"I had only a short distance to go, and I no longer feared the presence of man-eaters--there was not likely to be another. Hours afterwards, O'Donnell, when I lay in my hammock as safe as a fortress, I fancied I heard the dead man's cry, fancied I heard his curse. No one was more devoted to a wife than I was to mine. Ours had been purely a love match, and it was against my wish that she had accompanied me to such an out-of-the-way place as Seconee. I told her about my adventure, suppressing the leper's curse; and I was glad I did so, as she was greatly distressed. "'Thank goodness you escaped, Charlie,' she said. 'I am so sorry for the poor leper. I suppose you couldn't have helped him.' "'I might have fetched my rifle,' I replied, 'and tried to rescue him, of course. But I fear it wouldn't have been of much avail, as he would have been badly mauled by then.' "My wife sighed. 'Ah, well,' she said, 'love is selfish! It makes one forget others. Still, I wouldn't have it otherwise.' "'I wish this railway job here was over,' I murmured, sitting with my elbows on my knees and looking over the flat ground, sun-baked and barren, away towards the dark jungles and the still darker mountains towering above them; and as I gazed a shadow seemed to blur my vision and a voice to whisper in my ears, 'Beware of my curse.' "I took Cushai, one of the native servants, into confidence. "'Now, Cushai,' I said, 'you know all the superstitions of the country--the evil eye and the rest of them. Tell me, what can the dying curse of a leper do?' "Cushai turned pale under his skin. "'Not of Nahra!' he stuttered, swinging the knife with which he had been cutting maize in his hand, 'not of Nahra, the leper of Futtebah. Sahib, if you were cursed by him, beware. He was learned in the black arts; he could heal ulcers by repeating a prayer, he could bring on fever.' "At this, O'Donnell, I turned cold. I had lived long in India. I had seen their so-called juggling, had experienced also strange cases of telepathy, and knew quite sufficient of their intimacy with the supernatural elements to be afraid. "'You must keep the young sahib safe,' Cushai said, 'and the white lady. I wish it hadn't been Nahra.' "I took his advice. My boy, Eric, was more closely supervised than ever, and as to my wife, I begged and entreated her not to move from the house until the tiger was dead, and I searched for it everywhere. "The dry season passed, the wet came, and my work still kept me in Seconee. At times there came to us rumours of the man-eater--of another victim--but it never visited our bungalow, where the bright rifle leaned against the wall waiting for it. "I certainly did meet with slight misfortunes, which the more timid might have put down to the working of the curse. "My little finger was squashed in the laying down of a rail, and Eric had several bouts of sickness.