138 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



khora. It was here that the panther had seized the wood- 

 cutter on the previous day. 



At last we arrived at this ravine. The scene of the 

 tragedy was pointed out, and I crept quietly forward to 

 reconnoitre the spot. It was possible that the panther 

 might still be near his victim's body. 



The unfortunate man had been seized and strangled, 

 without so much as a cry escaping him, while engaged in 

 chopping male bamboos out of a small thicket of these 

 plants ; and his body appeared by the tracks to have been 

 dragged along the hillside into the bed of the steeply 

 falling ravine, and then carried further up it. We now 

 arrived at a place over which pours a little cascade during 

 the rainy season ; and here the tracks ceased. I had 

 ascended this ravine once before, and was therefore able to 

 make a guess at the most likely place for the panther to 

 lie up in. This was a deep pocket in the smooth-worn 

 rocks, over which hung the roots of an old banyan tree 

 that clung to the cliffside higher up, sheltering a small 

 pool of stagnant rainwater. Wearing cotton-soled stalk- 

 ing boots as I was, there was little difficulty in climbing 

 up to this spot without a sound, and, slipping back the 

 cartridges into the breech of my rifle, I crawled forward 

 and peered round the corner. 



The place was deserted, and not a sound disturbed the 

 silence, except the rustle of some dried leaves as a small 

 brown squirrel ran up the rocks. The green scum on the 

 surface of the water had been disturbed, however, and the 

 rock at its edge had been freshly wetted. 



I was proceeding to examine this, when a stone fell from 

 the cliffs upstream, and an exclamation from one of the 

 Korkus caused me to glance up. A large panther was in 

 the act of clambering up another dry waterfall. He clung 

 to the lime-encrusted rock just at the top, and was glanc- 

 ing back before springing out of sight beyond it. At this 

 moment I fired. 



