A LEOPARD IN CAMP AT NIGHT 



side of the pole, fitted with chicks,* which can be let down 

 during the day to keep out the glare, and heavy curtains 

 stiffened with lathes, for use at night, and as these are made 

 large enough to overlap the openings, they keep the tent 

 quite warm. 



In fact, as a place to sleep in, it would be difficult to 

 find anything so snug and comfortable as these tents, and 

 there is a fascination about this life too, for when, as 

 often happens, the camp is pitched near a jungle, strange, 

 awe-inspiring sounds are sometimes heard during the night, 

 as, for instance, of a tiger calling to its mate, or the weird, 

 rasping cry of a leopard on the prowl. 



These animals are probably some little distance from 

 the camp, but in the stillness of the night, their cries sound 

 as if the beasts were prowling round the tent. The situa- 

 tion, therefore, is, to say the least of it, sufficiently exciting 

 for the occupant, and if he is a sportsman, most fascinating 

 too, for to him there is no music more entrancing than the 

 call of a tiger or leopard in the night. 



But it must not be supposed that such experiences are 

 common, for even when encamped in the midst of a dense 

 forest, night after night may pass without a sound to 

 indicate the presence of any animal within it, still, as 

 few Indian forests are untenanted, there is always the 

 possibility of this silence being suddenly dispelled by a 

 tiger's awe-inspiring roar, or by the cry of some other 

 beast as interesting from a sportsman's point of view. 



As an example of how unexpectedly one may be con- 

 fronted with wild animals, when encamped in the vicinity 

 of a jungle, I may quote two incidents, both of which 

 occurred to a friend of mine, a police officer in Bengal. 



On the first occasion, he and the district magistrate, 

 while camping together in one of the wildest portions of 

 their district, were seated one moonlight night at dinner, 

 when suddenly there arose a loud, sharp, rasping cry, 

 which, continuing for some seconds, seemed to come from 

 just outside the tent. My friend, being the keener sports- 

 man of the two, rushed out at once to find himself face to 

 face with a huge leopard, which, evidently attracted by a 

 dog inside the tent, was standing a few paces from the 



* A curtain made of thin bamboo strips strung closely together. 



57 



