224 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



known, it is not very long ere a grinning Korku appears 

 at the sahib's quarters with the news. 



A large and very cunning panther had been creating 

 havoc with the cattle which are herded during the rains in 

 the Barhdnpur valley, of which the Dhar khdra is an offset. 

 He would prowl nightly round the zariba in which the 

 cattle were pounded, and, after very long and cautious 

 reconnaissance, about the deathly hour of two in the morn- 

 ing, would select a suitable calf, stealthily leap the thorn 

 hedge, and, almost before the startled herd was aware of 

 his visit, crush back with his prey through some weak spot 

 in the enclosure. Next morning the exasperated herds- 

 man would follow the long dragging trail to some ndla or 

 nook, where, if small in size, only the head and pedal 

 extremities of the victim would be left : if large, and so 

 affording more than a comfortable bellyful for the spotted 

 tyrant, the unconsumed remains would have been removed 

 with a skill that usually baffled any attempt at discovery. 

 On one occasion a long search revealed the carcase sus- 

 pended on the branch of a tree far above our heads. The 

 entire fore-part of a plump yearling calf, which could not 

 have weighed less than 140 Ibs., had been carried up the 

 sloping trunk of a taklai tree that grew on the steep slope 

 of a woody ravine. The smooth, soft, skin-like bark bore 

 a complete record of the panther's engineering feat. He 

 had left the remains of the calf most delicately and in- 

 geniously balanced on a large branch that protruded from 

 the main trunk, some twenty-five feet in air. One fore 

 foot had been adjusted on a small excrescence in the 

 bark, and this gave the carcase a perfect counterpoise. 

 It would have been a difficult task to set three able- 

 bodied men, working in broad daylight, and supplied with 

 ropes. 



At last this panther killed a laggard cow close to the 

 mouth of the Dhar khdra trap, but lay up elsewhere. 

 Next evening a goat of high vocal attainments was in- 



