"A short distance ahead of me was a patch of bright light, where the cross-roads met. A few yards more and the jungle grass would end.
"I thought of this, O'Donnell—the beggar might not know the road so well as I. He had no wife, no child; he was a leper, only a leper—and my teeth chattered.
"Here the Colonel paused and wiped his forehead.
"I slackened my speed, the rustling by my side slowing down, and the tapping grew faster. I was close to the whitened road.
"'Sahib, the blessing of Allah be on you for stopping. Sahib, let me walk by your side.'
"(To the end of my days, O'Donnell, I shall never forgive myself, and yet I want you to understand it was for my wife—and child.) I slunk into the shade. Two steps more and the tapping would pass me. The stick struck the ground within one inch of my foot; my heart almost ceased to beat; I gazed in fascination at the spot in the jungle opposite. The heavy rustling had stopped; only the gentle sighing of the wind went on. The two steps were taken, the blind man paused on the cross-roads. He was ghastly in the moonlight. I shuddered. His eyes peered enquiringly round on all sides; he was looking for me; he had lost his way; he feared the tiger.
"Suddenly something huge shot like an arrow from the darkness opposite me. I bowed my head, O'Donnell, and muttered a prayer, for I thought my end had come.
"A terrible scream rang out in the clear night air. I was saved.
"'Allah curse you and yours, sahib.'
"I opened my eyes; an enormous tiger was bending over the leper, searching for the most convenient spot in his body to afford a tight grip.