to overhang us said that somewhere up there was 

 a , 4 cave which^was the tiger's home, and it was from 

 this safe refuge that he raided the countryside. 



The kraal was not far off. From the top of the 

 spur we could look round, as from the pit of some vast 

 coliseum, and see the huge wall of the Berg towering 

 up above and half enclosing us, the whole arena roofed 

 over by the star-spattered sky. The brilliant moon- 

 light picked out every ridge and hill, deepening the 

 velvet black of the shadowed valleys, and on the rise 

 before us there was the twinkling light of a small fire, 

 and the sound of voices came to us, borne on the still 

 night air, so clearly that words picked out here and 

 there were repeated by our boys with grunting com- 

 ments and chuckles of amusement. 



We started on again down an easy slope passing 

 through some bush, and at the bottom came on level 

 ground thinly covered with big shady trees and scat- 

 tered undergrowth. As we walked briskly through the 

 flecked and dappled light and shade, we were startled 

 by the sudden and furious rush of Jess and Jock off 

 the path and away into the scrub on the left ; and 

 immediately after there was a grunting noise, a crash- 

 ing and scrambling, and then one sharp clear yelp of 

 pain from one of the dogs. The old chief ran back 

 behind us, shouting " Ingwa, ingwa ! " (Tiger, tiger). 

 We slipped our rifles round and stood facing front, 

 unable to see anything and not knowing what to 

 expect. There were sounds of some sort in the 

 bush something like a faint scratching, and some- 

 thing like smothered sobbing grunts, but so indistinct 



253 



