THE TIGER. 6l 



visited Cherra in its prime, be inclined to imagine the relator 

 was drawing freely on his imagination. The sentries, although 

 kept well under cover, were always ordered to load at sunset, 

 for though few people knocked about after dark, unless at 

 dinner-parties, when all went in a body, the native doctor on 

 one occasion, when returning from a sudden call to the 

 hospital, was knocked down opposite the main guard. It 

 being a pouring wet night he, fortunately, had one of those 

 stout Sylhet chattas which saved him, while the sentry let 

 drive through a window, and, though missing, frightened the 

 brute off. The man had a torch in full blaze, but it seemed 

 to have no effect, and as many people imagine. that fire will 

 invariably scare a Tiger, I may relate two instances that will 

 prove such is by no means the case. The Officer Commanding 

 the 44th (then the Sylhet L.I.) occupied a house on the very 

 edge of the khud. The place was notorious for being a 

 prowling-ground, as not only were there four Horses and a 

 couple of Cows in the stables, but not far off was the Sheep- 

 house of the station, far too stout a stone building to be 

 burglared ; and the shepherds moreover were well armed, 

 having besides their weapons, a pretty good stock of bombs 

 and other fireworks, with a display of which they frequently 

 had to enliven those whose windows commanded a view of 

 the premises. Well, one night in August, when the rain was 

 coming down, as it only knows how to in Cherra, a gentleman 

 was reading in bed, the lamp being on a teapoy placed between 

 his couch and a low window that opened into an unenclosed 

 veranda on the leeside of the house. On the opposite side of 

 the room a bright fire was burning, throwing a strong glare all 

 over and through the window, which had the usual half 

 horizontal curtain. Once or twice the reader's attention was 

 drawn to a slight noise, but on looking up from his book and 

 noticing nothing he resumed his reading, until a most pro- 



