34 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



and screened by tall grass, but 'twas hot and stuffy down 

 there. The young tiger therefore paced slowly along its 

 banks, pausing at intervals in the slight shade of leafless 

 trees. 



The ravine was bordered by terrace-like hillsides clad 

 with harsh dry grass and strewn with the brittle fallen 

 leaves of the teak and other deciduous trees that, gaunt 

 and bare, studded the surrounding slopes like an array of 

 yellow skeletons. Through this parched-up wilderness a 

 tiny path twisted its way slowly uphill. The month of 

 May was nigh, and, on the edge of the terrace above, a 

 spreading, many-rooted banyan tree cast the deep shade 

 of its fresh and sappy blue-green foliage, and was stirred 

 at intervals by a faint breeze. The cub took the upward 

 path, and, as he slowly climbed, his smaller footprints 

 unconsciously overlaid the huge square " pugs " of one 

 who had preceded him earlier that very morning. 



At the edge of the little plateau he wound between big 

 slabs of piled black basalt, and emerged into the dry 

 breeze, gaping with the heat. He paced gratefully towards 

 the shade. Stepping incautiously on a dry leaf, it broke 

 with a heavy crunch under his forepad and next instant 

 he was springing away from the tree with a short, startled 

 roar. . . . 



Satisfied with the respect which he had so quickly 

 inspired, the big tiger again stretched out at his ease in 

 the shade. The cub watchfully retired to a small tree 

 higher up the hillside, and inhabited its somewhat scanty 

 shadow. In this manner, with an eye ever half open for 

 the striped majesty under the big banyan, he passed that 

 day. 



When evening at last left the valley in shadow and the 

 cool zephyrs of dusk began to stir in the river-bed, the 

 weaker denizens of the jungle might have been heard 

 suddenly calling to each other with sharp, warning voices. 

 " Tiger ! " they cried. " Danger ! " and the call was taken 



