The Wonders of the Jungle Volume I Part 9

Then Gulab would come around to the side, and see if each line was straight. If the line was not quite straight, and a buffalo happened to be standing too much this way or that, Gulab would walk up to the buffalo and spank him on the jaw. Then the buffalo would move into line, exactly as Gulab wanted him to do. Or, if a buffalo happened to be standing too far behind, Gulab would come around to the back and twist the buffalo's tail, and the buffalo would move up into line.

Then, when the whole herd was in the right order, Gulab would come to the front of the herd, and walk up to the biggest bull.

"Bend down your head, Baldo!" he would order.

And Baldo, the biggest bull, in the middle of the front line, would bend down his head, and Gulab would climb up by one of the horns, scramble up Baldo's neck, and sit down on his back.

"March!" Gulab would order--and the whole herd would march.

Now, a few miles away there was a grand palace. In the palace was a little Prince, whose father was a Rajah--that is, a kind of king. The little Prince's birthday was coming, and his father ordered grand feasts for many days.

The Rajah had six English friends, who were quite big men. The Englishmen were very fond of tiger hunting, so the Rajah wanted to order a tiger hunt for them. But it is not easy to have a tiger hunt just when you want to have it. Why not? Because the tiger will _not_ come out and be hunted just when you want him to. He would rather stay in his den.

So for a few days no one heard of a tiger prowling about. Then suddenly a strange piece of news came from that village where Gulab lived. It happened in this way:

One day Gulab took out the buffaloes to graze and to wallow. The buffaloes lay down in the shallow water for a while, and Gulab splashed about or tumbled in the mud near them. Then he got tired of doing that, and came out on the bank and played about there for a while.

Suddenly he heard a strange sound. It was one of the buffaloes, who had stood up in the water and was giving a low, deep bellow. Two or three other buffaloes stood up also, and gave a low, deep bellow. Then all at once the whole lot of them began to come out of the water.

Gulab stopped in his play to see what was wrong. But he could see nothing.

"What's the matter, Baldo?" he asked. "What's wrong, Chando?"

But the two biggest bulls scrambled up the bank, and came rushing toward the boy. All the other bulls came also, and some went past him on the right side, and some went past him on the left side. Then suddenly Gulab knew what it all meant!

A snarl--a growl--a roar, he heard. A flash of yellow leaped out of the jungle, and came toward him with a huge jump. It was a tiger!

But already the buffaloes were making a ring around Gulab. Then he knew what had happened. The tiger had seen him from the jungle beyond, and had been trying to creep up to him quietly from thicket to thicket. But the buffaloes had _smelled_ the tiger in time, and had run out of the pond to save Gulab. And now they had made a ring around him.

Gulab stood in the ring and looked with large round eyes, for he was more frightened than he had ever been in his life. He was only a little boy, and had never seen a tiger face to face.

The tiger growled and snarled and roared. Then it came round and round the ring, trying to find a gap between the horns to get at the boy.

But there was no gap between the horns.

Then little by little the fear left Gulab's heart. Something inside him told him to be brave. He walked up to Baldo.

"Baldo, let me up!" Gulab said to him, standing behind the buffalo.

And Baldo lowered his body behind, and bent his hind legs at the knees.

Gulab took hold of Baldo's tail in both hands, and put his foot on Baldo's hind knee, which was now bent quite low. In that way Gulab climbed up to the buffalo's back, and sat on it, holding on to Baldo's shoulders.

Then, being quite safe on the buffalo's back, Gulab glanced around and called to the buffaloes at the back of the ring, "Open out!" And the buffaloes opened out at the back of the ring, and made a crescent.

Then they moved still farther around, and the crescent became one long line, facing the tiger.

Gulab gave one glance to right and left, to see that all were ready.

Then--

"Charge, brothers, charge!" he cried to the buffaloes.

Then his big brothers, the buffaloes, charged with thundering hoofs and fiery nostrils. The tiger gave a huge leap to the side to get away; but the buffaloes on that side opened out and headed off the tiger. On to the front again the tiger was forced to turn--and run for his life before the furious herd.

The buffaloes chased and chased that tiger, across field and jungle, over hedges and ditches, through brambles and bushes and thickets, till at last the tiger jumped across a ravine and ran away growling and howling and snarling, like a low thief who is chased out of a village at night.

The ravine was a deep hollow in the ground, like a huge ditch; and it ran all the way across the ground; so the buffaloes could not get over it, as they cannot jump as far as a tiger. Then the buffaloes returned to the village, and Gulab gave the news about the tiger.

Some of the village people ran to the palace, and said that the tiger might be still hiding somewhere on the other side of the ravine. So the six Englishmen went around to that side to hunt the tiger. They found him and wounded him four or five times. But it takes a lot more than that to kill a tiger. The tiger ran out, got past the hunters, and came back again across the ravine. Here he hid in a dense thicket, and would not come out and be hunted to please anybody.

Now, when a tiger is hiding in a thicket and will not come out and be hunted, there is only one way to _make_ him come out.

What is that way? Can you tell?

Why, of course, the bull buffaloes!

So the herdsman brought up the thirty bull buffaloes, and drew them up in a long line in front of the thicket. And on the other side of the thicket the six Englishmen got up into trees, and pointed their guns at the thicket.

Then the herdsman ordered the buffaloes to charge, and they charged right through the thicket, trampling it down and cutting it up into lanes; so the tiger _had_ to run out on the other side. But on that side the six Englishmen were waiting for him; and they all fired at the tiger at once, and all hit him. They used a kind of bullet that broke up into a hundred pieces right inside the tiger.

But the tiger still kicked and kicked, and would not agree to be dead at once, as any other animal would. People say that a cat has nine lives; then a tiger must have ninety-nine lives. So this tiger jumped about, torn up as he was, and glared at the Englishmen in the trees, trying to get at them, while they were loading their guns for another shot.

But the buffaloes went on charging, and caught up with the tiger. They rushed upon him, and now the torn-up tiger could not get away. So the buffaloes trampled upon him, and then the tiger agreed to lie still and be dead, really and truly.

The six Englishmen began to climb down from the trees, as they thought the excitement was all over. But the herdsman called out to them at once:

"Please go up again--quick! Don't let my buffaloes see you!"

For I must tell you now that buffaloes do not like strangers. They may be very fond of their own friends in the village; but if they should see a stranger, they would charge him just as quickly as they would charge a tiger. And the Englishmen would look quite strange to the buffaloes.

So the Englishmen remembered that, and stayed up in the trees till the buffaloes were taken away.

The buffaloes were taken to the pond; and as the herdsman would not bother to stay with them there, he left the buffaloes in the pond to do as they pleased till evening.

The six Englishmen had their lunch there, when they got down from the trees. They gave their guns to their servants, to carry away to the palace. Afterwards the Englishmen walked about, smoking their cigars, as they did not want to return to the palace so soon.

But four or five hours pa.s.sed, and still they had not come back to the palace. It was nearly evening, and still they had not come.

And in the village Gulab said to his Papa, who was the herdsman, "Papa, I shall bring the buffaloes home now."

He went to the pond. But the buffaloes were not there! He shouted, whistled, and gave all the buffalo calls he knew. But no answer!

He looked about, and searched everywhere, but he could not see the buffaloes. What had become of them?

Then he happened to look far to the side, toward a lot of tall trees.

Something was happening under the trees! He could see a lot of things moving there, but he was too far away to see what they were.

He ran toward the trees. Yes, they were the buffaloes! But why were they there? And why were they behaving like that?

For he saw that they were pawing the ground angrily, and tossing their heads and rattling their horns. And what was very strange, the buffaloes were not looking at anything on the ground in front of them. They were looking _up_, at the trees!