THE BIOGRAPHY OF A TIGER 41 



break, instinctively covered up the gory carcase with 

 leaves and grass, scratching them together like a great 

 cat. Water was his next consideration ; and, after that, 

 a siesta in some cool nook. As the sun rose he might 

 have been seen near a pool farther down the nullah, 

 reaching up and deeply scoring down the soft white bark 

 of a taklai tree with lazy, luxurious claws ; then he climbed 

 the hillside slowly, contentedly. He had fed and drunk 

 his fill. As he passed under the fallen stems of some long 

 reed-grass they tickled his back, and up went his round 

 tail after the pleasurable fashion of all cats. He passed 

 on upwards, a handsome, sleek young murderer, seeking 

 a shady spot for the day, and wearing an appearance of 

 mild benignity very much at variance with his horrible 

 work of the night. But all Nature is cruel, and tigers 

 too must live; poor brute! he had only fulfilled his 

 mission after all. 



Having killed early in the night, and being satiated 

 with much meat, it was late next evening before he 

 descended to make a second meal of his cow ; but mean- 

 while the villagers had traced and removed its remains. 

 He did not prowl very far during the next few lazy nights. 



The young tiger now rapidly left his cubdom behind. 

 He could kill for himself, provided that the beast he 

 found was not too big and strong for him ; and the long- 

 ings for mother and the old life soon passed away. He 

 struck out an independent career, and each day brought 

 some fresh and useful experience. 



Not many weeks after this the blazing hot weather 

 came to an end. For many days past the jungle had 

 been decking itself in fresh green leafage, preparing thus 

 for the advent of the annual rains, whose tropical excess, 

 had it been loosed on a leafless forest, would soon have 

 washed the hillsides into a rocky barren desert ; and 

 daily thunderstorms, precursors of the approaching south- 

 west monsoon, had brought a heavy stillness to the 



