REGINALD MEETS BURNETT--A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT--VOYAGE UP THE GANGES--
TIGER-SHOOTING AT NIGHT--TIGER ANECDOTES--TIGER-SHOOTING FROM THE BACK
OF AN ELEPHANT--REGINALD SAVES FAITHFUL FROM A CROCODILE--HER
GRATITUDE--JOURNEY TO ALLAHAPOOR--RECEPTION BY THE RAJAH--THE BEAUTIFUL
NUNA--A BANQUET, AND BARBARIC ENTERTAINMENTS--COCHUT KHAN'S JEALOUSY--
FAITHFUL WATCHES OVER REGINALD.
Reginald having ascertained where Colonel and Miss Ross were living, was
making his way through the broad streets of the "city of palaces,"
intending to pay his respects to them, when he met a military-looking
man in an undress suit, who, regarding him earnestly, advanced towards
him with his hand extended.
"My dear boy, I am delighted to see you!" exclaimed the stranger. "Have
you been successful? I long to hear."
"I am in a fair way, I trust, of succeeding, although there may be not a
few difficulties in my path," answered Reginald. "I am truly thankful,
however, to find you here, as I thought that you were far away--either
in Pegu or at Delhi. Are you at liberty, my dear Burnett, or can you
get leave of absence? If you could accompany me, you would be of the
greatest possible assistance."
"Most fortunately, I obtained leave of absence for six months, only
yesterday, and was contemplating making a shooting excursion with Knox
and Jones; but they must excuse me, and I will devote myself to your
service," answered Captain Burnett.
"Thank you, my dear fellow; thank you," exclaimed Reginald. "Your
experience and knowledge of the people will smooth away many
difficulties which beset my path, and I gladly accept your kind offer.
I feel somewhat selfish, as I know you sacrifice your own convenience
for my sake."
"Don't talk about that, Reginald," said Captain Burnett. "If you have
nothing better to do, come to my quarters and inspect my sporting gear.
We may get some shooting on the way; I always try to combine amusement
with business."
"I will join you before long; but I have a visit to pay first to some
friends who came out in the ship with me, and unless they detain me I
shall soon be at liberty."
"You can easily excuse yourself; and I shall expect you at dinner, at
all events," said Captain Burnett.
"But I would, I confess, rather dine with them, if they ask me,"
answered Reginald. "You would excuse me if you knew how I am
circumstanced."
"Is a fair lady in the case?" asked Captain Burnett. "You need not say
so; I am sure of it. Take care, Reginald; don't get entangled. Young
fellows are apt to do so, and to be sorry for it afterwards. Come, let
me advise you to leave your card at your friends, with a message that
you are bound up country; and that will settle the matter. The lady
will be married by the time you come back again."
"That I am sure she will not," exclaimed Reginald. "She is totally
unlike the ordinary run of girls."
"Well, well! Take my advice in this matter, as you are ready to do in
others, and retain your freedom of action," said Captain Burnett, in a
serious tone.
Reginald, parting from his friend, hurried on, hoping to find Violet
alone. A dark-skinned porter, in white dress and with turban on head,
opened the door, and inquired his name. The sahib was not at home, and
Miss Ross could receive no visitors, said the servant.
"Take up my card, and say that I am waiting," replied Reginald.
The porter, after carefully examining the card, gave it to another
servant. The man gave a peculiar look as he obeyed the order. He was
some time absent, and when he returned he delivered a note addressed to
Reginald in Violet's handwriting. He did not venture to open it in the
presence of the servants; but as soon as he got outside the house he
eagerly scanned the few lines it contained.
"My father has positively forbidden me to see you," she wrote. "He
hopes that time will obliterate your image; but that is impossible.
Trust to me, as I do to you.--Yours, Violet."
Reginald was naturally bitterly disappointed; but yet he had faith in
woman's constancy, and he went his way with hopes unabated, feeling
sure, from what he knew of Colonel Ross, that he would use no harsh
measures to compel his daughter to act contrary to her own inclinations.
Still, he could not feel otherwise than pained and anxious. By the
time, however, that he reached his friend's quarters, he had somewhat
recovered his serenity of mind. He kept his own counsel, simply
observing that Colonel Ross, on whom he had called, was not at home; and
Captain Burnett forbore to ask further questions.
He had plenty of amusement in examining the rifles and various articles
which Captain Burnett had prepared for his intended shooting expedition.
"You must accept this rifle from me, Reginald," he said, presenting a
first-rate weapon; "and this brace of pistols. You may depend on their
never missing fire, if properly attended to. And let me advise you
always to load them yourself; never trust to a servant. I always do as
I advise; one's life may be sacrificed from carelessness."
The following day the friends, attended by Dick Thuddichum and four
native servants, were on their road to the north-west.
They had to proceed, for a considerable distance, up the river Ganges,
in a budgerow. Though rudely built, she skimmed merrily over the water
when the breeze was favourable. She was decked all over with bamboo;
and on the after-part was erected a cottage of bamboo, which served as a
cabin and baggage-room. In the fore-part were two small ranges of
brick-work, raised a few inches above the deck, with small round holes,
shaped like a lime-kiln, for holding charcoal, on which provisions were
dressed. Above the cabin, and supported on upright bamboos, was a
grating, on which the crew sat or stood to work the vessel. A long
bamboo, with a circular board at the end fixed astern, served as a
rudder; the oars also being long bamboos of the same description. The
mast was a stout bamboo, carrying a squaresail and topsail of a coarse
and flimsy canvas.
In this clumsy-looking craft the travellers made themselves comfortable,
however. They had also a small canoe towing astern, in which, when the
wind was contrary, and the budgerow had to bring up alongside the bank,
they made excursions to the other side of the river or up one of its
affluents.
Burnett, who was really a keen sportsman, never failed to take his gun,
and generally came back with a good supply of game. One day, however,
he was unwell, and Reginald started by himself to visit some interesting
ruins a short distance ahead, the canoe being paddled by two of the
crew. They had got some distance when he found that he had brought
neither his rifle nor pistols: however, he did not think it worth while
to return for them. They were at some little distance from the bank,
when one of the crew cried out--
"See, sahib, see! Here comes a tiger!"
On looking in the direction in which the man pointed, he caught sight,
not of a tiger, but of a huge panther, and a native about a hundred
yards before him rushing at headlong speed, bounding and springing
towards the river, while the panther with rapid leaps pursued its
hoped-for prey. Reginald ordered the men to paddle in towards the
shore, in the hope of rescuing the panting wretch from the jaws of the
panther. Just before they reached the bank, the native bounded into the
water, which rose up to his neck; but he was apparently too exhausted to
swim towards the canoe, though with imploring accents he entreated the
sahib to come to his rescue.
At that instant the dark snout of an enormous crocodile rose above the
surface--the saurian, to Reginald's horror, making its way towards the
struggling native.
"Crocodile! Crocodile!" shouted Reginald to the native; who, hearing
him, after a moment's hesitation rushed back towards the bank, thus
again facing the panther. The creature for a moment appeared
disconcerted at the sudden movement of its expected victim and the
approach of the canoe, towards which the man made a desperate spring;
but the savage panther, eager for its prey, at the same moment leaped
forward and seized the unhappy man by the leg, while Reginald grasped
his arm. At that instant the crocodile, which had retreated a short
distance, dashed up, and catching the miserable being--who gave vent to
the most fearful shrieks--by the other leg, with one snap of its jaws
bit it off.
In vain Reginald shouted to the crew to attack the creatures with their
oars. The cowardly wretches, instead of moving, shrank down at the
further end of the canoe; while the panther, peeling off the flesh of
the leg, reached at length the ankle, where with a horrid crunch it
severed the bone, and galloped away with the fearful mouthful.
Reginald drew the poor man--now quite senseless--into the canoe, and
endeavoured to stanch the blood flowing from his wounds by tourniquets,
formed of pieces of wood, round the upper parts of his legs; but his
efforts were in vain, and before the canoe reached the budgerow the man
was dead.
Continuing their course up the Ganges, visiting on their way several of
the numerous towns, temples, and ruins of various sorts which adorn its
banks, they at length landed, and continued their route by land. They
were now in a woody district, bordering the banks of a river, when
Captain Burnett's "shikaree wallah," or huntsman, informed them that it
abounded in tigers, and that if they wished to kill a few they would
have an opportunity of doing so. Although Reginald would gladly have
pushed on, he sacrificed his own wishes for the sake of allowing his
friend to enjoy a few days' sport.
Burnett had a friend (Major Sandford) living at a village not far off,
who, hearing of their arrival, invited them to take up their abode at
his bungalow. He confirmed the report of the abundance of tigers, which
the superstitious Hindoos took no pains to destroy; observing--
"They believe that the souls of men pass after their death into the
bodies of animals, and that it must be the soul of some great personage
alone which is allowed to inhabit the ferocious tiger. They therefore
allow the creatures to range about as they please; and when any poor
fellow is seized by one of the brutes--as is frequently the case--he
will humbly beg the tiger sahib to set him free, or to finish him
mercifully. The natives, however, have no objection to my killing any
of their lordships; and we will this evening go to a fort on the banks
of the Ganges near which they are wont to pass on their way to drink at
the river. We will carry provisions and liquor, so that we may pass our
time agreeably till one of the brutes appears."
The party accordingly, accompanied by several natives of rank, with
their servants, set out, and were not long in reaching their
destination. The top of the fort offered a safe spot whence any number
of wild beasts could be shot down without the slightest risk to the
sportsmen of being attacked in return. A table and chairs were placed
on the roof of the fort, and the English gentlemen and Hindoos sat in
the cool of the evening quaffing their claret and conversing on various
topics, with their rifles ready loaded placed against the parapet, while
a lookout kept watch for the approach of a tiger, panther, or any other
denizen of the forest.
"Few men have more narrowly escaped becoming tiger's meat than I have,"
said Major Sandford. "I carry some ugly marks about me to bear witness
to the fact; besides having the slight `halt' in my walk which you may
have observed. I was, some eight years ago, out shooting with several
companions, and being somewhat tired, I sat down on the side of the
bank, having left my gun a few feet from me. The rest of the party had
gone to a little distance, when, suddenly looking up, I saw a huge tiger
spring out of the jungle, and before I had time to reach my gun the
brute had seized me by the leg,--which I thought, by the fearful way he
held it, he would have bitten off. The rest of the party, seeing my
fearful condition, began to shout at the top of their voices, hoping to
drive off the beast. They were afraid to fire, for fear of killing me.
But the tiger was not to be disappointed of his expected dinner; so,
throwing me over his back with one jerk, off he trotted. I did not,
however, lose my presence of mind; but recollecting that I had a brace
of pistols in my belt, I drew one and pulled the trigger. To my horror,
it missed fire! I had still another. I managed to get hold of it, well
knowing that if that missed my fate was sealed. Pointing the muzzle at
the brute's head, I fired. The tiger gave a leap, and opening its
mouth, let me drop, while it fell down dead by my side. I scrambled
away as fast as I could, scarcely believing that I was safe, till my
friends coming up assured me of the fact, and congratulated me on my
merciful escape."
The subject of the "power of the human eye?" over the most savage
animals was touched on.
"There can be no doubt about it," observed Captain Burnett. "I was once
a short distance from a village, accompanied by my shikaree wallah, when
we heard the cry of `Help! Help!--a tiger! A tiger!' resounding
through the forest. Having loaded our guns with bullets, and seen that
our pistols were primed, we hurried towards the spot, when we came in
sight of a native who stood facing a huge tiger. From our relative
positions, it was somewhat difficult to shoot without running the risk
of hitting the man; we therefore shouted together, to try and make the
tiger move. He did so, and I at length got a shot at him; but though he
was hit, off he went without his expected meal. The native then told us
that while in the jungle he had suddenly caught sight of a beast about
to spring on him, when, with admirable presence of mind, instead of
running, he stood with his eye steadily fixed on the savage monster.
The tiger, wavering before the human eye, slunk behind a bush; but every
now and then he peered forth to see whether the man's glance was still
fixed on him. The brute continued moving from bush to bush, as if
endeavouring to avoid the undaunted gaze of his adversary, that he might
have an opportunity of springing out and seizing him. Each time the
tiger moved, the native turned facing his cunning foe, and shouting at
the top of his voice, in the hope that assistance might come to him."
"I can narrate a still more wonderful instance of the same power,"
observed one of the native gentlemen.