ultimately successful search for a man-eating tiger. All those who have
been at Secunderabad know that there is a clump or collection of the
ordinary gneiss rocks about a mile and a half from the cantonment, and
on the opposite side to that on which the Hussain Sanger Tank is
situated. These rocks have, time out of mind, been famed and feared by
the natives as the abode of tigers; and sporting men, when stationed
here, have, at different times, made raids, or shikar parties, with the
view of destroying or driving away these deadly tenants of the
rock-built towers and caves that Nature had made ready for them. The
effects of these efforts, however successful for the time, have never
been very long continued. Occasionally a royal beast has been killed by
some lucky or well aimed bullet, and sometimes some of the beaters have
been carried off in spite of numbers, guns, and determined foemen, and
sometimes the beast and his family relinquished for a time their chosen
lair; but ordinarily, unless some sporting men were at hand, a sort of
compact or sufferance on the part of the natives existed, much after
this fashion. At one time a native riot, or cultivator, lost a bullock,
or a sheep, or a donkey; another time some other person lost one of such
animals, or tatoos, and on a third occasion some other individual was
the sufferer, and so on. As the injury was, as it were, distributed with
something like equality, and as they did not, generally speaking, suffer
in their own persons, they began to look on the infliction as a sort of
necessary evil; it was their fate, their 'hickmut,' 'ickbal,' etc., and
they bore it patiently, and with resignation. Indeed, so long as they
were not themselves devoured, they rarely made any exertion to rid
themselves of their enemy.
This passive state of affairs, however, only lasted so long as the
striped gentleman kept his paws off human victims. If by dint of hunger
or failure of other prey, he chanced to get the taste of human flesh,
the fastidious beast would never, if he could get it, feed on any other.
At first the villagers round about were struck with terror and grief.
After the first man had been taken, not many days passed before another
was carried off, and so on till fourteen had been seized and made away
with. The poor people were in great dismay; they had made two attempts,
by setting baits, and watching at night, to slay the marauder, but
without avail. The baits were taken, but the wounds inflicted by the men
were not, so it appeared, much thought of by the tiger, for he bounded
off with his prey in spite of them. The villagers were in despair; they
did not dare to go into the fields, or scarcely to appear outside their
doors. All sorts of sacrifices were made to Muniah, and donations to the
Fakeers and Brahmins, but nothing availed.
At last reports of the distress of the villagers reached the ears of the
men of the M.N.I., and these mentioned them to their officers. The very
next day a strong party of sportsmen and beaters set out for the rocks
before mentioned. Besides Captain W., there were four crack ball-shots
amongst the sportsmen, so that it was thought the fate of Mr. Burrah
Bhague was tolerably certain, but in spite of the most careful and
indefatigable search no tiger could be found.
A couple of hours had been spent in the search, and it was burning hot,
so it was agreed that the whole party should adjourn for a couple of
hours to the mess-tent, which had been pitched in the Maidan a few
hundred yards off, to rest and refresh themselves. The effects of cold
water, soda-water, dashed, I must admit, with some firewater, along with
sundry cheroots, together with the shade and shelter from the terrific
sun, soon restored the eyes and steadied the hands of the hunters, and
as the man-eating gentleman seemed to have left his accustomed haunts,
it was agreed to proceed some three miles farther, where there was
another aggregation of rocks. The ghorrey wallehs were then called for,
and soon led the various tatoos to their several masters, who, on
reaching the second pile of rocks, at once dismounted, and after looking
at their caps, proceeded to make the necessary arrangements for
inspecting the new pile of rocks with care and caution.
Without troubling the reader with these details, it will be enough to
say that every precaution which skill and experience could dictate was
employed, but still without finding any beast. More than three hours had
been spent in this second search; everyone was now greatly fatigued, and
beaten by the sun, therefore at last they agreed to relinquish the
search for that day, vexed and disappointed though they were. In
remounting their ponies, a sullen silence weighed on the spirits and the
tongue of everyone. How different to the volatile chatter and chaff that
everyone indulged in at starting! The cheerful jest and saucy jibe of
the morning, the uproarious and hearty laugh, were all hushed, and but a
few gruff words were heard now and then. The only business of the entire
party seemed to be to smoke and to meditate.
As they again approached the rocks first examined, Captain W. proposed
that they should try again by making another examination, but he got no
one to second his proposition; they were all so sunned and so tired,
that all declined to do anything more that day. 'So be it,' said W.
'You're lazy fellows; go home, and I'll go by myself, and have another
look for our shy friend. I'm certain he's there, though where I can't
imagine. There's one peak that I didn't climb up, because I couldn't
conceive that it led to anything; but it may, and I shall certainly
examine it before I go home.' 'Oh, don't, Godfrey!' exclaimed his
friends; 'for God's sake, don't! We're all so done up that we're fit for
nothing.' 'My eyes are so dazed by the glare,' said B., 'that I couldn't
see the beast, I verily believe, if he was standing a few yards before
me.' 'Well, Master Frank, if you are in the happy condition you
describe, whose fault is it? If you will empty your own flask, and then
borrow mine, which I perceive is now empty also, how can you expect to
see?' This smart rally from W. raised the laugh against B., who, though
a most ready-witted fellow, had drunk so much that he couldn't say
anything in reply. 'Don't go, Godfrey,' said poor Bob M., 'don't go.
We're all so tired, that we really should be of little use.' 'Oh,'
returned W., 'you're quite right; much better stay away. How do I know
with that inflamed visage of yours that you would not take me for the
tiger? No, no, Bobby; you've been too deeply associated with B., and
have paid too much attention to his flask and your own to permit me to
trust you.' Bob replied: 'Nonsense! I can see very well. Don't go. Upon
my life, in such a place as that, to go alone is simply to throw your
life away. I say again, for God's sake, don't go! We're none of us in a
fit state to give proper help, and we can't let you go by yourself.
Besides, it's unkind and unfriendly of you to undertake the thing
single-handed, and thus to leave us out of it. Don't think of it,
Godfrey, for to-day; we'll all be at your command to-morrow, or any
other day you please.'
The other sportsmen, S. and C., said the same. C., who was a very
experienced and successful tiger-shot, again pointed out the great and
needless risk W. would run if, under such extraordinary disadvantages,
he would alone go amongst the rocks, wherefrom, on any side, above or
below, the beast might spring on him before a glimpse had been seen of
it. All was to no purpose. W. was convinced that the animal was
concealed somewhere in the rocks before them, and that in the morning he
had omitted to search that particular peak he had spoken of, so nothing
would content him till he had made a fresh search. Almost with the
objurgations of his friends he went solus up the rocks again. His
friends, though at that time not game, or rather too done up, to follow
him, could not bear to leave him in a situation of such difficulty and
danger. They halted under the shade of a few tamarind-trees near at
hand, waiting in great anxiety for W.'s return, or for some signal from
him. Some sat on their ponies, others dismounted, and made their boys
spread mats for them with camblies, or anything that might serve for an
extempore pillow. But, however they disposed of themselves, their
tongues were not idle, and all were agreed that W.'s going up the rocks
by himself was egregious folly, and that he was as determined and
obstinate as he was foolhardy in doing it. W. was such a favourite that
the great risk he was needlessly running made some very angry; some were
in great fear and excitement, and some had called for water, and were
bathing their heads, washing their eyes, etc., in order to go after him,
being unable to endure any longer the painful suspense they were
suffering.
M., C. and S. were just beginning to move towards the rocks when their
footsteps were arrested by the sharp crack of a rifle, instantly
followed by the roar of a tiger. 'My God! it's all over with poor
Godfrey!' exclaimed M. 'I feared it would be so,' said S. 'Let's get
forward,' said C.; 'we may not be too late to help. It was up this rock
he went.' All were scrambling up, keeping their guns ready for instant
use, when bang went another rifle-shot. 'That sounds healthy,' said M.
'Oh, it's grand!' said C.; 'you may depend on it he has found and
killed.' 'On my honour,' said S., 'it's almost too good, too glorious,
to be true.' Then arose shouts for Godfrey, and 'Where are you; how can
we get at you?'
By this time some of the natives had found out where W. was, and then
confused cries of 'Saib Ateha hi, hither owe! is turrup sey, hither owe!
hither owe! Bhague murgia, koodah ki fuzzul sey, Saib my mana,' and many
other cries and utterances and exclamations crowded on the ears of those
who had lately been in such painful anxiety that they could bear it no
longer. By-and-by W. was seen descending by a path so difficult and
dangerous that it was hard to say whether the tiger or the pathway were
the more so. At last he achieved his descent without broken bones, and
could converse with his friends, who at once overwhelmed him with
questions and inquiries. He was not hurt? No; he had not got a scratch!
'How was it? How did you find the beast?' 'It was just as I suspected.
That rock which we neglected to examine this morning led to the beast's
fortress. When I had climbed to the top of it, I found that there was a
vast chasm between the rock on which I stood and all the surrounding
rocks. I also observed that there was a ledge jutting out some two and a
half feet from the body of the rock about twelve feet below me. This
ledge ran along the face of the rock for some thirty yards, and then
gradually descended on the left side from where I stood. From the sight
of some half-gnawed bones that lay on the ledge nearly in a
perpendicular line below me, I suspected that my friend's dwelling could
not be far off, but how to let myself down puzzled me for a time. The
precipice went down from the ledge probably near a hundred feet. I did
not, therefore, like to risk a jump, lest I should lose my balance after
landing on the ledge. I could let down my gun by means of my shot-belt
and some twine I had about me, but I did not see how to let myself down
so that I could be sure of keeping my balance. I walked from one end of
the top of the ridge to the other, and thus found that at one part of it
I could get down nearer to the ledge by two feet, and that by hanging
from that part of the ridge I should only have two feet to drop. Having
made these observations, I gently let down my gun, so that it rested on
the ledge upright against the ridge. I then got down as far as possible,
and afterwards dropped on to the ledge as gently as I could. On reaching
the ledge I instantly seized and disembarrassed my gun. Two paces to the
right brought me in front of a large and deep cave, formed in the body
of the main rock, at the bottom of which I saw two balls of fire. I
aimed just between them and fired. My shot was a very lucky one, as it
hit the beast so hard that on attempting to spring he fell down almost
at my feet. Could he have sprung, I must have been dashed to pieces by
being knocked down the precipice. Finding that the animal was not quite
dead, I gave him the other barrel, which was the second shot you heard.'
As soon as he had finished his explanation, he was so overwhelmed with
laudation and congratulation of all kinds that he said: 'Come, let us
think of getting home, and to do that we must get hold of the carcase of
the cat, and we must take his measure before we take off his coat.'
'What a queer customer he is!' said B., who had from excitement and the
persevering use of chatties of cold water in some degree recovered
himself. 'Most fellows have their coats off before they begin to fight;
this chap waits till the fight is over.' 'What! you've found your
tongue, have you, Frank?' said W. 'I thought you were too far gone to
have eyes or ears for anything.' 'Not a bit of it,' returned B.; 'I must
have been dead drunk, indeed, if I had not heard the row that poor
beggar up yonder kicked up when your messenger made him give tongue.
But, by Jove! here he comes! What fellows these natives are! They have
not taken ten minutes to sling the beast on bamboos, to get him out of
his dark mansion, and to bring him down here.' This explained the
tom-toms and songs and music, as well as the crowd of Sepoys and beaters
and villagers that was now advancing from the rocks, bearing in triumph,
and in a sort of procession, the enemy that had lately been so dreaded
far and near. The tiger, an immense creature, was borne along slung by
all fours to a bamboo carried at least by twenty men, for every villager
tried hard, if only for a yard or two, to have a hand in carrying his
enemy, not only to ensure future good luck, but to triumph over him.
With all the sounds of rejoicing described the crowd brought the tiger,
and laid him at W.'s feet. 'Ram Sing' (the naigue of his company), said
W., 'how did you manage to get the beast here so quickly?' 'Oh, sir, we
were all ready; we had bamboos, and ropes, and ladders all prepared, and
plenty of willing hands anxious to do anything I told them.' 'Oh, that
was it, was it?' said W. 'Well, my men have been wonderfully speedy.
I'll reward them by-and-by; but now we must take the dimensions of our
quondam friend.' 'But, sir, the villagers want leave to speak, if you
will allow them.' 'Well, let them say their say, if they will promise
not to make it long.'
Accordingly, the head men of the several villages which had lost
inhabitants from the man-eater came forward, accompanied by the
surviving relatives of those who had been carried off. These poor
people, many of them with tears in their eyes, came and threw themselves
at W.'s feet anxious to touch his garments or kiss his shoes. In their
untaught and simple way they made poojah to him, _i.e._, they literally
worshipped him as a superior being, and implored their deities to shower
blessings on the brave Ingrasy Sahib who had rescued them and theirs
from the fangs of the devourer. 'Well, that's enough,' said W.; 'you had
better get up, now.' 'But,' replied the head men, 'we have not yet done
what we came to do--we have a bag of 500 Rs. that we beg the Captain
Sahib will take from us; it is contributed jointly by all the villages
that have suffered.' W. knew well the general poverty of the villages,
and being wholly unprepared for any such unusual demonstration from the
natives, was for a moment thrown off his equanimity. He walked away a
few yards, and it was observed that his eyes were moist, but he soon
recovered his ordinary quiet and unmoved demeanour. Then, turning to the
people kneeling and prostrate about him, he said, speaking Hindustani
fluently: 'My good friends, for what I have done I am amply repaid in
the consciousness of having delivered you from your enemy; besides, the
search for large game is to a British officer and a sportsman a very
great pleasure, and he would feel himself dishonoured if he accepted
money or presents for anything he might do as a sportsman. Do not, my
friends, suppose that it is from pride that I do not accept your bag of
rupees; I feel grateful to you for the kindness shown in the offer, and
to show my sense of it will accept from each of the villages that have
suffered a pair of doves or quails. But as to money, that is out of the
question. On the other hand, I am debtor to you all for the assistance
and information you rendered me in the beginning in tracking and
beating, and now in bringing down, the dead beast. I have ordered my
head boy to pay to each of the villages 15 Rs. All I want you now to do
is to lay the carcase straight, that we may measure the exact length
from the nose to the tip of the tail' (which was found to be nine feet
and nine inches--a grand specimen). And when this had been done, he
said: 'Now all I have to ask is that you will help Ram Sing to take off
the skin. Ram Sing knows all about that.'
When W. had finished speaking, the natives one and all again broke out
into pæans of praise in behalf of their deliverer, so extravagant,
indeed, judged by our notions, that W. was scandalized, or, if not, he
feared ridicule; so he gave orders to his head boy to take them away,
and to his friends he said, 'Come, let's get home; I am not a little
hungry, and trust they've kept something at the mess for us, which I
shall attack, as soon as I've had a bath, with as much ferocity as ever
our dead friend his choice food.' 'We all say ditto to that, and God
help the mess butler if he doesn't show to-day in good form, for he'll
find us on this occasion all tigers.'
W., in his extreme modesty, had sought to avoid the triumphal parade of
bringing the tiger into the cantonment, and had therefore given the
orders already mentioned. But his intended curtailment of the public
triumph did not at all suit Ram Sing, or any of the natives, Sepoys,
beaters, or villagers, in any way connected with the deed. They could
not comprehend the doing a noble and daring action with the wish to say
and make as little as possible of it. They therefore determined, whether
W. liked it or not, that he should have a public ovation; and,
accordingly, they entered the cantonment in grand procession, with
lights and torches and drums, tom-toms, horns, trumpets, and all sorts
of heterogeneous instruments, making a most infernal row and outrageous
discords, in the centre of an immense concourse of people, bearing along
the tiger, singing songs, setting forth Burrah Bhague's evil deeds,
describing his conqueror as nothing less than Rustum, giving the
attributes of a demigod to him, and describing his skill and courage as
invincible and irresistible; these hymns of praise they assisted with
all the noises they could bring together, not forgetting squibs,
crackers, rockets, and all the fireworks they could procure. In this way
they paraded through the whole cantonment, partly back again, till they
reached the compound of the mess-house of the regiment. There, to W.'s
intense disgust, they would have recommenced their tom-toms and their
music, with fireworks and songs, but W. ordered them at once out of the
cantonment. 'Confound the rascals!' said W. 'I shouldn't wonder if they
set fire to the lines with their d----d folly.' W.'s indignation amused
his friends amazingly. They exclaimed against his severity in this way:
'You, the hero of the day, the Roastum, ought to sympathize with the
poor devils, and not be so irate with them for doing you honour in their
own way.' 'The deuce take them! I wish they'd keep their honour and
their d----d noise to themselves! If I had allowed them to remain in the
cantonment, I shouldn't have had a wink of sleep all night long, besides
the shame of having my name connected with their absurd proceedings. I
declare I am sorry I told Saul Jaker to give them any money; perhaps
he'll give them more than he ought to-night, and then the great majority
of them will drink too much rack.' 'Well,' said B., 'if they do once in
a way, it's a poor heart that never rejoices.' 'Quite true,' said W.;
'but sometimes the hearts that are not poor rejoice so much that they
are not able to help their friends, however great the need of help may
be.' 'Oh, Godfrey, that's a shame, to cast a fellow's misdeeds up to him
in that way!' 'Why, then, do you take the part of such a noisy set of
rascals as those yonder? Thank God, I can scarcely hear them now, so
I'll go to bed, and wish you all good-night.'
Many years after, W. arrived at the French Rock, and was staying there
for a day or two as a guest of the mess, being _en route_ to Bangalore.
There was at the same time a young lad, whom I shall call Gascoigne, who
had but lately arrived from England. He had brought a letter of
introduction to W. from some of his friends at home. The young
gentleman, a studious and quiet lad, was, in consequence, putting up
with W., who, as hospitable and kindly disposed as any man in the world,
welcomed the youth cordially, and was, by shikar parties, and every
other means in his power, trying to entertain him. On W.'s account,
everyone in the regiment did the same. Young G. had besides, as a pretty
horseman, and an excellently good shot for so young a man, won the
hearts of most of the young men of the regiment. He came from one of the
Midland counties famous for hunting and sporting, and was therefore
quite at home.
After dinner one unfortunate evening, when all the men of the regiment
and the two guests mentioned were sitting outside in front of the
mess-house, with their teapoys, their cheroots, and their eternal
brandy-pawny, the conversation turned on the different styles of
horsemanship. The young stranger spoke rather in ridicule of the cavalry
seat and the long stirrups it enjoins, and he wondered how anyone could
possibly ride across country with them. His remarks produced some sharp
replies from B., the cavalry man present. 'Well, G.,' said W. to his
friend, 'although you and I prefer the short stirrup and the usual
cross-country seat, others ride well and strongly with the long stirrup.
Our friend B. here rides with a long stirrup, and few men ride better
than he does.'
By such kind and judicious observations W. threw oil on the troubled
waters, and for the time stopped any further unpleasant remarks; but he
could not, on the part at least of B., do away with the irritation that
had been caused by young G.'s observations, and the remembrance of them
rankled in this officer's mind. However, W. turned the attention of the
party to other matters, and all seemed smooth. After a time he said,
'Come, let's have an all-round rupee shot at that weathercock on the top
of the school-room; the first man that hits it carries the pool, and
we'll draw lots for the order of firing.' 'Agreed, agreed!' said all
present. 'I'll hold the stakes,' said Colonel D., 'as I don't intend to
compete.'
Accordingly the firing commenced, and great was the laughing and the
chatter as the whole party one after the other missed the weathercock.
'I should have hit the confounded thing,' said B., 'but just as I fired
the wind swirled it round, so that I lost my chance.' 'Well, never mind,
you haven't lost your stake, and you can try again,' said the Colonel.
Accordingly a second stake was placed in the Colonel's hands, and the
competitors fired all round a second time. Young G. claimed a hit, but
almost at the instant he fired B. followed, and he said, 'Come, make me
a bow, youngster, for wiping your eye.' 'I would with the greatest
pleasure,' replied G., 'if you had done it; but my shot was a hit before
you fired.' 'I deny it,' said B., 'and I claim the pool.' 'This cannot
be determined by individual opinions,' said W. 'What does the Colonel
say?' 'I really cannot say whose shot the hit was, as at the moment I
had taken a pinch of snuff and was using my handkerchief.' 'This is
unfortunate,' said W.; 'we must take the votes of all present.'
B. made some grumbling remark that was not audible, but he said nothing
in direct opposition to W.'s proposition. The votes were then taken, and
it appeared that the party were not agreed as to whose the winning shot
was. Some were not watching, and of those who were, three were on B.'s
side, and four on G.'s. There was a great deal of talking, and as the
talking increased the excitement increased. W., who seemed to have a
presentiment of the evil that was coming, exerted himself to the utmost
to prevent mischief, by making proposition after proposition in order to
put an end to the dispute, but without avail. He believed that his young
friend had made the hit, and gave his vote accordingly, which, strictly
speaking, should have decided the question, as it gave G. a majority;
but this W. declined to insist upon. He wished that the two claimants
should divide the pool, but this neither would consent to. Thus all his
efforts to put out the fire were unavailing, and accordingly, as one
word drew on another, it burst out in this way: