THE FIRST PANTHER 9 



attention to the panther and I sat up till dark over 

 a goat. He came after I had left, and killed. We 

 had a beat next day and he was seen for a second 

 in some prickly pear and then disappeared into a 

 cave. 



The same thing happened again on the following 

 day. The beaters were very bad, they huddled 

 all together in a pack so that the panther could go 

 where he liked. I called them up and gave them a 

 short harangue. 



" Those who are afraid can go, and need not come 

 again as long as I stay here. Those who want to 

 stay must obey orders and beat as I tell them. They 

 will receive baksheesh if they beat the panther to 



me." 



All the Marathi people melted away, and there 

 was only left one family, a big one, of people belong- 

 ing to the Bhil tribe, whom I had noticed before as 

 being very staunch. There was a very old man who 

 looked the great-grandfather of the family, very 

 thin, almost a skeleton, aged, I should think, about 

 eighty ; some men, women and children of all ages, 

 and one woman with a small baby carried on her 

 hip. They were ready for anything, and determined 

 at once to try and drive the panther out of his cave. 

 It took a long time to make a start and I found it 

 fearfully hot standing out on burning rocks with 

 absolutely no shade. I tried sitting down, but 

 jumped up again very quickly, the ground being 

 like hot bricks. The shikari tied an old bit of cloth 

 he was wearing on to a cactus bush to give me 

 shelter from the sun, and I squatted down under it 



