VENGEANCE OF JHAPOO THE GOND 257 



and retire to the fastnesses of long grass and thicketty 

 growth that afforded him almost inviolable sanctuary. 

 Even Jhapoo seemed nonplussed, and with difficulty 

 concealed his chagrin behind an air of intense mystery. 

 At length the time arrived when my work necessitated a 

 move to a distant part of the country, and I was watching 

 my servants packing up and striking camp. Jhapoo was 

 seated apart, an air of abstraction concealing the mortifi- 

 cation he endured, while from the movement of his lips, 

 I made no doubt he was using the most horrible language 

 concerning the man-eater's ancestry. 



" As fate would have it, it was at this very juncture, late 

 in the afternoon, that a villager came hurriedly in to inform 

 us that the man-eater himself had just made an abortive 

 attempt to carry off a man quite close to camp. A 

 bullock-cart had been passing a piece of thick jungle on 

 the banks of a tributary stream known as the K6kri 

 nullah, when the tiger had emerged and made a dash for 

 the driver. The latter had, however, been unseated by the 

 sudden swerve of his bullocks, and had fallen clear, on 

 which he immediately hurled himself over a high bank 

 into the pool below. The tiger had apparently been 

 startled by the overturning of the cart, and had beat a 

 retreat ; while the terrified oxen, tail on end, had galloped 

 madly away in the opposite direction, with the wreck of 

 the cart clattering behind them. 



" Our arrangements were quickly made, and the single 

 old elephant, which a paternal government provided for 

 my more difficult work in the jungle, was soon under 

 weigh. Jhapoo never cared much about the use of the 

 elephant, but on this occasion the short period of daylight 

 at our disposal and the unusual thickness of the covert 

 necessitated my taking up a commanding position on the 

 back of the pachyderm, while the old man picked up the 

 track on foot under the muzzle of my rifle. 



"It was unlikely that the tiger had gone far in so short 

 S 



