THE TRAIL OF THE TIGER 307 



where the jungle had been reclaimed for sago, were 

 two sugar-loaf -shaped hills of independent, uneven 

 tops, but joined at the base by a ridge-like back- 

 bone, which was fairly free of jungle though other- 

 wise the hills were rather closely covered. For two 

 days we hunted the tiger's tracks, feeling fairly 

 confident of eventual success as this happened to 

 be one of a few cultivated patches widely separated 

 on this stretch of the river, and as crops attract 

 deer and pigs, so pigs and deer attract tigers. 

 And at last we did find the trail of this tiger where 

 it led into the larger of the two hills. That night, 

 by a happy bit of luck, two canoes loaded with 

 rattan for the Chinamen down river, rested at the 

 settlement, and we persuaded the four Malay boat- 

 men to stop over and help us. So next day at day- 

 light we set out sixteen strong, carrying bamboo 

 sticks for jungle beating, three drums for noise 

 and spears for defense ; it was an absurdly inade- 

 quate line, but it represented the population of a 

 one-hundred-mile radius. We started the men in 

 on the larger hill, where we had found the tracks, 

 to beat towards me on the smaller hill where I took 

 position commanding the comparatively uncov- 

 ered connecting ridge. And we posted two men 

 in the fields to note if the tiger left the isolated 

 hills. What with their jungle threshing and 

 shouting and vigorous, unceasing drum, drum- 



