130 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



on a panther's kill. Some sloth bears shambled 

 up to drink at a pool close by, but the hyenas 

 frightened them off by imitating the growling 

 of panthers. By way of retribution, the panther 

 itself actually turned up a little later, and the 

 hyenas in their turn decamped. 



When desperate with hunger, leopards are 

 among the most daring of wild animals. A 

 correspondent tells me of one that one night 

 entered the hamlet of Jauli and was pursued 

 by the natives and their dogs, running across 

 an open space in the moonlight for about five 

 hundred yards and then being brought to bay 

 in a clump of bushes surrounding a solitary 

 tree, where the animal was kept until two 

 sportsmen arrived and shot it dead. 



Yet the most extraordinary instance of daring 

 on the part of one of these creatures is one, for 

 the story of which I am indebted to the same 

 gentleman. It was in the summer of 1907 that 

 he and a friend arrived after a long march at 

 the Behreye Bungalow, in the midst of a jungle 

 noted for man-eaters, and a native travelling 

 circus, one of the entertainments most appre- 

 ciated in India, had also halted at the bungalow. 

 The proprietor made his obeisance to the sahibs 

 and informed them that the chief rooms would 

 at once be placed at their disposal. The most 

 popular "turn" of the show was a combined 

 performance of dogs and panthers. Two tame 



