160 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



a man arrived with the news that one of the party had been 

 wounded by a tiger, and was on his way in. Soon after, 

 Langton, of my regiment, was carried in on a litter. Two 

 days before, having left his comrades, he was on his way back 

 to Baroda alone. Hearing of a tiger in the bed of the Mhye 

 river, he went after and wounded it. The beast got away 

 among some rocks, and as Langton was endeavouring to dis- 

 lodge him, he charged, knocked him over, and bit him through 

 the elbow-joint and thumb. The tiger then left him, and his 

 people got him home to his tent. Men were procured, and 

 having placed him on a litter, they set off towards the canton- 

 ment. 



In this way they moved all that afternoon, the whole of 

 the following day, and the third till 11 A.M., when they reached 

 Baroda. The wounded man was quite sensible, and free from 

 any great pain, and gave iis a full account of his misadventure. 

 We got him put to bed, and he soon after fell off into a drowsy 

 state, from which he never recovered. A brother officer and 

 I watched him during the night, and at 2 A.M. I saw such a 

 decided change come over him that I at once sent for the 

 doctor, who was himself on the sick list. All that was possible 

 was done for Langton, but he never rallied, and died in the 

 afternoon. He was buried next evening with military 

 honours. He had been in a nervous and excitable state for 

 some time previous to the accident, but there was no doubt his 

 death was accelerated by undue exposure to the sun after the 

 shock which he had sustained. 



Bulkley and I had a severe march to Surat, which was 

 distant ninety miles. The rain fell in torrents, and in those 

 days the railway was not commenced. All the nullahs were 

 unbridged, and some could only be crossed on cots, floated on 

 large earthen pots, procured from the nearest village. 



