THE TIGER. 61 
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 chatfas 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 nomeansthe case. The Officer Commanding 
the 44th (then the Sylhet L.I.) occupied a house on the very 
edge of the £Aud. 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 ona 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- 
