It
occurred to him that his companion must be in the same plight.
"Are you hungry, Miss Daleham?" he asked.
"Hungry? I don't know. I haven't had time to think about food," she
replied. "But I'm very thirsty."
"Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Oh, don't tantalise me, Major," she replied laughing. "I feel I'd give
anything for one now. But unfortunately there aren't any tea-rooms in this
wonderful jungle of yours."
Dermot smiled.
"Perhaps it could be managed," he said. "What I am concerned about is how
to get something substantial to eat, for I foolishly came away from
Granger's bungalow, where I stayed last night, without replenishing my
stores, which had run low. I intended asking you for enough to carry me
back to Ranga Duar. But when I heard what had happened--Hullo! with luck
there's our dinner."
He broke off suddenly, for a jungle cock had crowed in the forest not far
away.
"I wish I had a shot gun," he whispered. "But my rifle will have to do.
_Mul_, Badshah."
He guided the elephant quietly and cautiously in the direction from which
the sound had come. Presently they came to an open glade and heard the fowl
crow again. Dermot halted Badshah in cover and waited. Presently there was
a patter over the dry leaves lying on the ground, and a jungle cock, a bird
similar to an English bantam, stalked across the glade twenty yards away.
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