HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT 19 



neighbourhood of the villages, and had done so from time 

 immemorial. 



I remember once, as I was riding back to my camp 

 situated in a beautiful grove of banyan trees {Ficus 

 bengalensis) , coming across an instance of the work of one 

 of these cattle-lifters. It was in the cold weather — January 

 — and the sun was already low in the sky. A large herd of 

 cattle, buffaloes and cows, was being driven back to the 

 village by the herdsmen, of whom there were two. I could 

 hear their cries to the animals and see the red dust rising 

 on the edge of the forest as I trotted along the mud road 

 towards the forest boundary. I had had a long day and 

 was looking forward to the quiet of the camp and a 

 comfortable tea with, I hoped, letters from home to render 

 it more enjoyable. 



Suddenly the shouts in front turned to piercing yells, 

 and I heard a rush of many hooves trampling down the 

 jungle and coming back into the forest. " What on earth 

 has come over the beasts ? " I muttered, rising in my stirrups 

 to try and get a view to my right. Suddenly one word 

 clipped clear-cut on the air amidst the vociferations of the 

 herdsmen, " Bagh ! Bagh ! Bagh ! " repeated several 

 times. " Tiger ! Good Lord ! " I thought, and jammed 

 the spurs into my mount. I was out of the forest and in 

 the open country beyond in a flash. It was only a matter 

 of a couple of hundred yards and my action must have been 

 purely instinctive. I reined up and turned the pony, who 

 was rather restive, though she had been done brown just 

 before, and looked to see what was happening in the forest. 

 The two men were on the boundary line outside the forest, 

 and some of the animals were shambling out sideways 

 from amongst the trees, tails standing on end and ears 

 cocked in a ludicrous fashion. 



On seeing me the men at once came up wailing and 

 lamenting, and said that a tiger had killed three of their 

 animals. This story was rather tall and I could hardly 

 credit it. Why, I had been in the forest myself at the 

 time and the whole performance could scarcely have taken 

 a minute ! However, I told the men to call out their 

 animals, count them and bring them close to my tents, a 

 bare quarter of a mile away. I then galloped off, and on 

 reaching the camp at once sent for the headman of the 

 village. He was already on his way to me, apparently 



