The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-05
THE NAHRABAD
GHOST TIGER
BY CLARENCE PULLEN.

found the Rajah Of Budhrapore at
home in his palace, He received me
cordially enough, but. try as I would,
I could not enlist his interest in the
matter about which 1 had come. He
was gloomy and silent. Finding he
could not be persuaded to talk. 1 gave
over the business for the day and took
my leave. But before I left the place
l met Ram Abadhur the half-caste
court interpreter, and learned the cause
of the Rajah's depression.
1T is the tiger that disturbs His
l Highness," Ram Abadhur said. He
has appeared in the jungle about Nah
rabad, and there is much talk of him
among the people. He is a man-eater,
but that is nothing. Strange reports
have come to the palace that the beast
is in the likeness of the tiger pictured
on the flag of the old Kehab kings,
and the story has spread that he is
the reincarnation of Raj Kehab. His
coming, it is whispered means some
misfortune to the reigning family-a
death, or it even might be that which
His Highness most breads (thiS is very
secret, Sahib), the return of the old
ruling family to the throne"
Through many traditions I knew of
Raj Kehab the mighty founder of the
royal family that had ruled Budhra-
pore for "A thousand years, up to the
time, half a century before, when the
East India Company installed in power
the new dynasty which began with the
present Rajahs grandfather, and had
seen in the VicerOy's palace at Calcut-
ia, kept as a relic, the flag which from
the time of Raj Kehab down to the
last king descended from him had been
the emblem of the Kehab dynasty. It's
design was a tiger worked in white
embroidery upon a dark-green ground.
I rode home. and at the bungalow
found Khatra Ahab, the shikari, await
ing me in the compound. He was
master of his craft. He knew the hab-
its of all the jungle beasts and could
read the tokens of their goings and
cOmings as surely as the white man
reads the business signs in the city
streets. Before l had time to speak
with him / was hailed from the veran-
da by Capt. Bent Murdoch, chief of
the Budhrapore police, who had ridden
with his orderly from Caramhat that
morning. After bidding him welcome,
l questioned Khatra as to the truth
of the report of a man-eating tiger in
the Nahrabad jungle.
Il have seen him." the shikari an
swered. Watching from a tree l saw
him pass not twenty PAGES away. On
that day he carried off my cousins
wife from the rice field. He had feast
ed and had no need to kill, but he
looked at me. Sahib his color
swear by Krishna, he was white. And
his eyes! The color of a tigers eyes
in daylight is yellow, but his were
red-as red as the blood smears on
his jowls. When I saw his tracks I
knew them. for / had seen them Ce-
fore. Sahib, it is useless to follow
him, for he is a ghost tiger. His lair
is in the haunted city of Nahra bad"
"Then to Nahrabad Wen go for
him. exclaimed Capt. Murdoch,
who was famous as a hunter of big
game. Ghost or no ghost, white or
striped, Wen wait for him there to-
night. If lead fails, We'll try a silver
bullet. ] suppose, Mayor, you can lend
me a gum"
1.-TWO, if you wish" answered.
"Khatra, you know the tigers path
You will guide us this afternoon to
where we shall watch tonight by the
Nahrabad ruins"
The shikari tried to object, but
overruled his objections, and he un-
willingly agreed to be our guide. The
time to talk with Murdoch. For sew
eral months he had been unusually
busy suppressing the decoits who, at
the beginning OF the year, had started
their annual carnival of robbery and
murder in the Rajah's dominions. He
had broken up the principal band and.
so far as could be known, those of
the outlaws who had not been killed
outright were in Jail awaiting the
trials which would determine whether
they should be hanged or sent to
penal servitude in the Andamans. One
only had escaped Nadraj, their chief,
and no search could discover his
hiding place.
His death or capture would be
worth more than that of all the rest
of the band" Murdoch said. There
won't be an end of dacoity in Budhra-
pore so long as he is alive"
Everybody in Budhrapore knew of
Nadraj, and most people, native or
European, had cause to dread him. A
high-born Hindoo, fanatically hating
everything associated with the Eng
fish rule in India, his crimes and
cruelties had been inspired as much
by hatred and revenge as by desire
of plumber. Native mothers stilled
their children with the threat of his
name. AS he was utterly desperate.
even the Rajah himself, who favored
the English, could not be safe from
the chance of assassination while
Nadraj was at large.
II can't think where he can be con-
cealed," the captain continued. IF he
were friendly to the Rajah I could UNI
derstand, but His Majesty has the