THE TIGER. 63 



others small and almost imperceptible. Laos at once 

 guessed the meaning. The beasts had come there 

 to quench their thirst, after which they had gone away 

 on different tracks. 



"At one place, where the grass and the shrubs had 

 been more trodden down than elsewhere, as if many 

 beasts had made their halt there, Laos remarked that 

 the track in front, which was that of the mother, was 

 much more decided than the light impression which 

 was seen on the left. This last index was sufficient. 

 At forty yards farther a shout escaped from him. 



" Under a covering of lotus and flowering rushes, 

 two young tigers, a little larger than cats, as round as 

 balls, lay one against the other, awaiting their mother 

 in a kind of fierce terror. They were about three 

 weeks or a month old at most. Laos having half 

 opened with the point of his stick this verdant screen, 

 they opened their eyes, stretched out their claws, 

 showed their teeth, and growled : with one blow with 

 the butt-end of his gun he stunned them both. 



" To tie their legs together with cords, to take off his 

 vest, and to divest himself of his patsoo (he was then 

 naked as a glass, about which he did not trouble him- 

 self the least in the world), was for him an affair of 

 half a minute. 



" Then he extended his vest on the ground, and 

 placed thereon the two little animals, and tied up the 



