124 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



the dragonflies appear to regard it with entire in- 

 difiference : they fly about and dart backwards and 

 forwards just the same as before. 



It was some time early in the month of August that 

 I received a visit from a small party of animals of a 

 larger size, animals of a kind that do not usually 

 much exhibit themselves when the sun is above the 

 horizon. It was one of those agreeable days of the 

 rainy season that I have above described. It happened 

 also to be a holiday in the office, so that I was able to 

 remain at home and enjoy it. It had been raining, but 

 the rain had ceased, and a pleasant coolness pervaded 

 the air, and there was just sufficient cloud to soften 

 and subdue the glare. I was sitting, half reclining, in 

 an arm-chair before the open doors. It was just noon. 

 The servants were all in their huts or lying stretched 

 on the floor in the entrance-room taking their midday 

 sleep. In house and compound all was silence and 

 repose. 



I had been reading, but I had laid down the book, 

 and gazing out on the garden, I had fallen half into a 

 day-dream. Looking accidentally towards one of the 

 lower terraces, I thought that I perceived some object 

 moving. I aroused myself, looked more attentively, 

 and perceived a jackal creeping cautiously out from 

 among a clump of bushes. A second jackal followed, 

 and after him a third and a fourth. They stood still 

 for a minute, all the while looking carefully around ; 

 and then, I suppose, being satisfied that no danger 

 threatened, they began to move towards the end of the 

 terrace. At the end of the terrace was the poultry- 



