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Updated: May 22, 2025
"Frankly, I don't. I'd not put it so bluntly, only I've seen you in a tight corner before, Miss Daleham, and you weren't afraid." "I am not now," she replied calmly. "I believe we'd hold off these coolies, aye, and the Rajah's soldiers too, if they came. But we may have the Chinese troops on us at any minute; and that's a different matter."
"Thank you," said Daleham; "and our reply is that if in a quarter of an hour you're still there, you'll get a bullet through you, white flag or no white flag." He turned to Dermot whose arm was around Noreen as she crouched beside him. "Well, Major, it's fifteen more minutes of life, that's all." "Yes, it's nearly the end now. I've only two cartridges left." "We're all in the same box.
Noreen felt herself blushing as he held her in his arms, and she was thankful that he did not look at her, but when he had put her down, busied himself in taking off Badshah's pad and laying it on the ground. Unstrapping his blankets he spread one and rolled the other up as a pillow. "Now please lie down on this, Miss Daleham," he said. "A rest will do you good, too.
To his surprise he found the leading elephants ringed round a girl, an English girl, who, hatless and with her unpinned hair streaming on her shoulders, stood terrified in their midst. When Noreen Daleham rose half-stunned from the ground where her pony had flung her and realised that she was surrounded by wild elephants she was terrified.
She was laughing at one original ornamentation when a well-known voice behind her said: "May I hope for a dance tonight, Miss Daleham?" The girl started and turned round incredulously, feeling that her ears had deceived her. To her astonishment Dermot stood before her. For a few seconds she could not trust herself to reply. She felt that she had grown pale.
During tiffin Fred Daleham called out from the far end of the table: "I say, Payne, I wish you'd convince that young sister of mine that wild elephants can be dangerous beasts." "They can indeed," replied Payne, turning to Noreen. "Take my advice and keep out of their way." "Oh, but isn't it only rogues that one need be afraid of?" the girl asked. "And aren't they rare?"
When they neared the bungalow they saw Daleham standing on the steps of the verandah, waiting for them. He had recognised the futility of struggling with his pony and had returned with it. As they arrived he ran down the steps to meet them. "Good gracious, Noreen, what has happened to you?" he cried, as Badshah stopped in front of the house. "I've been worried to death about you.
They said that they had been approached by a certain Bhuttia who, formerly residing in British territory, had been forced to flee to Bhutan by reason of his many crimes. Nevertheless, he made frequent secret visits across the border. For fifty rupees a princely sum to them he induced them to agree to join with others in carrying off Miss Daleham.
"But why should you stay with us, Major Dermot?" said the girl anxiously. "As you got in through these men, surely you could escape the same way." "I'll be candid with you, Miss Daleham, and tell you that if I could I would. For it's my duty to go on and report. But I'm stranded without my elephant, and even if I had him it wouldn't be much good unless I had Payne's car.
Dermot did not trouble to argue the matter further with him, but said to the company generally: "This outrageous attempt to carry off Miss Daleham " "Oh, but you said yourself, sir, that the ruffians were Bhuttias," broke in the boy, still nourishing a grievance at the mistrust of his friend. Dermot turned to him again. "Do Bhuttias talk to each other in Bengali?
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