The Jungle Girl Part 11

"Have they a mother?" he asked the _mahout_.

"Yes, _Huzoor_. The _mem-Sahib_ (lady) is doubtless within the house."

"I want to dismount," said Frank; and he grasped the surcingle rope as the elephant sank jerkily to its knees. Then sliding down from the pad he entered the gate and pa.s.sed up through the garden towards the bungalow. As he did so a dainty little figure in white, a charmingly pretty girl with golden hair and blue eyes, came out on the verandah.

Seeing him she walked down the steps to meet him and held out her hand, saying in a pleasant, musical voice:

"You are Mr. Wargrave, of course? Welcome to Ranga Duar."

Frank, uncomfortably conscious of his dishevelled appearance and travel-stained attire, almost blushed as he took off his hat and quickened his steps to meet her, wondering who this delightful young girl--she looked about nineteen--could be. Possibly an elder sister of the children outside. But as they shook hands she said:

"I am the wife of the Political Officer here. My husband, Colonel Dermot, has just gone up to the Mess to see your C.O., Major Hunt."

Frank was astonished. This pretty young girl, scarcely more than a child herself, the mother of the two chubby babies! Touched by her kind manner he shook her hand warmly and said:

"Thank you very much for your welcome, Mrs. Dermot. It's awfully good of you, and I--I a.s.sure you I appreciate it a lot just now. I was coming to tell you--I wonder do you know that your babies--I suppose they _are_ yours--are playing what seems to me rather a dangerous game with an elephant at the side of the house."

Mrs. Dermot smiled; and the dimples that came with the smile carried his mind back for an instant to Violet.

"Yes, they are my chicks," she said. "I left them in Badshah's charge."

Frank was not altogether rea.s.sured. The young mother evidently did not know what was happening.

"But--pardon me--is it quite safe? I was a bit scared when I saw them.

The animal was tossing them up in the air."

"You needn't be alarmed, Mr. Wargrave--though it's very good of you to be concerned and come to tell me," she replied. "But Badshah--that's the elephant's name--is a most careful nurse and I know that my babies are quite safe when they are in his care. He has looked after them since they were able to crawl. Come and be introduced to him. I must tell you that he is a very exceptional animal. Indeed, we almost forget that he is an animal. He has saved our lives, my husband's and mine, on more than one occasion. Next to the children and me I think that Kevin loves him better than anyone or anything else in the world. And after my chicks and Kevin and my brother I believe I do, too. As for the babies, I'm not sure that he doesn't come first with them."

She led the way round the house, and in spite of her a.s.surances Wargrave felt a little nervous when they came in sight of the strange nurse and its charges. The tiny girl was seated on the ground tightly clasping one huge foreleg; while the boy was beating the other with his little fists, crying:

"_Mujk-ko uth! Pir! Pir!_ (Lift me up! Again! Again!)"

When he saw his mother he ran to her and said:

"Mummie, bad, naughty Badshah won't lift me up."

He suddenly caught sight of the stranger and paused shyly.

"Brian darling, this is a new friend," said his mother, bending down to him. "Won't you shake hands with him?"

The child conquered his shyness with an effort and walked over to Frank, holding out his little hand.

"How do you do?" he said politely.

The subaltern gravely shook the proffered hand. The little girl scrambled to her fat little legs and finger in mouth, surveyed him solemnly. Then satisfied with her inspection she toddled forward to him and said:

"Tiss me."

Frank laughed joyously.

"With all my heart, you darling," he cried.

This delightful welcome in the dreaded place of exile was inexpressibly cheering. He swung the dainty mite up in his arms and kissed her. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Me like 'oo," she said.

"You little flirt, Eileen," exclaimed her mother laughing. "Now it's Badshah's turn."

She walked to the elephant, a splendid specimen of its race, though it had only one tusk, the right. She held out her hand to it. The long trunk shot out, brushed her fingers and then her cheek with a light touch that was almost a caress. She stroked the trunk affectionately.

"Now, Badshah, this is a new Sahib."

Frank, with the baby girl seated on his shoulder, stepped forward and extended his hand. The animal smelt it and then laid its trunk for a moment on his free shoulder.

"Badshah accepts you, Mr. Wargrave," said Mrs. Dermot seriously. "And there are few whom he takes to readily."

Eileen, with one arm around Frank's neck, stretched out the other to the elephant.

"Me love Badshah," she said.

The snake-like trunk lingered caressingly on her golden head. The baby caught and kissed it.

"Now then, chickies, time for bed," said their mother. "Say goodnight to Badshah."

The little boy ran to the great animal and hugged its leg tightly, while the snaky trunk touched the child's face affectionately.

"Come along, Brian. Let him go now"; and at his mother's bidding the boy released his clasp and ran to her.

"Goodnight, Badshah. _Salaam_!" said Mrs. Dermot, waving her hand to the mammoth, while her little daughter on Wargrave's shoulder imitated her.

The big animal raised its trunk in salute and, turning, walked with swaying stride out of sight behind the bungalow.

"By Jove, what a splendid beast!" exclaimed Frank. "And how wonderfully well trained he is. I'm not surprised now that you let the kiddies play with him."

Mrs. Dermot smiled.

"You would be even less so if you knew his story," she said. "He is my husband's private property now. The Government of India presented him to Kevin. Now come back to the house and have tea. Oh, no, after your long ride you'll prefer a whiskey and soda."

"I'd really rather have the tea, I think, Mrs. Dermot. I don't feel thirsty up in this deliciously cool air. It's awful down in the Plains now. But what about my elephants and baggage?"

"Tell the _mahouts_ to go to the Mess. You are to have a room there."

Frank did so; and the two animals lumbered away up the hill after the _mahouts_ had brought the Colonel's guns into the bungalow.

Mrs. Dermot led the way into the house. The little boy had possessed himself of Wargrave's free hand, the other one being engaged in holding Eileen, who was perched on the subaltern's shoulder. Mrs. Dermot found it difficult to separate the children from their new friend when at last she bore them off to bed.

Left to himself, Frank examined with deep interest and admiring envy the splendid display of Colonel Dermot's trophies of big game shooting that filled the bungalow. From the walls many heads of bison and buffalo, of _sambhur_ and _barasingh_, those fine Indian stags, looked mildly at him with their gla.s.s eyes; while tigers, bears and panthers snarled at him from the ground. Long elephant-tusks leaned in corners, smoking and liqueur-tables made up from the mammoths' legs and feet stood about, and crossed from ceiling to floor; on the walls were the skins of enormous snakes such as Frank had never seen or imagined. He had thought a six-foot cobra or an eight-foot python long--here were reptiles sixteen or eighteen feet in length, and he hoped that he would never meet their equals alive in the jungle.

While he was gazing with admiration at the fine collection of trophies Mrs. Dermot returned.