THE BIOGRAPHY OF A TIGER 35 



up and passed on rapidly. * Danger ! " cackled the brown 

 spur-fowl. " Tiger ! " belled the sambar up the hill, coughed 

 the monkeys, " tok-tokked" the peafowl. Not long after- 

 wards the moon's yellow rising disc revealed the big tiger 

 perambulating river-bed or dusty game-path, and behind 

 him followed ever respectfully, but perseveringly, the lonely, 

 homesick cub. Towards midnight the big tiger found a 

 sounder of wild hogs, and secured a juicy sow. Twice or 

 thrice during the remainder of the night he had to leave 

 his " kill " and charge out " woofing " angrily into the 

 moonlight. And so it was that again the cub went 

 wandering on by himself. 



From glen to glen he roamed of nights, past jungle 

 hamlets snuffing disconsolately in the direction of the 

 cattle-pens along forest roads, over open glades, by the 

 beds of ravines, and " lying-up " in convenient spots when 

 the dawn found him out. Up and down many a jungly 

 khora he travelled, calling, as he went, in a moaning growl 

 for his lost family circle, and pouncing on anything that 

 might allay the increasing pangs of hunger frogs in the 

 nullahs, lizards even among the rocks, or a writhing 

 spitting ichneumon in the dry grass. A porcupine he 

 tried one night, but it left a sharp black and white quill 

 to remain embedded in the muscles of his cheek long after 

 those in his paws had worked their painful way out. 



More than ten days had passed in this manner since 

 that eventful night at the pool of the Khari, and starvation 

 now exercised its irresistible compulsion on his wander- 

 ings, while his voice changed from querulous moaning to 

 a harsh and grating insistence. 



In this condition of straitened circumstances he found 

 himself, one hot evening, descending a steep, dry water- 

 course. All around were big dark hills, and the rocky 

 way sank to a deep valley below. When he reached its 

 stifling depths the sun had set The air was still, a curl 

 of thin smoke was rising beyond some distant trees, and 



