With Clive in India Part 21

"Quant.i.ties?" the Mahratta said. "Tigers and bears swarm there, and are such a scourge that there are no villages within miles of the foot of the hills. Even on the plateau above, the villages are few and scarce near the edge, so great is the damage done by wild beasts.

"But that is not all. There are numerous bands of Dacoits, who set the authority of the peishwar at defiance, plunder travellers and merchants going up and down, make raids into the Deccan, and plunder the low land nearly up to the gates of Bombay. Numerous expeditions have been sent against them, but the Dacoits know every foot of the hills. They have numerous, impregnable strongholds on the rocks; which you can see rising sheer up hundreds of feet, from among the woods on the slopes; and can, if pressed, shift their quarters, and move fifty miles away among the trees, while the troops are, in vain, searching for them."

"I suppose there is no chance of their attacking us," Charlie said.

"The Dacoit never fights if he can help it, and then only when driven into a corner, or when there appears a chance of very large plunder. He will always leave a strong party of armed men, from whom nothing but hard blows is to be got, in peace."

The journey occupied five days, and was most enjoyable. The officer of the escort, as the peishwar's agent, would have requisitioned provisions at each of the villages; but Charlie insisted, under one pretence or another, on buying a couple of sheep or kids at each halting place, for the use of his own party and the escort. For a few copper coins an abundant supply of fruit and vegetables was obtainable; and as, each night, they spread their rugs under the shade of some overhanging tree, and smoked their pipes lazily after the very excellent meal which Hossein always prepared, Charlie and Tim agreed that they had spent no pleasanter time in India than that occupied by their journey.

Charlie was received with much honor by Ramajee Punt, and was a.s.signed a gorgeous tent, next to his own.

"People in England, Mister Charles," said Tim that evening, "turn up their noses at the thought of living in tents, but what do they know of them? The military tent is an uncomfortable thing, and as for the gipsy tent, a dacent pig wouldn't look at it. Now this is like a palace, with its carpet under foot, and its sides covered with silk hangings, and its furniture fit for a palace. Father Murphy wouldn't believe me, if I told him about it on oath. If this is making war, yer honor, I shall be in no hurry for pace."

The Mahratta force took up its position, beleaguering the town on the land side, some weeks before the arrival of the fleet; Commodore James, with his two ships, blockading it at sea. There was little to do, and Charlie accepted with eagerness an offer of Ramajee Punt, that they should go out for two or three days' tiger hunting, at the foot of the hills.

"Well, Mr. Charles," Tim said, when he heard of the intention, "if you want to go tiger hunting, Tim Kelly is not the boy to stay behind. But shure, yer honor, if the creeturs will lave ye alone, why should you meddle with them? I saw one in a cage at Arcot, and it's a baste I shouldn't wish to see on a lone road on a dark night. It had a way of wagging its tail that made you feel uncomfortable like, to the sole of yer boots; and after looking at me for some time, the baste opened its mouth, and gave a roar that shook the whole establishment. It's a baste safer to let alone than to meddle with."

"But we shall be up on the top of an elephant. We shall be safe enough there, you know."

"Maybe, yer honor," Tim said doubtfully; "but I mind me that, when I was a boy, me and my brother Peter was throwing sods at an old tomcat of my mother's, who had stolen our dinners, and it ran up a wall ten feet high. Well, yer honor, the tiger is as big as a hundred tomcats, and by the same token he ought to be able to run up a wall--"

"A thousand feet high, Tim? He can't do that. Indeed, I question whether he could run up much higher than a cat.

"We are to start this evening, and shall be there by midnight. The elephants have gone on ahead."

At sunset the party started. It consisted of Ramajee Punt, one of his favourite officers, and a score of soldiers. An officer had already gone on, to enlist the services of the men of two or three villages as beaters. A small but comfortable tent had been erected for the party, and supper prepared.

The native shikari, or sportsman of the neighbourhood, had brought in the news that tigers were plentiful; and that one of unusual size had been committing great depredations; and had, only the day before, carried off a bullock into the thickets, a mile from the spot at which they were encamped.

"The saints preserve us!" Tim said, when he heard the news; "a cat big enough to carry off a mouse in her mouth as big as a bullock."

"It seems almost impossible, Tim, but it is a fact that tigers can carry in their mouths full-sized bullocks, for considerable distances, and that they can kill them with one stroke of their paw. However, they are not as formidable as you would imagine, as you will see, tomorrow."

In the morning the elephants were brought out. Charlie took his place in the front of a howdah, with Tim behind him. Three rifles were placed in the seat, and these Tim was to hand to his master, as he discharged them. Ramajee Punt and his officer were also mounted on elephants, and the party started for their destination.

"It's as bad as being at sea, Mr. Charles," Tim said.

"It does roll about, Tim. You must let your body go with the motion, just as on board ship. You will soon get accustomed to it."

On reaching the spot, which was a narrow valley, with steep sides running up into the hill, the elephants came to a stand. The mouth of the valley was some fifty yards wide, and the animal might break from the trees at any point. The ground was covered with high, coa.r.s.e gra.s.s.

Ramajee Punt placed himself in the centre, a.s.signing to Charlie the position on his right, telling him that it was the best post, as it was on this side the tiger had been seen to enter. Soon after they had taken their places, a tremendous clamour arose near the head of the valley. Drums were beaten, horns blown, and scores of men joined in, with shouts and howls.

"What on arth are they up to, Mr. Charles?"

"They are driving the tiger this way, Tim. Now, sit quiet and keep a sharp lookout, and be ready to hand me a rifle, the instant I have fired."

The noise increased, and was plainly approaching. The elephant fidgeted uneasily.

"That baste has more sinse than we have," said Tim; "and would be off, if that little black chap, astraddle of his neck, didn't keep on patting his head."

Presently, the mahout pointed silently to the bushes ahead, and Charlie caught sight, for a moment, of some yellow fur. Apparently the tiger had heard or scented the elephants, for it again turned and made up the valley. Presently a redoubled yelling, with the firing of guns, showed that it had been seen by the beaters. Ramajee Punt held up his hand to Charlie, as a signal that next time the tiger might be expected.

Suddenly there was a movement among the bushes. A tiger sprang out, about halfway between Charlie's elephant and that of Ramajee Punt. It paused for a moment, on seeing them; and then, as it was about to spring forward, two b.a.l.l.s struck it. It sprang a short distance, however, and then fell, rolling over and over. One ball had broken a foreleg, the other had struck it on the head. Another ball from Ramajee Punt struck it, as it rolled over and over, and it lay immovable.

"Why didn't you hand me the next rifle, Tim?" Charlie said sharply.

"It went clane out of my head, altogether. To think now, and you kilt it in a moment. The tiger is a poor baste, anyhow. I've seen a cat make ten times as strong a fight for its life.

"Holy Moses!"

The last exclamation was called from Tim's lips by a sudden jerk. A huge tiger, far larger than that which had fallen, had sprung up from the brushwood and leaped upon the elephant. With one forepaw he grasped the howdah, with the other clung to the elephant's shoulder, an inch or two only behind the leg of the mahout.

Charlie s.n.a.t.c.hed the rifle from Tim's hand, and thrust the muzzle into the tiger's mouth, just as the elephant swerved round with sudden fright and pain. At the same moment the weight of the tiger on the howdah caused the girths to give way; and Charlie, Tim and the tiger fell together on the ground. Charlie had pulled his trigger, just as he felt himself going; and at the same moment he heard the crack of Ramajee Punt's rifle.

The instant they touched the ground, Tim and Charlie cast themselves over and over, two or three times; and then leaped to their feet, Charlie grasping his rifle, to make the best defence he could if the tiger sprang upon him. The creature lay, however, immovable.

"It is dead, Tim," Charlie exclaimed. "You needn't be afraid."

"And no wonder, yer honor, when I pitched, head first, smack onto his stomach. It would have killed a horse."

"It might have done, Tim, but I don't think it would have killed a tiger. Look there."

Charlie's gun had gone off at the moment when the howdah turned round, and had nearly blown off a portion of the tiger's head; while, almost at the same instant, the ball of Ramajee Punt had struck it in the back, breaking the spine. Death had, fortunately for Tim, been instantaneous.

The tiger last killed was the great male which had done so much damage; the first, a female. The natives tied the legs together, placed long bamboos between them, and carried the animals off, in triumph, to the camp. The elephant on which Charlie had ridden ran some distance, before the mahout could stop him. He was, indeed, so terrified by the onslaught of the tiger, that it was not considered advisable to endeavour to get him to face another, that day. Ramajee Punt, therefore, invited Charlie to take his seat with him, on his elephant, an arrangement which greatly satisfied Tim, whose services were soon dispensed with.

"I'd rather walk on my own feet, Mister Charles, than ride any more on those great bastes. They're uncomfortable, anyhow. It's a long way to fall, if the saddle goes round; and next time one might not find a tiger handy, to light on."

Two more tigers were killed that afternoon and, well pleased with his day's sport, Charlie returned to the hunting camp.

The next day, Hossein begged that he might be allowed to accompany Charlie in Tim's place; and as the Irishman was perfectly willing to surrender it, the change was agreed upon. The march was a longer one than it had been, on the previous morning. A notorious man-eating tiger was known to have taken up his abode, in a large patch of jungle, at the foot of an almost perpendicular wall of rock, about ten miles from the place where the camp was pitched. The patch of jungle stood upon a steep terrace, whose slopes were formed of boulders, the patch being some fifty or sixty yards long and thirty deep.

"It is a nasty place," Ramajee Punt said, "to get him from. The beaters cannot get behind to drive him out, and the jungle is too thick to penetrate."

"How do you intend to proceed?" Charlie asked.

"We will send a party to the top of the hill, and they will throw down crackers. We have brought some rockets, too, which we will send in from the other side. We will take our places, on our elephants, at the foot of the terrace."

The three elephants took their posts, at the foot of the boulder covered rise. As soon as they had done so, the men at the top of the rock began to throw down numbers of lighted crackers; while, from either side, parties sent rockets whizzing into the jungle.

For some time the tiger showed no signs of his presence, and Charlie began to doubt whether he could be really there. The shikaris, however, declared that he was certainly in the jungle. He had, on the day before, carried off a woman from a neighbouring village; and had been traced to the jungle, round which a watch had been kept all night.

Suddenly, uttering a mighty roar, the tiger bounded from the jungle, and stood at the edge of the terrace. Startled at his sudden appearance, the elephants recoiled, shaking the aim of their riders. Three shots were, however, fired almost at the same moment; and the tiger, with another roar, bounded back into the jungle.

"I think," the rajah said, "that he is badly hit. Listen to his roarings."

The tiger, for a time, roared loudly at intervals. Then the sounds became lower and less frequent, and at last ceased altogether. In vain did the natives above shower down crackers. In vain were the rockets discharged into the jungle. An hour pa.s.sed, since he had last been heard.