THE HAVILDAH'S STORY 175 



" Old Sher Bahadur here showed his worth, and no finer 

 shikari could you find, sahib, than that old man was. He 

 said he knew of a cave at the foot of the opposite hill 

 where it dropped to the watercourse, and that our best 

 plan would be to move lower down our side of the valley, 

 get into the stream bed and make our way cautiously 

 up it. 



" This we proceeded to do. We were a party of twenty. 

 Six men were sent to a point on the stream some five hundred 

 feet above us and told to take up safe positions there and 

 watch, should the beast try to escape in that direction. 

 The rest of us went downwards. As we passed the place 

 where the tiger had entered the jungle, I took the strip of 

 Kali's dress from the thorn bush and placed it in my pouch, 

 and vowed that her slayer should not live to see another sun 

 rise, or that I would not. I cared not which it might be. 

 On reaching the water course, a careful examination was 

 made for tracks of the tiger, but none were visible. Six 

 men were left here with instructions to climb into trees and 

 keep a sharp look-out. We eight then commenced to care- 

 fully wend our way up the torrent bed. I went in front with 

 old Sher Bahadur, as plucky an old man as you will ever meet, 

 sahib. May he rest in peace ! The other men, three on each 

 side, followed behind us. Very slowly we went, I in a fever 

 of impatience, but wordless and with my senses on the 

 stretch and eyes blazing like fire. I was mad, sahib, on 

 that day, quite mad, and would have faced fifty tigers 

 single-handed." 



The old man paused and gazed with unseeing eyes at the 

 rain, which was steadily pouring down outside the verandah. 

 I, with my breath coming rather quick, as I pictured the 

 scene, watched the speaker with fascinated gaze. There 

 was silence for half a minute. 



" It was I who found Kali, sahib, what had been Kali. 

 It was part of her only. A bright piece of red caught my 

 eye. I knew it for her dress. It was on a little sandy spot, 

 beneath a large overhanging rock which formed the outer 

 portion of the cave. 



" At the sight I lost what little sense I still possessed. I had 

 a heavy old matchlock with me, down the barrel of which 

 I had crammed two large bullets and a double charge of 

 powder, As I caught sight of the dress, I felt my blood turn 

 to ice in my veins, Another look, and my eyes made out a 



