"It's simply buried under devotee bric-a-brac this morning. They should have a sign up 'Wet Paint,' for it's gory blood red. When I came along a fat black man, rolled in white muslin, cursed me—absolutely bowled at my wicket with a ball of brimstone. Now what do you make of that, major? It wasn't about the cow dog, for the bounder had one English word, 'tiger,' which he simply sprayed his lingo with."
Mahadua had come to accompany the party, and, somewhat perplexed, Finnerty turned to the shikari for an explanation.
"Yes, sahib," Mahadua said, "Pundit Bagh was a jungle god, and they are making prayer to the shrine so that the spirit may return again as a tiger to protect them from such as the black leopard."
Finnerty interpreted: "They feel that you have slain one who defended them against leopards and pig and deer that ate their crops."
"Oh, I say! Sort of a gentleman burglar who did not murder his victims."
The shikari explained that the man who had visited verbal wrath upon Lord Victor was a money lender who lent money at a high rate to the farmers to buy bullocks when the tiger had killed their plough beasts, so he was angry at this loss of revenue. He also said that some one was telling the natives that the sahibs were trying to destroy their religion by killing their jungle gods.
"Who tells them this?" Finnerty asked.
The shikari answered evasively: "This is not my country, so they do not tell me what is in the hidden room."