Our Little Hindu Cousin Part 7

The beaters, whose business it is to beat through the long gra.s.s and underbrush where a tiger might be hidden, were full of tales of a great man-eating tiger that was the terror of the region, and who was in the habit of coming boldly up to the fields and gardens, carrying off goats and even attacking the oxen.

When they came to one of the little villages, they found the inhabitants in a state of terror. Only the day before, the tiger had sprung on a farmer who was ploughing his fields and carried him off in sight of the whole village. The tracks which were seen in the mud along the banks of a stream showed that he was a very big and powerful tiger.

Our party followed these tracks for some time, but nothing more was discovered; and, as it was growing late, they made camp for the night.

The servants quickly put up the tents for the Sahibs and built a big fire. They did not want a tiger to pay them a surprise visit at night; and hungry tigers often do bold things.

"Ough! this is creepy. Just suppose a tiger should steal up behind us now," confided Harry to Chola, as they sat around the big fire after supper.

"It is well to have a charm; hast thou one?" asked little Chola, as he felt for the charm which hung about his neck. He always wore a charm, but this was one which his uncle had given him to keep off the evil spirits of the jungle.

"No, indeed," laughed Harry. "We don't wear such things. Still, if one does believe in charms, now is the time to have one," he added, looking behind him rather fearfully.

It was strange and wild there in the dense forest full of unknown dangers; and there were queer noises, and the firelight twisted up the shadows of the men and elephants into grewsome and unsightly things.

Once in awhile a cry would come from some wild animal or bird in the trees, and the boys would look over their shoulders and draw up closer to the fire. But it was fun, although they felt more creepy still when the beaters began to tell stories of wonderful hunts in which they had taken part in the past; and the old head beater, who had come from the south, himself, told tales of his wonderful adventures.

He told how one night he awoke and found a leopard sniffing at his head as he lay sleeping on his veranda; and how he only saved his life by holding his breath and pretending to be dead. A leopard will not touch a dead person or animal. Another time he had seen the queer little "_Todas_," a race of people who live in the Nilgiri Hills in the far south and worship buffaloes, and say prayers while they are milking these sacred beasts, whose temples are their dairies.

He knew, too, the wild, shy people of the jungle, who build their houses like nests in the trees, so as to be safe from prowling wild beasts.

Once while hunting in the deep forest he had been caught in the huge coils of a terrible boa-constrictor, one of those great snakes that can crush an ox by winding themselves about it in great coils, or can swallow an antelope at one mouthful. The beater was only saved from the anger of the great snake by one of the other hunters coming up just at the right moment and killing it.

He was a wonderful man, this old fellow with the long gray beard, as he sat by the fire chewing his "_betel_" nut and telling his neverending stories.

The next morning all were up at daybreak, for they wanted to get an early start. One of the elephants had been rather ugly during the time when the men were packing the things on his back, and he was still in a bad temper when Harry came up with a piece of sugar for him. Instead of putting the sugar into the elephant's mouth, Harry accidentally dropped it on the ground. This made the elephant still more angry; and, as Harry stooped to pick up the sugar, he lifted his great foot and would have crushed the boy, who did not dream of the danger he was in. Suddenly Chola saw the danger, and rushing right up under the angry elephant's foot made those strange cries that the old head driver at his uncle's had taught him. It was the talk of the elephants among themselves as they roamed the jungle.

It was like magic. The big foot came down gently without touching either of the boys, and the elephant, giving a peculiar cry, rubbed his trunk against Chola, just as the Colonel Sahib and every one came running up in terror, for they had seen it all and thought that the boys would surely be crushed to death.

Chola was a great hero! You can imagine how the Colonel Sahib thanked him; and the natives looked at him with wonder and awe.

"He is indeed one who is wise though young; for the wild animals talk with him as with a friend," said the old head beater, as he _salaamed_ down to Chola's feet.

Harry did not say much until he and Chola were alone, and then he said: "Chola, I _did_ think you were a bit of a coward when we were talking in your uncle's garden; but I know now you are much braver than I, for I would never have dared to go up like that and order about an angry elephant."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "SUDDENLY, UP OUT OF THE JUNGLE, THERE SPRANG A GREAT YELLOW TIGER."]

After everybody had got over their fright and were actually ready to start, some of the beaters who had been looking around for signs of tigers came back and said they had seen the tracks. So everything was got ready as quickly as possible, or as quickly as Hindus can be got to move, and the big elephants went trudging along through the underwood until finally it was seen that the gra.s.s had been crushed down in places, a sign that the tiger himself could not be far away. The elephants began to show signs of fear, as they always do when a tiger is about, and the beaters divided their forces, some of them going around one way and the rest another, searching carefully through the tangled gra.s.s and underbrush. All the men got their guns ready, and it was not a minute too soon; for, suddenly, up out of the jungle, there sprang a great yellow tiger, straight for the "_howdah_" in which the Colonel Sahib and Harry and Chola were sitting.

With a howl of pain the tiger rolled under the elephant's feet, as a bullet from the Colonel's gun went crashing into his brain.

"My! but he's a fine fellow! Won't his skin make a fine rug, father?"

cried Harry, in great excitement. When he was measured, the old beater said that it was one of the biggest tigers he had ever seen. The Colonel felt very proud of his prize.

They beat around through the bush for several days, but they came upon no more tigers; so the party turned back again on their own tracks bound for home.

Our two little friends were sorry to part, but Harry said that Chola must come and see him at Simla, up in the hills, where the English folk go when it gets too hot for them to stay in the plains and in the big cities. There the boys would have some more "good times" at the Colonel Sahib's _bungalow_, among the cedars, as the Englishman's country house in India is called.

And didn't Chola have wonderful tales to tell to Mahala and Nao, as they all sat together in the evenings under the big tree in the garden, while Shriya played with her new dolls beside them and listened with wide-open eyes.

THE END.