 
 over a waterless desert. Thou, Sona Singh, 
 may never a son be born to thee, and thy 
 line die out ! And for thee — vile instruments 
 of this vile puppet — may thy women be dis- 
 honoured and forced into the harems of the 
 Moslem, and thy sons die as this my son 
 has died." 
 
 She ceased speaking, catching her breath 
 in gasps, and half suffocated by the torrent 
 of her words. Then her eyes fell like a 
 blight on the golden idol, and upon it the 
 full volume of her mad delirium was turned. 
 Tearing off her sandals, she flung herself upon 
 her knees, and battered at the image a
 
 AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS 227 
 
 hurricane of blind, indiscriminate blows, 
 cursing it, and hurling at it insults and 
 epithets and imprecations. 
 
 At that sacrilegious spectacle Sona Singh 
 and his sepoys pressed their hands to their 
 eyes, attempting to shut out the awful sight. 
 To them, whose faith in Siva was unshaken, 
 it seemed as if the very cliffs must fall and 
 blot out this impious act. 
 
 They dared not stay, and mounting their 
 horses fled from the accursed scene. 
 
 At last, exhausted with excitement and 
 exertion, the Thakorine paused in her mad 
 emotional cataclysm. 
 
 Howard stepped up and laid his hand upon 
 her shoulder. She glanced round and met 
 the troubled, sad look in his face, that spoke 
 from his heart to hers, and recalled her to 
 herself. 
 
 It smote to her soul. She prostrated 
 herself before him. " Oh, my lord, my dear, 
 dear lord, what have I done ? " she cried, 
 " Shame on me, shame on me that preferred 
 the service of Siva to thine. My eyes are 
 opened! It was thou who succoured me, 
 not this lying and abominated idol." 
 
 " I will still succour thee, if thou wilt let me. "
 
 228 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 "Too late," she cried, "too late. Bijli is 
 
 dead." 
 
 She turned and crept towards it on her 
 knees and threw herself upon its body with 
 a broken-hearted sob of anguish. 
 
 Gotch still lingered. The trading instinct 
 was strong in the man and he did not care 
 a straw for Siva. 
 
 And he was outrageously angry at the 
 slaughter of the snow-leopard. 
 
 " Hands off, woman, the leopard is mine ! 
 Mad fiend ! I would that I could make thee 
 suffer as I have done." 
 
 " Go ! " cried Howard, furiously. 
 
 " Oh, that's all very well — but how about 
 my snow-leopard ? " protested Gotch. " I've 
 paid cash for it. Here is the receipt." He 
 drew from his pocket a stamped document, 
 written in Persian characters. "And now 
 this woman of yours has killed it, and I am 
 ten thousand pounds out of pocket." 
 
 " Go ! " roared Howard again. 
 
 "Oh, it's all jolly fine to say go. But 
 who's croing to make good the loss I've 
 suffered? Mind, I hold you answerable for 
 this. As good as a pension for life lost to 
 me. And all through this mad Fury. God's
 
 AND WOMANHOOD PREVAILS 229 
 
 truth, but — " He stooped and peered at 
 Bijli, without a thought for the Thakorine 
 whose white arms were clasped around it. 
 *' It was a beautiful animal. One in a million ! 
 Velvet could not beat that fur. What bad 
 luck ! Well, if I can't have the beast, I guess 
 I'll have its skin. It's worth a thousand dibs 
 anyhow. Here ! Get out with you, woman ! 
 I'm going — " 
 
 It was exactly what he did. And his 
 departure was accelerated by a kick. 
 
 Howard turned to the Thakorine. She 
 was sobbing over Bijli. Her face was pressed 
 against its head. The bosom of her white 
 robe was stained with blood that had welled 
 from its heart. 
 
 And in the mud, a few feet distant, 
 twinkled the emerald eyes of the golden 
 Idol of Siva. 
 
 "Come," whispered Howard, "thou art 
 mine now." 
 
 And she went with him. 
 
 In a far Himalayan valley, aloof from the 
 world, nestling amidst green forests and 
 under the shadow of the perpetual snows 
 that crown the summits of the mountains,
 
 230 A FURY IN WHITE VELVET 
 
 stands a homestead whose smiling fields and 
 orchards surround a picturesque cottage, 
 built in the fashion of a Swiss chalet. Near 
 at hand, on the banks of a stream, rises a 
 temple, and under its white marble shrine 
 repose the ashes of Bijli, the semchoon. For 
 its body was duly and reverently cremated 
 with becoming Hindoo ceremonies, and its 
 obsequies performed solemnly, and with 
 tender consideration for her who loved the 
 semchoon most. 
 
 And the woman who prays daily at its 
 shrine, and sprinkles its precincts with offer- 
 ings of flowers and rice — outcaste though she 
 be to the proud race for whom once she 
 bore a son that might have been their ruler 
 — is neither lonely, forsaken, nor unhappy in 
 her lot. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Colston &' Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh
 
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 EAST OF SUEZ 
 
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 'THIRTEEN WAYS HOME" 
 
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 CONTENTS 
 
 The Parrot and the Melodrama 
 
 A Question of Conscience 
 
 The Nightingale 
 
 Darkening Counsel 
 
 Nicholas Kyriel's Tomb 
 
 A Manly Girl 
 
 G. H. & I. 
 
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 Miss Peckitt's Pincushion 
 
 The Christmas Pudding 
 
 George's Monument
 
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 THE RANEE'S RUBIES 
 
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 This is a powerful and vivid story, the scenes of which 
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 The author has drawn aside a curtain for a moment, 
 giving us a glimpse of one aspect of Oriental life which 
 is not often seen. We can recommend this story to 
 any one who loves to be carried away, breathless, on a 
 swift flood of sensational interest and excitement, for 
 the power is sustained throughout. The style is terse, 
 and from start to finish the author shows a thorough 
 knowledge of the subject with which she deals.
 
 'MAD' LORRIMER 
 
 BY 
 
 FINCH MASON 
 
 Price 3^. td. 
 
 Author of ' Sporting Recollections* • Sporting Sketches,' 
 ' The White Hat,' ' Flower of the Hunt,' ' Frank Malt- 
 land's Luck,' ' The Tame Fox,' etc. 
 
 The author of half-a-dozen books, mostly illustrated 
 by himself, not to mention several volumes of sketches, 
 and innumerable short stories, one and all dealing with 
 Sport from a more or less humorous point of view, in a 
 style entirely his own, it would be strange indeed if the 
 name of Finch Mason were not familiar to sportsmen. 
 Amusing as all his books are, we venture to prophesy 
 that ' " Mad " Lorrimer,' his latest production, will be 
 found quite equal to its predecessors. The following 
 short extract from the commencement of his book will 
 give a cue to the title : — 
 
 •They called him "Mad" Lorrimer at Eton — not 
 because he was at all deficient as regards brain power ; 
 on the contrary, his mental capacity, in all probability, 
 would have compared favourably with that of his fellows. 
 No; it was simply that he was always committing ex- 
 travagances of the wildest description. 
 
 ' You had only to '* dare " Lorrimer to perform some 
 out-of-the-way feat, that the most reckless of schoolboys 
 would think twice about, and the deed might at once be 
 looked upon as done. I really believe if any juvenile 
 sportsman had offered to make a bet with him of half-a 
 crown, that he, Lorrimer, would not knock off the 
 Provost of Eton's college cap, he would have closed 
 with him on the spot and won his money to boot. 
 
 •And so they dubbed him ••mad," and "Mad" 
 Lorrimer he remained to the day of his death.'
 
 'The Woman of Orchids* 
 
 MARVIN DANA 
 
 Price 3J. dd. 
 
 This story, which will be published at the end of 
 October, is of a highly sensational character. The 
 scene of 'The Woman of Orchids' is laid in South 
 America, a country brimful of natural beauty and 
 grandeur of scenery. The characters hold the interest 
 throughout, and the descriptions are powerful to a 
 degree. The following passage, recounting a fight 
 between two droves of wild horses, is a fair example of 
 Mr Marvin Dana's marvellous descriptive powers : — 
 
 * Even as he looked, the two troops met with a 
 clamour of shrieked gamuts. Half the horses were 
 overthrown in the fury of the first shock. Most of them, 
 however, were on their feet again after a moment, 
 although some remained prostrate, to be crushed by 
 the trampling violence of the others. The battle raged 
 fearfully. The weapons were teeth and hoofs, and 
 deadly enough they were. Horse after horse fell in 
 the struggle, and those that continued on their feet were 
 bruised and bleeding. The wrath of the beasts showed 
 awfully in their ears, strained far back, in their burning, 
 mad eyes, in the snarl of their mouths. Shrieking, 
 kicking, biting, the horde of infuriated brutes swayed 
 backward and forward for almost half-an-hour before 
 their ferocity seemed to yield one tittle to the terrific 
 toil.
 
 READY SHORTLY 
 
 'TATTY' 
 
 A Study of a Young Girl's Life 
 
 BY 
 
 PETER ERASER 
 
 Price ds. 
 • Tatty,' the new novel by Peter Fraser, which Messrs 
 A. Treherne & Co., Limited, will publish at the end of 
 October, is, in many respects, a great and remarkable 
 work. 
 
 It takes as its heroine a girl brought up by a father, 
 who educates her in a scholastic sense, it is true, but 
 who neglects the deeper education of life and experience, 
 with the result that Tatty arrives at womanhood quite 
 ignorant of the world's ways. From this spring the 
 tragic issues — the proposed psychological problems 
 which form the deeply absorbing plot and studies in 
 temperament, the basis of the book. 
 
 'Tatty' is one of those profoundly poignant human 
 documents that lift the work from the level of ordinary 
 everyday fiction, almost to the region of real life, with 
 its ever-recurring tragic under-note — its defeated hopes 
 — its crushed aspirations. Tatty herself is a victim of 
 a fate more cruel than death — of a destiny more intoler- 
 able than marriage without love, or religion without 
 happiness. 
 
 'Tatty* should be ordered from the libraries and 
 booksellers at the end of October. It will be much 
 discussed, for it deals with the true psychology of the 
 heart and its emotions — of a girl's life and its mysteries.
 
 READY SHORTLY 
 
 A BOOK FOR CHILDREN 
 
 Behind the Wainscot 
 
 BY 
 
 CICELY FULCHER 
 
 Price 3^. dd. 
 
 A CHARMINGLY fanciful story for nursery children, full 
 of the adventures of a fairy-like little girl, and enlivened 
 by the quaint remarks of a mouse, whose gratitude to 
 her for saving it from an untimely end at the hands of 
 the cook, knows no bounds, and who, with his two 
 beady-eyed and furry friends, plays a large part in the 
 tale. The book cannot fail tc be a great favourite with 
 the children, but their elders and betters may also 
 enjoy this truthful and pretty picture of child character, 
 as they follow the dainty little heroine through the 
 sufferings inflicted on a nervous child by a harsh and 
 unfeeling nurse. The author shows her love and 
 knowledge of young people in the tenderness with which 
 she sympathises with Evelyn's fears, and her insight 
 into child character, by making the timid little girl 
 overcome her fears, and prove herself no coward. Like 
 Miss Cicely Fulcher's first book 'Father's Wife,' 
 • Behind the Wainscot,' though a simple and childish 
 story, is bright and engaging, and will be a most welcome 
 Christmas gift for little folks.
 
 READY SHORTLY 
 
 PUBLISHED IN 
 
 TREHERNES SHILLING SPORTING 
 
 SERIES 
 
 'FROM DOWNS TO SHIRES' 
 
 A Hunting Novel 
 
 BY 
 
 R. ALWYN 
 
 The title is indicative of the contents of this book, 
 which will be ready shortly, and which will be included 
 in Treherne's Shilling Sporting Series. In the course 
 of the story we are introduced to a sweet personality in 
 the heroine, an innocent country girl, living down in 
 Sussex, and hunting on the hills. She is captivated by 
 a warrior from the grass countries, which ultimately 
 become her field of sport also. There is an interesting 
 tale of love and adventure running through the book, 
 and, apart from the plot of the story, which keeps up a 
 breezy interest throughout, the writer's descriptions of 
 hunting runs are well worth reading. They are so life- 
 like, so true to nature, in detail, that they must appeal 
 irresistibly to all lovers of sport, while the story is not so 
 brimful of horse and hound that there is no room for 
 sentiment. Right through the book the interest is 
 maintained, and to all lovers of sport the work should 
 afford amusement and education. 
 
 '3
 
 LITTLE CHERIE 
 
 or The Trainer's Daughter 
 
 BV 
 
 LADY FLORENCE DIXIE 
 
 This story is full of human interest, and shows a side 
 of racing life delightful in the extreme. Little Cherie 
 is merely a trainer's daughter, and the love which she 
 has inspired in the breast of a noble lord forms the 
 theme around which Lady Florence weaves her story. 
 The account of the race upon which so much depends 
 is vivid in the extreme, and Lady Florence, who is an 
 authority upon racing matters, writes with power and 
 force. 'Little Cherie' is well worthy of the attention 
 of readers fond of a sporting novel 
 
 OnUoier.—' Cont&lns plenty of incident . . . readable and 
 interesting. ' 
 
 Country Life. — ' A lively tale of racing.' 
 
 Scotsman. — ' Brisk, eloquent, and animated.* 
 
 United Service Gazette. — A welcome addition to current literature.' 
 
 People.—* The story is well told.' 
 
 Star. — ' An entertaining study of the turf.'
 
 (great Cbrtstmas Boofe 
 
 Cover in Colours 
 
 LOUIS WAIN'S ANNUAL 
 
 Edited by STANHOPE SPRIGG 
 
 The first Editor of 'The Windsor Magazine.' 
 
 Messrs Anthony Treherne & Co., Limited, beg to 
 
 announce that they have arranged to issue, at an early date, 
 
 'LOUIS WAIN'S ANNUAL' 
 
 which will be in reality one of the most remarkable, 
 interesting, and attractive of the Christmas Annuals 
 published this year at the popular price of One Shilling. 
 
 Mr Louis Wain is known all the world over as a most 
 humorous and successful cat artist ; but hitherto his work 
 has appeared in sections, and few of his thousands of 
 admirers have any idea of the vast range and variety of bis 
 powers, of the subjects he treats, of the abiding humanity, 
 skill, and humour of his sketches, which indeed, for the past 
 ten years, have been the delight of people of all ranks, ages, 
 and countries. 
 
 ' Louis Wain's Annual* will contain nearly loo drawings, 
 and will show the artist in a new light, for it will exhibit at 
 one glance the wonderful variety, delicacy, and interest of 
 his work on cats. It will also contain literary contributions 
 from some of the most famous journalists and editors now at 
 work in London, who have, as a matter of fact, united by 
 this means in paying an honest tribute of admiration to an 
 artist who is admired and loved wherever his work, humorous 
 or serious, is known. 
 
 ORIDER 
 
 LOUIS WAIN'S ANNUAL 
 
 Edited by STANHOPE SPRIGG 
 
 li will be issued at the price of One Shilling only
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 7AA 000 368 813 
 
 Countp Gentkniaii 
 
 SPORTING GAZETTE and AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL 
 
 (ESTABLISHED 1862) 
 
 The Great Hunting and Shooting Newspaper 
 OLD ESTABLISHED, yet UP-TO-DATE 
 
 THE COUNTY GENTLEMAN has a wide and influential 
 circulation among County people and Sportsmen generally. 
 It has the most complete hunting reports, illustrated by 
 numerous drawings and photographs taken in the hunting 
 field. 
 
 All the articles in THE COUNTY GENTLEMAN are 
 written by Sportsmen who are experts in the subjects on 
 which they write. 
 Among the regular features of the newspaper are : — 
 Hunting Fishing 
 
 Shooting Golf 
 
 Turf Cricket 
 
 Stud Notes Football 
 
 Kennel Gossip Coursing 
 
 Polo Motor Car Jottings 
 
 MONEY MATTERS are dealt with exhaustively 
 by a competent City writer. 
 
 Portraits of distinguished Sportsmen aad beautifully illustrated 
 Special Supplements. 
 
 Editorial, Advertisement and Publishing Offices— 
 
 3 WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, LONDON 
 
 Telephone No.— 287$ GERRARD 
 Telegraphic Address— WHIPSTOCKS, LONDON 
 
 Of all Newsagents and Booksellers in the United Kingdom. 
 
 Price 6cl. 
 
 Annual Subscription, if sent direct to the Publisher, 28Sa post free.