CHAPTER V 



SOME years later it was my good fortune to be posted 

 to a district lying at the foot of the Bhutan hills. This 

 district had nothing to recommend it in the matter of salu- 

 brity, indeed it was notoriously unhealthy, nor as regards 

 pleasant society, for there were only three Europeans at 

 the headquarters station besides myself ; but to the sports- 

 man it was a veritable paradise, containing more jungle 

 and more big game than any other twenty districts put 

 together. My duties took me everywhere, for even in 

 the most remote " jungle tracts " there were stations or 

 outposts to be visited at least twice a year. To these 

 places, naturally, there were no regular roads, hence I 

 was provided by Government with two elephants as trans- 

 port. Fortunately for me both these animals were ex- 

 ceptionally staunch (one of them remarkably so), a quality 

 extremely rare with ordinary Government elephants, 

 many of whom will bolt on the first indication of a tiger 

 or other large animal being seen near them in a jungle. 



One very warm July morning I was working in my office, 

 when one of the village police, accompanied by the " khub- 

 burriah " (literally, one who gives information), came in 

 to report that a tiger had killed a large bullock, belonging 

 to the latter, in his village, and was at the moment they 

 left enjoying an early meal off his victim. This was 

 cheering news, but as a pair of leopards had been fairly 

 busy with the cattle of this particular neighbourhood of 

 late, and as the weather was exceptionally hot, I deter- 

 mined upon testing the information before taking any 

 action, and accordingly sent at once for my sporting fidus 

 Achates, one Birdul Thappa, an old Ghoorka native officer, 

 whom I had placed in charge of the elephants, one of the 

 pluckiest of his tribe, and a sportsman to the tips of his 

 dumpy fingers. 

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