ABDUL'S BELLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 260, 2 November 1932, Page 18

ABDUL'S BELLS.

Abdul, tie postal runner, quickened his steps. The sun was setting,; flushing the snows of the Himalayas pink and gold; I The air was heavy with the scent of the pine trees, round whose trunks "were hung little jars to catch the resin. The runner did not meet many people on his way; it wais too late for cars to be on that dangerous road, twisting and turning like a bob-run in Switzerland, with precipices on either hand. , The runner hurried on, jangling the bells on his stick furiously to frighten off any wild* beast that might be,lurking near. He rounded, the bend of the iroad. Suddenly a dark shadow leaped ■over the edge of the precipice, slunk rapidly across the road, and disappeared among the trees; it was'a panther terrified by-Abdul's bells! "That panther looked as if it were up to no good," muttered Abdul to himself. He. peered oyer the edge, and there, some distance down, he saw* a man lying, apparently unconscious. Abdul knew he could not leave him; he must wait until someone came that wav. At last a, coolie appeared round [the. band. Abdul told him to mount guard while he himself went for help. Before he left the, coolie Abdul gave him his bells to jangle to frighten off the panther. ! Swiftly Abdul went on his way. Soon he was padding up the steep drive of ,the captain sahib's house, sheltered by mimosa trees in full bloom.','" i f At the bungalow Abdul found all in confusion. , , j "What is all tins stir about?" he :asked the bhisti, or water-carrier, who passed him bearing two tins of water, on either end of a 'long pole, elung across his shoulders. . j "The captain sahib has been missing all day," the bhisti replied. "He heard this morning of a panther, and went out after it, and he has. not returned yet. The memsahib is very anxious." : "I know where he is, he has fallen some distance down the bank," said Abdul. '. •: ■ . He ran to tbc memsahib with his news, and in a few minutes a. ■ party, led by the runner, was hurrying to the Spot. , : They found the captain, unconscious but otherwise .unhurt;., in a few days he was hone the worse for' his adventure. The panther, a fierce, man-eating one, had sprung upon, him suddenly and had knocked him unconscious. The creature had jumped after his' prey, and it was only the ,timely sound of Abdul's bells that had 'saved "the captain's life:-' '-'■'.'