Rasool, with the blandest of smiles. 'What doth this order contain ?'

"Your honour's attendance is requested at the court on the thirteenth of this month, to-day being the third. There is a charge brought by Ali Mahomed of Mirpur that his landmark has been removed.'

'Inshalla tolla!' shouted the Tiger, without doubt I shall be present to expose the falsity of this charge. Who shall say that Ghoolam Rasool feared to meet his enemy face to face? The magistrate shall do me justice, and mete out to this eater of lies the punishment that he deserves. This is a fortunate day, and you are welcome to my house!'

Azimoolla was astonished at this unlooked-for attitude. He had been prepared for a volley of abuse, and an indignant refusal to obey the summons: he raised his right hand smartly to the salute.

The Tiger called for pen and ink that he might affix bis signature. He could sign his name in flowing Persian characters; but this was the extent of his literary attainments.

'It would be well to read out the order of the honourable court,' he said to the head-constable, so that complete understanding may be attained. Be pleased to stand beside me and deliver the contents.'

Azimoolla did what was asked, reciting the formalities of the document in a clear sonorous voice. As his eyes were fixed upon the paper several of the attendants who had been standing behind the Tiger moved forward silently as though the better to hear what was being read.

'It is well,' said the Tiger. 'Now show me where to sign.'

Ghoolam Rasool took the sunmons from Azimoolla, who bent down to point to the seated Syud the exact spot for his signature. The pen slipped from the Tiger's fingers and fell on the floor. Azimoolla stooped low to pick it up. The Tiger raised his right hand, and in a moment half a dozen brawny ruffians threw themselves upon Azimoolla and held him to the ground. He struggled manfully, but resistance was unavailing. He was securely pinioned, and a gag placed in his mouth.

'Thou son of abominable parents,' roared the Tiger, offspring of a vile father and a disgraceful mother! How hast thou the audacity to insult Ghoolam Rasool the Jatoi in his own halls?

Thou shalt be sorry for the day that thou wast born, and long for the hour of thy death.'

The Tiger then called for food and drink, and he and his myrmidons regaled themselves on curries and pillaos while they scoffed and mocked at the head-constable who was lying helpless. in a corner of the room. Having satisfied their appetites they smoked their hookahs and passed the time in agreeable conversation antil night had fallen. Then they proceeded to carry out the Tiger's nefarious scheme. Bearing with them a number of spades and shovels they sallied forth into the darkness. Azimoolla, bound hand and foot, and deprived of every vestige of his uniform, was strapped upon a camel and in this pitiful state he was led along beside the Tiger and his merry men, some of whom rode horses and ponies while others went on foot. They followed a sandy track which at some three miles distance from the mud fort joined the great high road which spanned the province of Sind from north to south. The head-constable's horse was ridden at a walk by Daud. This engaging young swashbuckler did not follow the track, but rode a hundred yards or so parallel to it, so that the horse's footprints might not be disturbed by other traffic. The reason for this will be seen. Daud gradually diverged further from the track, and finally arrived at the highway a quarter of a mile to the south of its junction with the branch road. He then, according to his instructions, rode back to where the two roads joined. Here the rest of the party awaited him; and they proceeded together for a short distance to the north. The road was inches deep in sand and dust, and so thickly covered with the confused prints of innumerable people and animals that to recognise the marks left by any individual man or beast would be an absolute impossibility.

This is a suitable place,' said Ghoolam Rasool; 'get to work quickly. Let two of you stand thirty paces to the north, and two others thirty paces to the south; and if any traveller approaches bid him pass round through the jungle as there is a dead camel on the road and its burden is being unloaded.'

Quick as thought a dozen men with their spades and shovels commenced removing the surface of the road; and as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness Azimoolla could perceive from his seat on the camel that a great pit about nine feet square was being rapidly excavated. What did this extraordinary proceeding mean? What dreadful fate was destined for him? Was it his grave that they were digging? His soul seemed well nigh torn out

of his body in the agony of his despair. Deeper and deeper grew the pit as the earth was thrown out, and before long the depth was equal to its width.

6

'Enough, enough!' said the Tiger. How likest thou the prospect, Azimoolla Khan Behadur? Wouldst rather that we tear thee limb from limb, or bury thee alive? Of a truth it was a fortunate day that thou camest to my poor house, thou son of a burnt father! Nay, but a worse fate is reserved for thee. Now, Daud, bring hither the horse of this pestilent one.'

The head-constable's gallant Persian steed, the veritable apple of his eye, was led to the edge of the pit. Gagged, bound hand and foot, and strapped to this thrice accursed camel, Azimoolla could but watch on events in deadly terror, wondering what hideous tragedy was to be enacted. He had not long to wait. A few swift gashes from two sharp knives and with a heavy thud the unfortunate horse fell into the pit, moaning in his death agony as the life blood poured in a torrent from his veins. Prevented from moving a limb by his pitiless bonds, unable to utter a sound by the cruel gag, Azimoolla could only writhe in horror, and eat his heart with impotent rage at this unspeakable outrage on his cherished steed. The uniform and gun of the head-constable and the summons were flung after the horse. What was to be the next outrage? Was Azimoolla to share his favourite's last resting-place? What worse fate could there be in store for him? Overwhelmed by his misery and helplessness he swooned away.

'Now,' said the Tiger, fill up the grave,' and in a marvellously short time his men had replaced the earth which they had excavated, and levelled the surface. They scooped up dry sand and dust from the neighbouring roadway and scattered it over the scene of their brutal atrocity. Then, for a quarter of an hour, man and horse tramped up and down, so that in the morning there would be nothing to suggest that anything unusual bad occurred in the hours of the night. With a profusion of indecipherable footprints of men and animals in the dry sand there would be nothing to distinguish this section of the road from any other portion of the highway. Having taken these precautions the malefactors returned to the mud fort, laughing and jesting as they went. On their arrival Azimoolla was thrown into a stifling underground cell whence escape was impossible. Here, to his surprise, he was unbound and ungagged, and supplied with bread and water. His senses had returned to him, but his condition was pitiable. His tongue clave

to the roof of his mouth. He drank freely of the water to relieve his intolerable thirst, and after a while he partook of some of the bread. Refreshed in body if not in mind, he felt for the moment a sense of satisfaction at being left to himself, whatever the morrow might have in store for him. He recited the Kulma or profession of faith, and committing himself to the protection of Allah he stretched his cramped limbs upon the floor in the grateful prospect of a night's rest.

But his expectations were not to be realised. Sleep indeed. came to him, and at first he rested peacefully. But soon, though still unconscious, he seemed to feel upon him the weight of an intolerable oppression. Hateful dreams crowded upon his brain. Horror upon horror caused him to start and tremble violently, while beads of cold perspiration stood upon his forehead. All through the ghastly series of visions one dreadful sensation never ceased to torture him. While all around were abundant springs of water he was devoured with a raging thirst which he was unable to gratify. Once in his tribulation, while still asleep, he rose and quaffed water from the earthenware jar in which it had been brought to him. But there was no relief. His brain was racked and tormented with phantasm after phantasm. He rolled this way and that in his distress. At length he woke up and strove to free himself from the hateful spell. His mouth and throat were burning like a furnace. He seized the water jar and put it to his lips, but the muscles of his throat were contracted, and he could not swallow a drop of the precious liquid. In his desperation he tried to call for help, but the voice that issued from his lips was hoarse and utterly changed from his own. Then indeed he suffered extreme agony of soul. He knew now what was the worse fate that had been reserved for him. The detestable malice of his captors was revealed. The deadly datura was at work, the devilish poison that destroys a man's mind even if it spares his body. Would no one come and administer treatment before it was too late? How his pulse was racing! How irregular his breathing, at first direfully slow and then frightfully rapid! He stood up, but his lower extremities were becoming as it were paralysed. He had no control over them. Would no one come while a remedy might yet be applied?

Yes, here was some one approaching. He was dimly conscious that the bolt of the door was being withdrawn, though the sound seemed hundreds of miles away, and he was aware that men carrying lights stood beside him. With a supreme mental effort he

endeavoured to appeal for help, that he might be saved from the calamity which had befallen him. To his unutterable horror there issued from his lips an unintelligible gibber, accompanied by a maudlin laugh. The virus was indeed conquering him. And then there fell upon his ears no friendly accents, no promise of relief, but a scornful yell of derision, and a torrent of contemptuous abuse. He was seized and carried from the cell up a flight of rough stairs, and placed in the brilliantly lit hall where sat the Tiger surrounded by his inhuman associates.

'Now serve the summons, most honourable officer of the Police,' shouted Ghoolam Rasool.

Azimoolla was no longer able to withstand the influence of the hateful drug. His senses deserted him. To the delight of the spectators he reeled about like a drunken man, vociferating incoherently, now moaning as in distress, now wildly laughing. In his delirium the miserable wretch snatched incessantly at invisible objects in the air, and drew out imaginary threads from the ends of his fingers. The Tiger and his companions roared with laughter at his varied and ridiculous antics, though the pitiful condition of the man was such as to have melted a heart of stone. Then his limbs were affected with muscular rigidity, so that it was with difficulty that he could be placed on a chair: and the fiends laughed the louder at this strange condition.

In ancient days in India a poison known as 'poust' was frequently administered to royal princes who, by rebellion or near relationship, had rendered themselves obnoxious to the throne. In such horror was the poust held that one of the young princes who had rebelled against the Emperor Aurungzebe, when brought into the monarch's presence, pleaded that he might rather be killed at once than be made to drink the mind-destroying poison. This poust was a preparation of datura.

The effects of datura, which are frequently fatal if no remedy is applied, are in their early stages amenable to treatment. The Tiger had no intention of prematurely losing his victim. He preferred rather to derive further amusement from his sufferings on subsequent occasions. So, for the time being, the curtain was rung down on the performance and antidotes given to the sufferer. Azimoolla was taken back to his cell, and the worst symptoms were gradually mitigated. The next twenty-four hours were passed in a state of coma. But when he returned to consciousness his memory was gone. The whole of his former life was obliterated, and all